The night was mild and still. Slowly, across 

 the wide brown way, I made my course, guided 

 by a low star that hung above Fort Garland. 

 My strength ran low, and, in order to sustain 

 it, I moved slowly, lying down and relaxing 

 every few minutes. My mind was clear and 

 strangely active. With pleasure I recalled in 

 order the experiences of the day and the won- 

 derful sunset with which it came triumphantly 

 to a close. As I followed a straight line across 

 the cactus-padded plains, I could not help 

 wondering whether the Denver physicians 

 would tell me that going up to see the sunset 

 was a serious blunder, or a poison-eliminating 

 triumph. However, the possibility of dying was 

 a thought that never came. 



At eleven o'clock, when instinctively and 

 positively I felt that I had traveled far enough, 

 I paused ; but from Fort Garland neither sound 

 nor light came to greet me in the silent, mysteri- 

 ous night. I might pass close to the low, dull 

 adobes of this station without realizing its pres- 

 ence. So confident was I that I had gone far 

 enough that I commenced a series of constantly 



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