CHAPTER XXV. 



The Pinch of the Journey Marl Springs The Pied Quail Rock Springs 

 Silver Mine Pah-Ute Hill The Great Moss Lode The Colorado 

 An extensive View A Mountaineer's Opinion. 



OUR next jorndda constitutes the pinch of the journey, 

 and an early start is essential. We breakfast by the light 

 of the camp fires and the morning star. At the first 

 streak of dawn our waggon-master sings out, "Break 

 corral;" and our teamsters being old hands and "smart," 

 and the mules docile, in three minutes' time we are 

 " hitched -up." As our train-master throws his leg over his 

 horse, he gives the phrase of the occasion, " Roll out, boys, 

 roll out." The drivers' whips " pop " with a noise like the 

 report of so many pistols. The well-trained mules come 

 down to a steady pull. Swing haw ! then gee ! straighten 

 out ! And, one after the other, the heavy waggons, whose 

 wheels have sunk some inches in the loose sand, yield to 

 the strain. The train moves. We have taken up our line 

 of march again, and we are en route for Marl Springs, our 

 next stopping-place. 



We have a forty-five miles tramp before us, most of 



