The Old Yuma Trail 



135 



grim reminders that among the pioneers 

 the malpais was a favorite place for 

 dying. 



A DESERT STORM 



The stock are breathed on the nearer 

 edge of the malpais, amid passing show- 

 ers; then pushed on (the lighter outfit 

 gaining rapidly) toward Tule Pass. 

 Meantime the clouds about the south- 

 eastern sub-range of Sierra Tule grow 

 dense, while those on neighboring crests 

 lighten ; then the cloud-mass veils the 

 sub-sierra to its base, and half an hour 

 later sets slowly northeastward over 

 Tule Valle}^ toward the trail, so slowly 

 that both outfits are across the mal- 

 pais and in the western half of the Red 

 Desert tongue before the tempest strikes. 



A typical desert storm (though of ex- 

 ceptional severity) was this, and in- 

 structive in every aspect. While among 

 the peaks the cloud-bank was about 



3,000 feet high and flattened dome- 

 shape above, five or six miles in diam- 

 eter at two-thirds of the height, and 

 three miles across at the level of the 

 plain (the rain-lines seen in the lower 

 third converging from both sides); and 

 these proportions seemed to be main- 

 tained, save for slight flattening, as the 

 mass drifted into the valley and grew 

 in size. It was most orderly in be- 

 havior ; its rate of advance — after its 

 clinging hold on the sieria broke — was 

 eight or ten miles an hour ; and the 

 roar of rain and. wind on drifted sand 

 and scattered mesquites was audible half 

 an hour, ominous for half as long, be- 

 fore the storm was actually at hand. 

 Steadily the rim of cloud-bank pushed 

 forward, passed overhead, and eclipsed 

 the entire heavens save the northeastern 

 eighth ; light sprinkles fell from it di- 

 rectly downward through still air at 

 first, but grew heavier as they caught 



A tongue of the Red, Desert." 



