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The National Geographic Magazine 



the northeasterly air-drift ; then rather 

 suddenl}^ — so quickly that prompt ac- 

 tion was required to protect the wagon 

 as the stock turned tail — the wind stif- 

 fened without changing direction, while 

 the shower became a torrent; and ten 

 minutes later a 35-niile gale was driving 

 the drops in a nearl}^ horizontal sheet 

 above the dune tops, while the temper- 

 ature fell from some 70° to about 35°, 

 and small hailstones formed apparently 

 within a dozen feet of the ground. Ten 

 minutes more and the gale was down 

 to a breeze, the torrent to a sprinkle; 

 then the rearward margin of the cloud- 

 bank drifted away before the continu- 

 ing breeze, and the low-swinging sun 

 shone brightl}'. The cloud-mass pur- 

 sued its way toward Sierra Pinta, evi- 

 dently meeting a mist}^ cape alread}^ 

 hung about its shoulders; with the con- 

 junction there was much lightning and 

 some audible thunder ; then the vapor- 

 bank spread along the range, and either 

 melted awa}^ or drifted on northeast- 

 ward. During the twenty minutes of 

 continuous pour the precipitation was 

 I ^ or I ys inches (estimated from catch- 

 ment in water-pail, etc-); 5'et over the 

 waste of drifted sand not a rill was 

 formed, not a puddle was produced, not 

 even a watery surface was seen save 

 in the few "slick spots" {i.e.^ alka- 

 line silt patches) of the cowboys — the 

 sand simply swallowed the flood like a 

 sponge, and was visibly moist onl}^ to 

 depths of 3 to 4^-^ inches. 



The storm over, the outfit heads again 

 toward the distant pass, though Mob- 

 erly lifts his voice to tender (thrice over, 

 in typical cowboy emphasis) a "bet 

 that them there fellers let the mules 

 break the tongue when the storm come 

 up on em ; ' ' and a half hour later the 

 Mexican gallops up, on a bareback mule 

 with toes locked inside the forelegs, to 

 verify the inference. So camp is made 

 in a woodless spot (save for scattered 

 creosote bushes), while " los gringos " 

 turn back to make repairs and bring up 



the supply outfit to a point (about longi- 

 tude 1 13° 33' ) twenty miles short of that 

 specified in the contract with Don Bar- 

 tolo. It is the third night's stop, and 

 the second ' ' dry ' ' camp on the old 

 trail — though drenched blankets and 

 hourl}^ showers belie the vernacular des- 

 ignation for a desert camp. 



THE WAY THROUGH TUIvE PASS 



By daybreak of the 19th the wind 

 shifts from southwest to northwest and 

 grows chill, while gray clouds drive 

 toward the dawn and crowd before the 

 rising sun in a fashion more typical of 

 deserts than of vaporous lands ; and 

 feed and water are transferred to the 

 lighter outfit, while the supply team is 

 turned back toward Santo Domingo — ■ 

 with a douceur to driver and aid, be- 

 cause they did no worse. The ancient 

 trail forward is a deep furrow in the 

 sands, and as these grade into the silts 

 of the valley-margin toward Tule Pass 

 the furrow becomes a series of sections 

 of arro3^os, normally setting obliquely 

 across the trail, but diverted for rods or 

 furlongs b}' the deeper cut of the wagon- 

 way ; and within five miles the arroyos 

 bear marks of having run brimful for 

 minutes or hours with the overflow from 

 the sierra on the south. Gradually the 

 way rises through sheetfiood-carved 

 footslopes, and then winds among buttes 

 and granite walls toward an ill-defined 

 divide ; graves grow numerous again 

 with the abundance of rocks to mark 

 them ; the year-old trail of an Amer- 

 ican on a shod horse and a Mexican on 

 a shoeless beast forms a clear palimpaest 

 over the 7 -year-old tracks of the bound- 

 ary parties ; sign of deer and moun- 

 tain sheep in pairs and flocks abound in. 

 the gulches, while coyote paths (unseen 

 in Tule Desert) reappear. The pass is 

 a meadow-like expanse of coarse gra- 

 nitic sand filmed with scrubby creosote 

 clumps ; here the trail divides, and a 

 guide-post of sawn timber stands, soli- 



