228 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



with vivid Instances to allege In support. When at 

 last we had cooled off enough for sleep his mind was 

 still busy with snakes, and at Intervals I heard him 

 softly murmur, "You bet," or, "Son-of-a-gun, he 

 Is," until final silence fell. 



On McSandy's Invitation I had resolved to change 

 from my intended route to Warner's, and accom- 

 pany him by a much shorter trail, passing the Indian 

 villages of San Ygnacio and San Ysidro, places I 

 had long wished to visit. 



I bade good-bye, then, to Anza and his band when 

 next day we turned westward and made for the 

 mountains. I had meant to visit Thousand Palm 

 Caiion (a second caiion of the name; the other had 

 been taken early In my journey) which opens two or 

 three miles farther up Coyote Creek; but through 

 the glasses it did not look Inviting, showing only the 

 usual vast fan of gravel, boulders, and brush. I sup- 

 pose the palms are hidden in the upper gorge. There 

 were miles of tedious travel before we reached the 

 foot of the canon up which our trail ran, but we 

 passed this before the sun was high, and It was 

 still early when we commenced the steep ascent. 

 Agaves and mesqult continued with us, but soon 

 there appeared willows, sycamores, and occasionally 

 a palm or two, giving Interesting variety. 



After a mile or two of warm climbing we found a 

 spring on the hillside and stopped for a rest and the 

 luxury of drinking without the medium of a canteen. 

 The ground about the spring was ablaze with the 

 superb cardinal flower, Lobelia splendens, a plant 

 which surely represents Nature's last effort in inten- 



