133 



RECREATION, 



examination, I felt sure it must be the 

 track of the same wagon, going and re- 

 turning. About four o'clock we drove 

 down into a little viga, where grass had 

 evidently been recently cut. The rem- 

 nant of our trail showed one large loop 

 of a single wagon's tracks, where the 

 wagon had come into the meadow, 

 turned around, and gone back. We 

 were a day's journey from the spring 

 we had left that morning, our own sup- 

 ply of water now exhausted, and our 

 ponies tired out by a hot day's work 

 with nothing to drink. Under these 

 circumstances we could hardly expect 

 to turn back., except as a last resort 

 Yet, there was not the sign of a trail 

 by which me might go forward. 



To the man who has attempted 

 "cross-country" traveling in south- 

 western lands the undesirability of 

 such journeys will appeal with peculiar 

 force. He may even take occasion to 

 smile at our lack of good judgment in 

 deciding - on the course we did. But the 

 green of those cottonwoods only a few 

 miles out across the flats spoke to our 

 parched lips of the probability of run- 

 ning water, and the appeal was too 

 strong to resist. Besides, the level 

 mesa was but two or three miles be- 

 yond the river, and if we could only 

 gain that point a cross-country journey 

 from there on would present no serious 

 difficulties. 



"Well, what do you say, fellows?" 

 I asked, ready to let my companions de- 

 cide the question, so that I might es- 

 cape all responsibility in case any dis- 

 comfort resulted. But my pretty 

 scheme was immediately spoiled. Ed- 

 wards had noticed the outlines of sev- 

 eral ugly gullies between us and the 

 river. "Go back the way we came," 

 he said quickly. Oliver looked beyond 

 the gullies to the wavy line of green. 

 "Make for the river as fast as we can," 

 was his reply. Thus was the decision 

 forced upon me, and, after considering 

 the condition of the ponies, the time of 

 day, and the various other elements in- 

 volved. I cast my vote with Oliver's. 



The next three hours were spent in 



crossing the few miles of flats between 

 the foothills and the Rio Puerco, Ed- 

 wards driving, while Oliver and I went 

 well in advance, looking for the best 

 places to cross the gullies. Of the lat- 

 ter there seemed to be an inexhaustible 

 supply, and two or three of the worst 

 ones very nearly balked our progress. 

 But, by dint of persevering searches 

 along the gully's edge, hard work 

 with pick and shovel in improving 

 those places that appeared least peril- 

 ous, and owing to the excellent strength 

 of our light mountain wagon, we 

 camped that night on the bank of the 

 Rio Puerco. 



But what a disappointment it proved ! 

 Where we first struck the so-called 

 river it was as dry as the sandy flats 

 over which we had just come. A 

 search both up and down the "stream" 

 was necessary, and it was some time 

 before two shots in quick succession 

 from Oliver's rifle told us that he had 

 found water. When we joined him 

 some moments later we found our sal- 

 vation in the form of two scum-cov- 

 ered pools of a warm solution of va- 

 rious alkaline salts. Still, our luck was 

 not uniformly bad, for this was one oi 

 the few places where at least one bank 

 of the river was sloping — the one 

 where we were camped, Tt is true that 

 the opposite bank was a sheer cliff 

 thirty-five or forty feet high, but we 

 hoped to find a better place when morn- 

 ing came. 



While Edwards and I prepared the 

 evening meal of bacon and biscuits Oli- 

 ver succeeded in scaling the opposite 

 bank farther downstream and walked 

 over eastward to the foot of the mesa. 

 On his return he reported that there 

 was no road between us and the mesa, 

 and that he could find no place where 

 a wagon could get up on the mesa 

 from the valley below. The outlook 

 was not encouraging. Our ponies, 

 when led down to water, pawed the 

 edge of the pool and snorted angrily, 

 but refused to drink, thirsty though 

 they were. For our own use we made 

 the water into coflee, but found it anv- 



