10 THE A.UDU:‘B:OWN (BU ihe 
first tight and I gave my tent-mate a lesson in astronomy. That was our 
enly vight out. The dew was heavy and in the morning we found our 
poncho covering very wet. 
We rode up to Electric Pass, the highest horse pass in the state, but it 
was not safe to ride over it. There had been much rain and the ground 
was soft. The riders might have made it, but it would have been impossible 
to get the pack train over. That caused our first departure from our 
printed schedule. While we were eating lunch at the foot of the pass a 
slight rain fell. It was a preparation for many meals to follow. We rode 
down the mountain and camped at Conundrum Hot Springs. On the way 
we got into a hornets’ nest and one stung my horse’s nose. He pranced 
and bolted against a tree where he could rub it. Tommie saw what was 
happening and yelled for us to ride out of there as quickly as possible. 
The hornets in that country seem to nest on the ground. 
At Conundrum Hot Spring's a small pool has been roughly enclosed with 
a stockade and a nice bathing place formed. The men appropriated it at 
once and it was in constant use until dark. It was at a considerable distance 
from the camp, up a stream and across rocks and mud. We women pro- 
tested and got the use of it the next morning from five-thirty until seven- 
thirty. It was the only hot bath we had on the whole trip and we regretted 
that it came so soon. May I add here that the lakes and streams at those 
altitudes were altogether too cold to bathe in. Most of the men had been 
in the war and were accustomed to bathing in three cupfuls of water in a 
helmet. One lad had been in the African, Sicilian and Italian campaigns, 
and had not had even his shoes off in a month. We thought we could get 
along for thirteen days, but we are unwilling to confess how much even 
face and hand washing was omitted. And certainly no one went down to 
the creek after dark to brush his teeth. 
This third morning was cold and foggy. We riders had eaten our 
breakfast, done up our bedrolls and duffle bags, carried them to the assem- 
bling place; and were ready to start by eight-thirty. But two of the horses 
were missing. It had been difficult to find them all in the fog. Another 
one was sick. He stood trembling and opening and closing his mouth con- 
stantly. Whether he had colic or had eaten the poisonous larkspur made 
no difference, the treatment was the same—turpentine administered both 
inside and out, coffee with milk, a gallon of soapy water, and a pound of 
oleo. He improved slowly, but it was several days before he could be ridden. 
He belonged to Doc, a big fat jolly man weighing 220 pounds. There was 
a lot of teasing him about his being able to walk to the next camp, some 
fourteen miles away. The real spirit of the group was shown when young 
Dick Markley said that if anyone had to walk, he was going to doit. He 
was certainly thinner if not younger than Doc. Another horse, however, 
was supplied, the missing horses turned up, and we were off. Just as we 
started we noticed that the clear mountain stream beside which we had 
camped had suddenly turned green. It was a bright green where the water 
flowed swiftly and a deep green in the still places among the rocks. It was 
a weird spectacle. There was evidently some eruption taking place under 
