he time of my life in not only talking with
myself but------" He glanced at Bauer wistfully as he put some stones
around the hole and set his coffee pot down on the sand, "but I never
saw such a place as a desert to find God. It seems as if this was the
place to find him. You know Moses and Elijah and David and Paul and John
and lots of men found God in the wilderness. I suppose you could find
him while working for a daily paper, but He didn't seem to have much to
do with the one I was on. At any rate I never found Him there. That's
the reason I like to get up early. There's a time in the morning between
four and five out here, when it appears to me God has more time to tend
to individuals. Most everybody is asleep soundest about that time and He
can pay attention better to the comparatively few folks that don't need
so much rest."--Elijah said it as if to apologise for the habits of the
rest of the party and Bauer could not help smiling at his note of
evident haste not to take too much credit to himself for early rising.
"I thought maybe you might kind of wonder at my ways, and think maybe I
got up to write poetry or some such stuff. I believe you understand,
eh?"

"I believe I do," said Bauer gravely. "And I appreciate your confidence.
I know what it means to try to find God in a crowd. I think that is one
reason Jesus had to leave the multitude and go out into the desert
places."

"Yes," said Clifford, sitting down on the sand and putting his coffee
pot on a stone. "I didn't mention Him. I thought you would remember that
yourself."

This little glimpse into Elijah Clifford's personality did Bauer a world
of good and strengthened a growing liking for him which led in the
process of time, as this story goes on, to some very important results
in Bauer's life.

The day promised to be unusually hot and it was Masters's plan to get
through the Black Gorge canyon early, as it was famous for its stifling
heat and dust storms later in the day. So camp was broken immediately
after breakfast and the wagons were soon loaded with the bedding and
dishes and the journey resumed in the same order, so far as the
travellers were concerned, as before. Mr. Masters, who knew the trail at
the other end of the gorge better than anyone else, went first with Mrs.
Masters, Miss Clifford, Miss Gray and Walter and Clifford with Mr.
Douglas, Mrs. Douglas, Helen, and Bauer followed, Peshlekietsetti and
the heavy wagon trailing along in the r