at way; but one can see for miles in every
direction. I did not one bit fancy the canons, the mesquite patches, and
the open ground of the usual route.

I beguiled the distance watching Brower. The animal he rode was a
hammer-headed, ewe-necked beast with a disconsolate eye and a half-shed
winter coat. The ex-jockey was not accustomed to a stock saddle. He had
shortened his stirrups beyond all reason so that his knees and his
pointed shoes and his elbows stuck out at all angles. He had thrust his
derby hat far down over his ears, and buttoned his inadequate coat
tightly. In addition, he was nourishing a very considerable grouch,
attributable, I suppose, to the fact that his customary dose was just
about due. Tiger could not be blamed for dancing wide. Evening was
falling, the evening of the desert when mysterious things seem to swell
and draw imminent out of unguessed distances. I could not help wondering
what these gods of the desert could be thinking of us.

However, as we drew imperceptibly nearer the tiny patch of cottonwoods
that marked Box Springs, I began to realize that it would be more to the
point to wonder what that gang of hoodlums in the bunk house was going
to think of us. The matter had been fairly well carried off up to that
moment, but I could not hope for a successful repetition. No man could
continue to lug around with him so delicious a vaudeville sketch without
some concession to curiosity. Nor could any mortal for long wear such
clothes in the face of Arizona without being required to show cause. He
had got away with it last night, by surprise; but that would be about
all.

At my fiftieth attempt to enter into conversation with him, I
unexpectedly succeeded. I believe I was indicating the points of
interest. You can see farther in Arizona than any place I know, so there
was no difficulty about that. I'd pointed out the range of the
Chiracahuas, and Cochise's Stronghold, and the peaks of the Galiuros and
other natural sceneries; I had showed him mesquite and yucca, and mescal
and soapweed, and sage, and sacatone and niggerheads and all the other
known vegetables of the region. Also I'd indicated prairie dogs and
squinch owls and Gambel's quail and road runners and a couple of coyotes
and lizards and other miscellaneous fauna. Not to speak of naming
painstakingly the ranches indicated by the clumps of trees that you
could just make out as little spots in the distance--Box Springs, the
O.T., the Do