NEAR JUNOT'S, IN THE JUDITH BASIN, August, 1880.

THIS will be left at a little trading store as we pass to-morrow
morning, with the hope that it will soon be taken on to Benton and
posted.

So far, the trip has been delightful, and every bit as nice as I had
anticipated. The day we left the post was more than hot--it was simply
scorching; and my whole face on the right side, ear and all, was
blistered before we got to the ferry. Just now I am going through a
process of peeling which is not beautifying, and is most painful.

Before we had come two miles it was discovered that a "washer" was
lacking on one of the wheels of a wagon, and a man was sent back on a
mule to get one. This caused a delay and made Faye cross, for it really
was inexcusable in the wagon master to send a wagon out on a trip like
this in that condition. The doctor did not start with the command, but
rode up while we were waiting for the man with the washer. The soldiers
were lounging on the ground near the wagons, talking and laughing; but
when they saw the doctor coming, there was perfect silence over there,
and I watched and listened, curious to see what effect the funny sight
would have upon them. First one sat up, then another, and some stood
up, then some one of them giggled, and that was quite enough to start
everyone of them to laughing. They were too far away for the laughing
and snickering to be disrespectful, or even to be noticed much, but I
knew why they laughed, for I laughed too.

The doctor did not present a military appearance. He is the very
smallest man I ever saw, and he was on a government horse that is known
by its great height--sixteen hands and two inches, I believe--and the
little man's stirrups were about half way down the horse's sides,
and his knees almost on the horse's back. All three of us are wearing
officers' white cork helmets, but the doctor's is not a success, being
ever so much too large for his small head, consequently it had tilted
back and found a resting place on his shoulders, covering his ears and
the upper part of his already hot face. For a whip he carried a little
switch not much longer than his gauntlets, and which would have puzzled
the big horse, if struck by it. With it all the little man could not
ride, and as his government saddle was evidently intended for a big
person, he seemed uncertain as to which was the proper place to sit--the
pommel, the middle, or the curved back. All during that first