he made a handsome picture, with his big hat, his great chaps and
his jangling spurs, as he rode along beside our wagons, talking.

He told us that a crazy duffer had gone about over the desert for
years digging wells, but at last he struck water. A few miles ahead
was a well flowing like an artesian well. There would be plenty of
water for every one, even the cattle. Next morning we could start
ahead of the herds and so the roads would be a little better.

It was quite early when we made camp in the same long draw where we
saw Olaf. There was a great change. Where had been dry, burning sand
was now a clear little stream that formed shallow pools where the sand
had blown away, so that harder soil could form a bottom less greedy
than the sand. Off to our left the uneasy herd was being held in a
wide, flat valley. They were grazing on the dry, sparse herbage of the
desert. Quite near the well the mess-wagon had stopped and the cook
was already preparing supper. Beyond, a few yards away, a freighter's
long outfit was stopped in the road.

Did you ever see the kind of freight outfit that is used to bring the
great loads across the desert? Then I'll tell you about the one we
camped near. Freight wagons are not made precisely like others; they
are very much larger and stronger. Several of these are coupled
together; then as many teams as is necessary are hitched on--making a
long, unbroken string of wagons. The horses are arranged in the same
manner as the wagons. Great chains are used to pull the wagons, and
when a camp is made the whole affair is stopped in the middle of the
road and the harness is dropped right where the horse that bore it
stood. Many freighters have what they call a coaster hitched to the
last wagon. The coaster is almost like other wagons, but it is a home
on wheels; it is built and furnished as sheep wagons are. This
freighter had one, and as we drove past I was surprised to see the
form of a woman and a small boy. We camped quite near them.

For an hour we were very busy preparing supper and arranging for the
night. As we sat at supper I thought I had never known so quiet and
peaceful an hour. The sun hung like a great, red ball in the hazy
west. Purple shadows were already gathering. A gentle wind rippled
past across the dun sands and through the gray-green sage.

The chain parts of the hobbles and halters made a clinking sound as
the horses fed about. Presently we heard a rumbling just like dist