of his company. Mr.
Haynes and his friend Mr. Struble on their wagon led the way, then we
followed, and after us came Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, and Miss Hull brought
up the rear, with the professor riding horseback beside first one
wagon and then another.

So we set out. There was a great jangling and banging, for our tin
camp-stoves kept the noise going. Neither the children nor I can ride
under cover on a wagon, we get so sick; so there we were, perched
high up on great rolls of bedding and a tent. I reckon we looked funny
to the "onlookers looking on" as we clattered down the street; but we
were off and that meant a heap.

All the morning our way lay up the beautiful river, past the great red
cliffs and through tiny green parks, but just before noon the road
wound itself up on to the mesa, which is really the beginning of the
desert. We crowded into the shadow of the wagons to eat our midday
meal; but we could not stop long, because it was twenty-eight miles to
where we could get water for the horses when we should camp that
night. So we wasted no time.

Shortly after noon we could see white clouds of alkali dust ahead. By
and by we came up with the dust-raisers. The children and I had got
into the buckboard with Mrs. O'Shaughnessy and Miss Hull, so as to
ride easier and be able to gossip, and we had driven ahead of the
wagons, so as to avoid the stinging dust.

The sun was just scorching when we overtook the funniest layout I have
seen since Cora Belle[2] drove up to our door the first time. In a
wobbly old buckboard sat a young couple completely engrossed by each
other. That he was a Westerner we knew by his cowboy hat and boots;
that she was an Easterner, by her not knowing how to dress for the
ride across the desert. She wore a foolish little chiffon hat which
the alkali dust had ruined, and all the rest of her clothes matched.
But over them the enterprising young man had raised one of those big
old sunshades that had lettering on them. It kept wobbling about in
the socket he had improvised; one minute we could see "Tea"; then a
rut in the road would swing "Coffee" around. Their sunshade kept
revolving about that way, and sometimes their heads revolved a little
bit, too. We could hear a word occasionally and knew they were having
a great deal of fun at our expense; but we were amused ourselves, so
we didn't care. They would drive along slowly until we almost reached
them; then they would whip up and raise such a