d smooth and our progress
satisfactory. As we drove leisurely along I improved the opportunity
to look about and see the sights. It was a perfect day in April and
there never was a brighter sky nor balmier air than beamed and breathed
upon us. The air was soft and tremulous with a magical light that
produced startling phantasmagoric effects.

It was my first sight of a mirage and it naturally excited my
curiosity. It seemed as if a forest had suddenly sprung up in the San
Simon valley where just before had appeared only bare ground. With
every change in the angle of vision as we journeyed on, there occurred
a corresponding change in the scene before us that produced a charming
kaleidoscopic effect. The rough mountain was transformed into a
symmetrical city and the dry valley into a lake of sparkling
water,--all seeming to be the work of magic in some fairyland of
enchantment.

In a ledge of granite rock by the wayside were cut a number of round
holes which the Indians had made and used as mills for grinding their
corn and seeds into meal. Nearby also, were some mescal pits used for
baking the agave, a native plant that is in great demand as food by the
Indians. The spot was evidently an old rendezvous where the marauding
Apaches were accustomed to meet in council to plan their bloody raids,
and to feast on mescal and pinole in honor of some successful foray or
victory over an enemy.

We next crossed several well-worn Indian trails which the Apaches had
made by many years of travel to and fro between their rancherias in the
Mogollon mountains and Mexico. The sight of these trails brought us
back to real life and a conscious sense of danger, for were we not in
an enemy's country and in the midst of hostile Indians? Nearly every
mile of road traveled had been at some time in the past the scene of a
bloody tragedy enacted by a savage foe. Even at that very time the
Apaches were out on the warpath murdering people, but fortunately we
did not meet them and escaped unmolested.

The road now crossed a low hill, which was the signal for more trouble.
The team started bravely up the incline, but soon stopped and then
balked and all urging with whip and voice failed to make any
impression. After several ineffectual attempts to proceed it was
decided not to waste any more time in futile efforts. The horses were
unhitched and the wagon partly unloaded, when all hands by a united
pull and push succeeded in getting t