," and leaves them at night
"a desolate wilderness."

It was so odd and novel to have a beautiful bed room, hot water, and
other luxuries. The snow began to fall in good earnest at six in the
evening, and fell all night, accompanied by intense frost, so that in
the morning there were eight inches of it glittering in the sun. Miss
P. gave me a pair of men's socks to draw on over my boots, and I set
out tolerably early, and broke my own way for two miles. Then a single
wagon had passed, making a legible track for thirty miles, otherwise
the snow was pathless. The sky was absolutely cloudless, and as I made
the long ascent of the Arkansas Divide, the mountains, gashed by deep
canyons, came sweeping down to the valley on my right, and on my left
the Foot Hills were crowned with colored fantastic rocks like castles.
Everything was buried under a glittering shroud of snow. The babble of
the streams was bound by fetters of ice. No branches creaked in the
still air. No birds sang. No one passed or met me. There were no
cabins near or far. The only sound was the crunch of the snow under
Birdie's feet. We came to a river over which some logs were laid with
some young trees across them. Birdie put one foot on this, then drew
it back and put another on, then smelt the bridge noisily. Persuasions
were useless; she only smelt, snorted, held back, and turned her
cunning head and looked at me. It was useless to argue the point with
so sagacious a beast. To the right of the bridge the ice was much
broken, and we forded the river there; but as it was deep enough to
come up to her body, and was icy cold to my feet, I wondered at her
preference. Afterwards I heard that the bridge was dangerous. She is
the queen of ponies, and is very gentle, though she has not only wild
horse blood, but is herself the wild horse. She is always cheerful and
hungry, never tired, looks intelligently at everything, and her legs
are like rocks. Her one trick is that when the saddle is put on she
swells herself to a very large size, so that if any one not accustomed
to her saddles her I soon find the girth three or four inches too
large. When I saddle her a gentle slap on her side, or any slight
start which makes her cease to hold her breath, puts it all right. She
is quite a companion, and bathing her back, sponging her nostrils, and
seeing her fed after my day's ride, is always my first care.

At last I reached a log cabin where I got a f