give him
nourishment without stopping the entire train of wagons, on account
of the constant pitching of the ambulance; delay was not advisable or
expedient, so my poor little son had to endure with the rest of us. The
big Alsatian cavalryman held the cradle easily in his strong arms, and
so the long miles were travelled, one by one.

At noon of this day we made a refreshing halt, built a fire and took
some luncheon. We found a shady, grassy spot, upon which the blankets
were spread, and we stretched ourselves out upon them and rested. But
we were still some miles from water, so after a short respite we were
compelled to push on. We had been getting steadily higher since leaving
Sunset Crossing, and now it began to be cold and looked like snow. Mrs.
Bailey and I found it very trying to meet these changes of temperature.
A good place for the camp was found at Coxe's Tanks, trenches were dug
around the tents, and the earth banked up to keep us warm. The cool air,
our great fatigue, and the comparative absence of danger combined to
give us a heavenly night's rest.

Towards sunset of the next day, which was May Day, our cavalcade reached
Stoneman's Lake. We had had another rough march, and had reached the
limit of endurance, or thought we had, when we emerged from a mountain
pass and drew rein upon the high green mesa overlooking Stoneman's Lake,
a beautiful blue sheet of water lying there away below us. It was good
to our tired eyes, which had gazed upon nothing but burnt rocks
and alkali plains for so many days. Our camp was beautiful beyond
description, and lay near the edge of the mesa, whence we could look
down upon the lovely lake. It was a complete surprise to us, as points
of scenery were not much known or talked about then in Arizona. Ponds
and lakes were unheard of. They did not seem to exist in that drear land
of arid wastes. We never heard of water except that of the Colorado
or the Gila or the tanks and basins, and irrigation ditches of the
settlers. But here was a real Italian lake, a lake as blue as the skies
above us. We feasted our eyes and our very souls upon it.

Bailey and the guide shot some wild turkeys, and as we had already
eaten all the mutton we had along, the ragout of turkey made by the
soldier-cook for our supper tasted better to us tired and hungry
travellers, perhaps, than a canvasback at Delmonico's tastes to the
weary lounger or the over-worked financier.

In the course of the day, we ha