r woman, and then, "Mucho calor este dia," in her low, drawling
voice.

Like the others, she was spotlessly clean, modest and gentle. I asked
her what on earth they did about bathing, for I had found the tub baths
with the muddy water so disagreeable. She told me the women bathed in
the river at daybreak, and asked me if I would like to go with them.

I was only too glad to avail myself of her invitation, and so, like
Pharoah's daughter of old, I went with my gentle handmaiden every
morning to the river bank, and, wading in about knee-deep in the thick
red waters, we sat down and let the swift current flow by us. We dared
not go deeper; we could feel the round stones grinding against each
other as they were carried down, and we were all afraid. It was
difficult to keep one's foothold, and Capt. Mellon's words were ever
ringing in my ears, "He who disappears below the surface of the Colorado
is never seen again." But we joined hands and ventured like children
and played like children in these red waters and after all, it was much
nicer than a tub of muddy water indoors.

A clump of low mesquite trees at the top of the bank afforded sufficient
protection at that hour; we rubbed dry, slipped on a loose gown, and
wended our way home. What a contrast to the limpid, bracing salt waters
of my own beloved shores!

When I thought of them, I was seized with a longing which consumed me
and made my heart sick; and I thought of these poor people, who had
never known anything in their lives but those desert places, and that
muddy red water, and wondered what they would do, how they would act,
if transported into some beautiful forest, or to the cool bright shores
where clear blue waters invite to a plunge.

Whenever the river-boat came up, we were sure to have guests, for
many officers went into the Territory via Ehrenberg. Sometimes the
"transportation" was awaiting them; at other times, they were obliged to
wait at Ehrenberg until it arrived. They usually lived on the boat, as
we had no extra rooms, but I generally asked them to luncheon or supper
(for anything that could be called a dinner was out of the question).

This caused me some anxiety, as there was nothing to be had; but I
remembered the hospitality I had received, and thought of what they had
been obliged to eat on the voyage, and I always asked them to share what
we could provide, however simple it might be.

At such times we heard all the news from Washington an