n dangers, in a far country,
away from mother, father, sister and brother--a country infested with
roving bands of the most cruel tribe ever known, who tortured before
they killed. We could not even pretend to be gay.

The travelling was very difficult and rough, and both men and animals
were worn out by night. But we were now in the mountains, the air was
cool and pleasant, and the nights so cold that we were glad to have a
small stove in our tents to dress by in the mornings. The scenery was
wild and grand; in fact, beyond all that I had ever dreamed of; more
than that, it seemed so untrod, so fresh, somehow, and I do not suppose
that even now, in the day of railroads and tourists, many people have
had the view of the Tonto Basin which we had one day from the top of the
Mogollon range.

I remember thinking, as we alighted from our ambulances and stood
looking over into the Basin, "Surely I have never seen anything to
compare with this--but oh! would any sane human being voluntarily go
through with what I have endured on this journey, in order to look upon
this wonderful scene?"

The roads had now become so difficult that our wagon-train could not
move as fast as the lighter vehicles or the troops. Sometimes at a
critical place in the road, where the ascent was not only dangerous, but
doubtful, or there was, perhaps, a sharp turn, the ambulances waited to
see the wagons safely over the pass. Each wagon had its six mules; each
ambulance had also its quota of six.

At the foot of one of these steep places, the wagons would halt, the
teamsters would inspect the road, and calculate the possibilities of
reaching the top; then, furiously cracking their whips, and pouring
forth volley upon volley of oaths, they would start the team. Each mule
got its share of dreadful curses. I had never heard or conceived of
any oaths like those. They made my blood fairly curdle, and I am not
speaking figuratively. The shivers ran up and down my back, and I half
expected to see those teamsters struck down by the hand of the Almighty.

For although the anathemas hurled at my innocent head, during
the impressionable years of girlhood, by the pale and determined
Congregational ministers with gold-bowed spectacles, who held forth
in the meeting-house of my maternal ancestry (all honor to their
sincerity), had taken little hold upon my mind, still, the vital drop
of the Puritan was in my blood, and the fear of a personal God and His
wrath s