I recall the picture well enough to-day--the sun-blistered sands all about, the short and scraggly sage-brush, the long line of white-topped wagons dwindling in the distance, the thin-faced figures which crowded about.
The captain stood at the head of the front team, his hand resting on the yoke as he leaned against the bowed neck of one of the oxen.

The men and women were thin almost as the beasts which dragged the wagons.

These latter stood with lolling tongues even thus early in the day, for water hereabout was scarce and bitter to the taste.

So, at first almost in silence, we made the salutations of the desert.

So, presently, we exchanged the news of East and West.