Soon after noon dim blue outlines came into view, which grew rapidly bolder and more distinct, and revealed themselves as the Rocky Mountains,--the "backbone of the American Continent," of which we have all heard so much in geographies and the newspapers.

It was delightful, in spite of dust and glare, to sit with that sweep of magnificent air rushing into their lungs, and watch the great ranges grow and grow and deepen in hue, till they seemed close at hand.

To Katy they were like enchanted land.

Somewhere on the other side of them, on the dim Pacific coast, her husband was waiting for her to come, and the wheels seemed to revolve with a regular rhythmic beat to the cadence of the old Scotch song,-- "And will I see his face again; And will I hear him speak ?" But to Clover the wheels sang something less jubilant, and she studied the mountains on her little travelling-map, and measured their distance from Burnet with a sigh.

They were the walls of what seemed to her a sort of prison, as she realized that presently she should be left alone among them, Katy and Polly gone, and these new friends whom she had learned to like so much,--left alone with Phil and, what was worse, with Mrs.Watson! There was a comic side to the latter situation, undoubtedly, but at the moment she could not enjoy it.
Katy carried out her intention.