Two horsemen, one of whom led a third horse, carrying a pack-saddle, had reached the borders of the desert just as the earthquake began.

When the first shock came, they were riding past a grove of live-oaks: they immediately dismounted, made fast their horses, and lay down beside some bushes that skirted the grove.

Neither the earthquake nor the storm was so severe as was the case farther eastward.

In an hour all was over, and they remounted and continued their journey, guiding their course by the stars.
"It was thus that we rode before, Kamaiakan," remarked the younger of the two travellers.

"Yonder bright star stood as it does now, and the hour of the night was the same.