It fell
to our lot to go to breakfast with Major and Mrs. Wells and Miss
Wilkins.
An ambulance was sent the next morning, at nine o'clock, to bring
us up the steep and winding road, white with heat, which led to
the fort.
I can never forget the taste of the oatmeal with fresh milk, the
eggs and butter, and delicious tomatoes, which were served to us
in his latticed dining-room.
After twenty-three days of heat and glare, and scorching winds,
and stale food, Fort Yuma and Mr. Haskell's dining-room seemed
like Paradise.
Of course it was hot; it was August, and we expected it. But the
heat of those places can be much alleviated by the surroundings.
There were shower baths, and latticed piazzas, and large ollas
hanging in the shade of them, containing cool water. Yuma was
only twenty days from San Francisco, and they were able to get
many things direct by steamer. Of course there was no ice, and
butter was kept only by ingenious devices of the Chinese
servants; there were but few vegetables, but what was to be had
at all in that country, was to be had at Fort Yuma.
We staid one more day, and left two companies of the regiment
there. When we departed, I felt, somehow, as though we were
saying good-bye to the world and civilization, and as our boat
clattered and tugged away up river with its great wheel astern, I
could not help looking back longingly to old Fort Yuma.
CHAPTER VI
UP THE RIO COLORADO
And now began our real journey up the Colorado River, that river
unknown to me except in my early geography lessons - that mighty
and untamed river, which is to-day unknown except to the
explorer, or the few people who have navigated its turbulent
waters. Back in memory was the picture of it on the map; here was
the reality, then, and here we were, on the steamer "Gila,"
Captain Mellon, with the barge full of soldiers towing on after
us, starting for Fort Mojave, some two hundred miles above.
The vague and shadowy foreboding that had fluttered through my
mind before I left Fort Russell had now also become a reality and
crowded out every other thought. The river, the scenery, seemed,
after all, but an illusion, and interested me but in a dreamy
sort of way.
We had staterooms, but could not remain in them long at a time,
on account of the intense heat. I had never felt such heat, and
no one else ever had or has since. The days were interminable. We
wandered around the boat, first forward, then aft, to find a cool
spot.
