PART II.
BY PYE POD AND MAC A'RONY.
XIX. Donk causes a sensation 153
XX. A donkey for Alderman 158
XXI. A donkey without a father 169
XXII. Rat trap and donkey's tail 173
XXIII. Mac crosses the Mississippi 178
XXIV. Pod hires a valet 183
XXV. Done by a horsetrader 190
XXVI. Pod under arrest 197
XXVII. Adventure in a sleeping bag 208
XXVIII. Mayor rides Mac A'Rony 213
XXIX. Across the Missouri in wheelbarrow 219
XXX. Pod in insane asylum 224
XXXI. Narrow escape in quicksand 237
XXXII. At Buffalo Bill's ranch 243
XXXIII. Fourth of July in the desert 250
XXXIV. Bitten by a rattler 253
XXXV. Havoc in a cyclone 260
XXXVI. Two pretty dairy maids 265
XXXVII. Donks climb Pike's Peak 273
XXXVIII. Sights in Cripple Creek 280
XXXIX. Baby girl named for Pod 287
XL. Treed by a silvertip bear 293
XLI. Nearly drowned in the Rockies 304
XLII. Donkey shoots the chutes 309
XLIII. Paint sign with donk's tail 319
XLIV. Swim two rivers in Utah 326
XLV. Initiated to Mormon faith 339
XLVI. Typewriting on a donkey 343
XLVII. Pod kissed by sweet sixteen 348
XLVIII. Last drop in the canteen 352
XLIX. How donkey pulls a tooth 364
L. Encounter with two desperadoes 369
LI. Donk, boy and dried apples 380
LII. Lost in Nevada desert 385
LIII. A frightful ghost dance 393
LIV. Across Sierras in deep snow 400
LV. All down a toboggan slide 409
LVI. 'Frisco at last, we win! 415
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
(Portrait) The traveler at the journey's end.
"I bade my friends farewell."
"We consumed a half hour in the gigantic task."
"I found the captive drinking with other jackasses."
"We tramped tired and footsore into the village."
"Mac could draw my luggage instead of carrying it."
"Mac's little legs would get stuck."
"Mac supervised the work."
"The only time I got ahead of him."
"I scrutinized his hat inquisitively."
"He accused me of attempting suicide."
"We made slow headway to the Mississippi.
"In this way I crossed that bridge of size."
"And I saw the streak of daylight."
"Mac was so slow that his shadow beat him to town."
"Over the Platte bridge, after blindfolding them."
"I killed my first rattlesnake."
"That was the town of Korty."
"Climbing Pike's Peak."
"He had caught a nice mess of trout."
"Trail through the timber."
"Independence Pass; one of the loftiest of the Continental Divide."
"Trail to Florisant."
"Two days of hard climbing to cross Western Pass."
"Through thickets, tangled roots and fallen trees."
"To swim and float on Salt Lake."
"Skull Valley desert, we stopped to feed and rest."
"The last and only drop."
"Just finished lunch when the possé arrived."
"Coonskin and I took shelter behind our donkeys."
"Through Devil's Gate, their panniers scraped the walls of the rocky gateway."
"Fired their revolvers in the air."
"Some Piute Indians who had camped close by."
"Playing Solitaire on Damfino's broad back."
"Began to plow snow toward Placerville.
"The cattle passed us, after we donks had broken the trail."
"Across on the exclusive Solano."
"I pointed toward the goal."
"The ferry approach in 'Frisco was choked with a rabble."
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PROLOGUE.
This is as true a story of my "voyage" as I am capable of writing. Besides the newspaper accounts, two magazine articles, illustrated on this subject have been published, the only ones contributed by me, and they hardly outlined the trip. I have left out a hundred interesting incidents and culled and edited until I am tired, in order to condense this volume to convenient size. On the other hand, notable adventures only recalled by my photographs have been cheated of a mention, because the donkey ate my notes--he ate everything in sight, and did not discriminate between a comic circus poster and a tragic diary.
Ever since completing the trip, I have promised this book "next month," but owing to the checkered career of the MS. with ninety-seven publishers (all of whom declared that the book should be brought out at once, but they lacked the nerve to publish it), I am only now able to fulfil my promises. This is no romance. When I did not walk with the donkey or carry him, he carried me the whole four thousand and ninety-six miles, which includes the distance traveled when he balked and backed.
With my two cameras I secured six hundred pictures descriptive of the journey across eleven states, through the four seasons, during that long, long year; only by them and my diary am I brought to realize it is not a wild, weird dream. Now it is over, I sometimes smile over things recalled which, when they happened, found me as serious as the donk--grave in the superlative degree--and thought-less people and those who never even crossed the plains by train may style my experience a mere outing or "picnic." General Fremont and other distinguished pioneers emphasize in their writings the pleasures of their overland trips. They, as did the emigrants of the '40s and '50s, set out in spring time from the Missouri or the Mississippi in companies, with money, wagons, cattle and supplies, and with one-third of the continent already behind them. The Indians and big game of the prairies provided excitement that lent a charm to the undertaking; it is dull monotony that kills.
I started four days before winter, practically without money, to support, from earnings only, myself and dumb partner from New York city to San Francisco.
It required twelve weeks to traverse the Empire State, through a severe season when and where I suffered the most. The delightful part of the journey was while crossing the Rockies. Instead of taking the shortest cut, I had to consider the towns where I might best make expenses, to look for the best roads and desert trails by springs. Three times when lost I traveled far out of my course, once twenty miles into a mountain forest.
It is only five days across by rail. Have you traveled it--in summer? How monotonous grew those seas of alkali, sand (rock waste), cacti and sage as the hours lengthened into days! Yet with comfortable beds, shade, meals served, cool drinks, and books to read, at times feeling yourself speeding through the air a mile to,the minute, you wearied of the "voyage." Five days! Multiply them into weeks, then into months, double and add five weeks--forty-nine weeks! Fancy yourself for such a period on a slow burro which walks half your natural pace, and so small that if you wear roller skates while in the saddle you may ease the animal; ride one mile astride; when you feel about to split, ride the second mile side-ways; when your back feels ready to break, ride the third mile Turkish fashion; by this time your legs are benumbed and your feet asleep, so walk a mile and carry the jackass; you will thereby quiet your nerves, rest your bones, and make better time.
If ever you are tempted to ride a donkey overland, REFRAIN. Rather creep across backwards on your hands and knees, or circumnavigate the globe in a washtub. If you still persist, why, ride a donkey twenty miles in a pouring rain, then follow your own judgment. If you wish my donkey's advice, I will introduce him. His head is longer than his ears, which was not the case when he set out with me.
R. P. W.
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