Mr. Dide, His Vacation in Colorado

He changed his lines and whip into his left hand and passed over the suspected coin with his right. I substituted a silver dollar, which he slipped into his pocket, straightened out his lines and brought the mules down to a trot.

"Why don't you let 'em out, driver?" inquired the Major.

The driver looked round as if he thought I had addressed him.

"I think you can let 'em go," I said, and he did! Along the straight chutes! around the bends! away and down, with a merry jingle of the harness, the cool air turned into a breeze that caressed our cheeks as lovingly as the kiss of a child! Away and down, with the gleeful "hi! he! g'lang there" of the driver, the mountains began to tower above us! Away and down, with the sharp reports of the curling lash, the cold granite and dwarfed shrubs changed, and we sped in among the stately pines! Away and down, with hearts as light as the perfumed air, the flashes of the sun stealing through the trees salutes our flushed faces, and every moment a Te Deum Laudamus whispers in ecstasy from our half-closed lips. Eight miles and a half in thirty-five minutes! Was there ever before such a ride vouchsafed to mortal?

We sighed for four fresh mules to take us the remainder of the way. The exhilaration was not lost behind the horses, it was only toned down. As the evening shades began to touch the valley and while the sun yet kissed the mountains above us, we brought up at the starting-place, happy.

1

Hagerman Tunnel is two thousand two hundred feet in length and penetrates the Saguache Range at an elevation of eleven thousand five hundred and twenty eight feet above sea level.