call them black things off there on the slope?"

"Horsemen. No, cattle," replied Madeline, doubtfully.

"Nope. Jest plain, every-day cactus. An' over hyar--look down
the valley. Somethin' of a pretty forest, ain't thet?" he asked,
pointing.

Madeline saw a beautiful forest in the center of the valley
toward the south.

"Wal, Miss Majesty, thet's jest this deceivin' air. There's no
forest. It's a mirage."

"Indeed! How beautiful it is!" Madeline strained her gaze on
the dark blot, and it seemed to float in the atmosphere, to have
no clearly defined margins, to waver and shimmer, and then it
faded and vanished.

The mountains dropped down again behind the horizon, and
presently the road began once more to slope up. The horses
slowed to a walk. There was a mile of rolling ridge, and then
came the foothills. The road ascended through winding valleys.
Trees and brush and rocks began to appear in the dry ravines.
There was no water, yet all along the sandy washes were
indications of floods at some periods. The heat and the dust
stifled Madeline, and she had already become tired. Still she
looked with all her eyes and saw birds, and beautiful quail with
crests, and rabbits, and once she saw a deer.