work began. In the whole of the first day the way beneath their
feet was tolerably good, and the weather continued fine. It was one
long gradual ascent from the plain where the roads parted, but there
was no real labour in travelling. Mrs. Arkwright rode beside her
baby's mule, at the head of which the Indian always walked, and the
two men went together in front. The husband had found that his wife
would prefer this, as long as the road allowed of such an
arrangement. Her heart was too full to admit of much speaking, and
so they went on in silence.

The first night was passed in a hut by the roadside, which seemed to
be deserted,--a hut or rancho as it is called in that country.
Their food they had, of course, brought with them; and here, by
common consent, they endeavoured in some sort to make themselves
merry.

"Fanny," Arkwright said to her, "it is not so bad after all; eh, my
darling?"

"No," she answered; "only that the mule tires one so. Will all the
days be as long as that?"

He had not the heart to tell her that as regarded hours of work,
that first day must of necessity be the shortest. They had risen to
a considerable altitude, and the night was very cold; but baby was
enveloped among a pile of coloured blankets, and things did not go
very badly with them; only this, that when Fanny Arkwright rose from
her hard bed, her limbs were more weary and much more stiff than
they had been when Arkwright had lifted her from her mule.