Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1907-08-30
Santa Fe., n. NJ. ADril -

Santa Fe., N NJ, April -.
Arrived In Santa Fe, l inquired
where Abner Fairbrother could be
mine, sick
Upon inquiring as to the location of
the Placide, l was informed that it
was fifteen miles or so distant in the
mountains, and upon my expressing an
intention of going there Immediately, /
was given what thought very unneces-
Iary advice and then directed to a GER
tain livery stable, where l was told 1
could get the right kind of horse and
such equipment as l stood In need of.
l thought l was equipped all right as
1t was, but said nothing and went on
to the livery stable. Here was shown
n horse which l took to at once and
was about to mount when a pair of
leggings was brought to me.
you will need these for your Jour-
ney" said the man.
Journey" l repeated. Fifteen
miles,"
The livery stable keeper, a half
breed with peculiarly pleasant smile,
cooked up his shoulders with the re-
mark:
"Three men as willing, but as mex
perienced as yourself, have attempted
the same journey during the last week,
and they all came back before they
reached the divide. You will proba-
bly, come back, too, but I shall give
you as fair start as IL I knew you
were going straight through"
But a woman has done It," said l;
"a nurse from the hospital went up
that very road last week"
ooh, women, they can do anything
women who are nurses! But they
don't start of alone. You are going
alone"
"Yes." I remarked grimly. News
paper correspondents make their jour
neys singly when they can"
"Oh, you are newspaper CORE
the papers want to see that sick old
man? Because he's so rich?"
Don't you know?" asked.
He did not seem to.
wondered at his ignorance, but did
not enlighten him.
Follow the trail and ask your way
from time to time. All the goatherds
know where the Placide mine is"
Such were his simple instructions as
he headed my horse toward the canyon.
But as drew off he shouted out:
IF you get stuck, leave 1t to the
horse. He knows more about it than
you do"
With a vague gesture toward the
northwest he turned away, leaving me
in contemplation of the grandest seen
cry I had yet come upon In all my
travels.
Fifteen miles! But those miles lay
through the very heart of the noun
tains, ranging anywhere from 5000 to
1000 feet high. In ten minutes the
city and all signs of city life were out
of sight In five more l was seeming
ly as far removed from all civilization
as if had gone a hundred miles into
the wilderness
AS my horse settled down to work,
picking his way now here and now
there sometimes over the brown earth,
hard and baked as in n thousand fur
naces, and sometimes over the stunted
grass whose needleliks stalks seemed
never to have known moisture, l let
my eyes roam to such peaks as were
not cut off from view by the nearer
hillsides and wondered whether the
snow which capped them was whittier
than any other or the blue of the sky
bluer, that the two together had the
effect upon me of cameo work on a
huge and unapproachable scale.
Certainly the effect Of these grand
mountains, into which you leap with
out any preparation from the streets
and market places of Americas oldest
city, is such as is not easily described.
We struck water now and then-nar-
row watercourses, which my horse fol-
lowed In mldstream-and, more inter
esting yet, goatherds with their tiocks,
Mexicans all, who seemed to under
stand no English, but were picturesque
enough to look at and welcome break
in the extreme lonesomeness Of the
way.