Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1913-02-20

out in the desert where there would
be no wood to burn, etc. Well. the
children are getting sleepy so we
might as we'll fold up our tables
and chairs and unfold our cots and
go to bed. The children are in bed.
But bark! hear a man calling
They laugh at me and tell me !
am nervous, that what we have
been talking about weighs on my
mind. But harkl l hear 1t again.
step outside the door and ] hear
1t very distinctly down by the spring:
Mr.. Patton now goes out with the
lantern and when he returns for
the axe we ask him what it was.
He said three elephants and two
camels. Goodness, from the noise
i should say SO. When he returned
he said there we're 80 horses, 20
mules and all kinds of animals from
elephants and lions to little mon-
keys. In fact 1t was circus which
had been showing In the towns on
the Santa Fe railroad. As the wea-
ther was so nice and warm they
thought they would travel overland
to get ON the Southern Pacific or
Rock Island. The men were very
thinly clad and we're suffering from
cold. They put most OF. the horses
in the old house and found a room
they could put the elephants IN.
They then built fires in all three
fire places. The elephants appre-
ciated the fire as much as the men.
In fact they were so chilled that
they crowded so close to the fire
that one of the big elephants burn-
ed place on his side as large as
a wash tub before he felt the heat
and the baby elephant (Which, oy
the way was about as large an ele-
phant as / ever saw until saw the
two other elephants) burned over
half his ear off. They had to take
the monkeys out Of the cages and
nut them In sinall boxeS TO keep
them warm. q,
Two hours after they arrived ey-
erything was quiet except the horses
moving about. About an hour after
sunrise we we're awakened by the
cook ceiling the men to get up to
breakfast. The sun was shining
bright but It had turned several de-
grees colder. The circus departed
about ten o'clock. But an untravaF
ed trail didn't look very inviting TO-
start out on.
We decided we would stay where
we were another day. Along toward
evening the mayor of Albuquerque
who had been out logging the road
stopped on HIS return. He hnd
broken the road for 29 or 30 miles.
The next morning being clear
morning we started for Quema
which we reached about the middle
OF the afternoon. We are now 80
miles from the railroad and In g
town where only one person can
speak English. But we got a room
from Mexican as the ground was
covered with snow and 1t didn't
make camping very pleasant. The
next morning we started out across
trackless country, 81 miles to the
next town. We had broken spring
the day before so we told our Cali
fornia friends who were not quite
ready that we had better start on
ahead as they could travel faster
than we could. They would be sure
to catch up with us about noon. We
had gone about three miles when II
began to snow and blow like regu-
lar Kansas blizzard. OF course we
didn't suffer any as we had our car
all enclosed, but the idea Of travel
Ing across trackless country in a
snow storm wasn't very pleasant.
In my next letter will tell you
some OF the joys CD Of being q
tourist. From your friend in the
land of oranges.
MRS. LEONARD PATTON.