P rincess Nell rode north into an explosive thunderstorm. The horses were 
driven nearly mad with terror by the cannonlike explosions of the thunder and 
the unearthly blue flashes of the lightning, but with a firm hand and a 
soothing voice in the ear, Nell urged them forward. The cairns of bones strewn 
along the roadside were evidence that this mountain pass was no place to 
dawdle, and the poor animals would be no less terrified huddling under a rock. 
For all she knew, the great King Coyote was capable of controlling even the 
weather itself and had prepared this reception to try Princess Nell's will.