登陆注册
15684600000042

第42章

At eight in the morning we reached the remnant and ruin of what had been the important military station of "Camp Floyd," some forty-five or fifty miles from Salt Lake City.At four P.M.we had doubled our distance and were ninety or a hundred miles from Salt Lake.And now we entered upon one of that species of deserts whose concentrated hideousness shames the diffused and diluted horrors of Sahara--an "alkali" desert.For sixty-eight miles there was but one break in it.I do not remember that this was really a break; indeed it seems to me that it was nothing but a watering depot in the midst of the stretch of sixty-eight miles.If my memory serves me, there was no well or spring at this place, but the water was hauled there by mule and ox teams from the further side of the desert.There was a stage station there.It was forty-five miles from the beginning of the desert, and twenty-three from the end of it.

We plowed and dragged and groped along, the whole live-long night, and at the end of this uncomfortable twelve hours we finished the forty-five-mile part of the desert and got to the stage station where the imported water was.The sun was just rising.It was easy enough to cross a desert in the night while we were asleep; and it was pleasant to reflect, in the morning, that we in actual person had encountered an absolute desert and could always speak knowingly of deserts in presence of the ignorant thenceforward.And it was pleasant also to reflect that this was not an obscure, back country desert, but a very celebrated one, the metropolis itself, as you may say.All this was very well and very comfortable and satisfactory--but now we were to cross a desert in daylight.This was fine--novel--romantic--dramatically adventurous--this, indeed, was worth living for, worth traveling for! We would write home all about it.

This enthusiasm, this stern thirst for adventure, wilted under the sultry August sun and did not last above one hour.One poor little hour--and then we were ashamed that we had "gushed" so.The poetry was all in the anticipation--there is none in the reality.Imagine a vast, waveless ocean stricken dead and turned to ashes; imagine this solemn waste tufted with ash-dusted sage-bushes; imagine the lifeless silence and solitude that belong to such a place; imagine a coach, creeping like a bug through the midst of this shoreless level, and sending up tumbled volumes of dust as if it were a bug that went by steam; imagine this aching monotony of toiling and plowing kept up hour after hour, and the shore still as far away as ever, apparently; imagine team, driver, coach and passengers so deeply coated with ashes that they are all one colorless color; imagine ash-drifts roosting above moustaches and eyebrows like snow accumulations on boughs and bushes.This is the reality of it.

同类推荐
  • 佛制六物图辩讹

    佛制六物图辩讹

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 无生诀经

    无生诀经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 安溪县志

    安溪县志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Boy Captives

    The Boy Captives

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 上清华晨三奔玉诀

    上清华晨三奔玉诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 我就是僵尸

    我就是僵尸

    自古流传有旱魃、赢勾、后卿、将臣四者称为僵尸始祖。待四者消失后,第五者就此出现……后遇与之能复轮回者,故能转世轮回。千百年之轮回,使其生于今世,其名曰∶齐凌川书友群:271089688,一起玩耍哦!
  • 重生之地狱炼心

    重生之地狱炼心

    一朝浴火重生成魔界魔女,相思成怨,冷情魅惑,这就是今世的江颜玫
  • 答应我,别离开

    答应我,别离开

    最好的年纪,遇上了他,也是他带给她,最美好的记忆。他表面外表高冷,心思无人可知。他,沈斯祈,有点小傲娇,又有点小高冷,经常打篮球,当然足球也是会的,是个体育生,在班里也可以算是个班草吧...不过不知因为什么时候,他越发喜欢欺负孟凌萱,也是从那时候起,他每天都会给她搞各种各样的麻烦来她,孟凌萱,在朋友面前纯属女疯子一个,当然在外人面前,是个文文静静的小姑娘,学习成绩一般般,下课经常陪几个朋友看学长们打篮球,也是这样,她和他,关系越来越密切。“孟凌萱,帮我拿着!”沈斯起随手一扔,一脸霸道的对着孟凌萱说到。“喂,沈斯祈,你一会自己取!”孟凌萱一脸无语,放在旁边椅子上默默走开了。......
  • 天降物的异常见闻

    天降物的异常见闻

    随便介绍:这是个征战萝莉世界的故事。仔细介绍:这是个征战宇宙萝莉世界的故事。认真介绍:别说了,上车走!
  • 独宠丑妃

    独宠丑妃

    皇上掀开盖头,新娘脸上那块红色火焰胎记吓到了,立即将云桑梓打入冷宫。偏偏有人请求皇上将这丑公主,赐婚于他。他以为,她是不能飞上枝头成凤凰,才嫁给他。然,她嫁给他只为得到自由。他却独宠她,禁锢她!当爱情遭遇自由,当爱情直面梦想,结果会如何?她会如何抉择?
  • 找个姐姐当女友

    找个姐姐当女友

    漂亮姐姐?温柔女友?我很烦,别用专一妨碍我的花心路
  • 语笑今生

    语笑今生

    梧桐枝下,笑语嫣然。她的如花笑颜,吸引了贵为万民之上的一朝天子,倾倒了清冷淡漠的当朝国公,还惹来了边塞之外的夷狄之王......工于心计、聪明巧辩的她,却无法使自己摆脱命运的捉弄。连枝的银杏、展翅齐飞的双雕、相连相扣的玉连环,她的一生笑过、哭过、爱过、恨过,面对深爱的人,她将何去何从?
  • 神迹之歌

    神迹之歌

    世界没有绝对,只有偶然。一醉穿越时空,来到未知的世界,这里颠覆了龙海的认真,起伏跌宕的事件,究竟是谁在操控着这个世界?
  • 杨家将(中国古典演义小说精品书库)

    杨家将(中国古典演义小说精品书库)

    该书记叙的是北宋杨家将抗击辽邦入侵的传奇故事。此书从宋太祖平定北汉写起,演述杨业归宋和以他为首的杨门将士在与辽作战中出生入死:杨业遭奸臣陷害、作战失利后的壮烈牺牲,杨六郞继承父志的不屈不挠,杨宗保、穆桂英的威震敌胆,焦赞、孟良的忠勇无畏,以及后来十二寡妇征西等,故事流传很广,向为读者所喜爱。
  • 角逐王座

    角逐王座

    扶大厦之将倾,天才少年力挽狂澜,带领战队杀入世界决赛角逐王座却意外缺席,一时万夫所指。心灰意冷之下,少年退出联盟职业,成为一名闲人。没人知道,他何时回归职业,直至一款名为荣耀的游戏出现......