" I have thought this over some, and I consider
the compliment doubtful.
We remained one day longer in Helena than we had expected for the bal
masque; consequently we were obliged to start back the very next
morning, directly after breakfast, and that was not pleasant, for we
were very tired. The weather had been bitter cold, but during the
night a chinook had blown up, and the air was warm and balmy as we
came across the valley. When we reached the mountains, however, it was
freezing again, and there was glassy ice every place, which made
driving over the grades more dangerous than usual. In many places the
ambulance wheels had to be "blocked," and the back and front wheels of
one side chained together so they could not turn, in addition to the
heavy brake, and then the driver would send the four sharp-shod mules
down at a swinging trot that kept the ambulance straight, and did not
give it time to slip around and roll us down to eternity.
There is one grade on this road that is notoriously dangerous, and
dreaded by every driver around here because of the many accidents that
have occurred there. It is cut in the side of a high mountain and has
three sharp turns back and forth, and the mountain is so steep, it is
impossible to see from the upper grade all of the lower that leads
down into the canon called White's Gulch.
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