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DAWN AND THE DONS 121 circles and sustains her, and there she rides, safe as a

robin in its nest; sprigs of evergreen with wild flowers in her little hat, and large clusters in his.

Away they gallop over hill and valley, waking the wild echoes of the wood.” Nor was picknicking confined to the cavalier and his lady love. It was not uncommon to see an ox-cart, covered with mats, occupied by women and girls, drawn by three or four yoke of oxen, sally forth accompanied by Indian drivers and many dogs. The hallooing of the drivers, the barking of the dogs, and the laughter of the girls made a common chorus. These ox-carts were primitive and cumbersome affairs. Their wheels were cut transversely from the butt ends of trees, with a center hole for the wooden axle. Almost the only means of vehicular

cards were

traffic of that time in California,

sometimes

driven

two hundred

these ox-miles to