Chapter XIX-XXV Summary

A hundred miles from Salt Lake City, the narrator notes that the anticipated poetry of the alkali desert soon fades out as reality sets in; they find themselves forced to plow and pull their way through the alkali desert, covered in dust and sand. Under the intense heat, the mules tire very quickly and tend to pull the coach in the wrong direction.

On the sixteenth day of the stagecoach ride, they encounter the Goshoot Indians. These Indians are dark skinned and live as nomads, similar to the Australian Bushmen. The narrator recounts that they once cowardly attacked a stagecoach carrying a judge and mortally wounded his driver, forcing the judge to drive the coach and find his way to the station by himself. The Goshoot Indians are a despicable type of human that is hurting the romantic reputation of the...