When the camp turned out at sunrise Billy had already been up, and on the wagon hood he had painted, with the stick and tar-pot used for greasing the wagon, the title: “HEE-HAW EXPRESS.” So, amidst laughter, the Hee-Haw Express it was which, soon after sun-up, joined the procession that, anew each day, filed out for the long trail to Pike’s Peak. The Hee-Haw Express, being mule-power, travelled faster than many of the other outfits. The road certainly presented a series of strange sights, as if everybody had thrown together whatever he could and was hastening from a fire or a plague. The Hee-Haw Express, at amble and fast walk, with Hi driving and his partners trudging as fast as they were able beside, gradually passed men with packs, men pushing handcarts and wheel-barrows, crippled ox teams, next an ox and a cow harnessed together, next a mule and an ox harnessed together; and so forth and so forth, all in the dust and the shouting and the rumbling and creaking and whip cracking. Almost all the other “Pike’s Peak pilgrims” passed by the Hee-Haw Express waved and shouted their greetings. “Trade you my wheel-barrow for a mule.” “You must be in a rush, strangers.” “What’s the fare?” To this Billy answered gaily: “Regular stage rates. Twenty-five cents a mile or hundred dollars to the mountains.” For that was what the Leavenworth & Pike’s Peak Express Company charged. Many of the other wagons also bore signs. “Pike’s Peak or Bust!” “Noah’s Ark!” “Root Hog or Die!” “Pike’s Peak Special!” “Bound For the Diggin’s!”――thus ran some of the lines to be noted as the Hee-Haw Express sturdily pressed forward. That night the road was one continuous camp, with fires glowing and canvas glimmering as far as the eye could see in either direction. Parties visited back and forth, men and women exchanged news and views, children played in the firelight shadows, babies cried, dogs barked, and not until after nine o’clock was the trail quiet enough so that nervous persons might sleep. However, Davy was not nervous; and from the snores he might judge that Billy and the rest were not nervous either. The next day the Hee-Haw Express started early, and was on the road even before sun-up. Billy and Hi and all were anxious to pass Fort Riley and strike the Smoky Hill Fork as soon as possible, and in advance of as many of these “pilgrims” as possible. The only excitement of this day was a sudden cheer adown the line and a craning of necks and waving of hands. Before, from the west, were approaching two vehicles――by the looks of them, and by the four mules, stages, both!