It was the glad summer time, but the travelers suffered little from the heat which is often unbearable in the deserts and valleys. Most of the country is so elevated that the climate is delightful throughout the warm months. Despite the season, however, they were caught in more than one terrific snow storm while groping through the foothills, and once a driving rain and sleet seemed to chill men and animals to their bones. But for the big fires that were kindled and kept vigorously going, Alden Payne believed some of them would have perished.