When I came into the room Kate was sound asleep, and I could not help from feeling sorry for her. Imagine going to bed early in a place like this and on such a night. But it is after midnight now and time for a certain little girl I know to go to bed herself, so she can get her “beauty sleep” and look her best tomorrow, because—But I don’t know of anyone here who cares if she looks her best or not; do you, diary?
Wednesday, August 30: If we thought we were seeing wonders yesterday what about today, and it almost seems like there could not be anything more beautiful in heaven than some of the things that was on our rout today.
But there was an occurrence this morning that somewhat marred the pleasure of our drive from Old Faithful to the place we stopped for lunch. Everybody thought, of course, we would occupy the same seats in the coach like we did yesterday, at least I am sure most of us did, and we would of only for those two old impossible cats that sat in the back seat yesterday. They hurried through their breakfast and rushed out to the porch and climbed into the coach first, and took the second seat; and you can bet nobody was going to sit with them. I expect they thought Mr. Lester or Mr. Coles or somebody was going to climb in with them, just as though they were not old enough to be their grandmother. Then when we came out and saw it, Kate said to me:
“Girlie, you sit up in front because you can see so much better.”
So Mr. Lester helped me up in front, and Kate got in the back seat and Mr. Coles got in there with her, because he was standing back that way, and it would of seemed rude for him to come up in front. And then Mr. Lester said he supposed Mr. Garrett, being in charge, always sat in the front, and Mr. Lester went in the back seat, too, and the man and his wife and little boy were in the third seat, and that left myself and Mr. Garrett and the driver for the front seat.
I was terribly embarrassed for Kate’s sake, because I cannot imagine what she could of talked about to those two boys, and I knew they were disappointed, too, but were trying to make the best of it and at first Mr. Garrett seemed to realize how ridiculous it was and did not do much talking, but after a while the two chatterboxes on the second seat began asking him questions, and he had to answer them, but some of the things he told them were simply screaming, and I could see he was making regular fools of them. He told them, for instance, that the tourists in the park were called dudes, and those that drove autos were called toot dudes, and the driver on our coach was called a scissors bill, because he drove four horses, and the help in the park were called heavers and savages, and when a man and a girl went out for a spoon in the dark they called it rotten-logging, because the only place they could sit down would be on one of the old dead logs. And the worst of it was that the two old girls took it all in and giggled and tee-heed like they had no idea they were being made a fool of.
But the scenery was simply heavenly, though most of the way we were driving right on the edge of the canyon, and I was simply petrified sometimes for fear one of the horses would make a misstep and we would all be killed, and I wished more than once that Mr. Coles was sitting beside me, and I know I would not of felt half as nervous if he had of. He is one of the kind of man that a girl feels perfectly safe when they are together.
About noon we came to the place where they serve lunch, and they call it the “Thumb” because it is a part of Yellowstone Lake. The view of the lake was perfectly heavenly, and there was a soldiers’ camp there. Mr. Garrett said they have to keep soldiers in the park all the time on account of Mexico being so close.
When it came time to leave the “Thumb,” I saw to it that there would not be another embarrassing situation like in the a.m. I made believe to Kate that it made me dizzy to ride in the front seat, and she got up there, and I called Mr. Coles over to one side and asked him would he not ride in the back seat with me, as I had something important to tell him, so when we started he and myself were in the back seat, and the father and mother and little boy in their regular place, and Mr. Garrett and Kate and the driver in front, and poor Mr. Lester in the second seat with the two old girls. I would of felt sorry for him, only I knew he must be enjoying himself making fools of them, When we got started Mr. Coles said:
“Well, Miss Emerson, what is the big secret?”
“What do you mean, Mr. Coles?” I asked.
“You said you had something to tell me,” was his reply!
“Oh,” was my reply, “that was just a little piece of stradegy on my part. I could see how uncomfortable it was for all of us this morning.”
“I was perfectly comfortable,” he said.
“I do not mean physical comfort, Mr. Coles,” I said pointedly.
“Well,” was his reply, “I cannot think of any way I was not comfortable.”
“It’s dandy of you to act that way
