For a time we got on much better, but Maudie was now concentrating all her effort on the absolute ruination of the remaining front shoe and meeting with so much success that, by the time we limped into Deer Creek and came to an involuntary pause in front of a combination general store, gas station and garage, we were in desperate straits. Here, as in Wilbur, we made inquiries as to the possibility of obtaining a used shoe and, after some negotiation, the woman in charge of the place offered us a worn shoe free if we would by a new sock. This offer was of course joyfully accepted and in addition two patches and some commissariat supplies were purchased. The Damaged shoe was clean cut through in one place but was otherwise good and we believed would hold out for a long time if properly patched inside, so it was with more cheerfulness that we once again prepared to resume the journey, invoking blessings on the head of our benefactress, whom we named 'The Angel'. As mile after mile slipped past, without the dreaded warning that another repair must be made, our spirits continued to rise, and by the time we reached Spokane we were again considering the possibility of reaching Cranbrook before noon of the next day. The 15 miles of paved road to the east of Spokane was covered in short order and a proposed halt for supper near a river, close by where the paved road ended, was discarded in favor of pushing on to the place, North of Rathdrum, where we had lunched when outward bound. This was reached at about 8:30 p.m., the day's mileage being then 145 miles, and supper was soon ready. Heavy thunderclouds were coming up fast and, after a short discussion we decided to pull on although we had already been 14 hours on the road, and at 9:30 we again started. The rain first caught us before we had gone very far and the top was put up for the first time on the trip, then driving slowly and rather crowded by the various articles which had been hitherto stowed in the top, in addition to personal baggage taken in for protection from the rain, but in better spirits than we had been all day we headed for Sandpoint and the international boundary.

Crossing the two-mile bridge into Sandpoint was quite an eerie sensation, with the planks, wet and slippery, glistening in the light and apparently nothing on either side or below the narrow wooden roadway. The town, although it was then hardly midnight was locked in profound slumber, and we drove through some of the main streets in search of an all-night garage where gas might be purchased, but did not see a single person. In imagination we contrasted this condition with the life and movement that this town must have been in evidence when the town was young and crowded with spectators, lumberjacks and trappers and which would still no doubt have been present (the pelting rain may have had something to do with it) but for the blighting laws which, to satisfy a pharisaical group, decree that the open enjoyment of good fellowship be forbidden, but which are powerless to control the very abuses that gave pretext for their enactment in any other way than by driving them to fester and multiply below the surface.

It must have been some such thought as this that drove Maudie to attempt suicide by driving onto the railroad track, and one could hardly blame her, although immediate steps were taken to bring her back into the right way. Outside town some time was lost in assisting, by means of W's flashlight, another belated traveller, in difficulty and darkness from a short circuit. We followed this man for some distance, but Maudie in the darkness and on slippery roads could not keep pace with him so dropped back to the slow, sedate gait at which we had been traveling. Strange waves of silence had descended on us from time to time and now became the general rule, only occasionally broken by a gentle snore or impatient movement as one or other attempted to relieve his cramped position. B., in no better case that the rest but forced to maintain an attempt at watchfulness, fought off for some time the desire for sleep by watching an apparently endless procession of ghosts which, appearing suddenly by the side of the road, danced or flitted with many a strange contortion down the road ahead of us, to vanish as mysteriously as they had come when beyond the range of our lights - in reality of course nothing more than wisps of mist or vapour. At last warned by distinctly seeing the road running straight ahead, when in reality it turned sharply to the left, B. pulled up and slept and it is doubtful whether the rest realized we had stopped until a short time later we again proceeded. Bonner's Ferry was reached at 4 am. And finding an all night restaurant on the main street, we sacrificed our unblemished record and partook of a purchased meal under a roof other than the trees or sky. Let the fact that we had driven under adverse conditions a distance of 203 miles, had been on the road 22 consecutive hours, that it was still raining and we had to wait until gas could be procured, be sufficient excuse. It might as well be admitted that, after the first sensation of backsliding had worn off, the cold wet night drive described above produced a hearty appetite - which did not require, but would not have been weakened by a stimulant, if such had been handy - and a proper appreciation of the hot breakfast provided most expeditiously by the imperturbable Chinaman who was on duty. This was followed by a wash in an inadequate basin aided by unsuitable soap and a fragmentary towel. Nothing so venturesome as a shave was attempted, even by W., but we felt better and tobacco once more tasted baccy.