arrived. Almost at the same moment two for- 
bidding-looking Indians rode up to the camp. 
As it was twenty miles to a town and the outside 
country held very few people, the sheep-man 
was not expecting visitors. In fact, he was not 
aware that any one knew he had moved into the 
country. However, he smiled, held one hand 
high, and said, “How.” Then he asked them to 
dismount and eat. They made no reply at first, 
but after a little time one of them asked: “‘ You 
the sheep-squatter?” The man nodded. At 
this the Indian took a letter from under his hat 
and handed it to him. ‘From big white man,” 
he said, and the newcomers turned their horses 
and rode off down the canyon. 
The man held the letter until they were out of 
sight, then he gave it to his wife. | 
“Read it, Mother,” he said nervously, “my 
eyes are not so good.” 
He had never learned to read and of course his 
wife knew this perfectly well, but it was a way of 
his when he wanted her to read anything to make 
the excuse that his eyes were not good. 
With trembling fingers she opened the en- 
209 
