TENTH CHAPTER 

 HOMEWARD BOUND 



A T 4 o'clock on the morning following our 

 •^^ return with the rams which Cap and I had 

 killed (September lo), Longley and his packers 

 were astir and went horse-wrangling. They re- 

 turned at 7, however, without success. After 

 breakfast they went out again, and at noon 

 returned with the horses, minus four that could 

 not be found. The opinion prevailed that they 

 had gone back to the Generc, eighteen miles 

 east, where their favorite pea-vine grows in such 

 profusion. Following a short consultation after 

 lunch, Jimmie Brown was dispatched to the 

 Generc with orders to find the horses and return 

 as soon as possible. Accordingly, he packed a 

 scanty grubstake that would hardly fill an or- 

 dinary hat, and without taking frying pan, 

 knife or fork, tied his meager grub sack to the 

 side of his saddle and mounted. "Where is your 

 bedding?" I asked. "My saddle blankets," said 

 he laconically, and he rode off. When I reflected 

 that the stream at our door froze the night before 

 and that a cup of water in my tent the same 

 night froze solid, and furthermore that Jimmy 



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