Hunting in Many Lands 



blanket of about the texture of a gunny sack. 

 He lighted a long smouldering fire, stripped 

 himself naked, except a breech-clout, and, with 

 his back to the coals and his front protected 

 by his gauzy blanket, he slept until the cold 

 roused him, when he put on more wood and 

 slept again. I offered him four pairs of warm 

 horse blankets to sleep in, but that was not 

 the thing. He said that he needed to have 

 the fire strike him in the small of the back, 

 and that he slept in that way always. So 

 throughout the night, in my wakeful moments, 

 I saw the light reflected from his mahogany 

 person. Evidently snow or cold rain would be 

 disastrous to people who need a fire all night; 

 for, with no covering against the cold and with 

 fires extinguished by storm, they might easily 

 freeze to death. 



We were packed and marching at 7:30 next 

 morning, and to those who know the inward- 

 ness of packing in winter, that statement means 

 a good deal. It means, for instance, that J. B. 

 got up, at my summons, long before dawn and 

 cooked a splendid breakfast, and that the 

 mules were caught and grained and saddled, 

 and the packs made and lashed, by the ear- 

 liest sun. 



68 



