226 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



leaving home ! Their domestic ties were so strong they 

 bound them with cords of steel and hooks of iron to 

 stall and stable-yard ! The thought of forsaking friends 

 and kindred even for only a few days wrung their 

 loving hearts with anguish ! No wonder we had a 

 delicate and pathetic task on hand when we attempted 

 to start our caravan up the mountain road. From 

 side to side the gentle animals wabbled, their load of 

 grief weighing them down tenfold more than the loads 

 on their backs, and times without count they were 

 prompted to veer about and "turn again home." 



Much labor and time and patience were expended 

 in persuading our steeds to crawl up the hill, but I am 

 delighted to say that no profane history was quoted, 

 as we were a strictly moral crowd. At length we 

 arrived in state at the village of Silver Plume. Canter 

 into the town like a gang of border ruffians we did not ; 

 we entered deliberately, as became a dignified company 

 of travellers. But here a new difficulty confronted us, 

 stared us blankly in the face. Our little charges could 

 not be convinced that there was any occasion for going 

 farther than the town. They seemed to have con- 

 scientious scruples about the matter; so they stopped 

 without any invitation from their riders, sidled off, 

 turned in toward the residences, stores, groceries, shoe- 

 shops, drugstores, barns, and even the saloons, the 

 while the idlers on the streets and the small boys were 



