HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK! 233 



place to sleep beneath his roof? We had brought 

 plenty of food and some blankets with us, and all we 

 required was four w r alls around us and a roof over our 

 heads. Yes, he replied, we were welcome to such ac- 

 commodation as he had, and he could even give iis a 

 bed, though it " was n't very stylish." Those were 

 among the sweetest and most musical words that ever 

 fell on my ear. 



Having tethered our burros in a grassy cove on the 

 mountain side, and cooked our supper in the gloaming 

 among some rocks by the bank of the brawling stream, 

 we turned into the cabin for the night, more than grate- 

 ful for a shelter from the chill winds scurrying down 

 from the snow-capped mountains. The shack nestled 

 at the foot of Mount Kelso, which we had also mistaken 

 for Gray's Peak. As we sat by the light of a tallow 

 candle, beguiling the evening with conversation, the 

 miner told us that the mountain jays, colloquially called 

 " camp robbers," were common around his cabin, espe- 

 cially in winter ; but familiar as they were, he had never 

 been able to find a nest. The one thing about which 

 they insist on the utmost privacy is their nesting places. 

 My friend also told me that a couple of gray squirrels 

 made the woods around his camp their home. The jays 

 would frequently carry morsels of food up to the branches 

 of the pines, and stow them in some crevice for future 

 use, whereupon the squirrels, always on the lookout for 



