A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN 43 



our first view of Kelly's Butte, a remarkable 

 landmark to the westward of Fort Apache. 

 From the pine-clad wilderness where we stood 

 we looked down upon a wide range of country, 

 with stretches of verdureless, sand-piled desert, 

 the picturesque landscape meeting the sky far 

 to the westward in an opalescent haze. 



Kelly's Butte did not seem far away. The 

 uninitiated in Arizona travel would scarcely 

 have estimated it at more than five miles, but 

 distances in this transparent atmosphere are very 

 deceptive and one cannot judge them by ordi- 

 nary methods. I have seen mountains here that 

 did not seem ten miles away, but were, in fact, 

 a full fifty; and others that I should scarcely 

 have placed at more than twenty, but were as 

 a matter of fact more than a hundred. One 

 may travel toward a given object all day and 

 apparently not diminish its distance in the least. 



We descended into the canon and presently 

 came upon a forest rangers' cabin near a brook. 

 The rangers, D. B. Rudd and Benton Rogers, 

 typical Arizona frontiermen and two of the 

 tallest, lankiest men I have ever seen, greeted us 

 cordially, after the manner of wilderness dwell- 

 ers, and invited us to camp with them. The 

 stream, they informed us, was Rock Creek, and 

 fifteen miles from the fort. To reach Fort 



