148 SADDLE AND CAMP 



tion, though they had crossed eight hundred 

 miles of rugged mountain and desert trails; 

 thanks to John's experience and care, they had 

 come through with clean, unblemished backs. 

 Both Button and Bill had packed loads of never 

 less than one hundred and often of two hundred 

 pounds throughout the hot summer, and it was 

 due alone to John's skill in adjustment and his 

 constant watchfulness that they had accom- 

 plished it with never a resultant gall or sore. 

 Anyone who has packed animals under similar 

 conditions will understand that this was a 

 really remarkable performance. 



Comrades of the trail, sleeping and eating 

 together, enjoying the same fire, and sharing 

 the same discomforts, become closely attached 

 to one another where they are congenial camp 

 companions. So it was with John and me, and 

 both of us were honestly sorry when we shook 

 hands and I rode away. Horses, too, no less 

 than men, form attachments on the trail, and 

 when we passed the corral in which Bill and 

 Shorty were confined, the two ran along the 

 fence and whinnied. Button answered them, 

 and only stolid old Heart, attending strictly to 

 his work, seemed not to care that he was parting 

 from them forever and gave them no heed as 

 he jogged out into the dusty canon trail. 



