218 SADDLE AND CAMP 



what wonderful people must live there, for they 

 sure must be fit for th' land, or th' Almighty 

 wouldn't let 'em stay." 



We walked down to the beach again, at his 

 suggestion, to see the lake by the light of a bril- 

 liant moon. The mountains threw black shad- 

 ows upon the near-shore waters, while beyond 

 them rippling waves glistened and sparkled to 

 the base of rising shore line opposite, while far 

 up the lake the star-sprinkled sky came down 

 to meet the sparkling waters. The only sound 

 was the lap of waves at our feet and the bark 

 of coyotes on the hills behind the ranch. 



"I often wonder," said my friend, "what the 

 world is like outside of this, and th' big ocean 

 with waves as high as these mountains. I've 

 never seen none of th' world exceptin' some of 

 these hills and canons and Montpelier. Mont- 

 pelier's a big place, an' they have all sorts of 

 contraptions there. You'll hit th' town to-mor- 

 row. I don't care much about it. Th' folks 

 seem different. 



"I was some interested in wagons that run 

 without horses — watcher call 'em? I don't re- 

 member. One of 'em tried to run down here in 

 th' summer an' got stuck just above in th' sand. 

 I'd like t' go an' see what there is in th' world, 

 for I expect there's a heap bigger places than 



