24 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



to go inside for consultation, and after this reluctant 

 consent was given for them to enter. 



The occupants of the cabin, two men, a woman, 

 and some children, eyed the visitors with suspicion, 

 and to tell the truth they were anything but reputa- 

 ble-looking citizens as they stood before the big fire- 

 place with their clothes dripping wet and their faces 

 and hands cut and scratched from contact with 

 bushes and rocks on the trail. Dyche noticed that 

 the woman seemed frightened, and to calm her 

 fears he took from his haversack a package of 

 coffee and from his pocket a dollar which he offered 

 her to make him some coffee. This partially dis- 

 pelled the cloud of suspicion which rested upon them, 

 and soon the travellers were making a meal from the 

 cold lunch which they had in their haversacks and 

 the steaming coffee. Securing a place beside the 

 fire they were soon sleeping the sleep of exhaus- 

 tion. 



Next morning Johnson, the proprietor of the ranch, 

 appeared ashamed of his inhospitality of the pre- 

 vious night, and explained that it was not from 

 any desire on his part to mistreat the travellers, but 

 that he was not in good condition to accommodate 

 strangers and felt particularly sensitive on the sub- 

 ject, as he had had a very bitter experience with a 

 party of Englishmen a few weeks before. These men 

 came to his ranch, asking for accommodations, and 

 put on such lordly airs and found so much fault 

 that Johnson and his wife determined to allow 

 no more such people on their place. When Dyche 

 and Russ came they supposed that it was another 



