SMITHS LONELY RANCH. 163 



much of this kind of talk to be deterred from his un- 

 dertaking, and after two days of rest at the trading 

 post he was ready to start into the unknown land. 



Twenty miles of tedious travel over a dry and dusty 

 road carried them to Okonagan Smith's ranch, on the 

 shore of the lake which had given its name to the 

 settler. For thirty years this man had been cultivat- 

 ing a piece of land there, and he still has the country 

 all to himself. His ranch extended into the lake in 

 such a manner that it could easily be irrigated, and 

 it held a fine bearing peach and apple orchard. Here, 

 with his Indian wife and two half-breed daughters, 

 he was happy and contented away from the cares of 

 civilisation. 



After a bad night on account of the kicking and 

 squealing horses, an early start from the ranch was 

 made. The route lay eastward, over a country where 

 there was plenty of wood, water, and grass, and 

 Dyche felt that that trip was to be one of pleasure 

 instead of the hardships which he had previously un- 

 dergone. As the sequel will show, his calculations 

 were wrong. While passing along over easy trails 

 through the timber, the naturalists came into an 

 opening where the trees had been cut down and a 

 broad way cleaned off as if a right of way for a rail- 

 road had been cleared through the forest. The work 

 had evidently been done several years before, as the 

 stumps were old. The broad path could be seen 

 stretching away for miles in each direction, going 

 right over mountain and through valley, never devi- 

 ating from a straight line. The strange appearance 

 greatly puzzled the hunter and his companion, and 



