152 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



ground. But it was too late to get there, and as darkness 

 began to come on we turned aside and made camp in a 

 ravine. It was not a pleasant camp, in fact it was the worst 

 one of the whole trip, the ground being uneven and too 

 sloping for a good place to spread the bed, and the sage- 

 brush, our only fuel, although plentiful was not of thrifty 

 growth. However, the night was fine and we had antelope 

 steak for supper, and so far the trip had been a success, 

 exceeding our anticipations. Charley's pipe was filled and 

 refilled and filled again, and we sat and talked and laid plans 

 for the next day. Charley's tobacco was of good quality, 

 and I took care to sit where I could catch a whiff of its 

 fragrant fumes now and then, and thought I was enjoying 

 it as much as Charley himself. When camping out it is 

 always a pleasure to have a good smoker in camp, provided, 

 of course, that he uses good tobacco. It was arranged that 

 the next morning I should go in the direction of the "lone- 

 some pine," which now was not more than a mile and a 

 half away, and look out a good place for a permanent camp, 

 while Charley with his shot gun, provided with buckshot 

 cartridges, would hunt in the vicinity of the camp for any 

 kind of game that might be found. 



I found a good camping place right at the foot of the 

 cliff of the lone pine it was protected on all sides except- 

 ing the east by steep rocky banks, the place for the bed 

 being grassy and level, with plenty of dry pine wood and 

 sage brush convenient for fuel. There was no water any- 

 where near, the last pool in Sand Creek being as many as 

 three miles down the creek to the south. But we did not 

 need the water, as snow could be melted in the coffee pot 

 and tin pail for all needed purposes. Some time before our 

 arrival there had been a snow storm the snow had drifted 

 considerably, but was now all melted except the drifts which 

 were frequent, and in places from two to three feet deep. 

 We had melted snow in the tin pail for the pony, but he 



