IN COWBOY LAND. 245 



were slight rustling noises among the small 

 pines to one side of them. 



At noon they were back within a couple of 

 miles of camp. In the high, bright sunlight 

 their fears seemed absurd to the two armed 

 men, accustomed as they were, through long 

 years of lonely wandering in the wilderness 

 to face every kind of danger from man, brute, 

 or element. There were still three beaver traps 

 to collect from a little pond in a wide ravine 

 near by. Bauman volunteered to gather these 

 and bring them in, while his companion went 

 ahead to camp and make ready the packs. 



On reaching the pond Bauman found three 

 beaver in the traps, one of which had been 

 pulled loose and carried into a beaver house. 

 He took several hours in securing and pre- 

 paring the beaver, and when he started home- 

 wards he marked with some uneasiness how 

 low the sun was getting. As he hurried to- 

 wards camp, under the tall trees, the silence 

 and desolation of the forest weighed on him. 

 His feet made no sound on the pine needles, 

 and the slanting sun rays, striking through 

 among the straight trunks, made-a gray twilight 

 in which objects at a distance glimmered in- 

 distinctly. There was nothing to break the 

 ghostly stillness which, when there is no 

 breeze, always broods over these sombre 

 primeval forests. 



At last he came to the edge of the little 

 glade where the camp lay, and shouted as he 

 approached it, but got no answer. The camp 

 fire had gone out, though the thin blue smoke 



