grew frigid and the trouble began to 

 brew. 



While perfectly willing to watch the 

 logomachy when it should arrive, I had 

 no wish to take part. I was willing to 

 make money, but not to make enemies, 

 so Nimrod and I removed ourselves as 

 much as possible from the Carters ville 

 Hotel, took long walks and rides over 

 the glorious Chihuahua Mountains, 

 poked around the abandoned mines, 

 spied out the deer and mountain lion 

 and the ubiquitous coyote and all the 

 indigenous beasts and birds of the air 

 thereof. We usually managed to ar- 

 rive at the mine when the partners and 

 their wives were elsewhere. 



The mine, our mine, was a long hori- 

 zontal hole in the mountain, with a 

 tiny leaf-choked stream trickling past 

 the entrance, heavy timbers propping 



