IN THE OLD WEST 81 



his saddle the coil of skin rope, one end of which 

 was secured round the neck of the horse, he pro- 

 ceeded to unsaddle; and whilst so engaged, the 

 three mules, two of which were packed, one with 

 the unbutchered carcass of a deer, the other with 

 a pack of skins, &c., followed leisurely into the 

 space chosen for the camp, and, cropping the 

 grass at their ease, waited until a whistle called 

 them to be unpacked. 



The horse was a strong square-built bay ; and 

 although the severities of a prolonged winter, with 

 scanty pasture and long and trying travel, had 

 robbed his bones of fat and flesh, tucked up his 

 flank, and " ewed " his neck, still his clean and 

 well-set legs, oblique shoulder, and withers fine as 

 a deer's, in spite of his gaunt half-starved appear- 

 ance, bore ample testimony as to what he had 

 been ; while his clear cheerful eye, and the hearty 

 appetite with which he fell to work on the coarse 

 grass of the bottom, proved that he had something 

 in him still, and was game as ever. His tail, 

 gnawed by the mules in days of strait, attracted 

 the observant mountaineers. 



" Hard doin's when it come to that," remarked 

 La Bonte. 



Between the horse and two of the mules a mu- 

 tual and great affection appeared to subsist, 

 which was no more than natural, when their mas- 

 ter observed to his companions that they had 

 traveled together upwards of two thousand miles. 



