SHEEP-HUNTING 165 



and sit down. We ain't much ' heeled ' ^ for 

 chairs, I guess, but you must make yourselves 

 as comfortable as you can." And so we sat down 

 and had a long talk with him about cattle and 

 hunting and Indians, and the lonely dangerous 

 life he led, and various other congenial topics of a 

 similar nature. We camped that night close to 

 the ranch, and on the follov^ng morning made 

 another excursion into the hills in the hope of 

 crossing the tracks of the sheep ; but finding that 

 we were in the position of little Bo-peep, and that 

 like her we had lost our sheep and could not tell 

 where to find them, and not having sufficient 

 leisure to adopt the policy of masterly inactivity 

 recommended to that young lady — a policy which, 

 moreover, we were forced to recognise would have 

 proved unavailing in our case, since we were 

 anxious only about the heads and horns of the 

 animals, and the position of their tails was a matter 

 of indifference to us in the event of their coming 

 home — and perceiving that the Indians had run 

 through the whole district and had scared the 

 game out of it, we very reluctantly abandoned the 



^ To be " heeled " signifies in Western phraseology to be prepared for, 

 or provided with, anything. The term is borrowed from the cockpit ; a 

 bird is said to be heeled when his spurs are put on and he is ready for 

 the fight. 



