114 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



prosecute a search for a shelter in which to spend the 

 night and to speculate on the chances of the few 

 matches in my pocket being damp, and whether I 

 should leave Pete, as I had no hobbles, with his saddle 

 and bridle on all the time. I then caught sight of 

 what seemed to be a column of smoke rising out of 

 some timber about twelve miles off, and I turned 

 towards it at once in a more hopeful frame of mind. 

 There I arrived at last, and found half a dozen large 

 tents and as many waggons, but evidently, as I could 

 see, not belonging to the party for which I was in 

 search. No one was visible, though horses were 

 picketed all around in considerable numbers. After 

 shouting for some time, several heads appeared at the 

 openings, and I was informed, in answer to my 

 enquiries, that no "outfit" had passed that way. 

 Presently, from one of the covered waggons, a tall 

 bearded man, who was evidently the "boss," shouted 

 what for the moment sounded like "Be off, I say; 

 be off." I soon found he had really said " Get off; " 

 and a longer acquaintance with the West would have 

 taught me that a stranger always meets with the 

 kindest hospitality whenever he stands in need of it, 

 more especially at a "Western miners' camp, for such 

 I discovered was the character of the party I had 

 chanced to find camped here. 



Many a laugh have I had since with my then host, 

 who I found was Mr. Foote, the well-known saddle- 

 maker of Eawlins, camping out to do a little speculat- 

 ing in placer- mining for a change, and who most hos- 



