the half-dozen cotton woods and rank 

 grass that dared to struggle for exist- 

 ence in that baked up sage-brush waste 

 which the government has set aside for 

 the Raven paradise. 



We jumped — no, that is horse talk 

 — we sprawled off our wheels and left 

 the stupid things lying supinely on 

 their sides, like the dead lumpish 

 things they are, and descended a steep 

 bank some ten feet into the gully. 



It was a gruesome sight, in the hour 

 before sunset, with not a soul but our- 

 selves for miles around. The lowering 

 sun lighted up the under side of the 

 leaves and branches and their strange 

 burdens, giving an effect uncanny and 

 weird, as though caused by unseen foot- 

 lights. Not a sound disturbed the op- 

 pressive quiet, not the quiver of a twig. 

 Five of the six trees bore oblong bun- 





j^^C^'" 



