Qt (THounfain (pong 



who had been sent with a rider to the summit 

 and was more than an hour overdue. Half a 

 mile above the mine we met Hesperus coming 

 deliberately down. He was not loafing, but was 

 hampered by a loose shoe. When he reached the 

 Camp Bird barn he stopped, evidently to have 

 the shoe removed. As soon as this was done, he 

 set off on a swinging trot down the trail. 



As Cricket and I went forward, I occasionally 

 gave her attention, such as taking off her sad- 

 dle and rubbing her back. These attentions she 

 enjoyed. I walked up the steep places, an act 

 that was plainly to her satisfaction. Sometimes 

 I talked to her as if she were a child, always 

 speaking in a quiet, conversational manner, and 

 in a merry make-believe way, pretending that 

 she understood me. And doubtless she did, for 

 tone is a universal language. 



At the summit Cricket met some old friends. 

 One pony had been ridden by a careless man 

 who had neglected to fasten the bridle-reins 

 around the saddle-horn, — as every rider is 

 expected to do when he starts the pony home- 

 ward. This failure resulted in the pony's en- 



173 



