MOUNT RAINIER 



a guide, and for his advice as to our proposed trip. 

 He was one of the few who marked out the Nisqually- 

 Cowlitz trail years ago. He had explored the moun- 

 tains about Takhoma as thoroughly, perhaps, as any 

 other white man. One of the earliest settlers, quiet, 

 self-reliant, sensible, and kindly, a better counselor 

 than he could not have been found. The trail, he said, 

 had not been traveled for four years, and was entirely 

 illegible to eyes not well versed in woodcraft, and it 

 would be folly for any one to attempt to follow it who 

 was not thoroughly acquainted with the country. He 

 could not leave his harvest, and moreover in three weeks 

 he was to cross the mountains for a drove of cattle. 

 His wife, too, quietly discouraged his going. She de- 

 scribed his appearance on his return from previous 

 mountain trips, looking as haggard and thin as though 

 he had just risen from a sick-bed. She threw out ef- 

 fective little sketches of toil, discomfort, and hard- 

 ship incident to mountain travel, and dwelt upon the 

 hard fare. The bountiful country breakfast heaped 

 before us, the rich cream, fresh butter and eggs, snowy, 

 melting biscuits, and broiled chicken, with rich, white 

 gravy, heightened the effect of her words. 



But at length, when it appeared that no one else who 

 knew the trail could be found, Mr. Longmire yielded to 

 our persuasions, and consented to conduct us as far as 

 the trail led, and to procure an Indian guide before leav- 

 ing us to our own resources. As soon as we returned 

 home we went with Mr. Coleman to his room to see a 

 few indispensable equipments he had provided, in order 

 that we might procure similar ones. The floor was 

 literally covered with his traps, and he exhibited them 

 one by one, expatiating upon their various uses. There 

 was his ground-sheet, a large gum blanket equally ser- 

 viceable to Mr. Coleman as a tent in camp and a bath- 

 tub at the hotel. There was a strong rope to which we 

 were all to be tied when climbing the snow-fields, so 

 that if one fell into a chasm the others could hold him 



