THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 307 



calm man, with the light from one small window, or port-hole 

 rather, falling upon his table and his gray hairs ! 



The strange effect was not a little heightened by the sur- 

 roundings of this person. I had now, in the unbroken silence, 

 sufficient leisure to observe these appliances, which were en- 

 tirely inexplicable to me at the time. First, I noticed a 

 small rude furnace in one corner, near to which were scat- 

 tered about some small hammers, files, tongs and other tools 

 used in working iron and steel ; while near the desk were some 

 ten or a dozen small models carved from wood with great 

 neatness, and having occasional springs, bolts, &c. of metal. 

 Such a maze of wheels, cogs, cranks, balls, bolts and all that 

 sort of thing was there, that one could form no idea of their 

 meaning, not even whether they all belonged to the same 

 machine, or were the parts of one whole, waiting to be put to- 

 gether ! 



On knots and pegs, in crannies, and strewed in all sorts of con- 

 fusion about the floor and on rude shelves, were every con- 

 ceivable variety of parts that appeared to have been formed 

 for machinery of models or a model. These parts were prin- 

 cipally of wood, as the metals seemed to have been used with 

 every possible frugality, since they must, of course, have been 

 very difficult to obtain and to transport in such a region. A 

 few of the simplest of the common implements of carpentry 

 were hung around the room or thrown about the floor. It 

 seemed as if the tools and their creations had all been shaken 

 in a bag together and then whirled around the room to roll 

 together, to fall or stick, where and as they might. It was 

 certainly a droll looking place, and there was one mysterious 

 seeming recess which was hung with skins, but which was, 

 as it appeared to me, too small for a bed, and added no little 

 to my curiosity. 



The woman now came in. 



"He is bruised, William, what shall we do?" 



The man looked up, slightly. 



