47 6 CONSERVATION 



foot), you may suffer the disgrace of Possibly the horse wanted to go too. 



having to abandon your horse! Anyhow, you feel afterward that it 



Remembering all" these things, you was a good thing for both of you. 

 work down into that half-mile abyss of l'"t. returning to the daily routine of 

 rocks and trees. You come to places our lives, I note that the problems of 

 where your horse draws his feet to- mea.Ws to camp on and of horse- feed 

 gether and whimpers like a frightened summer and winter seem to grow big- 

 child. You coax and explain matters g? r every year. \\ e have more rangers 

 till he slides down somehow. Now and an<1 I110re horses. There are more tour- 

 then you tie him to some granite splin- Ms - more cattle-camps, more pressure 

 ter, and go ahead to map the course; " n " ur S-S resources. Most of the 

 you roll rocks out of the way. You go P e P le Nvll(l come P , hcre for summer 

 back, talk to your horse; you blind- are as nice a f c , an be - ln ! t , some of thei " 

 fold him for the last tremendous effort. rather c r wd tm "^ ' ] " r ;m & ors tel1 

 And thus you toil together all day long l me ( '; 1(1 storie , s around ^T f ami " 

 from dawn to dark, and you cross that ' ^member one winch has a 

 ... bearing on several ot our minor 

 cauon which no one else has ever i , ; 



crossed with a horse, and you camp in There was a professor of social sci- 



a meadow unknown and lovely, umram- ence in some stai( , a , 1( , remote institu . 



pled by cattle, m acres of wild lilies tion of learning who once came to Cali- 



and monks-hood, (borne one asks how fornia with hi ; wifo ;U](1 sister; b ht 



you can camp without a pack? You a lavish ,, utflti hire(1 a gui(1Ci anil 



have matches and a saddle-blanket, a c ij m b c ,i intn ()lle ,,f the na tional forests, 



tin cup, coffee, crackers, and a can of w i K . n as t | u . fates u ,, uM havc it | K . 



something or other. No one needs came inl() , n ,ij cl ul ,i, a sixty-dollar 



more.; fores1 ,, llan i 



But after supper you say to your- This guard had fenced in about til- 

 self: "I seem full of aches; guess I teen acres of meadow, where he 

 scraped somewhere sliding down those camped and went ever} day to work 

 rocks." And you examine yourself trails, look out for tires, and generally 

 and find a dozen or more cuts, scratches, improve thing>. 



bruises, abrasions, and wrenches. If ( )ne night, when he came back from 



you were a townsman you would be a smashing hard time of it, rolling big 



sent to the hospital, but up here it only locks into a creek to keep it from 



amuses you. Then you call up your washing out a trail land a lot of young 



horse to have a cracker, and you look pines, besides), he found the social 



him over to rind that he is batted and -cience man and hi> party camping at 



spotted all over in much the same way hU spring, and their eight animals were 



as you are. But neither of you would in his pasture. There wa- a sign on the 



admit that it was a high price for that gate, "'Property of the United States." 



canon. ;.nd the gate wa- padlocked, but the 



Some one asks me "was it absolutely professor had ordered the guide to 

 necessary to go into such a placer make a hole in the fence. 

 Couldn't one ride around it?" Yes, and The guard (who has my sympa- 

 no, to both questions alike. There thies) tried to express himself, and sug- 

 might be a possible power-plant site ge>ted other camping places, not far 

 down there, or a line for a flume, or a oft". I hit, as he said later, "The perfes- 

 new species of tree, you know. Broadly sor was a dinky little dude, an' tin- 

 speaking, too, no one can rightly know guide was jist a stable boy from San 

 his forest without conquering dozens of Jose. But his bosses was extra hungry, 

 just such places. because they hadn't had a noon-feed. 



"Then why not go afoot on these Came right by lots of grass; an' his 



wild explorations?" women folks were- along, an' they 



