146 With Feet to the Earth 



where to get 'em. That's liable to make 

 trouble in this park." 



We were inclined to jest at the sus- 

 picions of our guide, though he had lived 

 on the frontier from childhood, and had a 

 quick opinion that was often surprisingly 

 right, a result of trained observation or 

 instinct As we sat on the earth, gazing 

 into the blaze, listening to the voice of the 

 wind in the pines and the chiming and 

 patting of big and little waves on the 

 beach, another fire flickered at a distance : 

 two prospectors, travelling southward, had 

 stopped there for the night. While getting 

 their supper this happened : The rustler, 

 who should have been asleep in his blanket, 

 suddenly appeared before the younger of 

 the men with a knife pointed at his breast, 

 and in a menacing tone demanded, " What 

 did you tell those people" (indicating us) 

 "that I killed that Indian down at the 

 lake for?" 



The one addressed looked quietly along 

 the knife-blade, then, with a quick move- 

 ment, whipped his pistol from its sheath 

 and levelled it between the man's eyes. 



