THE MULE DEER. 147 



that life in these hills and in that dry, matchless climate 

 gives to the men who live there. 



Meanwhile, I had not been idle. We had brought the 

 livers of the Deer; and by the time the horses were unloaded 

 and at their pickets again, the coffee, potatoes, bread, onions, 

 liver with bacon, were set, all smoking-hot, before him. 



The dark eyes glistened, the great, brown face flushed, as 

 ;he sight struck one sense and the odor another, and all, 

 the stomach. He sat down, removed his hat, bent his head 

 in reverence to the higher Father, and said: 



"The word of thanks, father, and I am ready! " 



It was body and soul working together, and every inch a 

 man! A fellow-ranchman came to his cabin one day, and said: 



"Mr. C , my old mother is dead. She was a Christian 



woman, and I don't want to put her in the ground like the 

 cattle we bury. There isn't a minister within thirty miles. 

 Your father was a minister; you have taught our Sabbath- 

 school. Would you come and say a word over my 

 mother? ' ' 



It was a new experience, and the big boy thought a 

 moment. 



" Whitehead, I never did anything of the kind; but if 

 it was my mother and I have got one whom I worship I 

 should feel as you do. Your mother shan't be buried like 

 a dog. I'll come." And he went. As he wrote me after- 

 ward, "I recalled the words I had so often heard you pro- 

 nounce over the dead. All alone, I read a passage of Script- 

 ure, sang a verse of a hymn, said a short prayer, said the 

 'dust to dust,' and all was over. It was a tight place, 

 father; all the men and women of the valley were there; but 

 I thought of mother, and it carried me through." 



A rough young ranchman said to him, one day: 



" Bates, we notice that you will take part with us in our 

 sports up to a certain point, and then you stop. We won- 

 der why. ' ' 



"Jerry, when I left my home, I made up my mind to go 

 nowhere and take part in nothing that would displease my 

 mother. ' ' 



