86 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



He raved and howled until the air seemed to take 

 on a pale blue tinge and smelled sulphurous. Mrs. 

 Dyche concluded it would be well to go down and 

 watch the water run in the river while Dyche tried 

 in vain to calm the enraged miner. The cabin had 

 been completely looted, to all appearances. Beaty 

 pointed to places where he had had a ham or a side 

 of bacon hanging or where a can of syrup stood, but 

 these places were all vacant now. He took a wide 

 circuit around the place to find a trail, but all in 

 vain. The only tracks to be seen were those made 

 by Beaty himself during his last visit. Down by the 

 river were seen small tracks, like those of a woman, 

 and Beaty came in full of the idea that he had dis- 

 covered the whole plot. 



" There was a white man with a Mexican woman 

 and they had a train of burros, for they could never 

 have carried off all that stuff on their backs. I will 

 sure find them if it takes my whole life. " 



All night long the visitors could hear their host 

 grumbling, and ever and anon he would break out 

 with oaths that would make Mrs. Dyche shudder. 

 Beaty was up early and started off down the Pecos 

 River to his nearest neighbour, twenty-five miles 

 away, in hopes of getting some trace of the despera- 

 does. Dyche and his wife concluded that it would 

 be best to get out of the county themselves, and 

 notwithstanding they had just had a hard three-days' 

 trip up the mountains, they started back for Harvey's 

 ranch. They had plenty of provisions and the river 

 was full of fish, but the talk about bears and the 

 experience with robbers were too much for Mrs. 



