CHAPTER VII. 



Undeserved Worries. 



No sooner were we shaken down in our new 

 quarters than I began to inquire about a team of 

 horses. I was told there was a team to sell at a log- 

 ging camp just outside the boundary of the ranch, 

 and was taken to look at them. They were by no 

 means first-class animals; but they were accustomed 

 to the hills, and they had been trained to haul logs — 

 both very useful qualities for clearing, the work I 

 wanted principally to engage them upon. The price 

 was not high. But I made no real attempt to buy 

 them. In consequence of a hint which I received, I 

 called at the Government Property Register Office, in 

 Nelson, and there learned, in answer to my inquiries, 

 that there was a mortgage upon the team ; for, in 

 British Columbia, all mortgages, whether upon land 

 or upon chattels, have to be registered to be effective 

 in law. 



Shortly after this I learned that a firm of horse 

 importers in Nelson had a team to sell. My in- 

 formant, who knew more about horses than I did, told 

 me that he had himself seen them, that they were 

 satisfactory animals, and that the price was so-and-so. 



I went into Nelson to look at them. On reach- 



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