ROCKIES IN SEPTEMBER 123 



neiglibours for tlie night had also a bell mule : and these 

 two quickly developed an aversion to each other, like the 

 lions in "Bombastes Furioso." They could not bear to hear 

 each other's bells clapping. And they decided to fight it 

 out, choosing our peaceful camp for the combat. I had 

 looked upon Jim, our second hunter, as a man whose 

 temperament was naturally serene, and having his tongue, 

 unlike the tongues of city-going men, well under command. 

 But when, in spite of a degree of cold very many degrees 

 below freezing, he dashed out in the moonlight almost 

 unclad, brandishing a firebrand and wielding it and an 

 equally blazing tongue upon the combatants, I was at a loss 

 whether to be more horror-struck or amused. Having 

 exhausted myself with laughing, I concluded that being 

 thus kept awake militated seriously against the comedy of 

 the scene ; and I dared not now attempt sleep, for fear day- 

 light should be upon us, and the other outfit be stirring first. 

 So at three o'clock I was upon them, roused the cook, 

 and nearly got shot by the horse-wrangler, who made 

 certain the Indians were upon him, and snatched up his 

 " gun " — a great ivory-handled sheriiif-killer such as every 

 west-country man carries who would have the world 

 believe he can at odd times enact the part of " bad man." 

 At length, by-the-bye, after not a little experience of the 

 Far West, it has recently been given to me to learn how 

 it is that the Dick, Tom, and Harry system of nomencla- 

 ture prevails, and that surnames are to all intents and 

 purpose dispensed with, and why no man ever asks 

 another his name. " It isn't every man," explained my 

 informant, " who cares to give himself away. When 

 you've been in camp a day or two with a man, you are 

 pretty sure to catch on to something to call him by." As 

 a fact, I once asked a man, usually known as Old 

 William, what was the proper name of his partner John, 

 with whom he had been hewing timber and sharing 

 bedding for upwards of two years. " Don't know as ever 

 I heerd tell, Cap'n. He calls me Bill, and I calls him 

 John, and that's about all of it." 



However, on this particular morning I made them all 

 pretty miserable, waiting round the fire for daylight, for 



