424 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



play. Then he strolled, all negligently, to the fire ; and, 

 while he bravely talked and bravely stood, opportunity 

 was given me of marking the details of this queer man's 

 accoutrement. He carried two pairs of blue-cotton over- 

 alls, and the strap which prevented their departing from 

 his bony legs also served to bear his sheath-knife. His 

 boots were worn through, and the first use he made of the 

 fire was to remove them and his stockings from his feet 

 and dry them in the blaze. 



He had taken up, he said, a " pretty location " near 

 Estes Park, and there he meant to return in the spring to 

 work his placer mine by means of " the best stream of 

 water in that country." 



By next morning he was fresh as paint, scoffed at the 

 idea of suffering any ill effects from these days of cold 

 and starvation, still less that he had escaped from almost 

 certain death, and with loan of one of our rods set him- 

 self to fish the stream very successfully — his basket for 

 the morning amounting to forty-five shapely trout. 



As time wore on, and occasional confidence was 

 prompted — for he never left us for a week, his train of 

 jackasses following our trail placidly, while he brought 

 up the rear with shout and whoop — it came out that not 

 only had he fought in the war but had filled the position 

 of colonel of cavalry in the Confederate Army. After the 

 war (but this period of his history he could only be per- 

 suaded to touch upon under the tongue-loosening influence 

 of a glass of whisky) he and many others of the "rebels" 

 had betaken themselves to the Indian Territory of that 

 time. If freebooting was not a recognised occupation on 

 the part of these fugitives, then was I considerably astray 

 in the inferences I deduced from hints he threw out. 

 This much, however, he constantly asserted and held to, 

 viz. that he was descended from the first family of Camp- 

 bells who assisted in colonising old Virginia. So much 

 for Colonel Campbell, as an instance of how a Western 

 man may be proof against weather and undaunted under 

 disaster. 



