A DISPUTE ON THE ROAD 



a few moments it seemed as though the whole lot 

 of us, men and animals aUke, were going over the 

 precipice ; but, fortunately, one of the strangers had 

 the sense to drag his pack-horse out of the way just in 

 time. His mate, seeing the danger was over, began to 

 abuse my guide in insolent, bragging style, a sure sign 

 that he did not know with whom he had to deal. His 

 eyes were opened quickly, and the courage oozed out of 

 him as rapidly as the air goes out of a punctured air 

 ball. He found he was talking to the famous Westerner, 

 Dick Randall ; and Dick reminded him, in a series of 

 terse and vivid sentences, of the law of the road as set 

 down for use in the Yellowstone Valley, one of the 

 clauses of that same law being that the pack-horse has 

 always to give way to the cart. I think that talkative 

 person left us with the impression that he had escaped 

 very lightly. I had the same impression myself. His 

 folly had very nearly cost all of us our lives, and he 

 had been in the wrong throughout. Still, it was a fine 

 instance of the respect for order which runs through- 

 out the National Park. Outside the Park, had Dick 

 answered his abuse with a bullet, a Western jury, after 

 hearing the evidence, would certainly have acquitted 

 him. Out there they do not worry about preserving 

 fools who endanger the lives of careful people. 



After leaving the Grand Canyon we headed for 

 Mount Washington, a magnificent peak, which rises over 

 ten thousand feet above sea-level. In the afternoon 



307 



