218 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



was a store, and to this I rode, tying Kaweah to the 

 piazza post. 



I thought the whole world slumbered when I beheld 

 the sole occupant of this country store, a red-faced 

 man in pantaloons and shirt, who lay on his back 

 upon a counter fast asleep, the handle of a revolver 

 grasped in his right hand. It seemed to me if I were 

 to wake him up a little too suddenly he might misunder- 

 stand my presence and do some accidental damage, 

 so I stepped back and poked Kaweah, making him 

 jump and clatter his hoofs, and at once the proprietor 

 sprang to the door, looking flustered and uneasy. 



I asked him if he could accommodate me for the 

 afternoon and night and take care of my horse, to 

 which he replied, in a very leisurely manner, that 

 there was a bed and something to eat and hay, and 

 that if I was inclined to take the chances I might stay. 



Being in mind to take the chances, I did stay, and 

 my host walked out with me to the corral, and showed 

 me where to get Kaweah 's hay and grain. 



I loafed about for an hour or two, finding that a 

 Chinese cook was the only other human being in sight, 

 and then concluded to pump the landlord. A half- 

 hour's trial thoroughly disgusted me, and I gave it 

 up as a bad job. I did, however, learn that he was 

 a man of Southern birth, of considerable education, 

 which a brutal life and a depraved mind had not 

 been able to fully obliterate. He seemed to care very 

 little for his business, which indeed was small enough, 

 for during the time I spent there not a single customer 

 made his appearance. The stock of goods I observed, 

 on examination, to be chiefly firearms, every manner 

 of gambling apparatus, and liquors ; the few pieces 



