Cherry 



were snowbound in camp together up among 

 the foothills. The bear signs in our section 

 had become rather poor, and a snowstorm 

 affording us a more favorable opportunity, we 

 started out to take advantage of it. But the 

 storm proved to be rather more than we had 

 bargained for, and after two days of travel, 

 during all of which time it continued to snow, 

 we made as good a camp as possible, and in 

 the loneliness and solitude that prevailed dur- 

 ing that time Cherry took me into his con- 

 fidence. Many of his stories derived too much 

 of their charm from Cherry's picturesque man- 

 ner of telling to be successfully recounted, and 

 others were imparted only under the pledge 

 of secrecy, but sufficient may be here set down 

 to illustrate his varied career and the resources 

 of his imagination. 



Cherry was about sixty; long, lank, and not 

 exactly what might be called a handsome 

 man; and as he sat by the camp fire and re- 

 lated his veracious narrative, the result was 

 impressive as well as ludicrous. He had been 

 born in Texas ; was a bit hazy as to the loca- 

 tion, but, as he put it, "by crossing the Rio 

 Grande twice, and then .sfoing between a butte 

 and a sand hill, he could strike the old home- 



55 



