244 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



meal of pay rock. There was something ghostly 

 about the place. The engines, the complexity of 

 pipes, shafts, and belts, the assaying-room with its 

 furnace, retorts, and regiments of bottles, all had a 

 look of tragedy, as if some deed of horror had oc- 

 curred, and caused the whole crew, men and mas- 

 ters, to drop their business on the word and flee the 

 place for ever. 



A spring of good water and a few old fruit trees 

 made an inviting halting-place. I had put Kaweah 

 to graze on a precious scrap of grass, and sat down 

 to my lunch, when a man on horseback came clatter- 

 ing down the trail. It is an event to meet anyone on 

 these scantily travelled paths, so to stop and com- 

 pare notes is the natural thing. This young fellow, 

 coatless and baggageless, had come from some lonely 

 mine twenty miles off and was casually going up to 

 Julian, ten miles away on the top of the opposite 

 mountain, to "take in" o. fiesta of horse- racing and 

 general hilarity, with a barbecue and an all-night 

 dance to wind up with. To-morrow morning he 

 would light-heartedly start for home, fully satisfied 

 with his little jaunt. He was a friendly chap, and 

 suggested my turning back and "taking it in" with 

 him; and to encourage me he displayed a handbill 

 which declared "every cowboy and cowgirl in the 

 universe" to be welcome. When I pointed out that 

 I did not fall under either head he replied that any 

 fellow that rides a pony was eligible. But my road 

 lay eastward; and with a "Well, then, adios!" and 

 a wave of the hand, he skittered away down the 

 mountain. 



