THE SEQUOIA 819 



row down we go to alfalfa and bailey," speaking 

 to him as if he were human, as through stress 

 of trouble plainly he was. After eating his por- 

 tion of bread he seemed content, for he said no 

 more, but patiently turned away to gnaw leaf- 

 less ceanothus stubs. Such clinging, confiding 

 dependence after all our scrambles and adven- 

 tures together was very touching, and I felt con- 

 science-stricken for having led him so far in so 

 rough and desolate a country. " Man," says 

 Lord Bacon, " is the god of the dog." So, also, 

 he is of the mule and many other dependent fel- 

 low mortals. 



Next morning I turned westward, determined 

 to force a way straight to pasture, letting Se- 

 quoia wait. Fortunately ere we had struggled 

 down through half a mile of chaparral we heard a 

 mill whistle, for which we gladly made a bee 

 line. At the sawmill we both got a good meal, 

 then taking the dusty lumber road pursued our 

 way to the lowlands. The nearest good pasture 

 I counted might be thirty or forty miles away. 

 But scarcely had we gone ten when I noticed a 

 little log cabin a hundred yards or so back from 

 the road, and a tall man straight as a pine 

 standing in front of it observing us as we came 

 plodding down through the dust. Seeing no sign 

 of grass or hay, I was going past without stopping, 

 when he shouted, " Travelin' ? " Then drawing 

 nearer, " Where have you come from ? I did n't 



