292 



RECREATION 



want to know how in tarnation he get 

 them tha cigars out here. I reckon 

 tha hain't no cigar store round the 

 corner, is tha ? How old do you reckon 

 he is, anyhow ?" asked my guide. 



"Well, he looked like a man of 

 twenty-six or twenty-seven years, I 

 should say." 



"Dod rot him," growled Pete. "Why 

 couldn't he leave a piece of hide to 

 carry the meat in and the stomach to 

 cook it in? Twenty-six or twenty- 

 seven, eh ? That's about my age ; pap 

 was fifty-seven when I was born. Fifty- 

 seven and twenty-seven are how much? 

 Let me see, twenty and fifty is seventy ; 

 seven an' seven is fourteen ; that makes 

 eighty-four years of age, don't it? Well 

 then, my old man was the fust one in 

 these here diggins, and he wasn't 

 more'n eighteen when he first struck 

 the park. Eighteen from fifty-seven is 

 — let me see. Oh, dod rot ! say seven- 

 teen — seventeen from fifty-seven is 

 forty, ain't it? That is forty years 

 afore I was born, and forty and eighty- 

 four is a hundred and twenty-four 

 years old. Tha's how old tha' fellow 

 be — one hundred and twenty - four 

 years." 



"Oh ! come, Pete, you had better 

 make that calculation over again ! Do 

 you mean that your father saw this fel- 

 low when he first came here?" 



"Yes, sir, an' an old Injun told pap 

 that he'd been thar since he was a lad." 



"Well," said I, "suppose we hang this 

 meat up on the tree here and take that 

 hunk to camp?" 



"Sure," said Big Pete. 



Our dinner was over and our pipes 

 lit when I again opened the conversa- 

 tion upon the age of the Wild Moun- 

 tain Man. 



"Pete," I said, "according to your 

 calculation that fellow is only sixty- 

 seven years old ; you say he was twenty- 

 seven years old forty years ago, and 

 that makes sixty-seven, I take it." 



"Now, look here, tenderfoot, you may 

 be up on 'rithmetic, and I don't deny 

 you air, more 'specially as tha' nobody 

 round to say that Big Pete Darlinkel 



has crawled, but 'lowing your calcula- 

 tion of sixty-seven to be right, tha' old 

 Injun must have been fifty-seven any- 

 how, and tha's one hundred an' twenty- 

 four years, and what I sed was tha' the 

 Wild Mountain Man be one hundred 

 and twenty-four years old, an' I'll stick 

 to it!" 



"One hundred and twenty-four years 

 old, agile as a cat, don't look thirty ; has 

 a wonderful trained band of wolves ; an 

 abnormally intelligent eagle; smokes 

 cigars in the midst of a howling wilder- 

 ness. Whew!!! — Pete, I'll never dare 

 tell this when I go East ; the boys would 

 fairly howl ! No ! No ! Pete, can't do 

 it. I've seen the wolves, that I'll swear 

 to ; I've seen the bird and the man ; but 

 I have not yet seen the Bible register, 

 nor the cigars, though I'm not doubting 

 you, old man," I hastened to add as a 

 light flashed from Pete's blue eyes. 

 "But take it all in all, it's a pretty steep 

 yarn. I don't see how I can make it 

 go : guess I had better adopt the hob- 

 goblin version, the boys will believe it 

 sooner. Maybe they will think I had 

 the jim-jams." 



^ "Yes," responded Big Pete, "the Wild 

 Flying Mountain jim-jams; but 'I reck- 

 on you'd better keep your meat-trap 

 shut if yer kin, then yer needn't make 

 any explanations. Yer see, I wouldn't 

 hev told what I did only you saw tha' 

 blamed critter right afore you an' seed 

 it do mor'n I ever seen afore, too. 

 That's the fust time I ever stayed long 

 enough to see him collar his meat. 

 They do say he eats the game raw, but 

 I reckon that's a lie ; leastwise, he didn't 

 do 't this time. Chuck that log on — 

 that's it ! Now let's turn in. Good- 

 night," and, rolled in our blankets, we 

 were soon wandering in a region where 

 the Wild Mountain Man would be but 

 a tame occurrence and not even remem- 

 bered in the morning. 



CHAPTER II. . 



HOW WE ESCAPED THE GRIZZLY. 



Several weeks had passed since our 

 adventure with the Wild Mountain 



