STEALING AND HIDING. 1S3 
the carpet, underneath, the rats had stored a large 
quantity of leaves, missing garments, etc. ; and 
there, in a nice pile quite by themselves, were all 
those dried apples ! 
The house was yet unfinished, and their pas- 
sage from room to room was not so very diffi- 
cult ; yet, as the pantry was in the story below, 
and in an opposite corner of the house, their re- 
moval showed some industry, to say the least. 
The apples were taken down-stairs and put in 
a more secure place until Mrs. Maxwell could 
show them to some of her friends, as an illustra- 
tion of rat-work. When looked for, for that pur- 
pose, behold ! they had disappeared a second 
time ! Imagine her disgust, upon looking under 
the rocks, to find those very apples again, in the 
very place from which she had removed them — 
this time mixed with dried cherries, grapes, black- 
berries, pine cones, spoons, forks, broken crock- 
ery, pieces of tin cans, and a little of almost every- 
thing they could find, either in-doors or out ! 
If her acquaintance with that particular family 
ceased here, her knowledge of the tribe did not. 
Later in that year, as she and her husband and 
party were returning from the Middle Park, they 
camped one night in an empty house in the de- 
serted mining camp, Excelsior. This place is so 
near the Snowy Range, and it is so beautiful, 
that its houses usually have summer occupants, 
