I do not remember how I managed to make up my rustic bed, or whether I had anything to do with it at all. I simply recall the quiet scenes around the camp-fire, the ruddy faces of my companions as they caught the glow from the burning fagots and the wild scene which surrounded us. I entered dreamland in the same way everyone else does. The unreal realm of fancy I accepted as a matter of course, but when the chill of a cold autumn night gradually revived me to consciousness and the sullen gloom of the silent forest, only broken by a murmuring stream nearby, had succeeded the cheerful camp-fire, I returned to the world of reality with a feeling of strangeness and wonder. I rubbed my eyes to make sure if I was really awake, and lay watching the stars shining brightly overhead. The beauty of the night, however, was not sufficient to keep me awake, and when I had finished my night’s rest it was broad daylight, and my two companions, Jake and Aleck, were already astir. Aleck was the cook and general handy man about camp. Jake acted as guide and horse wrangler. These men could take a turn at helping each other, but each had his special work cut out for him. In packing and pitching tents they were mutually helpful. Whenever things went wrong and descriptive language was required to soothe irritated feelings, their common desire to aid each other developed into a generous rivalry. Aleck was busy getting breakfast ready, but the other man was not in sight.
“Where is Jake?” I asked.
“Gone after the horses,” Aleck answered.
“Do you suppose they are gone far?”
“Oh, maybe a mile, maybe fifteen,” was the enlightening response.
When camping out in the Western country horses are an uncertain quantity. They are apt to wander over a considerable space in search of good pasturage, which is not easy to find on account of the extreme dryness of the soil and the difficulty of any vegetation thriving which cannot shoot its roots deep into the earth. Fortunately Jake soon appeared with the stock.
“We will have the tents up so that you can be comfortable to-night,” he remarked with a look as though he were conveying a most welcome piece of intelligence, for we had been sleeping out in the open for several nights.
With the air of one who despised all such things as enervating luxuries, I replied: “Let that go to some other time; we want to get an early start after something.”
“It won’t take long to put up the tents and then Aleck can get everything else to rights while we are hunting,” Jake replied.
I ate a substantial breakfast, and after finishing that meal I ate a substantial lunch before starting. Needless to say, I felt in no condition for vigorous exercise which I would be compelled to take when our course led over ascents too steep to take on horseback. About lunch time, however, my capricious and unreasoning stomach, like some people who are mere slaves of custom and routine, demanded a square meal, which was not to be had.