"No," said Jack, "I'm only out here for the summer. My home is in New York."
"Oh," said the English boy, "then perhaps all these things are as strange to you as they are to me."
"No, not quite, I guess," said Jack; "because this is the fifth summer that I've been coming out into this western country and traveling around with Hugh—that's my friend over there. Every summer since I was a little fellow I've been coming out and we've traveled back and forth over a great deal of country."
"Is it possible!" said the English boy. "Why, you are pretty nearly what they call an 'old timer' out here, aren't you? I notice that the people out here are divided into two sorts, 'pilgrims,' who don't know anything about the country, and 'old timers,' who know all about it."
Jack laughed as he said, "That's about right, and I think that maybe I'm an 'old timer.'"
"Where are you going now?" said the English boy. "But first tell me your name, and I'll tell you mine. I am Henry Clifford of Chester, England, and my father and I are going around the world. We're going to spend this summer in America, and then go to China and India."
"My," said Jack, "that's a nice trip. I would like to make it, but, of course, what I've got to do is to get ready to go to college."
"Yes," said Henry, "I've got to do that, too, but not until I get back to England."
"My name is Jack Danvers," said Jack, "and Hugh and I have come down here from my uncle's ranch to spend the summer trapping here in the mountains. There is quite a lot of fur here, and we've got quite a pack of beaver already. We've got some traps set out here in the creek now, and if we have any luck you'll see us skin some beaver to-morrow morning."
"How awfully interesting," said Henry. "Of course, I've read about trapping beaver, but I never expected to see it done."