[From photo: Copyright 1896, by Franz Hanfstaengl, Munich.
“MY SPIRIT CALLING THROUGH THE DARK.”
[CHRONICLES OF AN ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN RANCH.]
By MARGARET INNES.
CHAPTER V.
OUR FIRST DAYS IN THE BARN.
The route we had chosen, a drive of about eighteen miles, was supposed to be the least steep in its ups and downs; an important consideration, with our heavy load. When we crept round the last turning and could see our hill, with its little patch of brown earth turned up, and the barn which looked like a small wooden box, we felt that our difficulties for the day were conquered. At that moment we were passing a ranch which was just being enclosed with a fence made of narrow laths wired together; these were lying in large bundles at intervals all along the road for a distance of about a quarter of a mile. To our dismay, when Dan reached the first of these bundles, he put back his ears and gave a sudden and most violent shy, almost lurching the surrey over, and then stood trembling, his legs planted apart in an obstinate manner, and absolutely refused to move an inch further.