ent's hesitation, feeling the relaxed bridle, she lay down and rolled
over.

In this perplexity the sound of horse's hoofs ringing out of the rocky
canyon beyond was a relief, even if momentarily embarrassing. An instant
afterwards a horse and rider appeared cantering round the hill on what
was evidently the lost trail, and pulled up as I succeeded in forcing
Chu Chu to her legs again.

"Is that the trail from Sonora?" I asked.

"Yes;" but with a critical glance at the mule, "I reckon you ain't going
thar tonight."

"Why not?"

"It's a matter of eighteen miles, and most of it a blind trail through
the woods after you take the valley."

"Is it worse than this?"

"What's the matter with this trail? Ye ain't expecting a racecourse or a
shell road over the foothills--are ye?"

"No. Is there any hotel where I can stop?"

"Nary."

"Nor any house?"

"No."

"Thank you. Good-night."

He had already passed on, when he halted again and turned in his saddle.
"Look yer. Just a spell over yon canyon ye'll find a patch o' buckeyes;
turn to the right and ye'll see a trail. That'll take ye to a shanty.
You ask if it's Johnson's."

"Who's Johnson?"

"I am. You ain't lookin' for Vanderbilt or God Almighty up here, are
you? Well, then, you hark to me, will you? You say to my old woman to
give you supper and a shakedown somewhar to-night. Say I sent you. So
long."

He was gone before I could accept or decline. An extraordinary noise
proceeded from Chu Chu, not unlike a suppressed chuckle. I looked
sharply at her; she coughed affectedly, and, with her head and neck
stretched to their greatest length, appeared to contemplate her neat
little off fore shoe with admiring abstraction. But as soon as I had
mounted she set off abruptly, crossed the rocky canyon, apparently
sighted the patch of buckeyes of her own volition, and without the
slightest hesitation found the trail to the right, and in half an hour
stood before the shanty.

It was a log cabin with an additional "lean-to" of the same material,
roofed with bark, and on the other side a larger and more ambitious
"extension" built of rough, unplaned, and unpainted redwood boards,
lightly shingled. The "lean-to" was evidently used as a kitchen, and
the central cabin as a living-room. The barking of a dog as I approached
called four children of different sizes to the open door, where already
an enterprising baby was feebly essaying to crawl over a bar of wood
laid acro