ood memory for faces. I recognized
you at once. My name's Ferguson."

"Do you live hereabouts?" Daylight repeated his query.

"Oh, yes. I've got a little shack back here in the bush a hundred
yards, and a pretty spring, and a few fruit trees and berry bushes.
Come in and take a look. And that spring is a dandy. You never tasted
water like it. Come in and try it."

Walking and leading his horse, Daylight followed the quick-stepping
eager little man through the green tunnel and emerged abruptly upon the
clearing, if clearing it might be called, where wild nature and man's
earth-scratching were inextricably blended. It was a tiny nook in the
hills, protected by the steep walls of a canon mouth. Here were
several large oaks, evidencing a richer soil. The erosion of ages from
the hillside had slowly formed this deposit of fat earth. Under the
oaks, almost buried in them, stood a rough, unpainted cabin, the wide
verandah of which, with chairs and hammocks, advertised an out-of doors
bedchamber. Daylight's keen eyes took in every thing. The clearing
was irregular, following the patches of the best soil, and every fruit
tree and berry bush, and even each vegetable plant, had the water
personally conducted to it. The tiny irrigation channels were every
where, and along some of them the water was running.

Ferguson looked eagerly into his visitor's face for signs of
approbation.

"What do you think of it, eh?"

"Hand-reared and manicured, every blessed tree," Daylight laughed, but
the joy and satisfaction that shone in his eyes contented the little
man.

"Why, d'ye know, I know every one of those trees as if they were sons
of mine. I planted them, nursed them, fed them, and brought them up.
Come on and peep at the spring."

"It's sure a hummer," was Daylight's verdict, after due inspection and
sampling, as they turned back for the house.

The interior was a surprise. The cooking being done in the small,
lean-to kitchen, the whole cabin formed a large living room. A great
table in the middle was comfortably littered with books and magazines.
All the available wall space, from floor to ceiling, was occupied by
filled bookshelves. It seemed to Daylight that he had never seen so
many books assembled in one place. Skins of wildcat, 'coon, and deer
lay about on the pine-board floor.

"Shot them myself, and tanned them, too," Ferguson proudly asserted.

The crowning feature of the room was a huge fireplace