s did
not hurt; but the deep inhalation, which alone satisfied him filled
his whole chest with thousands of pricking needles. In the depth of his
breast was a hollow that burned.

When he had pulled on his boots and coat, and had washed himself in the
runway of the spring, his hands were so numb with cold they refused to
hold his comb and brush; and he presented himself at the roaring fire
half-frozen, dishevelled, trembling, but cheerful. He would not tell
Naab. If he had to die to-day, to-morrow or next week, he would lie down
under a cedar and die; he could not whine about it to this man.

"Up with the sun!" was Naab's greeting. His cheerfulness was as
impelling as his splendid virility. Following the wave of his hand Hare
saw the sun, a pale-pink globe through a misty blue, rising between the
golden crags of the eastern wall.

Mescal had a shy "good-morning" for him, and Piute a broad smile, and
familiar "how-do"; the peon slave, who had finished breakfast and was
about to depart, moved his lips in friendly greeting that had no sound.

"Did you hear the coyotes last night?" inquired August. "No! Well, of
all the choruses I ever heard. There must be a thousand on the bench.
Jack, I wish I could spare the time to stay up here with you and shoot
some. You'll have practice with the rifle, but don't neglect the Colt.
Practice particularly the draw I taught you. Piute has a carbine, and
he shoots at the coyotes, but who ever saw an Indian that could hit
anything?"

"Damn--gun no good!" growled Piute, who evidently understood English
pretty well. Naab laughed, and while Hare ate breakfast he talked of the
sheep. The flock he had numbered three thousand. They were a goodly part
of them Navajo stock: small, hardy sheep that could live on anything
but cactus, and needed little water. This flock had grown from a small
number to its present size in a few years. Being remarkably free from
the diseases and pests which retard increase in low countries, the sheep
had multiplied almost one for one for every year. But for the ravages of
wild beasts Naab believed he could raise a flock of many thousands and
in a brief time be rich in sheep alone. In the winter he drove them
down into the oasis; the other seasons he herded them on the high ranges
where the cattle could not climb. There was grass enough on this plateau
for a million sheep. After the spring thaw in early March, occasional
snows fell till the end of May, and frost hu