Merrifield rode to town with him one day and stopped at the Marquis's
company store to see a man named Fisher, who had succeeded Edgar Haupt
as local superintendent of the Northern Pacific Refrigerator Car
Company, asking Fisher as he was departing whether he did not want to
meet Roosevelt. Fisher had heard of the "four-eyed dude from New York"
and heard something of his political reforming. He went outdoors with
Merrifield, distinctly curious.

Roosevelt was on horseback chatting with a group of cowboys, and the
impression he made on Fisher was not such as to remove the natural
prejudice of youth against "reformers" of any sort. What Fisher saw
was "a slim, anaemic-looking young fellow dressed in the exaggerated
style which new-comers on the frontier affected, and which was
considered indisputable evidence of the rank tenderfoot." If any
further proof of Roosevelt's status was needed, the great round
glasses supplied it. Fisher made up his mind that he knew all he
needed to know about the new owner of the Maltese Cross.

No doubt he expressed his opinions to Merrifield. The taciturn hunter
did not dispute his conclusions, but a day or two after he dropped in
on Fisher again and said, "Get your horse and we'll take the young
fellow over the old Sully Trail and try out his nerve. We'll let on
that we're going for a little hunt."

Fisher agreed with glee in his heart. He knew the Sully Trail. It ran
mainly along the sides of precipitous buttes, southeast of Medora,
and, being old and little used, had almost lost the little semblance
it might originally have had of a path where four-footed creatures
might pick their way with reasonable security. A recent rain had made
the clay as slippery as asphalt in a drizzle.

It occurred to Fisher that it was as truly wicked a trail as he had
ever seen. Merrifield led the way; Fisher maneuvered for last place
and secured it. In the most perilous places there was always something
about his saddle which needed adjustment, and he took care not to
remount until the danger was behind them. Roosevelt did not dismount
for any reason. He followed where Merrifield led, without comment.

They came at last to a grassy slope that dipped at an angle of
forty-five degrees to a dry creek-bed. "There goes a deer!" shouted
Merrifield suddenly and started down the slope as fast as his horse
could go. Roosevelt followed at the same speed. He and Merrifield
arrived at the bottom at the identical