osevelt was alone.

"Come on in," said Roosevelt, "and we'll have some dinner. I can't
bake biscuits, but I can cook meat. If you can make the biscuits, go
ahead, and I will see what I can do for the rest of the dinner."

So "Nitch" made the biscuits and put them in the oven, and Roosevelt
cut what was left of a saddle of venison and put it in a pan to fry.
Then the two cooks went outdoors, for the cabin was small, and the
weather was hot.

Roosevelt began to talk, whereupon "Nitch," who had ideas of his own,
began to talk also with a fluency which was not customary, for he was
naturally a taciturn man. They both forgot the dinner. "Nitch" never
knew how long they talked.

They were brought back to the world of facts by a smell of burning.
The cabin was filled with smoke, and "you could not," as "Nitch"
subsequently remarked, "have told your wife from your mother-in-law
three feet away." On investigation it proved that "Nitch's" biscuits
and Roosevelt's meat were burnt to cinders.

Merrifield and Sylvane were out after deer, and Roosevelt and his
companion waited all afternoon in vain for the two men to return. At
last, toward evening, Roosevelt made some coffee, which, as "Nitch"
remarked, "took the rough spots off the biscuits."

"If we'd talked less," reflected "Nitch," "we'd have had more dinner."

Roosevelt laughed. He did not seem to mind the loss of a meal. "Nitch"
was quite positive that he was well repaid. They went on talking as
before.

XVI

He went so high above the earth,
Lights from Jerusalem shone.
Right thar we parted company,
And he came down alone.
I hit terra firma,
The buckskin's heels struck free,
And brought a bunch of stars along
To dance in front of me.

_Cowboy song_

Early in May, Roosevelt's men returned from Fergus Falls with a
thousand head of cattle. In a letter to his brother, Sewall describes
what he terms the "Cattle Torture," in which he had been engaged. "It
will perhaps interest you," he adds. "It certainly must have been
interesting to the cattle."

The cattle were driven in from the country [Sewall writes]
and put in a yard. This was divided in the middle by a fence
and on one side was a narrow lane where you could drive six
or eight Cattle at a time. This narrowed so when you got to
the fence in the middle only one could pass by the post, and
beyond the post the