nce a previous geological period. The fish were
undoubtedly there too, but they were fossil fish. I borrowed a pickaxe
and shovel and announced myself as ready to start.

Outside the principal saloon in one town hung a gong. When a stranger
was observed to enter the saloon, that gong was sounded. Then it
behooved him to treat those who came in answer to the summons.

But when it comes to a case of real hospitality or helpfulness, your
cowboy is there every time. You are welcome to food and shelter without
price, whether he is at home or not. Only it is etiquette to leave
your name and thanks pinned somewhere about the place. Otherwise your
intrusion may be considered in the light of a theft, and you may be
pursued accordingly.

Contrary to general opinion, the cowboy is not a dangerous man to those
not looking for trouble. There are occasional exceptions, of course,
but they belong to the universal genus of bully, and can be found among
any class. Attend to your own business, be cool and good-natured, and
your skin is safe. Then when it is really "up to you," be a man; you
will never lack for friends.

The Sierras, especially towards the south where the meadows are wide
and numerous, are full of cattle in small bands. They come up from the
desert about the first of June, and are driven back again to the arid
countries as soon as the autumn storms begin. In the very high land
they are few, and to be left to their own devices; but now we entered a
new sort of country.

Below Farewell Gap and the volcanic regions one's surroundings change
entirely. The meadows become high flat valleys, often miles in extent;
the mountains--while registering big on the aneroid--are so little
elevated above the plateaus that a few thousand feet is all of their
apparent height; the passes are low, the slopes easy, the trails good,
the rock outcrops few, the hills grown with forests to their very tops.
Altogether it is a country easy to ride through, rich in grazing, cool
and green, with its eight thousand feet of elevation. Consequently
during the hot months thousands of desert cattle are pastured here; and
with them come many of the desert men.

Our first intimation of these things was in the volcanic region where
swim the golden trout. From the advantage of a hill we looked far down
to a hair-grass meadow through which twisted tortuously a brook, and by
the side of the brook, belittled by distance, was a miniature man. W