come to the mountain boy the day before which
had changed his whole world. It was as though the wooded mountains
which hemmed in his little cabin home had parted for a moment and
given him a glimpse of a fascinating world beyond. He and Tige had
wandered farther from home that day than ever before, though wanderers
they had always been, the woods holding a deep interest for Steve. He
loved to hide in the densest solitudes, lie still with his dog and
dream, fantastic, unreal dreams. Now a definite, tangible vision had
come to him out of the solitude of a hazy November day in the
mountains of Kentucky. He had lain for two hours or more in the
stillness when suddenly Tige lifted his head and gave a sharp bark,
then came the sound of voices, strange voices Steve at once knew them
to be, and as he caught the tones more clearly, recognized that one at
least was of a kind which he had never heard before. Keeping Tige
quiet with a firm hand, he lifted his head and listened with ear and
soul, then into view stepped a man of medium height with a clean, fine
face, clothes of a sort unknown to the boy, and an easy, alert stride
totally foreign to the mountaineer's slouching gait. A mountain man
accompanied him, but he too was a stranger to the boy.

The man of the new, strange species smiled at the boy's gaping mouth
and wonder-wide eyes.

"Well, son," he said pleasantly, "are you a sportsman too?"

The quick, clear, cultured voice, the unfamiliar accent was so utterly
foreign to anything the boy had ever heard that he could not take in
the import of the words, and amazed silence was his only reply.

"Wal," drawled the mountain guide, "who'd er thought er seein' a chap
lack that heah? Whar'd you come from anyways?"

This was familiar vernacular, and Steve, rising slowly from the
ground, and allowing Tige to make friendly acquaintance with the
strangers, said:

"I lives at Hollow Hut and I comes over here whenever I pleases.
Whar'd you uns come from?"

The man gave a hearty but musical laugh at the ready dignity of the
reply, but the boy's mouth dropped once more in consternation, as
words came again in crisp, foreign accent.

"I came from the city, my lad, to get some of your fine quail and
deer. You are willing I should have a few, are you not? My friend here
is showing me the way."

The mountain folk had proved a most entertaining study for this
sportsman, and his interest was ready for each new specimen
encountered.