when he "guessed" that it was not worth looking for, though, from what
we knew of him, we, in turn, "guessed" that what he said was most likely
to be the opposite of what he thought.

We could not tell, either, whether our new acquaintance was speaking
the truth when he declared that he was satisfied with his day's work and
had already decided to go home again; I think it rather likely that,
being unable to devise any scheme for shaking us off, and not caring to
act as prospector for us as well as for Yetmore, he preferred to go back
at once and report progress. He was right, at any rate, in saying that
the drifts ahead were too deep to admit of further prospecting; for the
mountains began to close in just here, and the snow was becoming pretty
heavy.

Nevertheless, Joe and I thought we would try a little further, if only
for the reason that Long John would not, and we were about to part
company, when we were startled to hear a voice above our heads say,
"Good-morning," and, looking quickly up, we saw, seated on a dead
branch, a raven, to all appearance asleep, with his feathers fluffed out
and his head sunk between his shoulders.

That it was our friend, Socrates, we could not doubt, and we looked all
around for the hermit, but as there was no one to be seen, Joe,
addressing the raven, said:

"Hallo, Sox! Where's your master?"

"Chew o' tobacco," replied the raven.

At this Long John burst out laughing. "Well, you're a cute one," said
he; and thrusting his hand into his pocket he brought out a piece of
tobacco which he invited Socrates to come and get. Sox flew down to a
convenient rock and reached for the morsel, but the moment he perceived
that it was not anything he could eat, he drew back in disdain, and
eying Long John with severity, remarked, "Bow-wow."

Now, as I have intimated, nothing was so exasperating to Long John as to
have any one say "bow-wow" to him, and not considering that the offender
was only a bird, he raised his hatchet and would have ended Sox's career
then and there had not Joe stayed his arm.

At being thus thwarted, Long John turned upon my companion, and for a
moment I felt a little uneasy lest his temper should for once get the
better of his discretion; but I need not have alarmed myself, for Long
John's outbreaks of rage were always carefully calculated when directed
against any one or anything capable of retaliation in kind, and very
probably he had already concluded that two we