r poles
at once, fearing that there was going to be a fall of snow which might
prevent our getting them to town. This turned out to be a wise
precaution, for when we started in the morning the snow was already
coming down, and though it did not extend as far as Sulphide, the
mountains were covered a foot deep before night.

This fall of snow proved to be much to our advantage, for one of the
timber contractors, fearing he might not be able to fill his order,
bought our "sticks" from us, to be delivered, cut into certain lengths,
at the Senator mine.

This occupied us several days, when, having delivered our last load, we
thanked Mrs. Appleby for the use of her back yard--the only payment she
would accept--and then set off home, where we proudly displayed to my
father and mother the money we had earned and related how we had earned
it; including, of course, a description of our meeting with the wild man
of the woods.

"And didn't he tell you who he was?" asked my father, when we had
finished.

"No," I replied; "we were afraid to ask him, and he didn't volunteer any
information."

"And you didn't guess who he was?"

"No. Why should we? Who is he?"

"Why, Peter the Hermit, of course. I should have thought the presence of
the raven would have enlightened you: he is always described as going
about in company with a raven."

"So he is. I'd forgotten that. But, on the other hand he is always
described also as being half crazy, and certainly there was no sign of
such a thing about him that we could see. Was there, Joe?"

"No. Nobody could have acted more sensibly. Who is he, Mr. Crawford? And
why does he live all by himself like that?"

"I know nothing about him beyond common report. I suppose his name is
Peter--though it may not be--and because he chooses to lead a secluded
life, some genius has dubbed him 'Peter the Hermit'; though who he
really is, or why he lives all alone, or where he comes from, I can't
say. Some people say he is crazy, and some people say he is an escaped
criminal--but then people will say anything, particularly when they know
nothing about it. Judging from the reports of the two or three men who
have met him, however, he appears to be quite inoffensive, and evidently
he is a friendly-disposed fellow from your description of him. If you
should come across him again you might invite him to come down and see
us. I don't suppose he will, but you might ask him, anyhow."

"All right," said I. "