ination
amusedly. To be sure nobody was likely to fool much with the General.
His vast good nature had way down beneath it something that on occasion
could be stern. Nobo could and would tell the General what clothes to
wear, and when to change them, and such matters; but she never ventured
to inhibit the General's ideas as to going forth in rains, or driving
where he everlastingly dod-blistered pleased, or words to that effect,
across country in his magnificently rattletrap surrey, although she
often looked very anxious. For she adored the General. But we all did
that.

As though the heavy curtain of fog had been laid upon the land expressly
that I might get my first impressions of the ranch in due order, about
noon the weather cleared. Even while we ate lunch, the sun came out.
After the meal we went forth to see what we could see.

The ranch was situated in the middle of a vast plain around three sides
of which rose a grand amphitheatre of mountains. The nearest of them was
some thirty miles away, yet ordinarily, in this clear, dry, Western
atmosphere they were always imminent. Over their eastern ramparts the
sun rose to look upon a chill and frosty world; behind their western
barriers the sun withdrew, leaving soft air, purple shadows, and the
flight of dim, far wildfowl across a saffron sky. To the north was only
distance and the fading of the blue of the heavens to the pearl gray of
the horizon.

So much if one stepped immediately beyond the ranch itself. The plains
were broad. Here and there the flatness broke in a long, low line of
cottonwoods marking the winding course of a slough or trace of subsoil
water. Mesquite lay in dark patches; sagebrush; the green of
pasture-land periodically overflowed by the irrigation water. Nearer at
home were occasional great white oaks, or haystacks bigger than a house,
and shaped like one.

To the distant eye the ranch was a grove of trees. Cottonwoods and
eucalyptus had been planted and had thriven mightily on the abundant
artesian water. We have already noticed the six or eight great trees
growing fairly up through the house. On the outskirts lay also a fruit
orchard of several hundred acres. Opposite the house, and separated from
it by a cedar hedge, was a commodious and attractive bungalow for the
foreman. Beyond him were the bunk house, cook houses, blacksmith shops,
and the like.

We started our tour of inspection by examining and commenting gravely
upon the dorman