e the mounds of two children's graves.
Two wooden headboards, likewise hand-hewn, told the state Little David,
born 1855, died 1859; and Little Roy, born 1853, died 1860.

"The poor little kids," Daylight muttered. The graves showed signs of
recent care. Withered bouquets of wild flowers were on the mounds, and
the lettering on the headboards was freshly painted. Guided by these
clews, Daylight cast about for a trail, and found one leading down the
side opposite to his ascent. Circling the base of the knoll, he picked
up with his horse and rode on to the farm-house. Smoke was rising from
the chimney and he was quickly in conversation with a nervous, slender
young man, who, he learned, was only a tenant on the ranch. How large
was it? A matter of one hundred and eighty acres, though it seemed
much larger. This was because it was so irregularly shaped. Yes, it
included the clay-pit and all the knolls, and its boundary that ran
along the big canon was over a mile long.

"You see," the young man said, "it was so rough and broken that when
they began to farm this country the farmers bought in the good land to
the edge of it. That's why its boundaries are all gouged and jagged.

"Oh, yes, he and his wife managed to scratch a living without working
too hard. They didn't have to pay much rent. Hillard, the owner,
depended on the income from the clay-pit. Hillard was well off, and
had big ranches and vineyards down on the flat of the valley. The
brickyard paid ten cents a cubic yard for the clay. As for the rest of
the ranch, the land was good in patches, where it was cleared, like the
vegetable garden and the vineyard, but the rest of it was too much
up-and-down."

"You're not a farmer," Daylight said. The young man laughed and shook
his head. "No; I'm a telegraph operator. But the wife and I decided
to take a two years' vacation, and ... here we are. But the time's
about up. I'm going back into the office this fall after I get the
grapes off."

Yes, there were about eleven acres in the vineyard--wine grapes. The
price was usually good. He grew most of what they ate. If he owned
the place, he'd clear a patch of land on the side-hill above the
vineyard and plant a small home orchard. The soil was good. There was
plenty of pasturage all over the ranch, and there were several cleared
patches, amounting to about fifteen acres in all, where he grew as much
mountain hay as could be found. It sold for three