"for travelers to carry
these big game high-powered rifles. The gun is always knocked down, is
never handy when you want it, and the slightest neglect puts it out of
commission. You take this little high-powered in your pocket, and you'll
get small game and birds while you're tryin' to remember where the big
gun is."

"That's right," answered Roy. "Grant and I were up in the mountains a
year ago, back of Laggan. We weren't hunting especially, but I was
carryin' the old .303. Up there in the mountains we walked right up on as
fine an old gold-headed eagle as you ever saw. I was going to shoot, when
I recollected that this wasn't a deer four hundred yards away. If I'd
shot, I'd have torn a hole through that bird as big as your hat. If I'd
had this," and he patted the smart looking little .22, "somebody would
have had a fine golden-headed eagle."

Colonel Howell had few suggestions to make, but while he was in the
store, he selected a small leather-cased hatchet and an aluminum
wash-pan.

"Don't laugh," he explained. "Just take the word of an old campaigner and
keep these two things where you can put your hands on 'em. You can get
along in the wilderness without shootin' irons--or I can--but you'll find
this tin pan a mighty handy friend. If your wise friends laugh at your
luxury just wait, they'll be the first ones to borrow it. You can cook in
it, wash in it, drink out of it, and I've panned for gold with 'em. It's
the traveler's best friend."

The outfitter was busy enough displaying his wares, of which he had a
hundred things that he urged were indispensable, but he was not dealing
with States tenderfeet, and the volume of his sales was small. In it,
however, the boys finally included two heavy Mackinaw jackets, two still
heavier canvas coats reinforced with lambs' wool, two cloth caps that
could be pulled down over the face, leaving apertures for the eyes, and
two pairs of fur gauntlets, mitten-shaped, but with separate fore-fingers
for shooting.

The boys made these purchases on their own account, and then Colonel
Howell asked permission to make them a present. He selected and gave each
of the boys a heavy Hudson's Bay blanket, asking for the best four-point
article.

"They'll last as long as you live," explained the oil man, "and when you
don't need 'em in the woods for a house or tent or bed, or even as a
sail, you'll find they'll come in handy at home on your couch or as
rugs."

Each boy had his own blan