when I first accomplished this trick, but it
saved time and a lot of trouble. Such were my winter duties.

Sometimes neighbours would look in, and the weekly mail and home papers
helped to pass the time. I read a great deal, and so the solitariness of
the position was not so trying as one might suppose. Indeed, books were
more to me than the neighbours' society.

"Incidents" occurred, of course, but I will only mention one. In winter
I only kept up two saddle horses, picked ponies, favourites and almost
friends. They were fed with grain night and morning, and, to save hay,
were allowed to graze out at night. They regularly returned at early
morning for their feed, so I never had to go after them. One morning,
however, they did not appear. It was quite unaccountable to me and very
awkward, as it left me afoot and unable to do anything. Not till about
10 a.m. did they come galloping in, greatly excited, their tails in the
air, puffing and snorting. It did not look quite right. Someone had been
chasing them. At noon, while preparing early dinner, a man, a stranger,
rode up to the house, and of course was invited to eat. He was very
reticent, in fact would hardly speak at all, and gave no hint as to who
he was or anything about himself. While eating there was suddenly a
rapid succession of rifle-shots heard outside. We both rushed to the
door and saw a man riding for life straight to the house, with half a
dozen others shooting at him from horseback. He was not touched, only
his horse being killed at the door. The new-comer and my strange guest
at once showed that they were very intimate indeed, so that I quickly
and easily put two and two together. The following party in the meantime
had stopped and spread out, taking positions behind the low hills and
completely commanding the house. Only their big hats showed and I could
not make out whether they were Mexicans or white men. My two guests
would tell me nothing, except to assert that they knew nothing of their
followers, or why they began shooting. Realizing that these two had me
at their mercy, that they could make me do chores for them, fetch water,
cook, feed and attend to the horses till nightfall, when with my own two
fresh mounts they might possibly make a bolt for it, I got a bit
anxious, and determined to find out who the larger party were. So
walking out and waving my hat I caught their attention and, on advancing
further, one of the party came out and met me. Th