y I had come--low clouds, tattered
to shreds. Even at that distance I could hear the roar of the wind
among the loft crags. I was thankful that I had crossed the Divide the
day before. It was still thirty miles to the cabin of my friend, but
they were fairly easy miles compared with those I had just traversed.
Even so, so spent was my strength, it was pitch dark when I dragged
wearily up the broken road to where that cabin nestled in its grove of
spruces.

The dance was not until Monday night, so I took it for granted that I
should be the first to arrive, since I was a full day ahead of the
function. But no! Many were already there! They were eating supper
and made room for me at the long table before the open fire. They were
cordial and made me feel at home at once, marveling over my making the
trip alone, and praising my pluck. I was much too weary and hungry to
protest, even though I had been becomingly modest. Seeing this, they
filled my plate and let me be, turning their nimble tongues on our
host--What handsome whiskers--la! la! He'd better be careful with
those hirsute adornments and a cabin with a plank floor! He couldn't
hope to remain a bachelor long! So the banter ran.

Supper over and the dishes cleared away, the candles were snuffed out
and the company (visitors were never called guests) sat around the
flickering hearth and speculated over the possible coming of the Moffat
railroad. What an assorted company it was! Young and
grizzled--trappers, miners, invalids seeking health, adventurers,
speculators, a few half-breeds; all men of little education, but of
fascinating experience; a few women of quiet poise and resourcefulness.
Their clothes were nondescript and betrayed the fact that they had come
from the East, having been sent west by condoning relatives, no doubt
after having lived in more fashionable circles. There were two little
children who fell asleep early in the evening in their parents' arms.

The company was put to bed in Oss's one-room house by the simple means
of lying down upon the floor fully dressed, feet to the fire.

All were up early next morning, and each found some task to do. Some
of the men cut wood and piled it outside the door; the women folks
assisted Oss with breakfast which was cooked in the fireplace; for he
had not yet reached the luxury of a cook stove, which would have to be
"fetched in" over sixty miles of mountain roads and would cost a tidy
sum besides