us. Little
Jed Smith was only twelve years old, and we had to travel to suit him
and not just to suit us bigger boys. I'm fourteen and Major Henry is
sixteen. All the afternoon was showery; first we were dry, then we were
wet; and there wasn't much fun about sloshing and slipping along; but we
pegged away, and climbed out of Dixon's Park to the ridge beyond it. Now
we could see old Pilot Peak plain, and keeping to the high ground we
made for it. It didn't look to be very far away; but we didn't know,
now, all the things that lay between.

The top of this ridge was flat, and the forest reserve people had been
through and piled up the brush, so that a fire would not spread easily.
That made traveling good, and we hiked our best. Down in a gulch beside
us there was a stream: Dixon's Creek. But we kept to the high ground,
with our eyes open for a good camping spot, for the dark would close in
early if the rain did not quit. And nobody can pick a good camping place
in the dark.

Regular rest means a great deal when you are traveling across country.
Even cowboys will tell you that. They bed down as comfortably as they
can, every time, on the round-up.

After a while we came to a circular little spot, hard and flat, where
the timber had opened out. And General Ashley stopped and with a whirl
dug in his heel as sign that we would camp here. There was wood and
drainage and grass for the burros, and no danger of setting fire to the
trees if we made a big fire. We had to carry water up from the creek
below, but that was nothing.

Now we must hustle and get the camp in shape quick, before the things
get wet. While Fitzpatrick picked out a spot for his fire and Major
Henry chopped wood, two of us unpacked each burro. We put the things
under a tarp, and I started to bring up the water, but General Ashley
spoke.

"We're out of meat," he said. "You take the rifle and shoot a couple of
rabbits. There ought to be rabbits about after the rain."

This suited me. He handed me the twenty-two rifle and five cartridges;
out of those five cartridges I knew I could get two rabbits or else I
wasn't any good as a hunter. The sun was shining once more, and the
shadows were long in the timber, so I turned to hunt against the sun,
and put my shadow behind me. Of course, that wouldn't make _very_ much
difference, because rabbits usually see you before you see them; but I
was out after meat and must not miss any chances. There always is a
right