and still the friendly chatting went on. Finally I could stand it no longer.
“Will somebody wait on me?” I demanded.
One of the shirt-sleeved men leisurely got up and surveyed me.
“Do you want to buy something?” he drawled.
“Yes, I do.”
“Why didn't you say so?”
The reply trembling on my lips was cut short by the entrance of Buell.
“Hello!” he said in a loud voice, shaking hands with me. “You've trailed into the right place. Smith, treat this lad right. It's guns an' knives an' lassoes he wants, I'll bet a hoss.”
“Yes, I want an outfit,” I said, much embarrassed. “I'm going to meet a friend out in Penetier, a ranger—Dick Leslie.”
Buell started violently, and his eyes flashed. “Dick—Dick Leslie!” he said, and coughed loudly. “I know Dick. … So you're a friend of his'n? … Now, let me help you with the outfit.”
Anything strange in Buell's manner was forgotten, in the absorbing interest of my outfit. Father had given me plenty of money, so that I had but to choose. I had had sense enough to bring my old corduroys and boots, and I had donned them that morning. One after another I made my purchases—Winchester, revolver, holsters, ammunition, saddle, bridle, lasso, blanket. When I got so far, Buell said: “You'll need a mustang an' a pack-pony. I know a feller who's got jest what you want.” And with that he led me out of the store.
“Now you take it from me,” he went on, in a fatherly voice, “Holston people haven't got any use for Easterners. An' if you mention your business—forestry an' that—why, you wouldn't be safe. There's many in the lumberin' business here as don't take kindly to the Government. See! That's why I'm givin' you advice. Keep it to yourself an' hit the trail today, soon as you can. I'll steer you right.”
I was too much excited to answer clearly; indeed, I hardly thanked him. However, he scarcely gave me the chance. He kept up his talk about the townspeople and their attitude toward Easterners until we arrived at a kind of stock-yard full of shaggy little ponies. The sight of them drove every other thought out of my head.
“Mustangs!” I exclaimed.
“Sure. Can you ride?”
“Oh yes. I have a horse at home. … What wiry little fellows! They're so wild-looking.”
“You pick out the one as suits you, an' I'll step into Cless's here. He's the man who owns this bunch.”
It did not take me long to decide. A black mustang at once took my eye. When he had been curried and brushed he would be a little beauty. I was trying to coax him to me when Buell returned with a man.
“Thet your pick?” he asked, as I pointed. “Well, now, you're not so much of a tenderfoot. Thet's the best mustang in the lot. Cless, how much for him, an' a pack-pony an' pack-saddle?”
“I reckon twenty dollars'll make it square,” replied the owner.
This nearly made me drop with amazement. I had only about seventy-five dollars left, and I had been very much afraid that I could not buy the mustang, let alone the pack-pony and saddle.
“Cless, send round to Smith for the lad's outfit, an' saddle up for him at once.” Then he turned to me. “Now some grub, an' a pan or two.”
Having camped before, I knew how to buy supplies. Buell, however, cut out much that I wanted, saying the thing to think of was a light pack for the pony.
“I'll hurry to the hotel and get my things,” I said, “and meet you here. I'll not be a moment.”
But Buell said it would be better for him to go with me, though he did not explain. He kept with me, still he remained in the office while I went up-stairs. Somehow this suited me, for I did not want him to see the broken window. I took a few things from my grip and rolled them in a bundle. Then I took a little leather case of odds and ends I had always carried when camping and slipped it into my pocket. Hurrying down-stairs I left my grip with the porter, wrote and mailed a postal card to my father, and followed the impatient Buell.
“You see, it's a smart lick of a ride to Penetier, and I want to get there before dark,” he explained, kindly.
I could have shouted for very glee when I saw the black mustang saddled and bridled.
“He's well broke,” said Cless. “Keep his bridle down when you ain't in the saddle. An' find a patch of grass fer him at night. The pony'll stick to him.”
Cless fell to packing a lean pack-pony.
“Watch me do this,” said he; “you'll hev trouble if you don't git the hang of the diamondhitch.”
I watched him set the little wooden criss-cross on the pony's back, throw the balance of my outfit (which he had tied up in a canvas) over the saddle, and then pass a long rope in remarkable turns and wonderful loops round pony and pack.
“What's the mustang's name?” I inquired.
“Never had any,” replied the former owner.
“Then it's Hal.” I thought how that name would please my brother at home.
“Climb up. Let's see if you fit the stirrups,” said Cless. “Couldn't be better.”
“Now, young feller, you can hit the trail,” put in Buell, with his big voice. “An' remember what I told you. This country ain't got much use for a feller as can't look out for himself.”
He opened the gate, and led my mustang into the road and quite some distance. The pony jogged along after us. Then Buell stopped with a finger outstretched.
“There, at the end of this street, you'll find a trail. Hit it an' stick to it. All the little trail's leadin' into it needn't bother you.”
He swept his hand round to the west of the mountain. The direction did not tally with the idea I had gotten from Dick's letter.
“I thought Penetier was on the north side of the mountains.”
“Who said so?” he asked, staring. “Don't I know this country? Take it from me.”
I thanked him, and, turning, with a light heart I faced the black mountain and my journey.
It was about ten o'clock when Hal jogged into a broad trail on the outskirts of Holston. A gray flat lay before me, on the other side of which began the slow rise of the slope. I could hardly contain myself. I wanted to run the mustang, but did not for the sake of the burdened pony. That sage-flat was miles wide, though it seemed so narrow. The back of the lower slope began to change to a dark green, which told me I was surely getting closer to the mountains, even if it did not seem so. The trail began to rise, and at last I reached the first pine-trees. They were a disappointment to me, being no larger than many of the white oaks at home, and stunted, with ragged dead tops. They proved to me that trees isolated from their fellows fare as poorly as trees overcrowded. Where pines grow closely, but not too closely, they rise straight and true, cleaning themselves of the low branches, and making
