The yellow dog wagged his tail. He was young and as yet had some faith
in mankind.
Bartley tied his horse and strode up the trail to the workings.
Everything had been put in order. The dog helped investigate, sniffing
at the wheelbarrow, the buckets, the empty sacks weighted down with rock
to keep them from blowing away, the row of tools, picks and shovels and
bars. Evidently the owner of the place was not concealed beneath any of
these things.
Meanwhile the afternoon shadows warned Bartley that a camp with water
and feed was the next thing in order. He strode back to the cabin. There
was no problem to solve, although he thought there was. The yellow dog,
an old campaigner in the open, though young in years, solved his problem
by a suggestion. He was tired. There seemed to be no food in sight. He
philosophically trotted to the open shed opposite the cabin and made a
bed for himself in a pile of gunny-sacks. Bartley grinned. Why not?
Experience had taught Bartley to carry something else, besides a
notebook and pencil, in his saddle-bags. Hence the crackers and can of
corned beef came in handy. The mountain water was cold and refreshing.
There was hay in the burro stable. Moreover, Bartley now had a happy
companion who licked his chops, wagged his tail, and grinned as he
finished a bit of corned beef. Bartley tossed him a cracker. The dog
caught it and it disappeared. This was something like it! Here was a man
who rode a big horse, didn't kick stray dogs, and even shared a meal
with a fellow! Such a man was worth following forever.
"It would seem that you have adopted me," declared Bartley. The dog had
shown no inclination to leave since being fed. There might possibly be
another meal coming, later.
"But what am I going to do with you?" queried Bartley, as the dog curled
up on the pile of gunny-sacks. "You don't look as though you habitually
stopped at hotels, and I'll have to, until I catch up with Cheyenne.
What's the answer?"
The yellow dog, all snuggled down in the sacks, peered at Bartley with
unblinking eyes. Bartley laughed. Then he made his own bed with
gunny-sacks, and after smoking a cigarette, turned in and slept well.
He did not expect to find the dog there in the morning. But the dog was
there, most evidently waiting for breakfast, grinning his delight at not
being cursed or kicked at, and frisking round the cabin yard in a mad
race after nothing in particular, and indicating in every way possible
that he was the happiest dog that ever wagged a tail.
Crackers and corned beef again, and spring water for breakfast. And
while Dobe munched his hay, Bartley smoked and roughly planned his
itinerary. He would travel south as far as Phoenix and then swing back
again, over the old Apache Trail--if he did not overtake Cheyenne.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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