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After he had brayed to his satisfaction, he gave a sort of grunt, as if to say, u We are even now," and shot ahead. The little pack-mule was no trouble . He had but a light load, and, as if in gratitude, faith fully kept his place.
A pony or horse must be led. Anything but a mule will roam and run against trees, will lodge his pack in the boughs that hang low overhead, or, worse still, stop to eat of the branches or weeds, and grasses under foot. The patient, cunning little Mexican mule will do nothing of the sort. He would starve rather than stop to eat when on duty; and would as soon think of throwing himself down over one of the cliffs that he is familiar with as to injure or imperil the pack that has been trusted to his care, by butting against trees, or lodging under the boughs that hang above the trail. He stops the instant the pack is loose, or anything falls to the ground, and refuses to move till all is made right.
We could not keep pace with Klamat, hasten as we might, through the pines. Like a spirit, he darted here and there through the trees, urging and beckoning all the time for us to follow faster.
We could not see our pursuers now, yet we knew too well that they were climbing fast as their strong- limbed sturdy mules would serve them, the" hill that we had climbed an hour before. The advantage, on one hand, was theirs ; on the other, we had things somewhat our own way. The chances were about evenly balanced for escape without b
