His destination was a hut, or rather a lean-to, that pressed against the side of the mountain, a crazy structure with a single length of stove pipe leaning awry from the roof.  And at the door of this house Haw-Haw Langley drew rein and stepped to the ground.  The interior of the hut was dark, but Haw-Haw stole with the caution of a wild Indian to the entrance and reconnoitered the interior, probing every shadowy corner with his glittering eyes.  For several long moments he continued this examination, and even when he was satisfied that there was no one in the place he did not enter, but moved back several paces from the door and swept the sides of the mountains with an uneasy eye.  He made out, a short distance from the door, a picketed horse which now reared up its head from the miserable scattering of grass on which it fed and stared at the stranger.  The animal must have bulked at least twice as large as the mount which had brought Langley to the mountain-side.  And it was muscled even out of proportion to its bulk.  The head was so tremendously broad that it gave an almost square appearance, the neck, short and thick, the forelegs disproportionately small but very sturdy; and the whole animal was built on a slope towards the hind quarters which seemed to equal in massiveness all the rest of the body.  One would have said that the horse was a freak meant by nature for the climbing of hills.  And to glance at it no man could suppose that those ponderous limbs might be moved to a gallop.  However, Haw-Haw Langley well knew the powers of the ugly beast, and he even made a detour and walked about the horse to view it more closely.

Now he again surveyed the darkening landscape and then turned once more to the house.  This time he entered with the boldness of a possessor approaching his hearth.  He lighted a match and with this ignited a lantern hanging from the wall to the right of the door.  The furnishings of the dwelling were primitive beyond compare.  There was no sign of a chair; a huddle of blankets on the bare boards of the floor made the bed; a saddle hung by one stirrup on one side and on the other side leaned the skins of bob-cats, lynx, and coyotes on their stretching and drying boards.  Haw-Haw took down the lantern and examined the pelts.  The animals had been skinned with the utmost dexterity.  As far as he could see the hides had not been marred in a single place by slips of the knife, nor were there any blood stains to attest hurried work, or careless shooting in the first place.  The inner surfaces shone with the pure white of old parchment But Haw-Haw gave his chief attention to the legs and the heads of the skins, for these were the places where carelessness or stupidity with the knife were sure to show; but the work was perfect in every respect.  Until even the critical Haw-Haw Langley was forced to step back and shake his head in admiration.  He continued his survey of the room.