“Because I didn’t know it myself,” said Joshua, rising and rubbing his jarred frame.

The mustang did not offer to run away, but stood calmly surveying him as if it had had nothing to do with his rider’s sudden dismounting.

“Darn the critter!  He looks just as if nothing had happened,” said Joshua.  “He served me a mean trick.”

“It was a gentle hint that he was tired,” said Joe.

“Darn the beast!  I don’t like his hints,” said Mr. Bickford.

He prepared to mount the animal, but the latter rose on its hind legs and very clearly intimated that the proposal was not agreeable.

“What’s got into the critter?” said Joshua.

“He wants to rest.  Suppose we rest here for half-an-hour, while we loosen check-rein and let the horses graze.”

“Just as you say.”

Joshua’s steed appeared pleased with the success of his little hint and lost no time in availing himself of the freedom accorded him.

“I wish I was safe at the mines,” said Joshua.  “What would dad say if he knowed where I was, right out here in the wilderness?  It looks as we might be the only human critters in the world.  There ain’t no house in sight, nor any signs of man’s ever bein’ here.”

“So we can fancy how Adam felt when he was set down in Paradise,” said Joe.

“I guess he felt kinder lonely.”

“Probably he did, till Eve came.  He had Eve, and I have you for company.”

“I guess Eve wasn’t much like me,” said Joshua, with a grin.

He was lying at full length on the greensward, looking awkward and ungainly enough, but his countenance, homely as it was, looked honest and trustworthy, and Joe preferred his company to that of many possessed of more outward polish.  He could not help smiling at Mr. Bickford’s remark.

“Probably Eve was not as robust as you are,” he replied, “I doubt if she were as tall, either.  But as to loneliness, it is better to be lonely than to have some company.”

“There ain’t no suspicious characters round, are there?” inquired Joshua anxiously.

“We are liable to meet them—­men who have been unsuccessful at the mines and who have become desperate in consequence, and others who came out here to prey upon others.  That’s what I hear.”

“Do you think we shall meet any of the critters?” asked Joshua.

“I hope not.  They wouldn’t find it very profitable to attack us.  We haven’t much money.”

“I haven’t,” said Joshua.  “I couldn’t have got to the mines if you hadn’t lent me a few dollars.”

“You have your animal.  You can sell him for something.”

“If he agrees to carry me so far,” said Mr. Bickford, gazing doubtfully at the mustang, who was evidently enjoying his evening repast.

“Oh, a hearty meal will make him good-natured.  That is the way it acts with boys and men, and animals are not so very different.”