His outward appearance and mode of life certainly justified the above appendix to his personality, and it was so blazoned that it could be seen and heard all over British Columbia.  He had but one competitor, and that was “Dirty Harry,” who at one time frequented the streets of Ashcroft.  No other name could have distinguished him so completely from the other members of the human family.

His overalls, which were once blue, had become pale with age, and had adopted a dishrag-white color; and one of the original legs had been patched out of existence.  His Stetson hat, which had left the factory a deep brown, now approached the color of his terrestrial real estate.  His “jumper” had lost its blue and white “jail bird” stripe effect, and was now a cross between a faded Brussels carpet and a grain sack.  To save buying boots he wore his last winter’s overshoes away into the summer, while his feet would blister in discomfort.  Braces were a luxury which he could not endure, so he supported his superfluously laundried overalls with a strand of baling-rope which had already served its time as a halter guy.  His feet had never known the luxury of a factory or home-knitted stocking since he had graduated from the home crib, but were put off with gunny sacking which had already seen active service as nose bags for the cayuses.

“If one wishes to acquire wealth in this world,” he would say, “one must make a great many personal sacrifices.”  So he lived on and waxed wealthy at the expense even of the simplest of domestic comforts.

The improvements with which he had enhanced the value of his ranch were much in keeping with his personal appearance, and they could be recognized as brothers with the least difficulty.  The fences, which had refused to retain their youth against the passing years, had their aged and feeble limbs supported with thongs and makeshifts of every description; and where their pride had rebelled against such ingratitude, they were smothered beneath the limbs of fallen trees, which had been felled on the spot to serve as substitutes.  His flumes were knock-kneed and bow-legged, and in places they had no legs at all.  Their sides were warped and bulged with the alternate damp and drouth, heat and cold.  The lumber was bleached white, and porous with decay.  It was with difficulty they could be persuaded to remain at their water-carrying capacity.  The ditches were choked with willows and maples to such an extent that they were abandoned only in spots where they asserted themselves, and refused to convey the necessary irrigation stream.  Here they would burst their sides with indignation, and had to be repaired.  The barns, stables and chicken-houses had for years been threatening to collapse unless supplied with some stimulant; so numerous false-works had been erected, outside and in, to retain them within their confines.  The harness, which had originally been made of leather, betrayed very little trace of