The border vidette., 1913-10-25
THE SIMPLE LIFE.

' the grounds by q Smuggler, and | the journalist was a member of | the custom house stall as a side l line. Perhaps it would be safer to say the alleged diplomat, journalist, tilibuSter and snug gler. For unless man can either fake up or deserve a shady past or furtive present, he has no reason for living on the border At least he's not interesting there.
 They took with them bodies and bodies of bedding and very little grub. They were going to live off of the country in cave man style. They also took about fifty pounds of salt, for the liv- ing of the country was to be so fat that their friends would all have venison and bear meat for a winters supply Fortunately there are ranches within a days walk of almost any where in the primeval waste they invaded, so that they really did live off of the country, but not as outlined in the prospectus.
 The alleged smuggler drove his team so fast that wher the first ranch was reached, some seventeen miles out in the track less uneXplored, it was neces- .sary to change horses for mules. But that was only touch of inspiration making the setting complete For the mules sug- gested Spanish mules and Span ish mules suggested priests just out from Spain bound for the Missions and the filibuster was fat, they called him an arch bishop and in that way. they ex- plainede to themselves and each other how they came to be riding instead of walking in sandals. sso Arch bishop though he might have been in the setting, the filibuster was certainly no cook. The pone he made the first night in camp had a heart like a heart of woman in that it was mushy, and. a crust like the side of battleship.
 The diplomat made hot cakes for breakfast and the journalist and the smuggler used them for guaraches.
 The journalist shot some quail and skinned them leaving the head and feathers in one piece as though some diminutive woodland Maude Adams might play chanticleer in them. And the diplomat who was following down the trail chancing upon one of these discarded coverings bore it proudly into camp.
 "See,' said he, what cu- riOuS shot. The bird complete ly torn from it's wrapping. I couldn't even find the body which must have been torn all apart"
 The journalist and the diplo- mat didn't sleep well the first . night for the waste was full of possibilities and now and then could be heard. the snarl of some riracka rabob as it Stalked a lunkyplunk, or from accrOSS the chill mountains came the note of the exclusive burro as it hob bled from crag to crag and call ed wooingly to it's mate. Then too, there was the excitement of the stars with the never end ing changes they made in posi- tion. One minute they would be precisely over one and next glance behold the same stars were miles away off the side while other stars (quite like the original one. but still not the same) would be above. At least it must have been something like that that kept them awake. But you see the Smuggler and the filibuster being accustomed to nights in the open while pur- suing their nefariOuS careers, slept well, which shows that a virtuous life needs sheltered con ditions; does not make for con fort once the conditions are changed. Indeed. it is quite safe to say that virtue practiced more than half the time is a very eX penSive paStime.
 If deer tracks had been deer, fifty pounds of salt wouldn't have seasoned @ tenth of the meat these tireSide NimrOds would have brought home. But the one deer that was shot at must be somewhere near Cape Horn by this time. even allow ing for reasonable stops to take I,. ,>,.O,-i(lnI tho