We walked to the kitchen, and found, hanging on the walls of the
store-room, a dozen quarters of venison, the fat carcass of a bear,
and several bunches of fowl.

"We are not obliged to kill our cattle to supply the men with meat,"
added the captain. "We butcher only when we need a change from wild
meat."

"I saw from the edge of the valley where I entered it that you have
deer."

"Pretty much everything but buffalo is here."

"I hear your brook is full of fish."

"There's where you make a mistake," he replied. "There is not a fish
in this valley. The water is spring water, and must possess some
mineral property distasteful to trout, for they never run up here. In
San Antonio Valley, six miles to the west, in a brook less clear than
this, you can catch them by the cart-load."

"I suppose you intend to take this venison with you?"

"Not if you will accept the gift of all but a few quarters, which we
will take for friends in the city."

"Thank you and your men. It will be a treat to us, and keep us going
until we can put in a hunt on our own account."