One cocked his rifle on the impulse, then laughed when he
realized what it was. Just before we parted one of them remarked, "You
came through the Bee River four days ago, near a telephone, didn't
you?" "Yes, but we didn't see any one," I replied.
"No? But we saw you!" And we felt the smiles we could not see.
They said the large ranch had some Chinamen clearing the highest
ground, and building levees around it to keep the water out. The
telephone and a motor boat connected the different ranches. Their
advice to us was to keep to the river, not to look for the ranch, but
to get on the telephone and raise a racket until some one showed up.
Then we parted to go to our respective landings, with mutual wishes
for a successful journey. The boat was pulled down. The tide was on
the point of turning, but it would be an hour before there would be
any strength to it. I went to shore and built a fire of some
driftwood, for the long stand in the water had chilled me. Al stayed
with the boat. Earlier in the day, I cautiously shook the sticks loose
from the matted grass, fearing the rattlers which were everywhere. In
this case nothing buzzed. But I had no sooner got my fire well started
when a rattler began to sing, roused by the light and the heat, about
twenty feet away. My fire was built beside one of the many sloughs
which cut back through the grass and ended in the barren soil. These
sloughs were filled with water when the tide was in and made ideal
landing places, especially if one had to avoid a big tidal bore.
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