Summary

About the Author

Excerpt

Ordering Information

Abraham's Journal

The Irish Lord

Excerpt

Chapter 2
Tenderfoot Hill
About Noon, Wednesday, November 27,1895 -

About 200 feet up the hill Li stopped and sat his backpack down. Several yards ahead, on a flat portion of ground, there was a big canvas tent; a wooden shed was attached to it. A neatly shingled roof sloped almost to the ground on the shed side.

He looked around and then back toward the road; he could see Mei Meng still pulling her water cart. He picked up his pack and started up the hill again. He walked about ten feet and suddenly the trail became a clean swept path. He knew it had to be his father's camp. Everything around it would be swept clean and in neat order.

There was a big white mule off to the left in a corral. The fencing was make of crooked pieces of palo verde tree branches. old saguaro spines and ocotillo bushes, placed close together. Nothing would be able to crawl under it, or jump over it, without getting impaled on long thorns.

On his right there was a small garden , also fenced in with ocotillo stakes. An outhouse stood above it at a slightly higher elevation. This arrangement allowed the manure from the corral, and the compost from the outhouse to be easily spread onto the garden.

Red clay, decomposed granite and ore tailings from the mine were spread evenly across the pathways, covering the small plot of land, making the whole area neat and tidy.

A low growl brought Li to a sudden stop. A big dog was standing in front of him. "Hey there, Mutt. Don't you remember me?" He held his hand out toward the big dog and said quietly, "It is good to see you again."

Mutt sniffed the hand; the smell was familiar. He licked the fingers. Finally rememberign his friend, he wagged his big tail.

Li and Mutt had been friends for years.

Yang had found Mutt when he was just a puppy, starving and cold. The Mastiff, a breed of dog that guarded the monasteries in Tibet, looked ferocious, but was as gentle as a lamb, though very protective of his master. When Yang left California, Mutt refused to stay home, following him for two days before he caught up with him. Yang did not have the heart to take him back home, nor the time, so he make a collar and leash and let him come along.

Li patted Mutt's head then called out, "Ni-hao!"