Sprague sold a few every year.

He had made a present of one to Ellen, although he hated to part with them.

This old man was Ellen's one and only friend.
Upon her trip out to the Rim with the sheep, Uncle John, as Ellen called him, had been away on one of his infrequent visits to Grass Valley.

It pleased her now to see a blue column of smoke lazily lifting from the old chimney and to hear the discordant bray of burros.
As she entered the clearing Sprague saw her from the door of his shack.
"Hello, Uncle John!" she called.
"Wal, if it ain't Ellen!" he replied, heartily.

"When I seen thet white-faced jinny I knowed who was leadin' her.