# The Act of Squatting explained — Travel Essays

> Chapter companion for Travel Essays by Robert Louis Stevenson.

## What happens

The narrator describes exploring the abandoned Silverado mine, discovering its ruins and relics, and the challenges of settling in with minimal supplies. After waiting for Rufe Hanson, who arrives late with help, they face further setbacks like a missing stovepipe and lost plate, but eventually receive hay for bedding and make a rough camp in the old bunkhouse.

## Themes in this chapter

### Freedom vs. Confinement

The squatters find both liberation and constraint in the ruined mine: freedom in the open air and nature, but confinement in the dilapidated, cramped quarters.

### Human Connection and Community

The chapter highlights reliance on others—Rufe, Irvine, and the Toll House people—for supplies and labor, despite frustrations.

### Mortality and the Passage of Time

The abandoned mine and its relics (old bills, broken glass) evoke a sense of lost lives and the rapid decay of human endeavors.

## Character check-ins

### Silverado

The abandoned mine and its ruins serve as the setting for the chapter.

### Rufe Hanson

Rufe arrives late with a wagon of effects and helpers, but forgets the stovepipe and loses a plate.

### Irvine Lovelands

Irvine, a relative of Mrs. Hanson, shows surprising strength carrying heavy boxes up the treacherous path.

### Fanny

Fanny tells a cautionary story about a man who mistook nitroglycerine for oil.

### Master Sam

Sam discovers a bag of powder that is initially feared to be giant powder but turns out to be rock for assay.

## Key lines

> The two stages had gone by when I got down, and the Toll House stood, dozing in sun and dust and silence, like a place enchanted.

When I arrived, the Toll House was quiet and still, as if under a spell, with no sign of the stagecoaches.

_Describes the eerie stillness of the Toll House upon the narrator's arrival._

> It was a promising spot for the imagination. No boy could have left it unexplored.

The cave-like tunnel and stream were so intriguing that any child would have felt compelled to explore them.

_Highlights the imaginative appeal of the abandoned mine's entrance._

> We camped, like Layard, amid ruins, and these names spoke to us of prehistoric time.

We lived among the ruins like an archaeologist, and the old names on the bills seemed to belong to a distant, ancient era.

_Compares the squatters' situation to that of an explorer discovering ancient remains._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/travel_essays_se/chapters/the-act-of-squatting
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/travel_essays_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/travel_essays_se/chapters