Captain Bayley's Heir:

ing. "The store has got into swing now; the two negroes know their work well, and everything

be cleared up, and that you can go back again cleared of that ugly charge. Anyhow, it is well for you to make your way out here. It will be a satisfaction for you, if you do go back, to have shown that you were dependent on no one, but that you could fight your own way, and make your living by the aid of your own hands and your own brain. And now look here, if at any time you get sick of gold-digging, as you very well may, and want to turn your hand to anything else-and in a country like that, mind you, with a population pouring in from all parts, there will be big opportunities,-if you want capital to start you, just you send a letter to David Willcox, New Orleans, and tell me

o do, having been at work from daybreak until late at night. As he wandered among the motley throng of emigrants, he was struck with the hopefulness which everywhere prevailed, and could not but feel that many of them were doomed to disappointment. Many of them were storekeepers, men who had never done a day's work

The fact that all were animated by a common impulse rendered every on

re going through

said, "I am g

orse, I

riding horse, and a

s," one said; "we don't talk of ba

am open to join some party. I suppose

stronger the better. In course you have

ll this Indian talk is exaggeration, a

of scalps they will take. The news of this here percession across the plains will bring them down

experience of the p

have ever made this journey,-indeed there warn't five men who had ever crossed the Rockies by the northern track afore the gold scare began. But I know enough of the country to

nk things are as bad

tigue, and the journey across the plains, it will want all a man to make the journey. We four m

ith one of the carav

st part of them are no better than a flock of sheep, and four good hands may keep them out of

hope you won't mind giving me some instructions in the ways

and if you likes to chum up with us you may, for I lik

is horse and loaded up his pony, and moved across to the spot where his new acquaintances were encamped. They were preparing for a start. All had good ri

nk said; "I did not think they w

ng the team moved them off yesterday evening, and got them a mile out of

r them. The waggons were all drawn by oxen, having six, eight, or ten according to their size or weight. The men walked by the side of their cattle; the greater part of the women and children trudged along behind the wa

by the others, said, "they are as light-hearted as if they wa

ne time been a hunter, but had married and settled down on a farm. Two sons, nearly grown-up, walked by his side. He had been chosen as

n circumstances; at any rate we will stay with ye for a bit. Now my proposal is this: you shall hitch our three baggage-horses on behind your waggons, and tell off one of the boys to look af

have you with me. Five extra rifles may make all the difference if we are attacked. We have got about twenty rifles in camp; but that ain't

any rate you need not be afraid of a

pon their long journey, and the prospect of a supply of fresh meat was exceedingly welcome; still more was the thought that the h

em. Even in the matter of Indian surprises they were better off than they would have been had they been alone. In case of meeting these marauders, they must have abandoned their baggage-animals; and their prospects, either of flight or defence, would have been poor had they met with a large body when alone, whereas the force

g fires. These were gratefully received, for the emigrants were wholly unaccustomed to cooking without the usual appliances, and their efforts, in many cases, had been very clumsy and unsuccessful. They were surprised to find that by digging a trench in the direction from which the wind was b

I was you I should begin to-morrow to make 'em arrange the waggons in proper form, the same as if we

good form; but for a time there will be no occasion for the cattle t

ill want all their condition f

would have been scared away by the constantly passing caravans. After riding for ten miles they began to keep a watchful eye over the country, which, although f

t, Dick?"

NT ON THE

to the left, or I am mi

y we are down wind now. You had better stop

they are not to move away-and the animals at once began cropping the grass. For a short distance the men walked forward, and then, as they nea

halt, while Abe proceeded alone. He lifted up his head slightly, and immediately laid it down again, while the other thre

d arrived there just in time to see a number of deer dashing at full speed far across the plain, while the four hunters were gathered round three dead s

or we might not have come upon another herd to-day. Now we will make our way on to

The hunters then mounted, and took their way in the directi

" Frank said, "but I cannot understand how you would do it on a

over the same way. Then, in course, there is the general direction of the valleys, and of any little streams. All of these are things one goes by at first, but it gets to come natural, what they call by instinct; one knows, somehow, which is the way to go without looking for signs. You will get to it in time, if you are long enough on the plains; but at present you watch the forms of all the bus

ravelled by the same line, and the trail was strongly marked by the ruts of wheels where the ground was soft, by broken bushes, and trampled herbage. The saddles were take

general feeling of satisfaction at the sight of the hunters and their spoil, and at the blazing fire, over which a portion of the meat was already roasting. The oxen were unharnessed and watered, the waggons were ranged six on each

were afloat along the road. These were brought down by the express riders who carried the mails across the plains, and for whose accommodation small stations we

olving the massacre of every soul in them. The caravan was still some distance from the scene of these attacks; but as the Indians ranged over the whole plains, it could not be said that they were beyond the risk of assault. Acting under the hunters' advice, the c

camp. The hunters now divided into two parties, three going out in search of game on one side of the line of march, two on the other; they thus acted as scouts on either side, and would be able

ooked meals round the blazing fire of an evening, as he had never enjoyed food before. The country was, it is true, for the most part monotonous, with its long low undulations, and the bare sweeps, unbroken by tree or bush; but there was always something new and interesting to be seen,-for Frank was fond of Natural History, and the

if they had been still in their little farms among the settlements, instead of on the plains with months of toilsome and dangerous journey before them. Some of the women cooked

which were always at a stream or water-hole, had long since been cleared off by the travellers who had preceded them. The chips afforded excellent fuel, burning with a fierce, steady glow, and making a fire something like that afforded by well-dried peat. Another source of fuel were the bones which lay in many places, scattered pretty thickly. Sometimes these marked the spot where long before a party of Indians had come upon a herd of buf

d; it burns freely, with a brilliant flame. The women of the party rejoiced when a clump of soap-weed was discovered, and it was always the occasion of a general wash, as by immersing some of it in water it had all the properties of soap, except that it did not make th

dogs themselves were about the size of rabbits, but seemed to Frank, from their quick, jerking motions, and their habit of sitting up on their hind-legs, to resemble squirrels more than any other animal. They were as much interested in the travellers as the latter were with them, almost every mound having its occupant sitting up watching them inquisitively. There were four or five dogs with the caravan, and until the novelty had passed off, and they became c

their abodes, and sitting with them on their hillocks. There were also a third species of inhabitant, and the presence of these caused strict orders to be

airie-dogs, and the rattlesnakes may sometimes eat an old one. Still, there it is; they never seem afraid of each other, and no one, as far as I knows, has ever seen a prairie dog fifty yards away from his town. The rummest thing about them is as every town has got its well. The prairie-dogs have all got their holes, and though you may see 'em going about popping in and out of each other's

ust the earth they

dogs and owls and snakes, get drowned all together. Mighty nasty places they are, I tell yer, when they are desarted. At other times you can see 'em plain enough, and can ride through 'em at a gallop, for the horses are accustomed to pick thar way; but after a

good eat

But you have got to kill 'em to get 'em; if you don't put your bullet through thar head, they just chucks

mendous lot of rattlesna

our Colt. Thar are two sorts, them as you finds on the plains and them as you finds amon

lways fa

he place, and to clap on a poultice of fresh dung-that draws out the poison; and then, if you have got it, drink half a bottle of spirits. It ain't often we get bit, because of these high

of that. What i

s got a way of coming and biting you when you are asleep, and when it does it is sartin death;

asts!" Frank said; "I ho

if you sleeps in an old Mexican hut that's been deserted, or places

ere so suspicious and watchful that there was no getting within shot, while, once in motion, they could leave the horses behind with ease. The only way in which they could get them would be by acting upon their curiosity. One or two of the hunters would dismount, and crawl through the grass until within three or four hundred yards of the herd; then they would li

game as we have been doing. Over and over again have I seen them at their tricks; two of them will play them together. They will creep up through the grass till they can get to a spot where the antelope can see them, and then they will just act as if they were mad, rolling over on their backs, waving their legs about, twisting and rolling like balls, and playing the fool, till the antelope comes

ve entirely

is always some as is old or injured and can't keep up; besides, sometimes they get scared, and then they will run over a bluff and get piled up there dead