The Lost Cabin Mine

ep the Peace"

che Kid to hear some matter that was not for all to hear; for immediately on our entering the little rear room he flung aside a p

Walls have ears:" and so we all t

r a strowl?"

wl." And we found ourselves on the street

id slowed down an

e said that!" he

" Donoghue

ke that-said we were

ed Donoghue, whose ear

him with a reli

uld n't catch it either. Still, still, I should n't

?" I in

sig

hing in a man's clothes or talk or manner. Besid

own, quite beyond the last sidewalks that stretched and criss-crossed among the rocks and sand, ma

d disappeared and the evening light falling wan on the occasional tufts of sage-brush gave them a peculiar air of desolation. Donoghue pulled out a clasp-knife and sat

d supper yet

id. "It's

ll excuse me remarking on your appearan

feeling just up to the scratch and-wel

d into his trousers pocket and held

more. I 've been there myself-when I was new t

ace aside, running the sand between his fingers and looking foolishly at it) that to tell you the truth, I fo

ll you get fed," said he, ex

him for his kindness I could not, for I felt that thanks would but embarrass him. "To

ob; but it is a job you might not care to take unless you were hard pressed; so you will pleas

n expedition that we are going on. We 're very old friends, we two, but for quite a little while back we had both been meditating going on this expedition separately. Fact is,

al thing for them to do, namely, to go out together, heedless of Canlan. For I had no doubt whatever that the expedition was to the Lost Cabin Mine. That was as clear as the sun. F

growled Donoghue,

only smiled on Donoghue's snarl and turned to me: "My friend Donoghue and I," said he, "it

interjecte

his country, such a state of things between friends may

at does it," said Donog

It does n't take long among them with a man to know whether you and he belong to the same order and breed. There are men who can never sleep under th

visible to me, looking in imagination, I s

peak, you ask him what in thunder he's broodin' about. And you look for him to fire up at you then, and if he don't, you feel worse than ever and go along with

eturn to Nature," sai

Kid inclined his head in acquiescence. He see

as he says, to go out on the trail, and

olves," said Apache

o. Well, but on this trail we can't go alone. I

ntains behind the town and A

in the mountains, day in day out, with a man whose soul an altogether different god or devil made; with a man that you fervently hope, if there's any waking up after the las

me keenly a s

han keep off the bickering spirit. I thi

illiterate Donoghue took his par

micable?"

," said A

id Donoghue, thoughtfull

Apache, with his eyes on mine. "And if we happened to be out over

ugh talk, I guess," said D

night-well, I would have feared that some heated sudden turn of mind of one or the other or both of these men might prevent me coming into my own. Donoghue especially had a fearsome face to see. But there was no such suggestion. I was offered two hundred dollars and, now that the night fell and th

l is on,

ll the programme was not yet completed. Apache Kid nodded and produced a roll

ng me the roll. "I 've kept off a five; so now

f bay, half moan. It was the dusk cry of the mountain coyotes; and either the echo of it or another cry came down from the hills beyond the city, only the hum of which we heard there. And when that melancholy cry, or echo, had ended, a cold wind shuddered across the land; all t