The Lost Cabin Mine

st

culty in believing possible such a sight as Camp Kettle presented on our arrival. It ma

id he of the red eyes as a hideous din

h a kind was this celebration that the stage-driver had to dismount and drag no fewer than three drunken men from the road, which irritated him con

s, so that a traveller coming to the place by road is fairly upon it before he is well aware. But on that day-or night-there were strips of bunting hanging across the waggon road, not from the houses, for they were all

Kid, pointing to the holes in the centre of these rocks, a

ing and going, lurching among the wandering tree-roots and falling over stumps still left there. And the whole bush round about you might have tho

lessly so as to evade them-so dazed and puzzled were they all and seemed to lose sight of us at once, wheeling about and crying out to the twilit

be a little fuddled, but not too much to attend to our wants in the way of horses, and he is not likely to talk afterwards. T

nd we entered into a babel of talk, that cease

agitated, but, I suppose on seeing that we were not the worse of liquor, they bent again over

mp which hung over a desk by which he stood, turned to us, and, loo

ing," said

ening,"

rice was hauled down from the shelf. Then we bought three small bags of flour and two sides of bacon, and all this was tied up for u

nothing more, except, perhaps, cranberries, to the hotel, which they gathered on the foothills. Now, as you see, they run a regular store. But on such nights as this it behooves them to

darkness, and seemed a trifle astonished, I thought, at our request for horses. But he bade us follow him,

-night, heh?" said the Ita

said

o Placer Camp or

ian was saddling the other), and he merely turned and shot the questioner

een and done strange things in his day, and been in peculiar corners to learn a glance like that. If ev

e went, leading our steeds,

rifles?" aske

d a Winchester, which was thrust atop of the l

when a voice broke in

ng mouth, standing by, with firm enough legs, to be sure, but his body sw

said

n a horrible drunken weeping, the most distressful kind of intoxicated fool I ever saw, and moaned to himself: "Goin' prospectin' without a-with on'y a gun at the belt and a Win

ity and respect, and then we struck south (the Chinaman entering his store), and left that pitiable creature slobbering upon the tree-stump, left the din and outcrying and hideousness be

tree-stumps to left and right of the track were all smouldering with little, flickering blue flames,

nd at the moment I heard a sound as of a twig snapping, but from what quarter the sound came I could not tell. We were both then looking ba

one of these stumps

through the timber, back in the direction that Baker City lay, keeping in a line parallel to the waggon road. And ever and again as we

ts entering into Camp Kettle. "Where in thunder is Donoghue?" snapped Apache Kid, and suddenly the horse I was leading swung

Just you keep holt of them reins. If you let 'em drop, your

d waltzing. And there, risen out of a bush before us, stood two men, one with a Winchester at the ready and the other with his l

if I may be permitted to say so, I astonished myself likewise, for after the first leap of the heart I

de a mistake, gentle

h the Winchester. "I 've just come o

Apache Kid, "but I have n

e;" and at the same moment Apache Kid recognised the oth

king on him. "Where did you learn that theatrical style of

offering you. You can either come right along with us to Camp Kettle and draw out

d whistle

or considering the situation into which we had fallen, "if I

e's on the one hand. The loss o' your lif

nd is the weaker in this game; for on your side

stronger hand, I g

. "But presuming that I am aware of the location of that place, what assurance could I have that

ly turned his attention to us again. "Besides, I might draw up a fake map and send

, "and you 'd just wait with a friend of ours while

now," he said, "in the language of the country. The terms are all being made for me and at this rate--" he swung round again to these two-"you really mean

glitter in his eye and his breath was coming through his nostrils in fierce gusts, and unde

an with the Winchester. "I 've seen a bit of the Indians from whom you ta

? You'd insult me-coming out with a hog like that to hold

me to a decision before I count three, you 're a dead man. I 'll run chances o

but are you aware that the gentleman you hav

Winchester man.

sank to the earth, he with the revolver falling second, so that as he sagged down I heard the breath of life, one might have thought, belch out of him. It was really the gasp, I suppose, when the bullet struck him, but it was the most helpless sound I ever heard in my life-something like the quack of a duck. Sorry am I that e

they paid no heed. As for me, I found then that I had been a deal more upset by this meeting than I had permitted myself to believe; and my nerves must have

s arm, right up to us and began speaking. No, I cannot call it speaking. There was no word intelligible. His eyes were the eyes of a sober man, but when he spoke to us not a word could we distinguish, and he seemed aware of that hi

pache Kid, wetting his lips with his

ong with h

. But he followed Donoghue, to where st

Kid, and then, like an afterthought: "Try to forget

omething of an emoti

e there till-til

the light of the stumps doesn't keep them o

ment, and there, between the trees, I saw the c

ard me; but the other, "the hog from Ontario," lay looking after us, with his dead eyes and

pen, sandy ground; but when I saw the stars thick in the sky, Orion, Cassiopeia, and Urs

d Apache Kid, holding my horse's

t swerved; but at the third try I got in my f

cinch up another hole or two. At this, taken by surprise, the beast put its ears back and hung its head and its tail between its legs. Donoghue pulled his hat down on his head, caught the check-rein with his left and clapped his right hand to the high, round pommel. There was a moment's pause; he cast a quick glance to the horse's head; thrust his foot into the huge stirrup, and with a grunt and a mighty swing was into the saddle. And t

ad coming up from Camp Kettle, and bound toward Baker City, was an old, grey-bearded

oghue across the road, in the lead, and already a few paces up the

ache Kid, civilly enough, but I t

es, you 're better to camp out in the hills instead of going into Camp Kettle to-night. I 've

him, laden up with blankets, pans,

o' summer, instead of down there. It's a cough I have," he whe

rtling," sai

way? Anything in it, think you?" said

id, but the old man seemed to

l give you good night. I 'll keep goin' on, till I get a good camp place-maybe all night I don't like Camp Kettle to-night," and g

d the loneliness and all that," he said with a wave of his hand in the starshine. Then suddenly he spurred forward his

and then pulled again at the Winchester which he found difficult to get free. But Apache Kid smote Donoghue's horse upon the flank and pressed him forward and so we left the road and be

have been spared and these mountains, into the foothills of which we now plunged, have not been assoiled with the bloo