The Gold Trail

ook out his pipe. He had still a very little tobacco left, and he fancied that it might deaden the pangs of hunger. Then he glanced at Grenfell, who lay fast asleep close by, with his blanket

is eyes. The stamp of indulgence was very plain upon him, and the younger man, w

at seemed to warrant it, and admitted that in all probability Grenfell would have succumbed before he could get back again. After all, this outcast who had led him into the wilderness on a fruitless search was his comrade, and they had agreed to share and share alike. That Grenfell had at the most

taking from his pocket an indelible pencil that he happened to have with him, he moistened the point of

, and he laid a stone on it where

ted out to him, and the bush deer very seldom stand silhouetted against the sky. Their pale tinting blends with that of the fir trunks and the tall fern, and they seem to recognize the desirability of always having something near them that breaks their continuity of outline. Besides, to hunt in the thick bush needs the keenest powers of observation of both ear and eye, and an infinite patience, of which

sign of life. When he strained his ears to listen there was only the sound of falling water or the clamor of a hidden creek. Sight was of almost as little service among those endless rows of towering trunks, betwee

ce but the savageness of desperation that animated him. He woul

very still, he slowly swept his eyes across the glade. A curious, hard glint crept into them when they rested on one spot where something that looked very much like a slender, forked branch rose above a thicket. Then a small patch of slightly different color from the thicket appeared close beneath, and, though he knew that thi

tiffened his left fingers on the barrel and dropped his cheek on the butt. There would, he knew, be only one shot, a long one, and, while it was not particularly easy to get the sight on that little

en, as it swung across the middle of the patch, he added the last trace of pressure. He saw a train of sparks leap from the jerking muzzle, and felt the butt jar upon his shoulder. Still, as is almost invariably the case with a man w

ble swiftness sailed into the air, and vanished as he fired again. The smoke blew back into his eyes, and there was a low rustling that rapidly grew fainter. He ran to the thicket, and

showed among the leaves, and it did not seem possible that the deer could go very far. Still, by this time the light was growing dim, and he pre

nd, though he had scarcely expected the shot to be successful, the object in front of him collapsed amidst the fern. He could no longer see it, but, whipping out the big knif

nt he had flung himself upon the deer with the long knife in his hand. Then his feet slipped, and he and the beast rolled down a slope together. The blade he gripped struck soil and stones, but at length he knew that it had gone in to the hilt

there was still a task in hand. He set about it, and, though it was far from heavy, he had some difficulty in getting the dressed deer upon his shoulders. How he reached camp with it he never knew, but he fell down several times before he did

sely, "it's up to y

me much of it. The muscular fiber resembles cordage; and strong green tea is no doubt not the most desirable beverage to accompany it; but Grenfell and Weston ate it in lumps and were asleep within five minutes after they lay down gorged to repletion beside the sinking fire. It is generally understood that a famishing person should be supplied

, "we have to con

nked at him,

rst thing is to eat breakfast. Then we'll

ey found, also, the horse still feeding on the strip of natural prairie; and, as the beast and the buried camp gear it could now carry back represented their whole

, however, marking trees in the bush, and, as Weston had to wait some time before he learned that no more hands were wanted, it was evening before he reached the little wooden hotel where he had left his comrade. It had a veranda in front of it, and he stopped when he

night to the copper vein the Dryhurst people are opening up," said t

ut the other piece of information

aking on me

Sent down to Vancouver

is hotel-keeper tell me, instead of

ormant

our breakfast and another for supper, though anybody else would give you

on n

e evidently getting angry about someth

ught a horse from him; but you'd better go in and see. I decided to pull out

; and as Weston went up a

oney or the horse! You hear

ust then engaged in hastily removing the bottles from it. Another man, in blue shirt and duck trousers, stood beside the stove, and he held a big ax which he swung suggestively. It was evident that several of the others were runaway sailo

Oh, bring it out!" sa

of men who sat on a rough fir table; but the m

t that horse. If the deadbeat who made the deal with me

rew himself up, and made a gesture of pro

ou anything. For example, we'll proceed to put this hotel-keeper in the crucible, and see what we get. It's thirty parts hoggish self-sufficiency, and ten parts ignor

s attitude was comprehensible in view of the fact that the drunken man h

ternly. "Have you sol

hers. "Set us up the drinks afterw

h?" West

ty do

ared to feel that he was being lef

" he said. "Trot th

nced a ditty of the deep sea which was quite unquotable. Wes

man yonder spent twenty

they were not the boys to impose upon a stranger, and in proof of this several of them

ut I've no intention of being victimized. It's quite clear

u have to do is to sail right ahead. Burn up the blame

dent to me, after what the others have said, that my partner couldn't very well have spent more than five

g the axman, "or the

ined the hotel-keeper. "Still, I'll part wit

ain left, one of the others recollected that it was in rather less than half an hour. So

he observed, "my knees

mists crawled up the hillside as, laughing harshly, they plodded through the little wooden town. They were wanderers and vagabonds, but they were also men who had faced the stinging frost on the ranges and the blinding snow. They had held their lives lightly as they flung the tall wooden bridges over thundering ca