Year: 1875

while beyond it the ground was smooth
and level for good eighty yards, so
that no living thing could como near us
without being seen and fired at


Just as we'd Lit our fire, and were be-
ginning TO cook, we saw first one man
and then another, till we'd counted fif-
teen in ALL come zigzagging in and out
of the bushes, down the face of the oppo-
site ridge. They halted just at the edge
of the thicket, and took look mt the
smoke of our fire rising above the trees !;
and then two of them laid down their
rifles, and were coming across the clear
ing to us, looking as friendly as they
could, when old Seth shoves his head
through the leaves, and says in Span
! ish


Gentlemen, we're talking over
! little business of our own, and wish to
be private, so you'll oblige us by keep
ing your own side, and well keep ours !;
for we have n way of shooting things
that come too near us, and we should be
sorry to lift you by mistake !"


Back the two beauties went, looking
as silly as II ha'porth tf Creacle in two
gallon Jug, and Seth rubbed his hands
and gave chuckle.


"They'd got bottle in each hand,
them two" says he "they war gwine
to make us slowed, and then clean out
our swag but they don't fool this child,
no how. Naow, ye see, they'll wait till
dark, and then go for us with rush
that's what's the matter with them-but
guess we'll be mot at home when they
call"


! He whispered to me to cut down three or
four of the longest creepers and twist them
into rope and L, guessing what he was
up to, did it with will. In n few min
utes we had rope that would have stood
anything and then / hitched one end
round tree, and let drop the other
down the ravine-the rest making a great
shouting and singing meanwhile, by way
of blind. Then the old Indian (who
was as nimble as a cat slid down to the
bottom, and we lowered our packs to him,
one by one.


"That's all right" says Seth "and
now We'll just take it easy till dark, and
then take passage by this new overland
line of ourn.


But one don't take it very easy when
there's gang of bloodthirsty rascals,
twice your strength and armed to the
teeth every man Jack of 'em, sitting
waiting barely eighty yards off to cut your
throat and L think L never found any
time yet go 80 slowly AS those two last
hours before sundown.


"Naow," says Seth at last, when the
darkness had fairly closed in, 81 guess
we'll begin to leave"


But just then, as ii this had been
signal, there came flash and a bang from
the other side of the clearing, and half
dozen bullets came peppering in among
the trees. l felt something warm squirt
over my hands, and the nigger who stood
beside me fell all of heap. Like light
ming l up piece and let fly, and heard
somebody give yell that sounded as if
that letter had gone to the right address,
and then, for few minutes, it was Just
flash, flash bang, bang like firework
Seth and L kept 'em in play while the
rest slid down one by one. And mighty
ugly work it was, too, l can tell you,
blazing away in the dark with nothing to
aim at, and hear the bullets come rafting
about you without ever seeing who sent
them. But the rope was soon clear, and
then Seth stuck up the dead nigger
against tree, with his gun across the
fork of it, that they might see the CLINT
of the barrel, and think we were still on
the watch. Then he slid down, and 1
after him.


The first thing we did was to take the
gold out of the poor old nlggers pack,
and part it among us. The rest of the
things we threw away, as we had thrown
away our tools long before (for our only
chance now was to march az light as pos
sible), and then we set forward along the
gully. For some time we could hear the
rascals banging away overhead, but that
died away by degrees, and there was a
silence as if the world had just been Gre
ated and no life come into it yet.


All that night we stumbled along the
bottom of the ravine like men cropping i'll
tunnel, sitting down every now and
then to rest F; but when day came we
saw the rocks on each side getting lower
and lower, and the great black pit spread
ing out broader and shallower, till Mt last
n little after sunrise, we came out into
the forest again. But just then the other
niger sat down and put his hand to his
side.


"No can go farther, senior !"


ran up to him, and blest if he hadn't
got big bullet-wound in his side from
last nights scrimmage, and the brave fell
low had actually dragged on all night
without saying word about it, lest he
should keep us back sat down and
took his head on my knee, and he died
as quietly as a child and we covered
him with leaves and left him lying there
in the bright morning sunshine, and went
forward on our weary tramp again.


1t was harder than ever for us now, for
we had eight loads among six men, and
already could see one of the Spaniards
beginning to stagger and the old Indian
trembling like leaf Then a horrible
kind of fear crept over me that we should
keep dropping that way, man after man,
till there was only one left /; and then
but at that thought threw up my arms
and gave a sort of yell like man start
ing up from bad dream. But Seth
punched me in the ribs with his elbow,
and whispered.


"'Sh don't frighten the rest"


And 1 set my teeth and choked it
down.


1t may have been an hour or two after
this-I was beginning to lose all count
of time now-that Seth, who had got