to start, an' there ain't a hoss for
you except the poor critters that Tolly Trevor brought wi' him, an', you
know, they need rest very badly."

"Well, well, go off, father; I won't delay you," said Betty; "and don't
disturb Tolly, let him sleep, he needs it, poor boy. I will take care
of him and his horses."

That Tolly required rest was very obvious, for he lay sprawling on the
deer-skin couch just as he had flung himself down, buried in the
profoundest sleep he perhaps ever experienced since his career in the
wilderness began.

After the men had gone off, Betty Bevan--who was by that time better
known, at least among those young diggers whose souls were poetical, as
the Rose of Oregon, and among the matter-of-fact ones as the Beautiful
Nugget--conducted herself in a manner that would have increased the
admiration of her admirers, if they had seen her, and awakened their
curiosity also. First of all she went out to the half-ruined log-hut
that served her father for a stable, and watered, fed, and rubbed down
the horse and pony which Tolly had brought, in a manner that would have
done credit to a regular groom. Then, returning to the tent, she
arranged and packed a couple of saddle-bags with certain articles of
clothing, as well as biscuits, dried meat, and other provisions. Next
she cleaned and put in order a couple of revolvers, a bowie-knife, and a
small hatchet; and ultimately, having made sundry other mysterious
preparations, she lifted the curtain which divided the tent into two
parts, and entered her own private apartment. There, after reading her
nightly portion of God's Word and committing herself, and those who were
out searching in the wilderness for the lost man, to His care, she lay
down with her clothes on, and almost instantly fell into a slumber as
profound as that which had already overwhelmed Tolly. As for that
exhausted little fellow, he did not move during the whole night, save
once, when an adventurous insect of the earwig type walked across his
ruddy cheek and upper lip and looked up his nose. There are sensitive
portions of the human frame which may not be touched with impunity. The
sleeper sneezed, blew the earwig out of existence, rolled over on his
back, flung his arms wide open, and, with his mouth in the same
condition, spent the remainder of the night in motionless repose.

The sun was well up next morning, and the miners of Simpson's Gully were
all busy, up to their knees in mu