gently with approval.

"'Melican man very smart," he murmured to himself. "He steal his
friend's money while he sleep."

My readers are probably aware that our Mongolian visitors find a
difficulty in pronouncing the letter _r_, and invariably replace it by
_l_.

"Suppose other 'Melican man wake up, he make a low," continued Ah Sin,
softly.

But the other 'Melican man did not wake up, and Bill Crane got away with
his booty, as we already know. Cautiously the Chinaman followed him,
and ascertained where he intended to pass the night. It was at a
moderate distance from the cabin which the two Chinamen had selected for
their mining camp.

Bill Crane jumped from his horse, stretched his limbs, and gaped.

"I'm powerful sleepy," he soliloquized. "I can't go any farther
to-night. I don't like to rest so near Miles, but I can be on the road
before he wakes up. I guess it will be safe enough."

Crane, having made up his mind to rest, rolled himself up in his
blanket, and stretched himself out, first tying his horse to a sapling.
The place was retired, and he felt moderately confident that, even if he
overslept himself, he would not be discovered.

"I'd like to see Miles when he discovers his loss," he said to himself,
smiling at the thought. "He'll be ready to tear his hair, and won't have
the least idea how the gold-dust was spirited away. You excel me in
brute strength, John Miles, but one thing I am pretty sure of, you
haven't got my brains," and he complacently tapped his forehead.

"There must be at least two hundred dollars' worth in that bag," he
reflected. "It isn't a great haul, but it will do. It will last me some
time, and perhaps start me in something in Frisco. Bill Crane, you've
done a good stroke of business to-day. You are entitled to a good
night's rest, and you shall have it."

First, however, he concealed the bag. He did not think it safe to place
it under his head as Miles had done. He scooped a hole in the earth near
by, deposited the bag, replaced the dirt, and spread a few leaves over
the top.

"No one will think of searching there," thought Crane. "Even if Miles
himself surprises me here, he won't suspect anything."

Bill Crane felt that he was unusually sharp and crafty, and felt great
contempt for the stupidity of the man whom he had overreached. The time
was not far off when he had occasion to doubt whether he had not
overrated his own artfulness.

A pair of almond eyes, lighted up wi