hotel, but you're welcome to
what we've got. Are you travellin' alone?"

"Yes, if you call it travelling. I've been dragging myself along for
several days, hoping to find somebody that would give me aid."

"Well, you've found somebody. Here, sit down, for you don't seem able to
stand, and we'll provide for you. Harry, bring some biscuit and cold
meat, won't you, and Jack had better build a fire. A cup of tea will put
new life into you, my friend."

The biscuit were soaked in water and given to the stranger. He devoured
them like a man in the last stages of hunger.

"Go slow, my friend. Your stomach must be weak," said Obed.

"If you only knew the gnawing at my vitals," said the new-comer. "I have
not tasted food for three days."

"I never was in that fix, though I did go hungry for twenty-four hours
once in Californy. You'd better believe I pitched in when I got to where
victuals were."

"How did that happen, Mr. Stackpole?" asked Harry.

"I was lost in the mountains," answered Obed, "and couldn't find any
trace of a livin' creature except an old miser, who pointed a musket at
me, and didn't dare to let me into his hut. I don't think I could have
stood it three days."

"That goes to the right spot," said the stranger, after he had gulped
down two cups of tea. "Now I'm ready to die without complaining."

"If it's all the same to you, I think you'd better get ready to live,"
said Obed.

"I'd rather die now than suffer as I have done in the last three days,"

"You won't have to. We've got plenty and to spare."

"But I have no money. I have been robbed of everything."

"Robbed! How is that?"

"It's rather a long story. You may not have patience to hear it."

"We've got time enough, and patience enough, but perhaps you don't feel
strong enough to talk."

"I didn't before you relieved my hunger. The food and the tea have put
new life into me, as you predicted they would."

"Then go ahead, stranger. We're all anxious to hear your story."

"I am an Englishman," began the unknown, "and my name is Ralph Granger.
When the report reached England of the richness of the Australian
gold-fields, I sold out my business, and was among the first to come out
here. By the sale of my business I realized about five hundred pounds.
Three hundred I left with my wife--I have no children--to keep her while
I was gone. It is very fortunate that I took this precaution and left
her so well provided for, since, had I brought a