y coolie messengers, to be again
openly transmitted to San Francisco. The package of gold-dust was thus
passed backwards and forwards between debtor and creditor, to the
grave edification of the Express Company and the fatal curiosity of the
settlement. When the syndicate had gorged the bait thus thrown out, See
Yup, on the day the self-invited committee inspected the claim, promptly
"salted" the tailings by CONSCIENTIOUSLY DISTRIBUTING THE GOLD-DUST OVER
IT so deftly that it appeared to be its natural composition and yield.

I have only to bid farewell to See Yup, and close this reminiscence of
a misunderstood man, by adding the opinion of an eminent jurist in San
Francisco, to whom the facts were submitted: "So clever was this alleged
fraud, that it is extremely doubtful if an action would lie against See
Yup in the premises, there being no legal evidence of the 'salting,'
and none whatever of his actual allegation that the gold-dust was the
ORDINARY yield of the tailings, that implication resting entirely with
the committee who examined it under false pretense, and who subsequently
forced the sale by intimidation."

THE DESBOROUGH CONNECTIONS

"Then it isn't a question of property or next of kin?" said the consul.

"Lord! no," said the lady vivaciously. "Why, goodness me! I reckon
old Desborough could, at any time before he died, have 'bought up' or
'bought out' the whole lot of his relatives on this side of the
big pond, no matter what they were worth. No, it's only a matter of
curiosity and just sociableness."

The American consul at St. Kentigorn felt much relieved. He had feared
it was only the old story of delusive quests for imaginary estates and
impossible inheritances which he had confronted so often in nervous
wan-eyed enthusiasts and obstreperous claimants from his own land.
Certainly there was no suggestion of this in the richly dressed and
be-diamonded matron before him, nor in her pretty daughter, charming in
a Paris frock, alive with the consciousness of beauty and admiration,
and yet a little ennuye from gratified indulgence. He knew the mother to
be the wealthy widow of a New York millionaire, that she was traveling
for pleasure in Europe, and a chance meeting with her at dinner a
few nights before had led to this half-capricious, half-confidential
appointment at the consulate.

"No," continued Mrs. Desborough; "Mr. Desborough came to America, when
a small boy, with an uncle who died som