e a stack of army
muskets) to mark a claim. Burke resembled a man taking his first
sea-voyage. His eyes searched the plain restlessly, and his brain
dreamed. Bailey, an old settler--of two years' experience--whistled and
sang and shouted lustily to his tired beasts.

It drew toward noon. Bailey's clear voice shouted back, "When we reach
that swell we'll see the Western Coteaux." The Western Coteaux! To
Burke, the man from Illinois, this was like discovering a new range of
mountains.

"There they rise," Bailey called, a little later.

Burke looked away to the west. Low down on the horizon lay a long, blue
bank, hardly more substantial than a line of cloud. "How far off are
they?" he asked, in awe.

"About twenty-five miles. Our claims are just about in line with that
gap." Bailey pointed with his whip. "And about twelve miles from here.
We're on the unsurveyed land now."

Burke experienced a thrill of exultation as he looked around him. In the
distance, other carriages were crawling like beetles. A couple of
shanties, newly built on a near-by ridge, glittered like gold in the
sun, and the piles of yellow lumber and the straddle-bugs increased in
number as they left the surveyed land and emerged into the finer tract
which lay as yet unmapped. At noon they stopped and fed their animals,
eating their own food on the ground beside their wagons.

While they rested, Bailey kept his eyes on their backward trail,
watching for his partner, Rivers. "It's about time Jim showed up," he
said, once again.

Burke seemed anxious. "They won't get off the track, will they?"

Bailey laughed at his innocence. "Jim Rivers has located about
seventy-five claims out here this spring. I guess he won't lose his
bearings."

"I'm afraid Blanche'll get nervous."

"Oh, Jim will take care of her. She won't be lonesome, either. He's a
great favorite with the women, always gassin'--Well, this won't feed the
baby," he ended, leaping to his feet.

They were about to start on when a swift team came into sight. The
carriage was a platform-spring wagon, with a man and woman in the front
seat, and in the rear a couple of alert young fellows sat holding rifles
in their hands and eyeing the plain for game.

"Hello!" said the driver, in a pleasant shout. "How you getting on?"

"Pretty well," replied Bailey.

"Should say you were. I didn't know but we'd fail to overhaul you."

Burke went up to the wagon. "Well, Blanche, what do you think of
it