, trickster and card-player in Dakota, all
you've got to do is to go and ask him!"

"Hold!" cried Harry Redburn, stepping out from behind Harris; "I'll
hide behind no man's shoulder. _I_ salted the gambler--if you call
shooting salting--and I'm not afraid to repeat the action by salting a
dozen more just of his particular style."

Ned Harris was surprised.

He had set Redburn down as a faint-hearted, dubious-couraged
counter-jumper from the East; he saw now that there was something of
him, after all.

"Come on, young man!" and the young miner stepped forward a pace; "are
you with me?"

"To the ears!" replied Harris, grimly.

The next instant the twain leaped forward and broke the barrier, and
mid the crack of pistol-shots and shouts of rage, they cleared the
saloon. Once outside, Ned Harris led the way.

"Come along!" he said, dodging along the shadowy side of the street;
"we'll have to scratch gravel, for them up-range 'toughs' will follow
us, I reckon. They're a game gang, and 'hain't the most desirable kind
of enemies one could wish for. I'll take you over to my coop, and you
can lay low there until this jamboree blows over. You'll have to
promise me one thing, however, ere I can admit you as a member of my
household."

"Certainly. What is it?" and Harry Redburn redoubled his efforts in
order to keep alongside his swift-footed guide.

"Promise me that you will divulge nothing, no matter what you may see
or hear. Also that, should you fall in love with one who is a member
of my family, you will forbear and not speak of love to her."

"It is a woman, then?"

"Yes--a young lady."

"I will promise;--how can I afford to do otherwise, under the existing
circumstances. But, tell me, why did you force me to shoot that
gambler?"

"He was a rascal, and cheated you."

"I know; but I did not want his life; I am averse to bloodshed."

"So I perceived, and that made me all the more determined you should
salivate him. You'll find before you're in the Hills long that it
won't do to take lip or lead from any one. A green pilgrim is the
first to get salted; I illustrated how to serve 'em!"

Redburn's eyes sparkled. He was just beginning to see into the
different phases of this wild exciting life.

"Good!" he exclaimed, warmly. "I have much to thank you for. Did I
kill that card-sharp?"

"No; you simply perforated him in the right side. This way."

They had been running straight up the main street. Now they tu