ggings that had for so long been the goal of his desires.

He planned to enter Forty Mile under a new name, and as a traveller from
one of the interior Hudson Bay trading-posts, who was ignorant of the
lower Yukon, its people, and its happenings. He was confident that Jalap
Coombs would never appear to contradict him, and almost equally certain
that Simon Goldollar would never reach Forty Mile. If by a miracle he
should recover from his illness he was helpless to continue his journey
before the boats came up in the summer, by which time the man who had
robbed and deserted him would be lost to sight amid the season's rush of
prospectors. In the mean time he had plenty of money to live on until he
should meet with an opportunity for making a strike of some kind.

Thus it was that on a pleasant day of late January Mr. Strengel
approached the mining camp of Forty Mile, riding comfortably in Jalap
Coombs's own sledge, with a light heart, and no intimation of aught but
an agreeable reception by its citizens. But in all his carefully worked
out plans he had made several miscalculations.

It had never occurred to him that there was any other route than the one
he had followed by which this point might be reached from the lower
river. Nor did he believe it possible that any word of Gerald Hamer's
expedition could have come up the river unknown to him. Finally, his
gravest mistake lay in supposing the population of this camp to be of
the same lawless class as is to be found in most Western mining camps,
and believing that here he should meet only with as great rascals as
himself. In this he displayed great ignorance of Forty Mile, which was
wholly in the hands of honorable old-time miners, who had framed a
simple set of laws for the regulation of their isolated little community
that they were determined should be respected. They had chosen one of
their own number as Judge, and from his decisions they allowed no
appeal. They had also elected a Marshal, whom they loyally assisted in
the discharge of his duties. Several lawless characters had already been
driven from the camp, and many others warned not to venture within its
limits.

As Forty Mile had received warning of the expected coming of Goldollar
and Strengel, and had learned many interesting things concerning the
previous history of these gentlemen, their arrival was eagerly
anticipated. Thus, upon Phil Ryder's announcement that sledges were
coming up the river, an expect