such men as
the Dummy and George Llewellyn and the Scrap Iron Kid and their three
companions.

Llewellyn was the gentleman of the outfit, owing to the fact that the
polish of an early training had not been utterly dulled by a four years'
trick at Deer Lodge Penitentiary. The Dummy had gained his name from an
admirable self-restraint which no "third-degree" methods had ever served
to break; Thomasville was so called because of a boyish pride in his
Georgia birthplace; while Reddy and the Swede--But this is the story of
the Wag-lady, and we digress.

To begin with, June was young, with a springtime flush in her cheeks,
and eyes as clear as glacier pools. Yet with all her youth and beauty,
she possessed a poise that held men at a distance. She also had a
certain fearlessness that came, perhaps, from worldly innocence and was
far more effective than the customary brazenness of frontier women. She
went ahead with her business, asking neither advice nor assistance, and,
almost before the Wag-boys knew what she was up to, she had leased the
P. C. Warehouse near their cabin and had carpenters changing it into a
bunk-house.

In a week it was open for business; on the second night after it was
full. Then she built a tiny cabin near her "hotel," and proceeded to
keep house for herself, sleeping daytimes and working nights.

"Say, she's coinin' money!" the Scrap Iron Kid advised his companions
some time later. "She's got fifty bunks at a dollar apiece, and each one
is full of Swede. You'd ought 'o drift by in business hours--it sounds
like a sawmill."

"If she's getting the money so fast, why don't you grab her, Kid?"
inquired Llewellyn.

"You cut that out!" snapped the former speaker. "There ain't nobody
going to grab that dame. I'd croak any guy that made a crack at her, and
that goes!"

Seeing a familiar light smoldering in the Kid's eyes, Llewellyn desisted
from further comment, but he made up his mind to become acquainted with
June at once.

Now, while he succeeded, it was in quite an unexpected manner; for
before he had formulated any plan Thomasville came to him with a
proposition that drove all thoughts of women from his mind and sent them
both out to the mines shortly after dark, each provided with a
six-shooter and a bandana handkerchief with eyeholes cut in it.

Jane had returned to her cabin the following morning, and was preparing
for bed, when she heard a faltering footstep outside. She glanced down
at he