sed Sonora;
then turning to his mates with a laugh, which was unobserved by Bucking
Billy, he added: "We'll initiate 'im."

Presently the miners began to move away and Trinidad, picking up a chip
which he espied under a bench, put it on his shoulder and stood in the
centre of the room, thereby indirectly challenging the new pupil to a
scrimmage.

"Don't do it!" cried Old Steady as he hung up his hat upon a buck's horn
on the wall.

"Go on! Go on!" encouraged Bill Crow, hanging up his hat beside Old
Steady's.

The boys took up his words in chorus.

"Go on! Go on!"

Whereupon, Sonora made a dash far the chip and knocked it off of
Trinidad's shoulder, blazing huskily into his face as he did so:

"You do, do you?"

In the twinkling of an eye Trinidad's jacket was off and the two men
were engaged in a hand-to-hand scuffle.

"Soak him!" came from a voice somewhere in the crowd.

"Hit him!" urged another.

"Bat him in the eye!" shrieked Handsome Charlie.

Finally Sonora succeeded in throwing down his opponent and sent him
rolling along the floor, the contents of his pockets marking his trail.

The rafters of The Polka shook to a storm of cheering, and there is no
telling when the men would have ceased had not Nick interfered at that
moment by yelling out:

"Boys, boys, here she is!"

"Here comes the Girl!" came simultaneously from Happy Halliday, who had
got a glimpse of her coming down the trail.

None the worse for his defeat and fall, Trinidad sprang to his feet;
while Sonora made a dash for a seat. They had not been placed; whereupon
he cried out excitedly:

"The seats, boys, where's the seats?"

For the few minutes that preceded the Girl's entrance into the room no
men were ever known to work more rapidly or more harmoniously. They
fairly flew in and out of the room, now bringing in the great
whittled-up, weather-beaten benches and placing them in school-room
fashion, and then rolling in boxes and casks which served as a
ground-hold for the planks which were stretched across them for desks.
It was in the midst of these pilgrimages that Trinidad rushed over to
Nick to ask whether he did not think to-day a good time to put the
question to the Girl.

Nick's eyes twinkled up with merriment; nevertheless, his face took on a
dubious look when presently he answered:

"I wouldn't rush her, Trin--you've got plenty of time . . ." And when he
proceeded to put up the blackboard he almost ran into Sonora, w