rail to some lead mines which had been
abandoned several months before.

[Illustration: Lack of Confidence in Mankind]

Half a mile farther on we came to the Thunder Butte Creek
which we had sought. The water was almost blood-red, which 'Gene
told us came from the gold stamp-mills on its upper course. If
the water had been gray it would have indicated silver-mining.
Just beyond we met the Deadwood Treasure Coach. It was an
ordinary four-horse stage, without passengers, but carrying two
guards, each with a very short double-barrelled shot-gun resting
across his lap. The stage was operated by the express company,
and was bringing out the gold bricks from the mines near
Deadwood.

"I suppose," said Ollie, musingly, "if anybody tried to rob
the coach, those fellows would shoot with their guns?"

"Oh no," replied Jack. "Oh no; they carry those guns to fan
themselves with on hot days." But Ollie did not seem to be misled
by this astonishing information.

As we went on the road grew constantly more mountainous.
Sometimes the trail ran along ledges, and sometimes near roaring
streams and waterfalls, and the great pine-trees were everywhere.
We passed two grizzly old placer-miners working just off the
trail, and stopped and watched them "pan out" a few shovelfuls of
dirt. They were rewarded by two or three specks of gold, and
seemed satisfied. 'Gene told us afterward that one of them was
an old California '49er, who had used the same pan in every
State and Territory of the West.

It was a little after noon when we drove into Deadwood--the
last point outward bound at which the Rattletrap expected to
touch. It was a larger town than Rapid City, and was wedged in a
little gulch between two mountains, with the White Wood Creek
rushing along and threatening to wash away the main street. We
noticed that the only way of reaching many of the houses on the
mountain-side was by climbing long flights of stairs. We drove
on, and camped near a mill on the upper edge of town.

In the afternoon we wandered about town, and, among other
places, visited the many Chinese stores. We also clambered up the
mountain-sides to the two cemeteries, which we could see far
above the town. It seemed to us that on rather too many of the
head-stones, (which were in nearly every case boards, by-the-way)
it was stated that the person whose grave it marked was
"assassinated by" so-and so, giving the name of the assassin; but
these we