was Andrew Seldon."

"Andrew Seldon?" quickly said Doctor Dick.

"Yes."

"I know of such a man, or, rather, knew of him, for he is dead now," was
the response of the gambler.

A cloud passed over the face of Harding, and he remarked sadly:

"That poor girl seems doomed to have sorrow dog her steps. But you knew
her father, doctor?"

"Yes, I knew him long years ago, and I happen to know of his having been
out here, working for a fortune in the mines, I believe."

"You are sure that it is the one she seeks?"

"The names are the same. The Andrew Seldon I knew was from Tennessee."

"So was her father, and he must be the man you refer to. But where did
he die?"

"I'll tell you what I have not made known to others. Buffalo Bill and I
struck a trail to see what the end would bring to us, and the night
before we came to the end those we sought were buried by the caving-in
of a mine which they were working under a cliff. One of those men was
Andrew Seldon, and he had a companion with him."

"And they were killed?"

"Yes, buried under the cliff, that fell upon their cabin, destroying
all."

"You must tell the story to the young girl, for I cannot, doctor."

"I will do so, though I hate to give a woman pain."

"Now, doctor, I wish to ask about the one she seeks here in Last
Chance."

"Who is he, Harding?"

"The poor fellow you so devotedly cared for, but whose reason was
destroyed by the wound he received from the road-agents."

"Ah, yes, poor fellow, his mind is irrevocably wrecked."

"Where is he?"

"Landlord Larry can tell you better than I, for he seems to avoid my
cabin since I gave him up as a patient."

"He wanders about among the camps at will; but that reminds me that I
have not seen him to-day," the landlord said.

"Is he the one the girl is coming to see?" asked Doctor Dick.

"Yes, and his name is Bernard Brandon. He came out here on a special
mission for her, I suppose to find her father, and not hearing from him
she feared that he had gotten into trouble, so came West herself in
search of him."

"Well, her coming may bring back his reason, though I doubt it."

"Will you not question him, doctor, telling him about her, and see if
you cannot get him to talk rationally?"

"Certainly, Harding, but where is he?"

Landlord Larry asked his clerk about the man, but he had not seen him
all day, and, the miners being questioned, not one recalled having seen
him since the day before.

In som