in; an' Mister Houston, he had walked over ter where Morgan was, an'
had lit into him 'bout somethin' or ruther he'd ben sayin', an' if he
didn't lay down the law ter him, I'll eat my hat. An' then Morgan he
sets out to give him some of his lip, and by Jiminy! 'fore he could
spit the words out, biff! comes a stunner right in his face, and shut
one eye. My, wasn't he mad though! Then he goes ter give the other
feller a punch in the head, an' Houston, he ducked the purtiest ye
ever see, and let out a blow at Morgan's jaw, an' gee-whizz! Morgan
goes a flying across the room, and lan's under the big desk, and he
never come to fer 'bout twenty minits. My, but 'twas the slickest
knock-out ye ever see, Corbett couldn't a done it slicker hisself! an'
I rolled down them steps a laughin' so I 'most died. I went back after
he'd come to, an' Mister Houston was a tellin' him ter come out an'
fight, but he didn't seem ter wan'ter very bad, an' I see the fun was
over, so I come away."

Jack had laughed heartily over Bull-dog's description of the scene;
now he asked:

"What was the fight about?"

"Well," said Bull-dog, gravely replacing his pipe in his mouth, "'s
near 's I could make out, 'twas 'bout some girl."

"What girl?" inquired Jack, rather quickly.

"Well, the new feller, he didn't call no names, but I heerd Morgan say
somethin' 'bout Lyle Maverick, an' so I guess 'twas her, but I knew
you was always kinder sweet on her yourself, an' so I wasn't goin' ter
say nothin', 'cause, 'nless you're a scrapper, you won't stand no sort
of a chance with that feller."

"All right, Bull-dog," said Jack, "I'm something of a 'scrapper'
myself, but I don't expect to get into any trouble;" the tone was
kind, and he spoke with a half smile, but the keenly observant eyes of
the boy detected a shade on Jack's face. However, all conversation was
suddenly checked by the entrance of Mike, who, in a manner more
forcible than ceremonious, dispossessed Bull-dog of his chair and
pipe. The little waif soon took his departure, but it was some time
before the cloud on Jack's brow was dispelled.

CHAPTER XIV.

For the next day or two, Houston saw very little of either Mr.
Blaisdell or Morgan, as they spent most of their time at the mines,
but his own work was greatly increased, as copies of mining reports
regarding the Sunrise mine, and duplicate sets of statements of the
assay values of samples of ore taken from its various shafts, were to