at is characteristic of the advent of a
thriving community. But not a gambling or drinking saloon, or a drop of
firewater, was to be found in all the town.

In spite of this, Indians brought their furs to it; trappers came to it
for supplies; emigrants turned aside to see and rest in it; and the
place soon became noted as a flourishing and pre-eminently peaceful
spot.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

The Last.

But a little cloud arose ere long on the horizon of Sweetwater Bluff.
Insignificant at first, it suddenly spread over the sky and burst in a
wild storm.

The first intimation of its approach came from Charlie Brooke one quiet
autumn evening, in that brief but delightful season known as the Indian
Summer.

Charlie entered his garden that evening with a fowling-piece on his
shoulder, and two brace of prairie hens at his girdle. May was seated
at her cottage door, basking in sunshine, chatting with her mother--who
was knitting of course--and Shank was conversing with Hunky Ben, who
rested after a day of labour.

"There, May, is to-morrow's dinner," said Charlie, throwing the birds at
his wife's feet, and sitting down beside her. "Who d'you think I passed
when I was out on the plains to-day, Hunky? Your old friend Crux the
Cowboy."

"He's no friend o' mine," said the scout, while something like a frown
flitted across his usually placid brow. "I'm not over-pleased to hear
that he's comin', for it's said that some old uncle or aunt o' his--I
forget which--has left him a lot o' dollars. I hope he ain't comin' to
spend 'em here, for he'd never git along without gamblin' an' drinkin'."

"Then, I can tell you that he _is_ just coming to stay here," returned
Charlie, "for he has several waggons with him, and a dozen men. I asked
him where he was going to, and he said, to locate himself as a
store-keeper at Sweetwater Bluff; but he did not seem inclined to be
communicative, so I left him and galloped on to report the news. What
d'you think about it?"

"I think it'll be a bad day for Sweetwater Bluff when Crux comes to
settle in it. Howsoever, this is a free country, an' we've no right to
interfere with him so long as he don't break the laws. But I doubt him.
I'm afeard he'll try to sell drink, an' there's some o' our people who
are longin' to git back to that."

The other members of the party, and indeed those heads of the town
generally who knew Crux, were of much the same opinion, but some of them
thoug