eeker crossing the divide on a sulky plow under
escort of Uncle Sam's cavalry," at which the freighter turned his
gigantic laugh loose again.

Just then two men in "store clothes" picked their way around the various
groups of horses and Indians, stopping a short distance from Jack and
the freighter, whose sobriquet was "Cal." As the new comers faced square
about Cal eyed them a moment and then said to Jack:

"You see that red-faced, black mustached feller standin' there? Well,
that's Sam Tupper, the graveyard starter of the Animas and Wet Mountain
valleys. I seen him make the first corpse in Silver Cliff. Wonder what
he's doin' up here. Sure as gun's made of iron he's up here for
mischief. It was October and the first blizzard of the season caught us
all with short wood and no pitch hot. Every prospector around the cliff
made for 'Nigger Barber's' place--afterward it got a regular name, the
'slaughter house,' kase 'Nigger,'--he was half Indian, half Mexican and
balance coyote--had two great big stoves to keep us warm. Four fellers
rode into the Cliff about 10 o'clock, cold and hungry, and expected to
find a tavern started, but they were a little early, for the camp was
right young, so they got permission to use some feller's tent near
by--one of the four was Charley Rogers"--

"Owner of 'Brown Dick,'" interrupted Jack, in surprise.

"Yes; and Frank Mitchell, Les McAvoy and Paddy Dinslow. Les was a bad
man, no mistake. His daddy was a judge in one of the northern counties
and when Les was a kid the old man would take the youngster to some of
the faro banks, hold him on his knee and seem to think it cute if the
little gambler picked up a 'sleeper' and sold it to the barkeep for
lumps of sugar or a bottle of pop. Well, Les got pretty tough. Worked
some, but liked his 'licker' and was allus waitin' to pick a fuss. He
was nervy and could fight with fists, stove pokers, 'toad stabbers' or
six-shooters, it was all the same to him. Sam and 'Nigger' both knew him
of old in Trinidad and Silverton. The first night after the boys got
into the Cliff they dropped into 'Nigger's' and got into a game of faro.
Les piled his stack of reds above the limit and Sam there, who was
lookout, told Les to take 'em down. Les lost on the turn, but before the
dealer could rake in the chips Les snatched the extra ones off the top
of the pile. If he won, the dealer only paid the limit, and then Les
would talk bad. All of 'em were scared of Les and