onsisted was about eight by ten feet square,
set directly upon the ground, from which the water oozed at every step
of the foot. Two small windows, a front and back door, with the small
stove--that was all. These were our accommodations for the night, and
perhaps several nights and days.

Then we two set to work with a will. We swept the floor, we gathered
sticks for a fire, we threw boards down outside the door upon which to
walk instead of in the mud, a pail of water was brought from a hydrant
after paying twenty-five cents for it, and a box was converted into a
table. Luggage was sorted, lunch baskets were ransacked, while tin cups,
coffee pot, knives, forks and spoons were found, with a fresh white
cloth upon which to spread the food.

When Judge R. finally appeared, it was supper time. He carried a tin
fry-pan under one arm, a bag containing one dozen eggs, and a few slices
of ham on a paper plate, for which articles he had paid the goodly sum
of one dollar and seventy-five cents.

Waving the fry-pan above his old grey head, the jolly judge shouted:
"See, the conquering hero comes! Oh, but I'm hungry! Say, how in the
world did you get this place? I hunted four mortal hours and failed to
find a shack, room, or tent for the night. Four thousand people landed
here today, and still they come. Jerusalem crickets! What a crowd!
Everybody is in from Dan to Beersheba! We will have fifteen thousand
people here soon if they don't stop coming, and no shelter for 'em!"
Then changing his tone and glancing toward his wife:

"And how is my dear little wifey by this time?" tenderly patting Mrs.
R.'s white hand, which belonged to a woman tipping the beam at two
hundred.

"Aren't you glad we came? I am." Then rattling on without giving his
wife a chance to speak, for her eyes had filled with tears:

"I think I've got a 'case' already. Claim number four on D. Creek jumped
last winter while owner was away--jumper won't leave--talked with owner
today--think I'll get the job," said the hopeful old judge, sitting on
an empty cracker box and eating bread and cheese from his fingers.

"Eat your supper, dear," to his wife, who was taking nothing, "and you
shall have a bed tonight--the best in Nome City. See! There it is now,"
pointing to a big roll of dark brown canvas done up with a few varnished
sticks.

"A folding cot--new patent--good and strong. (It'll need to be strong to
hold you up, won't it, dearie?) Now, please take your