pring suddenly to life in
obedience to some spell. If the mill stamps in the distant crusher had
creaked and begun to pound; if dogs had rushed barking around corners
and from under porches; if from the hotel mine host had emerged,
yawning and rubbing his eyes; if from the shops and offices and houses
had issued the slow, grumbling sounds of life awakening, it would all
have seemed natural and to be expected. Under the influence of this
strange effect a deathly stillness seemed to fall, in spite of the
bawling and roaring of the river, and the trickle of many streamlets
hurrying down from the surrounding hills.

So extraordinary was this effect of suspended animation that Bob again
essayed his surly companion.

"What place do you call this?" he inquired.

Saleratus Bill had dismounted, and was stretching his long, lean arms
over his head. Evidently he considered this the end of the long and
painful journey, and as evidently he was, in his relief, inclined to be
better natured.

"Busted minin' camp called Bright's Cove," said he; "they took about ten
million dollars out of here before she bust."

"How long ago was that?" asked Bob.

"Ten year or so."

The young man gazed about him in amazement. The place looked as though
it might have been abandoned the month before. In his subsequent sojourn
he began more accurately to gauge the reasons for this. Here were no
small boys to hurl the casual pebble through the delightfully shimmering
glass; here was no dust to be swirled into crevices and angles, no wind
to carry it; to this remote cove penetrated no vandals to rob, mutilate
or wantonly disfigure; and the elevation of the valley's floor was low
enough even to avoid the crushing weights of snow that every winter
brought to the peaks around it. Only the squirrels, the birds and the
tiny wood rats represented in their little way the forces of
destruction. Furthermore, the difficulties of transportation absolutely
precluded moving any of the small property whose absence so strongly
impresses the desertion of a building. When Bright's Cove moved, it had
merely to shut the front door. In some cases it did not shut the front
door.

Saleratus Bill assisted Bob from the saddle. This had become necessary,
for the long ride in bonds had so cramped and stiffened the young man
that he was unable to help himself. Indeed, he found he could not stand.
Saleratus Bill, after looking at him shrewdly, untied his hands.

"I guess y