XII. CLEARED AT LAST, 374

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

CAPTAIN BAYLEY HEARS STARTLING NEWS, _Frontis._ 262

THE RESCUE FROM THE SERPENTINE, 32

THE BREAK-UP OF THE CHARTIST MEETING, 72

FRANK'S VISIT TO MR. HIRAM LITTLE'S OFFICE, 101

A FLOOD ON THE MISSISSIPPI, 125

A DEER-HUNT ON THE PRAIRIE, 162

THE ESCAPE OF THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER, 195

DICK AND FRANK ELUDE THE INDIANS, 227

THE SICK FRIEND IN THE MINING CAMP, 296

GOLD-WASHING--A GOOD DAY'S WORK, 329

THE ATTACK ON THE GOLD ESCORT, 338

MEETING OF CAPTAIN BAYLEY AND MR. ADAMS, 352

[Illustration]

CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.

CHAPTER I.

WESTMINSTER! WESTMINSTER!

A CRIPPLE boy was sitting in a box on four low wheels, in a little room
in a small street in Westminster; his age was some fifteen or sixteen
years; his face was clear-cut and intelligent, and was altogether free
from the expression either of discontent or of shrinking sadness so
often seen in the face of those afflicted. Had he been sitting on a
chair at a table, indeed, he would have been remarked as a handsome and
well-grown young fellow; his shoulders were broad, his arms powerful,
and his head erect. He had not been born a cripple, but had been
disabled for life, when a tiny child, by a cart passing over his legs
above the knees. He was talking to a lad a year or so younger than
himself, while a strong, hearty-looking woman, somewhat past middle age,
stood at a wash-tub.

"What is all that noise about?" the cripple exclaimed, as an uproar was
heard in the street at some little distance from the house.

"Drink, as usual, I suppose," the woman said.

The younger lad ran to the door.

"No, mother; it's them scholars a-coming back from cricket. Ain't there
a fight jist!"

The cripple wheeled his box to the door, and then taking a pair of
crutches which rested in hooks at its side when not wanted, swung
himself from the box, and propped himself in the doorway so as to
command a view down the street.

It was indeed a serious fight. A party of Westminster boys, on their way
back from their cricket-ground in St. Vincent's Square, had been
attacked by the "skies." The quarrel was an old standing one, but had
broken