was that he was going to the bad as
rapidly as he could.

"All gamblers come to that sooner or later," said Kelley. "All the money
I have got was made honestly. I don't know one card from another."

All this was very encouraging. If a man of Kelley's stamp--Tom knew he
was well off, for he had heard him talk of the thousand head of cattle
which he was holding fast to until the government came up to his
price--could live all these years on the prairie and never learn one
card from another, it was certain that another might do so.

At last, after innumerable discouragements, during which her spars had
been used until they were all mud, and it seemed impossible for her to
proceed a foot farther, the _Ivanhoe_ whistled for Fort Hamilton. Then
Tom saw what had given it that name. A short distance above the little
circle of houses that always spring up around a fortification, crowning
a hill, was a stockade from which floated the Stars and Stripes, and
among the crowd of loungers who assembled to see the boat come in were
several men dressed in the uniform of the army.

As soon as the landing was made Tom went to the clerk to get the money
he had locked in the safe, and made his way down the stairs to find
Kelley and Stanley waiting for him. They all had horses, with their
extra wardrobe tied up in ponchos behind their saddles, but they had
given them over to one of their number with orders to take them to the
Eldorado, the hotel which all the best men in that country patronized.

"Now, we want to find out what's left of Black Dan," said Kelley. "I
think we will get on his trail somewhere up here."

CHAPTER VII.

A TEMPERANCE LECTURE.

It was a muddy, miry place in which Tom Mason now found himself, for it
had been raining some there and Fort Hamilton was not blessed with a
system of drainage. There were no sidewalks except in front of the
various saloons and stores they passed, and half the way they walked
through mud that was more than ankle deep. It was astonishing to him to
notice how many people there were on the streets who recognized his
companions. It was "Howdy, Mr. Kelley?" and "Hello, Stanley!" or "Hello,
Arrow-foot!" until Tom might be pardoned for thinking that his two
friends were raised right in town instead of coming from a country a
hundred miles away.

"Arrow-foot?" said he. "That's one thing I do not understand."

"Well, you see that when my employer first came to this country and
wanted