story much as I have told it, although he put in some
additions of his own. The foreman was profoundly amazed. Not daring to
use his hands, he used a poker to move the things about, so that he
could see on all sides of them. The antics he went through were enough
to make the hunters laugh.

"What do you think now about my being crazy?" demanded Elam. "I've shot
at that thing, and I don't see why I didn't get him; but I can see now
why it was. He was so big that a bullet had to be put in the right place
to get him."

"That's about the case with everything I have shot, Elam," said the
foreman. "I had to put the ball in the right place, or I didn't get him.
But you have removed a heap from my mind. Who shot him?"

"Here's the man, right here."

Seeing that the foreman began to take a deeper interest in Tom after
that, Uncle Ezra introduced him, and he failed to say that Tom had got
into a "little trouble" down in Mississippi where he used to live, and
had come out West to get clear of it. Uncle Ezra didn't think that was
any of his business. He said that Tom wanted to see new sights, and he
reckoned he had already had his fill of them, having been lost in the
mountains and shot the Red Ghost besides. Now, he was going into
partnership with Elam after the nugget, and Uncle Ezra thought he had a
boy who could be depended upon. The foreman shook hands with Tom, and
said he was glad to see him. Then he wanted to know whether they had
eaten supper yet.

"Well, no," replied Uncle Ezra. "You see, we started from our camp up
there sooner than we expected. Elam has got a map telling him where to
look to find his nugget."

"Ah, get out!" said the foreman. He had heard so many things about a
"map" that he did not believe a word of it.

"Well, he has, sure enough. It came from the man who tried to rob him.
And you haven't heard anything about the Indians, have you?"

"Indians!" exclaimed the foreman. "Have they broken out?"

"Just give your knife to Elam and sit down," said Uncle Ezra. "It
appears to me that we have heard of a heap of things that you don't know
anything about."

The man gave Elam his knife, which he had in his hand to begin work with
upon the ham he had laid upon the table, and sat down.

"I wondered all the time what was the matter with Elam's hand," said he.
"I hope the Indians didn't shoot him."

"Didn't they, though?" said Elam. "You just wait and hear Uncle Ezra
tell the story."

It was a long n