ed to fulfil his engagement. Their night's lodging
and breakfast made a terribly large gap in their slender fortune, for
prices at the time happened to be enormously high, in consequence of
expected supplies failing to arrive at the usual time. The bill at the
hotel was ten dollars a day per man; and provisions of all kinds were so
dear, that the daily earnings of the miners barely sufficed to find them
in the necessaries of life. It therefore behoved our friends to obtain
a private dwelling and remunerative work as fast as possible.

On reaching the little log-hut, Ned found the Yankee ready to receive
him. He wore a clean new red-flannel shirt, with a blue silk kerchief
round the throat; a broad-brimmed straw hat, corduroys, and fisherman's
long boots. To judge from his gait, and the self-satisfied expression
of his bronzed countenance, he was not a little proud of his personal
appearance.

While Ned arranged his paper and colours, and sharpened the point of his
pencil, the Yankee kept up a running commentary on men and things in
general, rocking himself on a rudely-constructed chair the while, and
smoking his pipe.

The hut was very small--not more than twelve feet by eight, and just
high enough inside to permit of a six-foot man grazing the beams when he
walked erect. But, although small, it was exceedingly comfortable. Its
owner was his own architect and builder, being a jack-of-all-trades, and
everything about the wooden edifice betokened the hand of a thorough
workman, who cared not for appearance, but was sensitively alive to
comfort. Comfort was stamped in unmistakeable characters on every
article of furniture, and on every atom that entered into the
composition of the Yankee's hut. The logs of which it was built were
undressed; they were not even barked, but those edges of them that lay
together were fitted and bevelled with such nicety that the keenest and
most searching blast of north wind failed to discover an entrance, and
was driven baffled and shrieking from the walls. The small fire-place
and chimney, composed of mud and dry grass, were rude in appearance; but
they were substantial, and well calculated for the work they had to
perform. The seats, of which there were four--two chairs, a bench, and
a stool--were of the plainest wood, and the simplest form; but they were
solid as rocks, and no complaining creak, when heavy men sat down on
them, betokened bad or broken constitutions. The littl