e seal come to be broken?"

"I know nothin' about it," answered the man, as he pocketed the money;
"I found it on the road between this an' Sacramento, and, as I was
passin' this way anyhow, I brought it on."

"Ah, thin, it was a great kindness, intirely, to go so far out o' yer
way, an' that for a stranger, too, an' for nothin'--or nixt thing to
it!" said Larry, looking after the man as he walked away.

"Well, now," he continued, re-entering the tent, and seating himself
again on the top of the mud-heap, while he held the letter in his hand
at arm's length, "this bates all! An' whot am I to do with it? Sure
it's not right to break the seal o' another man's letter; but then it's
broke a'ready, an' there can be no sin in raidin' it. Maybe," he
continued, with a look of anxiety, "the poor lad's ill, or dead, an'
he's wrote to say so. Sure, I would like to raid it--av I only know'd
how; but me edication's bin forgot, bad luck to the schoolmasters; I can
only make out big print--wan letter at a time."

The poor man looked wistfully at the letter, feeling that it might
possibly contain information of importance to all of them, and that
delay in taking action might cause irreparable misfortune. While he
meditated what had best be done, and scanned the letter in all
directions, a footstep was heard outside, and the hearty voice of
Captain Bunting shouted:

"Ship ahoy! who's within, boys!"

"Hooroo! capting," shouted Larry, jumping up with delight; "mind yer
fut, capting, dear; don't come in."

"Why not?" inquired the captain, as he lifted the curtain.

"Sure, it's no use tellin' ye _now_!" said Larry, as Captain Bunting
fell head-foremost into Ah-wow's arms, and drove that worthy creature--
as he himself would have said--"stern-foremost" into the mud and water
at the bottom. The captain happened to have a haunch of venison on his
shoulder, and the blunderbuss under his arm, so that the crash and the
splash, as they all floundered in the mud, were too much for Larry, who
sat down again on the mud-heap and roared with laughter.

It is needless to go further into the details of this misadventure.
Captain Bunting and the Chinaman were soon restored to the upper world,
happily, unhurt; so, having changed their garments, they went into
Ah-wow's tent to discuss the letter.

"Let me see it, Larry," said the captain, sitting down on an empty pork
cask.

Larry handed him the missive, and he read as follows:--

"San