to their voluntary
hibernation without any feeling of apprehension on the score of
loneliness. Both were hardy mountaineers. Thompson had been the first
man that ever performed the feat of crossing the range at Grey's Peak in
the middle of winter, with the aid of a pair of snow-shoes; and he and
Old Platte knew that if their provisions gave out they could readily
reach some of the Clear Creek diggings in the same way. So Jones
strapped his belt of gold-dust around his waist and prepared to depart.
He shook hands with the partners, and when Gentleman Dick, with a forced
cheeriness of manner and with wishes for a pleasant winter in New
Mexico, remarked, "Next spring the boys will give you a third of my
share, Jones," he stoutly and earnestly repudiated the implied idea, but
with a confusion and uncertainty of manner that indicated a serious
doubt in the soundness of his own assertions.

Gentleman Dick released the big hand as he lay in his blankets, and said
for the last time, "Good-bye, Jones."

"Good-bye, old man."

Jones strode away abruptly on his journey, and if the moisture about his
eyes was in excess of what was required in their normal condition, it
was probably due to the bracing and biting frostiness of the morning
air.

And so they resigned themselves to their winter's prison on the
Blue--Old Platte stolidly and contentedly, Thompson uneasily and
restlessly, and Gentleman Dick peacefully and calmly, knowing full well
that spring would never bloom again for him. Thus the December days flew
by, growing colder and colder, and the snow-line crept gradually down
the slopes of the range until it reached the edge of the timber, where
it seemed to pause for a few days in its advance. It had already snowed
several times in the valley, and the afternoon sun had always melted it
away; but they knew by experience that it would soon come down in good
earnest and cover everything up for the winter in a mantle of snow some
six or seven feet deep. And as the days sped on Gentleman Dick grew
paler and paler, and his bright eyes shone with a brighter lustre, while
he seemed to be gradually slipping away, losing little by little his
hold upon life. He was a mystery to his companions, for he had no
disease that could be detected, and why he should sink thus without any
apparent cause was more than they could understand.

* * * * *

The wind came roaring down the canon in wild, fierce gusts; t