ystem full of lead--sure," said Yank.

The two camps did not exchange visits. We caught the flicker of their
little fire; but we were really too tired to be curious, and we turned
in early, our two animals tied fast to small trees at our feet.

The next day lifted us into the mountains. Big green peaks across which
hung a bluish haze showed themselves between the hills. The latter were
more precipitous; and the brush had now given way to pines of better
size and quality than those seen lower down. The river foamed over
rapids or ran darkling in pools and stretches. Along the roadside,
rarely, we came upon rough-looking log cabins, or shacks of canvas, or
tents. The owners were not at home. We thought them miners; but in the
light of subsequent knowledge I believe that unlikely--the diggings were
farther in.

We came upon the diggings quite suddenly. The trail ran around the
corner of a hill; and there they were below us! In the wide, dry stream
bottom perhaps fifty men were working busily, like a lot of ants. Some
were picking away at the surface of the ground, others had dug
themselves down waist deep, and stooped and rose like legless bodies.
Others had disappeared below ground, and showed occasionally only as
shovel blades. From so far above the scene was very lively and animated,
for each was working like a beaver, and the red shirts made gay little
spots of colour. On the hillside clung a few white tents and log cabins;
but the main town itself, we later discovered, as well as the larger
diggings, lay around the bend and upstream.

We looked all about us for some path leading down to the river, but
could find none; so perforce we had to continue on along the trail. Thus
we entered the camp of Hangman's Gulch; for if it had been otherwise I
am sure we would have located promptly where we had seen those
red-shirted men.

The camp consisted merely of a closer-knit group of tents, log shacks,
and a few larger buildings constructed of a queer combination of heavy
hewn timbers and canvas. We saw nobody at all, though in some of the
larger buildings we heard signs of life. However, we did not wait to
investigate the wonders of Hangman's Gulch, but drove our animals along
the one street, looking for the trail that should lead us back to the
diggings. We missed it, somehow, but struck into a beaten path that took
us upstream. This we followed a few hundred yards. It proceeded along a
rough, boulder-strewn river-bed, ar