--the camp rose in its wrath, and the young man
hastily rose and went for his mule.

But at the time of which this story treats a missionary would have fared
even worse, for the boys where wholly absorbed by a very unrighteous,
but still very darling, pleasure. A pair of veteran knifeists, who had
fought each other at sight for almost ten years every time they met, had
again found themselves in the same settlement, and Hanney's had the
honor to be that particular settlement. "Judge" Briggs, one of the
heroes, had many years before discussed with his neighbor, Billy Bent,
the merits of two opposing brands of mining shovels. In the course of
the chat they drank considerable villainous whisky, and naturally
resorted to knives as final arguments. The matter might have ended here,
had either gained a decided advantage over the other; but both were
skillful--each inflicted and received so near the same number of wounds,
that the wisest men in camp were unable to decide which whipped. Now, to
average Californians in the mines this is a most distressing state of
affairs; the spectators and friends of the combatants waste a great deal
of time, liquor, and blood on the subject, while the combatants
themselves feel unspeakably uneasy on the neutral ground between victory
and defeat. At Sonora, where Billy and the Judge had their first
encounter, there was no verdict, so the Judge indignantly shook the dust
from his feet and went elsewhere. Soon Billy happened in at the same
place, and a set-to occurred at sight, in which the average was no
disarranged. Both men went about, for a month or two, in a patched-up
condition, and then Billy roamed off, to be soon met by the Judge with
the usual result. Both men were known by reputation all through the gold
regions, and the advent of either at any "gulch," or "washin'," was the
best advertisement the saloon-keepers could desire. In the East,
hundreds of men would have tried to reason the men out of this feud, and
some few would have forcibly separated them while fighting; but in the
diggings any interference in such matters is considered impertinent, and
deserving of punishment.

[Illustration: 'THOMPSON GRACEFULLY CONCLUDED HIS SERVICE BY PASSING THE
HAT.']

Hanney's had been fairly excited for a week, for the Judge had arrived
the week before, and his points had been carefully scrutinized and
weighed, time and again, by every man in the camp. There seemed nothing
unusual about him--h