is jest this--he's a dyin', an' he wants a chance to die with his mind
easy, an' nobody else can make it so, so we leave the whole job in your
hands, only puttin' in, fur Billy's comfort, thet we recollect hearing
how yer forgiv' a dyin' thief, an' thet it ain't likely yer a-goin' to
be harder on a chap thet's alwas paid fur what he got. Thet's the whole
story. Amen."

Billy's hand, rapidly growing cold, reached for that of Mose, and he
said, with considerable effort:

"Mose, yer came in ez handy as a nugget in a gone-up claim. God bless
yer, Mose. I feel better inside. Ef I get through the clouds, an' hev a
livin' chance to say a word to them as is the chiefs dar, thet word'll
be fur _you_, Mose. God bless yer, Mose, an' ef my blessin's no account,
it can't cuss yer, ennyhow. This claim's washed out, fellers, an' here
goes the last shovelful, to see ef ther's enny gold in it er not."

And Billy departed this life, and the boys drank to the repose of his
soul.

THE NEW SHERIFF OF BUNKER COUNTY.

He suited the natives exactly. What they would have done had he not been
available, they shuddered to contemplate. The county was so new a one
that but three men had occupied the sheriff's office before Charley
Mansell was elected. Of the three, the first had not collected taxes
with proper vigor; the second was so steadily drunk that aggrieved
farmers had to take the law in their own hands regarding horse-thieves;
the third was, while a terrible man on the chase or in a fight, so
good-natured and lazy at other times, that the county came to be overrun
with rascals. But Charley Mansell fulfilled every duty of his office
with promptness and thoroughness. He was not very well known, to be
sure, but neither was any one else among the four or five thousand
inhabitants of the new county. He had arrived about a year before
election-day, and established himself as repairer of clocks and
watches--an occupation which was so unprofitable at Bunkerville, the
county town, that Charley had an immense amount of leisure time at his
disposal. He never hung about the stores or liquor-shop after dark; he
never told doubtful stories, or displayed unusual ability with cards;
neither did he, on the other hand, identify himself with either of the
Bunkerville churches, and yet every one liked him. Perhaps it was
because, although short, he was straight and plump, whereas the other
inhabitants were thin and bent from many discouraging tus