ired."

The doubter went around and raised the dying man's head. Pet seemed
collecting all his energies for some great effort; finally he asked:

"What made you pour your dust into my pouch?"

"'Cause," whispered the dying man, putting one arm about Pet's neck, and
drawing him closer, "_'cause I'm yer dad_; give this to yer mar," and on
Pet's homely face the ugliest man at Painter Bar put the first token of
human affection ever displayed in that neighborhood.

The arm relaxed its grasp and fell loosely, and the red eyes closed. The
experienced colonel gazed into the upturned face, and gently said:

"Pet, yer an orphan."

Reverently the boys carried the dead man into his own hut. Several men
dug a grave beside that of Perkins, while the colonel and doubter acted
as undertakers, the latter donating his only white shirt for a shroud.

This duty done, they went to the saloon, and the doubter called up the
crowd. The glasses filled, the doubter raised his own, and exclaimed:

"Boys, here's corpse--corpse is the best-looking man in camp."

And so he was. For the first time in his wretched life his soul had
reached his face, and the Judge mercifully took him while he was yet in
His own image.

The body was placed in a rude coffin, and borne to the grave on a litter
of spades, followed by every man in camp, the colonel supporting the
only family mourner. Each man threw a shovelful of dirt upon the coffin
before the filling began. As the last of the surface of the coffin
disappeared from view, Pet raised a loud cry and wept bitterly, at which
operation he was joined by the whole party.

WARDELOW'S BOY.

New Boston has once been the most promising of the growing cities of the
West, according to some New York gentleman who constituted a land
improvement company, distributed handsome maps gratis, and courted
susceptible Eastern editors. Its water-power was unrivaled; ground for
all desirable public buildings, and for a handsome park with ready-grown
trees and a natural lake, had been securely provided for by the terms of
the company's charter; building material abounded; the water was good;
the soil of unequaled fertility; while the company, with admirable
forethought, had a well-stocked store on the ground, and had made
arrangements to send to the town a skillful physician and a popular
preacher.

A reasonable number of colonists found their way to the ground in the
pleasant Spring time, and, in spite of sun