d swear off myself, ef 'twud make me hold a candle to him. Went to old
Bermuda t'other day, when he was ravin' tight and layin' for Butcher
Pete with a shootin'-iron, an' he actilly talked Bermuda into soakin'
his head an' turnin' in--ev'rybody else was afeared to go nigh old
Bermuda that day."

The newcomer seemed gratified to learn that Jim was so peaceable a
man--that was the natural supposition, at least--for he forthwith
cultivated Jim with considerable assiduity, and being, it was evident, a
man of considerable taste and experience, Jim soon found his
companionship very agreeable and he lavished upon his new acquaintance,
who had been nicknamed Tarpaulin, the many kind and thoughtful
attentions which had endeared Jim to the other miners.

The two men lived in the same hut, staked claims adjoining each other,
and Tarpaulin, who had been thin and nervous-looking when he first came
to camp, began to grow peaceable and plump under Jim's influence.

One night, as Jim and Tarpaulin lay chatting before a fire in their hut,
they heard a thin, wiry voice in the next hut inquiring:

"Anybody in this camp look like this?"

Tarpaulin started.

"That's a funny question," said he; "let's see who and what the fellow
is."

And then Tarpaulin started for the next hut. Jim waited some time, and
hearing low voices in earnest conversation, went next door himself.

Tarpaulin was not there, but two small, thin, sharp-eyed men were there,
displaying an old-fashioned daguerreotype of a handsome-looking young
man, dressed in the latest New York style; and more than this Jim did
not notice.

"Don't know him, mister," said Colonel Two, who happened to be the owner
of the hut. "Besides ef, as is most likely, he's growed long hair an' a
beard since he left the States, his own mother wouldn't know him from
George Washington. Brother o' yourn?"

"No," said one of the thin men; "he's--well, the fact is, we'll give a
thousand dollars to any one who'll find him for us in twenty-four
hours."

"Deppity sheriffs?" asked the colonel, retiring somewhat hastily under
his blankets.

"About the same thing," said one of the thin men, with a sickly smile.

"Git!" roared the colonel, suddenly springing from his bed, and cocking
his revolver. "I b'lieve in the Golden Rule, _I_ do!"

The detectives, with the fine instinct peculiar to their profession,
rightly construed the colonel's action as a hint, and withdrew, and Jim
retired to his own h