y on, sometimes
marching like a sculptor's creation, elevated on a huge pedestal of rock
above the wagon which grovelled behind, its wheels sunk to their hubs in
the ruts on either side;--sometimes plunging into unexpected
depressions, which brought their backs below the level of the dasher.
The wheels made their individual way as best they could, without the
slightest reference to one another. At one moment Mr. Fetherbee perched
with Dayton on the larboard end of the rear axle-tree; a moment later he
found himself obliterated beneath the burly form of the latter, whom the
exigencies of mountain travel had flung to the starboard side. Released
from Dayton's crushing weight, his small person jounced freely about, or
came butting against Discombe's back in the most spontaneous manner
possible. The threatened dislocation of his joints, the imminent
cracking of all his bones, the squeezing of his small person between the
upper and the nether millstones of Dayton's portly form and the
adamantine seat-cushions; each and every incident of the transit Mr.
Fetherbee took in perfectly good part. Yet it may be questioned whether
he would have arrived at the goal intact, had it not been for the timely
splitting of an under-pinning of the wagon, which caused a sudden
collapse in the bows of the storm-tossed bark, and obliged the
travellers to descend while yet half a mile distant from their journey's
end.

The drive had been a silent function, each man having been preoccupied
with the effort to preserve the integrity of his physical structure.
Once on their feet, a splashed and battered company, they observed one
another critically, bursting into shouts of unrestrained mirth over the
astonishing hieroglyphics of mud which had inscribed themselves upon
their respective countenances. Mr. Fetherbee himself looked like an
Indian brave in full war-paint.

The day thus pleasantly begun was one of divers experiences, any one of
which seemed to contain within itself all the essential elements of an
adventure. More than once Mr. Fetherbee felt, as he jocosely expressed
it, as if every minute would be the next! Thanks to Discombe's
commanding position as superintendent of several of the mines, they were
able to investigate the situation pretty thoroughly. They climbed up and
down ladders, regardless of the wear and tear upon their breathing
apparatus, they hailed the discovery of "free gold" in a bit of ore with
as much enthusiasm as if the