and had forgotten. His perfect willingness to hold himself personally
responsible to each of the parties, his genuine concern at the
disastrous effect of the mistake, mingled with his own alarm at the
state of his system, which--er--failed to--er--respond to the peculiar
qualities of the medicine, was most becoming to him as a man of honor
and a gentleman. After an hour's delay, both principals being completely
exhausted, and abandoned by the surgeon, who was unreasonably alarmed
at his own condition, Mr. Hawkins and I agreed to remove our men to
Markleville. There, after a further consultation with Mr. Hawkins, an
amicable adjustment of all difficulties, honorable to both parties,
and governed by profound secrecy, was arranged. I believe," added the
colonel, looking around, and setting down his glass, "no gentleman has
yet expressed himself other than satisfied with the result."

Perhaps it was the colonel's manner; but, whatever was the opinion of
Five Forks regarding the intellectual display of Mr. Hawkins in this
affair, there was very little outspoken criticism at the moment. In a
few weeks the whole thing was forgotten, except as part of the necessary
record of Hawkins's blunders, which was already a pretty full one.
Again, some later follies conspired to obliterate the past, until, a
year later, a valuable lead was discovered in the "Blazing Star" tunnel,
in the hill where he lived; and a large sum was offered him for a
portion of his land on the hilltop. Accustomed as Five Forks had become
to the exhibition of his folly, it was with astonishment that they
learned that he resolutely and decidedly refused the offer. The reason
that he gave was still more astounding,--he was about to build.

To build a house upon property available for mining-purposes was
preposterous; to build at all, with a roof already covering him, was
an act of extravagance; to build a house of the style he proposed was
simply madness.

Yet here were facts. The plans were made, and the lumber for the new
building was already on the ground, while the shaft of the "Blazing
Star" was being sunk below. The site was, in reality, a very picturesque
one, the building itself of a style and quality hitherto unknown in
Five Forks. The citizens, at first sceptical, during their moments of
recreation and idleness gathered doubtingly about the locality. Day by
day, in that climate of rapid growths, the building, pleasantly known
in the slang of Five Fork