handle them, without any advice from you, Mr.
Jerry. I guess we can take care of ourselves;" and away they rode.

"That boy knows less, for a fellow that thinks he knows so much, than
anybody I ever see. Why, he don't know nothin', compared ter Ned, if he
does talk ten times as much. I used ter think, when I was a boy, thet the
feller thet hed the longest tongue, knowed the most; but them's the ones
that don't know nothin'; and he's one of 'em, sartin," said Jerry.

I ventured to remark that Hal was a boy yet, and that we ought not to
expect too much wisdom in one so young as he.

"But ain't t'other a boy, ez well?" inquired Jerry; "and hain't he got
ten times as much sense? However, less go and look at that wagon, and see
what's got ter be done to it."

The repairs kept Jerry and myself busy during the forenoon; and, after
they were finished, Jerry proposed that we should take our rifles, and
see if we couldn't get some game on our own account.

This suggestion met my cordial approval; and, after giving directions
concerning the camp, Jerry and myself started across the prairie,
intending to strike the river some miles above, and follow its course
down; hoping, in this way, to fall in with the boys, on their return.

We rode along for several miles without seeing any game, save a few
antelope, and they at such a distance, that Jerry though it not best to
follow them; and, after a time, decided to make our way to the river and
follow it down to camp.

It was a beautiful day: such a one as always brings peace and quiet to
the most restless mind. I felt its effects most sensibly, and remarked to
Jerry, that I rarely had seen so perfect a day in any country, and it
seemed almost too bad, that so lovely a section could be given over to
the possession of savages and wild beasts.

"'Tis, sartin," he replied; "both on 'em thrive here. I'm thinkin',
though, 'twon't be many years afore white men'll git in here, and then
the Injuns and painters, and sich like'll, hev to leave it. Why, there's
lots o' gold jest above here. I've known plenty of scouts that hev brung
it in. The white folks'll git hold of it one of these days, and then the
country'll fill up like Californy.

"Yer see thet little mountain right ahead of us, don't yer? Wall, I
r'member thet place. There's a narrer pass through thet hill, thet we've
got ter go through. I've been in it once afore, and it's a mighty
pokerish place, I tell yer: however, we'll git