had a sign across the front declaring it to be a hotel, one of them
hastily dismounted, and before Young Wild West and the rest knew what he
was up to he disappeared around the corner of the shanty.

There were three men, besides the man who ran the saloon, in front of
the roughly-constructed building, and they seemed to be cowboys, by
their general appearance.

All four of the men were regarding the new arrivals with no little
interest, and when the Chinaman slid around the corner of the shanty one
of them called out:

"One of your heathens is dry, I reckon, strangers. I'll bet he's headin'
fur ther back door."

"Yer kin bet your life on that!" Cheyenne Charlie answered. "Hop likes
his tanglefoot once in a while, an' he never loses a chance ter git it."

"Well, if that's ther case I'd better go in an' wait on ther galoot,
then," spoke up the proprietor of the place. "We ain't used ter seein'
gals around here, an' I sorter hate ter leave, too. But business is
business."

The man spoke in a way that was not meant to be disrespectful, for what
he had said was undoubtedly the truth. The few inhabitants of Big
Bonanza were not in the habit of seeing female visitors.

"Well, gentlemen," said Young Wild West, "we have just dropped in here
by accident, and I reckon if there's no objection we'll camp around here
somewhere until morning. We are making a trip across the state, and we
are going in a straight line as much as possible. What we happen to
strike makes little difference to us; whether it is a mining camp or a
desert. We are used to all kinds of traveling, and generally go prepared
for anything."

"Talks like he was someone what sorter knows all about things, eh,
boys?" remarked the cowboy who had called out that the Chinaman was
heading for the back door to get into the saloon.

"Yes," answered one of his companions, while the other gave a nod.

"Looks as neat as a pin, too, don't he?" went on the man, who evidently
took it that our hero was a boy fond of showing off in an expensive
costume, and that he did not amount to a great deal.

"They all look neat," one of the others observed. "Them gals is sartinly
worth lookin' at, ain't they? They've struck it rich somewhere, an' ther
first big town they come ter they've bought new clothes. I reckon I kin
judge things all right."

"So you think you can judge pretty well, eh?" said Young Wild West, as
he dismounted. "Well, what do you take me to be?"

"A putty