new country, and the conditions of living closely approximate those
in the East. I am careful to say this because I don't wish to
mislead my young readers. Success is always attainable by pluck and
persistency, but the degree is dependent on circumstances.

"How have you made out?" asked Joe of his visitor.

"I've had hard luck," grumbled Hogan, "I went to the mines, but I
wasn't lucky."

"Was that the case with other miners?" asked Joe, who had a shrewd
suspicion that Hogan's ill luck was largely the result of his
laziness and want of application.

"No," said Hogan. "Other men around me were lucky, but I wasn't."

"Perhaps your claim was a poor one."

"It was, as long as I had anything to do with it," said Hogan. "I
sold it out for a trifle and the next day the other man found a
nugget. Wasn't that cursed hard?" he grumbled.

"You ought to have kept on. Then you would have found the nugget."

"No, I shouldn't. I am too unlucky. If I had held on, it wouldn't
have been there. You've got on well. You're lucky."

"Yes; I have no reason to complain. But I wasn't lucky all the time.
I was robbed of every cent of money, when I met a good friend, who
bought this business for me."

"Does it pay?" asked the other eagerly.

"Yes, it pays," said Joe cautiously.

"How much do you make, say, in a week?" asked Hogan, leaning his
elbows on the counter and looking up in Joe's face.

"Really, Mr. Hogan," said Joe, "I don't feel called upon to tell my
business to others."

"I thought maybe you'd tell an old friend," said Hogan.

Joe could not help laughing at the man's matchless impudence.

"I don't think you have treated me exactly like a friend, Mr. Hogan,"
he said. "You certainly did all you could to prevent my coming to
California."

"There's some mistake about that," said Hogan.

"You're under a misapprehension; but I won't go into that matter now.
Will you trust me for my supper?"

"Yes," said Joe promptly. "Sit down at that table."

The man had treated him badly, but things had turned out favorably
for Joe, and he would not let Hogan suffer from hunger, if he could
relieve him.

Hogan needed no second invitation. He took a seat at a table
near-by, and ate enough for two men, but Joe could not repeat the
invitation he had given. He felt that he could not afford it.

It was rather late when Hogan sat down. When he finished, he was the
only one left in the restaurant, except Joe. He saunt