e, although a slight blush came to her cheek as she spoke.

The lieutenant having given directions to Pat to remain and do his
duty,--charging him not to get drunk again, and to come on with the
sergeant as soon as he was able to travel,--we were on the point of
mounting our horses, when Bartle came up.

"I thought that I should get something out of our fellows," he said.
"Of all the strange things I have ever heard of people doing, the
strangest is what your two troopers are attempting. It seems that the
Dutchman and the Irish chap have taken possession of one of our
wheelbarrows and a couple of pick-axes and spades, with such other
things as they had a fancy for, and have gone off, expecting to make
their way to California, where, it is said, gold can be had to any
amount by digging for it."

"The rascals!" exclaimed the lieutenant; "they will not get there in a
hurry, and we shall probably come up with them before long."

"They have had a good many days' start of you," observed Bartle, "and if
they have kept on going, they must be some distance on their road by
this time."

"Then we must push on all the faster," said the lieutenant. "I should
like to catch the fellows before the Indians take their scalps;
although, when we have got them, it will be difficult to know what to do
with them, as they will delay me while they move slowly along on foot."

"Send them back to us; we will soon show them how to use their picks and
spades," said Bartle.

After the usual hand-shaking at parting, and the lieutenant had once
more lifted his cap to Clarice, who stood at the door watching us, we
set off down the hill, each of us leading a baggage-mule by the bridle.

Every inch of the way, for some miles, was known to me, so that we could
move on without troubling ourselves about the road. We had occasionally
hills to go over, spurs of the big mountains on our left; but we kept as
much we could on the level ground,--sometimes having to make a detour
for the sake of avoiding the rocky heights, which were inaccessible to
our animals.

As the day advanced we began to look out for the runaways, although the
lieutenant was of opinion that they must be still some way ahead of us.
We also kept our eyes open on the chance of any Indians coming down upon
us,--although I did not think that there was much risk of that; for
every one at the farm had been convinced that the Arrapahas had long
since gone away to the southward, and tha