to be hopeless captivity.

CHAPTER V.

FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BILL MOSELY.

Bill Mosley and his companion pushed on after leaving the poor Chinaman
tied to the tree.

"The yellow heathen may starve, for all I care," said Mosely,
carelessly. "It's all his own fault. Why didn't he speak up like a man
and tell me what I wanted to know?"

"I should say so," chimed in Tom Hadley.

"The question is now, 'Whereabouts is that cabin we are in search of?'"

Hadley appeared to have no idea, and no suggestion to offer.

"It strikes me it must be somewhere near the top of the mountain," said
Mosely. "What do you say?"

"I should say so."

"Then we'll take the shortest way to the summit. I tell you, Tom, we're
on the track of something rich. We'll take all this fellow's gold-dust,
and he can't help himself. It'll be richer than any claim we've worked
yet, if it pans out as well as I expect--eh, Tom?"

"I should say so, Bill," answered Hadley, with an expression of
interest.

"I tell you, Tom," said Bill Mosely, complacently, "you were in luck
when you fell in with me. We've done pretty well since we j'ined hosses,
pard."

"I should say so--but," added Hadley, after a pause, "it would go hard
with us if we got caught."

"We don't mean to get caught," said Mosely, promptly. "As for this new
job, there's no danger in it. This man is down with a broken leg, and he
can't help our taking his gold. The Chinaman's out of the way, and we've
got a clear field. Take a good look, Tom, for your eyes are better than
mine, and tell me if you see anything that looks like a cabin anywhere
around?"

This inquiry was made some twenty minutes after they had left Ki Sing.
They had pursued a circuitous course, or in half the time they might
have been as near the cabin as they now were.

Tom Hadley didn't answer in his customary phrase, but instead raised
himself erect on his mustang and looked sharply about him.

"Well?" demanded Mosely, impatiently.

"I don't see anything that looks like a cabin," said Hadley,
deliberately, "but I think I see smoke."

"Where?" asked his companion in an eager tone.

"There," said Tom Hadley, pointing with his whip in a particular
direction.

Mosely strained his eyes, but he was a trifle near-sighted and could see
nothing.

"I can't see anything," he said, "but that proves nothing. If there's
smoke, there's a house. There's no question about that, and there's not
likely to be more than