t.

"Sartin, Dick," said Bradley; and he entered the cabin, followed by Ben.

"What was that you were saying just now?" asked Richard Dewey.

"Tell him, Ben," said Bradley.

"Jake was saying that we ought to pay you a commission on the gold-dust
we took from your claim, Mr. Dewey," said our hero, for that is Ben's
position in our story.

"Why should you?" asked Dewey.

"Because it's yours. You found it, and you ought to get some good of
it."

"So I have, Jake. In the first place, I got a thousand dollars out of it
before I fell sick--that is, sprained my ankle."

"But you ain't gettin' anything out of it now."

"I think I am," said Dewey, smiling and looking gratefully at his two
friends. "I am getting the care and attention of two faithful friends,
who will see that I do not suffer while I am laid up in this lonely
hut."

"We don't want to be paid for that, Dick."

"I know that, Bradley; but I don't call it paying you to let you work
the claim which I don't intend to work myself."

"But you would work it if you were well."

"No, I wouldn't," answered Dewey, with energy. "I would leave this place
instantly and take the shortest path to San Francisco."

"To see the gal that sent us out after you?"

"Yes. But, Jake, suppose you call her the young lady."

"Of course. You mustn't mind me, Dick. I don't know much about manners.
I was raised kind of rough, and never had no chance to learn
politeness. Ben, here, knows ten times as much as I do about how to
behave among fashionable folks."

"I don't know about that, Jake," said Ben. "I was brought up in the
country, and I know precious little about fashionable folks."

"Oh, well, you know how to talk. Besides, didn't you bring out Miss
Douglas from the States?"

"She brought me," said Ben.

"It seems to me we are wandering from the subject," said Dewey. "It was
a piece of good luck for me when you two happened upon this cabin where
I lay helpless, with no one to look after me but Ki Sing."

"Ki Sing took pretty good care of you for a haythen," said Bradley.

"So he did. He is a good fellow, if he is a Chinaman, and far more
grateful than many of his white brothers; but I was sighing for the
sight of one of my own color, who would understand my wants better than
that poor fellow, faithful as he is."

"I reckon the news we brought you helped you some, Dick," said Jake
Bradley.

"Yes. It put fresh life into me to learn that Florence Douglas, my own