red
horsemen, yelling like demons in their glad welcome to the first lady to
visit their wild camp.

Celeste saw the cabins along the canyon valley, perched here and there
upon the hills, and at last discovered the group of buildings that
marked the settlement the miners were pleased to call the "City" of Last
Chance.

Gathered there was a vast crowd of men, and when the stage came in
sight, and three persons were seen on top, with the mounted escort
hastening after, the yells of welcome began.

The roar floated down the valley, and reached the ears of Celeste
Seldon, and she muttered in a low tone:

"How kind they all are. This is, indeed, a welcome to be proud of, and
never can I forget it."

"They mean it, miss," said Harding and he felt just pride in his
frontier home at the reception, and the manner in which Celeste received
it greatly pleased him.

On flew the horses, and up the hill they dashed, to at last come to a
halt before the hotel.

The din was now terrific, for the voices of the horsemen joined in with
the miners about the hotel, who, with one accord, drew their revolvers
and began to empty them in the air.

As there were hundreds of miners, and all were armed with a couple each
of revolvers, the rattling of the fusillade may be imagined.

Celeste bowed right and left, waving her handkerchief, until Landlord
Larry aided her to dismount and led her into the hotel, and the welcome
was at an end.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE COUNCIL.

Celeste Seldon was not one to put on airs. She had been well reared, was
refined, lovable by nature, plucky enough for a man, for she had the
heart and will to do and dare anything where duty called, and yet she
was as simple as a child by nature.

She was deeply touched by the reception she had received, and, in
glancing about, when she saw only a wild-looking set of men, rude log
cabins, and an air of the far frontier pervading all, she knew that it
was just what she must expect to see, and she at once adapted herself to
circumstances.

She was escorted by Landlord Larry to her cabin, Harding himself
bringing her trunk and another miner her saddle and bridle.

The appearance of the cabin revealed to her at a glance how much had
been done to make her comfortable, and she praised the neat quarters and
expressed the greatest satisfaction in her surroundings.

When she went over to the hotel to dinner, the whole crowd of miners
there rose at her entrance,