eness. I have always enjoyed perfect
health, and notwithstanding my gray hairs, I don't believe I am much
older than my friend, here, Mr. Blaisdell."

"Not older than I am, sir!" exclaimed Mr. Blaisdell, who prided
himself upon his youthful appearance, "why, how old do you take me to
be?"

"Much older than you look," replied Mr. Winters, "I am sixty-five, and
you are at least sixty, although you look ten years younger than
that."

"You have certainly proven yourself a Yankee by your guessing," said
Mr. Blaisdell, slightly disconcerted, while the others joined in a
general laugh at his expense, "I wouldn't have thought you would have
made so good a guess as that, neither did I think you were so near my
own age."

"You have the advantage of me now," returned Mr. Winters, pleasantly,
"but if we live twenty years, as I expect to, I'll then look younger
than you, for I have the better health of the two."

"Have you ever visited the west before, Mr. Winters?" inquired Mr.
Rivers.

"Yes, a few times," replied the old gentleman, while the mining
expert, an Englishman, with large blue eyes, full face and blond
mustache, smiled quietly at Van Dorn and Houston, who were seated near
each other; "I've been west once or twice a year for the last ten
years."

"Indeed!" said Mr. Rivers, with considerable surprise, while the
younger Mr. Winters said with a laugh, "Oh, you couldn't keep father
at home in New York, any more than you could one of these Indians out
here; he's got to be roaming around all over the country continually.
If he didn't drag me about with him everywhere, I wouldn't object."

"You have been out in this country often, I suppose," said Mr.
Blaisdell, addressing the expert, who replied coolly, with a very
slight accent:

"No, sir; I simply come out 'ere once in a w'ile, you know, just as an
accommodation to Mr. Winters."

"You live in New York, I suppose?"

"No, sir; my 'ome is in London," he replied, with an air that seemed
to indicate he did not care for any further conversation.

"Blaisdell," said Mr. Rivers, "I thought you said something some time
ago, about dinner; if the ride in the mountain air has given the rest
of these gentlemen such an appetite as it has me, we would like to see
that dinner materialize before very long."

On the way to the boarding house, Van Dorn managed to walk with
Houston, and exclaimed in a low tone:

"Good heavens, Everard, what does this mean? What are you masquer