able
interest, to a man, gray and grizzled, with a weather-beaten but
kindly face, who evidently was entertaining the crowd with tales of
his own early life.

As Houston and Morgan approached, the speaker stopped; some of the men
half rose from their recumbent positions out of respect for the "new
boss," and all eyed him rather curiously, though not unkindly. Houston
recognized many of his own men among them, and greeted them with a
pleasant "Good evening, boys."

"Hullo, Billy," said Morgan, addressing the old miner, "what do you
know to-night?" then noting that he was watching Houston with a half
smile on his rugged face, he added, "Thought I'd bring the boss down
to see you and the rest of the boys to-night."

"Good evenin' boss," responded the old fellow, while a merry smile
twinkled in his eyes, "I expect this is your first visit to a reg'lar,
genuwine minin' camp?"

"My first, perhaps, but not my last," said Houston, with a winning
smile.

"That's right," said the old man approvingly, as he proceeded to
refill his pipe; "I've been a watchin' you, off and on, down there at
the mines, bein' as I'd heerd you was a tenderfoot, and I must say
you've took a holt as if you was an old hand at the job."

"Oh, yes," Houston replied, "with a little determination, a person can
pick up anything of that kind easily. I think, with a little practice,
I could make a pretty successful miner; it would require grit and
stick-to-it-ativeness, that's all."

"'Grit and stick-to-it-ativeness,' that's good," said the old miner,
highly pleased, "well, you seem to have plenty of 'em both, and plenty
of good muscle, too," with an admiring glance at Houston's fine,
athletic form.

"See here, Billy," said Houston pleasantly, after chatting a few
moments, "when we came, it looked very much as though you were telling
stories to the crowd here, and the boys all seemed very much
interested; now we want you to go on with your story, we would enjoy
it as much as the rest."

"Let me see," said Billy, "I don't remember just where I was, but I
guess I'd finished as you come up."

"Never mind, you can start another," said Houston.

"Yes, Billy, give us another," chimed in the boys.

"Go ahead, pardner," added Morgan, "spin us a yarn, that's what we
came for."

"I was only tellin' the boys about the old days when I came out to the
mines, and for the first few years after," Billy began.

"Those must have been interesting times," said H