e anyway?' says he, 'the man's dead and the money's no
good for him, and besides, nobody knows who he is.'

"'I do,' says I, jumpin' up.

"'And I,' says another fellow, 'the man just come into camp a day or
two ago, and his family's starvin'."

"Well, we bundled that money up pretty sudden, and a half a dozen of
us started to find the folks; we found 'em, too, but the wife was
dead, starved to death, and the children wouldn't have lasted much
longer. The oldest, a girl about eight years old, told that they had
nothin' to eat for two days, and her father found the dollar, and
started down to the store for food, but soon after he left the cabin,
the mother died.

"We buried Pete and his wife in one grave, and then with the pile of
money we got good homes for the children, and some of it was to be
used in givin' 'em a good eddication, and the last I heerd, they was
comin' on well. But I've never set down to a game sence, that I
haven't thought of the night I played faro, with a dead man at the
table."

At the conclusion of the old miner's story, a little suppressed thrill
of excitement ran through his audience. Morgan, who had seemed
restless and ill at ease, rose to go, and Houston, finding it much
later than he supposed, after a few pleasant words with the boys, bade
them good night, and hastened after Morgan, who was already sauntering
up the road a little way in advance.

CHAPTER XXVII.

"Well," said Morgan, as Houston overtook him, "what do you think of a
'genuwine minin' camp,' as Billy calls it?"

"The quarters are much more extensive than I supposed," replied
Houston, "I never realized before that there were so many men employed
here; some of them are good fellows, too, I enjoyed my visit to-night
immensely."

"I generally like to come down and listen to them once in a while,"
said Morgan, "but somehow, I didn't care to stay there to-night, that
story of Billy's made me feel sort of creepy; I'm feeling a little off
to-night, anyway."

"That was a strange story the old fellow told, almost bordering on the
improbable, it seemed to me, but I suppose there are a great many
strange occurrences in a country like this."

"Yes, lots of things happen here, and folks think nothing of 'em, that
would be considered improbable anywhere back east."

"Are you from the east?" inquired Houston.

"Yes, part way," said Morgan, "not from way back, though, I've never
been farther east than Ohio. I was born in