word and gesture revealed a man of wealth,
education and culture,--and yet, a clerk, and for such a man! and
strangest of all, he seemed to feel no chagrin in speaking of his
position.

Houston's voice broke in pleasantly upon his cogitations: "I saw it
would never do for you to travel about here under such erroneous
impressions; imagining you were associating with a heavy capitalist,
or a mining broker, when--"

"Oh, hang it all!" interrupted Rutherford, brusquely, "What difference
does it make? You're a gentleman, anybody can see that. I'll own up
that it did knock me out at first to find you were connected in any
way with that old chap; but I know you're all right, and I had no
business questioning around as I did about your affairs; I beg your
pardon, and I'll explain now why I did it. I'm a stranger out here,
and I've taken an awful liking to you, and when we get to Silver City,
if you don't mind, I'd like to keep in with you until I get a little
accustomed to the ways out here; that is, if you've no objections."

"That's all right," responded Houston cordially, "stay with me as long
as you like; and now, let's go out and take a look at the mountains,"
and the two young men shook hands, each feeling a sort of presentiment
that the friendship begun under these peculiar circumstances was one
for life, and such it proved.

On reaching the rear platform they discovered that the train was
following the course of a river winding through a rocky gorge that
grew narrower, moment by moment. The walls grew higher and steeper at
every turn, while towering above and beyond were the mountain peaks.
They stood clinging to the railings, and watching the rapidly changing
scene, as the train swerved and swept from one direction to another,
following the winding of the river.

Suddenly the walls shot upward almost perpendicularly for hundreds of
feet, shutting out the sunlight, leaving nothing visible but a narrow
strip of sky; and still the great rocks came closer and closer, until
little more than the width of the car was left, and it seemed that in
a moment that must be crushed. The ponderous wheels were slowly
revolving over a trestle bridge of steel, mortised into the rocks,
while the deafening echoes reverberated between the narrowing walls,
and rippled the surface of the river flowing deep and black below.
Then suddenly another swift, sharp turn, and they were out in the
dazzling sunshine, amidst a scene of untold beau