iss Gladden, "I don't wonder that you consider
him your friend. Is he here now?"

"Yes," replied Lyle, "he has been away for a few days, but he came
back last night, and I went down to his cabin to see him. He brought
me some beautiful books, but I keep them at his cabin most of the
time, so no one at the house will get hold of them."

"Does he live alone?" asked Miss Gladden.

"No, an Irishman, who has a pretty good education, lives with him most
of the time; he is quite a musician and is teaching me to play the
violin. 'Mike' they call the Irishman, and my friend is 'Jack'; the
other miners nicknamed him 'Lone Jack,' but nobody, I suppose, knows
what their real names are."

"Why, how interesting!" exclaimed Miss Gladden. "Why haven't you ever
told me before? It sounds like a story with a deep-laid plot, and a
typical villain lurking somewhere."

"There are plots enough, and villains enough, but Jack is not one of
them," quietly replied the girl, with a curious expression.

"Would he let me come and see him?" inquired Miss Gladden.

"He might, if I asked him, but you would find him very uncommunicative.
He does not care for strangers. He was telling me last night about a
comical, dudish looking fellow whom he saw on the train, and who got
off at Silver City, and he said he was coming up here into the
mountains in company with another young gentleman; he thought I would be
likely to see them, and I think they are the new boarders."

"Why, have you seen them?" asked Miss Gladden, in surprise.

"Yes," laughed Lyle, "one of them, from my post of observation behind
the kitchen door, and he did appear so ridiculous with his gold
eye-glasses, looking as solemn as an owl, and glancing around with
that expression of supercilious curiosity, as though he expected to
find us all wild Indians, or something of the sort."

"Ah, that accounts for the little tirade against western pleasure
tourists I heard when you first came up. Evidently the eye-glasses did
not produce a very favorable impression on you."

"Well," retorted Lyle, "see him yourself, and see what impressions you
will receive."

"Well, my dear," said Miss Gladden, "as it is nearly dinner time, I
would suggest that we adjourn to the house, alleviate these pangs of
hunger, take an observation of the gold eye-glasses and report our
impressions later."

"Agreed," said Lyle merrily, and the two began to descend the
mountain.

CHAPTER VII.

Houston