tion in camp.

Say what you will of gold, whenever any one shuts his eyes and turns for
ever from it, as if in contempt, his name, for a day at least, assumes a
majesty proportionate with the amount he has left behind and seems to
despise.

CHAPTER XXX.

A FUNERAL.

The Coroner, who was a candidate for a higher office, marshalled the
leading spirits, and proceeded to the cabin where the dead man lay. He
felt that his reputation was at stake, and entering the cabin, said in a
solemn voice: "In the name of the law, I take possession of this
premisis." Some one at the door, evidently not a friend to the Coroner's
political aspirations, called out: "O what a hat!" The officer was not
abashed, but towered up till his tall hat touched the roof, and
repeated, "In the name of the law, I take possession of these primesis."
This time there was no response or note of derision, and it was quietly
conceded that The Gopher and all his gold were in the hands of the
Coroner.

The cabin was a true and perfect relic of what might, geologically
speaking, be termed a "Period" in the plastic formation of the Republic.
Great pine logs, one above the other, formed three of its walls; the
fourth was made up by a fire-place, constructed of boulders and adobe.
The bed had but one post; a pine slab, supported by legs set in the
center of the earthen floor, formed a table; the windows were holes,
chiseled out between the logs, that could be closed with wooden plugs in
darkness or danger.

Let these cabins not be despised. Their builders have done more for the
commerce of the world than is supposed.

It is to be admitted that the dead man did not look so terrible, even in
death, as the mind had pictured him. His unclosed eyes looked straight
at those who came only to reproach him, and wonder where his money was
buried, till they were abashed.

Standing there, the jury, under direction of the Coroner, gave a verdict
of "Death from general debility." Some one tried to bring the Coroner
into contempt again, by afterwards calling attention to the fact that he
had forgotten to swear the jury; but the officer replied, "It is not
necessary in such cases by the law made and provided," and so was
counted wise and correct.

They bore the body in solemn silence to the grave yard on the hill--may
be a little nearer to heaven. "How odd, that nearly all grave yards are
on a hill," said little Billie Piper once more. But he said it now to
him