n a small hut which the
Americans had left us. It was a poor shelter, being built of turf, and
roofed with boughs and grass, but as good as any we had. There was no
surgeon among us, and handing him food or drink was deemed a perilous
business; but all his comrades had a sort of a liking for Bill, and,
besides, he was regarded as the palladium of the party. The fever was
not violent, though Bill raved at times, and all his wanderings were
after gold. I have heard him talk for half-hours together in a loud
whisper, as if communicating a secret to some very dull car,
concerning a pool among rocks, with glistening sands, and something
shining far down in a crevice. He was restless, too, and kept looking
out on the track of the Indians after they had come and gone. One
evening I observed him particularly so. The night fell with heavy
rain; we all took early to shelter, and slept so soundly, that Bill
was forgotten among us; but in the morning we found him lying wrapped
in his blanket, as thoroughly wet as if he had been dipped in the
river, while the hut remained quite dry. Where he had been, or under
what illusion of the fever, we could not learn, for he never spoke a
rational word after. The wet and exposure increased his malady
tenfold. He became fiercely delirious, and struck at whoever
approached him, swearing he would let nobody kill him for his gold.
The captain warned us all, that this was the most dangerous time for
infection; but I saw that he and his brother had got wind of
something, for their eyes were never off the hut.

Towards the second evening, Bill grew worse, his ravings became faint
and low, and he lay gathered up on a corner of his mattress. I had
placed a pitcher of water as near him as possible, escaping by chance
a blow which the poor soul struck at me in his feverish fury; but I
could not help thinking of him when we had all gone to rest. The night
was so still, that I could hear the rush of the river and the cries of
the night-hawks on its opposite bank; but being unable to sleep, I
crept out of the tent, and looked to Bill's hut. A smothered sound of
scuffling came from that direction, and stepping nearer, I saw by the
rising moon, which just then shone with extraordinary brightness, two
men struggling, as it seemed for life, in the narrow space between
Bill's bed and the door.

'If you don't give me the full half, I'll tell them all,' said the
voice of the captain's brother; but almost as he s