en,
As sitting atop of a box, to some men
He was spinning a yarn of the gold-trail.

And then,
With arms set akimbo, he straightened his back
And said: "'Twuz one night in the fifties I know;
Ther' kem up the trail frum the gulch jist below
A youngish-like feller; but steppin' so slow
I heartily pitied him even before
I saw his pale brow and heerd the sharp hack
Of his troublesome cough, and plain enough lack
Of more'n enough power to bring to my door
That tremblin' young body.

"He hed a small pack--
A blanket an' buckskin--but that wa'nt no lack
In them days when notions an' fashions wuz slack;
When all a man needed, besides pick an' pan,
Wuz a wallet o' leather to tie up his dust--'R
a place to git grub-staked (that means to git trust
Till he found a good prospeck); an' then he'd put in
His very best licks; fur in them days 'twuz sin
Fer a man strong o' body, o' wind an' o' limb
T' hang erround loafin' all day, 'twuz too thin.

"Well, this puny feller hed grin'-stunlike grit,
But wuz clean tuckered out when my cabin he hit;
'N fell down a-faintin' jist inside my door--
His eyes set 'n' glassy--he seemed done fer, shore.
So I straightened him out, couldn't do nothin' more

Than to put back his hair an' t' dampen his brow,
An' to feel fer his pulse--joy! I found it--slow
An' flickery though, stoppin' and startin', an' now
Gone ag'in; then it revived, but so faint, don't you know,
That minute by minute I couldn't hev said
Whether the feller wuz livin' or dead.

"All night I watched by him; an' 'long a-to'rds light
I seed that a change hed come: so, honor bright!
I made up my mind that I'd save that young life
If it took me all summer. I'd fight
With grim death to a finish fer him.

"An' so I begun.
I quit workin' my claim
Where I'd git on an average ('pon my good name)
An ounce or more daily of number one gold.
An' in them days we thought nothin', you see,
Of layin' by stuff fer a rainy day; we
Hed plenty; the diggins wuz rich, an' wuz thick
Scattered over the kentry. Most every crick
Hed plenty o' gold in nuggets or dust--
An' the man who wuz stingy hed ort to be cussed.
So I shouldered my task.

"It wuz wonderful how
The new life appeared to come back to my boy;
(Fer t