e girl, an' the servant who had tagged along,--the
name of the servant was Melisse, if you want all the details."

"I knew it," sez I; "go on."

"He brought the girl back to where the Creole Belle was tendin' to
Whitman in a mighty gentle an' tender way. The girl didn't seem to care
much for Whitman when she saw him, an' that very day they had it out.
She didn't make no fuss, she was a game one all right; just said that
it was a mistake all 'round an' left on the next stage, goin' to Frisco.

"Whitman was laid up six weeks, an' by the time he was out Jordan told
him that he was ready to propose to the girl on his own hook. Whitman
agreed, Jordan made his play, got a favorable answer, an' Whitman made
over a full deed to the Creole Belle. Just at this time ol' Pizzaro
cashed in, an' the first thing Whitman knew he was married to the
Creole Belle, had sold his wife's mine an' started to leave the
country. Down at the station he hears a chance word that gives him a
tip, an' he leaves his wife there an' goes back to the mine. He accuses
Jordan of havin' told the eastern girl that he was already married to
the Creole Belle when she came out to marry him herself. Jordan denies
it, but they fight, an' it's sure a bad fight. Jordan gets three
bullets in his body an' only laughs about it; but he shoots Whitman
twice, so that fever sets in, an' it was reported that he died. Anyhow,
he's taken down to the train an' put on board, out of his head; an' was
never heard of again.

"Jordan hid his wounds purty well, bein' a man o' wonderful grit; but
just when he was gettin' around again one o' the boys what Whitman had
done a good turn to picks a quarrel with Jordan, an' Jordan still bein'
stiff from the wounds he was hidin', gets the worst of it, is hammered
up with a pick-handle an' left for dead. He don't die, however, he
works the Creole Belle mine till he's taken out about a million, an'
then she closes up an' he gets out o' the country for keeps. That's all
the' is to that tale. Now you tell me what part of it you're interested
in."

"Was that all you heard about the gigantic maid?" sez I.

"You certainly have a healthy appetite for gossip," sez Chez, laughin'.
"But I did hear more about the maid: she came back to that part a few
months later to square things up with her lover. He didn't appear
willin' to square, an' they found him in his cabin one mornin' with his
throat tore out by the roots, an' they found her clothes on