in to jeer and scold and jerk his tail. As they
came nearer, a second one, perhaps his mate, joined him on the limb and
seconded everything he had to say. The barrel of Ham's gun was making
strange movements in the air. "Hey, there, sit still, you jumping jack,"
called Ham. The squirrels sat up and listened to his voice in such a way
that it appeared they perfectly understood the order to sit still. Fat
laughed a hearty laugh; the squirrels took it as a danger signal and were
gone. Ham lowered his gun.

"Fat, you stole my supper right out of my mouth," said Ham, gloomily.

"Oho," said Willis. "How do you suppose this happened? All of these big
trees are girdled. See, the bark has been cut clear around the trunk with
an ax, so as to cut off the supply of sap. Mr. Allen, what is your
explanation?"

"Well, I'm not just sure about it, Willis. Some one may have killed them
for timber or some one may have girdled them so as to be able to start a
big fire. It might have been the work of timber pirates. A man would get
a mighty severe punishment for that, if he were caught."

A little farther up the canyon they found traces of an old placer sluice,
and what remained of some of the old, homemade cradles for panning out
the gold.

"Gold, gold, gold; you find traces of it everywhere, and traces of the
men who sought it. A sight like that always makes me sorry for some old,
forlorn, disappointed miner," said Mr. Allen. "Of all the dilapidated,
blue-producing sights that I have ever seen, it's one of these old,
deserted mining camps, for they come as near representing a forlorn hope
as anything you can find.

"One time I was with a crowd of boys, and we made a detour to look over a
deserted mining camp. They called it Old North Cripple Creek. Years
before, shrewd individuals had salted prospect holes at that point, then
discovered their own gold. Of course there was a grand rush, and a boom
town resulted. Crude houses were built, stores and saloons erected, and
mining operations begun. A real, substantial log hotel was erected, and
I've heard that their charge was upwards of ten dollars a night, payable
in advance.

"But the camp died as quickly as it had been born, and the people, mostly
men, pushed on to other fields.

"It was a good many years after the place was deserted that I was there,
but it made a tremendous impression upon me. I had the blues for days
afterward. Old, tumbled-down houses, the windows knocked out an