dog who with faithfulness fills his trust,
More worthy than many a man to be given
A tribute of love, when but ashes and dust.

An unusually good teacher now presided at the schoolhouse in our
neighborhood, and Will was again persuaded into educational paths.
He put in a hard winter's work; but with the coming of spring and its
unrest, the swelling of buds and the springing of grass, the return
of the birds and the twittering from myriad nests, the Spirits of the
Plains beckoned to him, and he joined a party of gold-hunters on the
long trail to Pike's Peak.

The gold excitement was at its apogee in 1860. By our house had passed
the historic wagon bearing on its side the classic motto, "Pike's Peak
or Bust!" Afterward, stranded by the wayside, a whole history of failure
and disappointment, borne with grim humor, was told by the addition of
the eloquent word, "Busted!"

For all his adventures, Will was only fourteen, and although tall for
his age, he had not the physical strength that might have been expected
from his hardy life. It was not strange that he should take the gold
fever; less so that mother should dread to see him again leave home to
face unknown perils; and it is not at all remarkable that upon reaching
Auraria, now Denver, he should find that fortunes were not lying around
much more promiscuously in a gold country than in any other.

Recent events have confirmed a belief that under the excitement of a
gold craze men exercise less judgment than at any other time. Except in
placer mining, which almost any one can learn, gold mining is a science.
Now and again a nugget worth a fortune is picked up, but the average
mortal can get a better livelihood, with half the work, in almost any
other field of effort. To become rich a knowledge of ores and mining
methods is indispensable.

But Will never reached the gold-fields. Almost the first person he met
on the streets of Julesberg was George Chrisman, who had been chief
wagon-master for Russell, Majors & Waddell. Will had become well
acquainted with Chrisman on the various expeditions he had made for the
firm.

This man was located at Julesberg as agent for the Pony Express line,
which was in process of formation. This line was an enterprise of
Russell, Majors & Waddell. Mr. Russell met in Washington the Senator
from California. This gentleman knew that the Western firm of
contractors was running a daily stagecoach from the Missouri River to
Sacrame