o have us for guests and give us a good sitting-down square
meal."

"There's wisdom," cried Chris merrily. "Griggs is always right.
Forward!"

He led the way from beneath the spreading boughs of the great spruce,
out from the solemn gloom where the old prospector lay and into the
glorious sunshine of the luxuriant, verdant country, which seemed a very
Eden after the parching sandy alkali deserts and the rocky tracts. The
mules and ponies kept on snatching at a mouthful here and a mouthful
there, as if it were too rich and tempting to be passed; but in spite of
the loveliness of all around, the adventurers became more and more
impressed by a something desolate about the attractive district over
which they passed. The hills and dales were glorious, but somehow they
came upon no signs of cultivation, nor yet of settlements, till at last,
with a feeling of sinking that was not all due to hunger, they rode
right into the very centre of the cluster of plantations they had left
two years before on their search for the golden city, to find on their
return wherever they went traces of a fire here, completely over-run
with greenery, there the remains of a shed or shanty with trees and
vines dislodging the props and boards; and though they hailed and
whistled it was only to scare birds or squirrels, and to awake no
answering call.

They rode a little here and a little there, the ponies pushing their way
through the tremendous growth; but it was all the same. Shanty after
shanty was in ruins where it could be traced, but desertion everywhere.

But during the search, moved by a strange feeling of opposition, the
friends shrank from approaching the dense grove which hid the home they
had left. They all shared the feeling that it would be too painful to
look upon the traces of the fire that without doubt had levelled with
the soil the house they had toiled over, and it was not until Griggs
spoke that something like a spell which had hung over them was driven
away.

"Seems to me," he said, "that when the fellows burned or carried off all
their stuff they made a pretty clean sweep. I'm just going across now
to have a look at my old spot; but I don't suppose there'll be any
dinner waiting there. Won't you have a look at your old roost first?"

"Yes," said the doctor, making an effort. "I couldn't go in yonder
before. Chris, boy, there's no one to blame but ourselves; we deserted
the old place; but it seemed to be hard to