ng woman along when you
pull up stakes?'

'No,' I said; 'isn't she a married woman? and, besides, I haven't such a
fancy for her as all that comes to.'

'Ye heven't?' he said, speaking very low, as he always did, and taking
the cigar out of his mouth--Bill always smoked cigars when he could
get them, and not very cheap ones either; 'well, then, I surmise you're
lettin' her think quite contrairy, and there's bound to be a muss if you
don't hide your tracks and strike a trail she can't foller on.'

'I begin to think I've been two ends of a dashed fool; but what's a man
to do?'

'See here, now,' he said; 'you hev two cl'ar weeks afore ye. You slack
off and go slow; that'll let her see you didn't sorter cotton to her
more'n's in the regulations.'

'And have a row with her?'

'Sartin,' says Bill, 'and hev the shootin' over right away. It's a
plaguey sight safer than letting her carry it in her mind, and then
laying for yer some day when ye heven't nary thought of Injuns in your
head. That's the very time a woman like her's bound to close on yer and
lift yer ha'r if she can.'

'Why, how do you know what she's likely to do?'

'I've been smokin', pard, while you hev bin talkin', sorter careless
like. I've had my eyes open and seen Injun sign mor'n once or twice
either. I've hunted with her tribe afore, I guess, and old Bill ain't
forgot all the totems and the war paint.'

After this Bill fresh lit his cigar, and wouldn't say any more. But I
could see what he was driving at, and I settled to try all I knew to
keep everything right and square till the time came for us to make our
dart.

I managed to have a quiet talk with Starlight. He thought that by taking
care, being very friendly, but not too much so, we might get clean off,
without Kate or any one else being much the wiser.

Next week everything seemed to go on wheels--smooth and fast, no hitches
anywhere. Jim reckoned the best of our claim would be worked out by
the 20th of the month, and we'd as good as agreed to sell our shares to
Arizona Bill and his mate, who were ready, as Bill said, 'to plank down
considerable dollars' for what remained of it. If they got nothing worth
while, it was the fortune of war, which a digger never growls at, no
matter how hard hit he may be. If they did well, they were such up and
down good fellows, and such real friends to us, that we should have
grudged them nothing.

As for Jeanie, she was almost out of her mind with eagern