e doubts
expressed whether he joined the Pirates of his own free will, or
was captured by them, I endeavour to give the colloquy exactly as it
occurred:--

_Patsey._ "Hallo, fellers."

_The Pirates._ "Hello!"

_Patsey._ "Goin' to hunt bars? Dad seed a lot o' tracks at sun up."

_The Pirates_ (hesitating). "No--o--"

_Patsey._ "I am; know where I kin get a six-shooter."

_The Pirates_ (almost ready to abandon piracy for bear hunting, but
preserving their dignity). "Can't! We've runn'd away for real
pirates."

_Patsey._ "Not for good!"

_The Queen_ (interposing with sad dignity and real tears in her
round blue eyes). "Yes!" (slowly and shaking her head). "Can't go
back again. Never! Never! Never! The--the--eye is cast!"

_Patsey_ (bursting with excitement). "No'o! Sho'o! Wanter know."

_The Pirates_ (a little frightened themselves, but tremulous with
gratified vanity). "The Perleese is on our track!"

_Patsey._ "Lemme go with yer!"

_Hickory._ "Wot'll yer giv?"

_Patsey._ "Pistol and er bananer."

_Hickory_ (with judicious prudence). "Let's see 'em."

Patsey was off like a shot; his bare little red feet trembling under
him. In a few minutes he returned with an old fashioned revolver
known as one of "Allen's pepper boxes" and a large banana. He was at
once enrolled and the banana eaten.

As yet they had resolved on no definite nefarious plan. Hickory
looking down at Patsey's bare feet instantly took off his own shoes.
The bold act sent a thrill through his companions. Wan Lee took off
his cloth leggings, Polly removed her shoes and stockings, but with
royal foresight, tied them up in her handkerchief. The last link
between them and civilization was broken.

"Let's go to the Slumgullion."

[Illustration]

"Slumgullion" was the name given by the miners to a certain soft,
half-liquid mud, formed of the water and finely powdered earth that
was carried off by the sluice boxes during gold washing, and
eventually collected in a broad pool or lagoon before the outlet.
There was a pool of this kind a quarter of a mile away, where there
were "diggings" worked by Patsey's father, and thither they
proceeded along the ridge in single file. When it was reached they
solemnly began to wade in its viscid paint-like shallows. Possibly
its unctuousness was pleasant to the touch; possibly there was a
fascination in the fact that their parents had forbidden them to go
near it, but probably the principal object of thi