seemed to tremble under their feet, and then at the turn of the
valley above, a great wave of yellow water, crested with foam, was seen
tearing along at the speed of a race horse.

"The dam has burst!" Saunders shouted. "Run for your lives, or we are
all lost!"

The three men dropped the handles and ran at full speed towards the
shore, while loud shouts to Dick to follow came from the crowd of men
standing on the slope. But the boy grasped the handles, and with lips
tightly closed, still toiled on. Slowly the bucket ascended, for Red
George was a heavy man; then suddenly the weight slackened, and the
handle went round faster. The shaft was filling, the water had reached
the bucket, and had risen to Red George's neck, so that his weight was
no longer on the rope. So fast did the water pour in, that it was not
half a minute before the bucket reached the surface, and Red George
sprang out. There was but time for one exclamation, and then the great
wave struck them. Red George was whirled like a straw in the current;
but he was a strong swimmer, and at a point where the valley widened
out, half a mile lower, he struggled to shore.

Two days later the news reached Pine Tree Gulch that a boy's body had
been washed ashore twenty miles down, and ten men, headed by Red George,
went and brought it solemnly back to Pine Tree Gulch. There among the
stumps of pine trees a grave was dug, and there, in the presence of the
whole camp, White Faced Dick was laid to rest.

Pine Tree Gulch is a solitude now, the trees are growing again, and
none would dream that it was once a busy scene of industry; but if the
traveler searches among the pine trees he will find a stone with the
words:

"Here lies White Faced Dick, who died to save Red George. 'What can a
man do more than give his life for a friend?'"

The text was the suggestion of an ex-clergyman working as a miner in
Pine Tree Gulch.

Red George worked no more at the diggings, but, after seeing the stone
laid in its place, went east, and with what little money came to him
when the common fund of the company was divided after the flood on the
Yuba, bought a small farm, and settled down there; but to the end of
his life he was never weary of telling those who would listen to it the
story of Pine Tree Gulch.

A BRUSH WITH THE CHINESE

It was early in December that H. M. S. Perseus was cruising off
the mouth of the Canton River. War had been declared with China in
conse