us man. Before he could start he was
again peremptorily stopped.

'Yer see, I b'leeve yar a humbug, but if that ole thing does run, and,
mind, I tell yer, I don't b'leeve it will, do yer know what I'm goin'
to do?'

'I do not.'

'I'm goin' to take it myself to chase rod-skins in. It won't bother
yer much fur them long legs of yourn to carry that humpback home
again. So, younker, start now, and let us see what yer can do.'

The boy let on steam, and the man started off on a moderate gait,
which rapidly increased to a swift one. The huge, wonder-stricken
hunter watched it until it gradually faded out of sight in the gloom,
and still watched the place where it had disappeared, and though he
watched much longer, with a savage and vindictive heart, yet it never
came back to him again.

CHAPTER XV. THE ATTACK IN THE RAVINE.

IN THE mean time, the situation of our friends in Wolf Ravine was
becoming perilous to the last degree.

Before going to work, on the morning of the steam man's excursion to
the mountains, Baldy Bicknell made a reconnoissance of the ravine, to
assure himself that there was no danger of being suddenly overwhelmed,
while delving for the precious yellow sand.

He saw abundant signs of Indians having recently visited the place,
but he concluded there were none in the immediate vicinity, and that
comparatively little risk was run in the boy making his wished-for
visit to the mountains in the west.

Through the center of the ravine ran a small stream of water, hardly
of enough volume to be used for washing gold without a dam being
created. It looked as if this had once been the head of a large
stream, and that the golden sand had been drifted to this spot, by the
force of the powerful current.

The auriferous particles were scattered over the entire breadth of the
ravine, for the distance of several hundred feet, being found in the
richest deposits between the ledges and rocks, in the bottom of the
channel, where, as may well be supposed, it was no easy matter to
obtain.

A short distance back of the 'diggings,' where the vast masses of
rocks assumed curiously grotesque forms, the miners discovered a rude
cave, where they at once established their headquarters. A tiny stream
ran through the bottom of it, and with a little placing of the close
bowlders, they speedily put it in the best condition of defense.

It was almost entirely surrounded by trees, there was one spot where