ght, resumed his shovel. Yank and John Semple tinkered away for the
allotted two days, and triumphantly produced two cradles at a cost of a
round one hundred and fifty dollars.

Although we had been somewhat doubtful as to the advisability of
spending this sum, I am bound to state that Yank's insistence was
justified. It certainly made the work easier. We took turns shovelling
the earth and pouring in the water, and "rocking the baby." Our
production jumped two or three ounces a day.

CHAPTER XVIII

BEGINNINGS OF GOVERNMENT

Our visit to the town we postponed from day to day because we were
either too busy or too tired. We thought we could about figure out what
that crude sort of village would be like. Then on Saturday evening our
neighbour with the twinkling eye--whom we called McNally, without
conviction, because he told us to--informed us that there would be a
miners' meeting next day, and that we would be expected to attend.

Accordingly we visited the town. The street was full of men idling
slowly to and fro. All the larger structures were wide open, and from
within could be heard the sounds of hurdy-gurdies, loud laughter and
noisy talk. At one end of the street a group was organizing a horse
race; and toward this Don Gaspar took his immediate departure. A smaller
group surrounded two wrestlers. At one side a jumping match was going
on.

Among the usual incongruities we saw some that amused us more than
ordinarily. The Indians, for example, were rather numerous, and
remarkable. One wore as his sole garment an old dress coat: another had
tied a pair of trousers around his waist; a third had piled a half dozen
hats atop, one over the other; and many had on two or more coats. They
were, to a man, well drunken. Their squaws, fat and unattractive,
squatted outside the single store of the place. We saw also a dozen or
so white men dressed very plainly and shabbily, tall, lank, and spindly,
rather weakly in general appearance, their faces sallow, their eyes
rather childish but crafty and treacherous, their hair thin and
straight. The points in common were pointed, nearly brimless hats, like
small extinguishers, and that they were the only men to use suspenders.
They were from Pike County in Missouri; and in our experience with them
we found their appearance a close indication of their character. They
were exceedingly skilful with both axe and rifle, were expert
backwoodsmen, but without physical strength,