"

"No," was the reply, "I wasn't looking for anything; I was just
walking, walking through the storm, not knowing or caring where I
went. I can't say how far I came, but it must have been a number of
miles. I was still plodding on, when I set my foot on vacancy and down
I went."

"Gracious! you fell nearly a hundred feet," said Parson Brush; "it was
a wonderful providence that saved you from being dashed to death."

"The snow on the roof must be five or six feet deep," replied the
stranger; "for it received me as if it were a feather bed. I saw a
glow from the top of your chimney against the rocks and knew I was on
the roof of a house. I hardly felt jarred and groped my way off into a
lot more snow and here I am."

The astonishment of the listeners did not make them forget the laws of
hospitality. Budge Isham looked significantly at the landlord, but he
had already drawn a glass of spirits and was coming from behind the
bar with it.

"Stranger, swallow this; you look cold; you're welcome to the Heavenly
Bower, whether you come through the roof or down the chimbley."

"Thank you; I'll take the whiskey in a minute."

And then feeling that he owed those who made him so welcome some
explanation of his coming among them, the stranger said:

"My friends, my name is Maurice Dawson. About two months ago, I left
Independence, Missouri, with an emigrant train for the Pacific coast.
The elements, disease and the Indians made such inroads upon us that
after a time only half a dozen families remained. As if that wasn't
enough, the few survivors quarreled over the course to follow, most of
them aiming for a pass through the mountains into Southern California,
while I, the greatest fool of them all, set out to find Dead Man's
Gulch, of which I had heard from a party of trappers. My canvas
covered wagon, with a single span of horses, contained all my worldly
goods, and my companions were my wife and little girl Nellie, only
three years old. Everything might have gone well but for this
blizzard, which jumbled up the points of the compass and made
traveling so difficult that after a time it became impossible."

All were listening with the closest interest, and every heart was
touched by the emotion of the man, which he could not control for
several minutes. No one interrupted, and, feeling that his story was
not quite completed, he added:

"I fired my gun in the hope of attracting attention, but fortunately
for others I was