“Well, sir!  I was one happy man, and I thanked that feller as I thumbed over the bills, but when I got up to a hundred and seventy I begun to feel queer.  Looked like I’d made good money on the trip.

“‘What’s the matter?’ says he, seeing my face.  ’Nothing wrong, I hope!’

“‘Why, the watch and the gun, and the other things is all right,’ says I.  ’But I’m now fifty dollars to the good, even figuring that I didn’t spend a cent, which ain’t in the least likely, and here’s ten-dollar bills enough to make a bed-spread left over.’

“‘Pshaw!’ says he.  ’Blame it!  I’ve mixed your plunder up with the mining gentleman that came in at the same time.  You and him was bound to fight at first, and then you both turned to to lick me, and what with keeping you apart and holding you off, and taking your valuables away from you all at the same time, and me all alone here as it was the night-man’s day-off, I’ve made a blunder of it.  Just take your change out of the wad, and call for a drink on me when you feel like it, will you?’

“I said I would do that, and moreover that he was an officer and a gentleman, and that I’d stay at his hotel two weeks at least to show my appreciation, no matter where it was, but to satisfy a natural curiosity, I’d like to know what part of the country I was at present inhabiting.

“‘You’re at Boise, Idaho,’ says he, ’one of the best little towns in the best little Territory in the United States of America, including Alaska.’

“‘Well . . .’ says I.  ‘Well . . .’ for again I was at a loss for words.  I had no idea I’d gone so far from home.  ’I believe what you say,’ says I.  ‘What do you do around these parts?’

“‘Mining,’ says he.  ’You’re just in time—­big strike in the Bob-cat district.  Poor man’s mining.  Placer, and durned good placer, right on the top of the ground.  The mining gentleman I spoke about is having his breakfast now.  Suppose you go in and have a talk with him?  Nice man, drunk or sober, although excitable when he’s had a little too much, or not quite enough.  He might put you onto a good thing.  I’m not a mining person myself.’

“‘Thanks,’ says I, and in I went to the dining room.

There was a great, big, fine-looking man eating his ham and eggs the way I like to see a man eat the next morning.  He had a black beard that was so strong it fairly jumped out from his face.

“‘Mornin’,’ says I.

“‘Good morning’, sir!’ says he.  ’A day of commingled lucent clarity and vernal softness, ain’t it?’

“’Well, I wouldn’t care to bet on that without going a little deeper into the subject,’ says I; ’but it smells good at least—­so does that ham and eggs.  Mary, I’ll take the same, with coffee extra strong.’

“’You have doubtless been attracted to our small but growing city from the reports—­which are happily true—­of the inexhaustible mineral wealth of the surrounding region?’ says he.