"Sam! Sam! My friend, thank G.o.d you are safe!" cried Ulna, and his eyes looked larger and blacker for their tears as he caught his friend to his breast and kissed him first on one cheek and then on the other.

Ike and Wah Shin shook hands with every one again and again, and then they jointly performed a joy-dance, in which the dog joined, to the music of his own glad barking.

"Looks like's ef you'd been corralled up thar," said Collins, looking up at the defense and down at the red stains on the stones at the bottom.

"We have that," replied Sam, and then briefly and with characteristic modesty, he told of the fight of the night before.

"And the paper," said Collins; "the receipt Tom Edwards said he didn't give yer father?"

"I've got it here," said Sam, pointing to the saddle-bags slung over his shoulder.

"Wa'al, I felt most sure it'd turn up. But what became of Badger and Shirley?"

"I think they were hurt, but I hope not badly," said Sam.

"Some one's hurt, and purty bad, too," said one of Collins' men.

"How do you know that, Jack?"

"Jest look over thar, Collins," said the man, pointing to a wall some distance off, at the side of which two men appeared to be sleeping.

On the instant all went over, and they discovered Shirley and Badger.

The former was dead, but an examination showed that he had received no wound that would account for his demise.

"No, boys," groaned Badger, "he wasn't hurt much at all, but I was the feller that suffered."

"Then how did Shirley come to die?" asked Collins.

"Die! Coz, he was a coward."

"What do you mean, Badger?"

"He said the game was up, so he took poison to finish hisself."

"Poison!" exclaimed all.

"Yes, poison. He wanted me to take some, too, but I'd rather hang. Look round and you'll find the thing that held it."

The searchers did not have far to look, for clasped in the dead man's right hand they found a small vial with a death's head and cross-bones on the label, which contained the legend, in red letters, "Sulph.

Morphia."

"Badger."

"Yes, Collins."

"What brought you fellows out here?"

"Can't you guess?"

"I can, but I'd rather you'd tell me."

"And you won't think no harder of me for it."

"Badger," replied Collins, "I can't think of anything you could do-unless you chanced to be decent-that would make me think any different of you than I do now."

"Wa'al, I reckon I ain't got long to live, so I'll tell the downright truth for once--"

"What is it?"

"Shirley, Jake and another feller came out with me to do for young Willett, but we didn't connect. Thar, that's all I'll say at present,"

and Badger closed his eyes and looked to be as dead as the man lying by his side.

"Men that starts out to make the life-path hard for other folks," said Collins, with much feeling in his voice, "generally fetches up with a short turn themselves, and falls into the pit dug for others. Now, boys, what's best to be did next?"

"Thar's nothin' to be did," said the man who had spoken before, "but to sarch the body and then bury it. This is as good a place as back at the Gulch. When we've did that we'll tote Badger 'long with us and let him tell his story."

As this advice seemed good, it was acted on at once.

After taking from the pockets such valuables and papers as might cast light on his own life, or be sent to his friends, the men sc.r.a.ped out a grave with their knives, and in it they laid the body of the man who had ruined himself in trying "to make the life-path hard for other folks."

When preparations were being made for the return to Hurley's Gulch, Badger-who evidently thought he was to be left there-lost all the coa.r.s.e spirit that once characterized him, and he whined:

"Oh, don't leave me out here to the wolves, boys. Take me to the Gulch with you and I'll confess all."

"We'll tote you back, never fear," said Collins. "We ain't the kind of men that like to see sufferin', even if it's deserved."

The horses of Shirley and Badger were found near by. One of these was given to Sam, who said he would carry Wah Shin behind him if some one else would carry Ike.

Ulna, who rode a mule and was the lightest one of the party, gladly consented to ride double with Ike. This being arranged, the next question was the conveyance of the wounded Badger.

He was given stimulants from his own canteen, and then lifted into his own saddle. With a strong man on either side to keep him from falling, the party started back to Hurley's Gulch.

Within two hours they were at their destination, but long before they reached there they were seen and recognized by those who had been kindly disposed to Mr. Willett, and an extemporized committee came out to meet them.

"The paper! The paper! Have you got Tom Edwards' receipt?" was the salutation that greeted Sam, as dozens of st.u.r.dy men gathered round and shook his hand.

He had prepared for this by taking the water-stained paper from the saddle-bags, to which he had clung through all his privations.

"Here it is!" cried Sam, holding the receipt aloft. "Here it is, and I will intrust it to Mr. Collins while I go to my father."

A rousing cheer went up from the men, and that cheer was heard in the dugout by Mr. Willett and Hank Tims, and reading its meaning aright, they raised their tearful eyes and thanked G.o.d.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.-THE LAST, BUT NOT THE LEAST IMPORTANT.