A Sportsman 393 



and had lately had a small gathering of miners at- 

 tracted by alleged discoveries of gold mines in the 

 vicinity, which had not proved of much value. 



Jack had offered the hospitality of his adobe, which 

 I found was a miserable tumble-down place, leaky 

 and unfurnished and hardly fit for a stable. I found 

 Slawson had fallen in with an old mining man 

 whom he had known in former years in Montana, 

 and had gone up with his assistant across the little 

 creek which ran through the settlement, to stop with 

 him, and had arranged for me to stop there also. 

 Jack was a good deal put out at this, as he was not 

 on good terms with Brown the miner, who he claimed 

 was inhabiting his adobe without paying any rent, 

 and said he would have his scalp before he got through 

 with him. But Brown cared little for this, being a reso- 

 lute man, and said Jack did not own the house, as it be- 

 longed to a Mexican who received five dollars a month 

 for its rental. It looked cheerful to me when I reached 

 it, where a blazing fireplace was giving out warmth, 

 and the odor of fried bacon from the rear room made 

 the hearty welcome I received still more agreeable. 

 The adobe building I will describe, as it was the 

 scene of a rather exciting episode that evening. 



It was composed of two rooms; the front living 

 one was about twenty feet square, with a back one 

 of ten by fourteen used as a kitchen, containing an 

 earthen cooking range, and a table, with two or three 

 boxes for seats. The front room had only a plain 

 table, two chairs and a few boxes for seats, no bed, 

 but a few bear and deer skins on the floor which 

 answered for sleeping upon, a few blankets, and some 

 small articles, with some wooden hooks on the walls 



