After Bighorn 9 



mournful call of the loon. Attracted by the 

 noise coming from the darkness, the guide 

 investigated and came upon a squaw driven 

 almost to the verge of suicide, chanting her 

 own death-knell. Curious are the characters 

 in a mining town, and exciting are the stories 

 related of earlier days. On our return to 

 the inn, the bar-room was filled with a motley 

 crowd of characters and the chaperon would 

 call them, one by one, to be introduced to the 

 newcomer. The first hailed was " Scotty," 

 who had spent $30,000 in two years " right 

 over this bar " ; " Scotty," advancing, made a 

 grab and said, " Give me your paw, how the 



h are you " at the same time thumping the 



counter and violently shouting, " Let 's have a 

 bumper to the stranger." The next introduc- 

 tion was " Bones," a long, lean, lank fellow 

 who, as he himself expressed it, " originally 

 hailed from Arizona and was known as the 

 mighty nimrod who had killed, in hand-to- 

 hand encounter, more grizzlies than all others 

 in the surrounding diggings." With him it 

 was, " Let 's all have a smile with the stran- 

 ger." And with the " smile " he volunteered 



