94 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



large frame house, and wanted to make some addition 

 to it. I went to every door in the building to seek 

 some one Avho could tell me Avhere to find him, but all 

 was as quiet as the grave. I then went to a smaller 

 building, and knocked. As no one answered, after 

 knockmg three times, I pushed open the door, and 

 entered. In one corner of a miserable room I found 

 an empty bedstead, with broken legs ; carpenter's tools 

 lay on the table and floof, and a coffin stood in another 

 corner. At the foot of the bed, on the bare earth, lay 

 a man, with his head on one of the broken legs of the 

 bedstead; his right arm was under his head, the left 

 lay across his face, so that I could only see the dark 

 hair ; the hands were spotted red and black, I thought 

 from the paint of the coffin. I asked him if he knew 

 where IMi'. Fisher was. He gave no answer : I sup- 

 posed him to be asleep, and he appeared to be ill. I 

 went out again quite quietly, and tried some other 

 doors ; but they were all locked, and not a* soul to be 

 seen. I went back again to the sleeper, and although 

 I called loudly, and shook him by the shoulder, I 

 could get no answer, and came away much vexed. At 

 length, after a great deal of trouble, I found Mr. 

 Fisher, and had my trouble for my pains, for he had 

 no work to give me. In the course of conversation, I 

 inquired about the man in the hut, and was told that 

 he had died the day before of smallpox: my blood 

 ran cold at the words, ^he doctor had stated the 

 nature of his disease, and desired that nobody should 

 go near him ; and as the man was poor, without a cent 

 in the world, he had shut tlie door, and never been 

 near him again. The poor fellow had been left to 



