132 SOME EXPERIENCES IN CAMP LIFE. 



— came very nearty following in the wake of one of these "rolling 

 stones " one day, and but for a lucky grab made upon the seat of 

 his pants by a stout companion, would have met with a horrible 

 death. 



Many were the happ} 7 days we spent there in "camp, No. 4" and 

 many the wildly improbable stories of adventures and hairbreadth 

 escapes poured into the ears of the credulous members of the party 

 Rarely have I seen such nights as we had during that summer, and 

 it was a delight to all of us to lie outside the tents upon the soft 

 grass, smoke our pipes and watch the stars twinkling through the 

 leaves of the trees, sometimes being lulled to sleep by the gentle 

 murmur of the waters below us. 



Sometimes the beauty of the night would be desecrated by loud 

 exclamations of "my deal!" "who straddled that?" "ante up or 

 leave the log!" — bat these were counterbalanced by the tender 

 manner of two of our young men, as they stole up the moonlit road 

 to the Eagle mines, to gaze into the blue e}*es of Miss Mollie, the 

 Superintendent's pretty daughter. 



Our Sundays were spent in divers ways, Little Dick generally 

 worked upon his maps and profiles, the rest of us lounged about 

 camp smoking and telling yarns, or teasing poor Jerry, who was a 

 simple minded fellow, and the butt of all our jokes. Whenever 

 there was any " meetin' " held in the little Methodist church near 

 the mines, we attended in a body, and astonished the natives with 

 the volume and sweetness of our singing. We were rather a well- 

 behaved set, and Sunday generally found us in good order, although 

 Purgatory's "flaps" were often securely fastened down. Camp life 

 with a set of jolly and congenial fellows is an ideal existence (so 

 long as summer weather lasts) and the ten men in that party were 

 the right sort. 



Little Dick was both an accomplished engineer and gentleman, 

 who had spent some years in Mexico, and often told of his experi- 

 ences, which lost nothing by the telling. 



Porter, the levelman, was a splendid fellow of quiet tastes and 

 habits, and to whom everybody went for sympathy. Berger, the 

 level-rodman, was a countiy youth who had a fine opinion of him- 

 self and also of Miss Mollie. Billings and Van, the chainman, gener- 

 all} T went as one man; the latter was the prince of good fellows, an 1 



