sees him a-settin' thar by that wagon, and says I to myself, 'Thar
sets Posey on his nugget!' And one of these fine mornin's we'll find
nothin' but Posey's bones a-settin' there, and his buttons and such
like."

About this time, as they were now nearing the region where danger
from Indian raids was apprehended, Savage's company and another party
hailing from Illinois joined forces for mutual protection, and all
proceeded thenceforward under Savage's direction. Accompanying this
Illinois party was a woman going out to the diggings to join her
husband, who was prospering, and had sent for her to come on. The
two women thereafter keeping constantly together, Posey felt his
responsibility so far lightened that he occasionally indulged himself
in a "square" night's sleep, while Dora and her new-found friend
slumbered beneath his ample wagon-cover.

His partial separation from Dora, occasioned by the advent of this
other woman on the scene, soon opened Posey's eyes to the fact that
a total separation from her would take the ground entirely from under
his feet, and leave him in a condition that he felt disinclined
to contemplate so long as there might be a chance to avert such a
calamity. He accordingly improved the first opportunity that offered,
and cast himself at the feet of Dora--literally, mind you, on the lee
side of a sage bush--and lisped his love. On this sacred ground let
us tread as lightly as may be. Suffice it that Posey's suit prospered,
and that presently a little programme came to be agreed upon between
the contracting parties to this effect: They would go on for the
present precisely as if nothing had happened--Dora to seek her father
and Posey to seek his fortune. As soon, however, as Dora should have
succeeded in restoring the doctor to health, or had haply buried him,