the gold regions was notoriously unreliable in those days, and she
was by no means the only one who looked in vain for letters thence.
At last she could bear the suspense no longer. The spring had opened
early, and a party in a neighboring town was to start for the diggings
by the middle of April. This party, in which were already included
two women, Dora resolved to join. Once let her reach that indefinite
region denominated "the mines," and she felt the most unquestioning
faith in her ability to find her lover.

And so once more the dauntless girl set out upon that long and tedious
journey of three thousand miles. Not many weeks passed before the
inevitable homeward-bound stragglers began to be encountered, and of
these Dora eagerly sought information concerning the object of her
quest.

"Bridge? No, marm," was almost uniformly the reply to her first
question in that direction.

"He was sometimes called Posey," she would then suggest; and at last
she found a man who acknowledged that he knew Posey. "He was at
the Buny Visty in Carter's Gulch at last accounts," this individual
informed her, but he omitted to commit himself as to the nature of
Posey's occupation. "Wife, p'r'aps?" he observed, incidentally.

"No, sir," said Dora.

"Sister?"

"No."