Colonel Starbottle had to be lifted from the cart. "This yer camp is
played out," he said, gloomily, as he affected to be supported into
the Magnolia. With what further expression he might have indicated his
feelings it was impossible to say, for at that moment Scott joined the
group. "Did you speak to me?" he asked of the Colonel, dropping his
hand, as if with accidental familiarity, on that gentleman's shoulder.
The Colonel, recognizing some occult quality in the touch, and some
unknown quantity in the glance of his questioner, contented himself by
replying, "No, sir," with dignity. A few rods away, York's conduct
was as characteristic and peculiar. "You had a mighty fine chance; why
didn't you plump him?" said Jack Hamlin, as York drew near the buggy.
"Because I hate him," was the reply, heard only by Jack. Contrary
to popular belief, this reply was not hissed between the lips of the
speaker, but was said in an ordinary tone. But Jack Hamlin, who was an
observer of mankind, noticed that the speaker's hands were cold, and
his lips dry, as he helped him into the buggy, and accepted the seeming
paradox with a smile.


When Sandy Bar became convinced that the quarrel between York and Scott
could not be settled after the usual local methods, it gave no further
concern thereto. But presently it was rumored that the "Amity Claim" was
in litigation, and that its possession would be expensively disputed by
each of the partners. As it was well known that the claim in question
was "worked out" and worthless, and that the partners, whom it had
already enriched, had talked of abandoning it but a day or two before
the quarrel, this proceeding could only be accounted for as gratuitous
spite. Later, two San Francisco lawyers made their appearance in this
guileless Arcadia, and were eventually taken into the saloons, and--what
was pretty much the same thing--the confidences of the inhabitants. The