"My replies apparently pleased them. 'Three-Fingered Jack' proposed a drink, after asking me which way I traveled. I said, 'I would have proposed the compliment long ago had I any in my canteen,' whereat Jack drew his own bottle and offered me a drink. "You may imagine my feelings then. I knew that if they believed I had recognized them they would give me poison or kill me with a knife. I took the canteen and drank from it. You may imagine my joy when I saw Jack lift the bottle to his lips and drain it. Then I knew that I had deceived them. We exchanged adieus in Spanish, and that is the last I saw of Joaquin and his associate murderers." PART II. MEN, WOMEN AND ADVENTURES CHAPTER I. SONG OF THE PIONEERS. With faith's clear eye we saw afar In western sky our empire's star And strong of heart and brave of soul, We marched and marched to reach the goal. Unrolled a scroll, the great gray plains, And traced thereon our wagon trains, Our blazing campfires marked the road As each succeeding night they glowed. Gaunt hunger, drouth, fierce heat and cold Beset us as in days of old Great dragons sought to swallow down Adventurous heroes of renown. There menaced us our tawny foes, Where any bank or hillock rose; A cloud of dust or shadows' naught Seemed ever with some danger fraught. Weird mountain ranges crossed our path And frowned on us in seeming wrath; Their beetling crags and icy brows Well might a hundred fears arouse. Impetuous rivers swirled and boiled, As though from mischief ever foiled. At length in safety all were crossed, Though roughly were our "schooners" tossed. With joy we saw fair Puget Sound, White, glistening peaks set all around. At Alki Point our feet we stayed, (The women wept, the children played). On Chamber's prairie, Whidby's isle, Duwamish river, mile on mile Away from these, on lake or bay The lonely settlers blazed the way For civilization's march and sway. The mountains, forests, bays and streams, Their grandeur wove into our dreams; Our thoughts grew great and undismayed, We toiled and sang or waiting, prayed. As suns arose and then went down We gazed on Rainier's snowy crown. God's battle-tents gleamed in the west, So pure they called our thoughts above To heaven's joy and peace and love. We found a race tho' rude and wild, Still tender toward friend or child, For dark eyes laughed or shone with tears As joy or sorrow filled the years; Their black-eyed babes the red men kissed And captive brothers sorely missed. With broken hearts, brown mothers wept When babes away by death were swept.