"No; I wish there was. I had a companion, but he got a call to go home on account of his mother's sickness." "And you pushed on?" "Yes." "What are you after—it isn't game, for you've got no gun." "No; I'm after a chance to make a living, as much as anything." "Couldn't you make a living at home?" "Not one that satisfied me." "Can you do any better here?" "I can't tell yet," answered Dean, while an expression of genuine perplexity overspread his face. It was a question which he had often asked himself. "I think if I could come across some mining settlement I could work for myself or somebody else." "Are you goin' to stay out all night? There ain't many hotels round here." "I have had supper, and am going to spend the night at a cabin about a mile from here." "You are!" exclaimed the hunter in a tone of profound astonishment. "How did you get in?" "I asked a woman who lives there if she would let me stop over night, and she was kind enough to say yes." "Then you have had your supper?" "Yes." "And are you goin' to sleep in the cabin?" "Yes. Do you live anywhere near it?" "Well, I should smile! Youngster, that's where I live, and the woman who gave you your supper is my mother." "Then you are Dan," said Dean, eagerly. "How do you know my name?" "Your mother told me you killed the bear whose meat I ate for supper." "That's correct, youngster. I killed him, but it's nothing to kill a b'ar. I've killed hundreds of 'em." "I should be proud if I could say I had killed one," said Dean, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "If you stay round here long enough, you may have a chance. But I'm goin' home. It's growin' dark and you may as well go with me." Dean rose from his recumbent position, and drew his watch from his pocket. "Yes," he said, "it's past eight o'clock." "Let me look at that watch. Is it gold?" asked his companion, and his eyes showed the same covetous gleam which Dean had noticed in the mother. "I wish I had hidden the watch in an inside pocket," he thought, too late. "I am afraid it will be taken from me before I get away from these mountains." "What might it be worth?" demanded the other, after fingering it curiously with his clumsy hands. "I don't know," answered Dean, guardedly. "I did not buy it. It was given to me." "Is it worth a hundred dollars?" "I don't think it is. It may be worth fifty." "Humph! are you rich?" "No; far from it! I am a poor boy." "That doesn't look like it." "The watch was given to me by a rich man to whom I had done a service." The man handed it back, but it seemed with reluctance. "Youngster, what do you think of my mother?" he asked, abruptly. "She treated me kindly," answered Dean, rather embarrassed. "Did you agree to pay her for your lodging?" "Yes." "I thought so. Mother ain't one of the soft kind. Did she strike you as an agreeable old lady?" "I only saw her for a few minutes," said Dean, evasively. His companion laughed, and surveyed Dean quizzically.