"No doubt of it," said Frank; "and the broad acres which we now look upon, as well as those over which we have lately travelled, are as nothing compared with the other waste but fertile lands in America, on which hundreds of thousands of the human race might live happily. Yet, strange to say, men seem to prefer congregating together in little worlds of brick, stone, and mortar, living tier upon tier above each other's heads, breathing noxious gases instead of the scent of flowers, treading upon mud, stone, and dust, instead of green grass, and dwelling under a sky of smoke instead of bright blue ether--and this, too, in the face of the Bible command to `go forth and replenish the earth.'" "Yes, there's great room," said Joe, "for the settin' up of a gin'ral enlightenment an' universal emigration society, but I raither think it wouldn't pay." "I know it wouldn't, but why not?" demanded Frank. "Ah, why not?" repeated Joe. As neither of them appeared to be able to answer the question, they both remained for some time in a profound reverie, Frank gazing as he was wont to do into the fire, and Joe staring through smoke of his own creation at the vaquero, who reclined on the opposite side of the fire enjoying the tobacco to the full by letting it puff slowly out at his nose as well as his mouth. "Joe," said Frank. "Ay, ay, sir," answered Joe with nautical promptitude. "I have been thinking a good deal about our affairs of late, and have come to the conclusion that the sooner we go home the better." "My notions pre-cisely." "Moreover," continued Frank, "I think that we have come far enough in this direction, and that it would be a good plan to return to Bigbear Gully by a different route from that by which we came here, and thus have an opportunity of seeing some of the other parts of the diggings. What say you to that?" "I'm agreeable," answered Joe. "Well then, shall we decide to commence our return journey to-morrow?" "By all means. Down wi' the helm, 'bout ship an' lay our course on another tack by daylight," said Joe, shaking the ashes out of his pipe with the slow unwilling air of a man who knows that he has had enough but is loath to give up; "I always like to set sail by daylight. It makes one feel up to the mark so to speak, as if one had lost none of the day, and I suppose," he added with a sigh which resolved itself into a yawn, "that if we means to start so bright an' early the sooner we tumble in the better." "True," said Frank, whose mouth irresistibly followed the example of Joe's, "I think it will be as well to turn in." There was a quiet, easy-going lowness in the speech and motions of the two friends, which showed that they were just in a state of readiness to fall into the arms of the drowsy god. They rolled themselves in their blankets, placed their rifles by their sides, their heads on their saddles, and their feet to the fire.