Chestnut himself, when questioned, said she had come by the way of the Isthmus with her father and mother, who had both died of the Chagres fever before reaching San Francisco—that some friends of her family and his had been trying to get her something to do in ’Frisco, and that he had engaged her at an ounce a day; and, furthermore, that he would be greatly obliged if the boys at Quicksilver wouldn’t marry her before she had worked out her passage-money from ’Frisco, which he had advanced. But the boys at Quicksilver were not so thoughtful of Chestnut’s interests as they might have been. They began to buy blacking and neckties and white shirts, and to patronize the barber. No one had any opportunity for love-making, for the lady’s working hours were all spent in public, and in a business which caused frequent interruptions of even the most agreeable conversation. It soon became understood that certain men had proposed and been declined, and betting on who would finally capture the lady was the most popular excitement in camp. Cool-headed betting men watched closely the countenance of Sunrise (as some effusive miner had named the new cashier) as each man approached to pay in his coin or dust, and though they were intensely disgusted by its revelations, they unhesitatingly offered two to one that Dominie would be the fortunate man. To be sure, she saw less of the Dominie than of any one else, for, though he did not drink, or pay for the liquor consumed by any one else, he occasionally came in to get a large coin changed, and then it was noticed that Sunrise regarded him with a sort of earnestness which she never exhibited toward any one else. “Too bad!” sighed Cairo Jake. “Somebody ort to tell her that he’s only a preacher, an’ she’ll only throw herself away ef she takes him. Ef any stranger wuz to insult her, Dominie wouldn’t be man ’nuff to draw on him.” “Beats thunder, though!” sighed Redbank, “how them preachers kin take folks in. Thar’s Chestnut himself, _he’s_ took with Dominie—’stead of orderin’ him out, he talks with him an’ her just ez ef he’d as lieve get rid of her as not.” [Illustration: TOM WALKED RAPIDLY TO THE CASHIER’S DESK, AND GAVE SUNRISE SEVERAL HEARTY KISSES. ] “Boat’s a-comin’!” shouted Cairo Jake, looking toward the place, half a mile below, where the creek emptied into the river. “See her smoke? Like ’nuff Tom Chafflin’s on board. He wuz a-goin’ to try to come back by the first boat, an’ of course he’s done it—jest his luck. Ef he’d only come sooner, somebody besides the preacher would hev got her—you kin just bet your bottom ounce on it. Let’s go down an’ see ef he’s got any news.” Several miners dropped tools and pans, and followed Jake to the landing, and gave a hearty welcome to Tom Chafflin. He certainly looked like anything but a lucky man; he was good-looking, and seemed smart, but his face wore a dismal expression, which seemed decidedly out of place on the countenance of a habitually lucky man.