"Good evenin' boss," responded the old fellow, while a merry smile twinkled in his eyes, "I expect this is your first visit to a reg'lar, genuwine minin' camp?" "My first, perhaps, but not my last," said Houston, with a winning smile. "That's right," said the old man approvingly, as he proceeded to refill his pipe; "I've been a watchin' you, off and on, down there at the mines, bein' as I'd heerd you was a tenderfoot, and I must say you've took a holt as if you was an old hand at the job." "Oh, yes," Houston replied, "with a little determination, a person can pick up anything of that kind easily. I think, with a little practice, I could make a pretty successful miner; it would require grit and stick-to-it-ativeness, that's all." "'Grit and stick-to-it-ativeness,' that's good," said the old miner, highly pleased, "well, you seem to have plenty of 'em both, and plenty of good muscle, too," with an admiring glance at Houston's fine, athletic form. "See here, Billy," said Houston pleasantly, after chatting a few moments, "when we came, it looked very much as though you were telling stories to the crowd here, and the boys all seemed very much interested; now we want you to go on with your story, we would enjoy it as much as the rest." "Let me see," said Billy, "I don't remember just where I was, but I guess I'd finished as you come up." "Never mind, you can start another," said Houston. "Yes, Billy, give us another," chimed in the boys. "Go ahead, pardner," added Morgan, "spin us a yarn, that's what we came for." "I was only tellin' the boys about the old days when I came out to the mines, and for the first few years after," Billy began. "Those must have been interesting times," said Houston. "Int'restin'? I should say so! You fellows don't know nothin' about minin' compared to them days; I tell you, things was lively then. I was there at Leadville when it was opened up, and you couldn't get anybody to look at you without payin' 'em a good, round sum for it; couldn't get a place to roll yourself in your blanket and lie on the floor short of five or ten dollars; folks bought dry goods boxes and lived in 'em. Then I was down here when they opened up the Big Bonanza mine, in Diamond gulch, not far from Silver City. I tell you boys, them was high old times, everything was scarce and prices was high,--flour was a hundred dollars a sack, and potatoes seventy-five dollars a bushel,--but money was plenty,--or gold dust,--we didn't have no money, everything was paid for in gold dust. 'Twas pretty tough in them days, too, everybody went armed to the teeth, and guns and knives was used pretty free." "Was that in the days of the vigilantes?" asked Houston.