Woods nods, and throws him a double-eagle. "I'll be here when you come back. Keep sober till we're done. I'll give you a pass to Virginia City, so you can finish your drunk in high altitudes. It's healthier, my boy!" Joe winks. Jaggers is off like a shot. Colonel Joseph walks two blocks to the bank. He returns with fifty yellow double-eagles. "Got to fight coyote style to catch a coyote!" is the murmur of Colonel Woods to his inward monitor. "It's for the fatherless kid." "Barney," impressively says Joseph, "make me a good cocktail this time! Send 'em in, ANY WAY, when that young man returns. His life is insured. _I_ have to work for a living. Make one for yourself. YOU are responsible." Barney's chef d'oeuvre wins a smile from the genial son of Missouri. As the last drops trickle down his throat, Jaggers enters. He has had external cocktails. He is flushed, but triumphant. "Colonel, you're a man of honor. There's your stuff." He throws an envelope on the table. Joseph Woods opens the packet. "Just count that, young man, while I look at these." He peruses the papers handed him, with interest. Jaggers follows him. "This is all you have. Anything else in the office?" says Woods. "Not a scratch. Colonel, I thought they would come in handy." Jaggers' work is done. "Take care of your money, my lad. It is yours," says Woods. He rings for Barney, and indites a note to his foreman at the "Golden Chariot." "You better get up there, to-night, Jaggers," he says, handing him the note and a pass. "Your appointment is only good for that train. You give that note to Hank Daly. He'll supply you all the whiskey you want, free. By the way, the boys up there play poker pretty well. Now you keep cool, or you'll get shot as well as lose your money. Don't you forget to stay there, if it's ten years till I want you. Daly will have orders for you. "If you come back here, Hardin will kill you like a dog, if he finds this out." "And you?" murmurs Jaggers, who is imbibing the stirrup cup. "Oh, I'll look out for that!" remarks cheerful Joe Woods. Armed with substantial "persuaders," Jaggers leaves with an agent of Barney's. He has orders to see Jaggers and his "baggage," started for Virginia City. Jaggers beams. Joe Woods never drops a friend. His future smiles before him. Exit Jaggers. Woods reads the documents. One is a press copy of a letter dated January, 1864, addressed to Colonel Maxime Valois, from Hardin, asking him to sell him the quartz claims on the Lagunitas grant. The answer of Valois is written while recovering from his wounds. It reads: "TALLULAH, GEORGIA, March 1, 1864. "MY DEAR HARDIN: I have your letter, asking me to sell you the quartz leads on the Lagunitas grant. I am still suffering from my wound, and must be brief.