man's fancy.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: A fact.]




CHAPTER VII.

DEADWOOD DICK ON THE ROAD.


Rumbling noisily through the black canyon road to Deadwood, at an hour
long past midnight, came the stage from Cheyenne, loaded down with
passengers, and full five hours late, on account of a broken shaft,
which had to be replaced on the road. There were six plunging,
snarling horses attached, whom the veteran Jehu on the box, managed
with the skill of a circusman, and all the time the crack! snap! of
his long-lashed gad made the night resound as like so many pistol
reports.

The road was through a wild tortuous canyon, fringed with tall
spectral pines, which occasionally admitted a bar of ghostly moonlight
across the rough road over which the stage tore with wild
recklessness.

Inside, the vehicle was crammed full to its utmost capacity, and
therefrom emanated the strong fumes of whisky and tobacco smoke, and