own use, paid Captain Bunker a handsome sum for its possession, and
had discreetly hidden the little cottage of Mrs. Bunker and its history
forever behind bastion and casemate.




THE TRANSFORMATION OF BUCKEYE CAMP


PART I.


The tiny lights that had been far scattered and intermittent as
fireflies all along the dark stream at last dropped out one by one,
leaving only the three windows of "Parks' Emporium" to pierce the
profoundly wooded banks of the South Fork. So all-pervading was the
darkness that the mere opening of the "Emporium" front door shot out an
illuminating shaft which revealed the whole length of the little main
street of "Buckeye," while the simple passing of a single figure before
one of the windows momentarily eclipsed a third of the settlement. This
undue pre-eminence given to the only three citizens of Buckeye who were
still up at ten o 'clock seemed to be hardly justified by their outward
appearance, which was that of ordinary long-bearded and long-booted
river bar miners. Two sat upon the counter with their hands upon their
knees, the third leaned beside the open window.

It was very quiet. The faint, far barking of a dog, or an occasional
subdued murmur from the river shallows, audible only when the wind rose
slightly, helped to intensify their solitude. So supreme had it become