Great was the excitement on the Creek when the party returned, and testified to the entire accuracy of London George’s report.

Every one went to the saloon that night—­there had been some games arranged to take place at certain huts, but they were postponed by mutual consent.

Even the Dominie—­an ex-preacher, who had never yet set foot upon the profane floor of the saloon—­appeared there that evening in search of some one so exceeding hard to find that the Dominie was compelled to make several tours of all the tables and benches in the room.

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.”