The Duchess turned away sharply to conceal something that reddened her cheeks through its professional tint, and Mother Shipton requested Piney not to "chatter." But when Mr.Oakhurst returned from a weary search for the trail, he heard the sound of happy laughter echoed from the rocks.

He stopped in some alarm, and his thoughts first naturally reverted to the whisky, which he had prudently cached.

"And yet it don't somehow sound like whisky," said the gambler.

It was not until he caught sight of the blazing fire through the still-blinding storm and the group around it that he settled to the conviction that it was "square fun." Whether Mr.Oakhurst had cached his cards with the whisky as something debarred the free access of the community, I cannot say.

It was certain that, in Mother Shipton's words, he "didn't say cards once" during that evening.