THE PROOF OF LOVE The dreaded night settled down dark but clear, a myriad of stars gloriously bright in the vast vault overhead, the clinging shadows black and gloomy along the tree-fringed ridge.

Nature, hushed into repose, appeared alone in possession, the solemn silence of peaceful night enveloping the vast canyon and its overhanging mountains.

Amid the gathering gloom all animate life seemed to have sought rest, to have found covert.

The last glimpse which the watchful guardians of the "Little Yankee" gained of the surroundings of the "Independence" revealed nothing to awaken immediate alarm.

A few men idly came and went about the shaft-house and ore-dump, but otherwise the entire claim appeared deserted.