Cowboys from the wide plains, miners from the hidden gulches, ragged, hopeful prospectors from the more distant mountains, teamsters, and half-naked Indians, commingled in the restless throng, passing and repassing from door to door, careless in dress, rough in manner, boisterous in language.

Here and there amid this heterogeneous population of toilers and adventurers, would appear those attired in the more conventional garb of the East,--capitalists hunting new investments, or chance travellers seeking to discover a new thrill amid this strange life of the frontier.

Everywhere, brazen and noisy, flitted women, bold of eye, painted of cheek, gaudy of raiment, making mock of their sacred womanhood.

Riot reigned unchecked, while the quiet, sleepy town of the afternoon blossomed under the flickering lights into a saturnalia of unlicensed pleasure, wherein the wages of sin were death.
Hampton scarcely noted this marvellous change; to him it was no uncommon spectacle.

He pushed his way through the noisy throng with eyes ever watchful for the faces.