CHAPTER V.
Old John Sprague launched into his narrative with evident zest.
"I hung round Greaves' store most of two days.

An' I heerd a heap.
Some of it was jest plain ole men's gab, but I reckon I got the drift of things concernin' Grass Valley.

Yestiddy mornin' I was packin' my burros in Greaves' back yard, takin' my time carryin' out supplies from the store.

An' as last when I went in I seen a strange fellar was thar.

Strappin' young man--not so young, either--an' he had on buckskin.