An abandoned tunnel--an irregular orifice in the mountain flank which
looked like a dried-up sewer that had disgorged through its opening the
refuse of the mountain in red slime, gravel, and a peculiar clay known
as "cement," in a foul streak down its side; a narrow ledge on either
side, broken up by heaps of quartz, tailings, and rock, and half
hidden in scrub, oak, and myrtle; a decaying cabin of logs, bark, and
cobblestones--these made up the exterior of the Marshall claim. To this
defacement of the mountain, the rude clearing of thicket and underbrush
by fire or blasting, the lopping of tree-boughs and the decapitation
of saplings, might be added the debris and ruins of half-civilized
occupancy. The ground before the cabin was covered with broken boxes,
tin cans, the staves and broken hoops of casks, and the cast-off rags
of blankets and clothing. The whole claim in its unsavory, unpicturesque
details, and its vulgar story of sordid, reckless, and selfish occupancy
and abandonment, was a foul blot on the landscape, which the first rosy
dawn only made the more offending. Surely the last spot in the world
that men should quarrel and fight for!
So thought George Barker, as with his companions they moved in single
file slowly towards it. The little party consisted only of himself,
Demorest, and Stacy; Marshall and Hamlin--according to a prearranged
plan--were still in ambush to join them at the first appearance of
Steptoe and his gang.
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