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 irstborn.

The u Doctor" came with him. Not on a profes sional visit, however, but as a friend, and to see the Indians.

Now this Doctor was a character, a special part of The Forks. Not a lovely part or an excellent part in the estimation of either saloon-men or miners, but he filled a place there that had been left blank had he gone away, and that was not altogether because he was the only doctor in the place, but because he was a man of marked individuality.

A man who did not care three straws for the good or ill-will of man, and, as a consequence, as is always the fortune of such men when they first appear in a place, was not popular. He was a foreigner of some kind ; maybe a German. I know he was neither an American nor an Irishman. He was too silent and reserved to have been either of these.

He was a small, light-haired man, a sort of an invalid, and a man who had no associates whatever. He was always alone, and never spoke to you if he could help it.

How the Prince made this man s acquaintance I do not know. Most likely he had gone to him that morning deliberately, told him the situation of things, asked for help, and had it for the asking. For my part, I had rather have seen almost anyone else enter the cabin. I did not like him from the first time that I ever saw him.

u Come here, Paquita," said the Doctor, as he sat down on the three-legged stool by the fire