It was a strangely-harsh cackle was Phon's apology for a laugh, and coming so rarely and so unexpectedly, it made the two speakers start.
But they could get nothing out of the man when they talked to him. He was utterly tired out, and in another few minutes lay fast asleep by the fire.
"I am afraid that quaint little friend of ours doesn't care much for the colonel," remarked Ned.
"Oh, Phon! Phon thinks he is the devil. He told me so;" and Steve laughed carelessly.
What did it matter what a Chinaman thought! A little yellow-skinned, pig-tailed fellow like Phon was not likely to have found out anything which had escaped Steve's Yankee smartness.
CHAPTER XI. "JUMP OR I'LL SHOOT."
Three days after they left the Balm-of-Gilead camp, Ned Corbett and his two friends stood upon a ridge of the bald mountains looking down upon the promised land.
"So this is Eldorado, is it?"