Bradley laughed.
"Wait till we have been at work a little while, and we shall look no better," he said, laughing.
"What is that?" asked Ben suddenly, stopping short while an expression of horror came over his face.
Bradley followed the direction of his finger, and saw suspended from a tree the inanimate body of a man, the features livid and distorted, and wearing an expression of terror and dismay, as if his fate had come upon him without time for preparation.
"I reckon that's a thief," answered Bradley unconcernedly.
"A thief! Do they hang people for stealing out here?"
"Yes, they have to. You see, my lad, there ain't any laws here, nor courts. If a man steals, the miners just take the matter into their own hands, and if there ain't a doubt of it, they hang him as soon as they catch him."
"It's horrible!" said Ben, who had never before seen the victim of a violent death.
"Maybe it is, but what can we do?"
"Put him in prison," suggested Ben.