Nearly all the miners working the claims that had been staked out in the camp made the saloon their headquarters evenings.
There were but two or three of the thirty miners who did not drink and gamble, and they usually spent their idle time with the storekeeper, smoking and talking until it was time to retire for the night.
Our hero cast a swift glance around the room and saw Hop standing almost in the centre of the room, the miners gathered around him, and their faces wearing grins.
The clever Chinaman had come in by the back way while our three friends were watching the cowboys as they rode into Forbidden Pass.
The first thing he did was to try and make himself solid with the miners.
Though Nevada had plenty of Chinese at the time of which we write, it so happened that there were none in Big Bonanza until Young Wild West arrived with his two servants.
The men all knew what Chinamen were pretty well, and there was a sort of feeling against them that they were something not to be exactly classed with human beings, so to speak.
Hop knew this as well as any of them, and hence his desire to make himself in good standing with them.
The first thing he did on entering, then, was to pull a chunky piece of bamboo from under his coat and hold it up.
It was not more than eight inches in length and looked to be a very common-looking thing.