41 Lure O Gold 1904

"
The Lure o
Gold
of rough pine scantlings which supported a lumpy mattre&s;
two pairs of shoddy blankets and no sheet or pil
low. Still the blankets were clean and the box of a
room was neat enough, though the red-and-green wall
paper was saggy and wrinkly in places.
But it was not the hardness of
my bed which kept me
awake, for I had camped on frozen tundra and sandy
beach, and minded rough beds not at all. Nor did I
miss the absent pillow, for
my rigidly ruling father had
taught me when I was but a little tad that a pillow was a
dangerous luxury
as an Indian
and that if
I wished to be
I might better dispense with soft
"
straight
"
head
as he called pads,"
them; and, in this instance, at least,
I had been obedient to his teaching.
No, it
was not my bed that was cheating me of my
much-needed sleep; but another bed in the opposite
side of the sleeping-box, not more than three feet from
mine, contributed not a little to
my wakefulness.
Mind
you, there was nobody in the other bed. I had seen by
the light
of the candle, which I had extinguished some
hours before, that it was empty and that there was no
sign of any other person s occupancy of the room except
a small black leather bag, with the initials "R. N."
marked upon
it. When the landlord of the Golden
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