{"product_id":"2940013288836","title":"A WAIF OF THE MOUNTAINS","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAT NEW CONSTANTINOPLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIT had been snowing hard for twenty-four hours at Dead Man's Gulch.\u003cbr\u003eBeginning with a few feathery particles, they had steadily increased\u003cbr\u003ein number until the biting air was filled with billions of snowflakes,\u003cbr\u003ewhich whirled and eddied in the gale that howled through the gorges\u003cbr\u003eand cañons of the Sierras. It was still snowing with no sign of\u003cbr\u003ecessation, and the blizzard blanketed the earth to the depth of\u003cbr\u003eseveral feet, filling up the treacherous hollows, caverns and abysses\u003cbr\u003eand making travel almost impossible for man or animal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe shanties of the miners in Dead Man's Gulch were just eleven in\u003cbr\u003enumber. They were strung along the eastern side of the gorge and at an\u003cbr\u003ealtitude of two or three hundred feet from the bed of the pass or\u003cbr\u003ecañon. The site protruded in the form of a table-land, offering a\u003cbr\u003esecure foundation for the structures, which were thus elevated\u003cbr\u003esufficiently to be beyond reach of the terrific torrents that\u003cbr\u003esometimes rushed through the ravine during the melting of the snow in\u003cbr\u003ethe spring, or after one of those fierce cloud-bursts that give\u003cbr\u003escarcely a minute's warning of their coming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe diggings were in the mountain side at varying distances. The\u003cbr\u003esuccess in mining had been only moderate, although several promising\u003cbr\u003efinds raised hopes. The population numbered precisely thirty men,\u003cbr\u003erepresenting all quarters of the Union, while five came from Europe.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47155993346288,"sku":"2940013288836","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013288836_p0.jpg?v=1763579338","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013288836","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}