GEORGE H. JESSOP Judge Lynch A Romance of the California Vineyards CHICAGO, NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. Household Library, N. Y. No. 44. Vol. 4. July 8, 1889. Annual Subscription $30.00. Issued semi-weekly. Entered at the Post Office at Chicago as second class matter. Belford, Clarke & Co.'s New Books. A Drummer's Diary. By CHARLES S. PLUMMER. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.00; paper cover, 50 cents. What Dreams May Come. By Mrs. GERTRUDE ATHERTON. 12mo, cloth, $1.00 ; paper cover, 50 cents. "The interest of the story lies in its all-absorbing- plot, its strong: dra- matic treatment, and the bold handling of one of the most difficult and least used subjects of literature.'' Rochester Herald. "There is good work and strong work in the book, and it is quite enough to make one hope it is not the last the authoiess will write." N Y. Journalist. Bella-Demoir'a. By SELINA DOLARO lUndame Dolaro's Posthu- mous Novel. 12mo, cloth, $1.00 ; paper cover, 50 cents. 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"Is one of the nicest girls ever introduced to readers. Well told, and decidedly interesting." Neio London Telegraph. A Splendid Egotist. By JEANNETTE H. WALWORTH (jmtlior of "That Girl from Texas"). 12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.00; paper cover, 50 cents. A brilliant society novel by this gifted author, and one of the best she has written. History of New York. By JEANNETTE H. WALWORTH. In words of one syllable. Richly illustrated. Illuminated board cover, $1.00; cloth, $1.50. "This book is well calculated to give young children just about the histo'iVal knowledge in that direction which their minds are piepared to absorb and retain " Osivego Palladium. His Wav and Her Will. By FANNIE AYMAR MATHEWS. 12mo, cloth, $1.00 ; paper cover, 50 cents. " Is a, novel of more than usual merit. Its characters are strong in word lind notion, and although it is a love story, its sentiment is manly, and not mawkish." JV. H. News. "The characters are drawn with n firm and free hand, and irtfe story has that symmetry of construction which shows the practical workman. The literary style is finished and graceful." Baltimore N<'ws. CHICAGO, NEW YORK, and SAN FBANCISCO. JUDGE LYNCH JUDGE LYNCH A ROMANCE THE CALIFORNIA VINEYARDS BY ^ GEORGE Hi JESSOP AUTHOR OF ; UNDER THE REDWOOD TREE," " AN OLD MAN FROM THE OLD COUNTRY," AND "LABOR ABOO SINGH." BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. CHICAGO, NEW YORK, AND SAN FRANCISCO PUBLISHERS LONDON, HENRY J. DRANE, Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row COPYRIGHTED, 1889, BY GEORGE H. JESSOP. x>ft Library 7 2 O > 3 PREFATORY NOTE. I take pleasure in thanking here Mr. Brander Matthews for permission to use in this novel the characters and sit- uations of a play written by us in collaboration. G. H. J. JUDGE LYNCH. CHAPTER I. THERE was a puzzled, grieved expression on the sheriff's face as he stepped forward and laid his hand on the young man's shoulder. " Jack Scott, you are my prisoner." Jack started and shivered a little. Arrest on a charge of murder is fortunately a rare experience, and of a kind to shock the strongest nerves. But arrest at this time and place meant something worse than suspicion, con- finement, and the long suspense of a trial. The young man knew this, and his mind grasped in a moment the whole significance of the situation, with the lightning speed of thought in moments of peril. For this isolated little community of San Pablo, forty miles from railroad or telegraph, cut off by the precipi- tous coast range from the rest of California even from the rest of its own county was a law unto itself. The village nestled in a narrow plain ; on one side the broad Pacific, on the other the mountains clothed on their western slope with the clustered vines*. A peaceful settlement, to all appearance, and yet robbery, violence, 7 8 JUDGE LYNCH. murder itself had stained San Pablo's record. Since Mr. Byrne's vineyard gang Italian laborers mostly- had struck, the place had been in confusion. Quarrels, assaults, bloodshed had become matters of nightly occurrence. Sheriff Starkweather had come over from San Antonio and had taken up his residence temporarily at the San Pablo House, but even his presence seemed to have little effect on the lawless element. And then the citizens of San Pablo had met ; they had discussed the situation and arrived at a conclusion. The laws sliould be administered by a committee of themselves, and all infractions thereof should be visited with the same punishment death ! It was hard measure for petty offenders, and yet the men could scarcely be blamed for adopting it. Riot and assassination had dis- figured their town; the crowd of swarthy loafers who hung around its plaza and its bar-rooms were little better than banditti, living on plunder and making small account of human life. In local phrase San Pablo was " a bad place to bluff." San Pablo refused to be bluffed. San Pablo, in an emergency, could hold life as cheaply as the worst " dago " that ever hoed a vine, and the next man that committed a crime be the offender who he might should swing for it. All this Jack Scott knew. He had been present at the meeting of the vigilance committee and had even vent- ured to preach moderation not that he altogether blamed the exasperation of the other men, but he was a popular young fellow and highly esteemed in the place, and he had felt it to be his duty to use such influence as he possessed in behalf of law and order. As he expected, his protest went for nothing. He found no JUDGE LYNCH. 9 support. Mr. Byrne sided with him at first, but soon withdrew when he found he was championing a hopeless cause. The Hon. Pat Byrne was too good a politician to vote with the minority. And the committee had proved itself in deadly earnest. When Juan Estudillo, having taken a glass too much, had started in, revolver in hand, to clean out the office of the Independent, Judge Boone, Tom Smith and half a dozen others had acted promptly. Estudillo was seized before he could fire a shot ; his explanation of his diffi- culty with Field, the editor, was not even listened to, and the poor Mexican was ridden out of town on a rail. Only Jack Scott's prompt intercession saved him from the additional discomfort of a coat of tar and feathers. Juan was forced to back his wooden steed all the way to his ranch three miles up the valley, and he had been left at his own door with an emphatic caution that if he dared to show his face in San Pablo for six months worse was in store for him. Evidently the vigilance committee meant business. Jack reviewed the situation as Sheriff Starkweather's heavy hand fell on his shoulder a hand that had never before been put forth to him save in the friendly spirit of hearty greeting; His face paled a little, but he only drew back a step and bowed his head in acknowledg- ment of the official authority. Then, as he raised his eyes, he saw that the group around him was growing every moment, and he caught the flutter of pretty sum- mer dresses as two ladies came on through the trees and paused in wonder at the unwonted gathering. A crimson flush rose to the young man's pale cheeks and he looked down again. It was hard that she should see him like this. 10 JUDGE LYNCH. Lucy Starkweather was a handsome girl, tall, dark- haired, dark-eyed, with a certain queenliness about her that even the rough vineyard men and rancheros recog- nized. Jack had recognized it long since, and perhaps but for it he would have put in words the admiration with which the dark eyes and bright face inspired him. Her friends in San Antonio called her Lady Lucy, and Jack Scott, with the winning diffidence of a young man in love, thought that no one was worthy of her himself least of all. And now she saw him arrested, arrested by her own father. Jack noticed her start of astonishment as she turned and said something to her companion. He knew her too this pretty, fair-haired girl Lucy had introduced him to her. She was a Miss Carrie Van Zandt, an Eastern young lady who had been educated at the same school in New York as Miss Lucy had attended; and he stood, arrested for a brutal crime, under the eyes of those two high-bred girls. It was ail very hard to bear. The Hon. Pat Byrne saw the ladies coming and detached himself from the group to meet them. Now they would hear it all. Jack strained his ears to try'and catch the conversation, but the girls had stopped too far off. He saw Mr. Byrne remove his tall hat the only tall hat in San Antonio County and make a sweeping bow as he approached them. Then the sheriff spoke to his prisoner. " You can sit down, Jack, if you want," he said kindly. " I must stay till they get back up the gully with Dick." " Sam Starkweather," said Jack, facing round on him. " Do you believe that I shot Dick Morley ? " " No," answered the sheriff, " I don't ; but that's JUDGE LYNCH. II neither here nor there. With the proof that's in my hand it's my duty to arrest you, and I've done it." Jack said no more. He stepped forward at Mr. Starkweather's side and peered into the gully. The ground was rocky and broken. It was part of a deep ravine that cut into the coast range ; and along it and at the spot where it opened into the plain half a mile below, straggled the village of San Pablo. The only level piece of ground in the neighborhood was that on which they were standing a little plateau of barely an acre in extent, covered thickly with red dust, as was the road which led from the town past it, through the ravine and over the mountains toward San Antonio. The month was September, but no rain had fallen yet, and all nature was parched and dry after the long summer. A single house was in sight, built on the little plain a kind of general store kept by the man whose fate all San Pablo was investigating. Just "behind the house there was an immense rock partly earth covered and overgrown with climbing plants, but bare and flat above. It was on top of this that Morley had last been seen alive. The rock overhung the gully, and from its summit there was a -sheer drop of 100 feet or more into the abyss below. From the level spot on which the men were gathered, however, the descent was much easier and the depth not so great. This gorge was to the right of the San Pablo road, and continued close to it till the church was reached a primitive wooden structure, which marked the limits of the village proper, a quarter of a mile below. Beyond the little clearing on which Morley's house stood the trees grew thickly, and the course of the road could not be traced more than a few yards in either direction. The 12 JUDGE LYNCH. church and the village, which straggled on beyond, were, of course, invisible, but the rapid fall of the ravine showed that it would soon reach the level of the gully, which made this portion of the track dangerous even for the little wagons of the place. In fact, about a quarter of a mile lower down the valley spread out and showed few inequalities. But at the spot on which the men were looking down, the gorge, clothed by climbing plants and overgrown with brushwood, looked deep and dismal enough. The news reached the village and people were coming up every moment. They came by twos and threes and singly storekeepers, laborers, bar-room loafers, and each, after a rapid question or two, pressed forward and looked into the ravine. Some of them climbed down the steep banks and joined those below. The latter were hidden in the tangle of underbush, but the movement of the stems and the rustle of the parched leaves showed that the search was over and that the dead man he could but be dead after such a fall was being carried up to the plateau. Jack leaned over and gazed down among the waving branches. The sheriff, with one hand resting on the young man's arm, seemed to be holding him back from the dangerous brink; but Jack knew that that touch meant the jailor's grasp on the prisoner. And the two girls stood with Mr. Byrne near the edge of the clearing, with parted lips and straining eyes watching. " Are they sure, Mr. Byrne ? " asked Carrie Van Zandt. " Has Colonel Morley certainly been " she broke off as if her lips refused to syllable the awful word, murder. JUDGE LYNCH. 13 " It's sorry I am to say it," answered Byrne, " but there can't be no manner o' doubt o' it. Mrs. Morley heard the shot with her own ears, and run out in time to see the poor fellow whirling down off o' his rock like a broken-winged crow." " Poor woman ! " murmured Carrie. " An' Judge Boorie an' Mr. Field, that had passed, as it might be, two minutes afore, come runnin' back to the report oh, it was a cruel murder, not a doubt o' it." " And why have they fastened the crime on Mr. Scott ? " Lucy had made one or two attempts to speak before she brought out this question, but it came from her lips now, hard and clear as steel and without a tremor of the voice or a shade of expression in the tone. It was so unlike Lucy's usual utterance that Byrne looked from one of the girls to the other as if uncertain which had spoken. "Well," he said, hesitatingly, "there was a many little things pointin' toward Jack. He was on the spot where the shot come from his pistol was found lyin' close by ; he'd been in high words with poor Dick not more'n five minutes before oh, I've no manner o' doubt Jack had nothin' to do wid it. He's not that kind o' man. But sarcumstances bein' as it were corroborative evidence, if I may say so in course they tuk him into custody on the spur o' the moment not but what he'll establish his innocence aisy enough. Lucy stood looking at the ground as if in deep thought. Suddenly she turned and raised her great dark eyes to Mr. Byrne's face " may I never ate another bit if they I 4 JUDGE LYNCH. weren't burnin' like two coals o' fire," that gentleman stated when he came to speak of the scene. " Mr. Byrne," she said earnestly, " Mr. Scott has been in your employment ever since he came here you owe it to him you owe it to yourself, you owe it to all his friends to stand by him in his trouble, and help him to clear his name of this odious suspicion." Byrne looked somewhat taken aback. " Surely, surely, Miss Lucy," he replied ; " I've a great wish for Jack, an' I'll do me utmost." Carrie Van Zandt clutched Lucy's arm. " Oh, see, see, Lucy," she cried. "They have found the body, and are bringing it up here. Oh, do, do, please come away." Lucy hesitated a moment. "I don't like to seem to turn my back on my friends when they are in difficulty," she said. " Ye'd better go, Miss Lucy. Sure your pa's there, an' he wouldn't like to have you round." " I shall certainly faint if I see a dead man, so choose," added Carrie, dragging on her friend's arm. While Lucy still hesitated, a figure detached itself from the curious group gathered on the plateau, and came swiftly toward them. He was a tall, spare man, shabbily dressed in clothes of a semi-clerical cut, and he walked with rapid, nervous steps* He had narrow, stooping shoulders and white hands, and a very pale face the face of a visionary an ascetic, framed in whiskers of lusterless black, and lit up by dark, deeply-sunken eyes. In the robust, open air, unimaginative life of San Pablo such a man seemed strangely out of place. Neither in dress nor appearance nor habits of thought JUDGE LYNCH. 15 would he seem to have anything in common with his sur- roundings. And yet he was popular in a certain way; respected, too, though many people called him a "crank," for he was the schoolmaster and the most efficient man who had ever held that office in San Pablo. Byrne hailed him as he approached. " Poor Dick's dead, of course, Mr. Jeffries ? " Jeffries joined the little group, lifting his hat to the ladies as he did so. " I suppose there cannot be a doubt of it, Mr. Byrne," he said, " but I didn't wait to see. You know I can't bear the sight of blood and death by violence ! " he broke off with a shudder, and his face seemed to take on an added shade of pallor. " Shall we go on, ladies ? " he resumed after a moment. " Ay, do, young ladies," urged Byrne. " Mr. Jeffries will see yez down to the hotel, an' I'll stay on the spot, an' if there's anything I can do, sure I'll spind me day doin' it." This time Lucy made no objection. She followed the schoolmaster and Carrie down the steep track, while the Hon. Pat Byrne joined the group that bore to his home the mangled remains of Dick Morley. CHAPTER II. As the melancholy procession moved toward the little store many eyes were fixed on Kate Morley, the widow of the murdered man. She had been the first to rush down the ravine when the ringing report of the pistol had called her from the piazza in time to witness her hus- band's death. Now she returned, walking behind the men who carried his dead body. Her gown of coarse blue calico had been torn here and there by thorny shrubs, her magnificent auburn hair had become dishev- elled in her haste and hung over her shoulders; the exertion of climbing from the ravine had brought a bright color into her cheeks her complexion was one of Mrs. Morley's chief beauties. She looked handsome, and though she was silent and kept her eyes bent on the ground, she had not the aspect of a mourner. Hank Dollett of the livery stable, dropped behind and made a remark to that effect, but he spoke in a low tone, for the afternoon's tragedy had dashed San Pablo's usual spirits. Tom Smith answered him, and the reply showed the reputation the deceased had left behind him in the com- munity where he had lived for twelve years. " 'Twouldn't be in human nature for any one to be particular cut up because Drunken Dick passed in his checks an' as for his wife it's a good riddance for her I should say." 16 JUDGE LYNCH. 1 7 "Ay, but it's kinder rough on her all the same," answered Hank. " A man's a man even if he never drew a sober breath. What's the poor woman goin' to do now, I'd like to know ? " " She'll worry along all right," was the reply. " There's many that u'd help her now that wouldn't a looked the same side of the street with her while she was tied to that sot." At the same moment all that was mortal of " that sot " was carried into the house he had left scarce an hour before with all the life that years of dissipation had spared him. A bright-eyed eager boy came out and ran to Mr. Byrne. " Oh, pop," he cried, "you wouldn't never know him he's all scratched an' tore to pieces, an' awful white in the face considerin' its Dick Morley." Mr. Byrne turned on the boy indignantly. "An' what call have ye, Pat Byrne, to be lingerin' round an' takin' art or part in the like. Go home wid ye, an' larn yer lesson." " There's no school to-morrow, pop it's a holiday, an' I tell you this here is exciting," remonstrated the boy. " Go home now, and do as I bid ye," said Mr. Byrne, severely. The youngster withdrew, but paused as soon as he was out of his father's sight, and hung round the edge of the group waiting to see what would happen next. But the excitement was nearly over. Judge Boone and the other men, who had carried up_the body, trooped out of the house, their heavy boots clattering on the wooden steps of the veranda. The Judge closed the door as he 1 8 JUDGE LYNCH. came out, but seeing Kate Morley outside he opened it again and held it for her to enter. She did not seem to notice the attention, but stood leaning against the wall, silent, with downcast eyes. " Where's the doctor ? " asked Mr. Field, as if he had just thought of something. " The doctor's up to Orvietas' ranch and can't be back much before midnight," answered Boone. " But what do we want of a doctor ? To tell us the man's dead ? I can tell you that much myself." " Still, it would be more regular," persisted Field. He was the editor of the local paper, a sharp, shrewd, med- dlesome little man from Connecticut. His close-set gray eyes and fluffy, straggling, red whiskers, combined with an alert, inquisitive manner, involuntarily reminded people of a terrier. To this apt adjustment of manner and appearance he owed his universal nickname, " Foxy Field." " Well, Jack," said the sheriff, rousing himself, " come along. I can't let you out of my sight till I lodge you in San Antonio jail, and that'll be to-morrow morning bright and early." Judge Boone linked his arm in Field's and drew him over to a little group of men Hank Dollett, Smith, and a few others who stood apart conversing in low tones. Kate Morley looked up suddenly. The babble of comment and conversation around her had seemingly passed her by, but the sheriff's deep voice awakened and commanded her attention. " What's that, Mr. Starkweather ? " she asked, coming a few steps forward. " Nothing, nothing, Mrs. Morley," answered the sheriff JUDGE LYNCH. 19 kindly. " Dear heart, how wild you look ! Won't you go in and and rest ? It'll be lonesome for you, I sup- pose, too, but tell you what ; you go in and lie down for an hour and I'll send my daughter Lucy to sit with you as soon as I get down to the hotel." " What's that ? " she persisted. " What were you say- ing to Mr. Scott about jail ? For heaven's sake, man," she went on, raising her voice as the sheriff did not reply, " you don't suspect him of " She pointed to the house with an eloquent gesture which completed her meaning better than words. " I believe they do, Mrs. Morley," said Jack ; " and it can't be denied that there are a good many ugly looking facts to be explained. There's one you can help me on. You must have known that poor Dick had my pistol yes- terday." "Had he?" inquired Kate; "I don't know. He never tells I mean he never told me anything." Then, noticing Jack's look of disappointment, she hastened to add : " I know he had a pistol he was fussing over the lock of one all the morning." " See, Mrs. Morley," said Starkweather : " you know Jack Scott, and I know him, and we neither of us believe that it lies inside of his skin to commit a cowardly mur- der like that. All it wants is a few days to clear up things, for it can't be denied as he says himself that there are queer circumstances. Look at here ! Jack here and Dick Morley had high words " " My poor husband was always qu-arrelling with every- body," interrupted the widow. " You're right, he was ; but this was an especially pep- pery quarrel, for Foxy Field and Judge Boone heard it. 20 JUDGE LYNCH. They heard it, and saw Jack enter the chaparral by the path under the live oak yonder. And out of that very path, not two minutes after, comes a shot that picks the old man off the rock where he was lounging, and tumbles him head first down the gully." " I heard it, I heard it," groaned Kate, " and I saw " She broke off and hid her face in her hands. " Of course you saw. And right around the very spot where the shot came from Hank Dollett picks up a pistol which Jack Scott acknowledges for his own." " That is true," said Scott. " It is my pistol, and I don't believe there's another like it in San Antonio County." " So there you see, ma'am," said the sheriff, spreading out the fingers of one hand and ticking off the evidence, point by point, with the other, " there's the quarrel, there's the shot, there's the point it comes from ; there's the fact that no one else was seen in that direction, and there's the pistol, the biggest point of all." There was a moment's pause, and the voices of men, a dozen paces off, came across the clearing. Jack glanced towards them, and saw the tall, stooping figure of Haman Jeffries, the schoolmaster. He had joined the group, and was listening to their remarks, though apparently taking no active part in the conversation. Jack stepped eagerly forward. " There's Mr. Jeffries at last," he exclaimed. " Now we'll see." " Gently, my boy, gently," said the sheriff, laying hand on the young man's arm. " You and I must travel together for the present." Jack hung his head and colored deeply. He was beginning to realize what captivity meant. JUD GE L YNCH. 2 1 Kate Morley, with quick womanly sympathy, caught Jack's* hand in both of hers. " I don't care what proof they have ; I don't care what they say ; I'll never believe that you killed Dick unless it was by accident." "Thank you, Mrs. Morley," said Jack, "but I am innocent of his death. I never fired that shot, and I think I can break one link in the cursed chain that con- nects me with the crime right here and now." Then he raised his voice, and called aloud, " Mr. Jef- fries, Mr. Jeffries ! " The schoolmaster started and came forward. He uncovered to the widow in her torn gown with the same deference he had shown toward Miss Starkweather and her New York friend. Mrs. Morley turned away as if to avoid him, but Haman Jeffries did not seem offended. In spite of his strange appearance he was evidently a gentleman by breeding, and made all allowance for the poor woman in the hour of her sudden bereavement. " Can I do anything for you, Mr. Scott ? " he asked. His manner was pleasant and he had a good address. As Mr. Byrne had remarked when the man first came to San Pablo : " When ye've got used to looking at Ham Jeffries ye've got over the worst of him. He's a good- hearted poor devil, and pleasant to talk to, but he's a mortial homely man, savin' your presence." " Mr. Jeffries," said Scott, " I have been arrested for the murder of Richard Morley." The schoolmaster inclined his head. " So I have heard, Mr. Scott, and I have heard it with pain. Allow me to hope that your innocence may be speedily estab- lished." 22 JUDGE LYNCH. "I am in hopes that you may help me to do that," con- tinued Jack, and his heart beat quicker as he realized how momentous was the question he was about to ask. After all, old Dick Morley had been a notorious liar, and if what he had told Scott a short half hour before his death should prove to be untrue, the young man's case would be black indeed. Boone, Dollett, Smith, Field, and a half dozen more followed Jeffries as he came forward. Mr. Byrne had discovered his son still on the ground, feasting full on horrors, and had led him home by the ear. Starkweather still kept his hand on Jack's shoulder. " Did Dick Morley give you a pistol to return to me ? " asked Jack. Jeffries looked surprised. " No," he answered, " what should he have done that for ? " Jack's heart sank, but he did not despair. " I left a pistol with Dick to have the lock made easier. I called for it to-day and he told me he had given it to Hainan Jeffries to return to me." Kate Morley stepped forward and faced the school- master. " Speak the truth now, Haman Jeffries, as in the sight of heaven," she said. Jeffries' voice had a caressing tone as he answered Kate. " I was brought up to speak the truth, Mrs. Morley," he responded. Then he turned to Jack. " Colonel Morley said nothing to me about a pistol." " At least he told me he did," said Jack, profoundly discouraged. " And your only witness is the man you have just shot," remarked Field, with a sneer. " Mr. Field," cried the sheriff sternly, " this man has JUDGE LYNCH. 23 been arrested on suspicion. I will thank you not to pre- judge the case." Mrs. Morley stood looking fixedly at Jeffries as he pronounced the words that seemed to shatter Jack's last hope. Then the color faded out of her cheeks, she cov- ered her face with her hands and sank on her knees. " Poor creature ! " murmured Jeffries, in a tone of deep pity. " God help the widow," said Judge Boone solemnly. Then he turned fiercely on the prisoner. " Look at your work there, Jack Scott," he cried. " Silence ! " shouted the sheriff. " Scott, come with me," and linking his arm into that of the young man he drew him off down the steep track toward the village. The men watched the pair till the chaparral hid them from view. Then they exchanged glances, and a few whispered words passed from one to the other. " There can't be a doubt of it," said Smith. " No. doubt at all," echoed Field ; " we're all decided, gentlemen ! " Then there was another moment of rapid whispering, during which Jeffries attempted to raise Kate Morley to her feet. She sprang up, and, shaking him off with a gesture of repulsion, went toward the house. Jeffries turned back to the group with a touch of impatience in his manner and a faint color in his cheek. He reached the others just as Judge Boone said in a low voice : " Then, gentlemen, it's all settled the Com- mittee of Safety will meet to-night." CHAPTER III. JACK SCOTT was born in the city of New York, some twenty-eight years before the day he was arrested for Colonel Morley's murder. When quite a young man he drifted out to the Pacific coast, attracted, like many others, by the large rewards and fine business opportu- nities San Francisco was supposed to offer. Like many others, he was disappointed, and soon found himself forced to turn his hand to anything that presented itself, without reference to his original intentions. In San Francisco you shall meet clergymen who are book- keepers, book-keepers who are doctors, doctors who are teamsters, and a fair sprinkling of the liberal professions ringing up fares on the street cars. So it was neither unusual nor surprising that Jack Scott, bred at the desk of a New York merchant, should go about picking up local items for a morning paper. Indeed, the young man was fortunate to find employment in this direction, and he often felicitated himself, and thanked Mr. James Rug- gles for the position, uncongenial as it was. Mr. James Ruggles better known as Jimmy Ruggles was at that time city editor of the Morning Summons. Jack and he had been school friends and near neighbors in New York, but, while Jimmy had adopted journalism as a profession, Jack had merely drifted into it from force of circumstances. It was a living for the moment to Scott; it was a livelihood and a future to Ruggles. 24 JUDGE LYNCH. 2$ The one was always seeking to get on in it ; the other was as earnestly anxious to get out of it. Jack's opportunity came at last. Chance brought him in the way of Mr. Byrne. The Hon. Pat had come to San Francisco in furtherance of one of the many schemes which made him the busiest man in Southern California. For some time he had been turning over the idea of start- ing a weekly paper in San Antonio County an idea which eventually took shape in the San Pablo Independent and meeting Scott Mr. Byrne fancied that he had found the editor he was seeking. Business details were soon arranged : a hearty good-by and godspeed from Jimmy Ruggles constituted Jack's hardest parting, and he accompanied the Hon. Pat down the coast to San Pablo. Jack was content and happy in his new life. The country was strange to him ; the people were interesting, at least some of them were, and it is within every one's experience that even one person may shed a brightness over any place and period. The one person, who in Jack's case was endowed with this magical power was Miss Lucy Starkweather. It was true that her home was in San Antonio, eighteen long miles away over the mountains ; but distances are not too closely reckoned in Southern California. The young lady sometimes accompanied her father to San Pablo. Jack Scott often found or invented excuses to go to San Antonio, and though no word of love had ever passed between the two young people, a very pleas- ant friendship grew out of their frequent meetings. Nearly a year elapsed after Jack Scott's arrival in San Pablo before the Independent was started, and when the 26 JUDGE LYNCH. paper did appear the young man was not its editor. He had found a far more congenial position, and one which suited him better in every way. On his arrival, having much leisure time on his hands, and feeling that he owed something to Pat Byrne, who had paid his salary from the day they left San Francisco, Jack had gone over the books and accounts of the Hon. Pat's multifarious busi- ness. He found a strange jumble. Vineyard items were mixed up with the receipts of the Spread Eagle sample room, and rents and transactions in real estate figured among the profits of the local livery stable. With the method of a trained book-keeper, Jack went to work to straighten out the tangle, and the result of a few weeks' industry was a revelation to Mr. Byrne. That gentleman, by the aid of a prodigious memory and certain simple and elementary aids thereto, had contrived to transact his many-sided business without serious loss or incon- venience. Perhaps, too, the luck that had aided him in accumulating his fortune stood to him still and enabled him to preserve and add to it; but though a man of .little or no education his native shrewdness and ability and he possessed a good deal of both showed him the value of the system Jack had introduced into his affairs. All question of the Independent was at once dropped. Jack Scott was engaged at a largely increased salary as Mr. Byrne's book-keeper and general manager, and when the paper did eventually appear, some months later, it was under the charge of Mr. Field, who had been engaged in San Francisco to edit it. Jack had brought with him one letter of introduction, not that he needed it, for Mr. Byrne, of course knew everybody, but Jimmy Ruggles had written and offered JUDGE LYNCH. 2 7 the letter, and Jack had naturally accepted it, and in due course had presented it. Colonel Morley and Jimmy Ruggles were first cousins ; the Colonel was Jimmy's senior, and the two had met but once or twice in their lives. Probably had Ruggles known his cousin a little better he would have attempted to ignore the relationship altogether. He would scarcely have emphasized it by a letter of introduction, for Richard Morley was not a rela- tive to be proud of. In the first place, his title of colonel was purely myth- ical. He served in the early part of the war, certainly, and still drew his pension for wounds received at that period, but it is doubtful if he ever attained any military rank certainly he never reached the grade of colonel. He described himself as having been mustered out, some- times as captain, sometimes as brigadier general, some- times anything intermediate. Below the former he never sank; below the latter he never rose, and the rank assumed was, to those who knew him, a fair gauge of the man's degee of intoxication at the moment. Morley was a slave to liquor, and even in a community most charitable toward that failing he had earned the name of Drunken Dick. He had sunk lower and lower in the scale each year, and was only saved from utter destitution and reprobation by his wife. Kate Morley's conduct in the exceptionally trying cir- cumstances in which she found herself excited every one's admiration. She rarely uttered a complaint ; she worked hard and endured her lot in silence. The proceeds of the little general store, which was at once her home and her livelihood, served to keep a roof over her head. Dick, who was naturally of a handy mechanical turn, 28 JUDGE LYNCH. sometimes earned a dollar or two by repairing a tool, or a machine, or a fire-arm which was out of order ; but, of course, he could only work in his sober moments, and they were infrequent. The little he received, however, as well as the amount of his pension, went for liquor. No penny ever passed from Dick Morley to his wife. People wondered sometimes how a handsome, spirited young woman like Kate Morley had ever come to marry such a man as Dick, and Pat Byrne, who was neither dirHdent nor delicate, put the question to her in so many words : "I dunno how it is, Mrs. Morley," he said, "that a fine lump of a girl like yourself no offence in life, ma'am, but sure it's the truth, an' yer glass 'ud tell ye if I didn't. I dunno at all how the devil savin' yer pres- ence ye ever come to marry an old soak like Drunken Dick." " He was not always Drunken Dick, Mr. Byrne," Kate answered with a heavy sigh. " When I met him he was a dashing young soldier. I was a nurse in the hospital, you know, and it was when he was wounded and weak that I knew him first. I nursed him back to life, and I suppose he took a fancy to me and I was interested in him, and " "An' ye married him. That's about the size of it. Well, well, well, it should be a warnin' to all of us." Byrne fixed his eyes mechanically on the form of Dick Morley, who was lying half asleep on a chair on the veranda of his house. It was early in the afternoon of Dick Morley's last day on earth, and if Mr. Byrne could have looked a few hours into the future no doubt his eyes would have had a different expression. As it was, JUDGE L YNCH. 29 however, they showed nothing but a mingling of pity and disgust the only emotion which a creature like Drunken Dick seemed capable of inspiring. " Ay, an' ye loved him once, I dare say. It's a quare world a quare world," said Byrne, meditatively. As he spoke Morley sprung to his feet, clawing at the air and lunging wildly as if at some invisible foe. " Ah, ha ! ye whelp ! Ye will, will ye ? Take that ! Ye'll carry that mark to your grave." " What's the matter wid the man ? Is it dreamin' ye are ? " cried Byrne, startled, for once, into rapid utter- ance. Dick rubbed his eyes and looked around him. " Ay, it's a dream, I suppose," he explained. " 1 thought I was down on the beach again and the fellow went for me" " Who went for you ? " interrupted Byrne. " How the blazes do ye suppose I know when it was as dark as a wolf's mouth ? " snarled the other. " What is he talking about ? " asked Byrne, appealing to Mrs. Morley. " Haven't you heard ? " answered Kate. " Richard has been telling the story to every one. It seems last night he was coming home along the beach " " Wid an iligant jag on him, I'll be bound," muttered Byrne, parenthetically. " When some one attacked him ; it was dark, and the assassin missed the first blow " " Ay, but I didn't miss mine," interjected Dick, boast- fully. " I had my knife handy and I just sliced into him." " Didn't ye dream it, Dick ? " asked Byrne, laughing. 30 JUDGE LYNCH. The other cursed volubly for a few minutes. " He'll wish I'd dreamed it," said he, "but he'll find it's no joke. I'll bet I ripped up a foot of his arm. the cowardly dago. I'll tell you how it was, Mr. Byrne " "No, don't, Dick," interrupted Byrne. "Wait till you've time to get drunk over it again, and broider up the daytails a bit. Only last night, was it ? Wait a week, and it'll be an army ye've whipped." " Yes, you may sneer," muttered Morley sullenly ; " but we'll see What the Committee of Safety has to say about it." " Is the mail distributed, Mr. Byrne ? " inquired Kate. " Yes, the carrier from San Antonio came in an hour ago," answered Byrne. " I had a letter from me agint in 'Frisco. He can get no laborers to come down into these parts by reason of the strike, an' the disturbance and bloodshed that have characterized the town." " The Committee of Safety will soon put that right," remarked Morley. " Maybe it will, Dick, and maybe it won't," said Byrne, in his usual deliberate manner. " But meanwhile me grapes is rottin' an' the rain is comin' and them dagoes are more onrayssonable than a pack o' nagers." Thus grumbling, Mr. Byrne shook up his horse and cantered off along the San Antonio road. A little fur- ther on a narrow track which tended southward among the foothills, furnished a short cut to his vineyard. At the same moment a spare, ungainly figure, clad in rusty black, appeared from the direction of San Pablo. At sight of it Kate Morley turned abruptly and entered the house. Haman Jeffries came forward and joined Dick on the veranda. CHAPTER IV. THE schoolmaster was a frequent visitor at the Mor- ley's, but as a rule by no means welcome. Dick Morley was sullen and cross-grained, and appreciated no caller who did not bring whiskey in his pocket, and Haman was the one unswerving teetotaller of whom San Pablo could boast. As for Kate, the sense of degradation with which her husband's infirmity filled her, made her shrink from society, and she avoided every one as much as possible. Jack Scott, perhaps, was an exception. He had early seen how matters stood in the Morley household, and by a chivalrous avoidance of the disagreeable topic, or by a light-hearted, off-hand way he had of finding excuses when Dick became too obvious, he had won greatly on Mrs. Morley's regard. For Jeffries, however, she had a profound dislike a dislike that bordered on disgust a disgust that had in it a tinge of horror. It would have been difficult for Kate to analyze the feelings with which she regarded him. The truth probably was that she was a warm-blooded, passionate woman full of life, while he was a gloomy mystic, eaten up with morbid self-imagin- ings and uncouth superstitions. He seemed to enjoy Kate's society, however, whenever he could surprise her into bestowing it upon him, and used to torment the poor woman by relating to her his fantastic dreams, and preach- ing his favorite doctrine of blind fatalism. 32 JUDGE LYNCH. Colonel Morley regarded Jeffries and Jack Scott with an impartial hatred. Drunken Dick had once loved his handsome wife, and in the dim recesses of his liquor- steeped brain still smouldered a spark of jealousy. He did not like any one to notice Kate. He saw that Jef- fries often sought her society ; he fancied, when she chanced to meet Jack Scott, that he could detect in her manner a trace of the liveliness and spirit he had ad- mired in her as a girl, and he hated both the men in his heart. He received the schoolmaster with some touch of civil- ity, however, as the latter crossed the open space and joined him on the veranda. Dick was a hero in his own eyes at the moment, and was glad to narrate the midnight attack which had been made upon him at the beach, and the energy and courage with which he repelled it. This he did in a loud, boastful tone, and with many oaths, while Jeffries listened politely indeed, but with the doubt- ful smile and air of mental reservation, with which most statements of Dick Morley's were apt to be received. Dick noticed his manner. " You don't believe me, I suppose," he asked. " Why should I doubt you, Colonel Morley," returned the other. " I don't know why you should, except because your liver is as white as your face, and you don't know a man when you see one. Do you know what this is ? " Dick went on, pulling a revolver from his pocket. " Of course ; that is a revolver," answered Jeffries. " If I'd had the good luck to have had this little fellow along last night, I'd have filled that so full of lead that you might have staked his carcass out for a claim." JUDGE LYNCH. 33 Jeffries shuddered a little and drew back. Then, as if overcoming a weakness he was ashamed of, he leaned forward and took the revolver. " If you're going down toward the village," added Dick, "you might take it with you. It'll save the owner a walk up here after it, and save me from the pleasure of seeing him round here which I don't hanker after." " I'll leave it with pleasure," assented Jeffries. " Whose is it?" " It's Jack Scott's, and I've made a good job of it, too. The lock was rusted clear through, but I've fixed it, I guess. Byrne was here a while ago, and I might have given it to him, but I didn't think of it." " I'll leave it with the bartender at the Spread Eagle if I don't see Mr. Scott," said Jeffries. He handled the pistol cautiously, as if the touch of such a weapon was unfamiliar to him, and Dick laughed at his terror. " You are not much used to these tools, I take it," he observed. " No," answered Jeffries. " It is loaded, is it ? " " Yes, it's loaded. It was when I got it, an' I ain't stealing any one's cartridges least of all any that belong to the ' hero of San Pablo.' " This was the title that local acclaim had fastened on Jack Scott, in consequence of his daring conduct one stormy night the preceding March. A vessel had gone ashore on the Dead Man's Reef, about a mile above San Pablo, and Jack, at the imminent risk of his life, had suc- ceeded in taking a line to the doomed ship. By this means communication had been established with the shore and all hands saved. The young man's gallant conduct had been recognized by the rescued people with 3 34 JUDGE LYNCH. a medal, and by his fellow-townsmen with three ringing cheers and the title " The Hero of San Pablo." But the schoolmaster was not a man to recognize dis- tinctions, or to defer to the " bit of purple " wherein humanity is so ready to wrap a brave deed. " Colonel Morley," he said, " every man's life is appointed for him beforehand. Death will come when it is to come, without reference to the risks we run or the care we take of ourselves. I acknowledge no heroes." " No," returned Dick; "if it's all fixed that a man's to be hanged he'll never be drowned. That'll keep your head above water." Jeffries made no reply, but sat turning the pistol in his hand. Morley watched him for a moment and then resumed. " You'll cheat the hangman if you monkey with that tool that way." Jeffries hastily thrust the revolver into his pocket. " I have had little experience with deadly weapons," he said. " Never laid out your man, I suppose ? " Dick queried. " No ! " answered the other, horrified ; " have you ? " "I have been in the war and have done my share of shooting," replied Dick. Jeffries 'was manifestly disturbed. "If I killed a man," he said, " I should expect to hear his dying moan in every breeze that whistled past me I should look for his dying face to peer out at me from the wav- ing chaparral " "Better let shooting alone if you have'n't more grit JUDGE LYNCH. 35 than that," interrupted Dick, roughly. " Why, man, do you believe in ghosts ? " " Can any of us say what we believe in and what we disbelieve ? " answered the schoolmaster. " But in any case bloodshed is terrible." " You bet it is, when there is a committee of safety in working order," retorted Morley. Jeffries was evidently nervous under the turn the con- versation had taken. He sought to change it. "How is Mrs. Morley? " he asked. "Better than she deserves to be," replied Morley, gruffly, " deserting her husband in this way." " Deserting I don't understand," said Jeffries. " Is she going away ? " " She's talking of it. She wants to go to Memphis and nurse yellow fever." Jeffries remained silent for a moment, looking toward the house. Morley watched him with an evil grin upon his face. "She used to be a hospital nurse, I believe," the schoolmaster said at last. " Yes," answered Morley ; " what then ? I can't spare her just now." "If a human being has but One chance of happiness," murmured Jeffries, with his eyes still fixed on the door, " and if there is but a single obstacle in his path upward " He stopped abruptly and clenched his hand. "What is crime ? Only an evolution of fate." "What the devil are you maundering about ? D'ye see a ghost now ? " asked Dick, impatiently. Jeffries roused himself with a start. " I beg your pardon, Colonel Morley ; I was thinking of other things. 36 JUDGE LYNCH. I must return to town ; good day, sir," and without a backward glance the schoolmaster moved off across the clearing and was presently lost in the windings of the chaparral. "Queer snoozer more'n half mad," muttered Dick, taking a bottle from his pocket and indulging himself with a long pull at its contents. " He's no good." Kate came out on the veranda. " Is he gone ? " she asked ; then, noticing the bottle in her husband's hand, she shook her head in remonstrance. " Richard ! Richard! You know it is a slow poison to you." " 'Tain't my fault that it is not quicker," he said. " I suppose you wish it was." Kate sighed and turned away. Her husband rose and came down the steps. "That's right," he grumbled, " turn your back on me. Never speak a word. Oh, a nice, dutiful, companionable wife you are. Go to Memphis and die of fever for all I care. You're doing no good here." " I begin to believe so myself," she responded w_earily. " Where are you going now ? " she added, as he moved off toward the ravine. " Up on the top of Table Rock, where I can be out of the reach of your clanging, clattering tongue," answered her husband, going toward the rock, the ascent to which was easy enough from the level on which the cottage stood, though toward the gully the face was as precipitous- as a cliff. Kate returned no answer, but seated herself in the veranda with a piece of needle-work in her hands. Dick crossed the clearing, grumbling all the way. He stepped clown into the road which he had to cross to JUDGE LYNCH. 37 reach his favorite loafing ground, and met Jack Scott, who was walking briskly home from the vineyard, whistling a quickstep, and looking like a man who finds life a pleasant pastime. " Good day, Colonel," he said cheerfully, as he encoun- tered Morley. The other looked at him sourly without replying to the salutation. " Oh, by the way," proceeded Jack, " have you got that pistol of mine done yet ? " " Yes, it's done," growled Morley. " I gave it to the schoolmaster to give to you. If he didn't find you he said he'd leave it at the Spread Eagle." "All right," said Jack. " How much to pay ? " "Call it a dollar,'' answered Morley, and the money changed hands. " Going up for your afternoon's smoke ? " asked Jack, as the other climbed the rock to stretch himself lux- uriously on the flat surface and enjoy every ray of the afternoon sun. Morley uttered a grunt, which might be taken for assent. " I think I'll say how do you do to Mrs. Morley as I pass," said Jack, springing up the roadside bank and approaching the house. Morley seemed anything but pleased at this intimation. He even half turned with the intention of following young Scott, but his laziness prevailed, and he soon dropped down on the summit with a muttered oath and lay outlined against the evening sky a seedy, dilapidated, prematurely aged man. Meanwhile Jack was leaning his arms on the railing of 38 JUDGE LYNCH. the veranda and talking to Kate, who had brightened vis- ibly at his approach. The young man, in common with half the county, knew what the poor woman had to put up with from her brutalized husband, and pitied her from the bottom of his heart. " I'm sure the place and and the surroundings aren't doing you any good," he was saying. "They tell me this end of the village isn't very healthy." " Thank you, Mr. Scott," answered Kate, smiling bitterly. " When I leave San Pablo, it will not be in search of a health resort." " I had a letter from Jimmy Ruggles yesterday," went on Jack. " He is doing the vineyards for his paper, and will probably take Mr. Byrne's as he passes. He may be here to-day or to-morrow." "Yes; he wrote to Richard and said he would look him up," answered Kate. " He will find Richard much changed." " Do you know, there is a good deal of likeness between those two ? " remarked Jack. "Yes, they were once considered very much alike, but he is so changed," answered Kate, with an unconscious glance in the direction of her husband, though he was invisible from where she sat. " I shall be downright glad to see dear old Jimmy again," said Jack heartily, " shan't you ? " " I shall scarcely see him unless he comes very soon," answered Kate quietly. " Why, do you think of going away ? " asked Jack in surprise. " I have thought of it. Do you suppose you the JUDGE LYNCH. 39 people generally, I mean, would be sorry to have me go ? " "I am sure that everybody would regret it," replied Jack, " and for myself, I can answer that I would miss you very much." "Will you let me ask your advice ?" said Kate with suppressed eagerness. " I have so few I can trust. I am offered a position as hospital nurse at Memphis " At a yellow fever hospital ? " interrupted Jack. " Impossible ! " " Wait ! Would you go if you were in my place. Reflect what that place is." Jack hesitated. " It seems to me that I am too young a man to advise you," he said. " You are the only one whose advice I would listen to," said Kate impetuously ; then, controlling herself, she went on more calmly. "I mean you are the only one I have to advise with. You forget how completely I stand alone." Jack felt painfully embarrassed. " I cannot take the responsibility of advising such a step," he said, slowly. " Perhaps something may happen to lighten your bur- den." " What can happen to me ? " asked Kate, desperately. Jack glanced half-unconsciously in Morley's direction as he answered, " Heaven has its own ways of working deliverance." "The days of miracles are past," said Kate, bitterly. " No, no, Mr. Scott ; I was wrong to ask your advice, for my mind was already made up. I shall go, and I shall say good-by now." She came down the veranda steps and offered him her hand. 4O JUDGE LYNCH. " Are you going so soon ? " asked Jack. " As soon as possible," she answered in a low voice. Jack took her hand and held it a moment. " Good-by, then," he said gently. " I have always felt so sorry for you, but I could do so little " You have given me your sympathy, and that is price- less," said Kate. They had taken a few steps outward, and were now clear of the house. The little group fell under the eyes of Dick Morley as he lay and smoked. He started to his feet with a savage oath. " Here, damn you," he shouted, addressing his wife, " are you running after that young galoot before my very eyes ? Get back there into the house where you be- long." Kate turned without a word and went toward the verandah. Morley, in a frenzy of passion, continued to hurl abuse after her as long as she remained in sight, shaking his fist and gesticulating like a madman. Jack could bear it no longer. " Colonel Morley," he said, " you have no right to insult that lady even if she is your wife." " Oh, I haven't, have I ? " shrieked Dick. " You're a nice one, you are, to teach me my rights and duties a high-stomached young whelp like you. I've flogged better men than you in my day." Boone and Field chanced to come down the vineyard path. They heard Morley's angry voice and grinned with appreciation. " Drunken Dick's on the war-path," muttered the judge. Jack kept his temper and walked down towards the vil- lage. Morley continued to hurl vile epithets after him. fUDGE LYNCH. 41 When he reached the edge of the chaparral the young m^n turned, and said : " See here, Dick Morley ! You may curse all the world at your own good pleasure, but you'll please weigh your words if you ever address me again, or I'll find a way of stopping that vile tongue of yours." "Why, it was Jack Scott he was rowing with," re- marked Field to Boone. " Come along, Judge, and let's see what the trouble is." The two men ran briskly down the road and reached the clearing. Morley was standing on the Table Rock shaking his fist in impotent rage in the direction of Jack Scott, who was just vanishing among the undergrowth that lined the lower road. " Damn him," shouted Dick, " he's run. That's a nice way to threaten an old soldier with half the settlement between us. If I'd only my gun here " He said no more, but broke off abruptly, wildly beat- ing the air on the very edge of the fearful chasm. A pis- tol shot rang out from the border of the chaparral, a faint blue smoke curled upward from the spot, and before Field or Boone could take a step forward, before Kate, startled by the report, could reach the road, Dick Morley pitched forward and went crashing down among the un- derwood a hundred feet below. CHAPTER V. - Miss CARRIE VAN ZANDT sat in her window at the San Pablo House and looked out over the plaza. Darkness had fallen, but a faint glimmer diffused from stores and saloons showed that the square was crowded with men, and every moment the broad doors of the Spread Eagle just opposite swung open, and a gush of ruddy light streamed across to the entrance of the hotel. The whole population seemed to be abroad, and the "dago" ele- ment, overawed for once, had slunk into the background. Miss Van Zandt sat in solitude and watched the shifting throng. The young lady had left New York a few months be- fore to visit relatives in San Francisco. She had keenly enjoyed her first taste of Pacific coast life, and had been tempted by the pressing invitation of her school friend", Lucy Starkweather, to extend her wanderings as far as San Antonio. The capital of San Antonio County was not an easy place to reach, and a smile flitted across Miss Van Zandt's pretty face as she recalled some of the expe- riences of her cross-country staging, and how the clever management of a certain young gentleman a San Fran- cisco acquaintance whom she had met at Orvietas had smoothed away many a difficulty of the primitive journey. This recollection seemed to lead to a pleasant train of thought, for the girl dwelt on it for some time and the smile lingered in her eyes. 42 JUDGE LYNCH. 43 She had not seen much of San Antonio. The day after her arrival Sheriff Starkweather had been summoned to San Pablo, and had brought his daughter and her guest with him. Carrie had accompanied him very will- ingly. She had heard of the wild, rough life of the Cali- fornian coast range, and was glad to have an opportunity to observe it. But her first two days at San Pablo had been rather uneventful, and the tragedy of that afternoon, though exciting enough, had only shocked her. For the first time since she had left New York she was conscious of a little homesickness. What could be detaining Lucy? Miss Starkweather had gone to her father as soon as she learned that he had reached the hotel, and had been with him ever since. Carrie glanced at her watch. Half an hour and more she had been left alone. Her first impulse was one of im- patience ; then she rippled out into a little laugh that ended in a sigh. Where the sheriff was there also would his prisoner be, and Carrie's sharp eyes had already de- tected Jack Scott's admiration for her schoolmate. But I he laugh soon merged in the sigh. The young fellow was arrested charged with this horrible murder, and if there ever had been a chance for a bit of romance in that quarter, the chance had vanished now. It was not that Miss Van Zandt believed Scott guilty of the crime im- puted to him. Her brief acquaintance with the young man had taught her that he was a gentleman, and to a girl of Carrie's antecedents this fact alone rendered the accusation absurd. But still it seemed nothing short of impossible that a young lady of her set should marry a man who had been suspected of homicide. The room had grown very dark, but Miss Van Zandt 44 JUDGE LYNCH. would not light a candle. She preferred to sit in the win- dow and watch the knots of men forming and dispersing in the plaza under her eyes. All the saloons were doing a rushing business. The swinging doors of the Spread Eagle were scarcely closed for a minute at a time. In a general way the crowd seemed to feel the effect of its potations, but none had drank to excess. It would have been difficult to single out any single man and say he was intoxicated. The door opened and Lucy entered. She paused a moment on finding the room dark. " Are you here, Carrie ? " she asked. "Yes, dear, here I am. Come to the window and watch people. San Pablo is in a ferment." Lucy came slowly forward. " Why are you all in the dark ? " she inquired. " I couldn't sit here and look out if I had a light be- hind me, could I ? " answered Carrie. " Tell me, dear," she went on, making room for her friend beside her, " where's your father and and Mr. Scott ? " "They have just started for San Antonio," answered the sheriff's daughter. "A night like this," exclaimed Carrie in surprise. "Why they can't see the road." " Papa knows the way very well," answered Lucy. " He didn't think it was safe to keep Mr. Scott here over night so he took him down to the livery stable, got his team out quietly, and started off the back way." " Didn't think it was safe ! " echoed Carrie. " Why he wasn't afraid Mr. Scott would try to escape, was he ? " "No, no. Papa doesn't think Mr. Scott guilty any more than I do. That was not the danger." JUDGE LYNCH. 45 Lticy spoke calmly but there was a suggestion of nervous tension in her voice and an uncertain tremulous motion of the hands that did not escape her companion. "What's the matter, Lucy ?" she asked. "You're all upset about something. Has anything happened ? " Then Lucy gave way altogether, and bending her head on her friend's shoulder, sobbed unrestrainedly for a few minutes. Carrie did not speak, but drew the weeping girl close to her, and stroked her hair with a soothing touch that seemed to have an effect at last. " I am so glad they have got away safely," she said presently. " I suppose that is what makes me so foolish, but I feel better now." " But what is there to be afraid of ? " persisted Carrie. " The Committee of Safety," answered Lucy. "The Committee of Safety! What's that?" inquired the bewildered stranger. "We have had so much disturbance and riot lately," explained Lucy, " that the citizens have organized a vigi- lance committee to keep order." " You Californians are a queer people," remarked the New York girl. " Do you mean to say you have to get up a mob to enforce the law ? Haven't you any policemen ? " " Police ! no," answered Lucy. " Papa is sheriff, you know, and with the assistance of the two deputies he is supposed to keep the entire county in order." " ' Supposed ' is good, so far as I can see," remarked Carrie, glancing down at the plaza where the crowd seemed to increase every moment. " There's Judge Boone," said Lucy, as the doors of the Spread Eagle swung open ; " he's sure to be a ring- leader. How glad I am that papa has got clear ofT."^ 46 JUDGE LYNCH. " But if the man is a judge," remarked Carrie, " surely he will uphold the law." "He isn't a judge really," explained Lucy. "The first day he came here he was referee at a chicken fight, and they've called him judge ever since. Titles don't mean much here." " Well, you Californians are the queerest people," said Carrie. " What's that ? what's that ? " exclaimed Lucy, leaning forward anxiously ; " what are they going to do now ? " There was a movement in the crowd, and a couple of barrels that stood outside Smith's store were rolled for- ward into the center of the plaza. Some one laid a plank across them and the extemporary platform thus furnished was at once occupied. The mob gathered round in a dense mass, and the speaker, to judge by his gestures, was treating the bystanders to a very animated address. Lucy grew almost frantic. " Who is it, Carrie oh, who is it ? " she gasped. " I can't tell, dear ; it is so dark just there," answered the other. At this moment the doors of the saloon were flung back and a man rushed out. The hoarse applause as it empha- sized the points of the orator, reached the girls where they sat. The light that poured from the Spread Eagle was cut off in a moment as the doors swung to, but Lucy had caught a glimpse of the speaker's face, and she sank back in her chair. " It is Field," she said faintly. " Mr. Field, the editor of the Independent ? " asked Carrie. "Oh, well, he'll keep them in hand. He'll certainly preach moderation." JUDGE LYNCH. 47 " You don't know him," said Lucy. " He's the most mischievous, unruly papa says he's a regular firebrand. Carrie," she added, springing impulsively to her feet, " I must hear what that man is saying." She caught up a long cloak which was lying on a chair and moved toward the door. Carrie started up aghast. " Lucy Starkweather, you don't mean to say you're going out into that crowd ! " " I must, Carrie ; I must hear what they intend to do. Do you know, if they decide to execute their bloodthirsty law on poor Mr. Scott nothing can save him and papa will lose his life trying to defend him." " But Lucy, reflect," urged Carrie, clinging to her friend's dress. " What good can you do and they have gone they're a couple of miles on the road to San Anto- nio by this time." " That is the only comfort I have," cried Lucy ; " but how do you know they will be safe in San Antonio ? These men would think nothing of following them and papa will not be prepared. I must know, Carrie ; I must know. Let me go," and tearing herself from her friend's grasp Lucy burst from the room. Carrie hesitated a moment. Her first impulse was to follow, but a wild shout from the mob outside came just in time to unnerve her. With pale cheeks and trembling limbs she turned back to the window, and dropping on her knees, rested her elbows on the sill and gazed out on the square, which sent up murmurs through the darkness as if swept by the waves of an invisible ocean. She saw a black-shrouded figure pass out from the hotel veranda, and she knew Lucy had mingled with the turbulent crowd. CHAPTER VI. WHEN Mr. Byrne returned from Morley's plateau that afternoon, leading by the ear his son and heir, and re- monstrating with the lad on the morbid taste for horrors which he displayed, the honorable gentleman had a double object in view. He wished first to remove his boy from temptation, and he was also anxious to see that the bartender who presided at the Spread Eagle was alert and ready, for Mr. Byrne expected a large trade in the evening. It was within his experience that any excite- ment or unusual occurrence had a tendency to promote thirst in San Pablo, and long as he had resided there he had never seen stronger symptoms of excitement in the village than he had seen that day. As they passed the church Mr. Byrne yielded to-young Pat's entreaties to let go his ear. " Why aren't ye at home studyin' in yer book ? " in- quired the father, with some asperity. " I tell you, pop," answered the boy, " there's no les- sons to-morrow ; it's the school picnic." " Ay, so it is," remarked Bryne ; " I might ha' known, but this thing has put everything out o' me head. Let me see ; ye go to the vineyard, don't ye ? " " Of course we do. Didn't you tell Mr. Jeffries that as long as you couldn't get your grapes picked he might as well have his picnic there, for the more we'd eat the less there'd be to rot ? " 48 JUDGE LYNCH. 49 " Don't you ate too much, Pat, my boy," said the father; " but sure ye'd have better sinse nor to do the like o' that." " Well, I should smile," answered young Byrne, with supreme contempt. " Grapes are no treat to me. I can have all I want any time. Let the other kids burst themselves with the trash if they feel like it, but not yours truly." " That's right, me boy," said his father approvingly. " It'll be a thrate to the other childer, an' may give the docthor a job, which he stands in nade of, the dacent man, but you know betther." By this time they reached the plaza, and having ordered Pat to "rim off an' play himself/' Mr. Byrne, senior, entered the Spread Eagle. As soon as the doors closed behind his father, Mr. Byrne, junior, whose appetite for horrors was as yet un- satisfied, took the back track at a speed which would make but little of the half mile or so which separated Morley's plateau from the village Plaza. The Hon. Pat found the bartender at his post, and a loafer, who answered to the name of Corvey, when not too drunk to answer to anything, was endeavoring to negotiate a glass of liquor with the official in charge. As Corvey had neither cash nor credit the transaction was not very hopeful, and Byrne cut it short. " G'long out o' this, Corvey. Haven't ye nothing betther to do nor try an' bum whiskey ? " Corvey explained that he would be incapable of such conduct, and that he had only dropped in to report to Mr. Whitehead the news of Dick Morley's murder. " Ay, it's a fine reporter ye'd make. I must ax Mr. 4 50 JUDGE LYNCH. Field to put ye on the staff of the Indtpindint" said Mr. Byrne, with fine irony. Then, as Corvey slunk out, he turned to Whitehead. " YeVe plinty of stock in, Charley ? " {l Plinty," answered the bartender. " There'll be a power dhrunk here the night. This business o' poor Dick Morley's has raised the divil in the boys." " Well, we'll try and lay him if drink'll do it," re- sponded Whitehead cheerfully, tucking up his sleeves and preparing for the rush that seemed imminent. Mr. Byrne stepped "behind the bar and assisted him in arranging the glasses and bottles conveniently at hand. As a general thing the Hon. Pat, though sole proprietor of the Spread Eagle, would have scorned to interfere ; but this was a special occasion. Besides the saloon was empty. All the available population of San Pablo was grouped around Colonel Morley's house, or straggling homeward along the ravine road. " Field's up there yet," muttered Pat. " It seems to me that for a gintleman and a scholar he takes a power o' interest in a matter o' this kind." " He's a newspaper man," remarked Whitehead, " so it's his business in a way." " That's thrue," assented Byrne ; "but it's inconvanient I can't see him just now. There's a special correspondent from the San Francisco Morning Summons doin' the vine- yards down this way, and whin he comes I want him looked afther." " Oh, Field '11 attend to that right enough," said White- head. " When do you expect the chap from the bay ? " " I expect him whin I see him, the same as any other JUDGE L YNCH. 5 I newspaper man," answered Byrne. " You make the world o' him av ye see him, Charley, for by reason o' this sthrike I can't show him any great shakes in the vineyard line, an' there's the more cause for bein' tindher o' the young man." Presently the saloon began to fill up as various groups dropped in, fresh from the scene of the murder. The Hon. Pat was affable and talkative, and extended numer- ous invitations to partake of the hospitalities of the place, and accepted or excused himself from ten times as many. Presently Field entered, and Byrne drew him aside and explained that he desired him to be on the watch for the San Francisco correspondent. " What's his name ? " inquired Field. " I have it here," answered Byrne, producing a large bundle of letters from his breast pocket, and sorting one out of the mass ; "here's the letter of introduction he sint me. His name's Mr. James Ruggles, an' he's comin' to write up our grapes if he was come to help gather them I won't say but what he'd be more welcome but sure, God's will be done. I want ye to take him under yer censorship, Mr. Field, an' show him around. Any expinse ye can charge to the office, an' av coorse I needn't tell ye that everything here from champagne down is free, an' av ye don't see what ye want ax fer it. D'ye mind, now?" "What time does the gentleman arrive?" inquired Field, who had taken rapid notes of the instructions given him. " He's comin' over from San Miguel, on horseback, likely. He'll be here some time to-night, so be on the lookout for him." 52 JUDGE LYNCH. By this time the saloon was crowded. It was growing dark, and lamps were lighted and hung in front of broad reflectors. The room looked cheerful and animated, and contrasted pleasantly with the gathering darkness outside. Mr. Byrne had not been deceived in his forecast. San Pablo was all astir ; the Plaza was growing more crowded every moment, and the people passed through the doors of the Spread Eagle in an almost continuous stream. Every one seemed to be speaking at once, and the talk grew louder and wilder as bottles were opened and glasses drained. The death of Dick Morley and the fate of his murderer were the sole topic of conversation. " It's come to this, boys," said Boone, dogmatically, addressing the little group of which he was the center, " either this ere town has got to be run to suit murderers, and loafers, and bummers, or it's got to be run so as decent people can live in it. There's no two ways about it." " Jack Scott ain't no loafer nor bummer," remarked Hank Dollett. " Who said he was ? " retorted Boone. " I said loafers, and bummers, and murderers includin' all the criminal classes. Now, he's a murderer, I s'pose. There ain't no gettin' round that." " No ; it looks pretty much as if the judge had got it right," admitted Smith, and other voices murmured assent. Field, having escaped from Byrne, joined the group. " It's just as Judge Boone says, boys," he remarked. " What's the good of having a vigilance committee if it don't work ? We were doin' first rate ; we ran Juan Estudillo out of town, we made the dagoes sing mighty JUDGE LYNCH. 53 small, and now, when the worst crime of all is committed, are we going to weaken just because the man who shot Dick Morley was one of ourselves and a man who ought to have known better ? No, I say." Mr. Field's words were cheered to the echo, and Hank, reaching over to the bar, grasped a bottle of whiskey from which he filled the empty glasses. Meanwhile another group, collected around Pat Byrne, was discussing the same question. " It's printed in your own paper, Mr. Byrne," said a tall, dark-browed fellow a dealer in fish, known all over San Antonio County as Every Day Pete. " Here it is," and the speaker struck a copy of the Independent so vio- lently as to tear it before he read : " It is with great pleasure that we announce to our readers the foundation of a committee of safety, which has undertaken to rid the town of the ruffians who have been holding a carnival of crime in our midst. The majesty of the law will hereafter be maintained in full force. The penalty of the next infraction of the peace is death. The robber or the murderer who falls into the hands of the committee of safety will be hanged without benefit of clergy. Let the evil doers beware. " Every Day Pete had a harsh, high-pitched voice, and before he had finished he had an audience far more con- siderable than his own immediate group. As he con- cluded a ringing cheer broke from all parts of the crowded room, interspersed with such words of indorse- ment as " Bully for you ! " " That's the peach ! " " Sock it to 'em ! " and the like. Mr. Field, the author of the paragraph, bowed his head and stood modestly con- scious of his merit. 54 JUDGE LYNCH. Every Day Pete turned on Mr. Byrne. " There it is in your own paper. Are you going back on it after printing the committee's proclamation your- self ? " The Hon. Pat's position was not easy. An habitual trimmer, he now found himself confronted by a force whose theory he had approved, but whose practice all his instincts condemned. In this position he could be con- sistent in only one direction. He could continue to trim, and he did so. " Me frinds," he said, throwing himself into an oratorical pose, " a committee of safety or a vigilance committee may be a very good thing, an' I don't say, havin' regard to the sarcumstances o' the case, that we could ha' done any better. Them's my sinti- mints that ye read in the Indipindent, and it's to vice my sintiments to this community that I pay Foxy I beg his pardon Mr. Chamberlain Field, a gentleman and a scholar, twin ty- five dollars a week. But ye'll folly me in this, fellow-citizens, a vigilance committee, the best o' them, aint the law, and anything outside the law or along- side the law is a poor lookout for a man in my position, that owns the vineyard, and the newspaper, and the best sample room in San Pablo, wid over wan fifth o' the tax- able property o' the township to boot." Byrne's speech was received with mingled cheers and laughter. Corvey, who had come back with the crowd, and had contrived to pick up his share where liquor was so plenty, felt emboldened to remark : " You own too much, Mr. Byrne ; that's the trouble." "Maybe I'd betther make over the sample room to you. There'd be no fear o' the stock spoilin' on your hands anyway," retorted the proprietor. fUDGE LYNCH. 55 This raised another laugh at the expense of Corvey, but the temper of the crowd did not improve. " I say lynch law, rather than no law," shouted Every Day Pete, "and if the sheriff can't keep peace in this part of the county " " Go aisy there, Pete," interrupted Byrne. " It was me nominated Sam Starkweather for sheriff, and a betther, a dacenter, and honester man niver walked the sile o' the free and glorious State o' California." There was a general movement of the crowd toward the door. Some new impulse had seized on the men, and they were trooping out of the saloon with Field, Boone, and the leading spirits at their head. Pat exchanged glances with his bartender. "Sam's beyant at the hotel," he said. "I think he'd betther know what kind o' temper the boys are in," and Mr. Byrne passed out with the last of the throng. The saloon remained nearly empty. A rude platform had been improvised outside, and Foxy Field was haranguing the mob. Byrne did not stop to listen but forced his way on toward the hotel. "Gentlemen," shouted Field, as a dead silence fell on the pushing, struggling crowd, " the majesty of the law has been outraged. Our distinguished fellow-citizen, Colonel Richard Morley, has been assassinated. With the enterprise characteristic of a true newspaper man I was at the scene of carnage before the shooting took place. Citizens of San Pablo, the red hand of murder has been unsheathed in our midst. Murder has been done, and the murderer has got to swing for it. There's no appeal from Judge Lynch except to the Supreme Judge of all mankind." 56 JUDGE L YNCH. A hoarse cheer from the crowd emphasized the speaker's words. Young Pat Byrne, returning from Morley's plateau, stopped in wonderment at the scene i'n the Plaza. Field continued to speak with a ready flow of words that were not without a kind of rude eloquence. Mr. Byrne entered the hotel, stumbling in his haste against Hainan Jeffries, who stood in the doorway. "This is bad business, Mr. Jeffries," said Byrne. "They will talk and drink all night and do nothing," said the schoolmaster, and there was a touch of im- patience in his voice. "They'll get through talkin' an' get to doin' presently, and then they'll do more in a minute than they can undo in their lives," answered Byrne, passing on into the hotel. Jeffries shivered, and then, coming down the steps, drew nearer to the speaker. Young Pat started violently as a light hand was laid on his shoulder and a soft voice whispere^ in his ear. " Do you know what they're going to do, Pat ? " " How you scared me, Miss Lucy," said the boy. " No, I don't know what they're up to and I can't wait. The sheriff sent me to " " Hasn't he gone to San Antonio ? " asked Lucy breathlessly. " He started, he and Mr. Scott, but it was so dark that he drove into the gully near the church and smashed the wagon. The horses bolted on for their own stable and are half way to San Antonio by this time most likely. He sent me back to ask my pop for the loan of a wagon to go on with." JUDGE LYNCH 57 " Oh, God ! they have not got away, then," said Lucy in an agonized whisper. " No ; they're waiting in the church till they can get a team. I must go and find pop," replied the boy. " Pat, will you do me a favor ? " asked Lucy. " Anything in life, Miss Lucy," replied the youngster, with the ready chivalry of boyhood. " What do you want me to do ? " "Run back and no, no " Lucy interrupted herself, and thought a moment. " Go and find your father and tell him what has happened, but do not tell any one else don't breathe it to a soul that any accident has hap- pened." " Why not ? " asked Pat. " Because I beg it of you. Promise ! You won't say a word." " Not a word then, since you don't want me to but, Miss Lucy where are you going ? " " I'm going up to the church to see my father." " But aren't you scared ? It's dreadful dark and " " Please do as I ask you. Won't you, Pat ? " " All right, Miss Lucy. You can count on me every time," answered the boy, starting toward the hotel. A wild cheer from the crowd hailed the fiery perora- tion which concluded Field's speech. " Bring out the bloody murderer ! " " I'll talk to the sheriff." " Law and order forever." Thus the crowd surged with wild yells toward the hotel. Haman Jeffries stepped out of the throng and pressed his black sombrero down over his brows. "Now they will act," he muttered with a strange smile. 58 JUDGE LYNCH. Lucy drew back as the advance guard of the mob approached her. For one breathless moment she listened to the shouts and curses with which the avengers of blood heralded their advance. Then she drew her cloak closely around her, and, light as a bird, fled up the sandy road that led to the church. CHAPTER VII. IT took some time to convince the mob that the sheriff had really carried his prisoner out of San Pablo. The hotel was thoroughly searched, and it was not until Boone thought of examining the livery stable, and discov- ered that Mr. Starkweather's wagon was gone, that he would be persuaded that his prey had actually escaped him. Then the active members of the committee returned to the Spread Eagle to drink more whiskey and to deliber- ate on the next step. The Hon. Pat Byrne had heard his son's report of the accident and was sorely disquieted thereat. He had been relieved to learn of the sheriff's timely retreat, but this unfortunate breakdown renewed the peril. Byrne, though he was slow of speech, was accustomed to think quickly and to the purpose in cases of emer- gency, and he at once pronounced impracticable the scheme of sending a carriage to the sheriff's rescue. Any action of that kind would be apt to awaken suspicion, and the best plan seemed to be to wait until the town grew quiet before attempting anything. So Mr. Byrne sent Pat to bed and joined the revellers in the saloon, where he took an early opportunity of putting the clock an hour ahead, in hopes of deluding the excited villagers into returning to their homes. On the whole things seemed to have quieted down a little. A few hot heads proposed to mount and pursue 59 60 JUDGE L YNCH. the prisoner along the San Antonio road, but the dark- ness of the night, and the creature comforts of the Spread Eagle furnished solid arguments against such extreme measures. Haman Jeffries, resisting all invitations to join the social groups, left San Pablo as soon as the sheriff's flight had been ascertained, and went for a solitary walk through the gloomy shades of the chapparal. He fol- lowed the road that lead to Morley's plateau. The day of excitement had left Kate Morley weak and unstrung. It would be too much to say that she had any real grief for her brutalized husband ; but sudden death is a startling thing and murder is appalling. She was keenly alive to Jack Scott's danger the more so as he had become embroiled with Dick by resenting the insults which the latter had hurled at herself, and besides she had always felt an interest in the young man. He had been accustomed to treat her with a mixture of sympathy and deference which was strange to the wife of Drunken Dick. So she sat on the veranda, with an unacknowl- %edged reluctance to keep a lonely vigil under the roof that sheltered her husband's corpse. She sat and gazed down into the darkness, thinking her own sad thoughts, and so Haman Jeffries found her. The widow was startled by the approaching footsteps, and still more discomposed when the schoolmaster's voice betrayed his identity, but he would accept no repulse from her manner, and came up and joined her on the veranda. "Mrs. Morley," he began, "I've long wanted a chance to have a few words with you. It's well I waited, per- haps ; they'll come easier now." JUDGE LYNCH. 6 1 Kate made no reply and he went on " You are well rid of that fellow he was a mill- stone round your neck. You are better without him." "That is not a respectful way to speak of the dead," she remonstrated. "The dead! What matter the dead ? How are they better than we are ? Why should they be treated with more consideration than the living ? They all breathed once till Fate struck them, and they left the world to those for whom Fate has something still in store." Kate was not so bewildered by this odd address as many women would have been. The schoolmaster had often spoken to her in this strain, and therein lay the secret of at least a portion of the dislike and dread with which she rega'rded him. Her voice was calm as she answered : " We will not discuss my late husband, if you please, Mr. Jeffries." "As you wish," he replied. " I had a strange dream a night or two since, Kate." She drew a little further away from him with a move- ment full of repulsion. It might have been her unspoken protest against his unwarranted familiarity. Jeffries went on without noticing it. " I thought I saw you at the top of one of those great redwoods. I called to you, but you were looking far off to sea. I climbed ; I wished to reach you ; I passed branch after branch, and each had the likeness of some one I knew. I spurned them all under my feet. At last I reached one branch it was the likeness of your hus- band and as I stood upon that and stretched out my hands I thought I could touch you." 62 JUDGE LYNCH. "Mr. Jeffries," began Kate, indignantly; but he went on in the same even tone and the woman resigned herself to listen. " But there was still another bough intervening, and I grasped it and sought to swing myself above it. It with- ered, it bent, it twisted itself beneath my efforts. I had almost succeeded when you stepped down and joined me. We stood there together ; we met on that branch and it seemed strangely like " Kate was interested in spite of herself. "Well," she said as he paused. " It was like Jack Scott." Kate started and would have risen but he laid a detain- ing hand on her arm. " Do not go, Kate," he whispered. " Dreams have a meaning to those who know how to read them right. Dreams are sent from heaven. They are feeble sparkles of light by which the clear-eyed soul can guide itself through the dusk of the future." " How did your dream end ? " asked Kate. "In darkness," answered Jeffries. "I fell and knew no more. That puzzles me, but the first part of the dream is as clear a message as ever spirit gave to the most gifted intelligence. See how it has already fulfilled itself. Your husband is nothing. He is swept aside. We are made for each other my soul claims kindred with yours " " Leave me at once ! " cried Kate, rising indignantly. " How dare you address such words to me ? " " I must speak," answered Jeffries, calmly. " Our future is fixed ; there is no escaping it. We are advanc- ing toward each other by the same road. Nothing can keep us asunder." JUDGE LYNCH. 63 " Mr. Jeffries," said Kate, controlling her voice with an effort, "I think you must be mad, and I am little better to have listened to you so long." Jeffries laughed bitterly. " How lightly the world uses that solemn word, mad- ness. People apply it to all that they cannot understand. The gifted intelligence that can peer through the thin veil that sunders us from our destiny is in the eyes of common mortals only mad. Do you love me, Kate ? " he asked suddenly. " No, a thousand times no," cried Kate, breaking from the hand that he laid on her arm, and going toward the house. The schoolmaster intercepted her before she could reach the door. " A word, only a word, Mrs. Morley," he pleaded. " I have been too abrupt ; I have not considered your feel- ings. Of course you do not expect me to condole with you, as with one who has suffered any loss, but you have passed through a terrible experience, and on that I offer you my sympathy. For what remains for you to bear you can count on my support." " Thank you, Mr. Jeffries," answered Kate coldly, " but in the future as in the past I can bear my burden alone." " Not alone when you know I seek no greater privilege than to protect and comfort you," urged Jeffries. " The only obstacle that separated us has vanished " " Not the only one," interrupted Kate. "Jack Scott will perish by the law, even if he escapes the hands of the mob." "I did not refer to Mr. Scott," said Kate hastily. "His name has no place in this conversation. The 64 JUDGE LYNCH. obstacle is one which neither time nor murder aye, neither time nor murder can do away," she went on, repeating the words as she noticed that the schoolmaster shrank as she uttered them " neither time nor murder can ever remove my invincible repugnance to you." " Peace, girl," uttered Jeffries savagely, gripping her arm as he spoke. " Do you think your feeble words or feebler acts can alter the course of your destiny, irrevo- cably fixed for you, as it was fixed for me, millions of years before either of us saw the light of this world ? " " Let me go, Mr. Jeffries," interrupted Kate. " You hurt my arm." He went on without heeding her. " If not to-day, to-morrow. I have waited so long I can afford to wait longer, and the fate that has marked us for each other will not swerve aside for your puny resistance." " Fate or no fate," answered she, speaking bravely and steadily, " my life is in my own hands. I would take it without a second's hesitation sooner than yield to you." " Brave words, my lady," sneered Jeffries ; " brave words ! But when the pistol is at your head or the knife at your throat, death has strange terrors. I speak who know," he went on with a shudder ; " but that nerve fails us few men would live so long." " Will you release my arm, Mr. Jeffries ? You hurt me." " Begone, then," he said, pushing her from him. " I know the secret of your stubbornness. You love Jack Scott" " You paltry coward ! " cried Kate. " Do you think you can blind me," pursued Jeffries, JUDGE LYNCH. 65 " when yonder dead, drunken fool had penetrated your secret ? You love Jack Scott, and he is a murderer, whose life is forfeit to the law." "You lie," cried Kate, indignantly. " He is innocent, and no jury would convict him on such evidence." "No jury will be asked to convict him," retorted Jeffries. " He will be sentenced by a judge who does not stand on technicalities and quibbles Judge Lynch." Kate gasped with horror. " You do not mean " she faltered, but the schoolmaster went pitilessly on. " It would look like murder to you, Kate ; naturally, natur- ally. But our law-abiding citizens think differently When I see you next Jack Scott will be out of the way, and I will renew my suit and hope for a more favorable answer." He paused for a reply, but none came. Kate sank on her knees and was holding up her hands in voiceless prayer toward the darkened heavens. Jeffries descended the steps, and gaining the road took his way toward the village, muttering to himself as he went. Just before he reached the church he stumbled over an object which lay at the roadside. The place was very dark, but the evidence of his touch convinced him that it was a broken-down wagon. He passed his hand over it again. There was no mistake. It was a large but light two-horse vehicle of a sort that was not very common in the county. Breathlessly he felt in his pocket for a match, and struck it. His hand trembled so that it was with difficulty he shielded the feeble flame from the faint breeze, but he succeeded, and the flicker of light told him all he wished to know. Sheriff Stark- 5 66 JUDGE LYNCH. weather's wagon lay overturned on the roadside at the very edge of the gully. The match burned down to Jeffries' fingers and died out. He sprang to his feet and hurried forward down the road. His mind grasped in a moment all the con- sequences that might be entailed by the accident. A turn in the path brought into view the lights of San Pablo shining in the plain below. And now that he was clear of the chaparral he noticed that the moon had risen. He dashed on, crossed the plaza, and burst breathless into the crowded bar-room of the Spread Eagle. CHAPTER VIII. As Lucy ran up the steep, sandy track toward the church she felt as if Jack Scott's life hung upon her speed. If the angry gang below should guess that her father's journey had been interrupted she knew that noth- ing could save him. Ruder than the lawless hordes of the dark ages, the vigilance committee would respect no sanctuary, but would drag the victim from the altar it- self. She had done what she could to prevent the news of the accident spreading abroad, but chance might reveal it at any moment. Even at night the road was frequented, and any passer-by might see the wagon and bring word to the village, and the merest hint meant destruction to her friend. On she sped, trembling as she ran, and fearing each moment to meet some messenger returning with the death sentence. Meanwhile her father and Jack, having escaped with- out injury from the wreck of the wagon, sat and smoked in the church porch. "They were in a very ugly temper," remarked the sheriff, " and they were getting uglier. There was noth- ing for it but to get you out of town. The breakdown was unlucky, but I don't suppose it'll matter much. The boys'll think you are in the hotel still, and will amuse themselves watching there. By and by I'll get hold of Pat Byrne's team and snake you over to San Antonio so quick we'll make lightning loll." 67 68 JUDGE LYNCH. Jack stepped out of the porch and looked down the road. " It seems quiet enough down there," he said. " Come back, come back," exclaimed the sheriff, pull- ing him under cover, " your life wouldn't be worth ten minutes' purchase if any one saw you. It's dark now, but the moon' 11 rise in half an hour or so, and then we'll have to lay low and sing small till it's late enough to make a start for it." " It's hard that I should have to be in hiding for such a reason," said Scott bitterly. " Don't take that to heart, my boy," said the sheriff kindly. "I don't believe that you murdered any one, and if you have time and a fair trial you'll clear yourself all right. But circumstances are against you, and I could do nothing less than arrest you and a mighty good thing for you, too. San Antonio's a pleasanter neighborhood for you than San Pablo, with the committee of safety, and though I can't say much for our jail accom- modations, they're a sight healthier than the limb of one of those trees, even if they're not quite so airy. It's that and nothing else that the boys are saving up for you." The two men sat silent for a space, and the silence grew so profound that Scott fancied he could hear the beating of his own heart. A faint sound became audible from the road below the tread of a light, quick foot ; the hurried breathing of some one running at speed. Jack sprang to his feet. The sheriff, alert in a moment, pressed him down. " 'S-sh, some one's coming," he said, and sheltering himself behind the door he peered out into the darkness JUDGE LYNCH. 69 The steps came on through the little gate in the picket fence which surrounded the church-yard. Mr. Stark- weather could trace the outlines of a figure on the sanded path, and a low voice which he knew well, though now altered and sharpened by anxiety, called to him by name. " Is the sheriff there ? Are you there, papa ? " " Why, it's Lucy," said Starkweather, stepping out to meet her. " What brings you here, my girl ? " "Oh, papa, I have run every step of the way from the village. It is terrible down there. All the men are out and many of them are masked and armed. They have been hunting for you and Mr. Scott they have searched the hotel." " So soon," said the sheriff, setting his teeth hard. " Do they know we are here ? " " I think not, but any one may pass and see the wagon and then they will suspect." " How did you learn it, Lucy ? " asked her father. " Young Byrne told me," she answered. " Ay ! I sent him down to see his father about a fresh team," said Mr. Starkweather. " Has he told any one else, do you suppose ? " " I think I was the first he spoke to, and he promised he'd tell no one but his father," replied the girl. " That was well thought of." He spoke slowly, like a man in deep thought. " You must escape at once, papa," said Lucy, impul- sively ; "there's not a moment to lose." " Ay, is that so, my girl ? " he answered deliberately. "That'll bear thinking about." " Why, papa, what else can you do ? " 70 JUDGE LYNCH. " Fair and easy goes far in a day," said the sheriff, calmly. " If we make a bolt for it, they've got horses, and can catch us up in no time, and they know the only road we can take is the road to San Antonio. Whereas, if we stay here, the church is strong and will stand a bit of a siege. They won't get in without trouble, and if I have time to talk to them, it'll go hard, but I'll persuade some of them out of their mad scheme." " You know best, papa," said Lucy, " but I had to warn you." " And it was bravely done, my girl. Run home now and stay there till the business is finished one way or the other." Lucy came closer and kissed her father. He returned the embrace and rested his hand lightly on her head for a moment. " Run along now, dear," he repeated ; but Lucy still lingered. " How is Mr. Scott ? " she asked after a moment's hes- itation. " Brave and hearty," answered Mr. Starkweather. " He's a good lad, Lucy, and I don't believe it was he who plugged Dick Morley." " Oh, papa ! as if there was any need to tell me that. May I see him for a minute ? " " Certainly not," answered the father decidedly. " Please let me see him only for a moment," urged Lucy. " What for ? " inquired the sheriff. "To tell him that I that we believe in him. To encourage him, to to " She broke down in her entreaty and stood looking up in her father's face. JUDGE LYNCH. >]\ " Child, I can say all that to him," he replied. " Not as I can say it," persisted the girl. "This is no time to bother the poor boy," objected Starkweather. "Oh, papa, for a minute! Please, for one little min- ute," she pleaded. The moon was slowly climbing up the eastern horizon, and a little light was beginning to filter through the trees. The sheriff laid his hands on his daughter's shoulders and bending down, looked into her eyes. The girl did not flinch, but met her father's gaze bravely, and the color that mantled in her cheeks passed unnoticed in the dusk. But Mr. Starkweather's instinct penetrated the secret of his motherless girl. He threw his arm around her and drew her close to him, speaking very kindly, very tenderly. "And so, Lucy, Jack Scott has been courting you, eh?" The girl had buried her face for a moment in her father's broad breast, but she seemed to scorn that van- tage and looked fearlessly up in his eyes as she answered, " No, papa, he has never said anything to me ; but I think indeed, I know he loves me, although he has never spoken. And when I think I may never see him again I feel as though I should die." " There, there, my girl, dry your eyes," said Mr. Stark- weather. " You shall have a word with him. Step into the porch, for he mustn't show himself outside." Then he called to Scott. "Jack, here's my little girl has a word or two to say to you. I'm going to take a look down the road. Don't 72 JUDGE LYNCH. forget you're my prisoner. I'll take your word that you stay where you are." "You have it, sir," answered Jack from within. " All right," answered the sheriff. Then he walked down to the gate in the picket fence, and Lucy entered the porch. Jack grasped her hand warmly, " You have made me very happy' by coming here, Miss Starkweather," he said ; " for it shows me that you do not believe me guilty." " How could I believe such a thing of you ! " exclaimed Lucy. The shade of indignation in her tone was very pleas- ant to Jack, and his voice had an earnest ring as he answered : " I thank you for your trust in me, and I pray Heaven I may never do anything to forfeit it." " I felt that I must come to you in the hour of peril to say good-by," faltered Lucy. " I may never see you again." " Don't fear for me," answered Jack. " The evidence against me is purely circumstantial, and it will be scat- tered to the winds when we investigate." " What will that avail if they murder you to-night ? " urged Lucy. " It is not the law of the land I fear ; it is lynch law." " Nonsense," replied Jack, with affected lightness. " The boys know me. It is not as if some stranger were in the plight. They can't believe this of me ; and besides, I am popular with them." " Every popular man has enemies," objected Lucy. " He has more friends." JUDGE LYNCH. 73 " At times like these the friends hang in the back- ground. It is the enemies who press to the front." She spoke mournfully, and Jack sought to raise her spirits by his reply. " You have come to the front to-night. Must I reckon you as an enemy then ? " " Oh, what can I do," she wailed passionately. " A poor, weak girl ! What difference does it make what I do?" "All the difference in the world to me," answered Jack. " Before you came I was cast down, I confess ; but now, whatever comes, you have given me courage to meet it like a man." " Hark ! What is that ? " exclaimed Lucy, as a sound of whispered words reached her ears from outside. Holding Jack's hand and trembling from suspense and nervousness, she stepped from the shadow of the porch. " Why, it's Mrs. Morley," said Scott. "Talking to papa ? What can she want?" whispered Lucy, in an agony of apprehension. Kate Morley, on her way to the village to see for her- self if there was any truth in Jeffries' parting words, had met the sheriff and was glad of an opportunity to tell him all she had heard. She acquainted him with what the schoolmaster had said, and a good deal reassured by the cool, firm attitude of Mr. Starkweather, was about to return to her home, when Jack and Lucy stepped from the porch. She caught her breath as from a sudden pang when she saw them, and spoke with difficulty as she pointed them out to the sheriff. 74 JUDGE LYNCH. " Ah, there's your daughter, I see ; come to comfort the poor fellow, I suppose." The sheriff glanced at her sharply, but there was no shade of irony in her voice. " She came to see him and say good-by," he answered, " in case things take a bad turn." Kate turned on him with sudden fierceness. " A bad turn ? What do you mean ? He's your pris- oner, and you are responsible to God and man for his safe keeping. You don't intend to give him up ? " " Not much," answered the sheriff, with grim decision. She seemed satisfied with the reply, and turning back from the gate climbe'cl the hill toward her home without a backward glance. The sheriff looked after her. The moon was now above the trees, and he could follow her figure till it was hidden by the chaparral. "There's the widow of the murdered man," he mut- tered, " and there's the man they say killed him, and she's moving heaven and earth to save his life. Don't tell me Jack had any hand in the shooting after that." Then Mr. Starkweather turned from the gate and walked slowly up the path toward the church door. The figures of Jack and Lucy were visible in the new moon- light as they stood in the porch, and as he drew nearer he could hear their words. " If anything should happen to you," said the girl, who stood with her hand on Jack's sleeve, as if loath to leave him. Then a great wave of passion swept over the young man and forced him to speak whether he would or not. JUDGE LYNCH. 75 "Oh, Lucy, I would fear nothing, I would care for nothing, if I thought you loved me as I love you." This was his declaration and his appeal, and no further words were needed between them. Her eyes gave him all the reply he sought, and he drew her toward him and kissed her on brow, on cheek, on lips. And so the sheriff found them when he reached the door. " Hallo, how's this ? " cried Starkweather. " I thought there had been no sparking." They did not start at his voice, nor shrink apart. " It is the first word of love I ever breathed to her," said Jack, simply. " And it may be the last," murmured Lucy, " but oh, I am glad you said it." The sheriff looked perplexed, but not altogether dis- pleased. " Come, come," cried he briskly , " we've no time for nonsense of this kind. Have done both of you. Go home, Lucy, and when this has blown over and Jack's safe again, we three can talk this matter over quietly." " Good-by, my darling ; God bless and guard you," said Jack fervently, and Lucy stepped down into the path and joined her father. " Not a foot further, Jack Scott," commanded Stark- weather, as the young man sought to follow her. "Inside with you. Remember, you are my prisoner." " Mr. Starkweather," answered Jack, " I remember all the kindness you have shown me, and should be making an ill return for it if I got you into trouble. Don't have a fuss with these men on my account." " Shut up," said the sheriff brusquely , " you're my prisoner, and I'm not going to swap you off for anything these villains have to offer. Now then, in with you." 76 JUDGE LYNCH. With a long, lingering look at Lucy, Jack entered the church. " Home you go, Lucy," continued her father, " or stay. If this business has been blown upon you may meet the whole rabble coming up from the village. Better go up to Morley's house no one will be likely to go there, and I promised Kate I would ask you to sit with her." "Just as you wish, papa," replied the girl; but she paused before she had taken many steps. " And Carrie ? " she asked. " Well, what about her ? " demanded the sheriff, im- patiently. "I left her all alone at the hotel," answered Lucy; " she doesn't know I came here and she'll be worried about me." " Can't help that," said Starkweather. " She'll have sense enough to keep in doors, and there's nothing to happen to her. Run along now, my girl." " Good-by, papa," said Lucy; " now you'll be prudent, won't you ; you'll take care of yourself and and " And Jack Scott," interrupted her father. " You bet I will. Now don't fret about us. I've been in worse scrapes than this and I'm here to tell of it." He bent over and kissed his daughter's pale face. "Now do go, Lucy," he continued. "I can't have you round here." " Good-by, papa," repeated Lucy, and her light figure was presently lost to view among the chaparral. The sheriff went with her to the gate. There he paused and sent a searching look down the road toward the village. He even stooped, and bringing his ear close to the ground listened intently for a minute or more. No JUDGE LYNCH. 77 sounds save the rasping notes of the cicada and the mo- notonous croaking of the tree toads broke the stillness of the night. He rose, drew a brace of revolvers from his pocket, and tested the locks to ascertain that they worked freely. Suddenly, like a shadow out of the dark- ness, a woman came flying down from the direction of the plateau. The sheriff thought at first it was his daughter returning, and accosted her sternly. " No, no, it is I," said Kate Morley's voice. " I brought you a pistol you are armed, of course, but Mr. Scott" " I have weapons for both if it comes to a question of fighting for our lives," said Starkweather. " It was kindly thought of, Mrs. Morley, but you had better go home. I sent Lucy up to stay with you." " I met her I told her I would not be a moment ; I am going back directly. Oh, Mr. Starkweather," she went on in a voice of agony, " do you think there is any danger ? " " God knows," answered the sheriff shortly, but not unkindly. " Go home now. Lucy will be waiting for you." He entered the church, and she heard the rattle of the bar as he fastened the door behind him. Kate stood a moment where he had left her. Then she slowly sank on her knees, and her lips moved in prayer. " God help him, God pity him," she murmured ; " I cannot go home yet. If they come here I will meet them, I will plead with them. Surely it is my voice which should call loudest for vengeance, and if it speaks for mercv they cannot choose but listen." CHAPTER IX. THE fever of excitement that had worked like madness in San Pablo during the earlier evening hours had died out. The feather brains of the village, to whom every new thing was a good thing, had cheered themselves hoarse, had drunk themselves stupid, had consumed their superfluous energy in many different ways, and had finally retired to bed, prepared to take up the matter on the morrow where they had left it over night, and renew their excesses by draughts of fiery liquor and no less fiery oratory. But the sterner spirits, like Boone, and Smith, and Dollett, were still afoot. These were the men to whom San Pablo owed its vigilance committee men who believed they were acting for the best good of society, and who were resolved to stamp out lawlessness wherever they could reach it. The whirlwind of the evening had passed over their heads and left them cool and resolute. The reaction came and found them cool and resolute still. A murder had been committed ; proof, far more direct and conclusive than Judge Lynch exacts, appeared to fasten the crime on Scott. To their minds the sequel was never in doubt. Scott must yield his life a life far more useful and meritorious than the life he had taken that San Pablo's dearly bought reputation for law and order might not. perish in his person. When Haman Jeffries entered the Spread Eagle, breath- less from his run, he found the saloon crowded, but far 78 JUDGE LYNCH. 79 quieter than it had been an hour or two before. There was little drinking ; there was no dispute or discussion among the various groups ; there was no oratorical effort to inflame the passion of the mob. On all sides there was a settled resolve, grimly evident on the dark faces of those present a resolve that waited in silence and bided its time. Pat Byrne was probably the only man of the thirty or more present who was out of sympathy with the general purpose. He had felt relieved when the crowd began to scatter, and the more turbulent spirits, one by one, sought their homes ; but he soon realized that those who were left represented a far more dangerous element the element of unalterable, almost conscientious resolution. The Hon. Pat had been a politician from his boyhood, but he was not a statesman nor a leader of men. Such success as he had gained in the facile politics of his district had been achieved, not by directing minds nor instigating motives, but by careful deference to prejudices, and by steady swimming with the tide. Mr. Byrne, with a ma- jority at his back, was a potent force ; as one of a minor- ity he was a trimmer and truckler who never stayed in such unwelcome society a moment longer than he could help. On this occasion, convinced as he was of Jack's innocence, and entertaining a real affection for the young man, he ventured to oppose the crowd with a courage that in a man of his disposition was little short of heroic. But a few brief, stern words from the leaders convinced him that his efforts were useless and he drew back into a corner and watched events with a painful consciousness that for once in his life he had undertaken to champion a losing cause. SO JUDGE L YNCII. Field had just entered the room with the announcement that the moon had risen and that the light was fairly good. It had been resolved to pursue the fugitives on horseback as far as San Antonio, if necessary, but the arrival of Haman Jeffries and the news that he brought showed the way to prompter action. " My God, they are as good as dead men already," groaned Pat. He was temperate, as a rule, but the glass of whiskey he poured out for himself at that moment was worthy of Drunken Dick in his best clays. However, Byrne's hand trembled so that not more than half the contents reached his lips. " It will save us a ride," said Boone grimly, as soon as the schoolmaster had told his discovery and explained where the broken wagon was lying. " They're in one of two places ; either they're sheltered in the church or they've gone on to Morley's house." "They're not in Morley's house, I'm sure," exclaimed Jeffries quickly. " How are you sure ? " asked Boone, sharply. The schoolmaster had admitted more than he had intended. " Is it likely," he hesitated, " that the murderer would fly for sanctuary to the house of his victim ? " " Just as likely as not," retorted Boone ; " anyhow the church is nearer; we'll try the church first. Now, boys," he continued, turning to the others, " we want no hurly burly in this ; the talking's all done. This is business." " Business it is," assented Dollett ; and there was a general pressing down of hats and tightening of belts, and the butts of revolvers gleamed in the lamplight as the men assured them that their weapons lay ready for JUDGE L YNCH. 8 1 use to their hands. Several produced crape masks, which they proceeded to adjust, and the rest, following their ex- ample, extemporized shades for their faces from their handkerchiefs and neckwear. "Where are ye goin', boys ? " asked Byrne, finding his voice with an effort. No one noticed him. The men were trooping toward the door, but in an orderly, deliberate manner, in strong contrast to the tumultuous confusion that had swayed the mob earlier in the evening. Evidently the thirty-three men who had lingered till now were the pick of the vigi- lantes. " Straight to the church, I suppose," suggested Field, when all were assembled outside. " Straight to the church," commanded Boone, who had assumed a leadership which none dared to question, " Fall in, boys ; orderly now ; two and two." He set the example by ranging himself beside Smith. Field came next, with Dollett, and the others dropped behind in pairs, with a silence and readiness that spoke well for the discipline of the avengers. " March ! " cried Boone, and the sinister procession moved across the Plaza. Not a word was spoken. If any misgiving, if any hesitation at the enterprise on which he had embarked, was present in the breast of a man there he did not show it. Silent, grim, implacable as fate, they set out on their mission of vengeance. Haman Jeffries brought up the rear. There were six- teen pairs of vigilantes in the ordered ranks, and he had no companion. He followed the terrible engine he had set in motion, as though he had no part in it. But his face, always pale, looked ghastly in the moonlight, and 6 82 JUDGE LYNCH. his shadow, cast on the dusty square, was strongly marked and individual, while that of the closely com- pacted band was but a dark, blurred outline. The saloon was entirely deserted. Pat Byrne stood in the door and watched the column cross the Plaza. "Ye may close up, Charley," he said. "I'm goin' to folly them and see it out. Holy St. Patrick, but this is a terrible night." Under the drooping branches of the live oaks and mimosas, up the steep,, sandy path on which their steady footsteps fell with scarce a sound, beneath the deep shadows and across the broad white patches of moonlight, the band passed as silently as spectres. The woods were astir with life ; the whirring noise of the great beetles, the strident chirp of the cicadas, the monotonous boom of the tree-toads, filled the air. And the Avengers of Blood moved on, winding like a serpent up the narrow track. The little clearing in front of the church was reached, and the rude wooden structure gleamed cold in the moon- light. Then the head of the procession halted, and the stillness was broken by a woman's voice a voice full of anguish and wild in its agony, pleading, arguing, wailing, threatening, by turns. Those who were further behind heard the words that had checked their leaders, and the ranks were broken. Men ran forward to see what had happened. The clear- ing was quickly crowded. Haman Jeffries mingled in the throng, and Pat Byrne took heart of grace and advanced with the others. Judge Boone and Smith, the two leaders, still stoo< side by side, preserving their formation, and at their fe JUDGE LYNCH. 83 with hands outstretched and dishevelled hair, knelt Kate Morley. Boone raised her from the ground. " Go home, Mrs. Morley," he said. " We are here for business, and you are in the way. Jeffries pushed to the front. It seemed as if he was content to remain in the background while everything progressed smoothly, but came forward when any obstacle threatened to obstruct the enterprise. He had slipped on a crape mask since leaving the town, and his features were hidden. " Go home, my good woman, go home," he said. " This is no place for you." " Ah, Haman Jeffries," cried Kate, " truly I find you where I would have looked for you." He turned away abruptly, disconcerted at the recog- nition, and Kate went on speaking generally but occa- sionally seeming to address one or another, as she fancied her words had produced some impression. " Gentlemen, you will hear me. I have no interest in shielding the murderer my husband's murderer ! You all know me. I am speaking to you face to face and openly, though it pleases you to go masked. But why? What black deed are you bent on that you are ashamed to show honest faces even to the darkness of the night ? " " Justice ! " answered Boone, sternly, and the word was taken up by the others and rolled through -the mob in a volume of sound, " Justice ! " " And does Justice hide its face and march by night ? " cried Kate. " Does justice" "We are not here to be questioned," interrupted Boone. " Go home, Kate Morley." 84 JUDGE LYNCH. 11 1 will not go home," responded Kate, " while I have voice left to protest against this abominable outrage. You say Mr. Scott murdered my husband. I do not believe it. Give him the right that the meanest man may claim in this free land give him a fair trial, and I will not say a word in his behalf." " He has had a fair trial," said Smith. Kate turned on the speaker. " Do you think so ? Has he been confronted with his accusers ? Has he been heard in his own defence ? Only this morning Richard Morley was alive, and to-night " " And to-night his murderer shall hang," interrupted Boone, sternly. "Out of the way, woman. This is a matter with which you have nothing to do." He thrust her aside but she continued to cling to his arm. " Oh, do not be so headstrong," she urged. " Think, reflect on what you are going to do ! A mistake to-night will make you murderers worse, a thousand times worse, than the real criminal." The avengers were puzzled. Any one else they woul< have swept aside, but not the widow of the murden man ! To their rude sense of justice it seemed as if sh< had a right to be heard in a matter in which she had vital an interest. Field came forward. " Lynch law is swift and sure," he said. " Terribly swift," answered Kate, " but why sure ? I; a vigilance committee omniscient and infallible ?" "Look a here, Mrs. Morley," broke in Pete roughly. " You're the last soul in the town I'd ha' expected t< raise your voice for the man that has made you a widow. Now, we've fooled with you long enough. Stan< back ! " JUDGE LYNCH. 85 "Ay, clear out; we can't waste the whole night in chin music," shouted a voice from the crowd. " Gentlemen, listen to me," screamed Kate ; but she was rudely thrust aside, and her appeal was lost among the hoarse voices of the vigilantes. Pat Byrne came forward and drew her away. " Go home, Mrs. Morley," he urged. " Ye're doin' no good here, an' ye'll only get hurt " he quickly saw that this argument was unavailing, so he went on without pause, "ye'll only get them angrier an' do more harm nor good." This representation appeared to have some weight. " I'll go, Mr. Byrne, I'll go but you'll wait here and save him, won't you ? " " I won't stir from this spot, an I'll do all I know for him," asseverated Byrne earnestly. He led her to the edge of the clearing. " Now ye'll be home in five minutes, like a good sowl, won't ye?" The excitement that had hitherto sustained Kate was bringing its reaction. " He is innocent, I know he is innocent," she said, faintly. " That's me own opinion," assented Pat, " but it's not by prachin' sarmons ye can turn wolves from their prey. Now go ! " " You'll do your best," persisted Kate. " I'll do all ye cud do an' more," answered Byrne. She caught his hand and kissed it. " You are a good man, Mr. Byrne, and mean well. Oh, pray be firm this time." " What did she mane by that, I dunno ? " soliloquized 86 JUDGE LYNCH. Pat, as he watched her form vanishing through the chaparral. " Wimmen is mortial quare, ennyhow." He shook his head dismally, looked with a puzzled expression at his hand where her lips had rested, and then turned back and joined the group assembled before the church. CHAPTER X. THE moment he was disembarrassed of Mrs. Morley, Boone faced round on his followers, and there was the sharpness of a military order in his tones as he shouted, " Fall in ! " The San Pablo committee of safety had been working together for some time, and the force showed the rudi- ments of drill and discipline as they formed in line, and in accordance with Boone's next order numbered from right to left. " Odd files, step forward ! " he commanded ; and thus, m a moment, without confusion and without the appear- ance of invidious selection, the band was divided into two equal portions. " Number one ! " he continued, addressing Field, who had taken ground at the extreme right of the line ; " we settled all this below. You know what you have to do!" Field did not appear to feel enthusiastic over the post assigned to him. "Yes, I know what I'm to do," he grumbled, "but it seems to me the most dangerous post." " If you're afraid, man, go home," said the judge sharply. " Afraid ! " retorted Field, " I afraid ? What an idea." Then he turned to the line. " Odd files follow me ; this way, boys." 3? 88 JUDGE LYNiCH. And half the vigilantes, with Field at their heac silently left the clearing and disappeared in the chapar ral. At this moment Byrne, having induced Kate to leave came back on the ground. " Look at here, boys," he said, advancing. " I don' know enny o' ye by rasen that ye're masked, an' I don' want to know any o' ye by rasen that trubble is sure to come out o' this night's work. Now, what I'd advise ye all to do is to go home and go to bed, stopping in at th Spread Eagle fer a snifter to keep out the night air ; my trate, boys." "Mr. Byrne," answered the judge, who had listened with some impatience to this address, "you take my advice and mind your own business. This is no child' play."_ Taking no further notice of Mr. Byrne, Boone steppe( up to the church door and knocked on it sharply. " You may as well speak, Mr. Starkweather," he said "for we know you're there." There was a moment's pause and then the light wooden door swung back and Sam Starkweather's burly form appeared in the doorway, which it nearly rilled. " Well, boys," said the sheriff, " I am here, and I'm not here to skulk like a coyote, but to do my duty. Here I am, and now what do you want? " There was a momentary shrinking back of those who had pressed nearest the door, but Boone stood his ground. " We want Jack Scott," he said. " Oh, you do ! " The sheriff drew from either pocke a revolver which he deliberately cocked. Then he wen JUDGE LYNCH. 89 on, " Now, boys, you're all friends of mine, and I'm a friend of yours. You don't want to hurt me and I'd be sorry to hurt you but as for Jack Scott, he's my prisoner, and I shall defend him with my life." Sheriff Starkweather was one of the most popular men in San Antonio County, and he had a reputation for deter- mination and entire fearlessness which every one present was familiar with, and which some had seen justified. All respected him and many dreaded him. The result was that the mass of the vigilantes hung back, and no one seemed to care to try conclusions with the man who stood single handed between them and their victim. Boone turned savagely on his followers. " Up with you, boys," he shouted. " Don't make a fool of law and order in San Pablo by this night's work." Then he faced the sheriff again. "You may as well stand aside, Sam Starkweather. We've nothing for you but good-will and respect, but you can't save that murderer. It's your duty to try and you've done your duty. Now stand back and get out of our way for we're bound to have him." Starkweather, without turning, spoke back to some one inside the church. " Scott, I have your word that you will not try to escape and that you will come forward to answer the crime you are charged with ? " " You have," answered Jack's voice out of the ob- scurity. " Then fight for your life, my boy," said Starkweather, handing him one of the revolvers. The action was noticed by the avengers and roused them to a pitch of frenzy. 90 JUDGE LYNCH. "Is that what you call law, Sam Starkweather?" shouted Smith, "giving a murderer a pistol so he may murder again ? " " All together, boys," roared the judge. " We'll soon have him out." The vigilantes, pistols in hands and with their eyes shining through their masks, made a rush forward but halted within a few steps of the porch as the flashes of two revolvers lit up the dusk of the church and gave a glimpse of the two figures standing with levelled weapons in the narrow entrance. No one was injured. The sheriff anxious to avoid bloodshed, had instructed Jack to aim high and the two bullets had passed over the heads of the avengers. But the attitude of deterfnined resistance had checked them for a moment, and of that moment Starkweather took advantage to stake his immense personal influence against the unruly mob in this desperate game for life. " Not another step, boys," he shouted, coming forward to the very edge of the porch and standing full in the moonlight. " Not another step ! You know well enough that I'm not not likely to miss you except on purpose, and the next time I touch the trigger I shoot to kill. Silence ! " he roared at the full scope of his pow- erful voice, as a threatening murmur arose from the rear of the band. " I'm talking now. If you've anything to say when I get through, I'll listen to you. Now, boys, you're decent people most of you, and this is a mad busi- ness and there'll be blood spilled before it's ended ; for I tell you, you don't touch this man except across my body, Now let's talk sense. Have reason, and don't be wild beasts. Your votes elected me sheriff. You chose me to JUDGE LYNCH. 91 enforce the laws, and now you ask me to break them. You ask me to prove false to the trust yourselves im- posed on me. You ask me, the sheriff of this county, to surrender the custody of my lawful prisoner. I can't do it ; I won't do it ; I'll see you all d d first." The sheriff's rough eloquence was not without a mo- mentary effect and cries of " Bully for you, Sam," " He talks like a book," " I tell you he's sand clar through," were heard among the men. But the next instant a shrill whistle sounded from behind the church, and the vigilantes recognized its import and recollected their purpose. " There he is, boys," shouted the judge. " Have him out." And the whole band flung itself on the entrance as one man. So sudden was the movement, so quick was the transi- tion from a reasonable degree of sympathy to ferocious action, that Starkweather was taken by surprise for a moment. Before he could recover himself and press the trigger on which his finger rested, with a crash of splin- tering woodwork the rear door was broken down, and the second detachment of the avengers swept like a whirl- wind through the little church. On they came, still carrying the posts and picket rails of the fence which they had converted into battering rams. Starkweather and Jack turned to confront the new clanger, but they were caught between two fires- Boone and his men charged from the front as Field's gang hurled itself on from the rear. There was a brief, con- fused struggle ; a few curses were heard, like catches in the laboring breath of the combatants ; a few pistol-shots 92 JUDGE LYNCH. rang out, and sometimes a groan followed. Then the refluent tide ebbed out through the doorway as Boone drew his men back, and Field's party hustled the pris- oner out into the open. It all passed more quickly than words can describe it, and there was the group, terribly suggestive in its picturesqueness. The vigilantes stood around in various attitudes, panting from their recent exertions, as wild dogs stand and pant when they have run down their prey. Jack was firmly pinioned by the grasp of a dozen rough hands, and gallant Sheriff Stark- weather lay where he had fallen, while the thirsty sand lapped, up the blood that was flowing from a wound in his temple. " Are you much hurt, Sam speak to me ! " Judge Boone took no notice of the prisoner, but knel beside the sheriff's prostrate form and strove to stand the bleeding. More than half the vigilantes were groupe< around him, shocked, horrified at what they had done like the boys who, in starting a bonfire, have burned town. Not so Jeffries. In the momentary paralysis of th< other leaders he again came to the front, and his voice sounded quicker and deeper than was its wont as h< issued his orders. " Now lively, boys, lively. Run hii up!" Mechanically one of the men uncoiled the riata whicl he carried and flung the end over the branch of a oak which projected across the path. Jack Scott saw tl dangling noose and shivered slightly but said nothing He felt as if the bitterness of death were passed. But Pat Byrne, who had been an appalled spectator the rapid scene, found his tongue at last. His time sei JUDGE L YNCH. 93 ing nature was stirred to its depths by the horrors he saw and the worse horrors he imagined. For once in his life he forgot to ask himself how many were on his side and how many ranged against him. His voice rang clear and true as he stepped forward and grasped the rope. " Are ye men ; what are ye ? Oh, stand back ; I'm afeared o' none o' ye. Look at poor Sam Starkweather there ! a man worth a whole town o' ye, and blush for this night's work." Boone looked up and there was an entire change in his tone and manner as he replied : " I didn't want to hurt him. He brought it on him- self ! " " He done his duty," cried Byrne indignantly ; " an if there's another man here can say as much I'd like to see him." " Take him down to the hotel, boys, and call the doc- tor. We've got no grudge against Sam anyway," said the judge. "No, that's true enough," muttered Pete, and the Sheriff's inanimate body was raised very tenderly and borne by four men, with elaborate precaution against jar or shake, down the road to the village. " I wonder if he's much hurt," muttered more than one voice anxiously. " Small thanks to you and your bloody murdering gang, if he's not," remarked Pat, roughly. " Well, if he hadn't pulled a pistol," grumbled Smith, with the air of a man who, knowing himself in fault, yet makes a desperate attempt to shift the blame. " Look at poor Hank's hand, will you ? " He pointed lo Dollett, who was engaged in tying up 94 JUDGE LYNCH. three of his fingers which had been shattered by a bullet. But Hank objected to sympathy, and did not show any desire to be a party to Smith's excuses. " Rot my hand," he growled ; " I'd rather have had my whole arm blown off than any harm should have hap- pened to Sam Starkweather." And the feeling expressed by Hank Dollett seemed to be prevalent among the vigilantes. They spoke in low tones and moved about with a cowed air; and though several men still kept a hold on the prisoner, the mob seemed to lack spirit and leadership. Many eyes were turned on Judge Boone, but he had seated himself in the porch and remained silent, resting his head on his hand. Evidently he had taken the acci- dent to the sheriff deeply to heart. Pat Byrne felt that he was no longer single-handed. Adroit old trimmer that he was, he sniffed the changing tendencies of men's minds as old sailors sniff the changes in the atmosphere that betoken storm or calm. " Now tell me, boys," he said ; " is this going any further ? Haven't ye done mischief enough for wan night ? " There was an evident wavering among the avengers, and Pat proceeded, hooking his arm in that of Smith, and endeavoring to drag him down to the road. " Come along wid me, Smith, an' let us see how poor Sam is, an' i they got him home safe." It looked for a moment as if Byrne would prevail. There was a shamefaced, downcast look about the men, very different from the arrogant confidence with which they had embarked on the adventure. Their leaders, too, seemed on the poiiit of deserting them, and a very JUDGE LYNCH. 95 slight impulse would at this moment have turned them from their purpose. But Pat Byrne's well-meant efforts were not destined to succeed. Once more Haman Jeffries stepped forward and stemmed the current that was slowly setting in favor of the prisoner. The schoolmaster had kept back as long as others acted, but it was plain that he would not surfer the mob, for lack of a leader, to thwart its own purpose. " And are you going to let this red-handed murderer escape after all ? " he demanded. " This Scott is the real cause of the sheriff's being shot, and because he has brought on this second crime, are you going to let him escape the consequences of the other ? We have begun the work of clearing this town of thieves and murderers. Are we to stop now for the sake of a few soft words from Pat Byrne, the softest man in it ? I don't know how the rest of you feel. I am not to be bluffed so easily." Jack had stood silent all this time, with downcast head, seemingly taking no notice of what passed around him. Since he had fallen into the hands of the mob he had felt as a man may be supposed to feel when grasped by the fangs of the tiger when crushed by the wheels of the locomotive. He was at the mercy of an irresponsible power: not personally antagonistic to himself, but resolved on his death, and by reason of its impersonality the more impossible to resist, the more hopeless to reason with. Jeffries' speech roused him. Here was individual mal- ice here was an adversary with every advantage of weapon and position indeed but still an adversary whom he might encounter in a duel to the death. g6 JUDGE LYNCH. Jack raised his head and the color flushed into his cheeks. With a violent effort he shook himself loose from the hands that held him and bounded across to Jef- fries. He was seized again on the instant and a rougher grasp on arms and collar vindicated the vigilance he had eluded. But he had been free for one second, and in that second he had torn the crape mask from the other's forehead and revealed the pale, deeply marked features of Jeffries. " I thought as much, Haman Jeffries," cried Jack Scott. The schoolmaster fell back a step, and a livid scowl passed across his face. Then he caught the swinging noose which still dangled from the limb above his head, and flung it over the neck of Jack, now pinioned and helpless. "Talk enough and too much," he yelled. "Tail on to that rope, boys." CHAPTER XI. THE motion and the fresh air partially revived Sheriff Starkweather, but he did not fully recover consciousness for more than an hour. When he came to himself he was in his own bed in the San Pablo House. Dr. Meares was in the room, and Carrie Van Zandt, very pale and frightened, but obviously relieved by his recognition of her, was seated at the bedside. With the exception of a little weakness and a violent headache, Sam felt none the worse for his adventure. The wound, so the doctor as- sured him, was in itself trifling. He had been struck on the head by a glancing ball and stunned, but twenty-four hours' rest would make him as well as ever. Upon learning this the sheriff wanted to get up at once, but Dr. Meares would not hear of it. He insisted upon absolute quiet, and remarked that, now the patient was conscious he should send Carrie away. Thereupon the sheriff, having attempted to sit up, and having found that he could scarcely raise his head from the pillow, and hav ing further ascertained that he had been unconscious for over an hour, was compelled to make a virtue of necessity and stay where he was. Indeed, there was nothing of pressing importance to call him forth. No man knew better than Sam Starkweather that there was no use in hurrying to the assistance of a man who had fallen into the hands of the vigilantes an hour ago. "Poor Jack won't miss me now," he muttered with a 7 97 98 JUDGE LYNCH. sigh. " He was a good fellow and I did what I could for him, but Lord, how my head does ache." Perhaps Starkweather would have felt more grief, though it is doubtful if he would have showed more emo- tion, had not weakness and loss of blood lulled his senses into a sort of stupor and weighed on his eyelids with irre- sistible drowsiness. Before dropping off to sleep, however, he thought of Lucy, and recollecting that he had sent her up to Mor- ley's house, he began to fear for the effects which the events of the night might have on his daughter. He confided his doubts to Carrie, and she at once volun- teered to go up to the plateau and accompany Lucy home, or, if that were impossible, at least to remain with her till morning. " Can you, Carrie, do you think ? " asked the sheriff, doubtfully. " Why not ? " asked the girl, briskly. " It's the thing I would like best to do, now that I've not got to won about you any more." " You're a good little girl," said Starkweather, smiling feebly. " It's most a pity you wasn't born in California but you'll do as you are. But aren't you scared ? " " Not a bit," answered Miss Van Zandt, resolutel] " I wouldn't have Lucy left alone to-night for more thai I can tell you." " The men will all be scattered by this time," he went on with a sigh, " and I don't think you'll meet any one." Suddenly he broke off, and resumed again with a start ling change of manner and emphasis : " No, by Cripus, you mustn't go. You mustn't stir oul of this house this night." JUDGE LYNCH. 99 He had suddenly thought of the ghastly burden which, he doubted not, was now hanging from one of the trees near the church. What a spectacle for a timid girl to encounter among the lonely woods at mid- night ! "Why mustn't I go, Mr. Starkweather?" inquired Carrie, surprised at this sudden change of purpose. " Because you mustn't ; that's enough. Now mind me, like a good girl. Lucy will do very well till morning. Mrs. Morley is with her." Before Carrie could reply, Dr. Meares interposed and ordered her out of the room. Mr. Starkweather must sleep, he said ; he was going to darken the chamber and leave the patient for the night. So Carrie was driven away and she immediately went to her own apartment to prepare for her excursion. She had no idea of abandoning her intention of visiting Lucy on account of Mr. Starkweather's unexplained prohibi- tion, which Miss Van Zandt was inclined to regard as a whim of his weakened brain. She put on a hat and veil and wrapped her trim little figure in a shawl. Carrie was a girl who would have tried to look her best even if she had been dressing for a promenade on a desert island where she could not reckon on so much as a crow for a spectator. She liked to look her best, not only in the eyes of other people, but also in her own. So she drew on her gloves and even took a parasol in her hand. This last she was conscious was wholly superfluous, but she carried it from habit. As she remarked to herself, " it's something to fiddle with and keep the starlight off." So equipped Carrie stole quietly down through the IOO JUDGE LYNCH. slumbering hotel, and opening the door stepped out on the plaza into the moonlight. At the same moment a mustang cantered round the corner, appearing with such suddenness that Carrie drew back with a little scream. The rider, a good-looking young fellow of thirty-two or thirty-three, with dark curly hair and a handsome brown beard, drew rein sharply, uttering a word of apology. Then he bent down from the saddle and looked hard at the girl, then dismounted, and pulling off the soft felt hat with one hand, advanced, extending the other, with an air of mingled delight and perplexity on his pleasant, sunburned face. " Why, Miss Van Zandt, is it possible ? " he said. "It's Mr. Ruggles," she cried, frankly grasping the outstretched hand. "I'm awfully glad to see you, but what on earth brings you to San Pablo at this time of night ? " "The public thirst for information on viticulture," an- swered Ruggles. " I'm here to write up the vineyards. But may I ask if Miss Van Zandt has contracted the habit of taking moonlight walks after midnight ? " Then Carrie told him in a few words the principal events of the day, so far as she understood them. She had no conception of the reality and extent of Jack Scott's danger, but she knew that there had been an attempt to seize him, and that Sheriff Starkweather had been hurt in the struggle. Where Jack was now she had no idea, but Ruggles' brow contracted as he listened, and he was obviously uneasy. "And you're going up to see your friend, Miss Stark- weather," he said ; " very well, I'll go with you." "Oh, will you ? " she cried eagerly. " I'm so glad." JUDGE LYNCH. IOI " I wouldn't have you go alone for the world," he an- swered. " When a place like this climbs upon its ear, it's apt to be pretty bad times all round." He roused a sleepy hostler and sent the horse to the stable. Then he offered Miss Van Zandt his arm. " It seems quiet enough now," he remarked, glancing round the plaza, which slept peacefully under the moon- light. " How far is it to this place ? " " Oh, half a mile or so, I suppose," answered Carrie ; and the two bent their steps toward the chaparral, which had been the scene of such exciting events during the past few hours. " Poor Dick Morley ! " muttered Ruggles. " He was a cousin of mine, you know, though I never saw him but once, and that was only for a few minutes." " Was he your cousin ? " inquired Carrie. " I didn't know. How terribly you must feel." "It's a very shocking thing," he answered; "but 1 confess I feel worse about Jack Scott I was very fond of that young fellow." " And you've known him, too," commented the girl, surprised at her companion's range of acquaintance. " Known isn't the word ; we were room-mates in 'Frisco two years ago," he replied. "Well, I'm real glad you've come," she said, heartily. " Certainly you are the very last person I should have expected to meet in a place like this." "Am I ? " he replied with a smile. "I certainly did not expect to meet you at this hour of the night. I knew you were in San Antonio, of course "Oh, you knew I was in San Antonio," she echoed in some surprise. 102 JUDGE LYNCH. Jimmy Ruggles seemed disconcerted for a moment He had evidently said more than he intended. " Well, of course I knew you were somewhere in this part of the world," he hesitated. " Don't you recollect that I met you on the stage at Orvietas ? " "Why, of course you did," answered Carrie. "What a ramshackle old conveyance that Orvietas stage is, isn't it? But you Californians are the most primitive- peo- ple." " We Californians are a very peculiar race in your eyes, Miss Van Zandt," remarked Ruggles, with a smile. " Now, really and truly, do you think we differ very much from you New Yorkers ? " " What a question," retorted Carrie. " Of course you do. It may be the glorious climate or it may be specie payments, but you are certainly different." " And do you regard me as a fair specimen of the average Californian ? ' he asked. " There you go again," returned Carrie. " You never can answer a question, but you can always ask one." " And you haven't answered," he persisted. "I think," said Carrie, speaking with deliberation, " that you are about as typical a specimen of the Califor- nian as I have met on my travels. The city Californian, I mean, as distinct from the rural variety. Perhaps, I should rather say the San Franciscan." Ruggles laughed. " Well, Miss Van Zandt, it's a com- pliment to be taken as a type, so I won't dispute you." So they beguiled the way and their own graver thoughts with light conversation, but it was evident that Ruggles was uneasy, and though he strove not to alarm his companion he could not forbear a question or two JUDGE LYNCH. 1 03 which showed that his thoughts were busy with the possi bilities of Jack Scott's fate, and the talk insensibly came round to him. Carrie seemed to have unaccountably missed the real peril which threatened the young man, and Ruggles was careful not to put his own misgivings into words. They had been walking thus for about an hour when Ruggles suddenly remarked : "You must have strangely underestimated the distance to my cousin's house, Miss Van Zandt. We have travelled at least three miles since we left the village." " Oh, dear," cried Carrie, halting and gazing round her in perplexity. " I must have missed the way. I never was there but once, and everything looks so different at night. How stupid of me/' " Look around and see if you can get your bearings," said Ruggles. "There's an odd-looking hill in front of us. Do you know that ? " " No," answered Carrie helplessly. " I don't know anything ; oh, what are we to do ? " " It's nothing to fret about," remarked Ruggles, reassur- ingly. "We've taken the wrong turning, that's all. I noticed the place where we branched off, about two miles, below. We've nothing to do but go back on our tracks." "It's very provoking, certainly," said Carrie, "and I don't feel sure now if I've taken the first step right." "That's serious, if you like," answered Ruggles lightly; "let us take a look." They were on a narrow road winding along the edge of a succession of foot hills, which bounded it to the north and east. These hills were terraced on their lower slopes and laid out in parallel lines of cultivation. The 104 JUDGE LYNCH. chaparral was behind and the night breeze rustled through the long lines of carefully staked vines. "That's a vineyard, anyhow," remarked Ruggles ; "and a big one. Now some one must live in or near that, and we'll rout them up and find out just where we are." A boy, or a man of small stature, peeped round a bush that grew on the roadside. He saw the figures of the two wanderers at the same moment that Ruggles detected him and he drew back and seemed about to take to his heels. " Here, hold on ! no one's going to hurt you," shouted Jimmy. " Come here a minute." The figure hesitated, and Ruggles called again in reassuring tones. " We've lost our way. Come and put us in the road that leads to Morley's house and I'll give you a quarter." The stranger advanced toward them, though still hesi- tating. " What's the man afraid of ? " muttered Ruggles. " He's a greaser or a dago, and a little one at that. S'accom- modi, amigo," he shouted. " Can't you show us the way to Morley's?" " Si, Signor," answered the Mexican, coming forward more alertly. He was a man of about thirty, with rest- less black eyes, and a complexion of the color of a new saddle. He was dressed in full native costume, with gayly decorated calzonero, and a brightly-colored magna disposed not unpicturesquely round his shoulders. His boots were adorned with long brass spurs, and he pulled off his flapping sombrero with a chivalrous air when he saw the lady. JUDGE LYNCH. 1 05 Ruggles realized that his offer of a quarter had been no inducement. "You wish to go to Morley's caballero," said the stranger, speaking in very intelligible English. " Bueno ; we go," and he waved his hand with a gesture of invita- tion toward the road along which they had come. " So you see, Miss Van Zanclt," said Ruggles cheer- fully, " we have only overshot our mark." " Senor," asked the Mexican, after they had pro- ceeded a few spaces in silence, " Ees it you have read any novedades of Senor Yacscott ? " " Jack Scott, do you mean ? " inquired Ruggles. " No, we have heard nothing, but we hope to learn something at Morley's/' " I would like to go," said the Mexican, " but it ees not moocha safe. Eef they catch me, they swear they skin me but, Carrambo, I will go. Senor Yacscott saved me from the feathers and the tar ; Senor Yacscott ees my friend ; Senor Yacscott ees in trouble ; I will go." And boldly stepping in advance of the party the little Mexican led Miss Van Zanclt and Mr. Ruggles at a round pace down the narrow vineyard path to the chap- arral. CHAPTER XII. THE judge came listlessly forward as half a dozen men, in obedience to the order of the schoolmaster, grasped the rope. The noose was around Jack Scott's neck ; a movement, a sign was all that was needed to gibbet him to the branch overhead ; but the spirit of resistance which Haman Jeffries' direct attack had infused into the young man had not died out. " Are you the leader of this gang ? " he asked, fixing Jeffries with his flaming eyes as the latter nervously endeavored to readjust his mask. " No," said Boone, " I'm the leader." He spoke in an indifferent, perfunctory way, as if he had lost all interest in the proceedings ; but added with a little more animation, "There's no use your righting over if, Jack Scott. Your time has come." "And it's all too long coming," muttered Smith. Since Sheriff Starkweather had fallen, the business had become distasteful to almost every one on the ground. They persisted in it from a blind, dogged idea of duty. The men who held the rope braced their muscles and looked toward their leader for the signal. He raised his hand to give it. " Stop," shouted Jack. " Won't you grant me a moment ? " "Not a second," cried Jeffries savagely. 1 06 fUDGE L YNCH. 1 o/ " Ah, thin, black burnin' shame on ye ; whoever said thim words," exclaimed Pat Byrne. Judge Boone did not give the signal. " Ay, for shame ! " he echoed with a glance in the direction of Jeffries. " If the lad has a mind to con- fess" " Ay, ay," interrupted Field in a tone of banter. " Let him make his last dying speech and confession." Pat Byrne shot a wrathful glance at the speaker; and anyone who could have looked into the worthy Irish- man's mind at that moment might have informed Foxy Field that his incumbency of the editorial chair of the Independent would not be of long duration. " I have nothing to confess," said Jack boldly, and turning to one of the men who was about to pinion his arms with a piece of rope, he added : " You needn't tie me, I have no thought of resistance." "There, he won't confess," exclaimed the school- master, " make an end of him." This time Pat Byrne detected the quarter whence the malevolent interruption came. " Ham Jeffries," he cried, " you're a blood-thirsty sav- age." Judge Boone still hesitated to give the fatal order. " You can have a moment for prayer, if you can think of one," he said. Scott had by this time recovered from the first numb- ing effects of the shock that had stricken him speechless and well-nigh willess when he had first fallen into the hands of the mob. He was a brave young fellow, and his courage rose with the extremity of the danger. The unaccountable animosity of Jeffries acted as a stimulus, IOS JUDGE LYNCH. and though he realized that his case was desperate, he resolved to make a final appeal and not yield life till every means had been tried. He braced himself firmly on his feet and, as his arms were still at liberty, he grasped the noose around his neck with one hand, as a precaution against any sudden impulse that might seize the men who held the rope. " I don't think the time has come for me to say my last prayer," he began, " and I'll tell you why. I know most of you and you all know me. Yesterday I think any of you would have said that I was the last man in San Pablo likely to stand in the position I occupy now. I would have said so myself. In spite of these masks you wear, and though you have been led away by appearances to believe me guilty, and by passion to act on your belief, I know you are too just, too generous, too fairly and squarely American, to kill me without giving me a chance to say a word in my own defence." " Ay, Jack, ay, we'll hear you," shouted Byrne, encouragingly. Jeffries turned on him savagely. " Who are you ? I don't recognize you on this com- mittee, and I don't want to fool away the whole night here." " It is better to fool away a few hours," retorted Jack, " than to fool away the life of an innocent man. I recognize you as my enemy, Haman Jeffries ; why, I do not know, for I have never consciously wronged you in word or deed, but you are not alone in this matter. I appeal to my fellow-townsmen around me my friends, many of them, to hear me say a few words in my own behalf, and then, if they wish, they can give the JUDGE LYNCH. 109 word and see me die ; and I trust I shall face death like" " Like the hero of San Pablo," interrupted Byrne enthusiastically.. " The hero of San Pablo, that's what yez used to call him no later nor a few hours ago. For very shame's sake, boys, yez can't refuse to hear what he has to say for himself." "We will hear him," said Boone, curtly. "It isn't often that Judge Lynch grants a stay of proceedings, but if Jack Scott has anything to say for himself, I think, boys, we can afford to let him say it." There was a chorus of assent from the band, unani- mous save for an uncompromising negative from the schoolmaster. Jack addressed his next words to him directly. "Thank you, Hainan Jeffries. For the clever man I have always thought you, you show your hand plainly enough. Now, gentlemen, I have but a few words to say, and I won't detain you long. I've had no hand in Dick Morley's death. I'm as innocent of the crime as any of you." " That 's thin," interrupted Every Day Pete. " Thin 's no name for it," chimed in Smith. " I've seen many a man hung and not one of them but was ready to swear he was as innocent as a baby." " Do you think I'd lie to you ? " demanded Jack. " I don't expect that what I've told you is going to save my life and if it wasn't the truth I shouldn't want it to. You've all known me long enough to be pretty sure I'm not so fond of lying as to tell one here for nothing. What I say, I say because it is God's truth. I never shot Dick Morley." I 10 JUDGE LYNCH. The young man's solemn denial in the very face of the grave that yawned for him, seemed to have an effect on some of the men. Various little instances of his candor and straightforward manliness were whispered from one to the other, and Hank Dollett crystallized the opinion of many present in one sentence. " Jack Scott's a pretty square man." But other minds were dwelling on the weight of the evidence against him. " I never knowed Jack Scott to tell a lie in my life." remarked Boone, " but he's told one now." Scott overheard and contradicted him like a flash. " I have told the truth," he cried, passionately. " What ! Do you suppose I 'm afraid of death ? When all's said and done, it's only a wrench and it 's over. It must come to all of us sooner or later. I shall not say I want to die now. Life is just as sweet to me as it is to any of you and sweeter to me this night than ever it was before." His eyes wandered to the church porch and his voice broke a little as he thought of Lucy, but he concluded steadily : " I'm not lying in the vain hope of saving my life, and I'm not afraid of death." " Thrue for ye," shouted Pat. " The man that plunged through that surf last spring and saved a shipwrecked crew can't be much of a coward, can he, boys ? " The allusion told. Men glanced from one to the other, and seemed to recognize the discrepancy between a heroic deed and the cowardly murder of which Jack Scott was accused. But Boone was still intent on the evidence to his mind unanswerable, and he brought JUDGE L YNCH. 1 1 I back the scattered thoughts of his band with a word. " I'm not denying that Jack Scott's a brave man, and what he done below on the beach is what few men would do ; but all the same he's murdered a man." Thus brought back to the matter in hand the fickle mob veered again. The scene on Morley's plateau recurred to the men's minds, and they ran over the vari ous points of the incriminating evidence. Jack, contest- ing the ground inch by inch, grappled with each appar- ent proof as it was presented. "The quarrel was nothing but a few hot words," he argued. " You have all had the like with Dick Morley. Poor fellow, his temper was none of the easiest. Does a man murder another because of a hasty word ? As for the pistol mine though it be it was levelled not by me but by some enemy of Dick's/ " He never had any enemy but whiskey," interrupted Smith. " There you are wrong," retorted Jack, " he had. Every man here knows the poor fellow boasted of it all morning that there was an attempt made upon Dick Morley's life last night. The man, -who failed then, renewed his attempt to-day, and the second time he suc- ceeded. Isn't that the natural supposition ? And that is the man you've got to find, and the man you would be trying to find if you hadn't run off with the notion that because my pistol probably shot him I say probably, because even that isn't certain that therefore my hand and no other pulled the trigger. I think it more likely that the man who tried to stab him yesterday, shot him to-day. You remember Dick Morley's boast that he had 1 1 2 JUDGE L YNCH. a struggle with his assassin that he beat him off wounding him in the arm, though the night was too dark for recognition. I say that the man who shot Dick Morley to-day bears Dick Morley's mark on his arm. There are my arms, gentlemen " Jack rolled up his sleeves as he spoke " there are my arms ; if you find a scratch or scar on them, I have no more to say." All pressed forward to look, but fell back, feeling fool- ish, as Jeffries sneered : " Very fine. If he didn't know his arms were clean, do you think he'd be ass enough to show them ? " Hank was impressed with Jack's argument, however. " What do you think, Smith ? Maybe we're making a mistake after all ? " he asked uneasily. " Mistake ! How can we ? " rejoined Smith. " Likely enough there were two of them in the job and the other one got out." " Now we come to the pistol," resumed Jack. "It was mine, but it hadn't been in my possession for two days. Morley was cleaning it for me, and not an hour before his death he told me he had given it to Mr. Jeffries to return to me. That pistol I never received." "Dick Morley didn't tell the truth, or more likely you're lying now. He never gave me the*pistol." This positive denial from the schoolmaster had much weight with those who heard it, for Jeffries was univer- sally regarded as an upright, respectable man, although somewhat peculiar in his views. Jack did not attempt to controvert the statement. " Be it so," he said. " Mr. Jeffries denies having received the pistol. So do I. I swear to you, gentlemen, I saw it for the first time to-day in the hands of the sheriff." JUDGE L YNCH. I I 3 The reference to Starkweather renewed all the judge's perturbation. " It's a bad job about Sam," he remarked to Byrne. I wonder how he is." Pat, who had been alternately exalted and depressed, according to the effect which his young friend's argu- ments appeared to produce, was now gloomy and despon- dent. " It's a bad night's work all through," he replied. " I wish it was over." " Now, gentlemen, here is my position," resumed Jack. " I am helpless in your hands. You believe I committed this murder a dastardly crime which my very soul abhors." He paused for a token of assent, but none came. " I see that no words of mine can convince you," he went on, "and your short and speedy vengeance deprives me of all chance of acting. But, gentlemen, if you hang me, you do not avenge the murder. The murderer will still live, and it is my belief that he is in this very town now perhaps his coward face is growing pale behind one of those masks as he listens to me. If I had a few days I believe I could lay my hands on him. A few days why should I ask so much a few hours will suffice, for whether I succeed or fail, the issue is in the hands of Heaven. Gentlemen, give me twenty-four hours, and I will undertake to produce the real murderer, or, failing that, to submit myself without a word to the sentence your justice shall pronounce." This proposition took every one by surprise. "What do you mean?" exclaimed the judge. "If we let you go for twenty-four hours " 8 114 JUDGE LYNCH. " He will be in 'Frisco before the time is up," inter- rupted Jeffries. " I shall not stir from San Pablo," asseverated Jack. " I shall use the time to unmask the real villain. If I succeed well ; if I fail, your vengeance will not cool for twenty-four hours' waiting." "You will not try to escape or secure assistance?" said the judge. " So help me God, I will do neither," answered Jack. " And what assistance could I procure ? Have we rail- roads in San Antonio County to bring help to me, even if I Jmew where to send f9r it ? " " By the Lord Harry, I believe him," shouted Hank, slapping his thigh with a resounding blow. " Gentlemen," cried Pat, eagerly, " this is honest talk, or I never heard honest talk in all me days. Give the boy a chance for his life, an' a chance to save yez all from doin' what ye'll regrit to your dyin' day, if all he says is true." Boone seemed strongly inclined to yield. " If you fail to find the murderer," he said. " If, before this time to-morrow night," answered Jack, '. solemnly, " I fail to find the real criminal, then I pledge you my word and honor I will surrender myself to you just as I stand now." "What do you say, boys ? " inquired Boone, turning to the others. Jeffries stepped forward as if to protest, and thenj recognizing that the tide was turning, bit his lips and remained silent. The romantic idea of such a parole pleased the impul- sive villagers. Scarcely one of them doubted but that Jack Scott would redeem the pledge. JUDGE LYNCH. 115 "He's a white man," said one. " He never told a lie in his life," said another. " Suppose he did shoot Drunken Dick itself," added a third. And then a general cry went up from the band. All were willing to make some reparation to Mr. Stark- weather for the injuries how grave they might be no man there as yet knew which he had sustained at their hands. "Yes, yes, his word's good; we'll trust him." " Well, Jack Scott," said Boone, obviously relieved at the issue, " the sense of this committee is that you be given a show, and if so be that you can find the murderer and prove your innocence, I, for one, will be glad of it. But " the speaker stopped and glanced at his watch "it's now twenty minutes past eleven say half-past. If by half-past eleven to-morrow night you don't show up either with the murderer or without him, any man that finds you shall shoot you on sight, and the Committee of Safety will hold him blameless." " That is understood," said Jack, flinging the rope from him and stepping forth a free man. " I have been close to death to-night, and I've seen the worst of him. At half-past eleven to-morrow night at this spot ? " "No, not here," answered Boone quickly. "We've had trouble enough here and it isn't decent at the church door besides, poor Sam. No ; let it be at Lone Pine Knob, a nice, quiet place. There'll be no interrup- tion there." "So be it," exclaimed Jack. "To-morrow night at Lone Pine Knob." He turned quickly to look for Jeffries, but Jeffries had already left the ground and the men were trooping back 1 1 6 JUD GE L YNCH. by twos and threes toward the town. Byrne was anxious for Jack to accompany him, but the young man de- clined. " No, Mr. Byrne," he said, " I've a busy twenty-four hours before me, and I'd rather be alone to think out my plans." " So the Hon. Pat returned to San Pablo, leaving Jack Scott standing under the oak which so nearly had been his gallows-tree. CHAPTER XIII. THE hours passed anxiously for Kate Morley and Lucy Starkweather, seated together among the varied stock of Kate's little general store in the house on the plateau. They kept the window open and listened nervously for any sounds that might reach them from below to indicate how things sped with their friends in the church. Mr. Starkweather's emphatic injunction prevented either of them from venturing down the road to reconnoitre, and until Kate's return after her unavailing intercession with the leaders of the vigilantes Lucy had still hoped that nothing would occur to betray the interruption of her father's flight from San Pablo. The news that Kate brought forced her to fear the worst, and thenceforward the two women sat in the dimly lighted room, straining eyes and ears in the direction of the village. But they neither saw nor heard anything. Such breeze as there was blew down the ravine, and no sounds of the conflict at the church reached them. Kate had some reliance on Mr. Byrne's promise, and as the time passed without event, her confidence in- creased and Lucy grew more composed. It seemed to them impossible that any collision between the com- mittee and the sheriff should occur so close at hand with- out their hearing it. So the leaden-footed moments passed and grew into hours, which seemed so long to the two watchers they 117 Il8 JUDGE LYNCH. had no time-piece at hand that they fancied the dawn must be near. But the plateau was still bathed in cold white light, though the lengthening shadows of the trees showed that the moon was sinking. At length the orb of night was lost behind the chaparral, and the women drew closer together as they looked out on the dim landscape. " Is there no sign of dawn yet ? " asked Lucy, wearily. " None," replied Kate. " It is dark, all dark like my life," she added in lower tones and with a shuddering sigh. Lucy rose and wrapped a shawl round Mrs. Morley's shoulders. " You are cold, dear," she said, kindly. " It has been a long night for you, but it will soon be over." Kate held her hand for a moment. "And you are sharing its weary watches with me," she whispered. " You are very good to me." " I could not have slept if I had gone home," answered Lucy. " I am glad to have some one to sit with." " Of course," replied Kate in a constrained voice, " the thought of Mr. Scott's peril would have kept you awake. Tell me, Miss Starkweather," she asked suddenly, "do you love him ? " Lucy withdrew her hand and looked at her companion with a pained, questioning gaze. " No, no," went on Kate impetuously, " don't be angry; you need not answer me. Why should I have asked you such a question as that ? As if it would be any business of mine. \ must be losing my wits, I think." " I do not see why I should make any secret of it," said Lucy after a pause. " Jack is very, very dear to me." JUDGE LYNCH. I 19 " Ah, no wonder," sighed Kate. " And he loves you ? " " He told me so," replied Lucy, " and I told him all that was in my heart oh, my God, if I should never see him again ! " She broke down and covered her face with her hands while a storm of sobs shook her slight figure. Very tenderly Kate Morley drew Lucy toward her and soothed and quieted the weeping girl, pouring words of hope into her ear, until Kate herself felt her own con- fidence gaining strength from the food it supplied to another. Presently Lucy raised her head. " How weak and selfish I am," she cried, " giving'way like this, when I ought to be cheering you and helping you to bear up." " Don't think of me, Miss Starkweather," replied Kate. " I'm used to trouble and anxiety." " Indeed, you have had enough of both,'' answered Lucy with ready sympathy. " Don't think of me," repeated Kate. " My life is ended." "Oh, don't say that," cried Lucy. "It sounds so lost and wicked. What do you mean ! " " I feel as a wounded animal must feel when he crawls into some obscure hole to die. This place has grown hateful to me. I never had much happiness here, and now a blight seems to have fallen on it. But I shall soon be far away thank heaven for that ! " " Where do you think of going ? " inquired Lucy. " Back to the States," answered Kate, " back to my old work. I shall be less miserable there and very likely it will all come to an end soon. That is my best hope." I2O JUDGE LYNCH. " How bitterly you speak," said Lucy. " Do I ? I didn't mean to pain you. You must for- give me," answered Kate with a sigh. " You speak of going back to your old work ? You were a nurse in the hospitals, were you not ? " inquired Lucy. " I was," replied Kate, " and I was wrong to leave them. I was some use there. But I can go back. It was, all arranged before my husband before he died. Come, let us be more cheerful. You will have good news in the morning, I hope." " Oh, I pray that I may," uttered Lucy fervently. " And Mr. Scott's innocence will be established and you will be married, you two, and all will be gayety and happiness." " Oh, don't talk like that," whispered Lucy, blushing and trembling between hope and fear. Kate rose and opening the door stepped out on the veranda. " Not as much as a streak of gray in the east," she said wearily. "This night is certainly unnaturally long." " Perhaps you could sleep for an hour, Mrs. Morley, if you lay down," suggested Lucy. " You must be quite Worn out." Kate did not seem to hear. She was bending forward over the railing of the veranda, and sending a searching glance down the chaparral path. She fancied she saw a figure approaching through the uncertain glimmer that the moon had left. Every sense on the alert, she watched and listened. She was not mistaken. A tall, erect form emerged from the shadow and came straight toward the house. JUDGE LYNCH. 121 Kate lingered a moment till she could assure herself of the identity of the new-coiner. She lingered yet a moment longer, and a brief, fierce combat raged in her bosom, but she gained the victory without making any outward sign. " Thank you, dear, I think I will lie down for a little." She passed on into the inner room, closing the door behind her. The next moment a quick, light foot sounded on the wooden steps of the veranda, and Jack Scott entered. Lucy rose and threw herself into his arms with a low, glad cry. " Oh, you are here ! You have come back ! you are safe, you are free," she murmured in her incoherent joy. " Speak to me, Jack ; you are free : you are safe all this horror is over and done with." He held her to his breast and kissed her tenderly. "Yes, Lucy, I am free, I am safe," he answered, but there was a constraint in his tone which her ear was quick to catch. " What has happened ? Tell me everything ! " Then her face grew white and she shrank back. " Where is my father ? " she asked. " Don't be frightened, Lucy, I have just been down to the hotel to inquire. He is asleep, and will probably be all right to-morrow." " He has been hurt ? " she gasped breathlessly. "Ah, you have not heard," he answered. "They attacked the church, and he was wounded but very slightly, Lucy ; upon my word, very slightly. He be- haved like a hero, and saved my life." 122 JUDGE LYNCH. " Let me go to him ! " said the girl. " I must see him at once." " Darling, it is impossible," replied Jack. " He is asleep, and must not be disturbed. But you shall see him in the morning, and, indeed, Lucy, he is in no danger." Scott spoke with a touch of bitterness. At the hotel he had learned where Lucy was passing the night, and he had come straight to see her. It was a little disappoint- ing to find her so wrapped up in her father that she had no anxiety to spare for the much graver peril in which he stood. But he soon remembered that Lucy knew nothing of what had passed, and that, seeing him free and unin- jured, her quick affection sprang startled to the news that her father was lying wounded. She accepted Scott's assurance, however, and inquired with lively interest into the circumstances of his libera- tion, and when he explained that he was still a prisoner, though fettered with a looser chain, he had no reason to complain of coldness or lack of interest on the part of the girl he loved. "To-morrow night," she whispered, her eyes dilated with horror. " Oh, Jack, how can you hope to find the murderer ? " " I dare not hope ; I can only do my best, and trust in God," he answered. " If you had asked for a week ? " " They would not have given it," he replied. " The reprieve was narrowly won as it was. They would not have granted an hour longer lest the sheriff should use the time to procure assistance." " May he not do so still ? " she asked. JUD GE L YNCfl. 1 2 3 "How? Where would you look for help in this brief time ? " answered Jack, " and half that time will have gone before he will learn what has passed. If it were anywhere else but here no telegraph, no railway, and the whole neighborhood in sympathy with the committee of safety which I can scarcely wonder at, considering what the country has been in the past." "Then Jack," said Lucy resolutely, "there is only one thing to do." " What ? " he asked eagerly. " Take one of Mr. Byrne's teams he will let you have it and drive over the mountains to Lacuna." "Lucy! " he cried, startled at the daring proposition. " You can take the train there and go on to San Fran- cisco," she pursued. " I have plighted my solemn word to these men," he said slowly. " Would you have me break it ? " "These men! What are they?" she exclaimed im- petuously. " They are assassins, thirsting for your life. They have defied the law and put it aside. They will have your blood as they have nearly had my father's." " They gave me life, trusting in my honor." " Your life is your own," cried the girl. Jack shook his head sadly, but Lucy went on un- daunted. " Yes, it is. You are bound to protect it ; you would defend it by force if you could. Since that is impossible save it by flight. Jack, Jack, don't look so set and reso- lute. You will live, you must live, for my sake." " Oh, dearest, that would be a sweet reward," he said, drawing her close to him. " You tempt me sorely. A few hours and I might be out of their reach " 124 JUDGE LYNCH. "Yes, yes," she interrupted, impulsively, springing to her feet. Jack went on. " To live happily with you." " Oh, so happily," she murmured. " And every one here would be confirmed in the belief that I am the murderer." " What matter what they think ? We should be happy and we would forget all these horrors." "They would call me a coward and a liar," he per- sisted. "They believed in me. I cannot forget that. In a question of life and death there are few men whose word would be taken by a mob, but they took mine. No, Lucy, I cannot do it. I have these few hours before me, and with Heaven's help I shall find the murderer." The girl drew back bitterly disappointed. " Then you will stay ? " she said. " Lucy, it is not you who love me who would have me go." " She lifted her beautiful dark eyes, all swimming with tears, to his face. "You break my heart, Jack," she whispered, "but I love you the better for it." CHAPTER XIV. A SHARP knock at the open door caused the lovers to start asunder, and in reply to Lucy's timid "come in," Juan Estuclillio entered, followed by Miss Van Zandt and Jimmy Ruggles. Carrie went straight to her friend, while a warm greet- ing passed between Scott and Ruggles. The Mexican, unnoticed, remained near the door. "What brings you here?" asked Jack, with a hearty clasp of the hand. " Never mind about me," replied Ruggles. " Tell us about yourself. From what I have heard, I hardly hoped to find you with a whole skin." Jack rapidly recounted the scenes that had passed at the church and he had an attentive audience, for Kate Morley had come out on hearing the strange voices in the store. Mr. Ruggles had met his cousin's wife, and in a few words he recalled himself to her recollection and offered her his condolences on her recent loss. Then he returned to Scott and resumed the important discussion as to the best course for the young man to pursue. " You are fully determined not to make a bolt for it, then ? " asked Jimmy. Lucy aswered for Jack with a decided negative, and he acknowledged her spirited reply with a grateful glance. I2 5 126 JUDGE LYNCH. " No," he said ; " I must stay here and see the matter through. That point is settled past question." "You must find the real murderer, then?" cried Carrie. " Have you any clew ? " " Scarcely any none at all I may say," answered Jack despondently. " I think I have," said Kate, coming quietly forward. There was a general exclamation of surprise. " You ! Is it possible ? " cried Jack eagerly. " I think I know the man who shot my husband," con- tinued Kate, in the same even tone. " Speak, Mrs. Morley, for mercy's sake," cried Jack. " It is only a vague suspicion," she went on, " but it is something to work on while we are all blindly groping in the dark." " What is it ? " asked Lucy eagerly. "My husband told you he gave your pistol to Jeff- ries?" inquired Kate, addressing Scott. " He told me so yes," replied the young man. " " I believe he did so. The pistol was in his hands just before Jeffries came. I went into the house and I don't remember seeing it again." " Jeffries denied it positively," mused Jack. " He naturally would, if we assume him to be the mur- derer," remarked Lucy. " Jeffries ! " said Jack. " I can't believe it of him. He dislikes me, I know, and he has shown himself my enemy to-night ; but he is a kind-hearted man in general. The children idolize him. They say that he believes in ghosts and dreams. He wouldn't have the nerve to com- mit a murder." " I used to know something about a Jeffries once JUDGE LYNCH. I2/ whom that description would fit," broke in Ruggles. " What is his other name?" " Hainan," replied Jack. " Haman Jeffries ! That's the man," said the journal- ist. " A dangerous crank, isn't he ? " " He is odd, I believe," assented Scott. " He believes in predestination and has a turn for spiritualism." " He lectured on 'Fate and Free Will' in Frisco three or four years ago, and I had to report the wild, whirling thing. He was queer enough, but not actually insane, I fancied. And yet he spoke of a man's right to remove any object from his path to heaven and to happiness, and I thought then how like he was to that man in Mas sachusetts who offered up his two children as a sac- rifice/' Carrie drew back with a little gesture of repulsion, but Ruggles did not notice her. " If there was a motive," he mused, " he certainly is not mad enough to act without a motive." " He had a motive," said Kate ; " what men call a strong motive." " What was it ? " inquired Lucy. " I had rather not say what it was," answered the widow, " but I know it existed." Ruggles glanced sharply at Kate, and seemed inclined to press the question, but he forbore. " Assume the motive," he added, " and your suspicion is strengthened but it is still no more than mere sus- picion." "There is a way to enlarge this suspicion into cer- tainty, or else resolve it into nothing," Jack said. There was a tone of conviction in the young man's 128 JUDGE LYNCH. words which impressed every one, and eager questions poured in from all sides. Jack went on. "Apply to Jeffries the test Hamlet applied to Claudius. He is nervous and superstitious, as we know, and if he were suddenly to be confronted with the ghost of his vic- tim, in his terror he would surely let fall something which could be used against him." Lucy and Carrie exchanged troubled glances. They could form no idea of Scott's meaning. Ruggles looked puzzled. Only Mrs. Morley's quickened breathing showed that she thought there was something in the idea. " Your plan is worthy of Jeffries himself," remarked Ruggles. " Only where do you intend to get your ghost ? " " I see what he means," cried Kate ; " his plan is pos- sible, quite possible. You know your resemblance to poor Richard. The main difference is in the way you wear your beard. Jeffries has no idea you are here, and it is years since he has seen you." " He has never seen me at all to my knowledge," answered the journalist. " I only saw him when he was on the lecture platform and I was in the audience. But am I to understand that you want me to sacrifice my beard and personate Cousin Dick's ghost ? " But though Ruggles treated it thus lightly the plan was seriously discussed. His resemblance in figure and feature to the dead man was undeniable even Carrie, now that her attention was called to it, admitted that she was surprised that she had never noticed it before ; but she had seen little of Dick Morley, and the beard altered the character of Ruggles' face. But Jimmy, while JUDGE LYNCH. 1 29 acknowledging the possibility of the trick, failed to see its utility. " That I could frighten Jeffries or anybody else by personating my cousin," he argued, " I don't doubt. If you look for symptoms of fright you will find what you seek. But I do not see how you will be able to dis- tinguish mere brutal terror from an awakened con- science." " We can only try," urged Jack. " In the absence of any other plan it is worth a trial." "There is more than chance in the providential arrival of the one man who could successfully personate poor Richard," remarked Kate, who had taken a favorable view of the idea from the first. "Very well," replied Ruggles. " I am at your service ; but to play the character I must have some hints as to costume and so forth." " Your present dress will do very well," answered Kate; "the general effect is all we need consider. Stoop your shoulders a little." " And. the beard, of course, must come off," added Carrie, with a little nervous laugh. " So be it," cried Ruggles, assuming the tone of a martyr. " By the way where is the apparition to walk and when ? " "As soon as possible," answered Jack. "It will be daylight presently, and to get the effect we want we must see you before the light gets too strong and before people are about. As for the place nowhere better than out- side this very door, the spot where the murder was com- mitted/' " But recollect," objected Ruggles, " I am an appa- 9 130 JUDGE LYNCH. rition with limitations. I can't appear to any one till he appears to me. Am I to hang around outside till Jeffries chances to pass ? " There was a dead silence. This obvious difficulty had occurred to no one. After a moment's painful hesi- tation and an evident struggle with herself, Kate spoke again. " I can insure Mr. Jeffries coming here at once. That can be arranged. If you will step inside, Mr. Ruggles, and make your preparations I can give you what you re- quire." She opened the door leading into the other room and the journalist arose. As he passed Jack he whispered significantly, " I can guess the motive. I should not wonder if Jeffries were the man." Then he added aloud: " Thanks, cousin, I have a traveller's dressing case in my pocket, That will furnish me with all I need." He left the room, closing the door behind him. Kate seated herself at a little writing table and dashed off a few rapid lines. She seemed anxious to act quickly, so that she would have no time for thought, and she closed the letter without reading it over. "Juan," she said, "you will take this to Mr. Jeffries will you not ? " " Si, Senora," replied the Mexican, advancing. Jack noticed him for the first time, and shook hands with him as the little ranchero, overflowing with sympathy and affection for the young man, placed himself, his life, and his future at the other's disposal. He would die for his friend, Senor Yacscott, he said. " You are not afraid of any trouble through going JUDGE L YNCH. 1 3 i to the village?" he asked. "They have warned you away, you know." Estudillo vowed that he feared nothing in the service of his friend. "Well, you will give this note to Mr. Jeffries,'' said Kate. " Wake him up if he is asleep. Tell him it must be attended to immediately." " Si, Senora," responded the Mexican. They all stepped out to the veranda and watched him hasten across the plateau. The eastern sky was begin- ning to pale with the first hint of approaching dawn. Kate turned back to the house. " Oh, what a contemptible part to play ! " Jack heard her moan as she passed him. His heart smote him. " It was painful for you to send that note. Why did you do it ? \Ve could have found some other way. My troubles have made me selfish." " It is done, Mr. Scott, it is done," she replied. " Say no more about it." Lucy's spirits had risen as she saw something was being attempted however vague and intangible to shift j the burden of the accusation from the shoulders of the man she loved. She lingered a moment with Carrie on | the veranda, and watched the dawn brightening. " He might never have seen that sun rise again," she \ murmured. " I have much to be thankful for." Miss Van Zandt attempted to entertain her friend with the humor of her midnight wanderings with Mr. Ruggles. " I declare, Carrie," exclaimed Lucy, " you have been i up all night. And this is the day of the school picnic. i You will not be fit to be seen." 132 JUDGE LYNCH. Carrie protested that she did not intend to go, but Lucy insisted. " Of course you will go ; why shouldn't you ? You have promised to be there, you know. Besides, dear, I shall have to be with papa, and some of us should be everywhere. Mr. Jeffries will be there, you know." " Very well," assented Carrie ; " I'll go, if you want me to Mr. Byrne offered to drive me over." " To drive you over where ? " cried a voice behind them. The girls turned and Lucy with difficulty suppressed a scream. It seemed to her that Dick Morley stood once more in the door of his house. Mrs. Morley and Jack followed Ruggles out. All complimented the journalist on his successful make- up ; but Kate, who was nervous and unsettled, soon left the others and re-entered the house. " Where is Mr. Byrne going to drive you ? " persisted Ruggles, as soon as he was able to divert the conversa- tion from his own appearance. "To the school children's picnic, if you must know," answered Carrie. " I adore picnics," he exclaimed ; " if I were not a ghost and liable to scare the kids into seven kinds of fits \ I should like to go myself." " Your ghostly role will be played out hours before it is time for the merrymaking," remarked Jack, with a desper- ate effort to speak lightly. Lucy alone noticed his anxious, troubled face, and slid her hand into his. " Where is this picnic ? " asked Ruggles. " At Mr. Byrne's vineyard, I believe," replied Carrie. JUDGE LYNCH. 133 " That settles it. I must go," cried Ruggles. " Duty calls. I am here to write up Mr. Byrne's grapes." Jack 6ould hardly restrain his impatience. "I think, Jimmy, if you don't mind " he began ner- vously. " It's time to bait the trap, eh ? " interrupted the jour- nalist, briskly. " All right ; I'm with you. I've got to climb up there, have I ? " he added, looking up at the Table Rock. " If poor Dick was such a hister as they say, I don't see how he kept himself steady for that climb every day. Here goes then ! " He ascended the little path at the side, which was much easier than it seemed from below. Jack accom- panied him and the girls watched them from the veranda. " Are such likenesses possible ? " murmured .Lucy with a slight shiver. "That's a question we'll leave for our psychological friend Jeffries to puzzle out at his leisure," answered Carrie. " Lucy you look as white as a ghost yourself. Do come in and lie down." "One moment," answered the girl, with her eyes still fixed on the figures on the rock. Scott had disposed Ruggles in Morley's accustomed attitude, and appeared to be giving him a few final instructions. The latter seemed in a bantering mood, and now and then his light laugh reached the girls where they stood. At last Jack left him, and came lightly and rapidly down the rocky path. " Come inside," he said, as he gained the veranda. "The house must be shut up, and everything must seem as natural and quiet as possible when Jeffries comes on the ground." 134 JUDGE LYNCH. " But you're going to watch what he does, aren't you? " inquired Carrie. " Oh, yes ; I'm going to watch," he answered. " I have selected my lookout tower; but come in, come in." The door closed behind them, and Ruggles stretched himself on the rock in such a position that he could com- mand the chaparral through which he expected Jeffries to appear. His face felt cold and unnatural, and he passed his hand over it, smiling when his touch encountered the moustache, which alone had been spared in imitation of Morley. " The play's the thing," he quoted, with a silent laugh, " but I hope I shan't have to do still life for any consider- able time." And from behind the closed blinds of Morley's house four pairs of eyes were bent on the plateau. CHAPTER XV. BEFORE the final appeal which resulted in Scott's tem- porary liberation, Hainan Jeffries had quietly left the crowd and taken the road to San Pablo. Whatever might be his reasons for desiring the young man's death, and they were evidently weighty, he recognized that events had passed beyond his control and that further interference on his part would be alike unavailing and injudicious. He had been violently excited during the scenes at the church, and his mind was still too disturbed for connected thought. He walked down the ravine, cutting viciously at the bushes with a light cane he carried, and starting ner- vously as the night breeze sighed through the trees and their shadows wrought strange effects of motion on the patches of moonlight at his feet. On reaching the plaza he sought out a dark corner under the wall of the hotel, where he watched and waited. He saw the men who had carried the sheriff come out and overheard enough of their conversation to learn that they were still in doubt as to the extent of Starkweather's injuries. Then they passed out of sight and all was quiet again. Voices echoed from the ravine, and presently the whole body of vigilantes appeared talking, arguing, occasion- ally swearing. They came on in detached groups, by twos and threes, and halted when they had gained the J 35 1 3 6 JUD GE L YNCH. plaza so as to give the stragglers time to come up. Masks were discarded and the rough, hard-featured fel- lows looked grimly picturesque in the moonlight. The schoolmaster drew back further into the shadow and shivered as from the effects of a physical chill. " Sentimental fools ! " he muttered. Pat Byrne arrived among the last, and immediately suggested an adjournment to the Spread Eagle. He was evidently in high spirits, and he spoke with a hearty ring in his voice. " Come over to the saloon, boys ; this has been a quare sort of a night entirely, and ye'll none o' ye be the worse for a nightcap before ye turn in. I'll open for ye ; I've the key in my pocket. The suggestion met with general favor. Hank Dol- lett, whose left hand was roughly bandaged in a blood- stained handkerchief, hailed the idea with enthusiasm. " Bully for you, Pat ; I need something to keep me from taking cold in my broken fingers." They all trooped over to the Spread Eagle, and presently vanished behind its swinging doors. The plaza became once more silent and solitary. And still Jeffries watched and waited. For whom or for what ? He did not himself know. Another figure appeared from the ravine, and crossing the square with a brisk step, entered the hotel, passing so close to Jeffries that the latter could have touched him by stretching out his hand. It was Jack Scott, come to inquire about the sheriff. The schoolmaster drew him- self together like a panther on the spring, and seemed about to fling himself on the advancing figure, while his hand sought his breast. But he suffered the young man JUDGE LYNCH. 137 to pass without making any demonstration, and stepped from the shadow with a bitter curse as the other vanished in the hotel entry. " Where could I have lost that knife ? " he muttered. " This is a pretty time for me to go unarmed." Then he reflected a moment. " Ah, it is there," he said; "of course it must be there! Why hadn't 1 thought of that before ? " He crossed the plaza almost at a run and descended one of the narrow tracks that led down among the sand bluffs to the beach. The broad Pacific lay before him, smiling and dimpling under the moon ; and calm as was its surface the strand was laced with white from the ceaseless foaming and breaking of the languid ocean swell. The monotonous boom of the summer sea sounded weird and lonesome in the hush of the night. Jeffries walked rapidly northward till he reached a spot where the ribs of an old boat, half buried in the sand, supplied him the landmark which he sought. " It was somewhere hereabouts," he muttered, and he commenced an earnest scrutiny of the strand, bending down to examine every inequality of the ground and occasionally starting aside with an exclamation to pick up some stalk of seaweed or stick of driftwood which marred the level surface, only to let it fall again in dis- appointment and commence the search anew. " It must be here," he said aloud, " I recollect now, how I let it fall, and yes this is the very spot ! Not ten yards from the old boat frame." Taking this stranded waif as a center, he ranged all round it, going in a circle of some thirty or forty yards in diameter, and marking off the ground with his cane 138 JUDGE LYNCH. so that no part should escape scrutiny. Evidently he attached great importance to the quest. " If any one should pick it up," he mused with a shud- der. " Well, what if he did ? " he went on defiantly, as jf arguing some disputed question with a visible adver- sary. " What if he did ? It proves nothing ; but I wish I could find it." And then, for the third or fourth time, he began to travel round his circle with the patient attention of a hound on the trail. " I should have come sooner," he muttered, " but I had no chance ; I didn't think of it till I saw the fellow ; besides, in any case, I should have been obliged to wait for night." And so the search went on till the light of the wester- ing moon was withdrawn and a filmy gray mist blurred the outlines of sea and shore. An added touch of rawness in the air and a fresher edge to the breeze showed that the dawn was not far off. Then Jeffries relinquished his purpose and turned back toward San Pablo by the way he had come. The square was still deserted and looked gloomier than ever since the moon had set ; but from the Spread Eagle a hum of voices and a clink of glasses showed that the vigilantes were still astir and had probably deter- mined to see the thing through. The schoolmaster approached the saloon, and peeped through the doors. There had been no secession from the ranks which Byrne had led in some hours before. The whole band that had been present at the attack on the church at midnight was still awake and animated at JUDGE L YNCIL \ 39 four o'clock in the morning. Jeffries would have liked to enter and join the party. He was a man who never drank he was as fanatical in his abstinence as in all his other beliefs and theories ; but at this moment he was chilled and dispirited ; he seemed to feel the want of human companionship, and the interior of the saloon looked bright and inviting in contrast to the damp mist that was creeping up from the beach. He pushed the door partly open and stepped inside. No one noticed him. Mr. Byrne stood near the end of the bar, and was speaking as the schoolmaster entered : " It may be as ye say, Mr. Smith. You call Ham an Jeffries a crank, an' sorry I'd be to dispute your word ; but I'd be loath to state that as me own opinion without qualification. He's a highly intelligint man divil a doubt of that an' the childher all take to him, an' that's no bad sign. There's my boy Pat swears by him. But an' ye'll folly me in this, gintlemen wan man doesn't make a dead set at another without raison, an' if ye'l tell me the raison why a harmless gintlemen like the school- master was so mighty anxious* to put a rope found the neck of another harmless gintlemen like my book-keeper, ye'll greatly obleege me an' ye'll let the first glimpse of daylight into the mystery o' Drunken Dick's murder. Fill 'em up agen, Charley." Jeffries slipped out into the night and paced to and fio in the plaza with rapid steps. No one had seen him. He had looked into the saloon to find himself an object of speculation and discussion in his absence, and, like most listeners, what he heard did not please him. More and more strongly he felt that there was a duel to the death between himself and Jack Scott. The school- 140 JUDGE LYNCH. master realized that lie had a powerful ally in time. If he could postpone the combat he could win without a struggle. If the game should be deferred, the stakes would be adjudged without effort. He glanced at his watch. Almost four o'clock. His ally had been work- ing for him silently and steadily, while he had been dis. tressing himself at his own forced inaction. Jack Scott had less than twenty hours left. A voice accosting him from the darkness startled Jef- fries violently. He swerved aside like a frightened horse, and for a moment could not command his voice to reply, though he speedily recognized that the man who had addressed him was only Corvey the despised and degraded village loafer. " It's a fine night, Mr. Jeffries," said Corvey. " Say, you havVt got two bits in your clothes you would lend a fellow till pay day, have you ? " This was one of Corvey's favorite fictions. He always assumed that a pay day dawned for him in each .week, though as he never was known to work, it naturally fol- loWed that he never had any pay to receive. How the man lived no one could have told himself least of all. It was one of the standing marvels of San Pablo. Per- haps Pat Byrne could have hazarded a guess. Jeffries, recovering his voice with an effort, gave a reply to which Corvey was well accustomed, though he had never known the schoolmaster so " out of sorts " as he seemed this night. But Corvey was not to be dis- posed of so easily. He had drunk full and deep earlier in the evening, and had slept off part of his liquor under the lea of a soft sand wreath on the beach, and he was tormented with an inward sinking which told him that it JUDGE LYNCH. 141 was time to " freshen the nip." So he returned to the charge. " You needn't be so hard on a poor fellow, schoolmas- ter," he whined. " Because you don't drink yourself, that's no sign that you knows what other people's consti- tootions requires. I tell you if I don't have a dram soon I'll have the horrors before morning." " Will you go away and not bother rne ? " cried Jeffries with nervous petulance. " I tell you I've nothing for you." " Only two bits, Guvnor. You'll not feel that. And I'll pay you Saturday wish I may die if I don't. I've been doing some chores for Pat Byrne, and I've money coming to me. Roast me alive if I ain't. Say, I'll tell you what I'll do," he added, struck by a sudden inspira- tion, as the schoolmaster turned away. " Here's a knife a bully clasp knife. You may keep it till I pay you. That's collat, that is." He thrust a long buck-horn nandled knife into Jeffries' hand, before the other could refuse it. The schoolmaster was on the point of throwing it down, but something about it caught his eye and seemed to attract him. He looked at it narrowly, turning it over and over. It was an expensive, well finished weapon, and with the excep- tion of a little rust where the blade joined the haft, was as good as new. " Where did you get this knife ? " asked Jeffries, exam- ining it closely. " I came by it honestly, that's all you need care about it," answered Corvey. " It's good value for a quarter, ain't it ? " " I'm not a pawnbroker," said the schoolmaster slowly. 142 JUDGE LYNCH. " I can't lend money on things. Tell me where you got this the truth mind and I'll see what I can do."_ " Well, -I found it down to the shore, 'bout ten or eleven o'clock," answered Corvey reluctantly ; "but that ain't got nothing to do with it. Findins keepins, you know. Are you going to let me have that two bits ? " "I'll not lend you money on it, but I'll buy it if you wish," replied Jeffries. " I'll give you four bits for it." " Make it a dollar, boss," cried Corvey, enthusiasti- cally, " and it's a trade.' Though there could be no doubt that Corvey would be glad to sell his find for anything he could get, Jeffries handed him a dollar without a word, and the drunkard made straight for the Spread Eagle with the price of an hour's bestial happiness in his pocket. " That was why I could not find it," muttered Jeffries, " If I had had it when Scott passed awhile ago who knows ? Perhaps it is best as it is." And he put the knife in his pocket. ^ CHAPTER XVI. THE schoolmaster turned into a little street that led out of the plaza towards the south, and passing one or two detached frame houses, reached his own, which stood facing the ocean a little back from the road. It was a neat cottage, consisting of four rooms and a tiny hall, all on one floor, and it was far snugger and more homelike than the majority of such dwellings at San Pablo. Jef- fries, who was a bachelor, lived there alone, a Chinaman coining in by the day to do the work and cook the meals. The schoolmaster let himself in with a key and lighted a candle which stood ready to his hand in the little hall. Then he entered the room to his right not his bedroom and setting the candle on the table took from a shelf a large meerschaum pipe and a canister of tobacco. He smoked with long, rapid inspirations, like one who sought the sedative influence of the plant without caring for its fragrance. And as he smoked he reflected. Hainan Jeffries never entered this house without think- ing of Kate Morley. His love for her, half sensual, half mystical, was the strongest passion in his strange, dis- torted nature a nature compact of strength powerful in its delusions, in its fantasies, and in its purposes. He had known and loved her for nearly three years, and his feeling for Kate Morley was the same as it had been at any time since the day he first met her. His love if such a strange tormented fancy is worthy to be described 144 JUDGE LYNCH. by that word had leaped into life at sight of her. It had burned with a changeless flame ever since. From the first he had determined to win Kate Morley for his own. That he had found her married made no difference to Jeffries. He had seen at a glance that Kate's womanly nature had nothing in common with the drunken sot whose name she bore, but he did not make sufficient allowance for Mrs. Morley's religious and conscientious character. He believed that Drunken Dick could not live long what he strongly desired usually ended by becoming an article of faith with Haman Jeffries and he regarded Dick as the sole obstacle to his union with Kate. But when three years passed, and the drunken husband lived on, the schoolmaster, with all his faith in an ordered future, grew wofully impatient. At last the obstacle was removed removed with appalling sudden ness, and by means on which no man could have calcu- lated ; and still the prize for which Haman had striven and waited seemed beyond his reach. He looked around the room with an impatient sigh. He had furnished and adorned it solely with a view to Kate's comfort and taste, yet she had never seen it. But so strong was the man's desire for the woman whom, in the strong jargon of his creed, he thought his soul's affinity, and so entirely did his theory of predestination square itself with his hopes, that he never doubted, but that he would ultimately bring Kate Morley to the home he had prepared for her. He reviewed the position and weighed chances with a calculation which showed that he looked on fate as marching to its accomplishment through human accidents. Mrs. Morley was alone in the world JUDGE LYNCH, 145 so he reasoned she was poor, and the conditions of her life with Drunken Dick had not been such as to admit of her forming any close friendships. She would find her- self alone in the world, and beset by many anxieties and troubles. He had placed himself at her service : to him she would naturally turn when the difficulties of her isolated situation became too many for her. He was content to wait. Every hour was bringing him closer to the realization of his dream. And so he was found by Juan Estudillo when the Mex- ican knocked at the door with Kate Morley's letter in his hand. It was the summons that Jeffries had been expecting. It had come sooner than he had looked for it, but that was a matter for congratulation rather than for misgiving. The note was very brief. It merely asked him to come to the plateau at once, and was signed " Kate Morley." But he asked no more. The appeal had been made. Fate, with irresistible force, had swept the woman he desired to his arms. The rest was in his own hands. He was strangely cool and collected. All the nervous- ness that had tormented him during: the earlier hours of O the night had passed away and he was conscious of neither doubt nor fear only a diffused glow of triumph which touched his pale cheeks with hectic color and gave his black eyes an unwonted brilliancy, that made them shine and flash from under the heavy dark brows. Juan was no close observer, and saw nothing unusual in the schoolmaster's manner and appearance as he read the brief letter at a glance, and crushed it together in his hand with a curt, " All right ; I will go." But he did not start immediately. He offered Estu 10 146 JUDGE LYNCH. dillo refreshments, which the latter declined, and he expressed his surprise that the Mexican should have ven- tured down to the village after the rough treatment he had experienced and in view of the stern warning he had received from the vigilantes. Juan was non-committal in his reply. " Ah, Senor, a man must visit the pueblo at times. Besides, one is a neighbor, and a neighbor has duties." This reference to Kate's unprotected position touched Jeffries. " You are a good fellow, Juan," he said, offering his hand ; " and after all it is unreasonable to expect you to keep out of town for six months. I do not think you incur much risk in coming. This much more serious business of Mr. Scott will occupy all the committee's attention." Juan's only reply was to shrug his shoulders and spread out the palms of his hands a gesture common enough among the Mexicans, and one which may mean anything or nothing. " Where is Carmelita ? " inquired the schoolmaster. " I have not seen her for nearly a week. She is not ill, I hope ? " Carmelita was Estudillo's little daughter, and had been a regular attendant at Jeffries' school up till a few days before. Juan explained that he had not liked to send her while he himself was in such bad odor at San Pablo. " Pooh, pooh ! " answered Jeffries. " You mustn't keep the child back for any such fancy as that. Let her come down to the picnic at Mr. Byrne's vineyard to-day. It will be a good beginning for her, for she can join the JUDGE LYNCH. 147 other children at play, and need not pass through the village at all." Juan promised that he would do so, and then, excusing himself, hurried away. As nearly as he could under- stand from the conversation he had heard at Morley's, the schoolmaster was to be made the victim of some witch-spell or sorcery, and the Mexican had no desire to be mixed up in any such uncanny experiments. So he went straight home. Jeffries took his hat and coat from the nail on which he had hung them when entering. He put them on and then hesitated a moment, looking around the room to make sure he had forgotten nothing. He had been up all night and had walked a considerable distance, besides under- going an unusual degree of excitement and emotion ;-yet he was conscious of neither fatigue nor drowsiness. Still, as a sacrifice to prudence, he delayed yet a moment while he searched a cupboard for something to eat. He found some bread, and breaking off a piece ate it stand- ing at the table. A glass of water finished his frugal meal, and then he extinguished the candle, wrapped his cloak closely round him, and went out into the shimmer- ing, uncertain light of the early dawn. Voices and laughter reached him as he crossed the plaza. The Spread Eagle was still open, and he peeped in as he passed. Byrne was no longer there, and Boone and most of the vigilantes had disappeared. Field, however, his terrier face ablaze with excitement, was still holding forth with immoderate gesticulation to a group of half a dozen men. Charley Whitehead yawned behind the bar, and Corvey lay stretched in a drunken slumber under the billiard table, where 148 JUDGE LYNCH. some one had charitably rolled him out of the way of tramping feet. Jeffries turned from the saloon and glanced up at the| hotel. There was no light in any of the windows, and he vaguely wondered which was Jack Scott's room. He had seen the young man go in, and concluded that he was there still. After such a night a man would need rest. Jeffries smiled grimly and passed on. Once more he struck into the sandy road, whose sur- face had been spurned by so many hurrying feet during the last twelve hours. The dawn was well advanced now, and the landscape looked ghastly and deserted in the pale morning light. Where the chaparral narrowed in close to the path it was still very dark, but in the clearing round the church everything was clearly visible. The door stood wide open as the sheriff had flung it when he had come out to confront the mob. Jeffries stepped aside through the gate in the picket fence and went up to the porch. His nerves were playing him no tricks and he gloried in their unwonted strength. There were a few drops of blood on the steps. They might have come from the sheriff or from Hank Dollett theirs were the only two casualties of the night assault. Jeffries had a constitutional antipathy to the sight of blood. He scraped up a few handfuls of sand and scattered it over the dark stains, pressing it down with his feet. Then he glanced at his watch. Five o'clock. Surely he need delay no longer. He could go to Mrs. Morley now, especially as she had urged him to come at once. He started across the clearing at a quicker pace. JUD GE L YNCH. 1 49 Something became entangled round his legs, nearly throwing him down. With a muttered exclamation he recovered himself, and stopped to examine the obstruc- tion. It was a riata, a long rope, and it lay there just as Jack had flung it from his neck when the committee had decided to reprieve him. The noose was widely stretched and gaped on the ground as if waiting for its prey. The sight seemed to discompose Jeffries, for he turned away with a shudder, and plunging once more into the chapar- ral, followed the steep road as it wound up to Morley's plateau. As he drew nearer to the house that held the woman for whom he had waited so long, Jeffries' spirits rose. The end was at hand, and it was not for him to scrutinize the means by which Fate had accomplished its purpose. Kate's summons could have but one meaning. Her stub- born pride was broken down at last ; she had appealed to him, and that appeal could mean nothing but a cry of capitulation. " So they rise who are not afraid to climb," he mut- tered, vigorously breasting the steep incline. " My dream will come true at last. Poor, weak woman ! Could she hope to resist her destiny ? " A turn in the path brought him in view of the house. There it stood, on the further edge of the clearing, dis- tinctly outlined in the faint morning light. Jeffries stopped and scanned it anxiously. Door and windows were alike blank and shut. There was no sign of life about the place. Could it be all a deception, a trick ? No; her letter was in his pocket; he had recognized the handwriting. Behind one of those darkened windows, expressionless as closed eyelids, Kate Morley was await- I 5 O JUD GE L YNCH. ing him. He emerged from the trees and stepped briskly across the plateau. The road ran perilously close to the gully, and Hainan could not avert his eyes from its depths. It exercised a morbid fascination upon him, and drew his gaze down- ward. The rocky sides were clothed with scrub and cactus, and the shadows of night still lay thickly in the abyss. Jeffries shivered as he looked. What a plunge for a man to take ! Was Dick Morley dead when he pitched headlong off that rock, or did death come to him among the cruel stones of that dim gulf ? It was a fright- ful fall. Certainly not less than a hundred feet from the summit of Table Rock. Jeffries had advanced within a few paces of the house before he looked up to verify anew his estimate of the depth ; as he raised his eyes his heart stood still, and a weight like lead chained his limbs motionless. All the blood in his body seemed to stagnate and curdle in his veins, and his knees trembled and shook beneath him. There, within a few yards of him, on the very -edge of Table Rock, stood Richard Morley. There was no illusion, nor deception possible. The light was abundant, and the features, the figure, the attitude of the dead man were unmistakable. " Does the grave give up its dead ? " gasped the school- master. This apparition slowly raised its right hand and pointed with accusing finger at Jeffries. " Murderer ! " The hollow, sepulchral voice gave added gravity to the formidable denunciation which seemed to thunder in Jeffries' ears with appalling volume of sound. He st-rove JUDGE LYNCH. 151 to articulate, he tried to raise his arm in deprecatory gesture, but the muscles refused to obey his will, and the tongue rattled .dryly in his mouth. With a faint moan the wretched man fell forward on his face and lay senseless. At the same instant the door of Morley's house opened and Jack sprang down the steps. Jimmy Ruggles joined him beside the prostrate body. " We've killed him, I'm afraid," cried the journalist, terrified at the result of the experiment. " No, no, he's only fainted," said Jack, after a hurried examination. " Now what do you think ? " "I think that we are just where we were before," answered Ruggles. " Then you do not see the effects of conscience in this signal overthrow ? " asked Scott, pointing to the prostrate form. " It may be conscience ; it may be only cowardice or weak nerves." " I don't agree with you," replied Jack. " But the ex- periment isn't over yet. The first thing is to bring this man to his senses again." At that moment voices reached the two friends from the chaparral path. " Here comes some people," said Jack, quickly. " They musn't see me at this, and they'd better not see you at all, just at present. Get into the house." " But we can't leave this poor fellow like that," ob- jected Ruggles. " They'll look after him. It's Smith ; I know his voice. Come." And Jack dragged the journalist back to the steps. Before the new-comers came out on the clearing I 5 2 JUD GE L YA T CH. the door was closed, and the first rays of the newly risen sun slanting through the trees, shone only on the red sand of the plateau and the dusty green of the stunted shrubs. Smith and Hank Dollett, who had agreed to clear away the cobwebs of the night by an early stroll, came along the path and almost stepped on Jeffries before they saw him. " It's the schoolmaster," cried the startled men, spring, ing back a pace " now what in thunder ? " "He isn't drunk anyhow," remarked Dollett, "as I'd say if it was any one else, and he isn't dead. Come, schoolmaster, brace up ; give an account of yourself." Jeffries raised to his feet between the two men, slowly opened his eyes. He kept his back turned toward Table Rock, and looked from one to- the other in a bewildered way. " What's the matter, Jeffries ? What's happened you ? " asked Smith. The schoolmaster caught his breath with an effort, and answered faintly, with a weak, shuddering sigh : " Take me home, please. Take me home. I've seen a shocking sight to-day." CHAPTER XVII. LITTLE business was done on the day following Dick Morley's murder. San Pablo was suffering from reaction, and her citizens, a large number of whom had been up all night, lounged vacantly about the plaza, or occupied chairs on the hotel veranda, where they smoked or chewed, as taste impelled them, and discussed the events of the past twenty-four hours. It was the day of the school picnic, too ; always a. festival of importance in the village, and it was some- thing to see the merry groups of children collecting in the square and starting for the vineyard in charge of Mr. Jeffries a merry, lightrhearted band, to which the recent tragedy afforded subject for conversation, without in the least affecting its prevailing high spirits. " The schoolmaster seems to have got over his fit bravely," remarked Dollett to Smith, as the two men watched the procession forming in the plaza. "Jeffries is a queer snoozer," returned the storekeeper, removing the cigar from his lips to see if it burned true. " He's always having visions and he gets over them again. Not but what I'll confess that that special corre- spondent from 'Frisco looks enough like Drunken Dick to give any man a turn if he came across him unexpectedly." " It is queer how much one man may look like another," replied Dollett. " Do you reckon the schoolmaster saw him ? " I 5 4 JUD GE L YNCH. " It seems like it," answered Smith. " He swore he had seen Morley but of course all that business about his being on the rock was nothing but spiritualist trim- mings. What would Mr. Ruggles be doing stuck up there, even if he was anywhere around that hour of the morning, which I doubt." Hainan Jeffries certainly showed no signs of the shock he had experienced a few hours before, and he shep- herded his little flock out of San Pablo as composedly as though there was nothing on his mind but the prospect of a day of pleasure. Punctually at 12 o'clock, Mr. Byrne drew up his hand- some pair of bay horses at the hotel entrance. The Hon. Pat was clean and rosy, and freshly shaven. There were no traces of a sleepless night about him. His black frock coat a garment which no stress of southern sun could ever persuade him to lay aside was thoroughly orthodox. His tall hat was neatly brushed, and his whole appearance showed that he had made a toilet for the occasion. He even wore a flower in his buttonhole, and the anxious way in which he occasionally adjusted it proved that the ornament was an unwonted care. Mr. Byrne had called by appointment to drive Miss Carrie Van Zandt over to the vineyard. The young lady presently appeared, looking cool and pretty in a fresh muslin dress, and wearing a broad shade hat adorned with ribbons, tilted forward over her face till the brim almost rested on the tip of her aspiring little nose. Carrie could not boast much regularity of feature, but youth, health, and unfailing spirits, united with a delicate complexion, and a frank, joyous expression, to make her a very attractive girl. JUDGE LYNCH. 155 Lucy came to the door to see her friend start, and in reply to Mr. Byrne's inquiry, told him that her father was quite comfortable, and that Dr. Meares had promised that he should be allowed to get up later in the day. This was good news to the worthy Irishman, and his spirits rose accordingly. " An' that's a good hearin'? " he said heartily. " I tell ye, last night was a howly terror, but sure, look at it now it's all gone/' If he meant the night, he was assuredly within the truth, for the full glare of the noonday sun lay upon everything, and it was impossible not 'to feel that the dangers of the darkness must have vanished with its shadows. "Good-by, dear," called Lucy, as Mr. Byrne helped Carrie into the carriage and carefully disposed lap-robe and duster so as to guard the freshness of her toilet from the effects of a three-mile drive over the powdery roads "good-by, dear, and I hope you'll have a good time." " If you'd only think better of it and come yourself, Miss Lucy, there's lashins and lavins of room for ye, an' its mesilf 'ud only be too proud and happy to have two such young ladies, wan on each side of me, and be here like a rose between two thorns." Both the girls laughed heartily at the Hon. Pat's in- verted compliment, and he drove off covered with confu- sion, and profoundly conscious that he had not said exactly what he had intended. Carrie soon rallied him out of his temporary embarrass- ment. She was anxious to know if he thought that Jack Scott was still in any danger, and if so what steps could be taken for the young man's protection. I 5 6 JUD GE L YNCH. On this point Mr. Byrne speedily reassured her. In his opinion the fiercer passions of the mob had cooled clown since the night before, and though he admitted that it would be well if Jack could run down the murderer, he did not think his life would be sacrificed to his failure. " It's all this way, me dear young lady," he said. " If so be as the boys are left alone an' not stirred up more betune this an' to-night, they'll meet him at the Knob and chin a bit, and end by handing him over to the sheriff." " But if they are stirred up," persisted Carrie. " In that case no one can tell what'll happen. It'll be last night over agin, an' maybe mightn't chance to have as lucky an indin. But, sure, who's to stir thim up?" he added cheerfully. " Not me nor you, I'm sure, nor any wan else I can think of." " Mr. Field seemed very bitter about it," said the girl, meditatively. " Mr. Field, me dear young lady, is a gintleman.and a scholar," answered Byrne ; " not but what I can't deny he's been doin' more incinerary writin' since this vigi- lance committee started nor I altogether approve of." " I wonder you let him continue to edit your paper, then," remarked Carrie. Mr. Byrne closed his right eye and his face assumed an expression of deep astuteness. " The Indepindint must come out, an' there's only two men in the town capable of bringin' it out. Wan is Chamberlain Field, and one is Jack Scott. Now av I were to sack Field to-day and they was to hang Scott to- night which God forbid, but I say av they were to where'd I be ? I'd be lift, that's where I'd be. But JUDGE LYNCH. 157 wait till this throuble is over an' I can git a new editor down from the bay, an' I'll sack Foxy so quick it'll mek his head swim." " I see," she replied, scarcely able to suppress a smile at her companion's suddenly assumed air of wisdom. " Av coorse ye do, my dear young lady," he replied. " I must be on the safe side, but I don't think they'll hang Jack this time." " If there is any danger," said Carrie meditatively, " I should think the best thing he could do would be to escape." " The divil a worse I ax yer pardon, me dear young lady it's the very worst thing he cud do. If they found it out they'd shoot him on sight, and if they thought he'd desaved them in what he said last night it isn't this side o' the boorder o' San Antonio County they'd stop huntin' him. But Jack's a lad of his word, an' a brave lad into the bargain. He'll thry no such foolish thrick as that." On the whole, Carrie found Mr. Byrne's opinion decid- edly consolatory, and embraced it for the same reason, if not with the same degree of faith that many people embrace religion, because it was comforting. As they passed the church Mr. Byrne reined in for a moment and remarked : " There's the edifice that was the centre of all the thrubble last night." " The edifice ! " repeated Carrie, with great contempt. " No one but you Californians would ever dream of calling such a thing an edifice. Isn't it built of wood ? " " Well," replied Byrne, " I'm not o' their way o' I 5 8 JUD GE L YNCH. thinkin' mesilf, but there's a many respectable men do all the prayin' they find time for inside them four walls." " Yes," said Carrie, " they pray in it by day and batter it down at night ; now they wouldn't do that to a stone church. They's more sanctity about it." " Yes, there's a heap more sanctity in stone nor in wood when ye come at it wid a batterin' ram," assented Byrne. "That isn't what I mean," objected Carrie. "Who could ever feel religious in a frame church ? and just think how wooden the organ must sound ! " " Maybe it would, but there's no organ," remarked Byrne. " No organ ! " cried Carrie. " That's just like you Californians. How do you ever expect to get to heaven without an organ ? " " Ye must ax me somethn' aisier, my dear young lady," replied Byrne, and, giving the bays the rein, the church was soon left behind. " You are going to show Mr. Ruggles over your vine- yard to-day, are you not ? " inquired Carrie, after a short silence. " I'm afeard I won't be able to wait very long. I have to go on to San Antonio this afternoon," answered the Irishman. " But I didn't know as ye knew anything about Mr. Ruggles." " Why, certainly I do," answered Carrie. " I knew him in 'Frisco, and I met him afterwards on the stage and rode with him the whole way from Orvietas to San Miguel." " Did ye now, me dear young lady ? " returned the JUDGE L YNCH. \ 59 Hon. Pat. " I'm sure ye med the journey mighty pleas- ant for him." " Really, Mr. Byrnes," began Carrie. "Byrne, me dear lady, Byrne," he interrupted. " There's only wan of me." " Mr. Byrne then. I never feel quite sure whether you are laughing at me or not." "Laugh," protested Pat; "why should I laugh? I smile wid pleasure at havin' the likes of ye to talk to, maybe." "There you are again," rejoined she. "You Califor- nians are so absurdly complimentary." "Sure soft speeches must be the breath of our nostrils," returned Pat gallantly, " when we see a star from the east come to visit us." " Now, now, Mr. Byrne, this will never do," was Car- rie's laughing remonstrance. " As a married man " "An' how d'ye know I'm a married man? '' he inter- rupted. " Do you think I could have been twenty-four hours in San Pablo without making the acquaintance of your charming little boy ? " " The young vilyan," exclaimed Byrne, with an attempt at mock indignation to hide his intense pride. " Is it come to this that me own boy is beginning to cut his ould father out already ? But this time there's no harm done. I'm a widower." " So is Sheriff Starkweather," remarked Carrie. " Upon my word I must take care to not lose my heart to any of you Californians. You seem to get rid of your wives too promptly." Pat laughed and changed the subject. He had wheeled 1 60 JUD GE L YNCH. his horses into a narrow track bordering the foothills to the left, and began to explain the situation of the vine- yard. Carrie, who recognized the place as that at which she had made a wrong turning the night before, was quietly amused. Her companion soon noticed this. " Now it's you's laughin' at me, an' sarve me right," he said. " No, I assure you," the girl hastened to explain. " I was laughing at my own thoughts. But I am paying attention, really. Tell me what is that odd-looking hill, taller than the others ? " " That's Lone Pine Knob," he answered, and the reply immediately brought Miss Van Zandt's vagrant fancies home. If Byrne were wrong ; if the mob still nursed its ven- geance ; if some one were found to inflame the passions of the vigilantes and work upon their feelings, how tragically might end this fair summer day! Carrie thought of Hainan Jeffries and shuddered. They had reached the entrance to the vineyard and there Mr. Byrne left the carriage in charge of a Mexican helper, and proceeded to escort Miss Van Zandt up the hill. The vines, trained on their poles, and sometimes on convenient trees or shrubs, grew rank and luxuriant, often so tall as to form regular fences over which Miss Van Zandt could not look. The vineyard was much neglected, as Mr. Byrne owned with a sigh, but to the girl it was the more picturesque on that account, and the rich red and purple clusters nestling among the green leaves, afforded the eye a feast of color which Carrie was artist enough to appreciate. To the Hon. Pat all this vegetation was JUDGE LYNCH. l6l merely good property running to waste, and he groaned in spirit and cursed the strikers under his breath. Voices and laughter, echoing through the leafy screens, showed that they had reached the headquarters of the picnic. Miss Van Zandt put her fingers on her Jip to im- press caution on her companion, and peeping through a mass of vines was rewarded with a pretty sight. There was an open space of perhaps half an acre in extent and the centre of it was occupied by a kind of sunken cellar, the bricked face of which, with its massive grating of iron bars, was directly opposite to her. The gate stood open 'now, showing the excavation, which was quite extensive, and was lined throughout with brick. The interior looked dim and cool, in pleasant contrast to the garish sunshine on the hillside. Mr. Byrne had caused this cellar to be dug in his vineyard, and used it sometimes as a wine vault and sometimes for other pur- poses, but it was empty now. There were about forty children on the ground, some picking grapes, though no doubt this amusement had already palled to a great extent, for the majority were gathered round a boy, whom the Hon. Pat recognized as his son and heir, who was haranguing the group with much earnestness and extravagant gesticulation. " D'ye mind that now ? " chuckled the father with keen appreciation, and forgetting himself so far as to emphasize his remark by a dig of the elbow in his com- panion's ribs. " He's a natural born boss. Blessed if he ain't." Carrie withdrew a little from Mr. Byrne's peril- ous neighborhood and looked round for Mr. Jeffries. There he was, seated on the shady side of a large pile of vine poles, and reading apparently, though he had a book 1 62 JUDGE LYNCH. on his knee, but with his eyes fixed on the ground, either sleeping or buried in his own thoughts. "Mr. Jeffries does not seem very lively," remarked Carrie, calling Mr. Byrne's attention to the attitude of the schoolmaster. " Ah, he's quare," responded the Hon. Pat. He does be dramin' more nor half his time, an' whin he isn't dramin' he's consoortin' with spirits. He's not quite right." " I suppose we may as well go on and join them," said Carrie, after she had watched the group for a moment longer. " Just as ye plaze, me dear young lady," replied Byrne, " but I think I'll lave ye for awhile. Mr. Ruggles is somewhere about the place, and I've got to see that he's all right. I'll look in on ye agen, before I start for San Antonio." He raised his hat with the exaggerated air of politeness which was habitual with him, and disappeared among the vines. The girl turned again as soon as he was out of sight to look at the children. Under the leadership of Pat they had drawn closer to the leafy screen behind which Miss Van Zandt was standing. Jeffries still sat wrapt and motionless. " Now, kids," cried young Byrne's shrill voice. " I'll show you a bully game. You hear me ? " " What is it ? " asked a small tow-headed youngster, whose widely opened eyes seemed always on the lookout for something new. "Murder and lynching," was Pat's startling reply. " Now, Johnny, here's your pistol, and you hold it so." He put a stick into the boy's hand, who grasped it with that readiness of make-believe which for childhood trans- JUDGE LYNCH. 163 forms everything into reality. Young Pat proceeded to organize his game. " You're to be the murdered man," he went on, select- ing a boy to fill the role of victim, " and when he shoots you have to tumble over and squirm so." Carrie glanced at Jeffries. He was not asleep, for his eyes were open, but at the distance at which she stood his words, if he uttered any, were inaudible. But he took no notice of the children. The game was in full progress. The assassin was posted under the shelter of a neighboring vine ; the victim was seated at a few paces' distance, smoking an imaginary pipe. An unforeseen difficulty occurred to a little dark-eyed maiden. " How will he know when he's shot ? " she asked. Pat junior was equal to the emergency. " Johnny must make a click with his tongue, same as if he was driving a horse," replied the inventor of the game. " I know. I'd do the shooting myself only I'd have to be lynched, and then I wouldn't be able to show you how to do it properly." Carrie did not altogether approve of this sport, and felt as if she ought to interfere, but she did not move. She was conscious of a thrill of the nerves, an excited desire to see what would come next, and she laughed and called herself as very a child as any there, but she held her breath and waited for young Pat's next: order. " Shoot ! " cried the boy. A click came from the ambush, a wild, confused tum- ble was executed by the victim, and a general rush for- ward by the children. Evidently the game was popular. The murderer was seized and dragged from his lair 164 JUDGE LYNCH. amid wild cries of " Lynch, lynch him ! " and young Patl slipped round Johnny's neck a tendril of vine which he had noosed in imitation of a rope. The sudden movement and the shouts had aroused the schoolmaster. He came forward quickly as he discov-j ered the import of the game. " For shame, for shame, children ! " he cried. " Drop that, Byrne : drop that this instant. How dare you make a burlesque of that horrible scene ? " "We're only playing," expostulated Pat, not relishing this interruption of his sport. " Playing ! " echoed Jeffries, passionately : " what a world is this where the very children play at tragedy! If you must imitate your elders find some game which reflects the brighter side of our natures not the black- est." " I'm on my pa's land," grumbled young Byrne, evi- dently disposed to mutiny, but the schoolmaster was rein- forced by the appearance of Carrie. " Mr. Jeffries is right, children," she said as she came forward. " That isn't a pretty game at all." The schoolmaster took her interference strangely. He turned away without a word and resumed the place he had left in the shade of the vine-poles. Miss Van Zandt drew back a little with an offended movement. "But of course you are in Mr. Jeffries' charge, not in mine," she continued. Hainan heard the remark and hastened to apologize. "I beg your pardon, Miss Van Zandt," he said; "I intended no disrespect. If you would be kind enough to take the children off my hands for half an hour it would be a real charity. I have a bad headache and really JUDGE LYNCH. 165 should not be held accountable for what I say or do to- day." This explanation was ample to the kind-hearted girl. " I am very sorry your head aches, Mr. Jeffries," she said. " I will gladly play with the little ones for half an hour or so ; I came here expecting it. Come along," she continued, as the schoolmaster remained silent; "let us play a pretty game that the little girls can join in. Why not hide and seek ? " This suggestion was hailed with enthusiasm, and Carrie went on : " One of the girls shall hide and the boy that finds her shall kiss her." " All right ! " cried Pat Byrne. " You hide, Car- melita." " Some one's sure to find me," objected the dark-eyed little maiden. "That's all right," rejoined young Pat. " I'll find you, and you like kissing me ; you know you do." " Now she must have a fair start and time enough to hide herself," urged Carrie, as the Mexican child van- ished down one of the vine-bordered alleys. In a few minutes Miss Van Zandt led the laughing troop in pursuit, and the open space around the vault was deserted save for the dark figure of Jeffries, recumbent in the shadow. CHAPTER XVIII. THE schoolmaster lay silent and motionless, with his face turned away from the glare of the sun. He did not move even when Juan Estudillo appeared among the vines and passed within a few yards. Juan had been at the vineyard all the morning, but had kept himself in the background with a modesty not unnatural in a man who had been so unceremoniously ejected from the town within a week. But he had been anxious to assure him- self that the sins of the father had not been visited on the child in the person of his little Carmelita, and he had noticed with pleasure that the girl had been received by her schoolfellows on a footing of perfect equality. Satisfied as to Carmelita, Juan proceeded to .consult his own comfort in his own way. He selected a shady nook, where he reclined at his ease and smoked husk cig- arettes with that appreciation of utter laziness which is characteristic of his race. Presently the cigarette dropped from his fingers ; his eyes closed, his head nodded, and Juan Estudillo was soon deep in the siesta to which every true-born Mexican loves to treat himself at midday. Meanwhile Jeffries lay motionless, and the laughter of the children, faintly heard in the distance, seemed only to make this part of the vineyard appear more lone- some. Voices were heard along one of the terraces, and Mr. 166 JUDGE LYNCH. 1 67 Byrne appeared, talking in an animated manner with Jimmy Ruggles. " Av ye had seen him, Mr. Ruggles," the worthy Irish- man was saying ; " av ye had seen him, ye wouldn't won- der. Ye're as like Dick Morley as two as two " Mr. Byrne looked round for a similie " as two grapes, an' liker." " So every one that meets me tells me," answered Jimmy. " He was my cousin, you know." "Mr. Ruggles," remarked Byrne impressively; "it isn't given to every man to have a cousin as like him as two samples out o' the same bottle, barrin' ye were twins, which wudn't happen often. An' it isn't given to every man to meet that similar cousin promiscuous this way, the day after the other fellow was laid out as stiff as I seen Dick Morley." " I suppose it must have an odd effect," replied Rug- gles, with the air of a man who was tired of the subject. "You've a fine show of grapes here." " I wish I'd as good a show to get them gathered," replied Byrne. "I'm sorry your vineyard isn't working," said the young man sympathetically. " An' faith, me frind," retorted Byrne, " av ye're any sorrier for that same nor I am, I'm afraid it has hurt yer appetite." "The place seems quite lonesome, compared with the other vineyards I have seen," remarked Ruggles. " An' just now it ought to be as busy as a hive o' bees in swarmin' time," replied Byrne. " But it is what ye might call retired in an idle spell. The nearest house is where me overseer lives, half a mile away. The school 1 68 JUDGE LYNCH. children are picknickin' here to-day, but in a gineral way it's a lonesome spot enough. I don't see where Mr. Field can be, though. He should be here writin' up the picnic." " Don't let me detain you, Mr. Byrne," said Ruggles. " You told me you had to go to San Antonio to-day, and I suppose you ought soon to be starting." "Well, thank ye, Mr. Ruggles, av ye think ye can mek out \vidout me. I have to stop at the overseer's house and go over some accounts vvid him afore I start. And maybe I'll see Field there, and if I do I'll send him to ye.'' "Much obliged," returned Ruggles. "I'll get along first rate. Au revoir" "The same to you and many of them," replied Pat, climbing the terrace and plunging into the wilderness of vines. " I'd like to put that fellow in a novel," soliloquized Ruggles, as he picked a few grapes ; " he's the most pompous, good-hearted, shrewd, simple, fantastic creature it has ever been my lot to meet." And so pondering, Mr. Ruggles strolled off along the terraces, thereby just missing Mr. Chamberlain Field, who arrived post-haste in search of him, and running'past the corner of the vine poles, fairly stumbled over Haman Jeffries, who still lay half hidden in their shadow. " Sakes alive ! " exclaimed the editor, recoiling a step "you've got a shocking bad habit of lying around under folks' feet of late. Dollett tells me he tumbled over you on the plateau this morning." " Tin a little tired, Mr. Field," returned Jeffries, rous- ing himself and dusting small particles of clay from his black garments. JUDGE LYNCH. 169 " And you were more than a little tired when Smith and Dollett struck you," answered Field. " Say, have you seen Mr. Ruggles anywhere around ? I met the Hon. Pat just now and he told me he left him right here." "Who's Mr. Ruggles?" inquired the schoolmaster. "Oh, come out of your dream," returned the editor. " Do you mean to say that you haven't heard of the San Francisco correspondent who arrived this morn- ing?" " I have heard that there was such a gehtleman ex- pected," replied the schoolmaster, " but I haven't seen him, and should not know him if I had." "Oh, yes, you would," returned the editor. "If you saw him, you couldn't fail to remark him. He's as like Dick Morley as two peas." " Like the murdered man," cried Jeffries, startled. " Exactly," repeated the other; "so like he might be the dead man come to life again." "The dead man come to life," echoed Hainan in an awe-stricken whisper " Do dead men ever come to life ? " " I guass not," returned Field, " at least not in my experience ; I only used a figure of speech." " He might be the dead man come to life," mused Jeffries in the same tone. " So, Mr. Field, if you were to meet Richard Morley in the flesh outside his own door for instance on the very rock he was shot from " "Is that what gave you your fit this morning?" broke in the editor. "I heard the boys talking about it, and I thought you must have seen something." " If he pointed his finger at you," pursued Jeffries, I/O JUDGE LYNCH. without heeding the interruption, "if he spoke of his death his murder " " Don't talk like that," cried Field with a shiver. "What awful ideas you have! You make my flesh creep." Jeffries' face was very pale ; he was biting his lip and clenching his hands spasmodically, wrestling with his gloomy thoughts as though they were some tangible foe. " No, no/' he muttered at length, " as you say, the dead never return. And if you met Richard Morley as you thought, you would have known that it could only have been this Mr. Ruggles, who bears such an extraordi- nary resemblance to him." "Of course," replied Field. " I should take the most natu'ral and rational solution of any apparition." " Of course, of course," assented Jeffries, "so will I I mean so should I." " Besides," added Field, " a word or two would show Ruggles for what he was." " Ah, but the words were not such as Ruggles or any other stranger would use," cried the schoolmaster eagerly. " They were such as the dead man might have spoken if" " If what ! " asked Field, after waiting a moment in vain for the other to complete his sentence. " What on earth are you talking about ? Have you seen a ghost ? " Jeffries recovered himself with an effort. " Never mind me," he said, with an attempt at light- ness. " I am I have been thinking and speculating." " Ah, that accounts," rejoined the editor, with a coarse laugh. " I wasn't myself for a week after I dabbled in mining stock." JUDGE LYNCH. 171 Haman shivered slightly, but did not reply. " Now look here, Jeffries," pursued Field, not un- kindly ; " you're ill and out of sorts. Take a drop of this," and he produced a capacious flask from his pocket. "Thank you, Mr. Field; I never drink," answered the schoolmaster. " Well, I do," returned the editor, suiting the action to the word and swallowing a generous draught of the liquor, " and if you had more to do with spirits of this kind and less with spirits of of the other kind, it's my opinion you'd be a happier and a healthier man." Jeffries did not discuss the point. " We will walk on if you wish," he said ; " we may meet Mr. Ruggles somewhere in the vineyard, and after what you have told me I confess I am curious to see him. Besides, I must look after the children. Miss Van Zandt has very kindly taken them away and is amusing them better than I could, I don't doubt; but I must not impose on good-nature and leave them all day on her hands." " Oh, you can amuse kids with any man I ever saw." rejoined Field, laughing, " though how you do it puzzles me. I shouldn't think you were cut for that sort of thing. Perhaps you can tell them ghost stories." The two men moved off together, but Field stopped as he noticed Juan Estudillo sleeping under a bower of vines. " There's that cussed greaser ! " he cried. " I wonder the fellow has the gall to show his nose here after what happened last week. Let's roust him out of that and give him a good scare and send him back to his hog-pen of a ranch where he belongs." 1 72 JUDGE L YNCH. " No, no, let him sleep," remonstrated Jeffries gently. " The poor fellow's doing no harm there ; and besides his little girl is at the picnic, and most likely he has come to look after her." " I don't think I'm. doing my duty as a member of the vigilance committee in not seeing its sentences re- spected," grumbled Field, yielding the point the more readily that he was personally somewhat afraid of the Mexican, and saw that in the present case he could not count on the schoolmaster's assistance. " I don't see the use of ^a committee at all, if it isn't going to assert itself. Here first of all is a greaser warned out of town for six months, and back again within the week ; and then Jack Scott let walk off with a rope round his neck, and the bloodiest murder that has ever stained San Pablo's annals goes unavenged." Jeffries stopped suddenly and gripped the other's arm. "Unavenged ! What do you mean ? " he cried. " Do you think Jack Scott has escaped? The roads should have been watched the place should have been guarded the" "Oh, no; I don't mean that," interrupted Field. " He'll show up right enough. I saw him to-day for the matter of that. But I don't think that the boys'll feel like hanging him when they've once let him go." "But they must, they shall!" shouted Jeffries vehe- mently. " They have sworn they must remember their oaths. They will make themselves a laughing-stock to the whole community." " Well, no doubt if any one takes the trouble to work them up to the point they'll carry it through," replied Field, " but I don't see who's going to do that." JUDGE LYNCH. 173 " Chamberlain Field," said Jeffries, speaking with a concentration that bore down all opposition in the other's shallow nature ; " I tell you Richard Morley's death must be avenged, and no paltry compassion on the part of the committee shall save Scott's life. He shall hang for that murder you mark my words I say he shall hang for it ! " CHAPTER XIX. MR. RUGGLES had strolled in solitude for some distance along the terrace, when he became conscious of footsteps and a rustling noise a few paces in front of him. He continued in the direction of the sound, and, peering through the leaves, he saw a pretty picture. Carrie Van Zandt, her eyes sparkling with enjoyment and her cheeks flushed with exercise, had sunk down in a vine-clad recess, where she gathered her muslin skirts into as small a compass as possible, disposed the branches so as to conceal the hiding place she had chosen, and stifling her laughter as best she could, she lay silent but alert, peeping back every now and then with the quick, expectant glance proper to any hunted creature. Miss Van Zandt had occupied Mr. Ruggles' thoughts a good deal for some time past, and he considered himself very fortunate to find her thus couched in his path like a vineyard dryad. He was in no hurry to advance, but stood and admired her for several minutes, while he wondered what she could be about. " She looks as if she were hiding from some one," he pondered. " It can't be from me, because she hasn't seen me." " Cuckoo ! " cried Carrie, musically, but Mr. Ruggles knew that this apparently irrelevant observation was not addressed to him, for the girl was still looking behind her. " That's very odd," he thought; "if I were really the *74 JUDGE LYNCH. 1 75 Californian she imagines me, I could turn around and have a fling at the peculiarities of * you New Yorkers,' as she shows them." Then he scrambled through and under the interlacing vines till he reached the alley in which the young lady was lurking. In spite of his efforts his approach had been by no means noiseless, and Carrie was on the watch as he emerged. " Hush ; go away," she cried as soon as she recognized, the intruder ; " I'm hiding." " Are you ? " returned Jimmy coolly, " then I've found you." "That's not fair," she expostulated. " You are not in the game." " Can't I come in ? " he pleaded. " The idea ! " she cried, laughing and blushing ; " a big man like you. Besides you saw me hide. You can't find me." " On the contrary," he argued, " if I hadn't seen you hide, I probably couldn't have found you." "How you tease," said Carrie, petulantly. " You know I expected to find you at the picnic," he went on. " Oh, then, I suppose you're content," she replied. "Though I'm sure I can't see what a man wants at a children's excursion." " I'm supposed to be looking at the vineyard," he ex- plained. " Oh, indeed, why don't you look at it then ? " was the young lady's obvious retort. " I prefer looking at you," answered the journalist, no whit discomposed. 1 76 JUDGE LYNCH. Carrie found herself baffled, and was constrained to change the subject. " Oh, dear, those terrible children," she exclaimed ; " what an age they are ! I do believe they've given me up." " You speak as if you were an intoxicant," remarked Ruggles, smiling. " Or a conundrum," she retorted ; " which am I ? " " Both, I think." " Neither, thank you." The conversation languished for a moment, and Carrie, discovering that a trim little buttoned gaiter was more visible than she considered it ought to be, drew it back under the protecting muslin. " I suppose those children are looking for you," remarked Ruggles, as the young voices came floating down among the terraces. " Yes, the poor little oafs," replied Carrie, " in every direction but the right one. They are having a terrible search, and you have found me standing still." " Excuse me," he returned, " I have looked for you longer than any of them." " Nonsense," she exclaimed, honestly puzzled. " No nonsense at all," said Jimmy. " I met you in San Francisco, didn't I ? " " If you can call that a meeting," she replied, with a laugh, " two dances and one ice all run to liquid." " No wonder, I was trying all the evening to melt the ice," he returned. " Well, apparently you succeeded." " I succeeded so far," rejoined Ruggles, " that I dis- covered you were going to visit friends in Southern California." JUDGE LYNCH. 1 77 " A great discovery, truly," remarked Miss Van Zandt, with a contemptuous air that was, perhaps, a little over- done. " That's what I thought," responded Jimmy, " and accordingly I set to work to convince our managing editor that the Summons had too long neglected a great and growing industry of the State." " What on earth has that to do with me ? " asked Carrie, opening her blue eyes in unaffected bewilderment. "It was three days after I met you at the ball that I was detailed to write up the vineyards," explained the journalist. Carrie could not help looking pleased, though she endeavored to conceal it by an affectation of incredulity. " Not really ? " she exclaimed. " Do you mean to tell me that our meeting on the Orvietas coach was not chance ? " " No more than our meeting at San Pablo," he replied coolly. " Well, I'm sure ! " exclaimed Carrie. " Are you ? I wish I were/' "Certainly, you Californians are the most extraordi- nary people," remarked the girl. " So you see," went on Ruggles, " I am better entitled to find you than any of those children, who have only been looking for you for a few minntes." Miss Van Zandt found her intrenchments were being carried one after another by this very straightforward young man. She tried evasion. " They are such nice children, if you only knew them." " And I am such a nice young man, if you only knew me." 12 178 JUDGE LYNCH. " You Californians are the most conceited people in the world," retorted Carrie, falling back on her favorite formula. " No wonder," rejoined Ruggles, briskly ; " look at the climate we live in." " Well, you didn't make it," said the girl. " Granted," replied the journalist ; " but we advertise it." ; This calm assumption seemed to try Miss Van Zandt's patience. " That is just like you again," she remarked. " No one ever heard a New Yorker boast of his climate." "For obvious and sufficient reasons," he retorted. " Who'd boast of a climate where the thermometer ranges from ten below zero to one hundred in the shade ? " " Bother the thermometer ! " "Certainly," acquiesced Ruggles; "when I lived in] New York it frequently bothered me." " Have you ever lived in New York? " she asked some- what surprised. He nodded. "You never told me that," pursued the young lady. "You never asked me," he replied. " How long did you live there ? " inquired Carrie. " Off and on for about twenty-six years," he answered with exasperating calmness. " What on earth do you mean ? " asked Miss Van Zandt, mentally endeavoring to subtract a quarter of a century from the youthful face and figure before her, and considerably puzzled by the apparent result. " I was born there, and there I lived most of my life," explained Ruggles. JUDGE LYNCH. " Now, Mr. Ruggles," said Carrie, rising indignantly, " I call that real mean. How dare you pose as a genuine California!! as a " " As a product of the glorious climate ? " interrupted the journalist laughing. " I did nothing of the sort. You included me in your criticism of ' you Californians,' and I was too polite to contradict a lady." " I've a great mind never to speak to you again," said Carrie; but she resumed her seat in her vine-clad nest. "Because I'm not a California!! ? " expostulated Jimmy. "Don't be so cruel. I've been on the coast for six years and I vote here." The voices of the children, which had floated down at intervals from the upper terraces, now sounded nearer and nearer. The little ones were apparently searching the alley in which Miss Van Zandt was hidden, and the shouts and laughter swelled in volume and distinctness. The pack was evidently in full cry. " Now they'll find me to a certainty," remarked Carrie. " Yes, worse luck," replied Ruggles. " I wonder if I couldn't go and throw them off on a false scent ? " " You mustn't do anything of the sort. They've had a long search, and they deserve to find me," saicl Carrie. Mr. Ruggles appeared undecided ; but the next mo- ment the whole band appeared, dashing along the ter- race, and led by young Byrne. The boy's quick eyes detected Miss Van Zandt's light dress in an instant. "There she is, there she is," he cried, "and she isn't hidden a bit." "That's because she's found," remarked Ruggles with a superior smile. 1 80 JUD GE L YNCH. "Who found her ? " cried Pat eagerly. " I had that pleasure," replied the journalist. Miss Van Zandt dreaded the next question, and when it came it froze her with horror. " Have you kissed her yet?" " Little boy, hold your tongue," cried Carrie indignantly. Ruggles smothered a laugh and looked mischievous. " Is that part of the game ? " he asked. " That's what she said," replied the unabashed Pat. " She got up the game." " You awful child ! " exclaimed Carrie. " If you say another word I'll box your ears." " Far be it from me to dispute the arrangements of the fair mistress of the revels," said Ruggles, advancing a step. " Mr. Ruggles ! How dare you ? That's enough ! " "But I haven't begun yet," replied the incorrigible Ruggles. Carrie was fairly at bay. Her cheeks were crimson and she had drawn back as far as she could into the little recess among the vines. It was an embarrassing situation, but the girl was so fully alive to its ludicrous side that it was with difficulty she could command her countenance so as to affect anger, and any attempt at dignity was out of the question. "You naughty children," she cried to little Pat and his companions, who had formed a ring outside and stood looking on, grinning broadly, " there's nothing to laugh at ; " and as she said it she laughed herself. Ruggles came forward into the arbor. " Now, Mr. Ruggles," she remonstrated, " I shall be very angry." Mr. Ruggles caught her outstretched hand and kissed it. JUDGE LYNCH. l8l " I must be content to compromise on this," he remarked. She snatched her hand indignantly away, " How dare you ? " she cried. " What do you take me for ? " " I'd like to take you for better or worse." He was very close to her, and there was an earnest ring in his voice and a serious meaning in his eyes which did not escape Miss Van Zandt. Her laugh was a little forced as she replied : " You'd better take care what you say, or I may take you at your word." Ruggles kept up the fiction of jest, but the graver emotion showed through his playfulness. " You have wonderfully taking ways, and this will be the happiest day of my life if they will really lead you so far." Miss Van Zandt's eyes fell, and her reply was inau- dible. Pat looked on critically from a little distance. " They're sparking," he remarked. " Are they really ? " inquired Carmelita, with open- eyed interest. " You bet they are," returned young Pat, dogmatically. " I know. By-and-by when I've time I'll show you how it's done. Come on ; let's hide and seek again. We'll get no more good of her to-day." Young Byrne was right. Carrie Van Zandt's interest in the picnic was over. When the children had scattered again among the terraces she walked slowly home across the vineyard with Ruggles, and the westering sun, as it bathed the foothills with its radiance, saw no happier couple in all California. CHAPTER XX. " CUCKOO," cried little Carmelita, peeping out between the bars of the heavy gate. She had selected Mr. Byrne's wine vault as a cool and altogether suitable hid- ing place, and had crept in. pulling the grated door behind her. Now she began to fear that she had been needlessly successful in concealing herself, for though the terraces resounded with the children's voices no one came near her. She did not wish to escape detection she was even willing to be found soon, especially if young Byrne were the discoverer, but if no one else came near her where was the fun of hiding at all ? So little Carmelita cried " Cuckoo ! " and scanned the limited area visible from her lair with eager eyes. The first figures that crossed her range of vision were those of Field and Jeffries. They came along one of the terraces, and on reaching the open space in front of the vault they halted and looked about them. " I believe that young Ruggles has gone home," remarked Field. " I've been over half the vineyard and seen no sign of him." " Very likely," replied Jeffries, indifferently. "I must get the children together now. They're to have tea at the overseer's house, and go home from there. It's time they started." ""Cuckoo," cried Carmelita, who was waxing wofully impatient. 182 JUDGE LYNCH. 183 "They're round here now," said Field. "I heard one of them just then." Carmelita's signal had at last reached the ears it was intended for, and young Byrne dashed into the glade with half a dozen youngsters at his heels. "I heard her," shouted Pat. "She must be round here somewhere." "There's Mr. Jeffries," cried another boy. " Say, Mr. Jeffries, have you seen Carmelita ? " "Shut up!" commanded Pat. "'Taint fair to ask questions. Every one for himself. That's what my Pa says." The children scattered among the vines in eager search, but were soon brought back by a view-halloo from young Pat. " There she is ! I've found her, kids. Come out, Car- melita." Carmelita, nothing loath, attempted to obey and pushed with all her strength against the gate, but it resisted her efforts. " I can't," said the child. " I can't open the door." " Why, you've never been and pulled that gate to, have you ? " cried Pat with evident concern. " It has a catch lock, and my Pa says there ain't a key in San Pablo will open it, except his own." This discouraging information wrung a doleful cry from the little Mexican. " Oh, Pat, let me out, please," she sobbed. " I'm afraid." Mr. Jeffries heard the cry and came quickly to the gate. 1 84 JUDGE LYNCH. " What's the matter ? " he asked. " Have you got shut in, Carmelita ? Don't cry, dear ; we'll soon get you out." " That you won't, I'm afraid," said young Pat. " No one has a key but Pop." " We can send to him and get it, can't we ? " asked Jeffries. " But he's gone to San Antonio," replied the boy. " This is very awkward," said the schoolmaster, with added gravity of manner. "But clearly the child can't be left here all the afternoon." " Mr. Byrne may not have started yet," interposed Field. " He was on his way to the overseer's house not a great while ago." " Run, Byrne, run," cried Jeffries. " Oh, please run, and run fast," urged Carmelita, who had been listening to the discussion of her prospects with very intelligible interest. Young Pat was off like a shot. " Go by the road," Field shouted after him. "If he has started you may meet him before he passes the vine- yard gate." Jeffries reached through the bars and took the little prisoner's hand in his. " Now, my dear, you mustn't fret or worry," he said, very gently ; " you'll get out in a few minutes." " But if I don't get out," sobbed Carmelita. " Well, if you don't, I'll stay here and keep you com- pany till you do," replied the schoolmaster. " And tell me stories ? " asked the child eagerly. " If you like," he answered. The other children grouped down to the entrance of JUDGE LYNCH. 185 ihe vault. Evidently, Mr. Jeffries' narratives were pop- ular in his own circle. " Tell us the story of the wicked man who let his enemy drown and was haunted by his ghost every night at 12 o'clock." Field shouted with laughter. " Eh, schoolmaster," he cried ; " I thought I sized up your pull with the kids pretty near right. Go ahead with your ghost story. The last new one you were telling me was a corker." Hainan Jeffries evidently did not like the interrup- tion. "Nonsense, Field," he said brusquely; "you don't know what children like or what's fit for them to hear. I'll tell you a pretty fairy story, my dear." " Then I pass," remarked Field, strolling back on the terrace. " I've no use for fairy tales." He stopped suddenly and called back, " Here's young Pat coming as fast as he can lay leg to the ground. We'll have the news of it now." This announcement banished all desire for the story from Carmelita's mind. " Can you see him ? " she cried. "Oh look ! Tell mo, has he got the key ? " " We'll know in a minute, dear," said the schoolmaster, still soothing her. In fact, at that instant, young Pat appeared, wofully out of breath. " It's all right," he panted ; " I found Pop. Met him just at the gate. Two seconds more and he'd have passed. Brace up, Cannelita, you'll be out in a minute." 1 86 JUDGE LYNCH. " Well done, my boy," said Jeffries patting the lad's shoulder. " You ran famously." " There ain't another kid in San Pablo can live with me for 100 or 200 yards," said the youngster proudly. Mr. Byrne now came into sight, moving at a dignified pace. He walked straight up to the vault and unlocking the gate released the little girl, who was immediately overwhelmed with congratulations by her playfellows. "Now, Carrnelita," said young Pat ; "I found you, you know," and he forthwith exacted the stipulated forfeit, which the little maid rendered willingly enough. " Yes," she said, " and you found your Pa to let me out. You may have another for that." Pat took the proffered reward while his father lectured the schoolmaster on the misadventure. " Wid all due submission to you, Mr. Jeffries, I'd keep the children out o' that vault av I were in your place. Another minute or two and I'd be half a mile on the road to San Antonio, and how'd you have got the poor -child out thin, I'd like to know ? " "It was an accident, sir," explained Jeffries. "It shan't occur again." " I want the dure left open, anyhow," pursued the Hon. Pat, " for the place is empty, an' this slack time's a good chance o' gettin' it claned out. But the vineyard's big, an* yez can find some other part to play in. D'ye mind that, Pat ? " " Yes, sir," answered his son. " You'll be goin't to tay soon, anyhow," pursued Mr. Byrne, consulting his watch. " It's risin' five o'clock." " I am a thousand times obliged for the trouble you have taken, Mr. Byrne," said Jeffries with a bow. JUDGE LYNCH. 187 " Ye're entirely welcome," answered the Hon. Pat. " Only kape the young ones away from here. It was wan chance in tin Pat cot me, an' av he hadn't the little girl might ha' stayed here all night." At this appalling possibility Carmelita set up a terrified howl. " Sooner than that should have happened," remarked Jeffries, " I think I would have taken it upon myself to have the vault broken open." " And ye'd have found that same no aisy job," retorted the Hon. Pat. It's built as strong as stone and cimmint can mek it, an' ye can see what the gate is fer yersilf. Howsumever, the little girl's on the right side of it now, an' it'll be her own fault av she gits on the wrong side of it agin." He returned the key to his pocket and joined Field, who still lingered on the terrace, stopping to chuck Car- melita under the chin as he passed, and recommend her to keep out of mischief for the future. As he turned away Mr. Jeffries called on the children for three cheers in honor of Mr. Byrne, which were given with a will, the youngsters remembering the feast of grapes they had enjoyed during the day, as well as his recent service to one of their number. The Hon. Pat, to whose nostrils the incense of applause and popularity was infinitely sweet, let it come from what quarter it would, paused and raised his hat with elaborate courtesy, before descending the terraces with Field toward the vineyard entrance. Young Pat, who felt himself the hero of the moment in a degree second only to his father, imitated the old gentleman's gesture of acknowledgment with a ludicrous precision which caused 1 88 JUDGE LYNCH. the schoolmaster to smile, and set all the children cheer- ing again. "Now, young ladies and gentlemen," cried Jeffries in his official tone, "it is nearly five o'clock, and we have half a mile to walk to the overseer's house for tea. Fall in, if you please." There was a little reluctance as the youngsters pre- pared to turn their backs on the unwonted pleasures of the vineyard, but not much ; for though Jeffries was very popular among them, his discipline was good, and the children knew when an order was intended to be obeyed. They formed in ranks as they had marched to the picnic, a dusty, tired, happy band. The schoolmaster delegated Pat Byrne to precede the line, as he was thoroughly familiar with the various terraces, which the majority of the children were not. The boy accepted the office with no small pride, and reviewed his charges critic- ally. "Dress to the front, Harry Smith. If I'm going to lead this gang, this gang has got to look like some- thing. Tie your shoe, Mamie Dollett. Do you suppose I'm going to have any such scarecrow as you walking through my Pop's vineyard? Now, come along, all together." Young Byrne had a fair alto voice, and he struck up the military song, "Marching Through Georgia." The children took their time from him and moved off along the terrace, keeping step to the inspiring strains. Jeffries lingered a moment and watched the little column defile along the leafy path. The fresh, young voices sounded pleasantly on the summer air; the sun JUDGE LYNCH. 189 was resting broad and bright on the western slope of the foothills, and the mounting terraces, with their lines of luxuriant vegetation, spangled with the purple and crim- son of the ripe grapes, shimmered in the afternoon heat. The world seemed a fair place, even to Haman Jeffries, who still wrestled vaguely with the dark doubt that had come to him with the early morning. It was just twelve hours since he had seen Richard Morley's ghost on the rocky platform whence the murderer's bullet had hurled him. The spectre had never left Haman Jeffries through the long hours of that day of pleasure and merrymaking. Its denouncing words had never ceased to ring in his ears. Since dawn he had moved and spoken like a man in a dream. Those around him had noticed nothing. The schoolmaster seemed to them the schoolmaster they had always known visionary, fantastic, unaccountable. But Jeffries himself, after an effort to reconcile the appa- rition with the living world through the medium of that wonderful resemblance which every one told him Rtiggles bore to the murdered man, abandoned the attempt in despair. A voice from the grave had spoken to him ; a cry from the world of spirits had reached him. Dick Morley dead had stepped between Haman and Kate with a vigor and authority which Dick Morley living had never assumed. To a man of Jeffries' beliefs and tendencies to realize this was to realize despair, and yet he could not give up Kate. Fate was dealing hardly by him for the moment, but his destiny the destiny which he believed in must triumph in the end. The clear voices of the children floated to him on the evening air. He roused himself with an impatient start ; 190 JUDGE LYNCH. the duties of the moment claimed him. He turned to fol- low, but was stopped by a figure which stepped down on the terrace from among the vines and laid a detaining hand on his arm. " Mr. Jeffries, a word with you," said Jack Scott. CHAPTER XXI. KATE MORLEY sat in her lonely home, weary and dis- pirited. The day was very long to her longer than the night had been ; and the echoes of mirth and light- hearted talk that reached her as the merrymakers passed the house on their way to the picnic were in sad contrast to her dark thoughts. She had arranged all her plans. Mr. Smith had agreed to take the contents of the store off her hands at a valuation, and she was ready to leave San Pablo on the following day. There was nothing to detain her but her husband's funeral, which was to take place on the mor- row ; and her anxiety about Scott and his fate would be decided by midnight. Life looked very dull and leaden- hued to her as she sat and listened to the children's voices while the merry groups raced up the road ; and she found a melancholy satisfaction in the reflection which often occurred to her that in all human probability her clays could not be very long in the service to which she had devoted herself. A nurse in the Memphis yellow fever hospitals ! It was almost a sentence of death, and as such Kate welcomed it. The position of Jack Scott occasioned her far more anxiety than did her own. It never occurred to Mrs. Morley to doubt that the vigilantes, whom she had seen only in their attitude of grim determination as they marched to their vengeance, could relent and leave their 191 1 92 JUDGE LYNCH. purpose unfulfilled. Byrne and many others were of opinion that, having once released their prey, the avengers would scarcely renew their passion and proceed to extremes, but Kate did not know this. She never doubted that Jack's life would be forfeited if, within the narrow and fast-vanishing margin of time allowed him, he did not produce the murderer. So she sat and pondered how she could help him sometimes weeping, sometimes praying, and often crimson with shame and mortification as she asked herself why young Scott filled so large a space in her thoughts. She would not acknowledge that she loved him. Her womanly pride fought clown the idea as often as it arose, but she could not quell the bursts of unac- knowledged tenderness that swept over her as she recalled his many deeds of kindness, his uniformly chival- rous respect for her unhappy position, his manly, honest face which she had always seen set unflinchingly toward the right. Jack Scott was the hero of Kate's heart, even if he had been thrust down from the pinnacle as hero of San Pablo. The laughter of the picnic parties died away, and the road was deserted as the afternoon wore on, and still Kate sought for some means to save the man she loved the man whom she knew could never be hers, since his heart had long since been laid at the feet of Lucy. And yet there was no sacrifice Kate Morley would have shrunk from if she could thereby have cleared Scott's name and freed him from peril. She was sure, with a conviction nothing could shake, that Haman Jeffries had shot her husband, but it was not enough to know this thing she must prove it. This man this Jeffries how she shuddered at the JUDGE LYNCH. 193 thought of him loved her in his own crazed fashion. She wondered if she could play Delilah to this monstrous Samson. Even this she would have done to save Jack's life. But she felt rather than knew that the sacrifice would be useless. Even if her nerve did not fail her in the ordeal, Haman Jeffries was not the man to let a vital secret escape him. He would preach fate and claim her in right of predestination, swearing that all had been appointed beforehand, and that there was nothing to call for acknowledgment or reward. The test whereby she had hoped Jeffries' conscience would be terrified into self-betrayal had failed. A dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions had beheld an apparition and had been stricken senseless at the sight. How could she hope to find in those rude villagers the profound psychology which would trace the line between guilt and terror ? She could not determine it herself, save through the intention supplied by her conviction. She let her hands fall on her lap with a weary sigh. Presently she started to her feet. The sun was low and the shadow of the chaparral stretched almost into the gully. Kate accused herself of wasting time. If all Jack's friends were to spend the precious hours of his reprieve in purposeless wanderings, what chance had he of escape ? She would go to work. She would try some- thing anything everything, while it was yet day. She caught up her hat and, fastening the door behind,, took the road to the village. It had been a long and anxious day for Lucy, too, at the San Pablo House. Carrie found her friend in no receptive mood for the important confidence she had to bestow, and sought her own room to enjoy her bright 13 194 JUDGE LYNCH. day-dreams in solitude. Mr. Starkweather had been restless and irritable, complaining of the doctor's folly in keeping him in bed when there was no necessity. He was anxious to get up and do something, and he twitted Lucy with showing small regard for her affianced hus- band, since she remonstrated with her father for wishing to get up and help him. Mr. Starkweather also failed to understand why Jack had not called to see him, and here Lucy was at once with him. She confessed to herself that it would have been very pleasant if the young fellow had only looked in, but he had not appeared and Miss Starkweather was fain to make the best of it. Toward 5 o'clock the sheriff would be gainsayed no longer, but rose and dressed himself, and Dr. Meares, who was hastily summoned by the alarmed Lucy when her father's stubbornness passed beyond her control, con- fessed that he seemed none the worse for the change. Another battle ensued when Mr. Starkweather called for his hat and insisted on going out, and here, too, Lucy would have been forced to succumb had not a sudden diversion been made in her favor by the appearance of Mrs. Morley. Kate was anxious and disquieted, and soon communi- cated her misgivings to the sheriff, who was little accus- tomed to inaction when anything of importance required attention. He had hoped that Mrs. Morley brought some news of Scott, and when he found this was not the case he became the more set in his determination to go and see for himself. So, after further ineffectual remon- strance from Lucy, he left the hotel, and the two women remained together. It was now almost dark, and the plaza wore its custom- JUDGE LYNCH. 195 ary evening aspect. The picnic was over, and the chil- dren had dispersed to their homes, while every store front and veranda had its knot of men smoking, chatting, and idling in the twilight. Starkweather sought for Mr. Byrne, but learned that he had gone to San Antonio earlier in the afternoon, and was not expected back till the next day. The Spread Eagle was open, however, and doing its regular trade, but neither there nor else- where could the sheriff obtain any recent information of Jack Scott or his movements. Indeed, he soon ceased his inquiries when he found that their only result was to intensify a sullen, suspicious spirit in the men. The town was much quieter than it had been on the previous evening, but it was evident that some influence inimical to young Scott was in the air and doing silent, secret work against him. Gradually the groups grew together, and when it spread abroad, as it quickly did, that no one had seen Jack for several hours, muttered oaths were heard and dark scowls settled on bearded | faces. ' The avengers, who had been quiet all day, grew fiercer as the impression was borne in upon them that \ they had been tricked and deceived. Before 9 o'clock the conviction was general that Jack Scott had forfeited his parole and had fled across the mountains. Inquiries were made at the livery stable and from such as owned horses, but it could not be ascertained that either steed or wagon was missing, except Mr. Byrne's I pair of bays with which he had driven to San Antonio. \ The impression had prevailed at first that the Hon. Pat ^ had conveyed the accused man out of town, but Field, I who had seen his employer start from the vineyard, as- serted that he had gone alone. So the vigilantes roamed 196 JUDGE LYNCH. about the town, inflaming their passions with strong drink, and unhesitatingly searching any house or place where they thought there was a possibility that the fugi- tive might lurk. At each fresh disappointment their anger rose, and the temper of the men was rapidly mount- ing to the murderous pitch of the night before. The dark form of Jeffries flitted from group to group, and Starkweather readily detected his influence in the tone of the remarks that reached his ear. " I wish Jack Scott would show himself, if it were only for five minutes," the sheriff muttered aloud, as he turned from the Spread Eagle, where he had been listening for a few moments to the remarks of those within. "The best thing for him, you bet," said a voice, answer- ing the thought which Sam Starkweather was hardly con- scious of having spoken. " If Jack has tried to dodge this committee and slips up now, it will be all day with him." The sheriff turned and saw Judge Boone at his elbow. " I'm mighty glad to see you out and around again, Sam, went on the judge. "I tell you, it gave me- a turn I won't get over in a hurry, when I saw you keel over last night.'' " More by good luck than by good guidance that I didn't keel over for good and all," returned the sheriff. " Now, look here, Boone," he went on ; " I'm willing to overlook what happened last night, as no harm came of it ; but if there's any more of it I know the names of the biggest half of that gang, and I'll jail every mother's son of you, as sure as there's law in California." Boone laughed lightly. "Ye'll have to build a fence around San Pablo and JUDGE LYNCH. 197 jail the whole town," he said, " for we're all in it. But I don't suppose there'll be much trouble. Jack's made tracks there can't be a doubt of it. I didn't believe it of the young fellow ; but life's a stake worth stacking the cards for, I guess." " I don't believe he has gone," returned the sheriff. "At any rate, no one has a right to say he is till 11:30 this night : but if he is gone do you know what you and the rest have left yourselves liable to, Boone ?" " No ; 'tain't no fault of ours, is it ? " asked the judge. " You've interfered with an officer of the law in the discharge of his duty and set his prisoner at liberty ; that's what you've done," returned the sheriff, and having fired his parting shot he sheered off without waiting for a return. Judge Boone watched him as he moved across the plaza a tall, erect, stalwart figure, emphatically a man, whom such men could not but respect. "He's clear grit," muttered the judge with a smile on his lips and an almost affectionate expression in his eyes ; " he's sand right through darn me if he ain't." And with this tribute to Starkweather's virtues, Boone passed in and joined the group at the bar of the Spread Eagle. So the night wore away. Haman Jeffries was untiring in his canvass ; going from one knot of men to another, and pointing out with all the eloquence at his command, the black ingratitude and treachery of which Jack had been guilty in breaking his word. Field and Smith were equally indefatigable. Boone appeared to have lost all interest in the proceedings. He had tacitly resigned his position as leader, and seemed content to be a looker on. 198 JUDGE LYNCH. The sheriff's narrow escape the previous night had sobered him. Sheriff Starkweather returned to the hotel, and his anxious, harassed looks did not escape the notice of Kate Morley and his daughter ; but he evaded their questions for some time. At length, when Lucy had left the room for a few minutes, he gave Kate, whom he regarded as a comparatively uninterested party, his view of the situa- tion. "The mob is getting to be as bad as it was last night, if not worse. Hainan Jeffries and others have been working it up, and they've done it to the Queen's taste. If Jack Scott's in San Pablo to-night, I'm afraid he's no better than a dead man. If he's cleared out, of course but I don't think he has. He's acted like a blank fool in lying low and sneaking away like this. If he'd come forward and. mix with the boys and talk the thing over freely, I don't believe they'd have got six men in the town to lay a hand on him but it's too late now." Lucy returned, and Sam, laying his finger on his lips intimated to Kate that what he had told her was not intended for his daughter's ears. But the sheriff's view of the case had produced little impression on Mrs. Morley. From the first she had never entertained the possibility of the mob's relenting, and at this moment she was happier and more hopeful than she had been during the whole day. An idea had suddenly occurred to her. She fancied she saw the dim outlines of a plan by which Jack's innocence might be established and his life preserved. The execution of her scheme called for a certain sacrifice on her own part, but Kate did not heed that. She JUDGE LYNCH. 199 rather gloried in it. If young Scott were to be saved, she would prefer that he should be saved at her expense. And so the evening passed, the sheriff going out every half hour or so, but always returning shortly and with an added gloom in his manner. A little before 1 1 o'clock, the avengers formed in line and started, under the leadership of Field and Smith, to keep their ghastly tryst with Jack Scott at Lone Pine Knob. CHAPTER XXII. IF Sheriff Starkweather had crossed Mr. Byrne's vine- yard a few hours earlier he would have been at no loss to account for Jack Scott's non-appearance that night in the village. The picnic party in ordered ranks, had started for the overseer's house under young Pat's guidance. The voices of the children swelled across the summer evening in the stirring cadence of their military march ; the westering sun, as it sank lower, darted level beams over the patches of shadow which lay beneath the vines, and the intrusive light fell on Juan Estudillo's closed eyelids and caused him to stir in his sleep. Very faintly through the distance came the low, monotonous boom of the Pacific, moaning far below on its yellow sands, and the vineyard on the foothills looked as solitary and deserted, and as peaceful and beautiful as Eden may have seemed when man was driven from the gates. Deserted, save for Juan muttering in his dreams and striving unconsciously to turn his head from the light, and burrow deeper into the recess where he lay hidden ; solitary save for those two men who stood gazing into each other's eyes, as gladiators may have gazed before closing for the death grapple. For Jack Scott's touch as he laid a detaining hand on the schoolmaster's arm ; the tone of his voice as he uttered the simple phrase, " Mr. Jeffries, a word with 200 JUDGE LYNCH. 2OI you," seemed to have turned the other for a moment to stone. With a visible effort Haman recovered himself and shook off Jack's hand as he might have shaken off a noxious reptile. " I hold no communication with people of your charac- ter. Out of my way, sir." He attempted to push past, but Jack still barred the way. " Oh, Jeffries, Jeffries," cried Scott in a tone half ban- tering, half sorrowful, " take care what you are saying." " And why should I care ? " demanded the school- master, his pale cheek flushing for a moment as if stung by the other's words. " Because," pursued Jack in the same tone ; " because I am accused of murder." " An excellent reason for avoiding your society. Stand aside, sir." "And I am innocent," Jack continued, foiling by his mere attitude the other's attempt to withdraw. " So you say," retorted Jeffries. " I do more than say it," replied Jack. " I shall soon prove it, for I know the guilty man." Jeffries was visibly startled. " You know pshaw ! I do not believe you," he added, recovering himself. " I do not lie, as you well know," returned Jack, speak- ing slowly and with concentrated force, so that the words fell one by one on Jeffries' ears and seemed each to make its separate impression on his brain ; " and I say to you now that from beginning to end you have been my worst enemy." 202 JUDGE L YNCH. " What if I have ? " broke in Jeffries passionately, as if losing all control of himself ; " what if I have ? Have you not come between me and the dearest desire of my heart ? Have not you stepped between me and the sun- shine of my life, lightly, wantonly, for no benefit or advan- tage to yourself ? You have made ruin of a soul that you cannot even understand, and for that for that, mark you not for the death of that poor drunkard, you shall hang." Very faintly, very sweetly, the chorus of the children floated down the terraces and filled the momentary pause that followed the schoolmaster's vehement denuncia- tion. " What have I done to you ? What do you mean ? " inquired Jack, perplexed and startled by the unmistak- able ring of sincerity in the man's voice. But Jeffries' mood had changed. " Let me pass ; I have nothing to say to you," he said, sullenly. " But I have much to say to you," retorted Scott, com- ing closer to him. " Look me in the eye, Haman Jeffries ! Now accuse me of the murder of that man if you dare ! " The schoolmaster shrank back, apparently cowed by the other's threatening manner. " It is not I who accuse you," he muttered ; " blame the evidence, not me. Look at the quarrel, the place, the pistol " Liar and coward," shouted Jack. " You are my most persistent accuser and I will tell you why. The blood of the victim is crying aloud for vengeance and you dare not rest till that cry is satisfied. For it was JUDGE LYNCH. 203 your hand, Hainan Jeffries, and none other, that took Richard Morley's life." The schoolmaster started violently, and the blood rushed to his face, and then ebbing left it ghastly white. He clutched convulsively at his throat and made two or three efforts to speak before the words would come. " I I " he gasped, and then collecting himself with a visible effort he screamed shrilly : " You lie ! " " I do not lie," retorted Jack. " Do you think no eye but God's saw you when you grovelled in terror before the phantom your own guilty conscience had conjured up ? Did you suppose there was no human ear to listen to your self-accusing words ? " " What did I say ? " demanded Jeffries eagerly, and then, recollecting himself, he went on more boldly. " I did not utter a word. What trick is this ? This is the foundation of your attack on me, is it? Why, every man in San Pablo knows that my nerves are weak. That is no hanging matter, I'm sure. I met Mr. Morley's cousin unexpectedly and was startled terrified, if you will, as every other man has been who has had an opportunity to notice the extraordinary resemblance. Is this the tale you will carry to the vigilantes ? Am I the murderer you will produce in your place ? Are those the proofs of my crime ? Why, man, they will laugh at you." Jack was shaken for a moment by this fluent exposure of the plan on which he counted so much, but as Jeffries repeated, " they will laugh at you," himself laughing as if in prophetic sympathy, the young fellow recovered suffi- ciently to reply resolutely : " I do not think so." "Try it if you like," went on the schoolmaster; " but I 204 JUDGE LYNCH. will discount your story. I will tell them myself of the supposed apparition and my terror. They will have a good laugh at poor Ham Jeffries, who thought he saw a ghost ; but you," he added with vindictive emphasis, " you will hang." " I do not think so," repeated Jack, stoutly. "Perhaps you mean to forfeit your word," sneered Jeffries. " The appointment at Lone Pine Knob is still seven hours off. Perhaps your heart is failing you." " I shall keep the appointment," Jack replied with perfect calmness ; " with the murderer or without him." " Then I shall see you there," said Jeffries, exultantly. " You shall," cried Jack, " and you shall hear me tell the committee all I know and all I suspect. They shall have my version of the apparition you now affect to ridi- cule. I shall tell them in more detail the story of the pistol, as I had it from Morley. I shall accuse you of the murder, and I shall call on Mrs. Morley to testify to the motive." Scott's last words were wrung from him by his desire to make his case as complete as possible in the school- master's eyes, and had no other foundation than his rec- ollection of what Kate had said when the little group had watched for the dawn in the house on the plateau, and they had endeavored to connect Jeffries with the crime. " He had a motive what men call a strong motive," Mrs. Morley had said, and with the memory of those words strong in him Jack threatened to call her as a wit- ness. He did not expect to gain much by this menace, but its effect was immediate and startling. The two were standing near the top of the few steps JUDGE LYNCH. 20$ that led down to Byrne's wine vault, the gate of which remained open as the Irishman had left it after releasing Carmelita. As Scott recounted the means by which he hoped to convince the committee, Jeffries listened, with the evil sneer deepening on his face. But when Kate's name was mentioned when Jack said : " I shall call Mrs. Morley to testify to your motive," Hainan uttered a hoarse cry and leaping forward flung young Scott down the steps with a strength astonishing in so slight a man- Then he slammed the gate and in a voice of a concen- trated fury hissed : " You shall tell them nothing." Jack was so completely taken by surprise that resistance was impossible. He had been standing close to the top of the steps, and the schoolmaster's sudden assault had been sufficient to send him headlong to the bottom. The fall was inconsiderable, and the young man was not hurt, but before he could pick himself up the gate was closed and he found himself a prisoner. He flung himself furiously against the bars and shook them with the strength of despair. " Go on ! Try your muscles on that iron," cried Jeffries with a taunting laugh. " You are Mr. Byrne's manager. You should know how strong it is." " Open the gate ! " roared Jack. " Help, help ! " " Shout, call," sneered Jeffries. " There is not a soul within a mile of you. There are no laborers here. The children have gone. You know yourself how lonely this vineyard is, and night is falling. You may call in vain on heaven or hell ! " " Devil ! " cried Jack, straining at the bars with impo- tent fury. 2O6 JUDGE LYNCH. 11 1 might have killed you instead of flinging you down there," pursued Jeffries. " I had my knife handy and you were within reach you have darkened and spoiled my life. Perhaps I should have done so, but you made me angry and one cannot think of everything." "Goon, what matters one murder more," murmured Jack as he sank down exhausted by his efforts. " I have'n't a pistol, I'm sorry to say," went on Jeffries wiih exasperating coolness. "But it does not matter. You will miss your appointment with the vigilantes, but they will not miss you. Recollect your terms. If you forfeit your word you are to be shot on sight, and you will die dishonored. You will be dragged out of the hole you have chosen for a hiding place and killed like a rat." Jack sprang to his feet and grasped the bars again. The mingled anguish and fury on his part made his persecutor recoil. " Ay, struggle," said Jeffries. " I have you safe, I think. That vault is strong, and the key is in the pocket of Pat Byrne, and he is in San Antonio. So a pleasant night to you, Jack Scott, and a happy release in the morn- ing." He turned away, taking no further notice of the young man's wild ravings and impotent struggles. As the schoolmaster faced the open ground he came face to face with Juan Estudillo, yawning and rubbing his eyes, looking even more stupid than usual. Jeffries went straight up to him and forced him back- ward to a point whence the entrance to the vault was invisible, and at which the outcries of the prisoner but he was quiet for the moment had some chance of pass- ing unnoticed. JUDGE LYNCH. 207 " What are you doing here, you cursed greaser ? " de- manded Jeffries furiously. " I thought you had been warned to keep away." " I come for my pobre cita, Carmelita," explained Juan. "The senor himself said to me to come." "Ah, so I did," answered Hainan. "Well, Carmelita is at the overseer's with the other children. Come, I'll take you with me and see you start for home from there. No skulking or hanging back," he added sternly, as the Mexican appeared about to take a course that would bring him in view of the gate. " But, Senor, the way to the overseer's is " "It is the way I choose to take," said Jeffries. " March." The two men passed along the terrace at the back of the vault, and soon struck into an alley which led toward the overseer's house. " How long have you been loafing around this vine- yard ? " demanded the schoolmaster. "Not long," answered Juan. "I yust come." "What have you heard ? " " I only come now," returned the Mexican, spreading out his palms. " I hear nothing but the wind. What could I hear ? " " What did you mean by bringing me that lying letter this morning? " asked Jeffries. " I did not write him. What lie ? " " You are a fool an ignorant fool," uttered the school- master savagely. By this time they had crossed several terraces and were some little distance from the vault, but a cry, a dis- tant, smothered cry, " Help, help ! " reached their ears, 208 JUDGE LYNCH. Juan stopptd and held up his hand. " Listen ! I hear somedings ! " " You'll hear little enough in this world if you don't do as I tell you ! " cried Jeffries passionately. " Come along. In front of me, mind." And so the two men vanished among the vines. Jack sat on the stone floor of the vault with his head in his hands, endeavoring to think collectedly. " He is gone, the cowardly ruffian," he mused. " Now I am certain that he is the murderer, and he felt my threats more than he dared show. I must get out of here. I must be at Lone Pine Knob in time." He rose and made a careful examination of the cell. It was sunk in the earth, as Jack well knew, only the face being exposed where a slight slope of the ground had been cut down for the purpose. The interior was bricked and lined with cement throughout. Obviously the only point where an attack could be made with any hope of success was on the gate itself, and this was composed of stout iron bars, each thicker than a man's thumb. It seemed a hopeless chance, but Scott had no other, and, taking out his knife, he started on his task. This knife of Jack's was no penknife, but a large, heavy, many bladed affair which he had bought in San Francisco as a good companion in the wilderness for which he was bound. It comprised a saw, gimlet, stirrup punch, and many other attachments, as well as one which in its owner's present predicament was worth all the rest put together. This was a stout, substantial file, and with this Jack attacked the centre bar, working hard and talk- ing to himself to keep up his courage. " Capital bit of steel that ! I believe it will do it. JUDGE LYNCH. 2OQ Jeffries is the man not a doubt of it now, though I wish I had stripped the coat from his back and examined his arm. No doubt he bore the mark of Cain. The scar, if I could show it, would weigh more with the vigilantes as a piece of evidence than all the rest put together." He worked long and patiently before he paused and examined the bar to see what progess he had made. He had cut a deep gash in the iron, and though his hands were chafed and sore and his arms ached from the un- wonted toil, he felt reasonably certain that he could win his way to liberty. He had calculated that the removal of one bar would leave an opening through which he could pass ; but then the bar must be filed through at top and bottom. Could he accomplish this and still be in time at Lone Pine Knob ? He struck a match and con- sulted his watch. Twenty minutes past eight. So he had been three hours, perhaps, at work, and the first cut did not reach more than half way through the iron. He felt that he must do better than this, and yield to neither fatigue nor pain if he would win his freedom. He hung aside his coat and went to work again. His hands grew so tender that he was obliged to wrap his handkerchief around the handle of the knife, and from the constrained position he was obliged to assume every muscle ached, and sometimes he could not repress a cry as he was seized with a torturing cramp. But he was making distinct progress and he sawed on, the perspira- tion rolling from every pore, and his breath came quick and short as he bent to his task. The thought of Lucy nerved him. It would be terrible to die and leave her; but if he died dishonored ! He shuddered at the idea. Of course Jeffries woul.d lead a party in quest of him, and 210 JUDGE LYNCH. would so contrive as to discover him as if accidentally. Then no explanation of his would be listened to. It would be naturally assumed that he had sought shelter in the vault, and had inadvertently imprisoned himself. He would be butchered without mercy. But he believed that he could cut his way out in time. He dared not stop to look at his watch, for every moment was precious, but he felt that he was making good prog- ress. A sharp snap, followed by a ringing clatter, echoed through the place, and Jack's hand, meeting no resistance, slid along the bars. The blade had broken and the file had fallen outside, beyond his reach. The misfortune was irreparable, and the young fellow's courage gave way before it. His last thought was of Lucy as he sank swooning on the cold, hard floor of the vault. CHAPTER XXIII. A MILE or more north of San Pablo, a spur running westward from the foothills ends in an abrupt eminence which, though of no great height, is a tolerably conspic- uous object in the neighborhood, owing to its isolation and peculiar shape. It is nearly circular, and its steep sides and flattened top gives it the appearance of one of the old-fashioned straw bee-hives that are still sometimes seen in rustic gardens. This odd-looking hill is clothed with a sparse growth of pine trees. Owing to its sanely soil and complete exposure to the prevailing ocean winds there is none of the rank luxuriance of undergrowth which characterizes most of the ravines and valleys of the Coast Range. On the level round summit stands a single redwood, no giant like its relatives of Northern California, but dwarfed and stunted by its uncongenial position. Toward the Pacific its trunk is branchless for many feet, but toward the inland spread various gnarled limbs, as if all the vitality of the tree had shrunk away from the unwelcome salt breezes. Such is Lone Pine Knob, a well-known landmark on the coast near San Pablo, and around the solitary red- wood, in various attitudes, the avengers grouped them- selves awaiting the hour at which Jack Scott had promised to return with or without the murderer. It was a glorious moonlight night. Westward the broad Pacific swelled like a silver shield to the horizon ; 211 212 JUDGE LYNCH. eastward undulated the low foothills, gradually rising as they drew nearer the hidden line of the coast range. North and south stretched a level solitude, broken only by a few twinkling lights in the distance where the village of San Pablo nestled between sea and mountain. And the grim band of masked men, stretched in attitudes of expectancy or whispering in knots, gave the needed touch of life to the solemn beauty of the picture. " I wonder if the sheriff saw us start," remarked Field uneasily. " Don't believe he did," returned Smith, to whom the question had been addressed. " He was inside the hotel when we vamosed. Not that it makes much difference, though. Sam knows where the meeting was called, and he'll be after us as soon as he drops to it that we've cleared." " I wish he wouldn't come," said Field. "So do I, but he'll come! Anyhow I don't think we'll have any necktie and suspender sociable this night." " Why not ? Do you think Jack Scott won't show up ?" inquired Boone, who had drawn near the speakers. " 'Pears like it, Judge," answered Smith. " Where's he been keeping himself all evening, if he meant to do the square thing by us ? " " I'm beginning to dislike this job most confoundedly," remarked Boone, shaking his broad shoulders with the action of a water dog. " Why ? " inquired Field, in the pert, intrusive manner to which he owed his nickname of Foxy. " Why ? " repeated the judge. " Well, now ; come here. What'll you do if Jack Scott turns up ? " JUDGE LYNCH. " We'll hang him, of course." " Looks kinder cold blooded, don't it ? See," urged the judge, waxing more earnest, "the lad comes here alone, and gives himself up because his time is out." " No more'n he ought to do," interjected Smith. " I suppose so," replied Boone ; " but it looks hard. I took kindly enough to the job when it was to be done off-hand. The delay has sort o' shaken the sand out of me." "We've sworn to maintain the peace of the county and put down outrage and murder with a high hand," spouted Field in his oratorical manner. " That's a fact," sighed the judge. " D'ye reckon he'll come ? " " If he's a man of his word he'll come," replied Field. " Man of his word be derned," retorted Boone. " This is a life-and-death matter. If you were in his place would you come yourself ? " Field hesitated. " I I trust that I shall never find myself in such a position/' he said after a moment's pause. " If you mean by that that any of the boys would let you off on your promise to show up, you're about right, I reckon," sneered the judge. " When your time comes you'll be hanged prompt enough. No one would take your word for twenty-four hours, Mr. Foxy Field." " That was not my meaning at all," cried the other, turning away angrily. One man stood alone near the slope of the Knob that overlooked the ocean. He glanced nervously at his watch every few minutes and occasionally gazed upward 214 JUDGE LYNCH. at the moon, as though from her position in the heavens he would determine the flight of time. " The last obstacle is removed," he muttered. " I have followed the path marked out for me by fate, even to the end, and the reward will follow. Kate will be mine. She cannot continue this vain struggle with des- tiny." A slouching figure crept up among the pine trees. It was Corvey. Luck had been against him during the evening and little liquor had come in his way, so he fol- lowed the avengers on their midnight march in the hope of deriving some stimulus from the milder excitement of manslaughter; but he kept himself carefully in the background, for the vigilantes were all respectable men, and he feared they might resent his presence. Field had moved across towards Jeffries. " Time must be nearly up, isn't it ? " he remarked. Field spoke aloud and several drew their watches from their pockets and consulted them. " I must have stopped, I think," said Jeffries, peering at the dial in the moonlight. " I'm only twenty-six -min- utes past.''' " Then you're fast," returned the judge, " for it's only twenty-three past. He has seven minutes still." " I don't reckon it that way," replied the schoolmaster. " It was at twenty minutes past eleven last night that we granted twenty-four hours." " Your watch was goin' then, was it ? " queried Boone, dryly. " It was," answered Jeffries. " And has been galloping ever since, I'll warrant. No, no. I said till 11:30 with my own mouth, and the JUDGE LYNCH. 21$ man that wants to dock a second of that time will have to argy the point with me." This remark silenced Jeffries. In the language of San Pablo, " The judge was a bad man to fool with." " Suppose he doesn't come then ? " demanded Field. Jeffries broke in again. " If he doesn't come that'll prove him to be the mur- derer past peradventure. We'll search the whole country for him, and he'll be shot if he is caught." " He'll come, sure enough," remarked the judge stolidly. " I don't think so," returned the schoolmaster. " And what in thunder do you know about it," demanded the other. Jeffries quailed at the tone of the question. " Nothing, nothing ; only it isn't likely," he stammered. " You mean you'd vamose middling lively if you was in his place," commented Boone in a contemptuous voice ; " but you and Jack Scott aint the same breed, I reckon." " Boys," said Jeffries, turning to the men who had lounged up to hear the discussion ; " it's clear the judge has gone back on us. His grit is gone, and he isn't the man to put the job through." The schoolmaster possessed no rhetorical arts, but he usually was careful to suit his language to his audience. The judge was nettled by the charge, and taunted Jeffries with his fright at the supposed ghost, but the story was by this time familiar to every one on the ground, and beyond a renewal of the laugh at Haman's expense, Boone's repartee accomplished nothing. The schoolmaster took the ridicule unconcernedly and pro- ceeded with his argument. 2l6 JUDGE LYNCH. " Nerves and courage are two different things. Now, look here, boys ; it's come to this : With Judge Boone or without Judge Boone, weVe got to keep our oaths and vindicate San Pablo's reputation for law and order. You had the murderer in your hands last night ; the rope was round his neck. Contrary to my advice, and in compli- ance with Judge Boone's decision, you let him go, on the understanding that he would show up here to-night. I didn't, suppose any man in his senses would have taken Jack Scott's word for such a thing, but you chose to take it, and I'd nothing to say. Now he's off. I don't think he's got clear of the neighborhood, for no one's seen him on the road, and we can't find that he's had any wagon. He's hiding somewhere around, and it's our business to look him up ; and when we find' him, no more palavering and slippery business, but just shoot him on sight, for a murderer who's broken his bail is no better than a wild beast." The schoolmaster's speech was received with applause, and the men evidently only waited for a signal to scour the country in search of the fugitive. " Is time up?" inquired Field. " Time is up," responded Haman. "You lie, it is'n't," said the judge curtly. " I thought your watch had stopped, Haman Jeffries." "Look at your own, then. My watch is right enough. Come boys, get to work. I'll lead a gang to search the vineyard first." " Stop ! " shouted Boone, in a voice of thunder. " Hold hard, boys. Give the devil his due. He has five seconds he time's up ! " But even as Judge Boone was speaking, a breathless JUDGE LYNCH. 21 J man dashed through the pine trees on the eastern slope of the Knob, and Jack Scott emerged in the moonlight on the summit. " Here I am, gentlemen, on time, I hope." The effect of Jack's appearance was various on differ- ent members of the committee on safety. Some, struck by so much courage and devotion, could hardly restrain their applause, and the judge, yielding to an impulse he could not control, stepped forward and grasped the young man's hand. " On time, lad, on the nick of it," he said. Field, Smith and one or two others consulted together apart ; while Jeffries, mute and terror-stricken, crowded close against the trunk of the solitary red-wood, and asked himself how it was possible for Jack to have es- caped, and marvelled if fate reserved a triumph for this man after all. " Have you brought the murderer ? " In the pause that followed the judge's question the young man's quick breathing could be heard, and they saw in his flushed brow and heaving breast evidence of the desperate efforts he had put forth to keep his word. All hung upon his answer in silence, while the low, dis- tant boom of the Pacific came up to their ears, mingled with the voices of the forest. " I have not brought the murderer with me," answered Jack, resolutely, " because, if I mistake not, he is here already." A general buzz of; wonder and inquiry arose from the crowd which pressed eagerly around Scott, while Hainan Jeffries, listening with his very soul, pressed ever closer 218 JUDGE LYNCH. and closer to the redwood, and readjusted the crape mask he wore with a trembling hand. " Is Haman Jeffries here ? " demanded Scott. There was no reply and he repeated the words. " Is Haman Jeffries here ? " Field stepped forward. " Silence, prisoner," he cried. " It isn't your place to ask questions. Nobody here has a name, mind that." Haman raised his head. He had an ally still, it would seem. Then the man's native audacity reasserted itself, and he slowly came forward into the circle, but he kept the mask closely fastened. " Gentlemen," cried Jack, " I must be heard, otherwise the parole you accepted from me last night was purpose- less. You gave me twenty-four hours to find the mur- derer. I ask now for less than as many minutes to expose him." " Go ahead, Jack," uttered the judge, heartily. " You've kept your word and you shall have fair time to say all you want to." "Thank you," replied Jack. "Well, gentlemen, I must admit that my proof is not quite complete. But listen. There is a man in San Pablo he may be here now, but I cannot distinguish him who saw the murdered man's cousin this morning, and impressed by the like- ness, he thought it was Dick Morley's ghost. He fell on" Jack was interrupted by a burst of derisive laughter from the crowd. "Why, that's Ham Jeffries' ghost story," remarked the judge. " It is Jeffries I am speaking of " began Jack. JUDGE LYNCH. 21$ " Yah ! " broke in Field ; " we know all about it. He told us himself." "Well, gentlemen," repeated Jack, "all I can say is that I met Jeffries in the vineyard this afternoon ; that I had a conversation with him " The judge turned sharply on Jeffries. " Why didn't you tell us you had seen Scott ? " he asked. " Because I hadn't," responded Jeffries without hesita- tion. " I hear of it now for the first time." " I am glad the lie has not choked you," shouted Jack, " since it has at least betrayed your identity. This man not only spoke to me in the vineyard, but he locked me up in the vault, so that I might not be able to keep my appointment with you here." " Am I called upon to deny such silly falsehoods ? " demanded the schoolmaster. " Since when has Mr. Scott been such a weakling that I could drag him to the lockup at my will as I might an unruly schoolboy? This is the effect of despair, gentlemen. He has found himself un- able to escape, so comes forward at the eleventh hour to accuse me of this crime." The mob was divided in opinion. Though many were inclined to believe Jack Scott, it seemed, as the school- master had pointed out, scarcely credible that a delicate man such as he was could imprison against his will a young athlete like Scott. Besides, Jeffries had set out and returned with the picnic. It was difficult to imagine how such a scene as that at which Jack hinted could have happened without witnesses, for lonely as the vineyard was in general, on that particular day it had been quite otherwise. When the men debated these points, the Hon. Pat 22O JUDGE LYNCH. Byrne, closely followed by Juan Estudillo, climbed the slope and appeared on the Knob. " I'll say wan thing to yez, boys," said the Hon. Pat, wiping his brow, for the climb had been severe and he was unused to exercise. " I'll tell ye wan thing. That's the finest young fellow yer town iver had or iver will have. I just let him out o' quod in that vault o' mine beyant, an' widout sayin' by yer lave or wid yer lave, or even so much as I thank ye kindly, he was off across hill an' hollow to thry and mek betther nor a mile in tin minutes for fear he'd kape ye waitin'. There's politeness for yez. Murder indade ! Don't tell me. Did ever any man see a murderer stip up an' face the music like that young fellow's doin'? " " It's no use, Mr. Byrne," remarked Smith dogmat- ically. " We gave Scott twenty-four hours to find the murderer. Now he's here with an absurd impossible yarn about Ham Jeffries, which I for one won't believe and can't." " Blood for blood was law before ever Judge Lynch held court," muttered Pete sullenly. The current was evidently beginning to set against Scott, the more strongly as the men regarded Jack's story as a dastardly attempt to fasten the guilt on an innocent man, for no shadow of suspicion had arisen to link Hainan Jeffries with the crime. A hoarse, ominous murmur arose from the mob, and more than one voice was heard calling for prompt and exemplary vengeance. A faint " whish " cut the air as a riata was uncoiled and flung over a bough of the red- wood, and once more the ghastly noose dangled visible in the moonlight. JUDGE L YNCH. 2 2 1 " Step up to the front, Juan," said Byrne, urging for- ward the Mexican, who had hitherto crouched shrinking in the background ; " step up like a man and tell the boys all you told me." But the Irishman's interference and the Mexican's evidence came too late. The passions of the men were all aroused and Field, Jeffries, Smith, and others clam- ored for an immediate fulfillment of the purpose which had brought them together. As Juan advanced trembling, supported by Byrne, there was a sudden forward rush of the crowd which bore them back, and Smith's voice shouted : " Lively, boys, lively : before the sheriff gets here and we have all last night's trouble over again." But at this moment an unexpected occurrence once more snatched Jack from the very jaws of death. The attention of all present was riveted on the scene beneath the tree. Rude hands had seized on the young man and hustled him forward. Judge Boone stood apart with folded arms, realizing that matters had passed beyond his control. Pat Byrne, forced to the outside edge of the crowd, struggled vainly to break through, when suddenly Kate Morley stood in the centre of the swaying, heaving circle of men. No one knew whence she came ; no one had seen her approach. She might have dropped from the skies among the turbulent throng which paused in its murder- ous work and drew back for a moment, startled at her unexpected appearance. She was quick to take advantage of the sensation she had produced. Pushing forward till she stood close to Scott, released for the instant from the hands that held 222 JUDGE L YNCH. him, she turned and confronted the ring of menacing figures and masked faces. " Stop, stop," she cried. " It is impossible that this man can be guilty of the crime you charge him with. Hear me." As she stood there, her cheeks flushed and her eyes ablaze with excitement, her magnificent hair, loosened in her hurried race through the woods, streaming wildly round her, and her bosom heaving with breathless eager- ness, she looked like some goddess of the mountains come to vindicate the sanctity of her dwelling. Jeffries, who had been in the front rank of the avengers, cowered in her presence, and sought to shrink back through the crowd, but the cordon behind him was too closely drawn. The murmur of astonishment and admiration that had greeted Kate's appearance died out, and in the silence that ensued, Pat Byrne's voice sounded grotesque and his words absurd and whimsical as he shouted : " If the dacent woman has a word of evidence to give, sure ye'll hear it." The feelings of the vigilantes relieved themselves in a burst of laughter which had something hysterical in its discord with the situation. The last intervention in Scott's behalf had been so unlooked for, so bewildering in its suddenness, that the nerves of many a man quivered now, who had never owned the existence of nerves before. " You do well to laugh," cried Kate indignantly ; " you who have banded together to commit an inhuman, atrocious murder. There is no justice in you. You accuse Mr. Scott of shooting my husband. When the JUDGE LYNCH. 22$ shot was fired " she hesitated and bent her head, while a hot wave of blood touched her cheeks and brow and neck with crimson, but in an instant she was erect again and fearlessly facing the shame and scorn her words must entail " when the shot was fired, Mr. Scott was in the store with me." The pent up breath escaped from many a bosom as they turned to each other, wondering and bewildered, to ask what manner of woman this must be to dare make such a confession after a silence and under circumstances which gave it so dark a meaning. Jack, stunned and thunderstruck, attempted to falter forth a few words of denial, but in no one did Mrs. Morley's confes- sion work so striking and instantaneous a change as in Jeffries. He had been pushing his way, silently and steadily, as far back into the crowd as he could, but at Kate's words he sprang forward to the centre again. " It's a lie, and a clumsy lie," he shouted. " The prisoner and the witness both know that it is a lie ! Scott was not in the store. He had just started for the village ; there was no one in sight. My testimony I will swear to, which is more than Mrs. Morley would care to do for hers." Jack stepped forward and confronted him. " How do you know I was outside," he demanded. " No one could have been there but the murderer ! Are you he ? " Jeffries recoiled a step, but Scott followed him, and, seizing him by the shoulder rent the fabric of his coat from wrist to elbow. The schoolmaster struggled, but he was like a child in the grasp of a giant. The shirt and 224 JUDGE LYNCH. a rude bandage were torn from his forearm, disclosing a long, superficial wound, such as might have been occa- sioned by the glancing blow of a knife. Holding Hainan's wrist in a vise-like grip, Scott raised the mutilated arm so that all might see it. Everything had passed so quickly that there had been no time for interference, even if any one desired to attempt it. Now the throng pressed closer, and examined the wound with eager, questioning eyes. " There it is, gentlemen," continued Jack ; "the mark of Cain ; a mark you all can read. The sign manual of the murdered man whereby he has branded his mur- derer." And tearing the mask from Haman's face Jack released the arm and mingled with the crowd. " Now look what that man did," shouted Pat. " He trapped that lad into my vault and shut him up there. Juan here heard him and saw him do it ; and like the good greaser he is, he out with his mustang an' galloped ivery fut of the way into San Antonio to fetch me back to let Jack Scott out." " Si, Senor," assented Juan. Judge Boone turned on Jeffries with an oath. " You villanous traitor," he shouted. "Murderer first, traitor afterward," cried Jack. " Twice this man attempted Morley's life ; once with a knife he failed then and got this scar that marks him for the gallows. Once with a pistol ; the pistol poor Dick gave him to return to me ; and then he succeeded, only to seek my life, too, by your aid and that yonder." Jack pointed to the dangling rope, while Judge Boone spoke to the vigilantes. JUDGE LYNCH. 22$ " What's the verdict of this committee as to Jack Scott ? " There was a universal cry of " Not guilty," which rolled its echoes far down the hillside. Meanwhile Pat Byrne was supporting the almost faint- ing form of Kate Morley. " Cheer up, me dear crathur," urged the kind-hearted Irishman. " Sure Jack's safe, and as for what you've said not a wan believed it ; divil a sowl. Jack, come here, can't you, an' help me get the lady home. Its swounding she is." Between them Jack and Byrne assisted Kate down the steep hill-side. Before they had gone very far they met Mr. Starkweather and Lucy. The girl had insisted on accompanying her father as soon as he discovered that the vigilantes had left San Pablo. Jeffries had not spoken a word since the murder had been brought home to him. He was seated under the redwood, closely surrounded by the vigilantes, who held a hurried deliberation as to his fate. Once only did he rouse himself with some show of interest, when he saw Jack and Kate vanish among the pines. " Oh, that woman, that woman ! " he muttered. " It was fate ! It has been written for a million years that this will happen so. A curse on my blindness that could not read my dream aright. The branch in the likeness of Jack Scott was never broken." Then he buried his face in his hands and refused to look up again. Jack was warmly greeted by the sheriff, and in a few words the latter was made acquainted with the changed 226 JUDGE LYNCH. position of affairs. His next question was as to Haman Jeffries. " I left him up there at the top of Lone Pine Knob," answered Jack. " Where are you going ? " as Stark- weather turned abruptly away. " I am going to arrest the man," replied Sam, " and save him from the mob, if I am in time," he added as he strode up the hill. Byrne looked from Jack towards Starkweather, and hesitated, but seeing that Mrs. Morley stood in no further need of assistance, he hastened after the sheriff. Kate was her own calm self again. She turned to Jack and extended her hand. "The danger is all over now, Mr. Scott. I will say good-by." " Oh, I will see you home," answered Jack quickly. " Indeed, there is no necessity," replied Kate ; " you must stay with Miss Starkweather. Won't you say good- by ? I shall scarcely see you again." " Are you really going to Memphis ? " inquired Jack. " I shall scarcely see you again, either of you," replied Kate quietly. " Do you remember how we watched for the dawn this morning, Lucy ? I shall often think of that. May the sun of happiness that has this day risen on both your lives, never set. God bless you, Mr. Scott. Good-by, Lucy. Be very good to him, for he is worthy of it, and he has come to you through many perils." She pressed a quick kiss on Lucy's forehead and dis- appeared among the trees. " Do you know, Jack," said Lucy, after a moment's silence. "Don't think I'm jealous a bit, but I think she was very fond of you, dear." JUDGE LYNCH. 227 "You foolish little woman," he returned. "You must not imagine every one has your bad taste." And so they lingered in the fragrant gloom of the pines, while Kate Morley carried her desolate heart to her desolate home. CHAPTER XXIV. RATHER more than a year after Jack Scott's memorable tryst at Lone Pine Knob, the Hon. Pat Byrne stood in the plaza of San Pablo waiting for the arrival of the San Antonio coach, for a semi-weekly stage line had been established by his enterprise. The honorable gentleman was attired in a brand new frock coat and an extra shiny hat, while his other garments were of corresponding mag- nificence. He wore a necktie which would have been worthy of Solomon in all his glory, and a rosebud nestled in the lappel of his coat. Evidently Mr. Byrne was expecting company. From time to time he consulted his watch and shook his head, muttering that it would be necessary " to give Every Day Pete a taste o' discipline, or he'd never larn to drive a coach," but in due time the stage did arrive, and the Hon. Pat had the pleasure of assisting his fair friend, once Miss Carrie Van Zandt, to alight, while Jimmy Ruggles climbed down from the driver's box unaided. " Sure it's a sight for sore eyes to see ye, me dear young lady," cried Byrne raising his hat with ceremonious politeness. "It's real tasty and charming ye're lookin'. Ah, there's nothing like mattheromony fer the young an beeootiful," and the Hon. Pat with a killing air pressed his right hand on the lefr side of his white waistcoat. " Tell us all the news, Mr. Byrne," said Ruggles, as they walked across to the hotel where the Irishman had 228 JUDGE LYNCH. 2 29 insisted on the travellers partaking of a " thrifle o' lunch at my expinse," before proceeding to their destination. "Let me collect my idays," returned Pat, with a glance at Carrie. "It's a year since I've basked in the smiles of beauty." Mrs. Ruggles blushed at this outspoken compliment, but Pat was a privileged character, and her husband only laughed. " Well," said Byrne, when the little party was seated, and he had ascertained by the only test that the cham- pagne was iced to the proper temperature. " Well, in the first place ye'll have a welcome from Mr. and Mrs. Scott that'll mek yer hair curl, an' ye'll see the purtiest baby in the State. I'm his godfather ! " Jimmy congratulated their host on his new dignity, and Pat resumed: " You'll see a vineyard workin' too not a dissolute mess 'o grapes an' foliage like it was last year. Ah, thim was terrible times ! " " Terrible indeed ! " assented Ruggles, while his wife drew nearer to him with a little shiver. " You've had no Vigilance Committees since, I hope ? " " The divil a wan," replied Pat. " Ye'll excuse me, me dear young lady, but it's so long since I've basked in the smiles of beauty that I'm forgittin' me manners ; but we's had nothin' 'o the soort since Sheriff Starkweather niver cud cease blamin' himself whin he found he'd come too late. He said he'd no call iver to have lift their heels, but they slipped out o' town unbeknownst, an' sure what cud he have done av he'd been in it, itself. But I tell ye he put the fear o' the Lord in thim fellows' hearts when he saw what they had done. Oh, it was an awful sight to JUDGE LYNCH. see that poor misguided loonytic, Ham Jeffries, swinging there in the moonlight on Lone Pine Knob. Not but what he desarved it. He only met the death he was plannin' fer another, but still hangin's a thing that should be done dacently an' not by a gang o' roughs in hot blood." "Were there any prosecutions?" inquired Ruggles. "Well, there came near bein', but sure what was the good ? The whole town was in it, an', as I was sayin', they've been quiet since, and I think the nighness o' their makin' a mistake wid Jack Scott an' there's not a man in San Pablo more rispicted an' looked up to this day give 'em a lesson. Besides that, the town's grown quieter since the strike, an' the sheriff does be here a good share o' the time, for he's just wrapped up in his gran'son." "I suppose we'll see him while we're with Lucy, then?" asked Carrie. " Ye will av ye arn't blind, fer he's in town now. Tell me, Mr. Ruggles, do ye iver hear anything o' yer cousin, Mrs. Morley ? " "Very little," answered Jimmy. " She is still in Mem- phis, I believe. She won golden opinions from every one by her nursing in the terrible epidemic last year. I have a clipping from a Southern paper no it isn't in this pocket-book ; but it speaks in the highest terms of her unselfishness and devotion." " An' she's at it yet ? " inquired Bryne. " She will never leave it," replied Ruggles. " Some women seem to have a mission for that kind of life, and her heart is in it. Of course this year there has been little fever, and her work is much lighter." " She writes to Mrs. Scott ivery wanst in awhile," said JUDGE L YNCH. 23 I Pat, " an* whin the baby kem she sint a lot of beeootiful imbroidery work, med expressly be her own hand. She was good hearted, poor sowl." " She was indeed," replied Carrie earnestly ; and with this tribute Kate Morley's name passed from the conver- sation, though Mr. and Mrs. Ruggles found that it had frequent mention in the Scott household, and was always linked with terms of gratitude and respect. " How's the paper, the Independent, getting along ? " inquired Jimmy with professional interest. " Does Scott run it ? " " Indade an' he doesn't," answered Pat indignantly, " Mr. Scott is me partner, an' has more important things to look after nor a rubbishin' newspaper axin' yer pardon^ Mr. Ruggles, and manin' no disrespect to yer callin'; but the thing never ped anyhow, so afther I give Field the sack I niver look for another iditor, but just discontinued publication." " I saw Field in San Francisco," remarked Ruggles. " Did ye indade," asked Pat. " An' what might he be doin' there ? " " Oh, bohemianizing around on the outskirts of jour- nalism and drinking himself to death as fast as he can," answered Jimmy, who had seen too many bright men go to ruin in the same way to have much pity to spend on Chamberlain Field. But Pat Bryne looked grave and there was a tone of compassion in his voice as he said, "Ah thin, that's a pity, for wid all his faults Foxy was a gintleman and a scholar." " Is that your team, Mr. Byrne ? " inquired Carrie, glancing out of the window and admiring a handsome 232 JUDGE LYNCH. road wagon with a fine pair of horses drawn up in front of the hotel. " That's what it is, me dear young lady," answered the Hon. Pat. "An' I'm goin' to have the pleasure of drivin' yerself an' yer worthy husband out to me partner's house when ye've had yer lunch." " I've done," said Ruggles, rising ; and as Carrie pro- tested that she could not eat another morsel, Mr. Byrne was fain to accept her assurance and establish her in the seat of honor in his carriage. " Jack has a rale purty house wid an illegant view o' the say about two miles out o' town. It's pay day at the vineyard, or he'd ha' been here to mate ye himself, an' as fer his wife sure wait till ye see the baby an' ye'll say she has excuse enough." " A pretty house, a noble view indeed," remarked Ruggles, as they came in sight of Jack's home, and saw Lucy waving her welcome from the front porch. " Jack ought to be a happy man." " An' so he is, an' why wouldn't he be ? " returned Byrne. " Sure he has all that heart can wish, an a good conscience to the boot o' it." A loving wife, a sufficiency of this world's goods, and the esteem and affection of all who knew him : such was Jack Scott's lot in life. The blessing called down in Kate Morley's parting words was fulfilled in overflowing measure, and Lucy thanked God night and morning for her husband, and forgot to shudder at the dangers he had escaped. As Kate Morley said, " he had come to her through many perils." END. Belford, Clarke & Co.'s New Books. A Drummer's Diary. By CHARLES S. 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