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 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., Publishers, 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH 
 AND-READY 
 
 AND DEVIL'S FORD 
 
 BY 
 
 BRET HARTE 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 re?& Camferi&ge 
 1887 
 
Copyright, 1886 and 1887, 
 BY BEET HARTE. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge: 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGl 
 
 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 5 
 DEVIL'S FORD , . 169 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH- 
 AND-READY. 
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 THERE was no mistake this time : he had 
 struck gold at last ! 
 
 It had lain there before him a moment 
 ago a misshapen piece of brown-stained 
 quartz, interspersed with dull yellow metal ; 
 yielding enough to have allowed the points 
 of his pick to penetrate its honeycombed re- 
 cesses, yet heavy enough to drop from the 
 point of his pick as he endeavored to lift it 
 from the red earth. 
 
 He was seeing all this plainly, although 
 he found himself, he knew not why, at some 
 distance from the scene of his discovery, his 
 heart foolishly beating, his breath impotently 
 hurried. Yet he was walking slowly and 
 vaguely ; conscious of stopping and staring 
 
6 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 at the landscape, which no longer looked 
 familiar to him. He was hoping for some 
 instinct or force of habit to recall him to 
 himself ; yet when he saw a neighbor at work 
 in an adjacent claim, he hesitated, and then 
 turned his back upon him. Yet only a mo- 
 ment before he had thought of running to 
 him, saying, " By Jingo ! I 've struck it," or 
 " D n it, old man, I 've got it ; " but that 
 moment had passed, and now it seemed to 
 him that he could scarce raise his voice, 
 or, if he did, the ejaculation would appear 
 forced and artificial. Neither could he go 
 over to him coolly and tell his good fortune ; 
 and, partly from this strange shyness, and 
 partly with a hope that another survey of the 
 treasure might restore him to natural expres- 
 sion, he walked back to his tunnel. 
 
 Yes ; it was there ! No mere " pocket " 
 or " deposit," but a part of the actual vein 
 he had been so long seeking. It was there, 
 sure enough, lying beside the pick and the 
 debris of the "face" of the vein that he 
 had exposed sufficiently, after the first shock 
 of discovery, to assure himself of the fact 
 
RO UGB-AND-REA DY. 7 
 
 and the permanence of his fortune. It was 
 there, and with it the refutation of his ene- 
 mies' sneers, the corroboration of his friends' 
 belief, the practical demonstration of his own 
 theories, the reward of his patient labors. 
 It was there, sure enough. But, somehow, 
 he not only failed to recall the first joy of 
 discovery, but was conscious of a vague 
 sense of responsibility and unrest. It was, 
 no doubt, an enormous fortune to a man in 
 his circumstances : perhaps it meant a couple 
 of hundred thousand dollars, or more, judg- 
 ing from the value of the old Martin lead, 
 which was not as rich as this, but it required 
 to be worked constantly and judiciously. It 
 was with a decided sense of uneasiness that 
 he again sought the open sunlight of the 
 hillside. His neighbor was still visible on 
 the adjacent claim ; but he had apparently 
 stopped working, and was contemplatively 
 smoking a pipe under a large pine-tree. For 
 an instant he envied him his apparent con- 
 tentment. He had a sudden fierce and in- 
 explicable desire to go over to him and ex- 
 asperate his easy poverty by a revelation of 
 
8 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 his own new-found treasure. But even that 
 sensation quickly passed, and left him star- 
 ing blankly at the landscape again. 
 
 As soon as he had made his discovery 
 known, and settled its value, he would send 
 for his wife and her children in the States. 
 He would build a fine house on the opposite 
 hillside, if she would consent to it, unless 
 she preferred, for the children's sake, to live 
 in San Francisco. A sense of a loss of in- 
 dependence of a change of circumstances 
 that left him no longer his own master 
 began to perplex him, in the midst of his 
 brightest projects. Certain other relations 
 with other members of his family, which 
 had lapsed by absence and his insignificance, 
 must now be taken up anew. He must do 
 something for his sister Jane, for his brother 
 William, for his wife's poor connections. It 
 would be unfair to him to say that he con- 
 templated those things with any other in- 
 stinct than that of generosity ; yet he was 
 conscious of being already perplexed and 
 puzzled. 
 
 Meantime, however, the neighbor had ap- 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 9 
 
 parently finished his pipe, and, knocking the 
 ashes out of it, rose suddenly, and ended 
 any further uncertainty of their meeting by 
 walking over directly towards him. The 
 treasure-finder advanced a few steps on his 
 side, and then stopped irresolutely. 
 
 " Hollo, Slinn ! " said the neighbor, con- 
 fidently. 
 
 " Hollo, Masters," responded Slinn, 
 faintly. From the sound of the two voices 
 a stranger might have mistaken their rela- 
 tive condition. " What in thunder are you 
 mooning about for? What 's up?" Then, 
 catching sight of Slinn's pale and anxious 
 face, he added abruptly, " Are you sick ? " 
 
 Slinn was on the point of telling him his 
 good fortune, but stopped. The unlucky 
 question confirmed his consciousness of his 
 physical and mental disturbance, and he 
 dreaded the ready ridicule of his companion. 
 He would tell him later ; Masters need not 
 know when he had made the strike. Be- 
 sides, in his present vagueness, he shrank 
 from the brusque, practical questioning that 
 would be sure to follow the revelation to a 
 man of Masters' temperament. 
 
10 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " I 'in a little giddy here," he answered, 
 putting his hand to his head, " and I thought 
 I M knock off until I was better." 
 
 Masters examined him with two very criti- 
 cal gray eyes. " Tell ye what, old man ! 
 if you don't quit this dog-goned foolin' of 
 yours in that God-forsaken tunnel you '11 get 
 loony ! Times you get so tangled up in fol- 
 lerin' that blind lead o' yours you ain't sen- 
 sible ! " 
 
 Here was the opportunity to tell him all, 
 and vindicate the justice of his theories! 
 But he shrank from it again ; and now, add- 
 ing to the confusion, was a singular sense of 
 dread at the mental labor of explanation. 
 He only smiled painfully, and began to move 
 away. "Look you!" said Masters, "per- 
 emptorily, " ye want about three fingers of 
 straight whiskey to set you right, and you 've 
 got to take it with me. D ^n it, man, it may 
 be the last drink we take together ! Don't 
 look so skeered ! I mean I made up my 
 mind about ten minutes ago to cut the whole 
 d d thing, and light out for fresh dig- 
 gings. I 'm sick of getting only grub wages 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 11 
 
 out o' this hill. So that ? s what I mean by 
 saying it 's the last drink you and me '11 take 
 together. You know my ways : sayin' and 
 doin' with me 's the same thing." 
 
 It was true. Slinn had often envied 
 Masters' promptness of decision and reso- 
 lution. But he only looked at the grim face 
 of his interlocutor with a feeble sense of 
 relief. He was going. And he, Slinn, 
 would not have to explain anything ! 
 
 He murmured something about having to 
 go over to the settlement on business. He 
 dreaded lest Masters should insist upon go- 
 ing into the tunnel. 
 
 " I suppose you want to mail that letter," 
 said Masters, drily. " The mail don't go till 
 to-morrow, so you Ve got time to finish it, 
 and put it in an envelope." 
 
 Following the direction of Masters' eyes, 
 Slinn looked down and saw, to his utter sur- 
 prise, that he was holding an unfinished pen- 
 cilled note in his hand. How it came there, 
 when he had written it, he could not tell ; 
 he dimly remembered that one of his first 
 impulses was to write to his wife, but that 
 
12 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 he had already done so he had forgotten. 
 He hastily concealed the note in his breast- 
 pocket, with a vacant smile. Masters eyed 
 him half contemptuously, half compassion- 
 ately. 
 
 " Don't forget yourself and drop it in 
 some hollow tree for a letter-box," he said. 
 " Well so long ! since you won't drink. 
 Take care of yourself," and, turning on his 
 heel, Masters walked away. 
 
 Slinn watched him as he crossed over to 
 his abandoned claim, saw him gather his 
 few mining utensils, strap his blanket over 
 his back, lift his hat on his long-handled 
 shovel as a token of farewell, and then stride 
 light-heartedly over the ridge. 
 
 He was alone now with his secret and his 
 treasure. The only man in the world who 
 knew of the exact position of his tunnel had 
 gone away forever. It was not likely that 
 this chance companion of a few weeks would 
 ever remember him or the locality again ; 
 he would now leave his treasure alone for 
 even a day perhaps until he had thought 
 out some plan and sought out some friend 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 13 
 
 in whom to confide. His secluded life, the 
 singular habits of concentration which had 
 at last proved so successful, had, at the same 
 time, left him few acquaintances and no 
 associates. And in all his well-laid plans 
 and patiently-digested theories for finding 
 the treasure, the means and methods of 
 working it and disposing of it had never 
 entered. 
 
 And now, at the hour when he most 
 needed his faculties, what was the meaning 
 of this strange benumbing of them ! 
 
 Patience! He only wanted a little rest 
 a little time to recover himself. There 
 was a large boulder under a tree in the 
 highway to the settlement a sheltered 
 spot where he had often waited for the com- 
 ing of the stage-coach. He would go there, 
 and when he was sufficiently rested and com- 
 posed he would go on. 
 
 Nevertheless, on his way he diverged and 
 turned into the woods, for no other apparent 
 purpose than to find a hollow tree. " A 
 hollow tree." Yes ! that was what Masters 
 had said ; he remembered it distinctly ; and 
 
14 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 something was to be done there, but what 
 it was, or why it should be done, he could 
 not tell. However, it was done, and very 
 luckily, for his limbs could scarcely support 
 him further, and reaching that boulder he 
 dropped upon it like another stone. 
 
 And now, strange to say, the uneasiness 
 and perplexity which had possessed him 
 ever since he had stood before his revealed 
 wealth dropped from him like a burden laid 
 upon the wayside. A measureless peace stole 
 over him, in which visions of his new-found 
 fortune, no longer a trouble and perplexity, 
 but crowned with happiness and blessing to 
 all around him, assumed proportions far be- 
 yond his own weak, selfish plans. In its 
 even-handed benefaction, his wife and chil- 
 dren, his friends and relations, even his late 
 poor companion of the hillside, met and 
 moved harmoniously together ; in its far- 
 reaching consequences there was only the 
 influence of good. It was not strange that 
 this poor finite mind should never have con- 
 ceived the meaning of the wealth extended 
 to him ; or that conceiving it he should faint 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 15 
 
 and falter under the revelation. Enough 
 that for a few minutes he must have tasted 
 a joy of perfect anticipation that years of 
 actual possession might never bring. 
 
 The sun seemed to go down in a rosy 
 dream of his own happiness, as he still sat 
 there. Later, the shadows of the trees 
 thickened and surrounded him, and still 
 later fell the calm of a quiet evening sky 
 with far-spaced passionless stars, that seemed 
 as little troubled by what they looked upon 
 as he was by the stealthy creeping life in the 
 grasses and underbrush at his feet. The 
 dull patter of soft little feet in the soft dust 
 of the road, the gentle gleam of moist and 
 wondering little eyes on the branches and 
 in the mossy edges of the boulder, did not 
 disturb him. He sat patiently through it 
 all, as if he had not yet made up his mind. 
 
 But when the stage came with the flashing 
 sun the next morning, and the irresistible 
 clamor of life and action, the driver sud- 
 denly laid his four spirited horses on their 
 haunches before the quiet spot. The express 
 messenger clambered down from the box, 
 
16 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 and approached what seemed to be a heap of 
 cast-off clothes upon the boulder. 
 
 " He don't seein to be drunk," he said, in 
 reply to a querulous interrogation from the 
 passengers. " I can't make him out. His 
 eyes are open, but he cannot speak or move. 
 Take a look at him, Doc." 
 
 A rough, unprofessional-looking man here 
 descended from the inside of the coach, and, 
 carelessly thrusting aside the other curious 
 passengers, suddenly leant over the heap of 
 clothes in a professional attitude. 
 
 " He is dead," said one of the passengers. 
 
 The rough man let the passive head sink 
 softly down again. " No such luck for him," 
 he said curtly, but not unkindly. " It 's a 
 stroke of paralysis and about as big as 
 they make 'em. It 's a toss-up if he ever 
 speaks or moves again as long as he lives." 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 17 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHEN Alvin Mulrady announced his in- 
 tention of growing potatoes and garden 
 " truck " on the green slopes of Los Gatos, 
 the mining community of that region, and 
 the adjacent hamlet of " Rough-and-Ready," 
 regarded it with the contemptuous indiffer- 
 ence usually shown by those adventurers to- 
 wards all bucolic pursuits. There was cer- 
 tainly no active objection to the occupation 
 of two hillsides, which gave so little promise 
 to the prospector for gold that it was cur- 
 rently reported that a single prospector, 
 called " Slinn," had once gone mad or im- 
 becile through repeated failures. The only 
 opposition came, incongruously enough, from 
 the original pastoral owner of the soil, one 
 Don Ramon Alvarado^ whose claim for seven 
 leagues of hill and valley, including the 
 now prosperous towns of Rough-and-Ready 
 and Red Dog, was met with simple derision 
 
18 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 from the squatters and miners. " Looks 
 ez ef we woz goin' to travel three thousand 
 
 miles to open up his d d old wilderness, 
 
 and then pay for the increased valoo we give 
 it don't it ? Oh, yes, certainly ! " was 
 their ironical commentary. Mulrady might 
 have been pardoned for adopting this popu- 
 lar opinion ; but by an equally incongruous 
 sentiment, peculiar, however, to the man, he 
 called upon Don Ramon, and actually offered 
 to purchase the land, or " go shares " with 
 him in the agricultural profits. It was al- 
 leged that the Don was so struck with this 
 concession that he not only granted the land, 
 but struck up a quaint reserved friendship 
 for the simple-minded agriculturist and his 
 family. It is scarcely necessary to add that 
 this intimacy was viewed by the miners with 
 the contempt that it deserved. They would 
 have been more contemptuous, however, had 
 they known the opinion that Don Ramon 
 entertained of their particular vocation, and 
 which he early confided to Mulrady. 
 
 "They are savages, who expect to reap 
 where they have not sown ; to take out of 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 19 
 
 the earth without returning anything to it 
 but their precious carcasses ; heathens, who 
 worship the mere stones they dig up." 
 " And was there no Spaniard who ever dug 
 gold ? " asked Mulrady, simply. " Ah, there 
 are Spaniards and Moors," responded Don 
 Ramon, sententiously. " Gold has been dug, 
 and by caballeros ; but no good ever came of 
 it. There were Alvarados in Sonora, look 
 you, who had mines of silver, and worked 
 them with peons and mules, and lost their 
 money a gold mine to work a silver one 
 like gentlemen ! But this grubbing in the 
 dirt with one's fingers, that a little gold may 
 stick to them, is not for caballeros. And 
 then, one says nothing of the curse." 
 
 " The curse ! " echoed Mary Mulrady, with 
 youthful feminine superstition. " What is 
 that?" 
 
 "You knew not, friend Mulrady, that 
 when these lands were given to my ancestors 
 by Charles V., the Bishop of Monterey laid a 
 curse upon any who should desecrate them. 
 Good ! Let us see ! Of the three Ameri- 
 canos who founded yonder town, one was 
 
20 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 shot, another died .of a fever poisoned, 
 you understand, by the soil and the last 
 got himself crazy of aguardiente. Even the 
 scientifico, 1 who came here years ago and 
 spied into the trees and the herbs : he was 
 afterwards punished for his profanation, and 
 died of an accident in other lands. But," 
 added Don Ramon, with grave courtesy, 
 "this touches not yourself. Through me, 
 you are of the soil." 
 
 Indeed, it would seem as if a secure if not 
 a rapid prosperity was the result of Don 
 Ramon's manorial patronage. The potato 
 patch and market garden flourished exceed- 
 ingly ; the rich soil responded with magnifi- 
 cent vagaries of growth $ the even sunshine 
 set the seasons at defiance with extraordinary 
 and premature crops. The salt pork and 
 biscuit consuming settlers did not allow their 
 contempt of Mulrady's occupation to prevent 
 their profiting by this opportunity for chang- 
 
 l Don Ramon probably alluded to the eminent natu- 
 ralist Douglas, -who visited California before the gold 
 excitement, and died of an accident in the Sandwich 
 Islands. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY, 21 
 
 ing their diet. The gold they had taken 
 from the soil presently began to flow into his 
 pockets in exchange for his more modest 
 treasures. The little cabin, which barely 
 sheltered his family a wife, son, and 
 daughter was enlarged, extended, and re- 
 fitted, but in turn abandoned for a more 
 pretentious house on the opposite hill. A 
 whitewashed fence replaced the rudely-split 
 rails, which had kept out the wilderness. By 
 degrees, the first evidences of cultivation 
 the gashes of red soil, the piles of brush and 
 undergrowth, the bared boulders, and heaps 
 of stone melted away, and were lost under 
 a carpet of lighter green, which made an 
 oasis in the tawny desert of wild oats on the 
 hillside. Water was the only free boon 
 denied this Garden of Eden ; what was 
 necessary for irrigation had to be brought 
 from a mining ditch at great expense, and 
 was of insufficient quantity. In this emer- 
 gency Mulrady thought of sinking an arte- 
 sian well on the sunny slope beside his house ; 
 not, however, without serious consultation 
 and much objection from his Spanish patron. 
 
22 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 With great austerity Don Ramon pointed 
 out that this trifling with the entrails of the 
 earth was not only an indignity to Nature 
 almost equal to shaft-sinking and tunnelling, 
 but was a disturbance of vested interests. " I 
 and my fathers, San Diego rest them ! " said 
 Don Ramon, crossing himself. " were content 
 with wells and cisterns, filled by Heaven 
 at its appointed seasons ; the cattle, dumb 
 brutes though they were, knew where to find 
 water when they wanted it. But thou say- 
 est truly," he added, with a sigh, " that was 
 before streams and rain were choked with 
 hellish engines, and poisoned with their 
 spume. Go on, friend Mulrady, dig and 
 bore if thou wilt, but in a seemly fashion, 
 and not with impious earthquakes of devilish 
 gunpowder." 
 
 With this concession Alvin Mulrady be- 
 gan to sink his first artesian shaft. Being 
 debarred the auxiliaries of steam and gun- 
 powder, the work went on slowly. The 
 market garden did not suffer meantime, as 
 Mulrady had employed two Chinamen to 
 take charge of the ruder tillage, while he 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 23 
 
 superintended the engineering work of the 
 well. This trifling incident marked an epoch 
 in the social condition of the family. Mrs. 
 Mulrady at once assumed a conscious impor- 
 tance among her neighbors. She spoke of 
 her husband's " men ; " she alluded to the 
 well as " the works ; " she checked the easy 
 frontier familiarity of her customers with 
 pretty Mary Mulrady, her seventeen-year- 
 old daughter. Simple Alvin Mulrady looked 
 with astonishment at this sudden develop- 
 ment of the germ planted in all feminine 
 nature to expand in the slightest sunshine 
 of prosperity. "Look yer, Malviny; ain't 
 ye rather puttin' on airs with the boys that 
 want to be civil to Mamie ? Like as not one 
 of 'em may be makin' up to her already." 
 " You don't mean to say, Alvin Mulrady," 
 responded Mrs. Mulrady, with sudden sever- 
 ity, " that you ever thought of givin' your 
 daughter to a common miner, or that I 'm 
 goin' to allow her to marry out of our own 
 set ? " " Our own set ! " echoed Mulrady 
 feebly, blinking at her in astonishment, and 
 then glancing hurriedly across at his freckle- 
 
24 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 faced son and the two Chinamen at work in 
 the cabbages. " Oh, you know what I mean," 
 said Mrs. Mulrady sharply ; " the set that 
 we move in. The Alvarados and their 
 friends! Doesn't the old Don come here 
 every day, and ain't his son the right age for 
 Mamie? And ain't they the real first fam- 
 ilies here all the same as if they were 
 noblemen ? No, leave Mamie to me, and 
 keep to your shaft ; there never was a man 
 yet had the least sabe about these things, or 
 knew what was due to his family." Like 
 most of his larger minded, but feebler 
 equipped sex, Mulrady was too glad to accept 
 the truth of the latter proposition, which left 
 the meannesses of life to feminine manipula- 
 tion, and went off to his shaft on the hillside. 
 But during that afternoon he was perplexed 
 and troubled. He was too loyal a husband 
 not to be pleased with this proof of an un- 
 expected and superior foresight in his wife, 
 although he was, like all husbands, a little 
 startled by it. He tried to dismiss it from 
 his mind. But looking down from the hill- 
 side upon his little venture, where gradual 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 25 
 
 increase and prosperity had not been beyond 
 his faculties to control and understand, he 
 found himself haunted by the more ambi- 
 tious projects of his helpmate. From his 
 own knowledge of men, he doubted if Don 
 Ramon, any more than himself, had ever 
 thought of the possibility of a matrimonial 
 connection between the f atnilies. He doubted 
 if he would consent to it. And unfortunately 
 it was this very doubt that, touching his own 
 pride as a self-made man, made him first 
 seriously consider his wife's proposition. He 
 was as good as Don Ramon, any day ! With 
 this subtle feminine poison instilled in his 
 veins, carried completely away by the logic 
 of his wife's illogical premises, he almost 
 hated his old benefactor. He looked down 
 upon the little Garden of Eden, where his 
 Eve had just tempted him with the fatal 
 fruit, and felt a curious, consciousness that 
 he was losing its simple and innocent enjoy- 
 ment forever. 
 
 Happily, about this time Don Ramon 
 died. It is not probable that he ever knew 
 the amiable intentions of Mrs. Mulrady in 
 
26 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 regard to his son, who now succeeded to 
 the paternal estate, sadly partitioned by rel- 
 atives and lawsuits. The feminine Mul- 
 radys attended the funeral, in expensive 
 mourning from Sacramento ; even the gen- 
 tle Alvin was forced into ready-made broad- 
 cloth, which accented his good-natured but 
 unmistakably common presence. Mrs. Mul- 
 rady spoke openly of her " loss ; " declared 
 that the old families were dying out ; and 
 impressed the wives of a few new arrivals at 
 Red Dag with the belief that her own fam- 
 ily was contemporary with the Alvarados, 
 and that her husband's health was far from 
 perfect. She extended a motherly sympathy 
 to the orphaned Don Caesar. Reserved, like 
 his father, in natural disposition, he was 
 still more gravely ceremonious from his loss ; 
 and, perhaps from the shyness of an evident 
 partiality for Mamie Mulrady, he rarely 
 availed himself of her mother's sympathizing 
 hospitality. But he carried out the inten- 
 tions of his father by consenting to sell to 
 Mulrady, for a small sum, the property he 
 had leased. The idea of purchasing had 
 originated with Mrs. Mulrady. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 27 
 
 " It '11 be all in the family," had observed 
 that astute lady, " and it 's better for the 
 looks of the things that we should n't be his 
 tenants." 
 
 It was only a few weeks later that she 
 was startled by hearing her husband's voice 
 calling her from the hillside as he rapidly 
 approached the house. Mamie was in her 
 room putting on a new pink cotton gown, in 
 honor of an expected visit from young Don 
 Caesar, and Mrs. Mulrady was tidying the 
 house in view of the same event. Something 
 in the tone of her good man's voice, and the 
 unusual circumstance of his return to the 
 house before work was done, caused her, 
 however, to drop her dusting cloth, and run 
 to the kitchen door to meet him. She saw 
 him running through the rows of cabbages, 
 his face shining with perspiration and ex- 
 citement, a light in his eyes which she had 
 not seen for years. She recalled, without 
 sentiment, that he looked like that when she 
 had called him a poor farm hand of her 
 father's out of the brush heap at the back 
 of their former home, in Illinois, to learn the 
 
28 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 consent of her parents. The recollection 
 was "the more embarrassing as he threw his 
 arms around her, and pressed a resounding 
 kiss upon her sallow cheek. 
 
 " Sakes alive ! Mulrady ! " she said, exor- 
 cising the ghost of a blush that had also 
 been recalled from the past with her house- 
 wife's apron, " what are you doin', and com- 
 pany expected every minit ? " 
 
 " Malviny, I Ve struck it ; and struck it 
 rich ! " 
 
 She disengaged herself from his arms, 
 without excitement, and looked at him with 
 bright but shrewdly observant eyes. 
 
 " I Ve struck it in the well the regular 
 vein that the boys have been looking fer. 
 There 's a fortin' fer you and Mamie : thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands ! " 
 
 " Wait a minit." 
 
 She left him quickly, and went to the 
 foot of the stairs. He could hear her won- 
 deringly and distinctly. " Ye can take off 
 that new frock, Mamie," she called out. 
 
 There was a sound of undisguised expostu- 
 lation from Mamie. 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 29 
 
 44 1 'in speaking," said Mrs. Mulrady, em- 
 phatically. 
 
 The murmuring ceased. Mrs. Mulrady 
 returned to her husband. The interruption 
 seemed to have taken off the keen edge of 
 his enjoyment. He at once abdicated his 
 momentary elevation as a discoverer, and 
 waited for her to speak. 
 
 "Ye haven't told any one yet?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " No. I was alone, down in the shaft. 
 Ye see, Malviny, I was n't expectin' of any- 
 thing." He began, with an attempt at fresh 
 enjoyment, " I was just clearin' out, and 
 had n't reckoned on any thin'." 
 
 "You see, I was right when I advised 
 your taking the land," she said, without 
 heeding him. 
 
 Mulrady's face fell. " I hope Don Caesar 
 won't think " he began, hesitatingly. " I 
 reckon, perhaps, I oughter make some sorter 
 compensation you know." 
 
 " Stuff ! " said Mrs. Mulrady, decidedly. 
 '* Don't be a fool. Any gold discovery, any- 
 how, would have been yours that 's the 
 
30 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 law. And you bought the land without any 
 restrictions. Besides, you never had any 
 idea of this ! " she stopped, and looked 
 him suddenly in the face " had you ? " 
 
 Mulrady opened his honest, pale-gray 
 eyes widely. 
 
 "Why, Malviny ! You know I hadn't. 
 I could swear ! " 
 
 " Don't swear, and don't let on to any- 
 body but what you did know it was there. 
 Now, Alvin Mulrady, listen to me." Her 
 voice here took the strident form of action. 
 " Knock off work at the shaft, and send 
 your man away at once. Put on your 
 things, catch the next stage to Sacramento 
 at four o'clock, and take Mamie with you." 
 
 " Mamie ! " echoed Mulrady, feebly. 
 
 " You want to see Lawyer Cole and my 
 brother Jim at once," she went on, without 
 heeding him, " and Mamie wants a change 
 and some proper clothes. Leave the rest to 
 me and Abner. I '11 break it to Mamie, and 
 get her ready." 
 
 Mulrady passed his hands through his 
 tangled hair, wet with perspiration. He 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 31 
 
 was proud of his wife's energy and action ; 
 he did not dream of opposing her, but some- 
 how he was disappointed. The charming 
 glamour and joy of his discovery had vanished 
 before he could fairly dazzle her with it ; or, 
 rather, she was not dazzled with it at all. 
 It had become like business, and the expres- 
 sion " breaking it " to Mamie jarred upon 
 him. He would have preferred to tell her 
 himself ; to watch the color come into her 
 delicate oval face, to have seen her soft eyes 
 light with an innocent joy he had not seen 
 in his wife's ; and he felt a sinking con- 
 viction that his wife was the last one to 
 awaken it. 
 
 " You ain't got any time to lose," she said, 
 impatiently, as he hesitated. 
 
 Perhaps it was her impatience that struck 
 harshly upon him ; perhaps, if she had not 
 accepted her good fortune so confidently, he 
 would not have spoken what was in his mind 
 at the time ; but he said, gravely, " Wait a 
 minit, Malviny ; I 've suthin' to tell you 
 'bout this find of mine that 's sing'lar." 
 
 " Go on," she said, quickly. 
 
32 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " Lyin' among the rotten quartz of the 
 vein was a pick," he said, constrainedly ; 
 " and the face of the vein sorter looked ez if 
 it had been worked at. Follering the line 
 outside to the base of the hill there was 
 signs of there having been an old tunnel ; 
 but it had fallen in, and was blocked up." 
 
 " Well ? " said Mrs. Mulrady, contempt- 
 uously. 
 
 " Well," returned her husband, somewhat 
 disconnectedly, " it kinder looked as if some 
 feller might have discovered it before." 
 
 " And went away, and left it for others ! 
 That 's likely ain't it ? " interrupted his 
 wife, with ill-disguised intolerance. " Every- 
 body knows the hill was n't worth that for 
 prospectin' ; and it was abandoned when we 
 came here. It 's your property and you Ve 
 paid for it. Are you goin' to wait to ad- 
 vertise for the owner, Alvin Mulrady, or are 
 you going to Sacramento at four o'clock to- 
 day?" 
 
 Mulrady started. He had never seriously 
 believed in the possibility of a previous dis- 
 covery ; but his conscientious nature had 
 
R UGH-AND-REA DY. 33 
 
 prompted him to give it a fair consideration. 
 She was probably right. What he might 
 have thought had she treated it with equal 
 conscientiousness he did not consider. " All 
 right," he said simply. " I reckon we '11 
 go at once." 
 
 " And when you talk to Lawyer Cole and 
 Jim, keep that silly stuff about the pick to 
 yourself. There 's no use of putting queer 
 ideas into other people's heads because you 
 happen to have 'em yourself." 
 
 When the hurried arrangements were at 
 last completed, and Mr. Mulrady and Mamie, 
 accompanied by a taciturn and discreet Chi- 
 naman, carrying their scant luggage, were 
 on their way to the high road to meet the 
 up stage, the father gazed somewhat anx- 
 iously and wistfully into his daughter's face. 
 He had looked forward to those few mo- 
 ments to enjoy the freshness and nawetS of 
 Mamie's youthful delight and enthusiasm as 
 a relief to his wife's practical, far-sighted 
 realism. There was a pretty pink suffusion 
 in her delicate cheek, the breathless hap- 
 piness of a child in her half -opened little 
 
34 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 mouth, and a beautiful absorption in her 
 large gray eyes that augured well for him. 
 
 " Well, Mamie, how do we like bein' an 
 heiress ? How do we like layin' over all the 
 gals between this and 'Frisco ? " 
 
 "Eh?" 
 
 She had not heard him. The tender beau- 
 tiful eyes were engaged in an anticipatory 
 examination of the remembered shelves in 
 the " Fancy Emporium " at Sacramento ; in 
 reading the admiration of the clerks ; in 
 glancing down a little criticisingly at the 
 broad cowhide brogues that strode at her 
 side ; in looking up the road for the stage- 
 coach; in regarding the fit. of her new 
 gloves everywhere but in the loving eyes 
 of the man beside her. 
 
 He, however, repeated the question, 
 touched with her charming preoccupation, 
 and passing his arm around her little waist. 
 
 " I like it well enough, pa, you know ! " 
 she said, slightly disengaging his arm, but 
 adding a perfunctory little squeeze to his 
 elbow to soften the separation. " I always 
 had an idea something would happen. I 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 35 
 
 suppose I 'm looking like a fright," she 
 added ; " but ma made me hurry to get 
 away before Don Caesar came." 
 
 " And you did n't want to go without see- 
 ing him ? " he added, archly. 
 
 " I did n't want him to see me in this 
 frock," said Mamie, simply. " I reckon 
 that 's why ma made me change," she added, 
 with a slight laugh. 
 
 " Well, I reckon you 're allus good enough 
 for him in any dress," said Mulrady, watch- 
 ing her attentively ; " and more than a 
 match for him now" he added, triumph- 
 antly. 
 
 " I don't know about that," said Mamie. 
 " He 's been rich all the time, and his father 
 and grandfather before him; while we've 
 been poor and his tenants." 
 
 His face changed ; the look of bewilder- 
 ment, with which he had followed her words, 
 gave way to one of pain, and then of anger. 
 "Did he get off such stuff as that?" he 
 asked, quickly. 
 
 " No. I 'd like to catch him at it," re- 
 sponded Mamie, promptly. " There 's bet- 
 ter nor him to be had for the asking now." 
 
36 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 They had , walked on a few moments in 
 aggrieved silence, and the Chinaman might 
 have imagined some misfortune had just 
 befallen them. But Mamie's teeth shone 
 again between her parted lips. "La, pa! 
 it ain't that ! He cares everything for me, 
 and I do for him ; and if ma had n't got 
 new ideas " She stopped suddenly. 
 
 "What new ideas?" queried her father, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, nothing ! I wish, pa, you 'd put on 
 your other boots !. Everybody can see these 
 are made for the farrows. And you ain't a 
 market gardener any more." 
 
 " What am I, then ? " asked Mulrady, 
 with a half -pleased, half -uneasy laugh. 
 
 " You 're a capitalist, / say ; but ma says 
 a landed proprietor." Nevertheless, the 
 landed proprietor, when he reached the 
 boulder on the Red Dog highway, sat down 
 in somewhat moody contemplation, with his 
 head bowed over the broad cowhide brogues, 
 that seemed to have already gathered enough 
 of the soil to indicate his right to that title. 
 Mamie, who had recovered her spirits, but 
 
RO U GH-AND-READ Y. 37 
 
 had not lost her preoccupation, wandered off 
 by herself in the meadow, or ascended the 
 hillside, as her occasional impatience at the 
 delay of the coach, or the following of some 
 ambitious fancy, alternately prompted her. 
 She was so far away at one time that the 
 stage-coach, which finally drew up before 
 Mulrady, was obliged to wait for her. 
 
 When she was deposited safely inside, 
 and Mulrady had climbed to the box beside 
 the driver, the latter remarked, curtly, 
 
 " Ye gave me a right smart skeer, a minit 
 ago, stranger." 
 
 "Ez how?" 
 
 " Well, about three years ago, I was 
 comin' down this yer grade, at just this time, 
 and sittin' right on that stone, in just your 
 attitude, was a man about your build and 
 years. I pulled up to let him in, when, darn 
 my skin ! if he ever moved, but sorter looked 
 at me without speakin'. I called to him, 
 and he never answered, 'cept with that idi- 
 otic stare. I then let him have my opinion 
 of him, in mighty strong English, and drove 
 off, leavin' him there. The next morning, 
 
38 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 when I came by on the up-trip, darn my 
 skin ! if he was n't thar, but lyin' all of a 
 heap on the boulder. Jim drops down 
 and picks him up. Doctor Duchesne, ez 
 was along, allowst it was a played-out pro- 
 spector, with a big case of paralysis, and we 
 expressed him through to the County Hos- 
 pital, like so much dead freight. I Ve allus 
 been kinder superstitious about passin' that 
 rock, and when I saw you jist now, sittin' 
 thar, dazed like, with your head down like 
 the other chap, it rather threw me off my 
 centre." 
 
 In the inexplicable and half-superstitious 
 uneasiness that this coincidence awakened in 
 Mulrady's unimaginative mind, he was almost 
 on the point of disclosing his good fortune 
 to the driver, in order to prove how pre- 
 posterous was the parallel, but checked him- 
 self in time. 
 
 " Did you find out who he was ? " broke 
 in a rash passenger. " Did you ever get 
 over it?" added another unfortunate. 
 
 With a pause of insulting scorn at the in- 
 terruption, the driver resumed, pointedly, to 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 39 
 
 Mulrady : " The pint of the whole thing was 
 my cussin' a helpless man, ez could neither 
 cuss back nor shoot ; and then afterwards 
 takin' you for his ghost layin' for me to get 
 even." He paused again, and then added, 
 carelessly, " They say he never kem to enuff 
 to let on who he was or whar he kem from ; 
 and he was eventooally taken to a 'Sylum for 
 Doddering Idjits and Gin'ral and Permis- 
 kus Imbeciles at Sacramento. I 've heerd 
 it 's considered a first-class institooshun, not 
 only for them ez is paralyzed and can't 
 talk, as for them ez is the reverse and is too 
 chipper. Now," he added, languidly turn- 
 ing for the first time to his miserable ques- 
 tioners, " how did you find it ? " 
 
40 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHEN the news of the discovery of gold 
 in Mulrady shaft was finally made public, it 
 created an excitement hitherto unknown in 
 the history of the country. Half of Red 
 Dog and all Rough-and-Ready were emptied 
 upon the yellow hills surrounding Mulrady's, 
 until their circling camp fires looked like a 
 besieging army that had invested his peaceful 
 pastoral home, preparatory to carrying it by 
 assault. Unfortunately for them, they found 
 the various points of vantage already gar- 
 risoned with notices of " preemption " for 
 mining purposes in the name of the various 
 members of the Alvarado family. This 
 stroke of business was due to Mrs. Mulrady, 
 as a means of mollifying the conscientious 
 scruples of her husband and of placating the 
 Alvarados, in view of some remote contin- 
 gency. It is but fair to say that this degra- 
 dation of his father's Castilian principles 
 
HO UGH-AND-READ Y. 41 
 
 was opposed by Don Caesar. " You need n't 
 work them yourself, but sell out to them 
 that will ; it 's the only way to keep the pros- 
 pectors from taking it without paying for it 
 at all," argued Mrs. Mulrady. Don Caesar 
 finally assented ; perhaps less to the busi- 
 ness arguments of Mulrady's wife than to 
 the simple suggestion of Mamie's mother. 
 Enough that he realized a sum in money for 
 a few acres that exceeded the last ten years' 
 income of Don Ramon's seven leagues. 
 
 Equally unprecedented and extravagant 
 was the realization of the discovery in Mul- 
 rady's shaft. It was alleged that a company, 
 hastily formed in Sacramento, paid him a 
 million of dollars down, leaving him still a 
 controlling two thirds interest in the mine. 
 With an obstinacy, however, that amounted 
 almost to a moral conviction, he refused to 
 include the house and potato-patch in the 
 property. When the company had yielded 
 the point, he declined, with equal tenacity, 
 to part with it to outside speculators on even 
 the most extravagant offers. In vain Mrs. 
 Mulrady protested ; in vain she pointed out 
 
42 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 to him that the retention of the evidence of 
 his former humble occupation was a green 
 blot upon their social escutcheon. 
 
 " If you will keep the land, build on it, 
 and root up the garden." But Mulrady was 
 adamant. 
 
 " It 's the only thing I ever made myself, 
 and got out of the soil with my own hands ; 
 it 's the beginning of my fortune, and it 
 may be the end of it. Mebbee I '11 be glad 
 enough to have it to come back to some day, 
 and be thankful for the square meal I can 
 dig out of it." 
 
 By repeated pressure, however, Mulrady 
 yielded the compromise that a portion of it 
 should be made into a vineyard and flower- 
 garden, and by a suitable coloring of orna- 
 ment and luxury obliterate its vulgar part. 
 Less successful, however, was that energetic 
 woman in another effort to mitigate the 
 austerities of their earlier state. It occurred 
 to her to utilize the softer accents of Don 
 Caesar in the pronunciation of their family 
 name, and privately had " Mulrade " take 
 the place of Mulrady on her visiting card. 
 
EO UGH-AND-READ Y. 43 
 
 " It might be Spanish," she argued with her 
 husband. " Lawyer Cole says most Amer- 
 ican names are corrupted, and how do you 
 know that yours ain't ? " Mulrady, who 
 would not swear that his ancestors came 
 from Ireland to the Carolinas in '98, was 
 helpless to refute the assertion. But the 
 terrible Nemesis of an un-Spanish, American 
 provincial speech avenged the orthographical 
 outrage at once. When Mrs. Mulrady began 
 to be addressed orally, as well as by letter, 
 as " Mrs. Mulraid," and when simple ama- 
 tory effusions to her daughter rhymed with 
 "lovely maid," she promptly restored the 
 original vowel. But she fondly clung to the 
 Spanish courtesy which transformed her hus- 
 band's baptismal name, and usually spoke of 
 him in his absence as " Don Alvino." 
 But in the presence of his short, square 
 figure, his orange tawny hair, his twinkling 
 gray eyes, and retroussS nose, even that 
 dominant woman withheld his title. It was 
 currently reported at Red Dog that a dis- 
 tinguished foreigner had one day approached 
 Mulrady with the formula, " I believe I have 
 
44 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 the honor of addressing Don Alvino Mul- 
 rady ? " " You kin bet your boots, stran- 
 ger, that's me," had returned that simple 
 hidalgo. 
 
 Although Mrs. Mulrady would have pre- 
 ferred that Mamie should remain at Sacra- 
 mento until she could join her, preparatory 
 to a trip to " the States " and Europe, she 
 yielded to her daughter's desire to astonish 
 Rough-and-Ready, before she left, with hei 
 new wardrobe, and unfold in the parent nest 
 the delicate and painted wings with which 
 she was to fly from them forever. " I don't 
 want them to remember me afterwards in 
 those spotted prints, ma, and like as not say 
 I never had a decent frock until I went 
 away." There was something so like the 
 daughter of her mother in this delicate fore- 
 sight that the touched and gratified parent 
 kissed her, and assented. The result was 
 gratifying beyond her expectation. In that 
 few weeks' sojourn at Sacramento, the young 
 girl seemed to have adapted and assimilated 
 herself to the latest modes of fashion with 
 even more than the usual American girl's 
 
RO UGH-AND-REA D Y. 45 
 
 pliancy and taste. Equal to all emergencies 
 of style and material, she seemed to supply, 
 from some hitherto unknown quality she 
 possessed, the grace and manner peculiar to 
 each. Untrammeled by tradition, educa- 
 tion, or precedent, she had the Western 
 girl's confidence in all things being possible, 
 which made them so often probable. Mr. 
 Mulrady looked at his daughter with min- 
 gled sentiments of pride and awe. Was it 
 possible that this delicate creature, so su- 
 perior to him that he seemed like a degen- 
 erate scion of her remoter race, was his own 
 flesh and blood? Was she the daughter 
 of her mother, who even in her remembered 
 youth was never equipped like this ? If the 
 thought brought no pleasure to his simple, 
 loving nature, it at least spared him the 
 pain of what might have seemed ingratitude 
 in one more akin to himself. " The fact is, 
 we ain't quite up to her style," was his ex- 
 planation and apology. A vague belief that 
 in another and a better world than this he 
 might approximate and understand this 
 perfection somewhat soothed and sustained 
 him. 
 
46 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 It was quite consistent, therefore, that 
 the embroidered cambric dress which Mamie 
 Mulrady wore one summer afternoon on the 
 hillside at Los Gatos, while to the critical 
 feminine eye at once artistic and expensive, 
 should not seem incongruous to her sur- 
 roundings or to herself in the eyes of a 
 general audience. It certainly did not seem 
 so to one pair of frank, humorous ones that 
 glanced at her from time to time, as their 
 owner, a young fellow of five-and-twenty, 
 walked at her side. He was the new editor 
 of the " Eough-and-Keady Record," and, 
 having been her fellow-passenger from Sac- 
 ramento, had already once or twice availed 
 himself of her father's invitation to call 
 upon them. Mrs. Mulrady had not dis- 
 couraged this mild flirtation. Whether she 
 wished to disconcert Don CaBsar for some 
 occult purpose, or whether, like the rest of 
 her sex, she had an overweening confidence 
 in the unheroic, unseductive, and purely pla- 
 tonic character of masculine humor, did not 
 appear. 
 
 " When I say I 'm sorry you are going to 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 47 
 
 leave us, Miss Mulrady," said the young fel- 
 low, lightly, " you will comprehend my un- 
 selfishness, since I frankly admit your de- 
 parture would be a positive relief to me as 
 an editor and a man. The pressure in the 
 Poet's Corner of the ' Record ' since it was 
 mistakingly discovered that a person of your 
 name might be induced to seek the ' glade ' 
 and 'shade' without being 'afraid,' 'dis- 
 mayed,' or ' betrayed,' has been something 
 enormous, and, unfortunately, I am debarred 
 from rejecting anything, on the just ground 
 that I am myself an interested admirer." 
 
 " It is dreadful to be placarded around the 
 country by one's own full name, is n't it? " 
 said Mamie, without, however, expressing 
 much horror in her face. 
 
 " They think it much more respectful than 
 to call you ' Mamie,' " he responded, lightly ; 
 " and many of your admirers are middle- 
 aged men, with a mediaeval style of com- 
 pliment. I Ve discovered that amatory ver- 
 sifying wasn't entirely a youthful passion. 
 Colonel Cash is about as fatal with a couplet 
 as with a double-barreled gun, and scatters 
 
48 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 as terribly. Judge Butts and Dr. Wilson 
 have both discerned the resemblance of your 
 gifts to those of Venus, and their own to 
 Apollo. But don't undervalue those trib- 
 utes, Miss Mulrady," he added, more seri- 
 ously. " You '11 have thousands of admirers 
 where you are going ; but you '11 be willing 
 to admit in the end, I think, that none were 
 more honest and respectful than your sub- 
 jects at Rough-and-Ready and Red Dog." 
 He stopped, and added in a graver tone, 
 " Does Don CaBsar write poetry?" 
 
 " He has something better to do," said the 
 young lady, pertly. 
 
 " I can easily imagine that," he returned, 
 mischievously ; " it must be a pallid substi- 
 tute for other opportunities." 
 
 " What did you come here for ? " she 
 asked, suddenly. 
 
 " To see you." 
 
 " Nonsense ! You know what I mean. 
 Why did you ever leave Sacramento to come 
 here ? I should think it would suit you so 
 much better than this place." 
 
 " I suppose I was fired by your father's 
 example, and wished to find a gold mine." 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 49 
 
 " Men like you never do," she said, simply. 
 
 " Is that a compliment, Miss Mulrady ? " 
 
 " I don't know. But I think that you 
 think that it is." 
 
 He gave her the pleased look of one who 
 had unexpectedly found a sympathetic intel- 
 ligence. " Do I ? This is interesting. Let 's 
 sit down." In their desultory rambling they 
 had reached, quite unconsciously, the large 
 boulder at the roadside. Mamie hesitated a 
 moment, looked up and down the road, and 
 then, with an already opulent indifference to 
 the damaging of her spotless skirt, sat her- 
 self upon it, with her furled parasol held by 
 her two little hands thrown over her half- 
 drawn-up knee. The young editor, half sit- 
 ting, half leaning, against the stone, began to 
 draw figures in the sand with his cane. 
 
 " On the contrary, Miss Mulrady, I hope 
 to make some money here. You are leaving 
 Rough-and-Ready because you are rich. We 
 are coming to it because we are poor." 
 
 "We?" echoed Mamie, lazily, looking up 
 the road. 
 
 " Yes. My father and two sisters." 
 
50 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " I am sorry. I might have known them 
 if I had n't been going away." At the same 
 moment, it flashed across her mind that, if 
 they were like the man before her, they 
 might prove disagreeably independent and 
 critical. " Is your father in business ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 He shook his head. After a pause, he said, 
 punctuating his sentences with the point of 
 his stick in the soft dust, " He is paralysed, 
 and out of his mind, Miss Mulrady. I came 
 to California to seek him, as all news of him 
 ceased three years since ; and I found him 
 only two weeks ago, alone, friendless an 
 unrecognized pauper in the county hospital." 
 
 " Two weeks ago ? That was when I went 
 to Sacramento." 
 
 " Very probably." 
 
 u It must have been very shocking to 
 you? " 
 
 " It was." 
 
 " I should think you 'd feel real bad ? " 
 
 " I do, at times." He smiled, and laid his 
 stick on the stone. "You now see, Miss 
 Mulrady, how necessary to me is this good 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ T. 51 
 
 fortune that you don't think me worthy of. 
 Meantime I must try to make a home for 
 them at Rough-and-Ready." 
 
 Miss Mulrady put down her knee and her 
 parasol. " We must n't stay here much 
 longer, you know." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Why, the stage-coach comes by at about 
 this time." 
 
 "And you think the passengers will ob- 
 serve us sitting here ? " 
 
 " Of course they will." 
 
 " Miss Mulrady, I implore you to stay." 
 
 He was leaning over her with such ap- 
 parent earnestness of voice and gesture that 
 the color carne into her cheek. For a mo- 
 ment she scarcely dared to lift her conscious 
 eyes to his. When she did so, she suddenly 
 glanced her own aside with a flash of anger. 
 He was laughing. 
 
 " If you have any pity for me, do not leave 
 me now," he repeated. " Stay a moment 
 longer, and my fortune is made. The pas- 
 sengers will report us all over Red Dog as 
 engaged. I shall be supposed to be in your 
 
52 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 father's secrets, and shall be sought after as 
 a director of all the new companies. The 
 4 Record ' will double its circulation ; poetry 
 will drop out of its columns, advertising rush 
 to fill its place, and I shall receive five dollars 
 a week more salary, if not seven and a half. 
 Never mind the consequences to yourself at 
 such a moment. I assure you there will be 
 none. You can deny it the next day I 
 will deny it nay, more, the ' Record ' itself 
 will deny it in an extra edition of one thou- 
 sand copies, at ten cents each. Linger a 
 moment longer, Miss Mulrady. Fly, oh fly 
 not yet. They 're coming hark ! ho ! By 
 Jove, it 's only Don Ca3sar ! " 
 
 It was, indeed, only the young scion of the 
 house of Alvarado, blue-eyed, sallow-skinned, 
 and high-shouldered, coming towards them 
 on a fiery, half-broken mustang, whose very 
 spontaneous lawlessness seemed to accentu- 
 ate and bring out the grave and decorous 
 ease of his rider. Even in his burlesque 
 preoccupation the editor of the " Record " 
 did not withhold his admiration of this per- 
 fect horsemanship. Mamie, who, in her 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 53 
 
 wounded amour propre, would like to have 
 made much of it to annoy her companion, 
 was thus estopped any ostentatious compli- 
 ment. 
 
 Don Caesar lifted his hat with sweet serious- 
 ness to the lady, with grave courtesy to the 
 gentleman. While the lower half of this 
 Centaur was apparently quivering with fury, 
 and stamping the ground in his evident de- 
 sire to charge upon the pair, the upper half, 
 with natural dignity, looked from the one to 
 the other, as if to leave the privilege of an 
 explanation with them. But Mamie was too 
 wise, and her companion too indifferent, to 
 offer one. A slight shade passed over Don 
 Caesar's face. To complicate the situation at 
 that moment, the expected stage-coach camsi 
 rattling by. With quick feminine intuition, 
 Mamie caught in the faces of the driver andt 
 the expressman, and reflected in the mis- 
 chievous eyes of her companion, a peculiar 
 interpretation of their meeting, that was not 
 removed by the whispered assurance of tha 
 editor that the passengers were anxiously 
 looking back " to see the shooting." 
 
54 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 f 
 
 The young Spaniard, equally oblivious of 
 humor or curiosity, remained impassive. 
 
 " You know Mr. Slinn, of the ' Record, ' 
 said Mamie, " don't you ? " 
 
 Don Caesar had never before met the 
 Seiior Esslinn. He was under the impres- 
 sion that it was a Seiior Robinson that was 
 of the " Record." 
 
 "Oh! he was shot," said Slinn. "I'm 
 taking his place." 
 
 " Bueno ! To be shot too ? I trust not." 
 
 Slinn looked quickly and sharply into 
 Don Caesar's grave face. He seemed to be 
 incapable of any double meaning. How- 
 ever, as he had no serious reason for awak- 
 ening Don Caesar's jealousy, and very little 
 desire to become an embarrassing third in 
 this conversation, and possibly a burden to 
 the young lady, he proceeded to take his 
 leave of her. From a sudden feminine re- 
 vulsion of sympathy, or from some unintel- 
 ligible instinct of diplomacy, Mamie said, as 
 she extended her hand, " I hope you '11 find 
 a home for your family near here. Mamma 
 Wants pa to let our old house. Perhaps it 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 55 
 
 might suit you, if not too far from your 
 work. You might speak to ma about it." 
 
 " Thank you ; I will," responded the 
 young man, pressing her hand with unaf- 
 fected cordiality. 
 
 Don Caesar watched him until he had dis- 
 appeared behind the wayside buckeyes. 
 
 " He is a man of family this one 
 your countryman ? " 
 
 It seemed strange to her to have a mere 
 acquaintance spoken of as " her country- 
 man " not the first time nor the last time 
 in her career. As there appeared no trace 
 or sign of jealousy in her questioner's man- 
 ner, she answered briefly but vaguel} 7 . 
 
 " Yes ; it 's a shocking story. His father 
 disappeared some years ago, and he has just 
 found him a helpless paralytic in the 
 Sacramento Hospital. He '11 have to sup- 
 port him and they 're very poor." 
 
 44 So, then, they are not independent of 
 each other always these fathers and chil- 
 dren of Americans ! " 
 
 44 No," said Mamie, shortly. Without 
 knowing why, she felt inclined to resent Don 
 
56 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 Caesar's manner. His serious gravity 
 gentle and high-bred as it was, undoubtedly 
 was somewhat trying to her at times, and 
 seemed even more so after Slinn's irreverent 
 humor. She picked up her parasol, a little 
 impatiently, as if to go. 
 
 But Don Caesar had already dismounted, 
 and tied his horse to a tree with a strong 
 lariat that hung at his saddle-bow. 
 
 " Let us walk through the woods towards 
 your home. I can return alone for the 
 horse when you shall dismiss me." 
 
 They turned in among the pines that, over- 
 crowding the hollow, crept partly up the 
 side of the hill of Mulrady's shaft. A dis- 
 used trail, almost hidden by the waxen-hued 
 yerba buena, led from the highway, and 
 finally lost itself in the undergrowth. It 
 was a lovers' walk; they were lovers, evi- 
 dently, and yet the man was too self -poised 
 in his gravity, the young woman too conscious 
 and critical, to suggest an absorbing or ob- 
 livious passion. 
 
 " I should not have made myself so obtru- 
 sive to-day before your friend," said Don 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 57 
 
 Caesar, with proud humility, " but I could 
 not understand from your mother whether 
 you were alone or whether my company was 
 desirable. It is of this I have now to speak, 
 Mamie. Lately your mother has seemed 
 strange to me ; avoiding any reference to 
 our affection ; treating it lightly, and even 
 as to-day, I fancy, putting obstacles in the 
 way of our meeting alone. She was disap- 
 pointed at your return from Sacramento, 
 where, I have been told, she intended you 
 to remain until you left the country ; and 
 since your return I have seen you but twice. 
 I may be wrong. Perhaps I do not com- 
 prehend the American mother; I have 
 who knows ? perhaps offended in some 
 point of etiquette, omitted some ceremony 
 that was her due. But when you told me, 
 Mamie, that it was not necessary to speak 
 to her first, that it was not the American 
 fashion " 
 
 Mamie started, and blushed slightly. 
 
 " Yes," she said hurriedly, " certainly ; but 
 ma has been quite queer of late, and she 
 may think you know that since 
 
68 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 since there has been so much property to 
 dispose of, she ought to have been con- 
 sulted." 
 
 *' Then let us consult her at once, dear 
 child ! And as to the property, in Heav- 
 en's name, let her dispose of it as she will. 
 Saints forbid that an Alvarado should ever 
 interfere. And what is it to us, my little 
 one ? Enough that Dona Mameta Alvarado 
 will never have less state than the richest 
 bride that ever came to Los Gatos." 
 
 Mamie had not forgotten that, scarcely 
 a month ago, even had she loved the man 
 before her no more than she did at present, 
 she would still have been thrilled with de- 
 light at these words! Even now she was 
 moved conscious as she had become that 
 the " state " of a bride of the Alvarados 
 was not all she had imagined, and that the 
 bare adobe court of Los Gatos was open to 
 the sky and the free criticism of Sacramento 
 capitalists ! 
 
 " Yes, dear," she murmured, with a half 
 childlike pleasure, that lit up her face and 
 eyes so innocently that it stopped any minute 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 59 
 
 investigation into its origin and real mean- 
 ing. " Yes, dear ; but we need not have a 
 fuss made about it at present, and perhaps 
 put ma against us. She would n't hear of 
 our marrying now ; and she might forbid 
 our engagement." 
 
 " But you are going away." 
 
 " I should have to go to New York or Eu- 
 rope first, you know," she answered, naively, 
 " even if it were all settled. I should have 
 to get things! One could n't be decent 
 here." 
 
 With the recollection of the pink cotton 
 gown, in which she had first pledged her 
 troth to him, before his eyes, he said, " But 
 you are charming now. You cannot be more 
 so to me. If I am satisfied, little one, with 
 you as you are, let us go together, and then 
 you can get dresses to please others." 
 
 She had not expected this importunity. 
 Really, if it came to this, she might have 
 engaged herself to some one like Slinn ; he 
 at least would have understood her. He 
 was much cleverer, and certainly more of a 
 man of the world. When Slinn had treated 
 
60 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 her like a child, it was with the humorous 
 tolerance of an admiring superior, and not 
 the didactic impulse of a guardian. She did 
 not say this, nor did her pretty eyes indicate 
 it, as in the instance of her brief anger with 
 Slinn. She only said gently, 
 
 " I should have thought you, of all men, 
 would have been particular about your wife 
 doing the proper thing. But never mind ! 
 Don't let us talk any more about it. Per- 
 haps, as it seems such a great thing to you, 
 and so much trouble, there may be no neces- 
 sity for it at all." 
 
 I do not think that the young lady delib- 
 erately planned this charmingly illogical de- 
 duction from Don Caesar's speech, or that 
 she calculated its effect upon him; but it 
 was part of her nature to say it, and profit 
 by it. Under the unjust lash of it, his pride 
 gave way. 
 
 "Ah, do you not see why I wish to go 
 with you ? " he said, with sudden and un- 
 expected passion. " You are beautiful ; you 
 are good ; it has pleased Heaven to make 
 you rich also ; but you are a child in expe- 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 61 
 
 rience, and know not your own heart. With 
 your beauty, your goodness, and your wealth, 
 you will attract all to you as you do here 
 because you cannot help it. But you will 
 be equally helpless, little one, if they should 
 attract you, and you had no tie to fall back 
 upon." 
 
 It was an unfortunate speech. The words 
 were Don Caesar's ; but the thought she had 
 heard before from her mother, although the 
 deduction had been of a very different kind. 
 Mamie followed the speaker with bright but 
 visionary eyes. There must be some truth 
 in all this. Her mother had said it ; Mr. 
 Slinn had laughingly admitted it. She had 
 a brilliant future before her ! Was she 
 right in making it impossible by a rash and 
 foolish tie ? He himself had said she was 
 inexperienced. She knew it ; and yet, what 
 was he doing now but taking advantage of 
 that inexperience ? If he really loved her, 
 he would be willing to submit to the test. 
 She did not ask a similar one from him; 
 and was willing, if she came out of it free, 
 to marry him just the same. There was 
 
62 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 something so noble in this thought that she 
 felt for a moment carried away by an im- 
 pulse of compassionate unselfishness, and 
 smiled tenderly as she looked up in his face. 
 
 " Then you consent, Mamie ? " he said, 
 eagerly, passing his arm around her waist. 
 
 " Not now, Caesar," she said, gently dis- 
 engaging herself. " I must think it over ; 
 we are both too young to act upon it rashly ; 
 it would be unfair to you, who are so quiet 
 and have seen so few girls I mean Ameri- 
 cans to tie yourself to the first one you 
 have known. When I am gone you will go 
 more into the world. There are Mr. Slinn's 
 two sisters coming here I should n't won- 
 der if they were far cleverer and talked far 
 better than I do and think how I should 
 feel if I knew that only a wretched pledge 
 to me kept you from loving them ! " She 
 stopped, and cast down her eyes. 
 
 It was her first attempt at coquetry, for, 
 in her usual charming selfishness, she was 
 perfectly frank and open ; and it might not 
 have been her last, but she had gone too far 
 at first, and was not prepared for a recoil of 
 her own argument. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 63 
 
 " If you admit that it is possible that it 
 is possible to you ! " he said, quickly. 
 
 She saw her mistake. " We may not 
 have many opportunities to meet alone," she 
 answered, quietly ; " and I am sure we would 
 be happier when we meet not to accuse each 
 other of impossibilities. Let us rather see 
 how we can communicate together, if any- 
 thing should prevent our meeting. Remem- 
 ber, it was only by chance that you were able 
 to see me now. If ma has believed that she 
 ought to have been consulted, our meeting 
 together in this secret way will only make 
 matters worse. She is even now wondering 
 where I am, and may be suspicious. I must 
 go back at once. At any moment some one 
 may come here looking for me." 
 
 " But I have so much to say," he pleaded. 
 " Our time has been so short." 
 
 " You can write." 
 
 "But what will your mother think of 
 that ? " he said, in grave astonishment. 
 
 She colored again as she returned, quickly, 
 " Of course, you must not write to the house. 
 You can leave a letter somewhere for me 
 
64 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 say, somewhere about here. Stop ! " she 
 added, with a sudden girlish gayety, " see, 
 here 's the very place. Look there ! " 
 
 She pointed to the decayed trunk of a 
 blasted sycamore, a few feet from the trail. 
 A cavity, breast high, half filled with skele- 
 ton leaves and pine-nuts, showed that it had 
 formerly been a squirrel's hoard, but for 
 some reason had been deserted. 
 
 " Look ! it 's a regular letter-box," she 
 continued, gayly, rising on tip-toe to peep 
 into its recesses. Don Csesar looked at her 
 admiringly ; it seemed like a return to 
 their first idyllic love-making in the old 
 days, when she used to steal out of the cab- 
 bage rows in her brown linen apron and sun- 
 bonnet to walk with him in the woods. He 
 recalled the fact to her with the fatality of 
 a lover already seeking to restore in past 
 recollections something that was wanting in 
 the present. She received it with the im- 
 patience of youth, to whom the present is all 
 sufficient. 
 
 " I wonder how you could ever have cared 
 for me in that holland apron," she said, 
 looking down upon her new dress. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 65 
 
 " Shall I tell you why ? " he said, fondly, 
 passing his arm around her waist, and draw- 
 ing her pretty head nearer his shoulder. 
 
 No not now ! " she said, laughingly, 
 but struggling to free herself. " There 's not 
 time. Write it, and put it in the box. 
 There," she added, hastily, " listen ! what 's 
 that?" 
 
 " It 's only a squirrel," he whispered reas- 
 suringly in her ear. 
 
 " No ; it 's somebody coming ! I must go ! 
 Please ! Caesar, dear ! There, then " 
 
 She met his kiss half-way, released herself 
 with a lithe movement of her wrist and 
 shoulder, and the next moment seemed to 
 slip into the woods, and was gone. 
 
 Don Caesar listened with a sigh as the last 
 rustling ceased, cast a look at the decayed 
 tree as if to fix it in his memory, and then 
 slowly retraced his steps towards his tethered 
 mustang. 
 
 He was right, however, in his surmise of 
 the cause of that interruption. A pair of 
 bright eyes had been watching them from 
 the bough of an adjacent tree. It was a 
 
66 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 squirrel, who, having had serious and prior 
 intentions of making use of the cavity they 
 had discovered, had only withheld exami- 
 nation by an apparent courteous discretion 
 towards the intruding pair. Now that they 
 were gone he slipped down the tree and ran 
 towards the decayed stump. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 67 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 APPARENTLY dissatisfied with the result 
 of an investigation, which proved that the 
 cavity was unfit as a treasure hoard for a 
 discreet squirrel, whatever its value as a re- 
 ceptacle for the love-tokens of incautious 
 humanity, the little animal at once set about 
 to put things in order. He began by whisk- 
 ing out an immense quantity of dead leaves, 
 disturbed a family of tree-spiders, dissipated 
 a drove of patient aphides browsing in the 
 bark, as well as their attendant dairymen, 
 the ants, and otherwise ruled it with the 
 high hand of dispossession and a contemptu- 
 ous opinion of the previous incumbents. It 
 must not be supposed, however, that his pro- 
 ceedings were altogether free from contem- 
 poraneous criticism ; a venerable crow sitting 
 on a branch above him displayed great in- 
 terest in his occupation, and, hopping down 
 a few moments afterwards, disposed of some 
 
68 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 worm-eaten nuts, a few larvae, and an insect 
 or two, with languid dignity and without 
 prejudice. Certain incumbrances, however, 
 still resisted the squirrel's general eviction ; 
 among them a folded square of paper with 
 sharply defined edges, that declined investi- 
 gation, and, owing to a nauseous smell of 
 tobacco, escaped nibbling as it had appar- 
 ently escaped insect ravages. This, owing 
 to its sharp angles, which persisted in catch- 
 ing in the soft decaying wood in his whirl- 
 wind of house-cleaning, he allowed to re- 
 main. Having thus, in a general way, 
 prepared for the coming winter, the self- 
 satisfied little rodent dismissed the subject 
 from his active mind. 
 
 His rage and indignation a few days later 
 may be readily conceived, when he found, 
 on returning to his new-made home, another 
 square of paper, folded like the first, but 
 much fresher and whiter, lying within the 
 cavity, on top of some moss which had evi- 
 dently been placed there for the purpose. 
 This he felt was really more than he could 
 bear, but as it was smaller, with a few ener- 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 69 
 
 getic kicks and whisks of his tail he managed 
 to finally dislodge it through the opening, 
 where it? fell ignominiously to the earth. 
 The eager eyes of the ever-attendant crow, 
 however, instantly detected it ; he flew to 
 the ground, and, turning it over, examined 
 it gravely. It was certainly not edible, but 
 it was exceedingly rare, and, as an old col- 
 lector of curios, he felt he could not pass it 
 by. He lifted it in his beak, and, with a 
 desperate struggle against the superincum- 
 bent weight, regained the branch with his 
 prize. Here, by one of those delicious vaga- 
 ries of animal nature, he apparently at once 
 discharged his mind of the whole affair, be- 
 came utterly oblivious of it, allowed it to 
 drop without the least concern, and event- 
 ually flew away with an abstracted air, as if 
 he had been another bird entirely. The 
 paper got into a manzanita bush, where it 
 remained suspended until the evening, when, 
 being dislodged by a passing wild-cat on its 
 way to Mulrady's hen-roost, gave that deli- 
 cately sensitive marauder such a turn that 
 she fled into the adjacent county. 
 
70 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 But the troubles of the squirrel were not 
 yet over. On the following day the young 
 man who had accompanied the young woman 
 returned to the trunk, and the squirrel had 
 barely time to make his escape before the 
 impatient visitor approached the opening of 
 the cavity, peered into it, and even passed 
 his hand through its recesses. The delight 
 visible upon his anxious and serious face at 
 the disappearance of the letter, and the ap- 
 parent proof that it had been called for, 
 showed him to have been its original depos- 
 itor, and probably awakened a remorseful 
 recollection in the dark bosom of the omni- 
 present crow, who uttered a conscious-stricken 
 croak from the bough above him. But the 
 young man quickly disappeared again, and 
 the squirrel was once more left in undisputed 
 possession. 
 
 A week passed. A weary, anxious inter- 
 val to Don Caesar, who had neither seen nor 
 heard from Mamie since their last meeting. 
 Too conscious of his own self-respect to call 
 at the house after the equivocal conduct of 
 Mrs. Mulrady, and too proud to haunt the 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 71 
 
 lanes and approaches in the hope of meeting 
 her daughter, like an ordinary lover, he hid 
 his gloomy thoughts in the monastic shadows 
 of the courtyard at Los Gatos, or found re- 
 lief in furious riding at night and early 
 morning on the highway. Once or twice the 
 up-stage had been overtaken and passed by 
 a rushing figure as shadowy as a phantom 
 horseman, with only the star-like point of a 
 cigarette to indicate its humanity. It was 
 in one of these fierce recreations that he 
 was obliged to stop in early morning at the 
 blacksmith's shop at Rough-and-Ready, to 
 have a loosened horseshoe replaced, and while 
 waiting picked up a newspaper. Don Caesar 
 seldom read the papers, but noticing that this 
 was the " Record," he glanced at its columns. 
 A familiar name suddenly flashed out of the 
 dark type like a spark from the anvil. With 
 a brain and heart that seemed to be beating 
 in unison with the blacksmith's sledge, he 
 read as follows : 
 
 " Our distinguished fellow-townsman, Al- 
 vin Mulrady, Esq., left town day before yes- 
 terday to attend an important meeting of 
 
72 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 directors of the Red Dog Ditch Company, in 
 San Francisco. Society will regret to hear 
 that Mrs. Mulrady and her beautiful and 
 accomplished daughter, who were expecting 
 to depart for Europe at the end of the 
 month, anticipated the event nearly a fort- 
 night, by taking this opportunity of accom- 
 panying Mr. Mulrady as far as San Fran- 
 cisco, on their way to the East. Mrs. and 
 Miss Mulrady intend to visit London, Paris, 
 and Berlin, and will be absent three years. 
 It is possible that Mr. Mulrady may join 
 them later at one or other of those capitals. 
 Considerable disappointment is felt that a 
 more extended leave-taking was not pos- 
 sible, and that, under the circumstances, no 
 opportunity was offered for a ' send off ' suit- 
 able to the condition of the parties and the 
 esteem in which they are held in Rough-and- 
 Ready." 
 
 The paper dropped from his hands. Gone ! 
 and without a word ! No, that was impos- 
 sible ! There must be some mistake ; she 
 had written ; the letter had miscarried ; she 
 must have sent word to Los Gatos, and the 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 73 
 
 stupid messenger had blundered ; she had 
 probably appointed another meeting, or ex- 
 pected him to follow to San Francisco. " The 
 day before yesterday ! " It was the morn- 
 ing's paper she had been gone scarcely 
 two days it was not too late yet to receive 
 a delayed message by post, by some forgetful 
 hand by ah the tree ! 
 
 Of course it was in the tree, and he had 
 not been there for a week ! Why had he 
 not thought of it before ? The fault was his, 
 not hers. Perhaps she had gone away, be- 
 lieving him faithless, or a country boor. 
 " In the name of the Devil, will you keep 
 
 me here till eternity ! " 
 
 The blacksmith stared at him. Don Caesar 
 
 suddenly remembered that he was speaking, 
 
 as he was thinking in Spanish. 
 
 " Ten dollars, my friend, if you have done 
 
 in five minutes ! " 
 
 The man laughed. " That 's good enough 
 
 American," he said, beginning to quicken his 
 
 efforts. Don Caesar again took up the paper. 
 
 There was another paragraph that recalled 
 
 his last interview with Mamie : 
 
74 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " Mr. Harry Slinn, J r ., the editor of this 
 paper, has just moved into the pioneer house 
 formerly occupied by Alvin Mulrady, Esq., 
 which has already become historic in the 
 annals of the county. Mr. Slinn brings 
 with him his father H. J. Slinn, Esq. 
 and his two sisters. Mr. Slinn, Sen., who 
 has been suffering for many years from com- 
 plete paralysis, we understand is slowly im- 
 proving ; and it is by the advice of his phy- 
 sicians that he has chosen the invigorating 
 air of the foot-hills as a change to the debil- 
 itating heat of Sacramento." 
 
 The affair had been quickly settled, cer- 
 tainly, reflected Don Caesar, with a slight 
 chill of jealousy, as he thought of Mamie's 
 interest in the young editor. But the next 
 moment he dismissed it from his mind ; all 
 except a dull consciousness that, if she really 
 loved him Don Caesar as he loved her, 
 she could not have assisted in throwing into 
 his society the two young sisters of the editor, 
 whom she expected might be so attractive. 
 
 Within the five minutes the horse was 
 ready, and Don Caesar in the saddle again. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 75 
 
 In less than half an hour he was at the way- 
 side boulder. Here he picketed his horse, 
 and took the narrow foot-trail through the 
 hollow. It did not take him long to reach 
 their old trysting-place. With a beating 
 heart he approached the decaying trunk and 
 looked into the cavity. There was no letter 
 there ! 
 
 A few blackened nuts and some of the dry 
 moss he had put there were lying on the 
 ground at its roots. He could not remember 
 whether they were there when he had last 
 visited the spot. He began to grope in the 
 cavity with both hands. His fingers struck 
 against the sharp angles of a flat paper 
 packet : a thrill of joy ran through them 
 and stopped his beating heart ; he drew out 
 the hidden object, and was chilled with dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 It was an ordinary-sized envelope of yel- 
 lowish-brown paper, bearing, besides the 
 usual government stamp, the official legend 
 of an express company, and showing its age 
 as much by this record of a now obsolete 
 carrying service as by the discoloration of 
 
76 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 time and atmosphere. Its weight, which was 
 heavier than that of an ordinary letter of the 
 same size and thickness, was evidently due to 
 some loose enclosures, that slightly rustled 
 and could be felt by the fingers, like minute 
 pieces of metal or grains of gravel. It was 
 within Don Caesar's experience that gold 
 specimens were often sent in that manner. 
 It was in a state of singular preservation, 
 except the address, which, being written in 
 pencil, was scarcely discernible, and even 
 when deciphered appeared to be incoherent 
 and unfinished. The unknown correspondent 
 had written " dear Mary," and then " Mrs. 
 Mary Slinn," with an unintelligible scrawl 
 following for the direction. If Don Cesar's 
 mind had not been lately preoccupied with 
 the name of the editor, he would hardly have 
 guessed the superscription. 
 
 In his cruel disappointment and fully 
 aroused indignation, he at once began to sus- 
 pect a connection of circumstances which at 
 any other moment he would have thought 
 purely accidental, or perhaps not have con- 
 sidered at all. The cavity in the tree had 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 77 
 
 evidently been used as a secret receptacle for 
 letters before; did Mamie know it at the 
 time, and how did she know it ? The ap- 
 parent age of the letter made it preposterous 
 to suppose that it pointed to any secret cor- 
 respondence of hers with young Mr. Slinn ; 
 and the address was not in her handwriting. 
 Was there any secret previous intimacy be- 
 tween the families ? There was but one way 
 in which he could connect this letter with 
 Mamie's faithlessness. It was an infamous, 
 a grotesquely horrible idea, a thought which 
 sprang as much from his inexperience of the 
 world and his habitual suspiciousness of all 
 humor as anything else ! It was that the 
 letter was a brutal joke of Slinn's a joke 
 perhaps concocted by Mamie and himself 
 a parting insult that should at the last mo- 
 ment proclaim their treachery and his own 
 credulity. Doubtless it contained a declara- 
 tion of their shame, and the reason why she 
 had fled from him without a word of ex- 
 planation. And the enclosure, of course, 
 was some significant and degrading illustra- 
 tion. Those Americans were full of those 
 low conceits ; it was their national vulgarity. 
 
78 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 He held the letter in his angry hand. He 
 could break it open if he wished, and satisfy 
 himself; but it was not addressed to him, 
 and the instinct of honor, strong even in his 
 rage, was the instinct of an adversary as 
 well. No ; Slinn should open the letter be- 
 fore him. Slinn should explain everything, 
 and answer for it. If it was nothing a 
 mere accident it would lead to some gen- 
 eral explanation, and perhaps even news of 
 Mamie. But he would arraign Slinn, and 
 at once. He put the tetter in his pocket, 
 quickly retraced his steps to his horse, and, 
 putting spurs to the animal, followed the 
 high road to the gate of Mulrady's pioneer 
 cabin. 
 
 He remembered it well enough. To a cul- 
 tivated taste, it was superior to the more 
 pretentious " new house." During the first 
 year of Mulrady's tenancy, the plain square 
 log-cabin had received those additions and 
 attractions which only a tenant can conceive 
 and actual experience suggest ; and in this 
 way, the hideous right angles were broken 
 with sheds, " lean-to " extensions, until a cer- 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 79 
 
 tain picturesqueness was given to the irreg- 
 ularity of outline, and a home-like security 
 and companionship to the congregated build- 
 ings. It typified the former life of the great 
 capitalist, 'as the tall new house illustrated 
 the loneliness and isolation that wealth had 
 given him. But the real points of vantage 
 were the years of cultivation and habitation 
 that had warmed and enriched the soil, and 
 evoked the climbing vines and roses that 
 already hid its unpainted boards, rounded 
 its hard outlines, and gave projection and 
 shadow from the pitiless glare of a summer's 
 long sun, or broke the steady beating of the 
 winter rains. It was true that pea and bean 
 poles surrounded it on one side, and the only 
 access to the house was through the cabbage 
 rows that once were the pride and suste- 
 nance of the Mulradys. It was this fact, 
 more than any other, that had impelled Mrs. 
 Mulrady to abandon its site ; she did not 
 like to read the history of their humble 
 origin reflected in the faces of their visitors 
 as they entered. 
 
 Don Caesar tied his horse to the fence, 
 
80 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 and hurriedly approached the house. The 
 door, however, hospitably opened when he 
 was a few paces from it, and when he reached 
 the threshold he found himself unexpectedly 
 in the presence of two pretty girls. They 
 were evidently Slinn's sisters, whom he had 
 neither thought of nor included in the meet- 
 ing he had prepared. In spite of his pre- 
 occupation, he felt himself suddenly embar- 
 rassed, not only by the actual distinction of 
 their beauty, but by a kind of likeness that 
 they seemed to bear to Mamie. 
 
 " We saw you coming," said the elder, 
 unaffectedly. "You are Don CaBsar Alva- 
 rado. My brother has spoken of you." 
 
 The words recalled Don Ca?sar to himself 
 and a sense of courtesy. He was not here 
 to quarrel with these fair strangers at their 
 first meeting ; he must seek Slinn elsewhere, 
 and at another time. The frankness of his 
 reception and the allusion to their brother 
 made it appear impossible that they should 
 be either a party to his disappointment, or 
 even aware of it. His excitement melted 
 away before a certain lazy ease, which the 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ 7. 81 
 
 consciousness of their beauty seemed to give 
 them. He was able to put a few courteous 
 inquiries, and, thanks to the paragraph in 
 the " Record," to congratulate them upon 
 their father's improvement. 
 
 " Oh, pa is a great deal better in his 
 health, and has picked up even in the last 
 few days, so that he is able to walk round 
 with crutches," said the elder sister. " The 
 air here seems to invigorate him wonder- 
 fully." 
 
 " And you know, Esther," said the 
 younger, "I think he begins to take more 
 notice of things, especially when he is out- 
 of-doors. He looks around on the scenery, 
 and his eye brightens, as if he knew all 
 about it ; and sometimes he knits his brows, 
 and looks down so, as if he was trying to 
 remember." 
 
 " You know, I suppose," explained Esther, 
 " that since his seizure his memory has been 
 a blank that is, three or four years of his 
 life seem to have been dropped out of his 
 recollection." 
 
 " It might be a mercy sometimes, Sefiora," 
 
82 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 said Don Caesar, with a grave sigh, as he 
 looked at the delicate features before him, 
 which recalled the face of the absent Mamie. 
 
 " That 's not very complimentary," said 
 the younger girl, laughingly; "for pa didn't 
 recognize us, and only remembered us as 
 little girls." 
 
 " Vashti ! " interrupted Esther, rebuk- 
 ingly ; then, turning to Don Caesar, she 
 added, " My sister, Vashti, means that fa- 
 ther remembers more what happened before 
 he came to California, when we were quite 
 young, than he does of the interval that 
 elapsed. Dr. Duchesne says it 's a singular 
 case. He thinks that, with his present prog- 
 ress, he will recover the perfect use of his 
 limbs ; though his memory may never come 
 back again." 
 
 " Unless You forget what the doctor 
 told us this morning," interrupted Yashti 
 again, briskly. 
 
 " I was going to say it," said Esther, a lit- 
 tle curtly. " Unless he has another stroke. 
 Then he will either die or recover his mind 
 entirely." 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 83 
 
 Don Caesar glanced at the bright faces, a 
 trifle heightened in color by their eager re- 
 cital and the slight rivalry of narration, and 
 looked grave. He was a little shocked at a 
 certain lack of sympathy and tenderness to- 
 wards their unhappy parent. They seemed 
 to him not only to have caught that dry, 
 curious toleration of helplessness which char- 
 acterizes even relationship in its attendance 
 upon chronic suffering and weakness, but to 
 have acquired an unconscious habit of turn- 
 ing it to account. In his present sensitive 
 condition, he even fancied that they flirted 
 mildly over their parent's infirmity. 
 
 " My brother Harry has gone to Red 
 Dog," continued Esther; "he'll be right 
 sorry to have missed you. Mrs. Mulrady 
 spoke to him about you ; you seem to have 
 been great friends. I s'pose you knew her 
 daughter, Mamie ; I hear she is very 
 pretty." 
 
 Although Don Caesar was now satisfied 
 that the Slinns knew nothing of Mamie's 
 singular behavior to him, he felt embarrassed 
 by this conversation. "Miss Mulrady is 
 
84 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 very pretty," he said, with grave courtesy ; 
 " it is a custom of her race. She left sud- 
 denly," he added, with affected calmness. 
 
 " I reckon she did calculate to stay here 
 longer so her mother said ; but the whole 
 thing was settled a week ago. I know my 
 brother was quite surprised to hear from 
 Mr. Mulrady that if we were going to de- 
 cide about this house we must do it at once ; 
 he had an idea himself about moving out of 
 the big one into this when they left." 
 
 " Mamie Mulrady had n't much to keep 
 her here, considerin' the money and the 
 good looks she has, I reckon," said Yashti. 
 " She is n't the sort of girl to throw herself 
 away in the wilderness, when she can pick 
 and choose elsewhere. I only wonder she 
 ever come back from Sacramento. They 
 talk about papa Mulrady having business 
 at San Francisco, and that hurrying them 
 off ! Depend upon it, that * business ' was 
 Mamie herself. Her wish is gospel to 
 them. If she 'd wanted to stay and have a 
 farewell party, old Mulrady's business would 
 have been nowhere." 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 85 
 
 " Ain't you a little rough on Mamie," said 
 Esther, who had been quietly watching the 
 young man's face with her large, languid 
 eyes, " considering that we don't know her, 
 and have n't even the right of friends to 
 criticise ? " 
 
 " I don't call it rough," returned Vashti, 
 frankly, " for I 'd do the same if I were 
 in her shoes and they 're f our-and-a-halves, 
 for Harry told me so. Give me her money 
 and her looks, and you wouldn't catch me 
 hanging round these diggings goin' to 
 choir meetings Saturdays, church Sundays, 
 and buggy-riding once a month for soci- 
 ety ! No Mamie's head was level you 
 bet ! " 
 
 Don Ca3sar rose hurriedly. They would 
 present his compliments to their father, and 
 he would endeavor to find their brother at 
 Red Dog. He, alas! had neither father, 
 mother, nor sister, but if they would receive 
 his aunt, the Dona Inez Sepulvida, the next 
 Sunday, when she came from mass, she 
 should be honored and he would be de- 
 lighted. It required all his self-possession 
 
86 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 to deliver himself of this formal courtesy 
 before he could take his leave, and on the 
 back of his mustang give way to the rage, 
 disgust, and hatred of everything connected 
 with Mamie that filled his heart. Conscious 
 of his disturbance, but not entirely appreci- 
 ating their own share in it, the two girls 
 somewhat wickedly prolonged the interview 
 by following him into the garden. 
 
 " Well, if you must leave now," said 
 Esther, at last, languidly, " it ain't much out 
 of your way to go down through the garden 
 and take a look at pa as you go. He 's some- 
 where down there, near the woods, and we 
 don't like to leave him alone too long. You 
 might pass the time of day with him ; see if 
 he 's right side up. Vashti and I have got 
 a heap of things to fix here~yet ; but if any- 
 thing 's wrong with him, you can call us. 
 So-long." 
 
 Don Caesar was about to excuse himself 
 hurriedly ; but that sudden and acute per- 
 ception of all kindred sorrow, which belongs 
 to refined suffering, checked his speech. The 
 loneliness of the helpless old man in this at- 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 87 
 
 mosphere of active and youthful selfishness 
 touched him. He bowed assent, and turned 
 aside into one of the long perspectives of 
 bean-poles. The girls watched him until out 
 of sight. 
 
 " Well," said Vashti, " don't tell me. But 
 if there wasn't something between him and 
 that Mamie Mulrady, I don't know a jilted 
 man when I see him." 
 
 " Well, you needn't have let him see that 
 you knew it, so that any civility of ours would 
 look as if we were ready to take up with her 
 leavings," responded Esther, astutely, as the 
 girls re entered the house. 
 
 Meantime, the unconscious object of their 
 criticism walked sadly down the old market- 
 garden, whose rude outlines and homely de- 
 tails he once clothed with the poetry of a 
 sensitive man's first love. Well, it was a com- 
 mon cabbage field and potato patch after all. 
 Ill his disgust he felt conscious of even the 
 loss of that sense of patronage and superi- 
 ority which had invested his affection for a 
 girl of meaner condition. His self-respect 
 was humiliated with his love. The soil and 
 
88 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 dirt of those wretched cabbages had clung 
 to him, but not to her. It was she who had 
 gone higher ; it was he who was left in the 
 vulgar ruins of his misplaced passion. 
 
 He reached the bottom of the garden 
 without observing any sign of the lonely in- 
 valid. He looked up and down the cabbage 
 rows, and through the long perspective of 
 pea-vines, without result. There was a 
 newer trail leading from a gap in the pines 
 to the wooded hollow, which undoubtedly in- 
 tersected the little path that he and Mamie 
 had once followed from the high road. If 
 the old man had taken this trail he had pos- 
 sibly overtasked his strength, and there was 
 the more reason why he should continue his 
 search, and render any assistance if required. 
 There was another idea that occurred to him, 
 which eventually decided him to go on. It 
 was that both these trails led to the decayed 
 sycamore stump, and that the older Slinn 
 might have something to do with the mys- 
 terious letter. Quickening his steps through 
 the field, he entered the hollow, and reached 
 the intersecting trail as he expected. To 
 
R UGH-AND-REA DY. 89 
 
 the right it lost itself in the dense woods in 
 the direction of the ominous stump ; to the 
 left it descended in nearly a straight line to 
 the highway, now plainly visible, as was 
 equally the boulder on which he had last 
 discovered Mamie sitting with young Slinn. 
 If he was not mistaken, there was a figure 
 sitting there now; it was surely a man. 
 And by that half-bowed, helpless attitude, 
 the object of his search ! 
 
 It did not take him long to descend the 
 track to the highway and approach the 
 stranger. He was seated with his hands 
 upon his knees, gazing in a vague, absorbed 
 fashion upon the hillside, now crowned with 
 the engine-house and chimney that marked 
 the site of Mulrady's shaft. He started 
 slightly, and looked up, as Don Caesar paused 
 before him. The young man was surprised 
 to see that the unfortunate man was not as 
 old as he had expected, and that his expres- 
 sion was one of quiet and beatified con- 
 tentment. 
 
 " Your daughters told me you were here," 
 said Don Caesar, with gentle respect. " I 
 
90 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 am Caesar Alvarado, your not very far neigh- 
 bor ; very happy to pay his respects to you 
 as he has to them." 
 
 " My daughters ? " said the old man, 
 vaguely. " Oh, yes ! nice little girls. And 
 my boy Harry. Did you see Harry ? Fine 
 little fellow, Harry." 
 
 " I am glad to hear that you are better," 
 said Don Caesar, hastily, " and that the air 
 of our country does you no harm. God 
 benefit you, seiior," he added, with a pro- 
 foundly reverential gesture, dropping uncon- 
 sciously into the religious habit of his youth, 
 " May he protect you, and bring you back 
 to health and happiness ! " 
 
 " Happiness ? " said Slinn, amazedly. " I 
 am happy very happy ! I have everything 
 I want : good air, good food, good clothes, 
 pretty little children, kind friends " He 
 smiled benignantly at Don Caesar. " God 
 is very good to me ! " 
 
 Indeed, he seemed very happy ; and his 
 face, albeit crowned with white hair, un- 
 marked by care and any disturbing impres- 
 sion, had so much of satisfied youth in it 
 
-ROU GH-A ND- READ Y. 91 
 
 that the grave features of his questioner 
 made him appear the elder. Nevertheless, 
 Don Caesar noticed that his eyes, when with- 
 drawn from him, sought the hillside with the 
 same visionary abstraction. 
 
 " It is a fine view, Senor Esslinn," said 
 Don Ca3sar. 
 
 " It is, a beautiful view, sir," said Slinn, 
 turning his happy eyes upon him for a mo- 
 ment, only to rest them again on the green 
 slope opposite. 
 
 " Beyond that hill which you are looking 
 at not far, Senor Esslinn I live. You 
 shall come and see me there you and your 
 family." 
 
 " You you live there ? " stammered 
 the invalid, with a troubled expression 
 the first and only change to the complete 
 happiness that had hitherto suffused his 
 face. " You and your name is is 
 Ma " 
 
 "Alvarado," said Don Caesar, gently. 
 " Caesar Alvarado." 
 
 "You said Masters," said the old man, 
 with sudden querulousness. 
 
92 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " No, good friend. I said Alvarado," re- 
 turned Don Caesar, gravely. 
 
 " If you did n't say Masters, how could / 
 say it ? I don't know any Masters." 
 
 Don Caesar was silent. In another mo- 
 ment the happy tranquillity returned to 
 Slinn's face ; and Don Caesar continued : 
 
 "It is not a long walk over the hill, 
 though it is far by the road. When you are 
 better you shall try it. Yonder little trail 
 leads to the top of the hill, and then " 
 
 He stopped, for the invalid's face had 
 again assumed its troubled expression. 
 Partly to change his thoughts, and partly 
 for some inexplicable idea that had suddenly 
 seized him, Don Caesar continued : 
 
 " There is a strange old stump near the 
 trail, and in it a hole. In the hole I found 
 this letter." He stopped again this time 
 in alarm. Slinn had staggered to his feet 
 with ashen and distorted features, and was 
 glancing at the letter which Don Caesar had 
 drawn from his pocket. The muscles of his 
 throat swelled as if he was swallowing ; his 
 lips moved, but no sound issued from them. 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 93 
 
 At last, with a convulsive effort, he regained 
 a disjointed speech, in a voice scarcely audi- 
 ble. 
 
 " My letter ! my letter ! It 's mine ! Give 
 it me ! It 's my fortune all mine ! In 
 the tunnel hill ! Masters stole it stole 
 my fortune ! Stole it all ! See, see ! " 
 
 He seized the letter from Don Caesar with 
 trembling hands, and tore it open forcibly : 
 a few dull yellow grains fell from it heavily, 
 like shot, to the ground. 
 
 " See, it 's true ! My letter ! My gold ! 
 My strike ! My my my God ! " 
 
 A tremor passed over his face. The hand 
 that held the letter suddenly dropped sheer 
 and heavy as the gold had fallen. The 
 whole side of his face and body nearest Don 
 Caesar seemed to drop and sink into itself as 
 suddenly. At the same moment, and with- 
 out a word, he slipped through Don Caesar's 
 outstretched hands to the ground. Don 
 Caesar bent quickly over him, but not longer 
 than to satisfy himself that he lived and 
 breathed, although helpless. He then caught 
 up the fallen letter, and, glancing over it 
 
94 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 with flashing eyes, thrust it and the few 
 specimens in his pocket. He then sprang 
 to his feet, so transformed with energy and 
 intelligence that he seemed to have added 
 the lost vitality of the man before him to 
 his own. He glanced quickly up and down 
 the highway. Every moment to him was 
 precious now ; but he could not leave the 
 stricken man in the dust of the road ; nor 
 could he carry him to the house ; nor, hav- 
 ing alarmed his daughters, could he abandon 
 his helplessness to their feeble arms. He 
 remembered that his horse was still tied to 
 the garden fence. He would fetch it, and 
 carry the unfortunate man across the sad- 
 dle to the gate. He lifted him with diffi- 
 culty to the boulder, and ran rapidly up the 
 road in the direction of his tethered steed. 
 He had not proceeded far when he heard the 
 noise of wheels behind him. It was the up- 
 stage coming furiously along. He would 
 have called to the driver for assistance, but 
 even through that fast-sweeping cloud of 
 dust and motion he could see that the man 
 was utterly oblivious of anything but the 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 95 
 
 speed of his rushing chariot, and had even 
 risen in his box to lash the infuriated and 
 frightened animals forward. 
 
 An hour later, when the coach drew up 
 at the Red Dog Hotel, the driver descended 
 from the box, white, but taciturn. When 
 he had swallowed a glass of whiskey at a 
 single gulp, he turned to the astonished ex- 
 press agent, who had followed him in.** 
 
 " One of two things, Jim, hez got to hap- 
 pen," he said, huskily. " Either that there 
 rock hez got to get off the road, or / have. 
 I Ve seed him on it agin ! " 
 
96 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 No further particulars of the invalid's sec- 
 ond attack were known than those furnished 
 by Don Caesar's brief statement, that he had 
 founWiim lying insensible on the boulder. 
 This seemed perfectly consistent with the 
 theory of Dr. Duchesne ; and as the young 
 Spaniard left Los Gatos the next day, he 
 escaped not only the active reporter of the 
 " Record," but the perusal of a grateful 
 paragraph in the next day's paper recording 
 his prompt kindness and courtesy. Dr. 
 Duchesne's prognosis, however, seemed at 
 fault ; the elder Slinn did not succumb to 
 this second stroke, nor did he recover his 
 reason. He apparently only relapsed into 
 his former physical weakness, losing the lit- 
 tle ground he had gained during the last 
 month, and exhibiting no change in his 
 mental condition, unless the fact that he re- 
 membered nothing of his seizure and the 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 97 
 
 presence of Don Csesar could be considered 
 as favorable. Dr. Duchesne's gravity seemed 
 to give that significance to this symptom, 
 and his cross-questioning of the patient was 
 characterized by more than his usual curt- 
 ness. 
 
 " You are sure you don't remember walk- 
 ing in the garden before you were ill ? " he 
 said. " Come, think again. You must re- 
 member that." The old man's eyes wandered 
 restlessly around the room, but he answered 
 by a negative shake of his head. " And you 
 don't remember sitting down on a stone by 
 the road?" 
 
 The old man kept his eyes resolutely fixed 
 on the bed-clothes before him. " No ! " he 
 said, with a certain sharp decision that was 
 new to him. 
 
 The doctor's eye brightened. " All right, 
 old man ; then don't." 
 
 On his way out he took the eldest Miss 
 Slinn aside. " He '11 do," he said, grimly : 
 " he 's beginning to lie." 
 
 " Why, he only said he did n't remember," 
 responded Esther. 
 
98 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 "That was because lie didn't want to 
 remember," said the doctor, authoritatively. 
 "The brain is acting on some impression 
 that is either painful and unpleasant, or so 
 vague that he can't formulate it ; he is con- 
 scious of it, and won't attempt it yet. It 's 
 a heap better than his old self-satisfied in- 
 coherency." 
 
 A few days later, when the fact of Slinn's 
 identification with the paralytic of three 
 years ago by the stage-driver became gener- 
 ally known, the doctor came in quite jubi- 
 lant. 
 
 " It 's all plain now," he said, decidedly. 
 "That second stroke was caused by the 
 nervous shock of his coming suddenly upon 
 the very spot where he had the first one. 
 It proved that his brain still retained old 
 impressions, but as this first act of his mem- 
 ory was a painful one, the strain was too 
 great. It was mighty unlucky ; but it was 
 a good sign." 
 
 " And you think, then " hesitated Harry 
 Slinn. 
 
 "I think," said Dr. Duchesne, " that this 
 
R UGH-AND-READ T. 99 
 
 activity still exists, and the proof of it, as 
 I said before, is that he is trying now to 
 forget it, and avoid thinking of it. You will 
 find that he will fight shy of any allusion to 
 it, and will be cunning enough to dodge it 
 every time." 
 
 He certainly did. Whether the doctor's 
 hypothesis was fairly based or not, it was a 
 fact that, when he was first taken out to 
 drive with his watchful physician, he appar- 
 ently took no notice of the boulder which 
 still remained on the roadside, thanks to the 
 later practical explanation of the stage-driv- 
 er's vision and curtly refused to talk 
 about it. But, more significant to Duchesne, 
 and perhaps more perplexing, was a certain 
 morose abstraction, which took the place of 
 his former vacuity of contentment, and an 
 intolerance of his attendants, which sup- 
 planted his old habitual trustfulness to their 
 care, that had been varied only by the occa- 
 sional querulonsness of an invalid. His 
 daughters sometimes found him regarding 
 them with an attention little short of sus- 
 picion, and even his son detected a half- 
 
100 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 suppressed aversion in his interviews with 
 him. 
 
 Referring this among themselves to his 
 unfortunate malady, his children, perhaps, 
 justified this estrangement by paying very 
 little attention to it. They were more pleas- 
 antly occupied. The two girls succeeded to 
 the position held by Mamie Mulrady in the 
 society of the neighborhood, and divided the 
 attentions of Rough-and-Ready. The young 
 editor of the " Record " had really achieved, 
 through his supposed intimacy with the 
 Mulradys, the good fortune he had jestingly 
 prophesied. The disappearance of Don 
 Caesar was regarded as a virtual abandon- 
 ment of the field to his rival : and the 
 general opinion was that he was engaged to 
 the millionaire's daughter on a certain pro- 
 bation of work and influence in his prospec- 
 tive father-in-law's interests. He became 
 successful in one or two speculations, the 
 magic of the lucky Mulrady's name befriend- 
 ing him. In the superstition of the mining 
 community, much of this luck was due to 
 his having secured the old cabin. 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 101 
 
 " To think," remarked one of the augurs 
 of Red Dog, French Pete, a polyglot jester, 
 " that while every d d fool went to tak- 
 ing up claims where the gold had already 
 been found, no one thought of stepping into 
 the old man's old choux in the cabbage-gar- 
 den ! " Any doubt, however, of the alliance 
 of the families was dissipated by the inti- 
 macy that sprang up between the elder Slinn 
 and the millionaire, after the latter's return 
 from San Francisco. 
 
 It began in a strange kind of pity for the 
 physical weakness of the man, which enlisted 
 the sympathies of Mulrady, whose great 
 strength had never been deteriorated by the 
 luxuries of wealth, and who was still able to 
 set his workmen an example of hard labor ; it 
 was sustained by a singular and superstitious 
 reverence for his mental condition, which, to 
 the paternal Mulrady, seemed to possess that 
 spiritual quality with which popular igno- 
 rance invests demented people. 
 
 " Then you mean to say that during these 
 three years the vein o' your mind, so to speak, 
 was a lost lead, and sorter dropped out o' 
 
102 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 sight or f ollerin' ? " queried Mulrady, with 
 infinite seriousness. 
 
 " Yes," returned Slinn, with less impa- 
 tience than he usually showed to questions. 
 
 -"And durin' that time, when you was 
 dried up and waitin' for rain, I reckon you 
 kinder had visions ? " 
 
 A cloud passed over Slinn's face. 
 
 " Of course, of course ! " said Mulrady, a 
 little frightened at his tenacity in question- 
 ing the oracle. " Nat'rally, this was private, 
 and not to be talked about. I meant, you 
 had plenty of room for 'em without crowd- 
 in' ; you kin tell me some day when you 're 
 better, and kin sorter select what's points 
 and what ain't." 
 
 " Perhaps I may some day," said the in- 
 valid, gloomily, glancing in the direction of 
 his preoccupied daughters ; " when we 're 
 alone." 
 
 When his physical strength had improved, 
 and his left arm and side had regained a 
 feeble but slowly gathering vitality, Alvin 
 Mulrady one day surprised the family by 
 bringing the convalescent a pile of letters 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 103 
 
 and accounts, and spreading them on a board 
 before Slinn's invalid chair, with the sugges- 
 tion that he should look over, arrange, and 
 docket them. The idea seemed preposter- 
 ous, until it was found that the old man was 
 actually able to perform this service, and 
 exhibited a degree of intellectual activity 
 and capacity for this kind of work that was 
 unsuspected. Dr. Duchesne was delighted, 
 and divided with admiration between his 
 patient's progress and the millionaire's saga- 
 city. " And there are envious people," said 
 the enthusiastic doctor, " who believe that a 
 man like him, who could conceive of such a 
 plan for occupying a weak intellect without 
 taxing its memory or judgment, is merely a 
 lucky fool ! Look here. May be it did n't 
 require much brains to stumble on a gold 
 mine, and it is a gift of Providence. But, in 
 my experience, Providence don't go round 
 
 buyin' up d d fools, or investin' in dead 
 
 beats." 
 
 When Mr. Slinn, finally, with the aid of 
 crutches, was able to hobble every day to the 
 imposing counting-house and office of Mr. 
 
104 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 Mulrady, which now occupied the lower part 
 of the new house, and contained some of its 
 gorgeous furniture, he was installed at a rose- 
 wood desk behind Mr. Mulrady's chair, as 
 his confidential clerk and private secretary. 
 The astonishment of Red Dog and Rough- 
 and-Ready at this singular innovation knew 
 no bounds ; but the boldness and novelty of 
 the idea carried everything before it. Judge 
 Butts, the oracle of Rough-and-Ready, de- 
 livered its decision : " He 's got a man who 's 
 physically incapable of running off with his 
 money, and has no memory to run off with 
 his ideas. How could he do better ? " Even 
 his own son, Harry, coming upon his father 
 thus installed, was for a moment struck with 
 a certain filial respect, and for a day or two 
 patronized him. 
 
 In this capacity Slinn became the confi- 
 dant not only of Mulrady's business secrets, 
 but of his domestic affairs. He knew that 
 young Mulrady, from a freckle-faced, slow 
 country boy had developed into a freckle- 
 faced fast city man, with coarse habits of 
 drink and gambling. It was through the 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 105 
 
 old man's hands that extravagant bills and 
 shameful claims passed on their way to be 
 cashed by Mulrady ; it was he that at last 
 laid before the father one day his signature 
 perfectly forged by the son. 
 
 " Your eyes are not ez good ez mine, you 
 know, Slinn," said Mulrady, gravely. " It 's 
 all right. I sometimes make my ?/'s like that. 
 I 'd clean forgot to cash that check. You 
 must not think you 've got the monoply of 
 disremembering," he added, with a faint 
 laugh. 
 
 Equally through Slum's hands passed the 
 record of the lavish expenditure of Mrs. 
 Mulrady and the fair Mamie, as well as the 
 chronicle of their movements and fashion- 
 able triumphs. As Mulrady had already 
 noticed that Slinn had no confidence with 
 his own family, he did not try to withhold 
 from them these domestic details, possibly 
 as an offset to the dreary catalogue of his 
 son's misdeeds, but more often in the hope 
 of gaining from the taciturn old man some 
 comment that might satisfy his innocent 
 vanity as father and husband, and perhaps 
 
106 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 dissipate some doubts that were haunting 
 him. 
 
 "Twelve hundred dollars looks to be a 
 good figger for a dress, ain't it ? But Malviny 
 knows, I reckon, what ought to be worn at 
 the Tooilleries, and she don't want our Ma- 
 mie to take a back seat before them furrin' 
 princesses and gran' dukes. It 's a slap-up 
 affair, I kalkilate. Let 's see. I disremem- 
 ber whether it 's an emperor or a king that 's 
 rulin' over thar now. It must be suthin' 
 first class and A 1, for Malviny ain't the 
 woman to throw away twelve hundred dol- 
 lars on any of them small-potato despots! 
 She says Mamie speaks French already like 
 them French Petes. I don't quite make out 
 what she means here. She met Don Caesar 
 in Paris, and she says, ' I think Mamie is 
 nearly off with Don Caesar, who has followed 
 her here. I don't care about her dropping 
 him too suddenly ; the reason I '11 tell you 
 hereafter. I think the man might be a dan- 
 gerous enemy.' Now, what do you make of 
 this ? I allus thought Mamie rather cottoned 
 to him, and it was the old woman who fought 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 107 
 
 shy, thinkin' Mamie would do better. Now, 
 I am agreeable that my gal should marry 
 any one she likes, whether it 's a dook or 
 a poor man, as long as he 's on the square. 
 I was ready to take Don Caesar; but now 
 things seem to have shifted round. As to 
 Don Caesar's being a dangerous enemy if 
 Mamie won't have him, that's a little too 
 high and mighty for me, and I wonder the 
 old woman don't make him climb down. 
 What do you think ? " 
 
 " Who is Don Caesar ? " asked Slinn. 
 
 " The man what picked you up that day. 
 I mean," continued Mulrady, seeing the 
 marks of evident ignorance on the old man's 
 face, "I mean a sort of grave, genteel 
 chap, suthin' between a parson and a circus- 
 rider. You might have seen him round the 
 house talkin' to your gals." 
 
 But Slinn's entire forgetfulness of Don 
 Csesar was evidently unfeigned. Whatever 
 sudden accession of memory he had at the 
 time of his attack, the incident that caused 
 it had no part in his recollection. With the 
 exception of these rare intervals of domestic 
 
108 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 confidences with his crippled private secre- 
 tary, Mulrady gave himself up to money-get- 
 ting. Without any especial faculty for it 
 an easy prey often to unscrupulous financiers 
 his unfailing luck, however, carried him 
 safely through, until his very mistakes 
 seemed to be simply insignificant means to a 
 large significant end and a part of his orig- 
 inal plan. He sank another shaft, at a great 
 expense, with a view to following the lead he 
 had formerly found, against the opinions of 
 the best mining engineers, and struck the 
 artesian spring he did not find at that time, 
 with a volume of water that enabled him not 
 only to work his own mine, but to furnish 
 supplies to his less fortunate neighbors at a 
 vast profit. A league of tangled forest and 
 canon behind Rough-and-Ready, for which he 
 had paid Don Ramon's heirs an extravagant 
 price in the presumption that it was aurifer- 
 ous, furnished the most accessible timber to 
 build the town, at prices which amply remu- 
 nerated him. The practical schemes of ex- 
 perienced men, the wildest visions of dar- 
 ing dreams delayed or abortive for want of 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 109 
 
 capital, eventually fell into his hands. Men 
 sneered at his methods, but bought his 
 shares. Some who affected to regard him 
 simply as a man of money were content to 
 get only his name to any enterprise. Courted 
 by his superiors, quoted by his equals, and ad- 
 mired by his inferiors, he bore his elevation 
 equally without ostentation or dignity. Bid- 
 den to banquets, and forced by his position 
 as director or president into the usual gas- 
 tronomic feats of that civilization and period, 
 he partook of simple food, and continued his 
 old habit of taking a cup of coffee with milk 
 and sugar at dinner. Without professing 
 temperance, he drank sparingly in a com- 
 munity where alcoholic stimulation was a 
 custom. With neither refinement nor an 
 extended vocabulary, he was seldom profane, 
 and never indelicate. With nothing of the 
 Puritan in his manner or conversation, he 
 seemed to be as strange to the vices of civil- 
 ization as he was to its virtues. That such 
 a man should offer little to and receive little 
 from the companionship of women of any 
 kind was a foregone conclusion. Without 
 
110 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 the dignity oi solitude, he was pathetically 
 alone. 
 
 Meantime, the days passed ; the first six 
 months of his opulence were drawing to a 
 close, and in that interval he had more than 
 doubled the amount of his discovered for- 
 tune. The rainy season set in early. Al- 
 though it dissipated the clouds of dust under 
 which Nature and Art seemed to be slowly 
 disappearing, it brought little beauty to the 
 landscape at first, and only appeared to 
 lay bare the crudenesses of civilization. The 
 unpainted wooden buildings of Rough-and- 
 Ready, soaked and dripping with rain, took 
 upon themselves a sleek and shining ug- 
 liness, as of second - hand garments ; the 
 absence of cornices or projections to break 
 the monotony of the long straight lines of 
 downpour made the town appear as if it had 
 been recently submerged, every vestige of 
 ornamentation swept away, and only the bare 
 outlines left. Mud was everywhere; the 
 outer soil seemed to have risen and invaded 
 the houses even to their most secret recesses, 
 as if outraged Nature was trying to revenge 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. Ill 
 
 herself. Mud was brought into the saloons 
 and bar-rooms and express offices, on boots, 
 on clothes, on baggage, and sometimes ap- 
 peared mysteriously in splashes of red color 
 on the walls, without visible conveyance. 
 The dust of six months, closely packed in 
 cornice and carving, yielded under the steady 
 rain a thin yellow paint, that dropped on 
 wayfarers or unexpectedly oozed out of ceil- 
 ings and walls on the wretched inhabitants 
 within. The outskirts of Rough-and-Beady 
 and the dried hills round Los Gatos did 
 not appear to fare much better ; the new 
 vegetation had not yet made much headway 
 against the dead grasses of the summer ; the 
 pines in the hollow wept lugubriously into a 
 small rivulet that had sprung suddenly into 
 life near the old trail ; everywhere was the 
 sound of dropping, splashing, gurgling, or 
 rushing waters. 
 
 More hideous than ever, the new Mulrady 
 house lifted itself against the leaden sky, 
 and stared with all its large-framed, shutter- 
 less windows blankly on the prospect, until 
 they seemed to the wayfarer to become mere 
 
112 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 mirrors set in the walls, reflecting only the 
 watery landscape, and unable to give the 
 least indication of light or heat within. 
 Nevertheless, there was a fire in Mulrady's 
 private office that December afternoon, of a 
 smoky, intermittent variety, that sufficed 
 more to record the defects of hasty archi- 
 tecture than to comfort the millionaire and 
 his private secretary, who had lingered after 
 the early withdrawal of the clerks. For the 
 next day was Christmas, and, out of defer- 
 ence to the near approach of this festivity, 
 a half -holiday had been given to the em- 
 ployes. " They '11 want, some of them, to 
 spend their money before to-morrow; and 
 others would like to be able to rise up com- 
 fortably drunk Christmas morning," the su- 
 perintendent had suggested. Mr. Mulrady 
 had just signed a number of checks indicat- 
 ing his largess to those devoted adherents 
 with the same unostentatious, undemonstra- 
 tive, matter-of-fact manner that distinguished 
 his ordinary business. The men had received 
 it with something of the same manner. A 
 half -humorous " Thank you, sir " as if to 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 113 
 
 show that, with their patron, they tolerated 
 this deference to a popular custom, but were 
 a little ashamed of giving way to it ex- 
 pressed their gratitude and their independ- 
 ence. 
 
 " I reckon that the old lady and Mamie 
 are having a high old time in some of them 
 gilded pallises in St. Petersburg or Berlin 
 about this time. Them diamonds that I or- 
 dered at Tiffany ought to have reached 'em 
 about now, so that Mamie could cut a swell 
 at Christmas with her war-paint. I suppose 
 it's the style to give presents in furrin' 
 countries ez it is here, and I allowed to the 
 old lady that whatever she orders in that 
 way she is to do in Calif orny style no 
 dollar-jewelry and galvanized-watches busi- 
 ness. If she wants to make a present to 
 any of them nobles ez has been purlite to 
 her, it 's got to be something that Rough- 
 and-Ready ain't ashamed of. I showed you 
 that pin Mamie bought me in .Paris, did n't 
 I ? It 's just come for my Christmas present. 
 No ! I reckon I put it in the safe, for them 
 kind o' things don't suit my style : but 
 
114 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 s'pose I orter sport it to-morrow. It was 
 mighty thoughtful in Mamie, and it must 
 cost a lump ; it 's got no slouch of a pearl in 
 it. I wonder what Mamie gave for it ? " 
 
 "You can easily tell; the bill is here. 
 You paid it yesterday," said Slinn. There 
 was no satire in the man's voice, nor was 
 there the least perception of irony in Mul- 
 rady's manner, as he returned quietly, 
 
 " That 's so ; it was suthin' like a thousand 
 francs ; but French money, when you pan it 
 out as dollars and cents, don't make so much, 
 after all." There was a few moments' si- 
 lence, when he continued, in the same tone 
 of voice, " Talkin' o' them things, Slinn, 
 I 've got suthin' for you." He stopped sud- 
 denly. Ever watchful of any undue excite- 
 ment in the invalid, he had noticed a slight 
 flush of disturbance pass over his face, and 
 continued carelessly, " But we '11 talk it over 
 to-morrow ; a day or two don't make much 
 difference to you and me in such things, 
 you know. P'raps I '11 drop in and see you. 
 We '11 be shut up here." 
 
 " Then you 're going out somewhere ? " 
 asked Slinn, mechanically. 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 115 
 
 " No," said Mulrady, hesitatingly. It had 
 suddenly occurred to him that he had no- 
 where to go, if he wanted to, and he contin- 
 ued, half in explanation, " I ain't reckoned 
 much on Christmas, myself. Abner 's at 
 the Springs ; it would n't pay him to come 
 here for a day even if there was anybody 
 here he cared to see. I reckon I '11 hang 
 round the shanty, and look after things gen- 
 erally. I have n't been over the house up- 
 stairs to put things to rights since the folks 
 left. But you need n't come here, you 
 know." 
 
 He helped the old man to rise, assisted 
 him in putting on his overcoat, and then 
 handed him the cane which had lately re- 
 placed his crutches. 
 
 " Good-by, old man ! You must n't trou- 
 ble yourself to say ' Merry Christmas ' now, 
 but wait until you see me again. Take care 
 of yourself." 
 
 He slapped him lightly on the shoulder, 
 and went back into his private office. He 
 worked for some time at his desk, and then 
 laid his pen aside, put away his papers me- 
 
116 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 thodically, placing a large envelope on his 
 private secretary's vacant table. He then 
 opened the office door and ascended the 
 staircase. He stopped on the first landing 
 to listen to the sound of rain on the glass 
 skylight, that seemed to echo through the 
 empty hall like the gloomy roll of a drum. 
 It was evident that the searching water had 
 found out the secret sins of the house's con- 
 struction, for there were great fissures of 
 discoloration in the white and gold paper in 
 the corners of the wall. There was a strange 
 odor of the dank forest in the mirrored 
 drawing-room, as if the rain had brought 
 out the sap again from the unseasoned tim- 
 bers ; the blue and white satin furniture 
 looked cold, and the marble mantels and 
 centre tables had taken upon themselves the 
 clamminess of tombstones. Mr. Mulrady, 
 who had always retained his old farmer-like 
 habit of taking off his coat with his hat on 
 entering his own house, and appearing in his 
 shirt-sleeves, to indicate domestic ease and 
 security, was obliged to replace it, on account 
 of the chill. He had never felt at home in 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 117 
 
 this room. Its strangeness had lately been 
 heightened by Mrs. Mulrady's purchase of a 
 family portrait of some one she did n't know, 
 but who, she had alleged, resembled her 
 " Uncle Bob," which hung on the wall beside 
 some paintings in massive frames. Mr. 
 Mulrady cast a hurried glance at the por- 
 trait that, on the strength of a high coat- 
 collar and high top curl both rolled with 
 equal precision and singular sameness of 
 color had always glared at Mulrady as if 
 he was the intruder ; and, passing through 
 his wife's gorgeous bedroom, entered the lit- 
 tle dressing-room, where he still slept on the 
 smallest of cots, with hastily improvised sur- 
 roundings, as if he was a bailiff in " posses- 
 sion." He did n't linger here long, but, 
 taking a key from a drawer, continued up 
 the staircase, to the ominous funeral marches 
 of the beating rain on the skylight, and 
 paused on the landing to glance" into his 
 son's and daughter's bedrooms, duplicates of 
 the bizarre extravagance below. If he were 
 seeking some characteristic traces of his ab- 
 sent family, they certainly were not here in 
 
118 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 the painted and still damp blazoning of their 
 later successes. He ascended another stair- 
 case, and, passing to the wing of the house, 
 paused before a small door, which was locked. 
 Already the ostentatious decorations of wall 
 and passages were left behind, and the plain 
 lath-and-plaster partition of the attic lay be- 
 fore him. He unlocked the door, and threw 
 it open, 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 119 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE apartment he entered was really only 
 a lumber-room or loft over the wing of the 
 house, which had been left bare and unfin- 
 ished, and which revealed in its meagre skele- 
 ton of beams and joints the hollow sham of 
 the whole structure. But in more violent con- 
 trast to the fresher glories of the other part 
 of the house were its contents, which were 
 the heterogeneous collection of old furniture, 
 old luggage, and cast-off clothing, left over 
 from the past life in the old cabin. It was 
 a much plainer record of the simple begin- 
 nings of the family than Mrs. Mulrady cared 
 to have remain in evidence, and for that 
 reason it had been relegated to the hidden 
 recesses of the new house, in the hope that 
 it might absorb or digest it. There were 
 old cribs, in which the infant limbs of Mamie 
 and Abner had been tucked up ; old look- 
 ing-glasses, that had reflected their shining, 
 
120 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 soapy faces, and Mamie's best chip Sunday 
 hat ; an old sewing-machine, that had been 
 worn out in active service; old patchwork 
 quilts ; an old accordion, to whose long drawn 
 inspirations Mamie had sung hymns ; old 
 pictures, books, and old toys. There were 
 one or two old chromos, and, stuck in an old 
 frame, a colored print from the " Illustrated 
 London News " of a Christmas gathering in 
 an old English country house. He stopped 
 and picked up this print, which he had often 
 seen before, gazing at it with a new and sin- 
 gular interest. He wondered if Mamie had 
 seen anything of this kind in England, and 
 why could n't he have had something like it 
 here, in their own fine house, with themselves 
 and a few friends ? He remembered a past 
 Christmas, when he had bought Mamie that 
 now headless doll with the few coins that 
 were left him after buying their frugal 
 Christmas dinner. There was an old spot- 
 ted hobby-horse that another Christmas had 
 brought to Abner Abner, who would be 
 driving a fast trotter to-morrow at the 
 Springs 1 How everything had changed ! 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ T. 121 
 
 How they all had got up in the world, and 
 how far beyond this kind of thing and 
 yet yet it would have been rather comfort- 
 able to have all been together again here. 
 Would they have been more comfortable ? 
 No ! Yet then he might have had something 
 to do, and been less lonely to-morrow. What 
 of that ? He had something to do : to look 
 after this immense fortune. What more 
 could a man want, or should he want ? It 
 was rather mean in him, able to give his 
 wife and children everything they wanted, 
 to be wanting anything more. He laid down 
 the print gently, after dusting its glass and 
 frame with his silk handkerchief, and slowly 
 left the room. 
 
 The drum-beat of the rain followed him 
 down the staircase, but he shut it out with 
 his other thoughts, when he again closed the 
 door of his office. He sat diligently to work 
 by the declining winter light, until he was 
 interrupted by the entrance of his Chinese 
 waiter to tell him that supper which was 
 the meal that Mulrady religiously adhered 
 to in place of the late dinner of civilization 
 
122 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 was ready in the dining-room. Mulrady 
 mechanically obeyed the summons ; but on 
 entering the room, the oasis of a few plates 
 in a desert of white table-cloth which awaited 
 him made him hesitate. In its best aspect, 
 the high dark Gothic mahogany ecclesiasti- 
 cal sideboard and chairs of this room, which 
 looked like the appointments of a mortuary 
 chapel, were not exhilarating ; and to-day, 
 in the light of the rain-filmed windows and 
 the feeble rays of a lamp half obscured by 
 the dark, shining walls, it was most de- 
 pressing. 
 
 " You kin take up supper into my office," 
 said Mulrady, with a sudden inspiration. 
 " I '11 eat it there." 
 
 He ate it there, with his usual healthy ap- 
 petite, which did not require even the stim- 
 ulation of company. He had just finished, 
 when his Irish cook the one female ser- 
 vant of the house came to ask permission 
 to be absent that evening and the next day. 
 
 " I suppose the likes of your honor won't 
 be at home on the Christmas Day ? And it 's 
 me cousins from the old counthry at Rough- 
 and-Ready that are invitin' me." 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 123 
 
 " Why don't you ask them over here ? " 
 said Mulrady, with another vague inspira- 
 tion. " I '11 stand treat." 
 
 " Lord preserve you for a jinerous gintle- 
 man ! But it 's the likes of them and my- 
 self that would n't be at home here on such 
 a day." 
 
 There was so much truth in this that Mul- 
 rady checked a sigh as he gave the required 
 permission, without saying that he had in- 
 tended to remain. He could cook his own 
 breakfast : he had done it before ; and it 
 would be something to occupy him. As to 
 his dinner, perhaps he could go to the hotel 
 at Rough-and-Ready. He worked on until 
 the night had well advanced. Then, over- 
 come with a certain restlessness that dis- 
 turbed him, he was forced to put his books 
 and papers away. It had begun to blow in 
 fitful gusts, and occasionally the rain was 
 driven softly across the panes like the pass- 
 ing of childish fingers. This disturbed him 
 more than the monotony of silence, for he 
 was not a nervous man. He seldom read a 
 book, and the county paper furnished him 
 
124 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 only the financial and mercantile news which 
 was part of his business. He knew he could 
 not sleep, if he went to bed. At last he rose, 
 opened the window, and looked out from 
 pure idleness of occupation. A splash of 
 wheels in the distant muddy road and frag- 
 ments of a drunken song showed signs of an 
 early wandering reveller. There were no 
 lights to be seen at the closed works ; a pro- 
 found darkness encompassed the house, as if 
 the distant pines in the hollow had moved 
 up and round it. The silence was broken 
 now only by the occasional sighing of wind 
 and rain. It was not an inviting night for a 
 perfunctory walk ; but an idea struck him 
 he would call upon the Slinns, and antici- 
 pate his next day's visit ! They would prob- 
 ably have company, and be glad to see him : 
 he could tell the girls of Mamie and her 
 success. That he had not thought of this 
 before was a proof of his usual self-contained 
 isolation ; that he thought of it now was an 
 equal proof that he was becoming at last 
 accessible to loneliness. He was angry with 
 himself for what seemed to him a selfish 
 weakness. 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 125 
 
 He returned to his office, and, putting the 
 envelope that had been lying on Slinn's desk 
 in his pocket, threw a serape over his shoul- 
 ders, and locked the front door of the house 
 behind him. It was well that the way was 
 a familiar one to him, and that his feet in- 
 stinctively found the trail, for the night was 
 very dark. At times he was warned only 
 by the gurgling of water of little rivulets 
 that descended the hill and crossed his path. 
 Without the slightest fear, and with neither 
 imagination nor sensitiveness, he recalled 
 how, the winter before, one of Don Cesar's 
 vaqueros, crossing this hill at night, had 
 fallen down the chasm of a landslip caused 
 by the rain, and was found the next morning 
 with his neck broken in the gully. Don 
 Caesar had to take care of the man's family. 
 Suppose such an accident should happen to 
 him? Well, he had made his will. His 
 wife and children would be provided for, and 
 the work of the mine would go on all the 
 same ; he had arranged for that. Would 
 anybody miss him ? Would his wife, or his 
 son, or his daughter ? No. He felt such a 
 
126 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 sudden and overwhelming conviction of the 
 truth of this, that he stopped as suddenly as 
 if the chasm had opened before him. No ! 
 It was the truth. If he were to disappear 
 forever in the darkness of the Christmas 
 night, there was none to feel his loss. His 
 wife would take care of Mamie ; his son 
 would take care of himself, as he had before 
 relieved of even the scant paternal au- 
 thority he rebelled against. A more imag- 
 inative man than Mulrady would have com- 
 bated or have followed out this idea, and 
 then dismissed it ; to the millionaire's mat- 
 ter-of-fact mind it was a deduction that, hav- 
 ing once presented itself to his perception, 
 was already a recognized fact. For the first 
 time in his life he felt a sudden instinct of 
 something like aversion towards his family, 
 a feeling that even his son's dissipation and 
 criminality had never provoked. He hurried 
 on angrily through the darkness. 
 
 It was very strange ; the old house should 
 be almost before him now, across the hollow, 
 yet there were no indications of light ! It 
 was not until he actually reached the garden- 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 127 
 
 fence, and the black bulk of shadow rose out 
 against the sky, that he saw a faint ray of 
 light from one of the lean-to windows. He 
 went to the front door and knocked. After 
 waiting in vain for a reply, he knocked 
 again. The second knock proving equally 
 futile, he tried the door ; it was unlocked, 
 and, pushing it open, he walked in. The 
 narrow passage was quite dark, but from his 
 knowledge of the house he knew the " lean- 
 to " was next to the kitchen, and, passing 
 through the dining-room into it, he opened 
 the door of the little room from which the 
 light proceeded. It came from a single 
 candle on a small table, and beside it, with 
 his eyes moodily fixed on the dying embers 
 of the fire, sat old Slinn. There was no 
 other light nor another human being in the 
 whole house. 
 
 For the instant Mulrady, forgetting his 
 own feelings in the mute picture of the utter 
 desolation of the helpless man, remained 
 speechless on the threshold. Then, recalling 
 himself, he stepped forward and laid his 
 hand gayly on the bowed shoulders. 
 
128 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " Rouse up out o' this, old man ! Come ! 
 this won't do. Look ! I 've run over here in 
 the rain, jist to have a sociable time with 
 you all." 
 
 " I knew it," said the old man, without 
 looking up ; "I knew you 'd come." 
 
 " You knew I 'd come ? " echoed Mulrady, 
 with an uneasy return of the strange feeling 
 of awe with which he regarded Slum's ab- 
 straction. 
 
 " Yes ; you were alone like myself 
 all alone!" 
 
 " Then, why in thunder did n't you open 
 the door or sing out just now ? " he said, 
 with an affected brusquerie to cover his un- 
 easiness. " Where 's your daughters ? " 
 
 2 Gone to Rough-and-Ready to a party." 
 
 " And your son ? " 
 
 " He never comes here when he can amuse 
 himself elsewhere." 
 
 " Your children might have stayed home 
 on Christmas Eve." 
 
 " So might yours." 
 
 He did n't say this impatiently, but with 
 a certain abstracted conviction far beyond 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 129 
 
 any suggestion of its being a retort. Mul- 
 rady did not appear to notice it. 
 
 " Well, I don't see why us old folks can't 
 enjoy ourselves without them," said Mulrady, 
 with affected cheerfulness. " Let 's have a 
 good time, you and me. Let 's see you 
 have n't any one you can send to my house, 
 hev you ? " 
 
 " They took the servant with them," said 
 Slinn, briefly. " There is no one here." 
 
 " All right," said the millionaire, briskly. 
 " I '11 go myself. Do you think you could 
 manage to light up a little more, and build 
 a fire in the kitchen while I 'm gone ? It 
 used to be mighty comfortable in the old 
 times." 
 
 He helped the old man to rise from his 
 chair, and seemed to have infused into him 
 some of his own energy. He then added, 
 " Now, don't you get yourself down again 
 into that chair until I come back," and 
 darted out into the night once more. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour he returned with 
 a bag on his broad shoulders, which one of 
 his porters would have shrunk from lifting, 
 
130 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 and laid it before the blazing hearth of the 
 now-lighted kitchen. " It 's something the 
 old woman got for her party, that did n't 
 come off," he said, apologetically. " I reckon 
 we can pick out enough for a spread. That 
 darned Chinaman would n't come with me," 
 he added, with a laugh, " because, he said, 
 he 'd knocked off work ' allee same, Mellican 
 man ! ' Look here, Slinn," he said, with a 
 sudden decisiveness, " my pay-roll of the 
 men around here don't run short of a hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars a day, and yet I 
 could n't get a hand to help me bring this 
 truck over for my Christmas dinner." 
 
 " Of course," said Slinn, gloomily. 
 
 " Of course ; so it oughter be," returned 
 Mulrady, shortly. " Why, it 's only their 
 one day out of 364; and I can have 363 
 days off, as I am their boss. I don't mind a 
 man's being independent," he continued, tak- 
 ing off his coat and beginning to unpack his 
 sack a common " gunny bag " ,used for 
 potatoes. " We 're independent ourselves, 
 ain't we, Slinn?" 
 
 His good spirits, which had been at first 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 131 
 
 labored and affected, had become natural. 
 Slinn, looking at his brightened eye and 
 fresher color, could not help thinking he was 
 more like his own real self at .this moment 
 than in his counting-house and offices with 
 all his simplicity as a capitalist. A less ab- 
 stracted and more observant critic than Slinn 
 would have seen in this patient aptitude for 
 real work, and the recognition of the force 
 of petty detail, the dominance of the old 
 market-gardener in his former humble, as 
 well as his later more ambitious, successes. 
 
 " Heaven keep us from being dependent 
 upon our children ! " said Slinn, darkly. 
 
 " Let the young ones alone to-night ; we 
 can get along without them, as they can 
 without us," said Mulrady, with a slight 
 twinge as he thought of his reflections on 
 the hillside. " But look here, there 's some 
 champagne and them sweet cordials that 
 women like ; there 's jellies and such like 
 stuff, about as good as they make 'em, I 
 reckon; and preserves, and tongues, and 
 spiced beef take your pick ! Stop, let 's 
 spread them out." He dragged the table to 
 
132 A .MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 the middle of the floor, and piled the provi- 
 sions upon it. They certainly were not defi- 
 cient in quality or quantity. " Now, Slinn, 
 wade in." 
 
 " I don't feel hungry," said the invalid, 
 who had lapsed again into a chair before the 
 fire. 
 
 " No more do I," said Mulrady ; " but I 
 reckon it 's the right thing to do about this 
 time. Some folks think they can't be happy 
 without they 're getting outside o' suthin', 
 and my directors down at 'Frisco can't do 
 any business without a dinner. Take some 
 champagne, to begin with." 
 
 He opened a bottle, and filled two tum- 
 blers. " It 's past twelve o'clock, old man, 
 so here 's a merry Christmas to you, and both 
 of us ez is here. And here 's another to our 
 families ez is n't." 
 
 They both drank their wine stolidly. The 
 rain beat against the windows sharply, but 
 without the hollow echoes of the house on 
 the hill. " I must write to the old woman 
 and Mamie, and say that you and me had a 
 high old time on Christmas Eve." 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 133 
 
 " By ourselves," added the invalid. 
 
 Mr. Mulrady coughed. " Nat' rally by 
 ourselves. And her provisions," he added, 
 with a laugh. " We 're really beholden to 
 her for 'em. If she had n't thought of having 
 them " 
 
 " For somebody else, you would n't have 
 had them would you ? " said Slinn, slowly, 
 gazing at the fire. 
 
 " No," said Mulrady, dubiously. After a 
 pause he began more vivaciously, and as if 
 to shake off some disagreeable thought that 
 was impressing him, " But I must n't forget 
 to give you your Christmas, old man, and 
 I 've got it right here with me." He took 
 the folded envelope from his pocket, and, 
 holding it in his hand with his elbow on the 
 table, continued, " I don't mind telling you 
 what idea I had in giving you what I 'm 
 goiii' to give you now. I Ve been thinking 
 about it for a day or two. A man like you 
 don't want money you would n't spend it. 
 A man like you don't want stocks or fancy 
 investments, for you could n't look after 
 them. A man like you don't want diamonds 
 
134 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 and jewellery, nor a gold-headed cane, when 
 it 's got to be used as a crutch. No, sir. 
 What you want is suthin' that won't run 
 away from you ; that is always there before 
 you and won't wear out, and will last after 
 you 're gone. That 's land ! And if it was n't 
 that I have sworn never to sell or give away 
 this house and that garden, if it was n't that 
 I 've held out agin the old woman and Mamie 
 on that point, you should have this house and 
 that garden. But, mebbee, for the same 
 reason that I 've told you, I want that land 
 to keep for myself. But I 've selected four 
 acres of the hill this side of my shaft, and 
 here 's the deed of it. As soon as you 're 
 ready, I '11 put you up a house as big as this 
 that shall be yours, with the land, as long 
 as you live, old man ; and after that your 
 children's." 
 
 " No ; not theirs ! " broke in the old man, 
 passionately. " Never ! " 
 
 Mulrady recoiled for an instant in alarm 
 at the sudden and unexpected vehemence of 
 his manner. " Go slow, old man ; go slow," 
 he said, soothingly. " Of course, you '11 do 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ T. 135 
 
 with your own as you like." Then, as if 
 changing the subject, he went on cheerfully : 
 " Perhaps you '11 wonder why I picked out 
 that spot on the hillside. Well, first, because 
 I reserved it after my strike in case the lead 
 should run that way, but it did n't. Next, 
 because when you first came here you seemed 
 to like the prospect. You used to sit there 
 looking at it, as if it reminded you of some- 
 thing. You never said it did. They say 
 you was sitting on that boulder there when 
 you had that last attack, you know ; but," 
 he added, gently, " you 've forgotten all 
 about it." 
 
 " I have forgotten nothing," said Slinn, 
 rising, with a choking voice. " I wish to 
 God I had ; I wish to God I could! " 
 
 He was on his feet now, supporting him- 
 self by the table. The subtle generous liq- 
 uor he had drunk had evidently shaken his 
 self-control, and burst those voluntary bonds 
 he had put upon himself for the last six 
 months ; the insidious stimulant had also put 
 a strange vigor into his blood and nerves. 
 His face was flushed, but not distorted ; his 
 
136 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 eyes were brilliant, but not fixed ; he looked 
 as he might have looked to Masters in his 
 strength three years before on that very hill- 
 side. 
 
 " Listen to me, Alvin Mulrady," he said, 
 leaning over him with burning eyes. " Lis- 
 ten, while I have brain to think and strength 
 to utter, why I have learnt to distrust, fear, 
 and hate them ! You think you know my 
 story. Well, hear the truth from me to- 
 night, Alvin Mulrady, and do not wonder if 
 I have cause." 
 
 He stopped, and, with pathetic inefficiency, 
 passed the fingers and inward-turned thumb 
 of his paralyzed hand across his mouth, as if 
 to calm himself. " Three years ago I was a 
 miner, but not a miner like you ! I had ex- 
 perience, I had scientific knowledge, I had a 
 theory, and the patience and energy to carry 
 it out. I selected a spot that had all the in- 
 dications, made a tunnel, and, without aid, 
 counsel, or assistance of any kind, worked it 
 for six months, without rest or cessation, and 
 with scarcely food enough to sustain my 
 body. Well, I made a strike ; not like you 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 137 
 
 Mulrady, not a blunder of good luck, a fool's 
 fortune there, I don't blame you for it 
 but in perfect demonstration of my theory, 
 the reward of my labor. It was no pocket, 
 but a vein, a lead, that I had regularly 
 hunted down and found a fortune ! 
 
 "I never knew how hard I had worked 
 until that morning ; I never knew what pri- 
 vations I had undergone until that moment 
 of my success, when I found I could scarcely 
 think or move ! I staggered out into the 
 open air. The only human soul near me was 
 a disappointed prospector, a man named 
 Masters, who had a tunnel not far away. I 
 managed to conceal from him my good for- 
 tune and my feeble state, for I was suspi- 
 cious of him of any one ; and as he was 
 going away that day I thought I could keep 
 my secret until he was gone. I was dizzy 
 and confused, but I remember that I man- 
 aged to write a letter to my wife, telling her 
 of my good fortune, and begging her to come 
 to me ; and I remember that I saw Masters 
 go. I don't remember anything else. They 
 picked me up on the road, near that boulder, 
 as you know." 
 
138 A .MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 "I know," said Mulrady, with a swift 
 recollection of the stage-driver's account of 
 his discovery. 
 
 " They say," continued Slinn, tremblingly, 
 " that I never recovered my senses or con- 
 sciousness for nearly three years ; they say 
 I lost my memory completely during my ill- 
 ness, and that by God's mercy, while 1 lay 
 in that hospital, I knew no more than a babe ; 
 they say, because I could not speak or move, 
 and only had my food as nature required it, 
 that I was an imbecile, and that I never 
 really came to my senses until after my son 
 found me in the hospital. They say that 
 but I tell you to-night, Alvin Mulrady," he 
 said, raising his voice to a hoarse outcry, " I 
 tell you that it is a lie ! I came to my senses 
 a week after I lay on that hospital cot ; I 
 kept my senses and memory ever after dur- 
 ing the three years that I was there, until 
 Harry brought his cold, hypocritical face to 
 my bedside and recognized me. Do you un- 
 derstand? I, the possessor of millions, lay 
 there a pauper ! Deserted by wife and 
 children a spectacle for the curious, a 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 1 39 
 
 sport for the doctors and I knew it ! I 
 heard them speculate on the cause of my 
 helplessness. I heard them talk of excesses 
 and indulgences I, that never knew wine 
 or woman ! I heard a preacher speak of the 
 finger of God, and point to me. May God 
 curse him ! " 
 
 " Go slow, old man ; go slow," said Mul- 
 rady, gently. 
 
 " I heard them speak of me as a friendless 
 man, an outcast, a criminal a being whom 
 no one would claim. They were right ; no 
 one claimed me. The friends of others vis- 
 ited them ; relations came and took away 
 their kindred ; a few lucky ones got well ; 
 a few, equally lucky, died ! I alone lived 
 on, uncared for, deserted. 
 
 " The first year," he went on more rapidly, 
 "I prayed for their coming. I looked for 
 them every day. I never lost hope. I said 
 to myself, c She has not got my letter ; but 
 when the time passes she will be alarmed by 
 my silence, and then she will come or send 
 aome one to seek me.' A young student got 
 interested in my case, and, by studying my 
 
140 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 eyes, thought that I was not entirely im- 
 becile and unconscious. With the aid of an 
 alphabet, he got me to spell my name and 
 town in Illinois, and promised by signs to 
 write to my family. But in an evil moment 
 I told him of my cursed fortune, and in that 
 moment I saw that he thought me a fool and 
 an idiot. He went away, and I saw him no 
 more. Yet I still hoped. I dreamed of 
 their joy at finding me, and the reward that 
 my wealth would give them. Perhaps I was 
 a little weak still, perhaps a little flighty, 
 too, at times; but I was quite happy that 
 year, even in my disappointment, for I had 
 still hope!" 
 
 He paused, and again composed his face 
 with his paralyzed hand; but his manner 
 had become less excited, and his voice was 
 stronger. 
 
 " A change must have come over me the 
 second year, for I only dreaded their coming 
 now and finding me so altered. A horrible 
 idea that they might, like the student, believe 
 me crazy if I spoke of my fortune made me 
 pray to God that they might not reach me 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 141 
 
 until after I had regained my health and 
 strength and found my fortune. When 
 the third year found me still there I no 
 longer prayed for them I cursed them ! 
 I swore to myself that they should never en- 
 joy my wealth ; but I wanted to live, and let 
 them know I had it. I found myself getting 
 stronger ; but as I had no money, no friends, 
 and nowhere to go, I concealed my real con- 
 dition from the doctors, except to give them 
 my name, and to try to get some little work 
 to do to enable me to leave the hospital and 
 seek my lost treasure. One day I found 
 out by accident that it had been discovered ! 
 You understand my treasure ! that had 
 cost me years of labor and my reason ; had 
 left me a helpless, forgotten pauper. That 
 gold I had never enjoyed had been found 
 and taken possession of by another ! " 
 
 He checked an exclamation from Mulrady 
 with his hand. "They say they picked me 
 up senseless from the floor, where I must 
 have fallen when I heard the news I don't 
 remember I recall nothing until I was 
 confronted, nearly three weeks after, by my 
 
142 A. MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 son, who had called at the hospital, as a re- 
 porter for a paper, and had accidentally dis- 
 covered me through my name and appear- 
 ance. He thought me crazy, or a fool. I 
 didn't undeceive him. I did not tell him 
 the story of the mine to excite his doubts 
 and derision, or, worse (if I "could bring 
 proof to claim it), have it perhaps pass into 
 his ungrateful hands. No ; I said nothing. 
 I let him bring me here. He could do no 
 less, and common decency obliged him to 
 do that." 
 
 " And what proof could you show of your 
 claim ? " asked Mulrady, gravely. 
 
 "If I had that letter if I could find 
 Masters," began Slinn, vaguely. 
 
 " Have you any idea where the letter is, 
 or what has become of Masters ? " continued 
 Mulrady, with a matter-of-fact gravity, that 
 seemed to increase Slinn's vagueness and ex- 
 cite his irritability. 
 
 " I don't know I sometimes think " 
 He stopped, sat down again, and passed his 
 hands across his forehead. " I have seen 
 the letter somewhere since. Yes," he went 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 143 
 
 on, with sudden vehemence, " I know it, I 
 have seen it ! I " His brows knitted, 
 his features began to work convulsively ^ he 
 suddenly brought his paralyzed hand down, 
 partly opened, upon the table. " I will re- 
 member where." 
 
 " Go slow, old man ; go slow." 
 
 " You asked me once about my visions. 
 Well, that is one of them. I remember a 
 man somewhere showing me that letter. I 
 have taken it from his hands and opened it, 
 and knew it was mine by the specimens of 
 gold that were in it. But where or when 
 or what became of it, I cannot tell. It 
 will come to me it must come to me soon.'* 
 
 He turned his eyes upon Mulrady, who 
 was regarding him with an expression of 
 grave curiosity, and said bitterly, " You think 
 me crazy. I know it. It needed only this." 
 
 " Where is this mine ? " asked Mulrady, 
 without heeding him. 
 
 The old man's eyes swiftly sought the 
 ground. 
 
 " It is a secret, then?" 
 
 "No." 
 
144 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " You have spoken of it to any one ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Not to the man who possesses it ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because I would n't take it from him." 
 
 " Why would n't you ? " 
 
 " Because that man is yourself ! " 
 
 In the instant of complete silence that 
 followed they could hear that the monoto- 
 nous patter of rain on the roof had ceased. 
 
 " Then all this was in my shaft, and the 
 vein I thought I struck there was your lead, 
 found three years ago in your tunnel. Is 
 that your idea?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then I don't sdbe why you don't want 
 to claim it." 
 
 " I have told you why I don't want it 
 for my children. I go further, now, and I 
 tell you, Alvin Mulrady, that I was willing 
 that your children should squander it, as 
 they were doing. It has only been a curse 
 to me ; it could only be a curse to them ; but 
 I thought you were happy in seeing it feed 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 145 
 
 selfishness and vanity. You think me bitter 
 and hard. Well, I should have left you in 
 your fool's paradise, but that I saw to-night, 
 when you came here, that your eyes had been 
 opened like mine. You, the possessor of my 
 wealth, my treasure, could not buy your 
 children's loving care and company with 
 your millions, any more than I could keep 
 mine in my poverty. You were to-night 
 lonely and forsaken, as I was. We were 
 equal, for the first time in our lives. If that 
 cursed gold had dropped down the shaft be- 
 tween us into the hell from which it sprang, 
 we might have clasped hands like brothers 
 across the chasm." 
 
 Mulrady, who in a friendly show of being 
 at his ease had not yet resumed his coat, rose 
 in his shirt-sleeves, and, standing before the 
 hearth, straightened his square figure by 
 drawing down his waistcoat on each side with 
 two powerful thumbs. After a moment's 
 contemplative survey of the floor between 
 him and the speaker, he raised his eyes to 
 Slinn. They were small and colorless ; the 
 forehead above them was low, and crowned 
 
146 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 with a shock of tawny reddish hair ; even 
 the rude strength of his lower features was 
 enfeebled by a long, straggling, goat-like 
 beard ; but for the first time in his life the 
 whole face was impressed and transformed 
 with a strong and simple dignity. 
 
 " Ez far ez I kin see, Slinn," he said, 
 gravely, " the pint between you and me ain't 
 to be settled by our children, or wot we allow 
 is doo and right from them to us. Afore 
 we preach at them for playing in the slum- 
 gullion, and gettin' themselves splashed, 
 perhaps we mout ez well remember that that 
 thar slumgullion comes from our own sluice- 
 boxes, where we wash our gold. So we '11 
 just put them behind us, so," he continued, 
 with a backward sweep of his powerful hand 
 towards the chimney, "and goes on. The 
 next thing that crops up ahead of us is your 
 three years in the hospital, and wot you went 
 through at that time. I ain't sayin' it was n't 
 rough on you, and that you did n't have it 
 about as big as it 's made ; but ez you '11 al- 
 low that you 'd hev had that for three years, 
 whether I 'd found your mine or whether I 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 147 
 
 had n't, I think we can put that behind us, 
 too. There 's nothin' now left to prospect 
 but your story of your strike. Well, take 
 your own proofs. Masters is not here ; and 
 if he was, accordin' to your own story, he 
 knows nothin' of your strike that day, and 
 could only prove you were a disappointed 
 prospector in a tunnel ; your letter that 
 the person you wrote to never got you 
 can't produce ; and if you did, would be only 
 your own story without proof ! There is not 
 a business man ez would look at your claim ; 
 there is n't a friend of yours that would n't 
 believe you were crazy, and dreamed it all ; 
 there is n't a rival of yours ez would n't say 
 ez you 'd invented it. Slinn, I 'in a business 
 man I am your friend I am your rival 
 but I don't think you 're lyin' I don't 
 think you 're crazy and I 'm not sure 
 your claim ain't a good one ! 
 
 " Ef you reckon from that that I 'm goin' 
 to hand you over the mine to-morrow," he 
 went on, after a pause, raising his hand with 
 a deprecating gesture, "you're mistaken. 
 For your own sake, and the sake of my wife 
 
148 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 and children, you Ve got to prove it more 
 clearly than you hev ; but I promise you that 
 from this night forward I will spare neither 
 time nor money to help you to do it. I have 
 more than doubled the amount that you 
 would have had, had you taken the mine the 
 day you came from the hospital. When you 
 prove to me that your story is true and 
 we will find some way to prove it, if it is 
 true that amount will be yours at once, 
 without the need of a word from law or law- 
 yers. If you want my name to that in black 
 and white, come to the office to-morrow, and 
 you shall have it." 
 
 " And you think 1 11 take it now? " said 
 the old man passionately. " Do you think 
 that your charity will bring back my dead 
 wife, the three years of my lost life, the love 
 and respect of my children ? Or do you 
 think that your own wife and children, who 
 deserted you in your wealth, will come back 
 to you in your poverty ? No ! Let the mine 
 stay, with its curse, where it is I '11 have 
 none of it ! " 
 
 " Go slow, old man ; go slow," said Mul- 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 149 
 
 rady, quietly, putting on his coat. "You 
 will take the mine if it is yours ; if it is n't, 
 I '11 keep it. If it is yours, you will give 
 your children a chance to show what they 
 can do for you in your sudden prosperity, 
 as I shall give mine a chance to show how 
 they can stand reverse and disappointment. 
 If my head is level and I reckon it is 
 they '11 both pan out all right." 
 
 He turned and opened the door. With a 
 quick revulsion of feeling, Slinn suddenly 
 seized Mulrady's hand between both of his 
 own, and raised it to his lips. Mulrady 
 smiled, disengaged his hand gently, and 
 saying soothingly, " Go slow, old man ; 
 go slow," closed the door behind him, and 
 passed out into the clear Christmas dawn. 
 
 For the stars, with the exception of one 
 that seemed to sparkle brightly over the 
 shaft of his former fortunes, were slowly pal- 
 ing. A burden seemed to have fallen from 
 his square shoulders as he stepped out stur- 
 dily into the morning air. He had already 
 forgotten the lonely man behind him, for he 
 was thinking only of his wife and daughter. 
 
150 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 And at the same moment they were thinking 
 of him ; and in their elaborate villa over- 
 looking the blue Mediterranean at Cannes 
 were discussing, in the event of Mamie's 
 marriage with Prince Rosso e Negro, the 
 possibility of Mr. Mulrady's paying two 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the gam- 
 bling debts of that unfortunate but deeply 
 conscientious nobleman. 
 
ROUGH-AND- READ Y. 151 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHEN Alvin Mulrady reentered his own 
 house, he no longer noticed its loneliness. 
 Whether the events of the last few hours 
 had driven it from his mind, or whether his 
 late reflections had repeopled it with his 
 family under pleasanter auspices, it would 
 be difficult to determine. Destitute as he 
 was of imagination, and matter-of-fact in 
 his judgments, he realized his new situation 
 as calmly as he would have considered any 
 business proposition. While he was decided 
 to act upon his moral convictions purely, he 
 was prepared to submit the facts of Slinn's 
 claim to the usual patient and laborious in- 
 vestigation of his practical mind. It was 
 the least he could do to justify the ready 
 and almost superstitious assent he had given 
 to Slinn's story. 
 
 When he had made a few memoranda at 
 his desk by the growing light, he again took 
 
152 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 the key of the attic, and ascended to the loft 
 that held the tangible memories of his past 
 life. If he was still under the influence of 
 his reflections, it was with very different sen- 
 sations that he now regarded them. Was 
 it possible that these ashes might be warmed 
 again, and these scattered embers rekindled ? 
 His practical sense said No ! whatever his 
 wish might have been. A sudden chill came 
 over him ; he began to realize the terrible 
 change that was probable, more by the im- 
 possibility of his accepting the old order of 
 things than by his voluntarily abandoning 
 the new. His wife and children would 
 never submit. They would go away from 
 this place, far away, where no reminiscence 
 of either former wealth or former poverty 
 could obtrude itself upon them. Mamie 
 his Mamie should never go back to the 
 cabi ., since desecrated by Slinn's daughters, 
 and take their places. No ! Why should 
 she ? because of the half -sick, half -crazy 
 dreams of an old vindictive man ? 
 
 He stopped suddenly. In moodily turn- 
 ing over a heap of mining clothing, blan- 
 
HO UGH-AND-READ Y. 153 
 
 kets, and india-rubber boots, he had come 
 upon an old pickaxe the one he had found 
 in the shaft ; the one he had carefully pre- 
 served for a year, and then forgotten ! Why 
 had he not remembered it before ? He was 
 frightened, not only at this sudden resurrec- 
 tion of the proof he was seeking, but at his 
 own fateful forgetfulness. Why had he 
 never thought of this when Slinn was speak- 
 ing ? A sense of shame, as if he had volun- 
 tarily withheld it from the wronged man, 
 swept over him. He was turning away, 
 when he was again startled. 
 
 This time it was by a voice from below - 
 a voice calling him Slinn's voice. How 
 had the crippled man got here so soon, and 
 what did he want ? He hurriedly laid aside 
 the pick, which, in his first impulse, he had 
 taken to the door of the loft with him, and 
 descended the stairs. The old man was 
 standing at the door of his office awaiting 
 him. 
 
 As Mulrady approached, he trembled vio- 
 lently, and clung to the doorpost for sup- 
 port. 
 
154 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " I had to come over, Mulrady," he said, 
 in a choked voice ; " I could stand it there 
 no longer. I Ve come to beg you to forget 
 all that I have said ; to drive all thought of 
 what passed between us last night out of 
 your head and mine forever ! I 've come to 
 ask you to swear with me that neither of us 
 will ever speak of this again forever. It is 
 not worth the happiness I have had in your 
 friendship for the last half-year; it is not 
 worth the agony I have suffered in its loss 
 in the last half -hour." 
 
 Mulrady grasped his outstretched hand. 
 " P'raps," he said, gravely, " there may n't 
 be any use for another word, if you can an- 
 swer one now. Come with me. No matter," 
 he added, as Slinn moved with difficulty; 
 "I will help you." 
 
 He half supported, half lifted the para- 
 lyzed man up the three flights of stairs, and 
 opened the door of the loft. The pick was 
 leaning against the wall, where he had left 
 it. " Look around, and see if you recognize 
 anything." 
 
 The old man's eyes fell upon the imple- 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 155 
 
 ment in a half-frightened way, and then 
 lifted themselves interrogatively to Mul- 
 rady's face. 
 
 " Do you know that pick ? " 
 
 Slinn raised it in his trembling hands. " I 
 think I do ; and yet " 
 
 "Slinn! is it yours?" 
 
 " No," he said, hurriedly. 
 
 " Then what makes you think you know 
 it?" 
 
 " It has a short handle like one I 've 
 seen." 
 
 " And it is n't yours ? " 
 
 "No. The handle of mine was broken 
 and spliced. I was too poor to buy a new 
 one." 
 
 " Then you say that this pick which I 
 found in my shaft is not yours ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Slinn ! " 
 
 The old man passed his hand across his 
 forehead, looked at Mulrady, and dropped 
 his eyes. "It is not mine," he said sim- 
 
 pty- 
 
 " That will do," said Mulrady, gravely. 
 
156 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 " And you will not speak of this again ? " 
 said the old man, timidly. 
 
 " I promise you not until I have some 
 more evidence." 
 
 He kept his word, but not before he had 
 extorted from Slinn as full a description of 
 Masters as his imperfect memory and still 
 more imperfect knowledge of his former 
 neighbor could furnish. He placed this, with 
 a large sum of money and the promise of a 
 still larger reward, in the liands of a trust- 
 worthy agent. When this was done he re- 
 sumed his old relations with Slinn, with the 
 exception that the domestic letters of Mrs. 
 Mulrady and Mamie were no longer a sub- 
 ject of comment, and their bills no longer 
 passed through his private secretary's hands. 
 
 Three months passed ; the rainy season 
 had ceased, the hillsides around Mulrady's 
 shaft were bridal-like with flowers ; indeed, 
 there were rumors of an approaching fash- 
 ionable marriage in the air, and vague hints 
 in the " Eecord " that the presence of a 
 distinguished capitalist might soon be re- 
 quired abroad. The face of that distin^ 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 157 
 
 guished man did not, however, reflect the 
 gayety of nature nor the anticipation of hap- 
 piness; on the contrary, for the past few 
 weeks, he had appeared disturbed and anx- 
 ious, and that rude tranquillity which had 
 characterized him was wanting. People 
 shook their heads ; a few suggested specula- 
 tions ; all agreed on extravagance. 
 
 One morning, after office hours, Slinn, 
 who had been watching the careworn face of 
 his employer, suddenly rose and limped to 
 his side. 
 
 " We promised each other," he said, in a 
 voice trembling with emotion, " never to al- 
 lude to our talk of Christmas Eve again 
 unless we had other proofs of what I told 
 you then. We have none ; I don't believe 
 we '11 ever have any more. I don't care if 
 we ever do, and I break that promise now 
 because I cannot bear to see you unhappy 
 and know that this is the cause." 
 
 Mulrady made a motion of deprecation, 
 but the old man continued : 
 
 " You are unhappy, Alvin Mulrady. You 
 are unhappy because you want to give your 
 
158 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 daughter a dowry of two hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars, and you will not use the 
 fortune that you think may be mine." 
 
 " Who 's been talking about a dowry ? " 
 asked Mulrady, with an angry flush. 
 
 "Don Caesar Alvarado told my daugh- 
 ter." 
 
 " Then that is why he has thrown off on 
 me since he returned," said Mulrady, with 
 sudden small malevolence, " just that he 
 might unload his gossip because Mamie 
 would n't have him. The old woman was 
 right in warnin' me agin him." 
 
 The outburst was so unlike him, and so 
 dwarfed his large though common nature 
 with its littleness, that it was easy to detect 
 its feminine origin, although it filled Slinn 
 with vague alarm. 
 
 " Never mind him," said the old man, 
 hastily ; " what I wanted to say now is that 
 I abandon everything to you and yours. 
 There are no proofs ; there never will be any 
 more than what we know, than what we have 
 tested and found wanting. I swear to you 
 that, except to show you that I have not lied 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 159 
 
 and am not crazy, I would destroy them on 
 their way to your hands. Keep the money, 
 and spend it as you will. Make your daugh- 
 ter happy, and, through her, yourself. You 
 have made me happy through your liberal- 
 ity ; don't make me suffer through your pri- 
 vation." 
 
 " I tell you what, old man," said Mulrady, 
 rising to his feet, with an awkward mingling 
 of frankness and shame in his manner and 
 accent, " I should like to pay that money for 
 Mamie, and let her be a princess, if it would 
 make her happy. I should like to shut the 
 lantern jaws of that Don CaBsar, who 'd be 
 too glad if anything happened to break off 
 Mamie's match. But I should n't touch that 
 capital unless you 'd lend it to me. If 
 you '11 take a note from me, payable if the 
 property ever becomes yours, I 'd thank you. 
 A mortgage on the old house and garden, 
 and the lands I bought of Don Caesar, out- 
 side the mine, will screen you." 
 
 " If that pleases you," said the old man, 
 with a smile, " have your way ; and if I tear 
 up the note, it does not concern you." 
 
160 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 It did please the distinguished capitalist 
 of Rough-and-Ready ; for the next few days 
 his face wore a brightened expression, and 
 he seemed to have recovered his old tranquil- 
 lity. There was, in fact, a slight touch of 
 consequence in his manner, the first ostenta- 
 tion he had ever indulged in, when he was 
 informed one morning at his private office 
 that Don Caesar Alvarado was in the count- 
 ing-house, desiring a few moments' confer- 
 ence. " Tell him to come in," said Mulrady, 
 shortly. The door opened upon Don Caesar 
 erect, sallow, and grave. Mulrady had 
 not seen him since his return from Europe, 
 and even his inexperienced eyes were struck 
 with the undeniable ease and grace with 
 which the young Spanish- American had as- 
 similated the style and fashion of an older 
 civilization. It seemed rather as if he had 
 returned to a familiar condition than adopted 
 a new one. 
 
 " Take a cheer," said Mulrady. 
 
 The young man looked at Slinn with 
 quietly persistent significance. 
 
 "You can talk all the same," said Mul- 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 161 
 
 rady, accepting the significance. " He 's my 
 private secretary." 
 
 " It seems that for that reason we might 
 choose another moment for our conversa- 
 tion," returned Don Caesar, haughtily. " Do 
 I understand you cannot see me now ? " 
 
 Mulrady hesitated. He had always re- 
 vered and recognized a certain social superi- 
 ority in Don Ramon Alvarado ; somehow his 
 son a young man of half his age, and once 
 a possible son-in-law appeared to claim 
 that recognition also. He rose, without a 
 word, and preceded Don Caesar up-stairs 
 into his drawing-room. The alien portrait 
 on the wall seemed to evidently take sides 
 with Don Caesar, as against the common in- 
 truder, Mulrady. 
 
 " I hoped the Senora Mulrady might have 
 saved me this interview," said the young 
 man, stiffly ; " or at least have given you 
 some intimation of the reason why I seek it. 
 As you just now proposed my talking to you 
 in the presence of the unfortunate Sefior 
 Esslinn himself, it appears she has not." 
 
 " I don't know what you 're driving at, or 
 
162 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 what Mrs. Mulrady's got to do with Slinn or 
 you," said Mulrady, in angry uneasiness. 
 
 " Do I understand," said Don Caesar, 
 sternly, " that Senora Mulrady has not told 
 you that I entrusted to her an important 
 letter, belonging to Seiior Esslinn, which I 
 had the honor to discover in the wood six 
 months ago, and which she said she would 
 refer to you ? " 
 
 " Letter ? " echoed Mulrady, slowly ; " my 
 wife had a letter of Slinn's? " 
 
 Don Ca3sar regarded the millionaire at- 
 tentively. " It is as I feared," he said, 
 gravely. " You do not know, or you would 
 not have remained silent." He then briefly 
 recounted the story of his finding Slinn's 
 letter, his exhibition of it to the invalid, its 
 disastrous effect upon him, and his innocent 
 discovery of the contents. " I believed my- 
 self at that time on the eve of being allied 
 with your family, Seiior Mulrady," he said, 
 haughtily ; " and when I found myself in 
 possession of a secret which affected its in- 
 tegrity and good name, I did not choose to 
 leave it in the helpless hands of its imbecile 
 
RO UGH-AND-READ Y. 163 
 
 owner, or his sillier children, but proposed 
 to trust it to the care of the Seiiora, that she 
 and you might deal with it as became your 
 honor and mine. I followed her to Paris, 
 and gave her the letter there. She affected 
 to laugh at any pretension of the writer, or 
 any claim he might have on your bounty ; 
 but she kept the letter, and, I fear, destroyed 
 it. You will understand, Senor Mulrady, 
 that when I found that my attentions were 
 no longer agreeable to your daughter, I had 
 no longer the right to speak to you on the 
 subject, nor could I, without misapprehen- 
 sion, force her to return it. I should have 
 still kept the secret to myself, if I had not 
 since my return here made the nearer ac- 
 quaintance of Senor Esslinn's daughters. I 
 cannot present myself at his house, as a 
 suitor for the hand of the Senorita Vashti, 
 until I have asked his absolution for my 
 complicity in the wrong that has been done 
 to him. I cannot, as a caballero, do that 
 without your permission. It is for that pur- 
 pose I am here." 
 
 It needed only this last blow to complete 
 
164 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 the humiliation that whitened Mulrady's 
 face. But his eye was none the less clear 
 and his voice none the less steady as he 
 turned to Don Caesar. 
 
 " You know perfectly the contents of that 
 letter?" 
 
 " I have kept a copy of it." 
 
 " Come with me." 
 
 He preceded his visitor down the staircase 
 and back into his private office. Slinn 
 looked up at his employer's face in unre- 
 strained anxiety. Mulrady sat down at his 
 desk, wrote a few hurried lines, and rang a 
 bell. A manager appeared from the count- 
 ing-room. 
 
 " Send that to the bank." 
 
 He wiped his pen as methodically as if he 
 had not at that moment countermanded the 
 order to pay his daughter's dowry, and turned 
 quietly to Slinn. 
 
 " Don Caesar Alvarado has found the let- 
 ter you wrote your wife on the day you made 
 your strike in the tunnel that is now my 
 shaft. He gave the letter to Mrs. Mulrady ; 
 but he has kept a copy." 
 
ROUGH-AND-READY. 165 
 
 Unheeding the frightened gesture of en- 
 treaty from Slinn, equally with the unfeigned 
 astonishment of Don Caesar, who was en- 
 tirely unprepared for this revelation of Mul- 
 rady's and Slum's confidences, he continued, 
 " He has brought the copy with him. I 
 reckon it would be only square for you to 
 compare it with what you remember of the 
 original." 
 
 In obedience to a gesture from Mulrady, 
 Don Caesar mechanically took from his 
 pocket a folded paper, and handed it to the 
 paralytic. But Slinn's trembling fingers 
 could scarcely unfold the paper ; and as his 
 eyes fell upon its contents, his convulsive 
 lips could not articulate a word. 
 
 " P'raps I 'd better read it for you," said 
 Mulrady, gently. " You kin follow me and 
 stop me when I go wrong." 
 
 He took the paper, and, in a dead silence, 
 read as follows : 
 
 " DEAR WIFE, I Ve just struck gold in 
 my tunnel, and you must get ready to come 
 here with the children, at once. It was after 
 six months' hard work ; and I 'm so weak I 
 
166 A MILLIONAIRE OF 
 
 ... It 's a fortune for us all. We should 
 be rich even if it were only a branch vein 
 dipping west towards the next tunnel, in- 
 stead of dipping east, according to my 
 theory " 
 
 " Stop ! " said Slinn, in a voice that shook 
 the room. 
 
 Mulrady looked up. 
 
 " It 's wrong, ain't it ? " he asked, anx- 
 iously : " it should be east towards the next 
 tunnel." 
 
 " No ! It 's right ! I am wrong ! We 're 
 all wrong ! " 
 
 Slinn had risen to his feet, erect and 
 inspired. " Don't you see," he almost 
 screamed, with passionate vehemence, " it 's 
 Masters' abandoned tunnel your shaft has 
 struck ? Not mine ! It was Masters' pick 
 you found ! I know it now ! " 
 
 " And your own tunnel ? " said Mulrady, 
 springing to his feet in his excitement. 
 " And your strike ? " 
 
 " Is still there ! " 
 
 The next instant, and before another ques- 
 tion could be asked, Slinn had darted from 
 
ROUGH-AND-READ Y. 167 
 
 the room. In the exaltation of that supreme 
 discovery he regained the full control of 
 mind and body. Mulrady and Don Caesar, 
 no less excited, followed him precipitately, 
 and with difficulty kept up with his feverish 
 speed. Their way lay along the base of the 
 hill below Mulrady's shaft, and on a line 
 with Masters' abandoned tunnel. Only 
 once he stopped to snatch a pick from the 
 hand of an astonished Chinaman at work in 
 a ditch, as he still kept on his way, a quar- 
 ter of a mile beyond the shaft. Here he 
 stopped before a jagged hole in the hillside. 
 Bared to the sky and air, the very openness 
 of its abandonment, its unpropitious posi- 
 tion, and distance from the strike in Mul- 
 rady's shaft had no doubt preserved its in- 
 tegrity from wayfarer or prospector. 
 
 " You can't go in there alone, and without 
 a light," said Mulrady, laying his hand on 
 the arm of the excited man. " Let me get 
 more help and proper tools." 
 
 " I know every step in the dark as in the 
 daylight," returned Slinn, struggling. " Let 
 me go, while I have yet strength and reason ! 
 Stand aside I " 
 
168 MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY. 
 
 He broke from them, and the next moment 
 was swallowed up in the yawning blackness. 
 They waited with bated breath until, after a 
 seeming eternity of night and silence, they 
 heard his returning footsteps, and ran for- 
 ward to meet him. As he was carrying some- 
 thing clasped to his breast, they supported 
 him to the opening. But at the same mo- 
 ment the object of his search, and his burden, 
 a misshapen wedge of gold and quartz, 
 dropped with him, and both fell together 
 with equal immobility to the ground. He 
 had still strength to turn his fading eyes to 
 the other millionaire of Rough-and-Ready, 
 who leaned over him. 
 
 "You see," he gasped, brokenly, "I 
 was not crazy ! " 
 
 No. He was dead I 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IT was a season of unequalled prosperity 
 in Devil's Ford. The half a dozen cabins 
 scattered along the banks of the North Fork, 
 as if by some overflow of that capricious 
 river, had become augmented during a week 
 of fierce excitement by twenty or thirty 
 others, that were huddled together on the 
 narrow gorge of Devil's Spur, or cast up on 
 its steep sides. So sudden and violent had 
 been the change of fortune, that the dwellers 
 in the elder cabins had not had time to 
 change with it, but still kept their old habits, 
 customs, and even their old clothes. The 
 flour pan in which their daily bread was 
 mixed stood on the rude table side by side 
 with the " prospecting pans," half full of gold 
 washed up from their morning's work ; the 
 
170 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 front windows of the newer tenements looked 
 upon the one single thoroughfare, but the 
 back door opened upon the uncleared wilder- 
 ness, still haunted by the misshapen bulk of 
 bear or the nightly gliding of catamount. 
 
 Neither had success as yet affected their 
 boyish simplicity and the frankness of old 
 frontier habits ; they played with their new- 
 found riches with the naive delight of chil- 
 dren, and rehearsed their glowing future with 
 the importance and triviality of school-boys. 
 
 " I 've bin kalklatin',' ' said Dick Mattingly, 
 leaning on his long-handled shovel with lazy 
 gravity, " that when I go to Rome this winter, 
 I '11 get one o' them marble sharps to chisel 
 me a statoo o' some kind to set up on the 
 spot where we made our big strike. Suthin' 
 to remember it by, you know." 
 
 " What kind o' statoo Washington or 
 Webster? " asked one of the Kearney 
 brothers, without looking up from his work. 
 
 " No I reckon one o' them fancy groups 
 one o' them Latin goddesses that Fairfax 
 is always gassin' about, sorter leadin', direct- 
 in', and bossin' us where to dig." 
 
DEVWS FORD. 171 
 
 " You 'd make a healthy-lookin' figger in 
 a group," responded Kearney, critically re- 
 garding an enormous patch in Mattingly's 
 trousers. " Why don't you have a fountain 
 instead ? " 
 
 " Where '11 you get the water ? " demanded 
 the first speaker, in return. " You know 
 there ain't enough in the North Fork to do a 
 week's washing for the camp to say nothin* 
 of its color." 
 
 " Leave that to me," said Kearney, with 
 self-possession. " When I 've built that there 
 reservoir on Devil's Spur, and bring the 
 water over the ridge from Union Ditch, 
 there '11 be enough to spare for that." 
 
 " Better mix it up, I reckon have suthin' 
 half statoo, half fountain," interposed the 
 elder Mattingly, better known as " Maryland 
 Joe," "and set it up afore the Town Hall 
 and Free Library I 'm kalklatin' to give. Do 
 that, and you can count on me." 
 
 After some further discussion, it was 
 gravely settled that Kearney should furnish 
 water brought from the Union Ditch, twenty 
 miles away, at a cost of two hundred thou- 
 
172 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 sand dollars, to feed a memorial fountain 
 erected by Mattingly, worth a hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, as a crowning finish to public 
 buildings contributed by Maryland Joe, to 
 the extent of half a million more. The dis- 
 position of these vast sums by gentlemen 
 wearing patched breeches awakened no sense 
 of the ludicrous, nor did any doubt, reserva- 
 tion, or contingency enter into the plans of 
 the charming enthusiasts themselves. The 
 foundation of their airy castles lay already 
 before them in the strip of rich alluvium on 
 the river bank, where the North Fork, sharply 
 curving round the base of Devil's Spur, had 
 for centuries swept the detritus of gulch and 
 canon. They had barely crossed the thresh- 
 old of this treasure-house, to find themselves 
 rich men; what possibilities of affluence 
 might be theirs when they had fully ex- 
 ploited their possessions ? So confident were 
 they of that ultimate prospect, that the 
 wealth already thus obtained was religiously 
 expended in engines and machinery for the 
 boring of wells and the conveyance of that 
 precious water which the exhausted river had 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 173 
 
 long since ceased to yield. It seemed as if 
 the gold they had taken out was by some 
 ironical compensation gradually making its 
 way back to the soil again through ditch and 
 flume and reservoir. 
 
 Such was the position of affairs at Devil's 
 Ford on the 13th of August, 1860. It was 
 noon of a hot day. Whatever movement 
 there was in the stifling air was seen rather 
 than felt in a tremulous, quivering, upward- 
 moving dust along the flank of the mountain, 
 through which the spires of the pines were 
 faintly visible. There was no water in the 
 bared and burning bars of the river to reflect 
 the vertical sun, but under its direct rays one 
 or two tinned roofs and corrugated zinc 
 cabins struck fire, a few canvas tents became 
 dazzling to the eye, and the white wooded 
 corral of the stage office and hotel insupport- 
 able. For two hours no one ventured in the 
 glare of the open, or even to cross the nar- 
 row, unshadowed street, whose dull red dust 
 seemed to glow between the lines of strag- 
 gling houses. The heated shells of these 
 green unseasoned tenements gave out a pun- 
 
174 DEVIUS FORD. 
 
 gent odor of scorching wood and resin. The 
 usual hurried, feverish toil in the claim was 
 suspended ; the pick and shovel were left 
 sticking in the richest " pay gravel ; " the 
 toiling millionaires themselves, ragged, dirty, 
 and perspiring, lay panting under the nearest 
 shade, where their pipes went out listlessly, 
 and conversation sank to monosyllables. 
 
 " There 's Fairfax," said Dick Mattingly, 
 at last, with a lazy effort. His face was 
 turned to the hillside, where a man had just 
 emerged from the woods, and was halting 
 irresolutely before the glaring expanse of 
 upheaved gravel and glistening boulders 
 that stretched between him and the shaded 
 group. " He 's going to make a break for 
 it," he added, as the stranger, throwing his 
 linen coat over his head, suddenly started 
 into an Indian trot through the pelting 
 sunbeams toward them. This strange act 
 was perfectly understood by the group, 
 who knew that in that intensely dry heat 
 the danger of exposure was lessened by ac- 
 tive exercise and the profuse perspiration 
 that followed it. In another moment the 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 175 
 
 stranger had reached their side, dripping as 
 if rained upon, mopping his damp curls 
 and handsome bearded face with his linen 
 coat, as he threw himself pantingly on the 
 ground. 
 
 " I struck out over here first, boys, to 
 give you a little warning," he said, as soon 
 as he had gained breath. " That engineer 
 will be down here to take charge as soon as 
 the six o'clock stage comes in. He 's an 
 oldish chap, has got a family of two daugh- 
 ters, and I am d d if he is not 
 
 bringing them down here with him." 
 
 " Oh, go long ! " exclaimed the five men 
 in one voice, raising themselves on their 
 hands and elbows, and glaring at the speaker. 
 
 " Fact, boys ! Soon as I found it out I 
 just waltzed into that Jew shop at the Cross- 
 ing and bought up all the clothes that would 
 be likely to suit you fellows, before anybody 
 else got a show. I reckon I cleared out the 
 shop. The duds are a little mixed in style, 
 but I reckon they 're clean and whole, and a 
 man might face a lady in 'em. I left them 
 round at the old Buckeye Spring, where 
 
176 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 they 're handy without attracting attention. 
 You boys can go there for a general wash-up, 
 rig yourselves up without saying anything, 
 and then meander back careless and easy in 
 your store clothes, just as the stage is com- 
 ing in, sdbe ? " 
 
 "Why didn't you let us know earlier? " 
 asked Mattingly aggrievedly ; " you 've been 
 back here at least an hour." 
 
 " I 've been getting some place ready for 
 them" returned the new - comer. " We 
 might have managed to put the man some- 
 where, if he 'd been alone, but these women 
 want family accommodation. There was 
 nothing left for me to do but to buy up 
 Thompson's saloon." 
 
 " No ? " interrupted his audience, half in 
 incredulity, half in protestation. 
 
 " Fact ! You boys will have to take your 
 drinks under canvas again, I reckon ! But 
 I made Thompson let those gold-framed mir- 
 rors that used to stand behind the bar go 
 into the bargain, and they sort of furnish 
 the room. You know the saloon is one of 
 them patent houses you can take to pieces, 
 
DEVWS FORD. 177 
 
 and I 've been reckoning you boys will have 
 to pitch in and help me to take the whole 
 shanty over to the laurel bushes, and put it 
 up agin Kearney's cabin." 
 
 " What 's all that ? " ^aid the younger 
 Kearney, with an odd mingling of astonish- 
 ment and bashful gratification. 
 
 "Yes, I reckon yours is the cleanest house, 
 because it 's the newest, so you '11 just step 
 out and let us knock in one o' the gables, 
 and clap it on to the saloon, and make one 
 house of it, don't you see ? There '11 be two 
 rooms, one for the girls and the other for 
 the old man." 
 
 The astonishment and bewilderment of 
 the party had gradually given way to a boy- 
 ish and impatient interest. 
 
 " Had n't we better do the job at once ? " 
 suggested Dick Mattingly. 
 
 " Or throw ourselves into those new clothes, 
 so as to be ready," added the younger Kear- 
 ney, looking down at his ragged trousers. 
 " I say, Fairfax, what are the girls like, 
 eh?" 
 
 All the others had been dying to ask the 
 
178 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 question, yet one and all laughed at the con- 
 scious manner and blushing cheek of the 
 questioner. 
 
 " You '11 find out quick enough," returned 
 Fairfax, whose curt carelessness did not, 
 however, prevent a slight increase of color 
 on his own cheek. " We 'd better get that 
 job off our hands before doing anything else. 
 So, if you 're ready, boys, we '11 just waltz 
 down to Thompson's and pack up the shanty. 
 He 's out of it by this time, I reckon. You 
 might as well be perspiring to some purpose 
 over there as gaspin' under this tree. We 
 won't go back to work this afternoon, but 
 knock off now, and call it half a day. Come ! 
 Hump yourselves, gentlemen. Are you 
 ready ? One, two, three, and away ! " 
 
 In another instant the tree was deserted ; 
 the figures of the five millionaires of Devil's 
 Ford, crossing the fierce glare of the open 
 space, with boyish alacrity, glistened in the 
 sunlight, and then disappeared in the nearest 
 fringe of thickets. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 179 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Six hours later,, when the shadow of Dev- 
 il's Spur had crossed the river, and spread a 
 slight coolness over the flat beyond, the Pi- 
 oneer coach, leaving the summit, began also 
 to bathe its heated bulk in the long shadows 
 of the descent. Conspicuous among the 
 dusty passengers, the two pretty and youth- 
 ful faces of the daughters of Philip Carr, 
 mining superintendent and engineer, looked 
 from the windows with no little anxiety to- 
 wards their future home in the straggling 
 settlement below, that occasionally came in 
 view at the turns of the long zigzagging road. 
 A slight look of comical disappointment 
 passed between them as they gazed upon the 
 sterile flat, dotted with unsightly excres- 
 cences that stood equally for cabins or 
 mounds of stone and gravel. It was so fee- 
 ble and inconsistent a culmination to the 
 beautiful scenery they had passed through, 
 
180 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 so hopeless and imbecile a conclusion to the 
 preparation of that long picturesque journey, 
 with its glimpses of sylvan and pastoral 
 glades and canons, that, as the coach swept 
 down the last incline, and the remorseless 
 monotony of the dead level spread out be- 
 fore them, furrowed by ditches and indented 
 by pits, under cover of shielding their cheeks 
 from the impalpable dust that rose beneath 
 the plunging wheels, they buried their faces 
 in their handkerchiefs, to hide a few half- 
 hysterical tears. Happily, their father, com- 
 pletely absorbed in a practical, scientific, 
 and approving contemplation of the topog- 
 raphy and material resources of the scene 
 of his future labors, had no time to notice 
 their defection. It was not until the stage 
 drew up before a rambling tenement bearing 
 the inscription, " Hotel and Stage Office," 
 that he became fully aware of it. 
 
 " We can't stop here, papa," said Christie 
 Carr decidedly, with a shake of her pretty 
 head. " You can't expect that." 
 
 Mr. Carr looked up at the building ; it 
 was half grocery, half saloon. Whatever 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 181 
 
 other accommodation it contained must have 
 been hidden in the rear, as the flat roof 
 above was almost level with the raftered 
 ceiling of the shop. 
 
 " Certainly," he replied hurriedly ; " we '11 
 see to that in a moment. I dare say it 's all 
 right. I told Fairfax we were coming. 
 Somebody ought to be here." 
 
 " But they 're not," said Jessie Carr in- 
 dignantly ; " and the few that were here 
 scampered off like rabbits to their burrows 
 as soon as they saw us get down." 
 
 It was true. The little group of loungers 
 before the building had suddenly disap- 
 peared. There was the flash of a red shirt 
 vanishing in an adjacent doorway ; the fad- 
 ing apparition of a pair of high boots and 
 blue overalls in another ; the abrupt with- 
 drawal of a curly blonde head from a sash- 
 less window over the way. Even the saloon 
 was deserted, although a back door in the 
 dim recess seemed to creak mysteriously. 
 The stage-coach, with the other passengers, 
 had already rattled away. 
 
 " I certainly think Fairfax understood 
 that I " began Mr. Carr. 
 
182 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 He was interrupted by the pressure of 
 Christie's fingers on his arm and a subdued 
 exclamation from Jessie, who was staring 
 down the street. 
 
 " What are they ? " she whispered in her 
 sister's ear. " Nigger minstrels, a circus, 
 or what ? " 
 
 The five millionaires of Devil's Ford had 
 just turned the corner of the straggling 
 street, and were approaching in single file. 
 One glance was sufficient to show that they 
 had already availed themselves of the new 
 clothing bought by Fairfax, had washed, and 
 one or two had shaved. But the result was 
 startling. 
 
 Through some fortunate coincidence in 
 size, Dick Mattingly was the only one who 
 had achieved an entire suit. But it was of 
 funereal black clofch, and although relieved at 
 one extremity by a pair of high riding boots, 
 in which his too short trousers were tucked, 
 and at the other by a tall white hat, and 
 cravat of aggressive yellow, the effect was 
 depressing. In agreeable contrast, his broth- 
 er, Maryland Joe, was attired in a thin 
 
DEVWS FORD. 183 
 
 fawn-colored summer overcoat, lightly worn 
 open, so as to show the unstarched bosom of 
 a white embroidered shirt, and a pair of nan- 
 keeii trousers and pumps. The Kearney 
 brothers had divided a suit between them, 
 the elder wearing a tightly-fitting, single- 
 breasted blue frock-coat and a pair of pink 
 striped cotton trousers, while the younger 
 candidly displayed the trousers of his broth- 
 er's suit, as a harmonious change to a shin- 
 ing black alpaca coat and crimson necker- 
 chief. Fairfax, who brought up the rear, 
 had, with characteristic unselfishness, con- 
 tented himself with a French workman's 
 blue blouse and a pair of white duck trou- 
 sers. Had they shown the least conscious- 
 ness of their finery, or of its absurdity, they 
 would have seemed despicable. But only 
 one expression beamed on the five sunburnt 
 and shining, faces a look of unaffected 
 boyish gratification and unrestricted wel- 
 come. 
 
 They halted before Mr. Carr and his 
 daughters, simultaneously removed their va^ 
 rious and remarkable head coverings, and 
 
184 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 waited until Fairfax advanced and severally 
 presented them. Jessie Carr's half -fright- 
 ened smile took refuge in the trembling 
 shadows of her dark lashes ; Christie Carr 
 stiffened slightly, and looked straight before 
 her. 
 
 " We reckoned that is we intended 
 to meet you and the young ladies at the 
 grade," said Fairfax, reddening a little as he 
 endeavored to conceal his too ready slang, 
 " and save you from trapesing from drag- 
 ging yourselves up grade again to your 
 house." 
 
 " Then there is a house ? " said Jessie, 
 with an alarmingly frank laugh of relief, 
 that was, however, as frankly reflected in 
 the boyishly appreciative eyes of the young 
 men. 
 
 " Such as it is," responded Fairfax, with a 
 shade of anxiety, as he glanced at the fresh 
 and pretty costumes of the young women, 
 and dubiously regarded the two Saratoga 
 trunks resting hopelessly on the veranda. 
 " I 'm afraid it is n't much, for what you 're 
 accustomed to. But," he added more cheer- 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 185 
 
 fully, " it will do for a day or two, and per- 
 haps you '11 give us the pleasure of showing 
 you the way there now." 
 
 The procession was quickly formed. Mr. 
 Carr, alive only to the actual business that 
 had brought him there, at once took posses- 
 sion of Fairfax, and began to disclose his 
 plans for the working of the mine, occasion- 
 ally halting to look at the work already done 
 in the ditches, and to examine the field of 
 his future operations. Fairfax, not dis- 
 pleased at being thus relieved of a lighter 
 attendance on Mr. Carr's daughters, never- 
 theless from time to time cast a paternal 
 glance backwards upon their escorts, who 
 had each seized a Handle of the two trunks, 
 and were carrying them in couples at the 
 young ladies' side. The occupation did not 
 offer much freedom for easy gallantry, but 
 no sign of discomfiture or uneasiness was 
 visible in the grateful faces of the young 
 men. The necessity of changing hands at 
 times with their burdens brought a corre- 
 sponding change of cavalier at the lady's side, 
 although it was observed that the younger 
 
186 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 Kearney, for the sake of continuing a con- 
 versation with Miss Jessie, kept his grasp of 
 the handle nearest the young lady until his 
 hand was nearly cut through, and his arm 
 worn out by exhaustion. 
 
 " The only thing on wheels in the camp 
 is a mule wagon, and the mules are packin' 
 gravel from the river this afternoon," ex- 
 plained Dick Mattingly apologetically to 
 Christie, " or we 'd have toted I mean 
 carried you and your baggage up to the 
 shant the your house. Give us two 
 weeks more, Miss Carr only two weeks to 
 wash up our work and realize and we'll 
 give you a pair of 2.40 steppers and a skele- 
 ton buggy to meet you at the top of the hill 
 and drive you over to the cabin. Perhaps 
 you 'd prefer a regular carriage ; some ladies 
 do. And a nigger driver. But what 's the 
 use of planning anything? Afore that time 
 comes we '11 have run you up a house on the 
 hill, and you shall pick out the spot. It would 
 n't take long unless you preferred brick. 
 I suppose we could get brick over from La 
 Grange, if you cared for it, but it would take 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 187 
 
 longer. If you could put up for a time with 
 something of stained glass and a mahogany 
 veranda " 
 
 In spite of her cold indignation, and the 
 fact that she could understand only a part of 
 Mattingly's speech, Christie comprehended 
 enough to make her lift her clear eyes to the 
 speaker, as she replied freezingly that she 
 feared she would not trouble them long with 
 her company. 
 
 " Oh, you '11 get over that," responded 
 Mattingly, with an exasperating confidence 
 that drove her nearly frantic, from the mani- 
 fest kindliness of intent that made it impos- 
 sible for her to resent it. "I felt that way 
 myself at first. Things will look strange and 
 unsociable for a while, until you get the hang 
 of them. You '11 naturally stamp round and 
 cuss a little " he stopped in conscious con- 
 sternation. 
 
 With ready tact, and before Christie could 
 reply, Maryland Joe had put down the trunk 
 and changed hands with his brother. 
 
 " You must n't mind Dick, or he '11 go off 
 and kill himself with shame," he whispered 
 
188 DEVIL 1 $ FORD. 
 
 laughingly in her ear. " He means all right, 
 but he 's picked up so much slang here he 's 
 about forgotten how to talk English, and it 's 
 nigh on to four years since he 's met a young 
 lady." 
 
 Christie did not reply. Yet the laughter 
 of her sister in advance with th^ Kearney 
 brothers seemed to make the reserve with 
 which she tried to crush further familiarity 
 only ridiculous. 
 
 " Do you know many operas, Miss Carr ? " 
 
 She looked at the boyish, interested, sun- 
 burnt face so near to her own, and hesitated. 
 After all, why should she add to her other 
 real disappointments by taking this absurd 
 creature seriously? 
 
 " In what way ? " she returned, with a half 
 smile. 
 
 " To play. On the piano, of course. There 
 is n't one nearer here than Sacramento ; but 
 I reckon we could get a small one by Thurs- 
 day. You could n't do anything on a 
 banjo ? " he added doubtfully ; " Kearney 's 
 got one." 
 
 " I imagine it would be very difficult to 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 189 
 
 carry a piano over those mountains," said 
 Christie laughingly, to avoid the collateral 
 of the banjo. 
 
 " We got a billiard-table over from Stock- 
 ton," half bashfully interrupted Dick Mat- 
 tingly, struggling from his end of the trunk 
 to recover his composure, " and it had to be 
 brought over in sections on the back of a 
 mule, so I don't see why " He stopped 
 short again in confusion, at a sign from his 
 brother, and then added, " I mean, of course, 
 that a piano is a heap more delicate, and 
 valuable, and all that sort of thing, but it 's 
 worth trying for." 
 
 41 Fairfax was always saying he 'd get one 
 for himself, so I reckon it 's possible," said 
 Joe. 
 
 " Does he play ? " asked Christie. 
 
 "You bet," said Joe, quite forgetting him- 
 self in his enthusiasm. " He can snatch 
 Mozart and Beethoven bald-headed." 
 
 In the embarrassing silence that followed 
 this speech the fringe of pine wood nearest 
 the flat was reached. Here there was a rude 
 " clearing," and beneath an enormous pine 
 stood the two recently joined tenements. 
 
190 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 There was no attempt to conceal the poinl 
 of junction between Kearney's cabin and the 
 newly-transported saloon from the flat - 
 no architectural illusion of the palpable col- 
 lusion of the two buildings, which seemed to 
 be telescoped into each other. The front 
 room or living room occupied the whole of 
 Kearney's cabin. It contained, in addition 
 to the necessary articles for housekeeping, a 
 " bunk " or berth for Mr. Carr, so as to leave 
 the second building entirely to the occupa- 
 tion of his daughters as bedroom and bou- 
 doir. 
 
 There was a half - humorous, half -apolo- 
 getic exhibition of the rude utensils of the 
 living room, and then the young men turned 
 away as the two girls entered the open door 
 of the second room. Neither Christie nor 
 Jessie could for a moment understand the 
 delicacy which kept these young men from 
 accompanying them into the room they had 
 but a few moments before decorated and ar- 
 ranged with their own hands, and it was not 
 until they turned to thank their strange en- 
 tertainers that they found that they were 
 gone. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 191 
 
 The arrangement of the second room was 
 rude and bizarre, but not without a singular 
 originality and even tastefulness of concep- 
 tion. What had been the counter or " bar " 
 of the saloon, gorgeous in white and gold, 
 now sawn in two and divided, was set up on 
 opposite sides of the room as separate dress- 
 ing-tables, decorated with huge bunches of 
 azaleas, that hid the rough earthenware 
 bowls, and gave each table the appearance 
 of a vestal altar. 
 
 The huge gilt plate-glass mirror which had 
 hung behind the bar still occupied one side 
 of the room, but its length was artfully di- 
 vided by an enormous rosette of red, white, 
 and blue muslin one of the surviving 
 Fourth of July decorations of Thompson's 
 saloon. On either side of the door two 
 pathetic-looking, convent-like cots, covered 
 with spotless sheeting, and heaped up in 
 the middle, like a snow-covered grave, had 
 attracted their attention. They were still 
 staring at them when Mr. Carr anticipated 
 their curiosity. 
 
 " I ought to tell you that the young men 
 
192 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 confided to me the fact that there was neither 
 bed nor mattress to be had on the Ford. 
 They have filled some flour-sacks with clean 
 dry moss from the woods, and put half a 
 dozen blankets on the top, and they hope 
 you can get along until the messenger who 
 starts to-night for La Grange can bring some 
 bedding over." 
 
 Jessie flew with mischievous delight to 
 satisfy herself of the truth of this marvel. 
 " It 's so, Christie," she said laughingly 
 "three flour-sacks apiece ; but I 'm jealous : 
 yours are all marked ' superfine? and mine 
 4 middlings? ' 
 
 Mr. Carr had remained uneasily watching 
 Christie's shadowed face. 
 
 " What matters ? " she said drily. * The 
 accommodation is all in keeping." 
 
 " It will be better in a day or two," he 
 continued, casting a longing look towards 
 the door the first refuge of masculine 
 weakness in an impending domestic emer- 
 gency. " I '11 go and see what can be done," 
 he said feebly, with a sidelong impulse to- 
 wards the opening and freedom. " I 've got 
 to see Fairfax again to-night any way." 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 193 
 
 " One moment, father," said Christie, 
 wearily. " Did you know anything of this 
 place and these these people before you 
 came?" 
 
 " Certainly of course I did," he re- 
 turned, with the sudden testiness of dis- 
 turbed abstraction. " What are you think- 
 ing of ? I knew the geological strata and 
 the the report of Fairfax and his partners 
 before I consented to take charge of the 
 works. And I can tell you that there is a 
 fortune here. I intend to make my own 
 terms, and share in it." 
 
 " And not take a salary or some sum of 
 money down ? " said Christie, slowly remov- 
 ing her bonnet in the same resigned way. 
 
 " I am not a hired man, or a workman, 
 Christie," said her father sharply. " You 
 ought not to oblige me to remind you of 
 that." 
 
 " But the hired men the superintendent 
 and his workmen were the only ones who 
 ever got anything out of your last experi- 
 ment with Colonel Waters at La Grange, 
 and and we at least lived among civilized 
 people there." 
 
194 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " These young men are not common peo- 
 ple, Christie ; even if they have forgotten 
 the restraints of speech and manners, they 're 
 gentlemen." 
 
 " Who are willing to live like like ne- 
 groes." 
 
 " You can make them what you please." 
 
 Christie raised her eyes. There was a 
 certain cynical ring in her father's voice 
 that was unlike his usual hesitating abstrac- 
 tion. It both puzzled and pained her. 
 
 " I mean," he said hastily, " that you have 
 the same opportunity to direct the lives of 
 these young men into more regular, disci- 
 plined channels that I have to regulate and 
 correct their foolish waste of industry and 
 material here. It would at least beguile the 
 time for you." 
 
 Fortunately for Mr. Carr's escape and 
 Christie's uneasiness, Jessie, who had been 
 examining the details of the living-room, 
 broke in upon this conversation. 
 
 " I 'm sure it will be as good as a perpet- 
 ual picnic. George Kearney says we can 
 have a cooking-stove under the tree outside 
 
DEVIDS FORD. 195 
 
 at the back, and as there will be no rain for 
 three months we can do the cooking there, 
 and that will give us more room for for 
 the piano when it comes ; and there 's an old 
 squaw to do the cleaning and washing-up 
 any day and and it will be real fun." 
 
 She stopped breathlessly, with glowing 
 cheeks and sparkling eyes a charming 
 picture of youth and trustfulness. Mr. 
 Carr had seized the opportunity to escape. 
 
 " Really, now, Christie," said Jessie confi- 
 dentially, when they were alone, and Christie 
 had begun to unpack her trunk, and to me- 
 chanically put her things away, " they 're 
 not so bad." 
 
 " Who? " asked Christie. 
 
 " Why, the Kearneys, and Mattinglys, 
 and Fairfax, and the lot, provided you don't 
 look at their clothes. And think of it ! they 
 told me for they tell one everything in the 
 most alarming way that those clothes were 
 bought to please us. A scramble of things 
 bought at La Grange, without reference to 
 size or style. And to hear these creatures 
 talk, why, you 'd think they were Astors or 
 
196 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 Rothschilds. Think of that little one with the 
 curls I don't believe he 's over seventeen, 
 for all his baby moustache says he 's go- 
 ing to build an assembly hall for us to give 
 a dance in. next month; and apologizes the 
 next breath to tell us that there is n't any 
 milk to be had nearer than La Grange, and 
 we must do without it, and use syrup in our 
 tea to-morrow." 
 
 " And where is all this wealth ? " said 
 Christie, forcing herself to smile at her sis- 
 ter's animation. 
 
 " Under our very feet, my child, and all 
 along the river. Why, what we thought was 
 pure and simple mud is what they call ' gold- 
 bearing cement.' ' 
 
 '" I suppose that is why they don't brush 
 their boots and trousers, it 's so precious," 
 returned Christie drily. " And have they 
 ever translated this precious dirt into actual 
 coin?" 
 
 " Bless you, yes. Why, that dirty little 
 gutter, you know, that ran along the side of 
 the road and followed us down the hill all 
 the way here, that cost them let me see 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 197 
 
 yes, nearly sixty thousand dollars. And 
 fancy ! papa 's just condemned it says it 
 won't do; and they've got to build another." 
 
 An impatient sigh from Christie drew 
 Jessie's attention to her troubled eyebrows. 
 
 " Don't worry about our disappointment, 
 dear. It is n't so very great. I dare say 
 we '11 be able to get along here in some way, 
 until papa is rich again. You know they in- 
 tend to make him share with them." 
 
 " It strikes me that he is sharing with 
 them already," said Christie, glancing bit- 
 terly round the cabin ; " sharing everything 
 ourselves, our lives, our tastes." 
 
 " Ye-e-s ! " said Jessie, with vaguely hesi- 
 tating assent. " Yes, even these : " she 
 showed two dice in the palm of her little 
 hand. " I found 'em in the drawer of our 
 dressing-table." 
 
 " Throw them away," said Christie im- 
 patiently. 
 
 But Jessie's small fingers closed over the 
 dice. " I '11 give them to the little Kearney. 
 I dare say they were the poor boy's play- 
 things." 
 
198 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 The appearance of these relics of wild 
 dissipation, however, had lifted Christie out 
 of her sublime resignation. " For Heaven's 
 sake, Jessie," she said, " look around and 
 see if there is anything more ! " 
 
 To make sure, they each began to scrim- 
 mage ; the broken-spirited Christie exhibit- 
 ing both alacrity and penetration in search- 
 ing obscure corners. In the dining-room, 
 behind the dresser, three or four books were 
 discovered : an odd volume of Thackeray, 
 another of Dickens, a memorandum-book or 
 diary. " This seems to be Latin," said Jes- 
 sie, fishing out a smaller book. "I can't 
 read it." 
 
 "It's just as well you shouldn't," said 
 Christie shortly, whose ideas of a general 
 classical impropriety had been gathered from 
 the pages of Lempriere's dictionary. " Put 
 it back directly." 
 
 Jessie returned certain odes of one Ho- 
 ratius Flaccus to the corner, and uttered an 
 exclamation. " Oh, Christie ! here are some 
 letters tied up with a ribbon." 
 
 They were two or three prettily written 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 199 
 
 letters, exhaling a faint odor of refinement 
 and of the pressed flowers that peeped from 
 between the loose leaves. " I see, ' My dar- 
 ling Fairfax.' It 's from some woman." 
 
 " I don't think much of her, whosoever 
 she is," said Christie, tossing the intact 
 packet back into the corner. 
 
 " Nor I," echoed Jessie. 
 
 Nevertheless, by some feminine inconsis- 
 tency, evidently the circumstance did make 
 them think more of him, for a minute later, 
 when they had reentered their own room, 
 Christie remarked, " The idea of petting a 
 man by his family name ! Think of mamma 
 ever having called papa ; darling Carr ' ! " 
 
 " Oh, but his family name is n't Fairfax," 
 said Jessie hastily ; " that 's his first name, 
 his Christian name. I forget what 's his 
 other name, but nobody ever calls him by 
 it." 
 
 " Do you mean," said Christie, with glis- 
 tening eyes and awful deliberation " do 
 you mean to say that we 're expected to fall 
 in with this insufferable familiarity ? I sup- 
 pose they '11 be calling us by our Christian 
 names next." 
 
200 DEVWS FORD, 
 
 " Oh, but they do ! " said Jessie, mis- 
 chievously. 
 
 " What ! " 
 
 " They call me Miss Jessie ; and Kearney, 
 the little one, asked me if Christie played." 
 
 " And what did you say ? " 
 
 " I said that you did," answered Jessie, 
 with an affectation of cherubic simplicity. 
 " You do, dear ; don't you ? . . . There, 
 don't get angry, darling ; I could n't flare 
 up all of a sudden in the face of that poor 
 little creature ; he looked so absurd and 
 so so honest." 
 
 Christie turned away, relapsing into her 
 old resigned manner, and assuming her 
 household duties in a quiet, temporizing way 
 that was, however, without hope or expecta- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Carr, who had dined with his friends 
 under the excuse of not adding to the awk- 
 wardness of the first day's housekeeping, re- 
 turned late at night with a mass of papers 
 and drawings, into which he afterwards with- 
 drew, but not until he had delivered himself 
 of a mysterious package entrusted to him by 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 201 
 
 the young men for his daughters. It con- 
 tained a contribution to their board in the 
 shape of a silver spoon and battered silver 
 mug, which Jessie chose to facetiously con- 
 sider as an affecting reminiscence of the 
 youthful Kearney's christening days which 
 it probably was. 
 
 The young girls retired early to their white 
 snowdrifts : Jessie not without some hilarious 
 struggles with hers, in which she was, how- 
 ever, quickly surprised by the deep and re- 
 freshing sleep of youth ; Christie to lie awake 
 and listen to the night wind, that had 
 changed from the first cool whispers of sun- 
 set to the sturdy breath of the mountain. 
 At times the frail house shook and trembled. 
 Wandering gusts laden with the deep re- 
 sinous odors of the wood found their way 
 through the imperfect jointure of the two 
 cabins, swept her cheek and even stirred her 
 long, wide-open lashes. A broken spray of 
 pine needles rustled along the roof, or a pine 
 cone dropped with a quick reverberating 
 tap-tap that for an instant startled her. 
 Lying thus, wide awake, she fell into a 
 
202 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 dreamy reminiscence of the past, hearing 
 snatches of old melody in the moving pines, 
 fragments of sentences, old words, and fa- 
 miliar epithets in the murmuring wind at 
 her ear, and even the faint breath of long- 
 forgotten kisses on her cheek. She remem- 
 bered her mother a pallid creature, who 
 had slowly faded out of one of her father's 
 vague speculations in a vaguer speculation 
 of her own, beyond his ken whose place 
 she had promised to take at her father's side. 
 The words, " Watch over him, Christie ; he 
 needs a woman's care," again echoed in her 
 ears, as if borne on the night wind from the 
 lonely grave in the lonelier cemetery by the 
 distant sea. She had devoted herself to him 
 with some little sacrifices of self, only remem- 
 bered now for their uselessness in saving her 
 father the disappointment that sprang from 
 his sanguine and one-idea'd temperament. 
 She thought of him lying asleep in the other 
 room, ready on the morrow to devote those 
 fateful qualities to the new enterprise, that 
 with equally fateful disposition she believed 
 would end in failure. It did not occur to 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 203 
 
 her that the doubts of her own practical na- 
 ture were almost as dangerous and illogical 
 as his enthusiasm, and that for that reason 
 she was fast losing what little influence she 
 possessed over him. With the example of 
 her mother's weakness before her eyes, she 
 had become an unsparing and distrustful 
 critic, with the sole effect of awakening his 
 distrust and withdrawing his confidence 
 from her. He was beginning to deceive her 
 as he had never deceived her mother. Even 
 Jessie knew more of this last enterprise than 
 she did herself. 
 
 All that did not tend to decrease her utter 
 restlessness. It was already past midnight 
 when she noticed that the wind had again 
 abated. The mountain breeze had by this 
 time possessed the stifling valleys and heated 
 bars of the river in its strong, cold em- 
 braces ; the equilibrium of Nature was re- 
 stored, and a shadowy mist rose from the 
 hollow. A stillness, more oppressive and 
 intolerable than the previous commotion, be- 
 gan to pervade the house and the surround- 
 ing woods. She could hear the regular 
 
204 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 breathing of the sleepers ; she even fancied 
 she could detect the faint pulses of the more 
 distant life in the settlement. The far-off 
 barking of a dog, a lost shout, the indistinct 
 murmur of some nearer watercourse mere 
 phantoms of sound made the silence more 
 irritating. With a sudden resolution she 
 arose, dressed herself quietly and completely, 
 threw a heavy cloak over her head and 
 shoulders, and opened the door between the 
 living-room and her own. Her father was 
 sleeping soundly in his bunk in the corner. 
 She passed noiselessly through the room, 
 opened the lightly fastened door, and stepped 
 out into the night. 
 
 In the irritation and disgust of her walk 
 hither, she had never noticed the situation 
 of the cabin, as it nestled on the slope at the 
 fringe of the woods ; in the preoccupation of 
 her disappointment and the mechanical put- 
 ting away of her things, she had never looked 
 once from the window of her room, or 
 glanced backward out of the door that she 
 had entered. The view before her was a 
 revelation a reproach, a surprise that took 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 205 
 
 away her breath. Over her shoulders the 
 newly risen moon poured a flood of silvery 
 light, stretching from her feet across the shin- 
 ing bars of the river to the opposite bank, 
 and on up to the very crest of the Devil's 
 Spur no longer a huge bulk of crushing 
 shadow, but the steady exaltation of plateau, 
 spur, and terrace clothed with replete and 
 unutterable beauty. In this magical light 
 that beauty seemed to be sustained and car- 
 ried along by the river winding at its base, 
 lifted again to the broad shoulder of the 
 mountain, and lost only in the distant vista 
 of death-like, overcrowning snow. Behind 
 and above where she stood the towering 
 woods seemed to be waiting with opened 
 ranks to absorb her with the little cabin she 
 had quitted, dwarfed into insignificance in 
 the vast prospect ; but nowhere was there 
 another sign or indication of human life and 
 habitation. She looked in vain for the set- 
 tlement, for the rugged ditches, the scattered 
 cabins, and the unsightly heaps of gravel. 
 In the glamour of the moonlight they had 
 vanished ; a veil of silver-gray vapor touched 
 
206 DEVI US FORD. 
 
 here and there with ebony shadows masked 
 its site. A black strip beyond was the river 
 bank. All else was changed. With a sud- 
 den sense of awe and loneliness she turned 
 to the cabin and its sleeping inmates all 
 that seemed left to her in the vast and stu- 
 pendous domination of rock and wood and 
 sky. 
 
 But in another moment the loneliness 
 passed. A new and delicious sense of an in- 
 finite hospitality and friendliness in their 
 silent presence began to possess her. This 
 same slighted, forgotten, uncompreheiided, 
 but still foolish and forgiving Nature seemed 
 to be bending over her frightened and listen- 
 ing ear with vague but thrilling murmurings 
 of freedom and independence. She felt her 
 heart expand with its wholesome breath, her 
 soul fill with its sustaining truth. She 
 felt 
 
 What was that? 
 
 An unmistakable outburst of a drunken 
 song at the foot of the slope : 
 
 " Oh, my name it is Johnny from Pike, 
 I 'm h 11 on a spree or a strike "... 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 207 
 
 She stopped as crimson with shame and 
 indignation as if the viewless singer had 
 risen before her. 
 
 " I knew when to bet, and get up and get " 
 
 " Hush ! D n it all. Don't you hear ? " 
 
 There was the sound of hurried whis- 
 pers, a " No " and " Yes," and then a dead 
 silence. 
 
 Christie crept nearer to the edge of the 
 slope in the shadow of a buckeye. In the 
 clearer view she could distinguish a stagger- 
 ing figure in the trail below who had evi- 
 dently been stopped by two other expostu- 
 lating shadows that were approaching from 
 the shelter of a tree. 
 
 "Sho! did n't know! " 
 
 The staggering figure endeavored to 
 straighten itself, and then slouched away in 
 the direction of the settlement. The two 
 mysterious shadows retreated again to the 
 tree, and were lost in its deeper shadow. 
 Christie darted back to the cabin, and softly 
 reentered her room. 
 
 " I thought I heard a noise that woke me, 
 
208 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 and I missed you," said Jessie, rubbing her 
 eyes. " Did you see anything ? " 
 
 " No," said Christie, beginning to un- 
 dress. 
 
 " You were n't frightened, dear ? " 
 " Not in the least," said Christie, with a 
 strange little laugh. *' Go to sleep." 
 
DEVWS FORD. 209 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE five impulsive millionaires of Devil's 
 Ford fulfilled not a few of their most extrav- 
 agant promises. In less than six weeks Mr. 
 Carr and his daughters were installed in a 
 new house, built near the site of the double 
 cabin, which was again transferred to the 
 settlement, in order to give greater seclusion 
 to the fair guests. It was a long, roomy, 
 one-storied villa, with a not unpicturesque 
 combination of deep veranda and trellis 
 work, which relieved the flat monotony of 
 the interior and the barrenness* of the 
 freshly-cleared ground. An upright piano, 
 brought from Sacramento, occupied the 
 corner of the parlor. A suite of gorgeous 
 furniture, whose pronounced and extravagant 
 glories the young girls instinctively hid un- 
 der home-made linen covers, had also been 
 spoils from afar. Elsewhere the house was 
 filled with ornaments and decorations that 
 
210 DEV1US FORD. 
 
 in their incongruity forcibly recalled the 
 gilded plate-glass mirrors of the bedroom in 
 the old cabin. In the hasty furnishing of 
 this Aladdin's palace, the slaves of the ring 
 had evidently seized upon anything that 
 would add to its glory, without reference al- 
 ways to fitness. 
 
 " I wish it did n't look so cussedly like a 
 robber's cave," said George Kearney, when 
 they were taking a quiet preliminary sur- 
 vey of the unclassified treasures, before the 
 Carrs took possession. 
 
 " Or a gambling hell," said his brother 
 reflectively. 
 
 " It 's about the same thing, I reckon," said 
 Dick Mattingly, who was supposed, in his fiery 
 youth, to have encountered the similarity. 
 
 Nevertheless, the two girls managed to 
 bestow the heterogeneous collection with 
 tasteful adaptation to their needs. A crystal 
 chandelier, which had once lent a fascinating 
 illusion to the game of Monte, hung un- 
 lighted in the broad hall, where a few other 
 bizarre and public articles were relegated. 
 A long red sofa or bench, which had done 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 211 
 
 duty beside a billiard-table found a place 
 here also. Indeed, it is to be feared 
 that some of the more rustic and bashful 
 youths of Devil's Ford, who had felt it in- 
 cumbent upon them to pay their respects to 
 the new-comers, were more at ease in this 
 vestibule than in the arcana beyond, whose 
 glories they could see through the open door. 
 To others, it represented a recognized state 
 of probation before their re-entree into civ- 
 ilization again. " I reckon, if you don't 
 mind, miss," said the spokesman of one 
 party, " ez this is our first call, we '11 sorter 
 hang out in the hall yer, until you 'r used to 
 us." On another occasion, one Whiskey 
 Dick, impelled by a sense of duty, paid a 
 visit to the new house and its fair occupants, 
 in a fashion frankly recounted by him after- 
 wards at the bar of the Tecumseh Saloon. 
 
 " You see, boys, I dropped in there the 
 other night, when some of you fellows was 
 doin' the high-toned ' thankee, marm ' busi- 
 ness in the parlor. I just came to anchor in 
 the corner of the sofy in the hall, without 
 lettin' on to say that I was there, and took 
 
212 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 up a Webster's dictionary that was on the 
 table and laid it open keerless like, on my 
 knees, ez if I was sorter consultin' it and 
 kinder dozed off there, listenin' to you fel- 
 lows gassin' with the young ladies, and that 
 yer Miss Christie just snakin' music outer 
 that pianner, and I reckon I fell asleep. 
 Anyhow, I was there nigh on to two hours. 
 It 's mighty soothin', them fashionable calls ; 
 sorter knocks the old camp dust outer a fel- 
 low, and sets him up again." 
 
 It would have been well if the new life of 
 the Devil's Ford had shown no other irregu- 
 larity than the harmless eccentricities of its 
 original locators. But the news of its sud- 
 den fortune, magnified by report, began pres- 
 ently to flood the settlement with another 
 class of adventurers. A tide of waifs, strays, 
 and malcontents of old camps along the river 
 began to set towards Devil's Ford, in very 
 much the same fashion as the debris, drift, 
 and alluvium had been carried down in by- 
 gone days and cast upon its banks. A few 
 immigrant wagons, diverted from the high- 
 ways of travel by- the fame of the new dig- 
 
DEVWS FORD. 213 
 
 gings, halted upon the slopes of Devil's Spur 
 and on the arid flats of the Ford, and dis- 
 gorged their sallow freight of alkali-poisoned, 
 prematurely-aged women and children and 
 maimed and fever-stricken men. Against 
 this rude form of domesticity were opposed 
 the chromo-tinted dresses and extravagant 
 complexions of a few single unattended 
 women happily seen more often at night 
 and behind gilded bars than in the garish 
 light of day and an equal number of 
 pale-faced, dark-moustached, well-dressed, 
 and suspiciously idle men. A dozen rivals 
 of Thompson's Saloon had sprung up along 
 the narrow main street. There were two 
 new hotels one a " Temperance House," 
 whose ascetic quality was confined only to 
 the abnegation of whiskey a rival stage 
 office, and a small one-storied building, 
 from which the " Sierran Banner " fluttered 
 weekly, for " ten dollars a year, in advance." 
 Insufferable in the glare of a; Sabbath sun, 
 bleak, windy, and flaring in the gloom of a 
 Sabbath night, and hopelessly depressing on 
 all days of the week, the First Presbyterian 
 
214 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 Church lifted its blunt steeple from the bar- 
 renest area of the flats, and was hideous ! 
 The civic improvements so enthusiastically 
 contemplated by the five millionaires in the 
 earlier pages of this veracious chronicle 
 the fountain, reservoir, town-hall, and free 
 library had not yet been erected. Their 
 sites had been anticipated by more urgent 
 buildings and mining works, unfortunately 
 not considered in the sanguine dreams of 
 the enthusiasts, and, more significant still, 
 their cost and expense had been also antici- 
 pated by the enormous outlay of their earn- 
 ings in the work upon Devil's Ditch. 
 
 Nevertheless, the liberal fulfilment of 
 their promise in the new house in the sub- 
 urbs blinded the young girls' eyes to their 
 shortcomings in the town. Their own re- 
 moteness and elevation above its feverish 
 life kept them from the knowledge of much 
 that was strange, and perhaps disturbing to 
 their equanimity. As they did not mix with 
 the immigrant women Miss Jessie's good- 
 natured intrusion into one of their half- 
 nomadic camps one day having been met with 
 
DEVWS FORD. 215 
 
 rudeness and suspicion they gradually fell 
 into the way of trusting the responsibility 
 of new acquaintances to the hands of their 
 original hosts, and of consulting them in the 
 matter of local recreation. It thus occurred 
 that one day the two girls, on their way to 
 the main street for an hour's shopping at 
 the Ville de Paris and Variety Store, were 
 stopped by Dick Mattingly a few yards from 
 their house, with the remark that, as the 
 county election was then in progress, it 
 would be advisable for them to defer their 
 intention for a few hours. As he did not 
 deem it necessary to add that two citizens, 
 in the exercise of a freeman's franchise, had 
 been supplementing their ballots with bul- 
 lets, in front of an admiring crowd, they 
 knew nothing of the accident that removed 
 from Devil's Ford an entertaining stranger, 
 who had only the night before partaken of 
 their- hospitality. 
 
 A week or two later, returning one morn- 
 ing from a stroll in the forest, Christie and 
 Jessie were waylaid by George Kearney and 
 Fairfax, and, under pretext of being shown 
 
216 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 a new and romantic trail, were diverted from 
 the regular path. This enabled Mattingly 
 and Maryland Joe to cut down the body of 
 a man hanged by the Vigilance Committee a 
 few hours before on the regular trail, and to 
 remonstrate with the committee on the in- 
 compatibility of such exhibitions with a 
 maidenly worship of nature. 
 
 " With the whole county to hang a man 
 in," expostulated Joe, "you might keep 
 clear of Carr's woods." 
 
 It is needless to add that the young girls 
 never knew of this act of violence, or the 
 delicacy that kept them in ignorance of it. 
 Mr. Carr was too absorbed in business to 
 give heed to what he looked upon as a con- 
 vulsion of society as natural as a geological 
 upheaval, and too prudent to provoke the 
 criticism of his daughters by comment in 
 their presence. 
 
 An equally unexpected confidence, how- 
 ever, took its place. Mr. Carr having fin- 
 ished his coffee one morning, lingered a mo- 
 ment over his perfunctory paternal embraces, 
 with the awkwardness of a preoccupied man 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 217 
 
 endeavoring by the assumption of a lighter 
 interest to veil another abstraction. 
 
 "And what are we doing to-day, Chris- 
 tie ? " he asked, as Jessie left the dining- 
 room. 
 
 " Oh, pretty much the usual thing noth- 
 ing in particular. If George Kearney gets 
 the horses from the summit, we 're going to 
 ride over to Indian Spring to picnic. Fair- 
 fax Mr. Munroe I always forget that 
 man's real name in this dreadfully familiar 
 country well, he 's coming to escort us, 
 and take me, I suppose that is, if Kear- 
 ney takes Jessie." 
 
 " A very nice arrangement," returned her 
 father, with a slight nervous contraction of 
 the corners of his mouth and eyelids to indi- 
 cate mischievousness. " I 've no doubt they '11 
 both be here. You know they usually are 
 ha ! ha ! And what about the two Mat- 
 tinglys and Philip Kearney, eh? "he con- 
 tinued ; " won't they be jealous ? " 
 
 " It is n't their turn," said Christie care- 
 lessly ; " besides, they '11 probably be there." 
 " And I suppose they 're beginning to be 
 resigned," said Carr, smiling. 
 
218 DEVIDS FORD. 
 
 " What on earth are you talking of, fa- 
 ther?" 
 
 She turned her clear brown eyes upon 
 him, and was regarding him with such man- 
 ifest unconsciousness of the drift of his 
 speech, and, withal, a little vague impatience 
 of his archness, that Mr. Carr was feebly 
 alarmed. It had the effect of banishing his 
 assumed playfulness, which made his serious 
 explanation the more irritating. 
 
 " Well, I rather thought that that young 
 Kearney was paying considerable attention 
 to to to Jessie," replied her father, with 
 hesitating gravity. 
 
 "What! that boy?" 
 
 " Young Kearney is one of the original 
 locators, and an equal partner in the mine. 
 A very enterprising young fellow. In fact, 
 much more advanced and bolder in his con- 
 ceptions than the others. I find no difficulty 
 with him." 
 
 At another time Christie would have ques- 
 tioned the convincing quality of this proof, 
 but she was too much shocked at her fa- 
 ther's first suggestion, to think of anything 
 else. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 219 
 
 u You don't mean to say, father, that you 
 are talking seriously of these men your 
 friends whom we see every day and our 
 only company ? " 
 
 " No, no ! " said Mr. Carr hastily ; " you 
 misunderstand. I don't suppose that Jessie 
 or you " 
 
 " Or me ! Am / included ? " 
 
 "You don't let me speak, Christie. I 
 mean, I am not talking seriously," continued 
 Mr. Carr, with his most serious aspect, " of 
 you and Jessie in this matter ; but it may 
 be a serious thing to these young men to be 
 thrown continually in the company of two 
 attractive girls." 
 
 " I understand you mean that we should 
 not see so much of them," said Christie, with 
 a frank expression of relief so genuine as to 
 utterly discompose her father. "Perhaps 
 you are right, though I fail to discover any- 
 thing serious in the attentions of young 
 Kearney to Jessie or ; whoever it may 
 be to me. But it will be very easy to 
 remedy it, and see less of them. Indeed, we 
 might begin to-day with some excuse." , 
 
220 DEVIVS FORD. 
 
 " Yes certainly. Of course ! " said Mr. 
 Carr, fully convinced of his utter failure, but, 
 like most weak creatures, consoling himself 
 with the reflection that he had not shown his 
 hand or committed himself. " Yes ; but it 
 would perhaps be just as well for the present 
 to let things go on as they were. We '11 talk 
 of it again I 'm in a hurry now," and, 
 edging Himself through the door, he slipped 
 away. 
 
 " What do you think is father's last idea? " 
 said Christie, with, I fear, a slight lack of 
 reverence in her tone, as her sister reentered 
 the room. " He thinks George Kearney is 
 paying you too much attention." 
 
 " No ! " said Jessie, replying to her sister's 
 half -interrogative, half -amused glance with a 
 frank, unconscious smile. 
 
 " Yes, and he says that Fairfax I think 
 it 's Fairfax is equally fascinated with 
 me: 9 
 
 Jessie's brow slightly contracted as she 
 looked curiously at her sister. 
 
 " Of all things," she said, " I wonder if 
 any one has put that idea into his dear 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 221 
 
 old head. He could n't have thought it him- 
 self." 
 
 " I don't know," said Christie musingly ; 
 " but perhaps it 's just as well if we kept a 
 little more to ourselves for a while." 
 
 " Did father say so ? " said Jessie quickly. 
 
 "No, but that is evidently what he 
 meant." 
 
 " Ye-es," said Jessie slowly, " unless " 
 
 "Unless what?" said Christie sharply. 
 "Jessie, you don't for a moment mean to 
 say that you could possibly conceive of any- 
 thing else ? " 
 
 " I mean to say," said Jessie, stealing her 
 arm around her sister's waist demurely, 
 " that you are perfectly right. We '11 keep 
 away from these fascinating Devil's Forders, 
 and particularly the youngest Kearney. I 
 believe there has been some ill-natured gos- 
 sip. I remember that the other day, when 
 we passed the shanty of that Pike County 
 family on the slope, there were three women 
 at the door, and one of them said something 
 that made poor little Kearney turn white and 
 pink alternately, and dance with suppressed 
 
222 DEVW8 FORD. 
 
 rage. I suppose the old lady M'Corkle, 
 that 's her name would like to have a 
 share of our cavaliers for her Euphemy and 
 Mamie. I dare say it 's only right ; I would 
 lend them the cherub occasionally, and you 
 might let them have Mr. Munroe twice a 
 week." 
 
 She laughed, but her eyes sought her 
 sister's with a certain watchfulness of ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Christie shrugged her shoulders, with a 
 suggestion of disgust. 
 
 " Don't joke. We ought to have thought 
 of all this before." 
 
 " But when we first knew them, in the 
 dear old cabin, there was n't any other 
 woman and nobody to gossip, and that 's 
 what made it so nice. I don't think so 
 very much of civilization, do you? " said the 
 young lady pertly. 
 
 Christie did not reply. Perhaps she was 
 thinking the same thing. It certainly had 
 been very pleasant to enjoy the spontaneous 
 and chivalrous homage of these men, with no 
 further suggestion of recompense or responsi- 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 223 
 
 bility than the permission to be worshipped ; 
 but beyond that she racked her brain in vain 
 to recall any look or act that proclaimed 
 the lover. These men, whom she had found 
 so relapsed into barbarism that they had for- 
 gotten the most ordinary forms of civiliza- 
 tion ; these men, even in whose extravagant 
 admiration there was a certain loss of self- 
 respect, that as a woman she would never 
 forgive ; these men, who seemed to belong to 
 another race impossible! Yet it was so. 
 
 " What construction must they have put 
 upon her father's acceptance of their presents 
 of their company of her freedom in 
 their presence ? No ! they must have under- 
 stood from the beginning that she and her 
 sister had never looked upon them except 
 as transient hosts and chance acquaintances. 
 Any other idea was preposterous. And 
 yet" 
 
 It was the recurrence of this " yet " that 
 alarmed her. For she remembered now that 
 but for their slavish devotion they might 
 claim to be her equal. According to her fa- 
 ther's account, they had come from homes as 
 
224 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 good as their own ; they were certainly more 
 than her equal in fortune ; and her father 
 had come to them as an employe, until they 
 had taken him into partnership. If there 
 had only been sentiment of any kind con- 
 nected with any of them ! But they were all 
 alike, brave, unselfish, humorous and often 
 ridiculous. If anything, Dick Mattingly 
 was funniest by nature, and made her laugh 
 more. Maryland Joe, his brother, told better 
 stories (sometimes of Dick), though not so 
 good a mimic as the other Kearney, who 
 had a fairly sympathetic voice in singing. 
 They were all good-looking enough ; perhaps 
 they set store on that men are so vain ! 
 
 And as for her own rejected suitor, Fair- 
 fax Munroe, except for a kind of grave and 
 proper motherliness about his protecting 
 manner, he absolutely was the most indistinc- 
 tive of them all. He had once brought her 
 some rare tea from the Chinese camp, and 
 had taught her how to make it ; he had cau- 
 tioned her against sitting under the trees at 
 nightfall ; he had once taken off his coat to 
 wrap around her. Really, if this were the 
 
DEVWS FORD. 225 
 
 only evidence of devotion that could be 
 shown, she was safe ! 
 
 " Well," said Jessie, " it amuses you, I 
 see." 
 
 Christie checked the smile that had been 
 dimpling the cheek nearest Jessie, and 
 turned upon her the face of an elder sister. 
 
 " Tell me, have you noticed this extraor- 
 dinary attention of Mr. Munroe to me ? " 
 
 "Candidly?" asked Jessie, seating her- 
 self comfortably on the table sideways, and 
 endeavoring to pull her skirt over her little 
 feet. " Honest Injun ? " 
 
 " Don't be idiotic, and, above all, don't be 
 slangy ! Of course, candidly." 
 
 " Well, no. I can't say that I have." 
 
 " Then," said Christie, " why in the name 
 of all that 's preposterous, do they persist in 
 pairing me off with the least interesting man 
 of the lot?" 
 
 Jessie leaped from the table. 
 
 " Come now," she said, with a little ner- 
 vous laugh, " he 's not so bad as all that. 
 You don't know him. But what does it mat- 
 ter now, as long as we 're not going to see 
 them any more ? " 
 
226 DEVIL* 3 FORD. 
 
 " They 're coining here for the ride to- 
 day," said Christie resignedly. "Father 
 thought it better not to break it off at 
 once." 
 
 " Father thought so ! " echoed Jessie, stop- 
 ping, with her hand on the door. 
 
 " Yes ; why do you ask ? " 
 
 But Jessie had already left the room, and 
 was singing in the halL 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 227 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE afternoon did not, however, bring 
 their expected visitors. It brought, instead, 
 a brief note by the hands of Whiskey Dick 
 from Fairfax, apologizing for some business 
 that kept him and George Kearney from ac- 
 companying the ladies. It added that the 
 horses were at the disposal of themselves and 
 any escort they might select, if they would 
 kindly give the message to Whiskey Dick. 
 
 The two girls looked at each other awk- 
 wardly ; Jessie did not attempt to conceal a 
 slight pout. 
 
 " It looks as if they were anticipating us," 
 she said, with a half-forced smile. " I won- 
 der, now, if there really has been any gos- 
 sip ? But no ! They would n't have stopped 
 for that, unless " She looked curiously at 
 her sister. 
 
 " Unless what ? " repeated Christie ; " you 
 are horribly mysterious this morning." 
 
228 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " Am I ? It 's nothing. But they 're 
 wanting an answer. Of course you '11 de- 
 cline." 
 
 "And intimate we only care for their 
 company ! No ! We '11 say we 're sorry 
 they can't come, and accept their horses. 
 We can do without an escort, we two." 
 
 " Capital ! " said Jessie, clapping her 
 hands. " We '11 show them " 
 
 " We '11 show them nothing," interrupted 
 Christie decidedly. "In our place there's 
 only the one thing to do. Where is this 
 -Whiskey Dick?" 
 
 " In the parlor." 
 
 " The parlor ! " echoed Christie. " Whis- 
 key Dick ? What is he " - 
 
 " Yes ; he 's all right," said Jessie confi- 
 dently. " He 's been here before, but he 
 stayed in the hall ; he was so shy. I don't 
 think you saw him." 
 
 " I should think not Whiskey Dick ! " 
 
 " Oh, you can call him Mr. Hall, if you 
 like," said Jessie, laughing. " His real 
 name is Dick Hall. If you want to be 
 funny, you can say Alky Hall, as the others 
 do." 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 229 
 
 Christie's only reply to this levity was a 
 look of superior resignation as she crossed 
 the hall and entered the parlor. 
 
 Then ensued one of those surprising, mys- 
 tifying, and utterly inexplicable changes that 
 leave the masculine being so helpless in the 
 hands of his feminine master. Before 
 Christie opened the door her face underwent 
 a rapid transformation : the gentle glow of a 
 refined woman's welcome suddenly beamed 
 in her interested eyes ; the impulsive cour- 
 tesy of an expectant hostess eagerly seizing 
 a long-looked-for opportunity broke in a 
 smile upon her lips as she swept across the 
 room, and stopped with her two white out- 
 stretched hands before Whiskey Dick. 
 
 It needed only the extravagant contrast 
 presented by that gentleman to complete the 
 tableau. Attired in a suit of shining black 
 alpaca, the visitor had evidently prepared 
 himself with some care for a possible inter- 
 view. He was seated by the French window 
 opening upon the veranda, as if to secure a 
 retreat in case of an emergency. Scrupu- 
 lously washed and shaven, some of the soap 
 
230 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 appeared to have lingered in his eyes and in- 
 flamed the lids, even while it lent a sleek 
 and shining lustre, not unlike his coat, to his 
 smooth black hair. Nevertheless, leaning 
 back in his chair, he had allowed a large 
 white handkerchief to depend gracefully 
 from his fingers a pose at once suggesting 
 easy and elegant languor. 
 
 " How kind of you to give me an oppor- 
 tunity to make up for my misfortune when 
 you last called! I was so sorry to have 
 missed you. But it was entirely my fault ! 
 You were hurried, I think you conversed 
 with others in the hall you " 
 
 She stopped to assist him to pick up the 
 handkerchief that had fallen, and the Pan- 
 ama hat that had rolled from his lap towards 
 the window when he had started suddenly 
 to his feet at the apparition of grace and 
 beauty. As he still nervously retained the 
 two hands he had grasped, this would have 
 been a difficult feat, even had he not en- 
 deavored at the same moment, by a back- 
 ward furtive kick, to propel the hat out of 
 the window, at which she laughingly broke 
 from his grasp and flew to the rescue. 
 
DEVWS FORD. 231 
 
 " Don't mind it, miss," he said hurriedly. 
 44 It is not worth your demeaning yourself 
 to touch it. Leave it outside thar, miss. I 
 would n't have toted it in, anyhow, if some 
 of those high f alutin' fellows had n't allowed, 
 the other night, ez it were the reg'lar thing 
 to do ; as if, miss, any gentleman kalkilated 
 to ever put on his hat in the house afore a 
 lady ! " 
 
 But Christie had already possessed her- 
 self of the unlucky object, and had placed it 
 upon the table. This compelled Whiskey 
 Dick to rise again, and as an act of careless 
 good breeding to drop his handkerchief in 
 it. He then leaned one elbow upon the 
 piano, and, crossing one foot over the other, 
 remained standing in an attitude he remem- 
 bered to have seen in the pages of an illus- 
 trated paper as portraying the hero in some 
 drawing-room scene. It was easy and effec- 
 tive, but seemed to be more favorable to 
 revery than conversation. Indeed, he re- 
 membered that he had forgotten to consult 
 the letterpress as to which it represented. 
 
 " I see you agree with me, that politeness 
 
232 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 is quite a matter of intention," said Christie, 
 " and not of mere fashion and rules. Now, 
 for instance," she continued, with a dazzling 
 smile, " I suppose, according to the rules, 
 I ought to give you a note to Mr. Munroe, 
 accepting his offer. That is all that is re- 
 quired ; but it seems so much nicer, don't 
 you think, to tell it to you for him, and 
 have the pleasure of your company and a 
 little chat at the same time,." 
 
 " That 's it, that 's just it, Miss Carr ; 
 you 've hit it in the centre this time," said 
 Whiskey Dick, now quite convinced that 
 his attitude was not intended for eloquence, 
 and shifting back to his own seat, hat and 
 all ; " that 's tantamount to what I said to 
 the boys just now. 'You want an excuse,' 
 sez I, ' for not goin' out with the young 
 ladies. So, accorden' to rules, you writes a 
 letter allowin' buzziness and that sorter 
 thing detains you. But wot 's the facts ? 
 You 're a gentleman, and as gentlemen you 
 and George comes to the opinion that you 're 
 rather playin' it for all it 's worth in this yer 
 house, you know comin' here night and 
 
DEVWS FORD. 233 
 
 day, off and on, reg'lar sociable and fam'ly 
 like, and makin' people talk about things 
 they ain't any call to talk about, and, what 's 
 a darned sight more, you fellows ain't got 
 any right yet to allow 'em to talk about, 
 d' ye see ? " He paused, out of breath. 
 
 It was Miss Christie's turn to move about. 
 In changing her seat to the piano-stool, so 
 as to be nearer her visitor, she brushed 
 down some loose music, which Whiskey 
 Dick hastened to pick up. 
 
 "Pray don't mind it," she said, "pray 
 don't, really let it be " But Whiskey 
 Dick, feeling himself on safe ground in this 
 attention, persisted to the bitter end of a 
 disintegrated and well-worn " Trovatore." 
 " So that is what Mr. Munroe said," she 
 remarked quietly. 
 
 " Not just then, in course, but it 's what 's 
 bin on his mind and in his talk for days off 
 and on," returned Dick, with a knowing 
 smile and a nod of mysterious confidence. 
 " Bless your soul, Miss Carr, folks like you 
 and me don't need to have them things ex- 
 plained. That 's what I said to him, sez L 
 
234 DEVW8 FORD. 
 
 * Don't send no note, but just go up there 
 and hev it out fair and square, and say what 
 you do mean.' But they would hev the 
 note, and I kalkilated to bring it. But when 
 I set my eyes on you, and heard you ex- 
 press yourself as you did just now, I sez to 
 myself, sez I, 4 Dick, yer 's a young lady, and 
 a f ash'nable lady at that, ez don't go foolin' 
 round on rules and etiketts ' excuse my 
 freedom, Miss Carr 4 and you and her,' 
 sez I, ' kin just discuss this yer matter in a 
 sociable, off-hand, fash'nable way.' They 're 
 a good lot o' boys, Miss Carr, a square lot 
 white men all of 'em ; but they 're a little 
 soft and green, may be, from livin' in these 
 yer pine woods along o' the other sap. They 
 just worship the ground you and your sister 
 tread on certain ! of course ! of course ! " 
 he added hurriedly, recognizing Christie's 
 half -conscious, deprecating gesture with more 
 exaggerated deprecation. "I understand. 
 But what I wanter say is that they 'd be 
 willin' to be that ground, and lie down and 
 let you walk over them so to speak, Miss 
 Carr, so to speak if it would keep the hem 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 235 
 
 of your gown from gettin' soiled in the mud 
 o' the camp. But it would n't do for them 
 to make a reg'lar curderoy road o' them- 
 selves for the huol camp to trapse over, on 
 the mere chance of your some time passin' 
 that way, would it now ? " 
 
 " Won't you let me offer you some re- 
 freshment, Mr. Hall ? " said Christie, rising, 
 with a slight color. " I 'm really ashamed 
 of my forgetfulness again, but I 'm afraid 
 it 's partly your fault for entertaining me to 
 the exclusion of yourself. No, thank you, 
 let me fetch it for you." 
 
 She turned to a handsome sideboard near 
 the door, and presently faced him again with 
 a decanter of whiskey and a glass in her 
 hand, and a return of the bewitching smile 
 she had worn on entering. 
 
 " But perhaps you don't take whiskey ? " 
 suggested the arch deceiver, with a sudden 
 affected but pretty perplexity of eye, brow, 
 and lips. 
 
 For the first time in his life Whiskey 
 Dick hesitated between two forms of in- 
 toxication. But he was still nervous and 
 
236 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 uneasy ; habit triumphed, and he took the 
 whiskey. He, however, wiped his lips with 
 a slight wave of his handkerchief, to support 
 a certain easy elegance which he firmly be- 
 lieved relieved the act of any vulgar quality. 
 " Yes, ma'am," he continued, after an ex- 
 hilarated pause. " Ez I said afore, this yer 's 
 a matter you and me kin discuss after the 
 fashion o' society. My idea is that these 
 yer boys should kinder let up on you and 
 Miss Jessie for a while, and do a little more 
 permiskus attention round the Ford. There 's 
 one or two families yer with grown-up gals 
 ez oughter be squared ; that is the boys 
 mighter put in a few fancy touches among 
 them kinder take 'em buggy riding 
 or to church once in a while just to 
 take the pizen outer their tongues, and make 
 a kind o' bluff to the parents, d 'ye see ? 
 That would sorter divert their own minds ; 
 and even if it did n't, it would kinder get 
 'em accustomed agin to the old style and 
 their own kind. I want to warn ye agin an 
 idea that might occur to you in a giniral 
 way. I don't say you hev the idea, but it 's 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 237 
 
 kind o' nat'ral you might be thinkin' of it 
 some time, and I thought I 'd warn you 
 agin it." 
 
 "I think we understand each other too 
 well to differ much, Mr. Hall," said Christie, 
 still smiling ; " but what is the idea ? " 
 
 The delicate compliment to their confi- 
 dential relations and the slight stimulus of 
 liquor had tremulously exalted Whiskey 
 Dick. Affecting to look cautiously out of 
 the window and around the room, he ven- 
 tured to draw nearer the young woman with 
 a half-paternal, half -timid familiarity. 
 
 " It might have occurred to you," he said, 
 laying his hand lightly, holding his hand- 
 kerchief as if to veil mere vulgar contact, 
 on Christie's shoulder, " that it would be a 
 good thing on your side to invite down some 
 of your high-toned gentlemen friends from 
 'Frisco to visit you and escort you round. 
 It seems quite nat'ral like, and I don't say 
 it ain't, but the boys would n't stand it." 
 
 In spite of her self-possession, Christie's 
 eyes suddenly darkened, and she involun- 
 tarily drew herself up. But Whiskey Dick, 
 
238 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 guiltily attributing the movement to his own 
 indiscreet gesture, said, " Excuse me, miss," 
 recovered himself by lightly dusting her 
 shoulder with his handkerchief, as if to re- 
 move the impression, and her smile returned. 
 
 "They wouldn't stand it," said Dick, 
 " and there 'd be some shooting ! Not afore 
 you, miss not afore you, in course ! But 
 they 'd adjourn to the woods some morning 
 with them city folks, and hev it out with 
 rifles at a hundred yards. Or, seein' ez 
 they 're city folks, the boys would do the 
 square thing with pistols at twelve paces. 
 They 're good boys, as I said afore ; but 
 they 're quick and tetchy George, being 
 the youngest, nat' rally is the tetchiest. You 
 know how it is, Miss Carr ; his pretty, gal- 
 like face and little moustaches haz cost him 
 half a dozen scrimmages already. He 'z had 
 a fight for every hair that 's growed in his 
 moustache since he kem here." 
 
 " Say no more, Mr. Hall ! " said Christie, 
 rising and pressing her hands lightly on 
 Dick's tremulous fingers. " If I ever had 
 any such idea, I should abandon it now; 
 
DEVWS FORD. 239 
 
 you are quite right in this as in your other 
 opinions. I shall never cease to be thank- 
 ful to Mr. Munroe and Mr. Kearney that 
 they intrusted this delicate matter to your 
 hands." 
 
 " Well," said the gratified and reddening 
 visitor, " it ain't perhaps the square thing 
 to them or myself to say that they reckoned 
 to have me discuss their delicate affairs for 
 them, but " 
 
 " I understand," interrupted Christie. 
 44 They simply gave you the letter as a friend. 
 It was my good fortune to find you a sym- 
 pathizing and liberal man of the \vorhL" 
 The delighted Dick, with conscious vanity 
 beaming from every feature of his shining 
 face, lightly waved the compliment aside 
 with his handkerchief, as she continued, 
 "But I am forgetting the message. We 
 accept the horses. Of course we could do 
 without an escort ; but, forgive my speak- 
 ing so frankly, are you engaged this after- 
 noon ? " 
 
 " Excuse me, miss, I don't take '* stam- 
 mered Dick, scarcely believing his ears. 
 
240 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " Could you give us your company as an 
 escort ? " repeated Christie, with a smile. 
 
 Was he awake or dreaming, or was this 
 some trick of liquor in his often distorted 
 fancy? He, Whiskey Dick! the butt of 
 his friends, the chartered oracle of the bar- 
 rooms, even in whose wretched vanity there 
 was always the haunting suspicion that he 
 was despised and scorned ; he, who had 
 dared so much in speech, and achieved so 
 little in fact! he, whose habitual weakness 
 had even led him into the wildest indiscre- 
 tion here ; he now offered a reward for 
 that indiscretion ! He, Whiskey Dick, the 
 solicited escort of these two beautiful and 
 peerless girls ! What would they say at the 
 Ford ? What would his friends think ? It 
 would be all over the Ford the next day. 
 His past would be vindicated, his future se- 
 cured. He grew erect at the thought. It 
 was almost in other voice, and with no trace 
 of his previous exaggeration, that he said, 
 " With pleasure." 
 
 " Then, if you will bring the horses at 
 once, we shall be ready when you return." 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 241 
 
 In another instant he had vanished, as if 
 afraid to trust the reality of his good fortune 
 to the dangers of delay. At the end of half 
 an hour he reappeared, leading the two 
 horses, himself mounted on a half-broken 
 mustang. A pair of large, jingling silver 
 spurs and a stiff sombrero, borrowed with 
 the mustang from some mysterious source, 
 were donned to do honor to the occasion. 
 
 The young girls were not yet ready, but 
 he was shown by the Chinese servant into 
 the parlor to wait for them. The decanter 
 of whiskey and glasses were still invitingly 
 there. He was hot, trembling, and flushed 
 with triumph. He walked to the table and 
 laid his hand on the decanter, when an odd 
 thought flashed upon him. He would not 
 drink this time. No, it should not be said 
 that he, the selected escort of the elite of 
 Devil's Ford, had to fill himself up with 
 whiskey before they started. The boys 
 might turn to each other in their astonish- 
 ment, as he proudly passed with his fair 
 companions, and say, " It 's Whiskey Dick," 
 but he'd be d d if they should add, 
 
242 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 " and full as ever." No, sir ! Nor when he 
 was riding beside these real ladies, and lean- 
 ing over them at some confidential moment, 
 should they even know it from his breath ! 
 No. . . . Yet a thimbleful, taken straight, 
 only a thimbleful, wouldn't be much, and 
 might help to pull him together. He again 
 reached his trembling hand for the decanter, 
 hesitated, and then, turning his back upon it, 
 resolutely walked to the open window. Al- 
 most at the same instant he found himself 
 face to face with Christie on the veranda. 
 
 She looked into his bloodshot eyes, and 
 cast a swift glance at the decanter. 
 
 "Won't you take something before you 
 go?" she said sweetly. 
 
 "I reckon not, jest now," stammered 
 Whiskey Dick, with a heroic effort. 
 
 " You 're right," said Christie. " I see 
 you are like me. It 's too hot for anything 
 fiery. Come with me." 
 
 She led him to the dining-room, and pour- 
 ing out a glass of iced tea handed it to him. 
 Poor Dick was not prepared for this terrible 
 culmination. Whiskey Dick and iced tea ! 
 
DEVWS FORD. 243 
 
 But under pretence of seeing if it was prop- 
 erly flavored, Christie raised it to her own 
 lips. 
 
 " Try it, to please me." 
 
 He drained the goblet. 
 
 " Now, then," said Christie gayly, " let 's 
 find Jessie, and be off ! " 
 
244 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHATEVER might have been his other 
 deficiencies as an escort, Whiskey Dick was 
 a good horseman, and, in spite of his frac- 
 tious brute, exhibited such skill and confi- 
 dence as to at once satisfy the young girls of 
 his value to them in the management of their 
 own horses, to whom side-saddles were still 
 an alarming novelty. Jessie, who had prob- 
 ably already learned from her sister the pur- 
 port of Dick's confidences, had received him 
 with equal cordiality and perhaps a more un- 
 qualified amusement ; and now, when fairly 
 lifted into the saddle by his tremulous but 
 respectful hands, made a very charming pic- 
 ture of youthful and rosy satisfaction. And 
 when Christie, more fascinating than ever in 
 her riding-habit, took her place on the other 
 side of Dick, as they sallied from the gate, 
 that gentleman felt his cup of happiness 
 complete. His triumphal entree into the 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 245 
 
 world of civilization and fashion was secure. 
 He did not regret the untasted liquor ; here 
 was an experience in after years to lean his 
 back against comfortably in bar-rooms, to 
 entrance or defy mankind. He had even got 
 so far as to formulate in fancy the sentence : 
 " I remember, gentlemen, that one after- 
 noon, being on a pasear with two fash'nable 
 young ladies," etc., etc. 
 
 At present, however, he was obliged to 
 confine himself to the functions of an elegant 
 guide and cicerone when not engaged in 
 " having it out " with his horse. Their way 
 lay along the slope, crossing the high-road at 
 right angles, to reach the deeper woods be- 
 yond. Dick would have lingered on the 
 highway ostensibly to point out to his 
 companions the new flume that had taken 
 the place of the condemned ditch, but really 
 in the hope of exposing himself in his glory 
 to the curious eyes of the wayfaring world. 
 Unhappily the road was deserted in the still 
 powerful sunlight, and he was obliged to seek 
 the cover of the woods, with a passing com- 
 pliment to the parent of his charges. Wav- 
 
246 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 ing his hand towards the flume, he said, 
 " Look at that work of your father's ; there 
 ain't no other man in Californy but Philip 
 Carr ez would hev the grit to hold up such a 
 bluff agin natur and agin luck ez that yer 
 flume stands for. I don't say it 'cause you 're 
 his daughters, ladies ! That ain't the style, 
 ez you know, in sassiety, Miss Carr," he 
 added, turning to Christie as the more so- 
 cially experienced. " No ! but there ain't 
 another man to be found ez could do it. It 
 cost already two hundred thousand ; it '11 cost 
 five hundred thousand afore it 's done ; and 
 every cent of it is got out of the yearth be- 
 neath it, or hez got to be out of it. 'Tain't 
 ev'ry man, Miss Carr, ez hev got the pluck 
 to pledge not only what he 's got, but what 
 he reckons to git." 
 
 " But suppose he don't get it ? " said 
 Christie, slightly contracting her brows. 
 
 " Then there 's the flume to show for it," 
 said Dick. 
 
 " But of what use is the flume, if there 
 is n't any more gold ? " continued Christie, 
 almost angrily. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 247 
 
 " That 's good from you, miss," said Dick, 
 giving way to a fit of hilarity. " That 's 
 good for a fash'nable young lady own 
 daughter of Philip Carr. She sez, says 
 she," continued Dick, appealing to the se- 
 date pines for appreciation of Christie's rare 
 humor, " 4 Wot 's the use of a flume, when 
 gold ain't there ? ' I must tell that to the 
 boys." 
 
 " And what 's the use of the gold in the 
 ground when the flume is n't there to work 
 it out ? " said Jessie to her sister, with a cau- 
 tioning glance towards Dick. 
 
 But Dick did not notice the look that 
 passed between the sisters. The richer hu- 
 mor of Jessie's retort had thrown him into 
 convulsions of laughter. 
 
 " And now she says, wot 's the use o' the 
 gold without the flume ? 'Xcuse me, ladies, 
 but that 's just puttin' the hull question 
 that 's agitatin' this yer camp inter two 
 speeches as clear as crystal. There 's the 
 hull crowd outside and some on 'em inside, 
 like Fairfax, hez their doubts ez says with 
 Miss Christie ; and there 's all of us inside, 
 ez holds Miss Jessie's views." 
 
248 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " I never heard Mr. Munroe say that tlie 
 flume was wrong," said Jessie quickly. 
 
 " Not to you, nat'rally," said Dick, with a 
 confidential look at Christie ; " but I reckon 
 he 'd like some of the money it cost laid out 
 for suthin' else. But what 's the odds ? The 
 gold is there, and we 're bound to get it." 
 
 Dick was the foreman of a gang of paid 
 workmen, who had replaced the millionaires 
 in mere, manual labor, and the we was a po- 
 lite figure of speech. 
 
 The conversation seemed to have taken 
 an unfortunate turn, and both the girls 
 experienced a feeling of relief when they 
 entered the long gulch or defile that led to 
 Indian Spring. The track now becoming 
 narrow, they were obliged to pass in single 
 file along the precipitous hillside, led by this 
 escort. This effectually precluded any fur- 
 ther speech, and Christie at once surren- 
 dered herself to the calm, obliterating influ- 
 ences of the forest. The settlement and its 
 gossip were far behind and forgotten. In 
 the absorption of nature, her companions 
 passed out of her mind, even as they some- 
 
DEVWS FORD. 249 
 
 times passed out of her sight in the windings 
 of the shadowy trail. As she rode alone, 
 the fronds of breast-high ferns seemed to 
 caress her with outstretched and gently-de- 
 taining hands; strange wild-flowers sprang 
 up through the parting underbrush; even 
 the granite rocks that at times pressed closely 
 upon the trail appeared as if cushioned to 
 her contact with star-rayed mosses, or lightly 
 flung after her long lassoes of delicate vines. 
 She recalled the absolute freedom of their 
 al-fresco life in the old double cabin, when 
 she spent the greater part of her waking 
 hours under the mute trees in the encom- 
 passing solitude, and, half regretting the 
 more civilized restraints of this newer and 
 more ambitious abode, forgot that she had 
 ever rebelled against it. The social compli- 
 cation that threatened her now seemed to her 
 rather the outcome of her half-civilized par- 
 lor than of the sylvan glade. How easy it 
 would have been to have kept the cabin, and 
 then to have gone away entirely, than for 
 her father to have allowed them to be com- 
 promised with the growing fortunes of the 
 
250 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 settlement ! The suspicions and distrust that 
 she had always felt of their fortunes seemed 
 to grow with the involuntary admission of 
 Whiskey Dick that they were shared by 
 others who were practical men. She was 
 fain to have recourse to the prospect again 
 to banish these thoughts, and this opened 
 her eyes to the fact that her companions had 
 been missing from the trail ahead of her for 
 some time. She quickened her pace slightly 
 to reach a projecting point of rock that gave 
 her a more extended prospect. But they 
 had evidently disappeared. 
 
 She was neither alarmed nor annoyed. 
 She could easily overtake them soon, for they 
 would miss her, and return or wait for her at 
 the spring. At the worst she would have 
 no difficulty in retracing her steps home. 
 In her present mood, she could readily spare 
 their company ; indeed she was not sorry 
 that no other being should interrupt that 
 sympathy with the free, woods which was 
 beginning to possess her. 
 
 She was destined, however, to be disap- 
 pointed. She had not proceeded a hundred 
 
DEVILS FORD. 251 
 
 yards before she noticed the moving figure 
 of a man beyond her in the hillside chapar- 
 ral above the trail. He seemed to be going 
 in the same direction as herself, and, as she 
 fancied, endeavoring to avoid her. This ex- 
 cited her curiosity to the point of urging her 
 horse forward until the trail broadened into 
 the level forest again, which she now remem- 
 bered was a part of the environs of Indian 
 Spring. The stranger hesitated, pausing 
 once or twice with his back towards her, as 
 if engaged in carefully examining the dwarf 
 willows to select a switch. Christie slightly 
 checked her speed as she drew nearer ; 
 when, as if obedient to a sudden resolution, 
 he turned and advanced towards her. She 
 was relieved and yet surprised to recognize 
 the boyish face and figure of George Kear- 
 ney. He was quite pale and agitated, al- 
 though attempting, by a jaunty swinging of 
 the switch he had just cut, to assume the ap- 
 pearance of ease and confidence. 
 
 Here was an opportunity. Christie re- 
 solved to profit by it. She did not doubt 
 that the young fellow had already passed 
 
252 DEVID8 FORD. 
 
 her sister on the trail, but, from bashfulness, 
 had not dared to approach her. By inviting 
 his confidence, she would doubtless draw 
 something from him that would deny or cor- 
 roborate her father's opinion of his senti- 
 ments. If he was really in love with Jessie, 
 she would learn what reasons he had for 
 expecting a serious culmination of his suit, 
 and perhaps she might be able delicately to 
 open his eyes to the truth. If, as she be- 
 lieved, it was only a boyish fancy, she would 
 laugh him out of it with that camaraderie 
 which had always existed between them. A 
 half motherly sympathy, albeit born quite 
 as much from a contemplation of his beauti- 
 ful yearning eyes as from his interesting 
 position, lightened the smile with which she 
 greeted him. 
 
 " So you contrived to throw over your 
 stupid business and join us, after all," she 
 said ; " or was it that you changed your 
 mind at the last moment ? " she added mis- 
 chievously. " I thought only we women 
 were permitted that ! " Indeed, she could 
 not help noticing that there was really a 
 
DEVWS FORD. 263 
 
 strong feminine suggestion in the shifting 
 color and slightly conscious eyelids of the 
 young fellow. 
 
 " Do young girls always change their 
 minds ? " asked George, with an embarrassed 
 smile. 
 
 " Not always ; but sometimes they don't 
 know their own mind particularly if they 
 are very young ; and when they do at last, 
 you clever creatures of men, who have inter- 
 preted their ignorance to please yourselves, 
 abuse them for being fickle." She stopped 
 to observe the effect of what she believed 
 a rather clear and significant exposition of 
 Jessie's and George's possible situation. 
 But she was not prepared for the look of 
 blank resignation that seemed to drive the 
 color from his face and moisten the fire of 
 his dark eyes. 
 
 " I reckon you 're righfc," he said, looking 
 down. 
 
 " Oh ! we 're not accusing you of fickle- 
 ness," said Christie gayly ; " although you 
 did n't come, and we were obliged to ask 
 Mr. Hall to join us. I suppose you found 
 him and Jessie just now ? " 
 
254 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 But George made no reply. The color 
 was slowly coming back to his face, which, 
 as she glanced covertly at him, seemed to 
 have grown so much older that his return- 
 ing blood might have brought two or three 
 years with it. 
 
 " Really, Mr. Kearney," she said dryly, 
 " one would think that some silly, conceited 
 girl" she was quite earnest in her epi- 
 thets, for a sudden, angry conviction of some 
 coquetry and disingenuousness in Jessie had 
 come to her in contemplating its effects 
 upon the young fellow at her side " some 
 country jilt, had been trying her rustic hand 
 upon you." 
 
 " She is not silly, conceited, nor countri- 
 fied," said George, slowly raising his beauti- 
 ful eyes to the young girl half reproachfully. 
 " It is I who am all that. No, she is right, 
 and you know it.". 
 
 Much as Christie admired and valued her 
 sister's charms, she thought this was really 
 going too far. What had Jessie ever done 
 what was Jessie to provoke and re- 
 main insensible to such a blind devotion as 
 
DEVIL'S FORD, 255 
 
 this ? And really, looking at him now, he 
 was not so very young for Jessie ; whether 
 his unfortunate passion had brought out all 
 his latent manliness, or whether he had hith- 
 erto kept his serious nature in the back- 
 ground, certainly he was not a boy. And 
 certainly his was not a passion that he could 
 be laughed out of. It was getting very tire- 
 some. She wished she had not met him 
 at least until she had had some clearer un- 
 derstanding with her sister. He was still 
 walking beside her, with his hand on her 
 bridle rein, partly to lead her horse over 
 some boulders in the trail, and partly to 
 conceal his first embarrassment. When 
 they had fairly reached the woods, he 
 stopped. 
 
 " I am going to say good-by, Miss Carr." 
 
 " Are you not coming further ? We must 
 be near Indian Spring, now ; Mr. Hall and 
 and Jessie cannot be far away. You 
 will keep me company until we meet them ? " 
 
 " No," he replied quietly. " I only stopped 
 you to say good-by. I am going away." 
 
 "Not from Devil's Ford?" she asked, in 
 
256 DEVI US FORD. 
 
 half-incredulous astonishment. " At least, 
 not for long ? " 
 
 " I am not coming back," he replied. 
 
 " But this is very abrupt," she said hur- 
 riedly, feeling that in some ridiculous way 
 she had precipitated an equally ridiculous 
 catastrophe. " Surely you are not going 
 away in this fashion, without saying good- 
 by to Jessie and and father ? " 
 
 " I shall see your father, of course and 
 you will give my regards to Miss Jessie." 
 
 He evidently was in earnest. Was there 
 ever anything so perfectly preposterous ? 
 She became indignant. 
 
 "Of course," she said coldly, "I won't 
 detain you ; your business must be urgent, 
 and I forgot at least I had forgotten until 
 to-day that you have other duties more 
 important than that of squire of dames. I 
 am afraid this forgetfulness made me think 
 you would not part from us in quite such a 
 business fashion. I presume, if you had not 
 met me just now, we should none of us have 
 seen you again ? " 
 
 He did not reply. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 257 
 
 " Will you say good-by, Miss Carr ? " 
 
 He held out his hand. 
 
 " One moment, Mr. Kearney. If I have 
 said anything which you think justifies this 
 very abrupt leave-taking, I beg you will for- 
 give and forget it or, at least, let it have 
 no more weight with you than the idle words 
 of any woman. I only spoke generally. 
 You know I I might be mistaken." 
 
 His eyes, which had dilated when she be- 
 gan to speak, darkened ; his color, which had 
 quickly come, as quickly sank when she had 
 ended. 
 
 " Don't say that, Miss Carr. It is not 
 like you, and it is useless. You know 
 what I meant a moment ago. I read it in 
 your reply. You meant that I, like others, 
 had deceived myself. Did you not ? " 
 
 She could not meet those honest eyes with 
 less than equal honesty. She knew that 
 Jessie did not love him would not marry 
 him whatever coquetry she might have 
 shown. 
 
 " I did not mean to offend you," she said 
 hesitatingly ; " I only half suspected it when 
 I spoke." 
 
258 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " And you wish to spare me the avowal ? " 
 he said bitterly. 
 
 " To me, perhaps, yes, by anticipating it. 
 I could not tell what ideas you might have 
 gathered from some indiscreet frankness of 
 Jessie or my father," she added, with al- 
 most equal bitterness. 
 
 "I have never spoken to either," he re- 
 plied quickly. He stopped, and added, af- 
 ter a moment's mortifying reflection, " I 've 
 been brought up in the woods, Miss Carr, 
 and I suppose I have followed my feelings, 
 instead of the etiquette of society." 
 
 Christie was too relieved at the rehabilita- 
 tion of Jessie's truthfulness to notice the full 
 significance of his speech. 
 
 " Good-by," he said again, holding out his 
 hand. 
 
 " Good-by ! " 
 
 She extended her own, ungloved, with a 
 frank smile. He held it for a moment, with 
 his eyes fixed upon hers. Then suddenly, 
 as if obeying an uncontrollable impulse, he 
 crushed it like a flower again and again 
 against his burning lips, and darted away. 
 
DEVWS FORD. 259 
 
 Christie sank back in her saddle with a 
 little cry, half of pain and half of frightened 
 surprise. Had the poor boy suddenly gone 
 mad, or was this vicarious farewell a part of 
 the courtship of Devil's Ford ? She looked 
 at her little hand, which had reddened under 
 the pressure, and suddenly felt the flush ex- 
 tending to her cheeks and the roots of her 
 hair. This was intolerable. 
 
 "Christie!" 
 
 It was her sister emerging from the wood 
 to seek her. In another moment she was at 
 her side. 
 
 " We thought you were following," said 
 Jessie. u Good heavens ! how you look ! 
 What has happened ? " 
 
 " Nothing. I met Mr. Kearney a moment 
 ago on the trail. He is going away, and 
 and " She stopped, furious and flushing. 
 
 " And," said Jessie, with a burst of mer- 
 riment, " he told you at last he loved you. 
 Oh, Christie!" 
 
260 DJSVIL'S FORD. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE abrupt departure of George Kear- 
 ney from Devil's Ford excited but little 
 interest in the community, and was soon 
 forgotten. It was generally attributed to 
 differences between himself and his partners 
 on the question of further outlay of their 
 earnings on mining improvements he and 
 Philip Carr alone representing a sanguine 
 minority whose faith in the future of the 
 mine accepted any risks. It was alleged by 
 some that he had sold out to his brother ; it 
 was believed by others that he had simply 
 gone to Sacramento to borrow money on his 
 share, in order to continue the improvements 
 on his own responsibility. The partners 
 themselves were uncommunicative ; even 
 Whiskey Dick, who since his remarkable so- 
 cial elevation had become less oracular, much 
 to his own astonishment, contributed nothing 
 to the gossip except a suggestion that as the 
 
DEVIL' 8 FORD. 261 
 
 fiery temper of George Kearney brooked no 
 opposition, even from his brother, it was 
 better they should separate before the es- 
 trangement became serious. 
 
 Mr. Carr did not disguise his annoyance 
 at the loss of his young disciple and firm 
 ally. But an unlucky allusion to his pre- 
 vious remarks on Kearney's attentions to 
 Jessie, and a querulous regret that he had 
 permitted a disruption of their social inti- 
 macy-, brought such an ominous and frigid 
 opposition, not only from Christie, but even 
 the frivolous Jessie herself, that Carr sank 
 back in a crushed and terrified silence. " I 
 only meant to say," he stammered after a 
 pause, in which he, however, resumed his 
 aggrieved manner, " that Fairfax seems to 
 come here still, and he is not such a partic- 
 ular friend of mine." 
 
 " But he is and has your interest en- 
 tirely at heart," said Jessie, stoutly, "and 
 he only comes here to tell us how things are 
 going on at the works." 
 
 " And criticise your father, I suppose," 
 said Mr. Carr, with an attempt at jocularity 
 
262 DEVIDS FORD. 
 
 that did not, however, disguise an irritated 
 suspiciousness. "He really seems to have 
 supplanted me as he has poor Kearney in 
 your estimation." 
 
 "Now, father," said Jessie, suddenly seiz- 
 ing him by the shoulders in affected in- 
 dignation, but really to conceal a certain 
 embarrassment that sprang quite as much 
 from her sister's quietly observant eye-as 
 her father's speech, "you promised to let 
 this ridiculous discussion drop. You will 
 make me and Christie so nervous that we 
 will not dare to open the door to a visitor, 
 until he declares his innocence of any matri- 
 monial intentions. You don't want to give 
 color to the gossip that agreement with your 
 views about the improvements is necessary 
 to getting on with us." 
 
 "Who dares talk such rubbish?" said 
 Carr, reddening ; " is that the kind of gossip 
 that Fairfax brings here ? " 
 
 " Hardly, when it 's known that he don't 
 quite agree with you, and does come here. 
 That 's the best denial of the gossip." 
 
 Christie, who had of late loftily ignored 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 263 
 
 these discussions, waited until her father had 
 taken his departure. 
 
 " Then that is the reason why you still see 
 Mr. Munroe, after what you said," she re- 
 marked quietly to Jessie. 
 
 Jessie, who would have liked to escape 
 with her father, was obliged to pause on the 
 threshold of the door, with a pretty assump- 
 tion of blank forgetfulness in her blue eyes 
 and lifted eyebrows. 
 
 " Said what ? when ? " she asked va- 
 cantly. 
 
 " When when Mr. Kearney that day 
 in the woods went away," said Christie, 
 faintly coloring. 
 
 " Oh ! that day," said Jessie briskly ; 
 " the day he just gloved your hand with 
 kisses, and then fled wildly into the forest to 
 conceal his emotion." 
 
 " The day he behaved very foolishly," said 
 Christie, with reproachful calmness, that did 
 not, however, prevent a suspicion of indig- 
 nant moisture in her eyes " when you ex- 
 plained " 
 
 " That it was n't meant for me," inter- 
 rupted Jessie. 
 
264 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " That it was to you that Mr. Munrods 
 attentions were directed. And then we 
 agreed that it was better to prevent any 
 further advances of this kind by avoiding 
 any familiar relations with either of them." 
 
 " Yes," said Jessie, " I remember ; but 
 you 're not confounding my seeing Fairfax 
 occasionally now with that sort of thing. 
 He does n't kiss my hand like anything," she 
 added, as if in abstract reflection. 
 
 "Nor run away, either," suggested the 
 trodden worm, turning. 
 
 There was an ominous silence. 
 
 " Do you know we are nearly out of 
 coffee ? " said Jessie, choking, but moving 
 towards the door with Spartan-like calm- 
 ness. 
 
 " Yes. And something must be done this 
 very day about the washing," said Christie, 
 with suppressed emotion, going towards the 
 opposite entrance. 
 
 Tears stood in each other's eyes with this 
 terrible exchange of domestic confidences. 
 Nevertheless, after a moment's pause, they 
 deliberately turned again, and, facing each 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 265 
 
 other with frightful calmness, left the room 
 by purposeless and deliberate exits other 
 than those they had contemplated a crush- 
 ing abnegation of self, that, to some extent, 
 relieved their surcharged feelings. 
 
 Meantime the material prosperity of 
 Devil's Ford increased, if a prosperity based 
 upon no visible foundation but the confi- 
 dence and hopes of its inhabitants could be 
 called material. Few, if -any, stopped to 
 consider that the improvements, buildings, 
 and business were simply the outlay of cap- 
 ital brought from elsewhere, and as yet the 
 settlement or town, as it was now called, had 
 neither produced nor exported capital of 
 itself equal to half the amount expended. 
 It was true that some land was cultivated on 
 the further slope, some mills erected and 
 lumber furnished from the inexhaustible 
 forest; but the consumers were the inhab- 
 itants themselves, who paid for their produce 
 in borrowed capital or unlimited credit. It 
 was never discovered that while all roads led 
 to Devil's Ford, Devil's Ford led to nowhere. 
 The difficulties overcome in getting things 
 
266 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 into the settlement were never surmounted 
 for getting things out of it. The lumber 
 was practically valueless for export to other 
 settlements across the mountain roads, which 
 were equally rich in timber. The theory so 
 enthusiastically held by the original locators, 
 that Devil's Ford was a vast sink that had, 
 through ages, exhausted and absorbed the 
 trickling wealth of the adjacent hills and 
 valleys, was suffering an ironical corrobora- 
 tion. 
 
 One morning it was known that work was 
 stopped at the Devil's Ford Ditch tempo- 
 rarily only, it was alleged, and many of the 
 old workmen simply had their labor for the 
 present transferred to excavating the river 
 banks, and the collection of vast heaps of 
 " P a 7 gravel." Specimens from these 
 mounds, taken from different localities, and 
 at different levels, were sent to San Fran- 
 cisco for more rigid assay and analysis. It 
 was believed that this would establish the 
 fact of the permanent richness of the drifts, 
 and not only justify past expenditure, but a 
 renewed outlay of credit and capital. The 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 267 
 
 suspension of engineering work gave Mr. 
 Carr an opportunity to visit San Francisco 
 on general business of the mine, which would 
 not, however, prevent him from arranging 
 further combinations with capital. His two 
 daughters accompanied him. It offered an 
 admirable opportunity for a shopping expe- 
 dition, a change of scene, and a peaceful so- 
 lution of their perplexing and anomalous 
 social relations with Devil's Ford. In the 
 first flush of gratitude to their father for this 
 opportune holiday, something of harmony 
 had been restored to the family circle that 
 had of late been shaken by discord. 
 
 But their sanguine hopes of enjoyment 
 were not entirely fulfilled. Both Jessie and 
 Christie were obliged to confess to a certain 
 disappointment in the aspect of the civiliza- 
 tion they were now reentering. They at 
 first attributed it to the change in their own 
 habits during the last three months, and 
 their having become barbarous and countri- 
 fied in their seclusion. Certainly in the 
 matter of dress they were behind the fash- 
 ions as revealed in Montgomery Street. But 
 
268 DEV1D8 FORD. 
 
 when the brief solace afforded them by the 
 modiste and dressmaker was past, there 
 seemed little else to be gained. They missed 
 at first, I fear, the chivalrous and loyal de- 
 votion that had only amused them at Devil's 
 Ford, and were the more inclined, I think, 
 to distrust the conscious and more civilized 
 gallantry of the better dressed and more 
 carefully presented men they met. For 
 it must be admitted that, for obvious rea- 
 sons, their criticisms were at first confined 
 to the sex they had been most in contact 
 with. They could not help noticing that the 
 men were more eager, annoyingly feverish, 
 and self -asserting in their superior elegance 
 and external show than their old associates 
 were in their frank, unrestrained habits. It 
 seemed to them that the five millionaires of 
 Devil's Ford, in their radical simplicity and 
 thoroughness, were perhaps nearer the type 
 of true gentlemanhood than these citizens 
 who imitated a civilization they were unable 
 yet to reach. 
 
 The women simply frightened them, as be- 
 ing, even more than the men, demonstrative 
 
DEVWS FORD. 269 
 
 and excessive in their fine looks, their fine 
 dresses, their extravagant demand for ex- 
 citement. In less than a week they found 
 themselves regretting not the new villa 
 on the slope of Devil's Ford, which even in 
 its own bizarre fashion was exceeded by the 
 barbarous ostentation of the villas and pri- 
 vate houses around them but the double 
 cabin under the trees, which now seemed to 
 them almost aristocratic in its grave simpli- 
 city and abstention. In the mysterious for- 
 est of masts that thronged the city's quays 
 they recalled the straight shafts of the pines 
 on Devil's slopes, only to miss the sedate re- 
 pose and infinite calm that used to environ 
 them. In the feverish, pulsating life of the 
 young metropolis they often stopped op- 
 pressed, giddy, and choking ; the roar of the 
 streets and thoroughfares was meaningless 
 to them, except to revive strange memories 
 of the deep, unvarying monotone of the even- 
 ing wind over their humbler roof on the 
 Sierran hillside. Civic bred and nurtured 
 as they were, the recurrence of these sensa- 
 tions perplexed and alarmed them. 
 
270 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 "It seems so perfectly ridiculous," said 
 Jessie, " for us to feel as out of place here 
 as that Pike County servant girl in Sacra- 
 mento who had never seen a steamboat be- 
 fore; do you know, I quite had a turn the 
 other day at seeing a man on the Stockton 
 wharf in a red shirt, with a rifle on his 
 shoulder." 
 
 "And you wanted to go and speak to 
 him ? " said Christie, with a sad smile. 
 
 " No, that 's just it ; I felt awfully hurt 
 and injured that he did not come up and 
 speak to me ! I wonder if we got any fever 
 ot that sort of thing up there ; it makes one 
 quite superstitious." 
 
 Christie did not reply ; more than once 
 before she had felt that inexplicable misgiv- 
 ing. It had sometimes seemed to her that 
 she had never been quite herself since that 
 memorable night when she had slipped out 
 of their sleeping-cabin, and stood alone in 
 the gracious and commanding presence of 
 the woods and hills. In the solitude of 
 night, with the hum of the great city rising 
 below her at times even in theatres or 
 
DEVI US FORD. 271 
 
 crowded assemblies of men and women 
 she forgot herself, and again stood in the 
 weird brilliancy of that moonlight night in 
 mute worship at the foot of that slowly-ris- 
 ing mystic altar of piled terraces, hanging 
 forests, and lifted plateaus that climbed for- 
 ever to the lonely skies. Again she felt be- 
 fore her the expanding and opening arms 
 of the protecting woods. Had they really 
 closed upon her in some pantheistic embrace 
 that made her a part of them ? Had she been 
 baptized in that moonlight as a child of the 
 great forest ? It was easy to believe in the 
 myths of the poets of an idyllic life under 
 those trees, where, free from conventional 
 restrictions, one loved and was loved. If 
 she, with her own worldly experience, could 
 think of this now, why might not George 
 Kearney have thought ? . . ' She stopped, 
 and found herself blushing even in the dark- 
 ness. As the thought and blush were the 
 usual sequel of her reflections, it is to be 
 feared that they may have been at times the 
 impelling cause. 
 
 Mr. Carr, however, made up for his 
 
272 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 daughters' want of sympathy with metro- 
 politan life. To their astonishment, he not 
 only plunged into the fashionable gayeties 
 and amusements of the town, but in dress 
 and manner assumed the rdle of a leader 
 of society. The invariable answer to their 
 half-humorous comment was the necessities 
 of the mine, and the policy of frequenting 
 the company of capitalists, to enlist their 
 support and confidence. There was some- 
 thing in this so unlike their father, that what 
 at any other time they would have hailed 
 as a relief to his habitual abstraction now 
 half alarmed them. Yet he was not dissi- 
 pated he did not drink nor gamble. There 
 certainly did not seem any harm in his fre- 
 quenting the society of ladies, with a gal- 
 lantry that appeared to be forced and a 
 pleasure that" to their critical eyes was cer- 
 tainly apocryphal. He did not drag his 
 daughters into the mixed society of that 
 period ; he did not press upon them the com- 
 pany of those he most frequented, and whose 
 accepted position in that little world of 
 fashion was considered equal to their own. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 273 
 
 When Jessie strongly objected to the pro- 
 nounced manners of a certain widow, whose 
 actual present wealth and pecuniary influence 
 condoned for a more uncertain prehistoric 
 past, Mr. Carr did not urge a further ac- 
 quaintance. " As long as you 're not think- 
 ing of marrying again, papa," Jessie had 
 said finally, "I don't see the necessity of 
 our knowing her." " But suppose I were," 
 had replied Mr. Carr, with affected humor. 
 " Then you certainly would n't care for any 
 one like her," his daughter had responded 
 triumphantly. Mr. Carr smiled, and dropped 
 the subject, but it is probable that his daugh- 
 ters' want of sympathy with his acquaint- 
 ances did not in the least interfere with his 
 social prestige. A gentleman in all his re- 
 lations and under all circumstances, even 
 his cold scientific abstraction was provoca- 
 tive ; rich men envied his lofty ignorance of 
 the smaller details of money-making, even 
 while they mistrusted his judgment. A man 
 still well preserved, and free from weaken- 
 ing vices, he was a dangerous rival to younger 
 and faster San Francisco, in the eyes of the 
 
274 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 sex, who knew how to value a repose they 
 did not themselves possess. 
 
 Suddenly Mr. Carr announced his inten- 
 tion of proceeding to Sacramento, on further 
 business of the mine, leaving his two daugh- 
 ters in the family of a wealthy friend until 
 he should return for them. He opposed 
 their ready suggestion to return to Devil's 
 Ford with a new and unnecessary inflexi- 
 bility : he even met their compromise to ac- 
 company him to Sacramento with equal de- 
 cision. 
 
 " You will only be in my way," he said 
 curtly. " Enjoy yourselves here while you 
 can." 
 
 Thus left to themselves, they tried to ac- 
 cept his advice. Possibly some slight re- 
 action to their previous disappointment may 
 have already set in ; perhaps they felt any 
 distraction to be a relief to their anxiety 
 about their father. They went out more; 
 they frequented concerts and parties ; they 
 accepted, with their host and his family, an 
 invitation to one of those opulent and bar- 
 baric entertainments with which a noted San 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 275 
 
 Francisco millionaire distracted his rare mo- 
 ments of reflection in his gorgeous palace on 
 the hills. Here they would at least be once 
 more in the country they loved, albeit of a 
 milder and less heroic type, and a little de- 
 graded by the overlapping tinsel and scat- 
 tered spangles of the palace. 
 
 It was a three days' fete ; the style and 
 choice of amusements left to the guests, and 
 an equal and active participation by no 
 means necessary or indispensable. Conse- 
 quently, when Christie and Jessie Carr pro- 
 posed a ride through the adjacent canon on 
 the second morning, they had no difficulty in 
 finding horses in the well-furnished stables 
 of their opulent entertainers, nor cavaliers 
 among the other guests, who were too happy 
 to find favor in the eyes of two pretty girls 
 who were supposed to be abnormally fastid- 
 ious and refined. Christie's escort was a 
 good-natured young banker, shrewd enough 
 to avoid demonstrative attentions, and lucky 
 enough to interest her during the ride with 
 his clear and half-humorous reflections on 
 some of the business speculations of the day. 
 
276 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 If his ideas were occasionally too clever, and 
 not always consistent with a high sense of 
 honor, she was none the less interested to 
 know the ethics of that world of speculation 
 into which her father had plunged, and the 
 more convinced, with a mingled sense of 
 pride and anxiety, that his still dominant 
 gentlemanhood would prevent his coping 
 with it on equal terms. Nor could she 'help 
 contrasting the conversation of the sharp- 
 witted man at her side with what she still 
 remembered of the vague, touching, boyish 
 enthusiasm of the millionaires of Devil's 
 Ford. Had her escort guessed the result of 
 this contrast, he would hardly have been as 
 gratified as he was with the grave attention 
 of her beautiful eyes. 
 
 The fascination of a gracious day and the 
 leafy solitude of the canon led them to pro- 
 long their ride beyond the proposed limit, 
 and it became necessary towards sunset for 
 them to seek some shorter cut home. 
 
 " There 's a vaquero in yonder field," said 
 Christie's escort, who was riding with her a 
 little in advance of the others, " and those 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 277 
 
 fellows know every trail that a horse can 
 follow. I '11 ride on, intercept him, and try 
 my Spanish on him. If I miss him, as he 's 
 galloping on, you might try your hand on 
 him yourself. He '11 understand your eyes, 
 Miss Carr, in any language." 
 
 As he dashed away, to cover his first au- 
 dacity of compliment, Christie lifted the 
 eyes thus apostrophized to the opposite field. 
 The vaquero, who was chasing some cattle, 
 was evidently too preoccupied to heed the 
 shouts of her companion, and wheeling round 
 suddenly to intercept one of the deviating 
 fugitives, permitted Christie's escort to dash 
 past him before that gentleman could rein in 
 his excited steed. This brought the vaquero 
 directly in her path. Perceiving her, he 
 threw his horse back on its haunches, to 
 prevent a collision. Christie rode up to him, 
 suddenly uttered a cry, and halted. For 
 before her, sunburnt in cheek and throat, 
 darker in the free growth of moustache and 
 curling hair, clad in the coarse, picturesque 
 finery of his class, undisguised only in his 
 boyish beauty, sat George Kearney. 
 
278 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 The blood, that had forsaken her aston- 
 ished face, rushed as quickly back. His 
 eyes, which had suddenly sparkled with an 
 electrical glow, sank before hers. His hand 
 dropped, and his cheek flushed with a dark 
 embarrassment. 
 
 " You here, Mr. Kearney ? How strange ! 
 but how glad I am to meet you again ! " 
 
 She tried to smile ; her voice trembled, 
 and her little hand shook as she extended it 
 to him. 
 
 He raised his dark eyes quickly, and im- 
 pulsively urged his horse to her side. But, 
 as if suddenly awakening to the reality of the 
 situation, he glanced at her hurriedly, down 
 at his barbaric finery, and threw a searching 
 look towards her escort. 
 
 In an instant Christie saw the infelicity 
 of her position, and its dangers. The words 
 of Whiskey Dick, " He would n't stand 
 that," flashed across her mind. There was 
 no time to lose. The banker had already 
 gained control over his horse, and was ap- 
 proaching them, all unconscious of the fixed 
 stare with which George was regarding him. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 279 
 
 Christie hastily seized the hand which he 
 had allowed to fall at his side, and said 
 quickly, 
 
 " Will you ride with me a little way, Mr. 
 Kearney ? " 
 
 He turned the same searching look upon 
 her. She met it clearly and steadily ; he 
 even thought reproachfully. 
 
 "Do ! " she said hurriedly. " I ask it as a 
 favor. I want to speak to you. Jessie and 
 I are here alone. Father is away. You are 
 one of our oldest friends." 
 
 He hesitated. She turned to the aston- 
 ished young banker, who rode up. 
 
 " I have just met an old friend. Will you 
 please ride back as quickly as you can, and 
 tell Jessie that Mr. Kearney is here, and ask 
 her to join us ? " 
 
 She watched her dazed escort, still speech- 
 less from the spectacle of the fastidious Miss 
 Carr tete-d-tete with a common Mexican 
 vaquero, gallop off in the direction of the 
 canon, and then turned to George. 
 
 " Now take me home, the shortest way, as 
 quick as you can." 
 
280 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 " Home ? " echoed George. 
 
 " I mean to Mr. Prince's house. Quick ! 
 before they can come up to us." 
 
 He mechanically put spurs to his horse ; 
 she followed. They presently struck into a 
 trail that soon diverged again into a disused 
 logging track through the woods. 
 
 " This is the short cut to Prince's, by two 
 miles," he said, as they entered the woods. 
 
 As they were still galloping, without ex. 
 changing a word, Christie began to slacken 
 her speed ; George did the same. They 
 were safe from intrusion at the present, even 
 if the others had found the short cut. Chris- 
 tie, bold and self-reliant a moment ago, sud- 
 denly found herself growing weak and em- 
 barrassed. What had she done ? 
 
 She checked her horse suddenly. 
 
 " Perhaps we had better wait for them," 
 she said timidly. 
 
 George had not raised his eyes to hers. 
 
 " You said you wanted to hurry home," 
 he replied gently, passing his hand along his 
 mustang's velvety neck, " and and you 
 had something to say to me." 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 281 
 
 " Certainly," she answered, with a faint 
 laugh. " I 'm so astonished at meeting you 
 here. I 'm quite bewildered. You are liv- 
 ing here ; you have forsaken us to buy a 
 ranche ? " she continued, looking at him at- 
 tentively. 
 
 His brow colored slightly. 
 
 " No, I 'm living here, but I have bought 
 no ranche. I 'm only a hired man on some- 
 body else's ranche, to look after the cattle." 
 
 He saw her beautiful eyes fill with aston- 
 ishment and something else. His brow 
 cleared ; he went on, with his old boyish 
 laugh. 
 
 " No, Miss Carr. The fact is, I 'm dead 
 broke. I 've lost everything since I saw 
 you last. But as I know how to ride, and 
 I 'm not afraid of work, I manage to keep 
 along." 
 
 " You have lost money in in the mines ? " 
 said Christie suddenly. 
 
 " No '' he replied quickly, evading her 
 eyes. " My brother has my interest, you 
 know. I 've been foolish on my own ac- 
 count solely. You know I 'm rather in- 
 
282 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 clined to that sort of thing. But as long as 
 my folly don't affect others, I can stand it." 
 
 " But it may affect others and they may 
 not think of it as folly " She stopped short, 
 confused by his brightening color and eyes. 
 " I mean Oh, Mr. Kearney, I want 
 you to be frank with me. I know nothing 
 of business, but I know there has been trou- 
 ble about the mine at Devil's Ford. Tell 
 me honestly, has my father anything to do 
 with it? If I thought that, through any 
 imprudence of his, you had suffered if I 
 believed that you could trace any misfortune 
 of yours to him to us I should never 
 forgive myself" she stopped and flashed 
 a single look at him "I should never for- 
 give you for abandoning us." 
 
 The look of pain which had at first shown 
 itself in his face, which never concealed any- 
 thing, passed, and a quick smile followed 
 her feminine anticlimax. 
 
 " Miss Carr, " he said, with boyish eager- 
 ness, *' if any man suggested to me that your 
 father was n't the brightest and best of his 
 too wise and clever for the fools 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 283 
 
 about him to understand I 'd I 'd shoot 
 him." 
 
 Confused by his ready and gracious dis- 
 claimer of what she had not intended to say, 
 there was nothing left for her but to rush 
 upon what she really intended to say, with 
 what she felt was shameful precipitation. 
 
 u One word more, Mr. Kearney," she be- 
 gan, looking down, but feeling the color 
 come to her face as she spoke. " When you 
 spoke to me the day you left, you must have 
 thought me hard and cruel. When I tell 
 you that I thought you were alluding to 
 Jessie and some feeling you had for her " 
 
 " For Jessie ! " echoed George. 
 
 " You will understand that that " 
 
 " That what ? " said George, drawing 
 nearer to her. 
 
 " That I was only speaking as she might 
 have spoken had you talked to her of me," 
 added Christie hurriedly, slightly backing 
 her horse away from him. 
 
 But this was not so easy, as George was 
 the better rider, and by an imperceptible 
 movement of his wrist and foot had glued 
 
284 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 his horse to her side. " He will go now," 
 she had thought, but he did n't. 
 
 " We must ride on," she suggested faintly. 
 
 " No," he said, with a sudden dropping of 
 his boyish manner and a slight lifting of his 
 head. " We must ride together no further, 
 Miss Carr. I must go back to the work I 
 am hired to do, and you must go on with 
 your party, whom I hear coming. But when 
 we part here you must bid me good-by 
 not as Jessie's sister but as Christie 
 the one the only woman that I love, or 
 that I ever have loved." 
 
 He held out his hand. With the recol- 
 lection of their previous parting, she trem- 
 blingly advanced her own. Fie took it, but 
 did not raise it to his lips. And it was she 
 who found herself half confusedly retaining 
 his hand in hers, until she dropped it with 
 a blush. 
 
 "Then is this the reason you give for 
 deserting us as you have deserted Devil's 
 Ford?" she said coldly. 
 
 He lifted his eyes to her with a strange 
 smile, and said, "Yes," wheeled his horse, 
 and disappeared in the forest. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 285 
 
 He had left her thus abruptly once before, 
 kissed, blushing, and indignant. He was 
 leaving her now, unkissed, but white and in- 
 dignant. Yet she was so self-possessed when 
 the party joined her, that the singular ren- 
 contre and her explanation of the stranger's 
 sudden departure excited no further com- 
 ment. Only Jessie managed to whisper in 
 her ear, 
 
 "I hope you are satisfied now that it 
 was n't me he meant ? " 
 
 "Not at all," said Christie coldly. 
 
286 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A FEW days after the girls had returned 
 to San Francisco, they received a letter from 
 their father. His business, he wrote, would 
 detain him in Sacramento some days longer. 
 There was no reason why they should re- 
 turn to Devil's Ford in the heat of the sum- 
 mer ; their host had written to beg him to 
 allow them a more extended visit, and, if 
 they were enjoying themselves, he thought 
 it would be well not to disoblige an old 
 friend. He had heard they had a pleasant 
 visit to Mr. Prince's place, and that a cer- 
 tain young banker had been very attentive 
 to Christie. 
 
 " Do you know what all this means, dear? " 
 asked Jessie, who had been watching her 
 sister with an unusually grave face. 
 
 Christie whose thoughts had wandered 
 from the letter, replied carelessly, 
 
 " I suppose it means that we are to wait 
 here until father sends for us." 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 287 
 
 " It means a good deal more. It means 
 that papa has had another reverse ; it means 
 that the assay has turned out badly for the 
 mine that the further they go from the 
 flat the worse it gets that all the gold 
 they will probably ever see at Devil's Ford 
 is what they have already found or will find 
 on the flat ; it means that all Devil's Ford 
 is only a ' pocket/ and not a ' lead.' " She 
 stopped, with unexpected tears in her eyes. 
 
 "Who told you this?" asked Christie 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " Fairfax Mr. Munroe," stammered 
 her sister, " writes to me as if we already 
 knew it tells me not to be alarmed, that 
 it is n't so bad and all that." 
 
 " How long has this happened, Jessie ? " 
 said Christie, taking her hand, with a white 
 but calm face. 
 
 " Nearly ever since we 've been here, I 
 suppose. It must be so, for he says poor 
 papa is still hopeful of doing something 
 yet." 
 
 " And Mr. Munroe writes to you ? " said 
 Christie abstractedly. 
 
288 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " Of course," said Jessie quickly. " He 
 feels interested in us." 
 
 " Nobody tells me anything," said Chris- 
 tie. 
 
 " Did n't " 
 
 " No," said Christie bitterly. 
 
 " What on earth did you talk about ? 
 But people don't confide in you because 
 they 're afraid of you. You 're so " 
 
 " So what ? " 
 
 " So gently patronizing, and so 4 I-don't- 
 suppose-you-can-help-it,-poor-thing,' in your 
 general style," said Jessie, kissing her. 
 " There ! I only wish I was like you. What 
 do you say if we write to father that we '11 
 go back to Devil's Ford? Mr. Munroe 
 thinks we will be of service there just now. 
 If the men are dissatisfied, and think we 're 
 spending money " 
 
 " I 'm afraid Mr. Munroe is hardly a dis- 
 interested adviser. At least, I don't think 
 it would look quite decent for you to fly 
 back without your father, at his suggestion," 
 said Christie coldly. "He is not the only 
 partner. We are spending no money. Be- 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 289 
 
 sides, we have engaged to go to Mr. Prince's 
 again next week." 
 
 " As you like, dear," said Jessie, turning 
 away to hide a faint smile. 
 
 Nevertheless, when they returned from 
 their visit to Mr. Prince's, and one or two 
 uneventful rides, Christie looked grave. It 
 was only a few days later that Jessie burst 
 upon her one morning. 
 
 " You were saying that nobody ever tells 
 you anything. Well, here 's your chance. 
 Whiskey Dick is below." 
 
 " Whiskey Dick ? " repeated Christie. 
 " What does he want ? " 
 
 " You, love. Who else ? You know he 
 always scorns me as not being high-toned 
 and elegant enough for his social confi- 
 dences. He asked for you only." 
 
 With an uneasy sense of some impending 
 revelation, Christie descended to the draw- 
 ing-room. As she opened the door, a strong 
 flavor of that toilet soap and eau de Cologne 
 with which Whiskey Dick was in the habit 
 of gracefully effacing the traces of dissipa- 
 tion made known his presence. In spite of 
 
290 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 a new suit of clothes, whose pristine folds 
 refused to adapt themselves entirely to the 
 contour of his figure, he was somewhat sub- 
 dued by the unexpected elegance of the 
 drawing-room of Christie's host. But a 
 glance at Christie's sad, but gracious face 
 quickly reassured him. Taking from his 
 hat a three-cornered parcel, he unfolded a 
 handsome saffrona rose, which he gravely 
 presented to her. Having thus reestab- 
 lished his position, he sank elegantly into a 
 tete-d-tete ottoman. Finding the position 
 inconvenient to face Christie, who had seated 
 herself on a chair, he transferred himself to 
 the other side of the ottoman, and addressed 
 her over its back as from a pulpit. 
 
 " Is this really a fortunate accident, Mr. 
 Hall, or did you try to find us ? " said Chris- 
 tie pleasantly. 
 
 " Partly promiskuss, and partly coincident, 
 Miss Christie, one up and t'other down," 
 said Dick lightly. " Work being slack at 
 present at Devil's Ford, I reck'ned I 'd take 
 a pasear down to 'Frisco, and dip into the 
 vortex o' fash'nable society and out again." 
 
DEVIUS FORD. 291 
 
 He lightly waved a new handkerchief to il- 
 lustrate his swallow-like intrusion. " This 
 yer minglin' with the bo-tong is apt to be 
 wearisome, ez you and me knows, unless com- 
 bined with experience and judgment. So 
 when them boys up there allows that there 's 
 a little too much fash'nable society and San 
 Francisco capital and high-falutin' about the 
 future goin' on fer square surface mining, 
 I sez, 'Look yere, gentlemen,' sez I, 'you 
 don't see the pint. The pint is, to get the 
 pop'lar eye fixed, so to speak, on Devil's 
 Ford. When a fash'nable star rises above 
 the 'Frisco horizon like Miss Carr and, 
 so to speak, dazzles the gineral eye, people 
 want to know who she is. And when peo- 
 ple say that's the accomplished daughter 
 o' the accomplished superintendent of the 
 Devil's Ford claim otherwise known as 
 the Star-eyed Goddess o' Devil's Ford 
 every eye is fixed on the mine, and Capital, 
 so to speak, tumbles to her.' And when 
 they sez that the old man excuse my free- 
 dom, but that 's the way the boys talk of 
 your father, meaning no harm the old 
 
292 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 man, instead 'o trying to corral rich widders 
 grass or otherwise to spend their money 
 on the big works for the gold that ain't there 
 yet should stay in Devil's Ford and put all 
 his sabe and genius into grindin' out the little 
 gold that is there, I sez to them that it ain't 
 your father's style. ' His style,' sez I, ' ez 
 to go in and build them works.' When 
 they 're done he turns round to Capital, 
 and sez he ' Look, yer,' sez he, ' thar 's all 
 the works you want, first quality cost a 
 million ; thar 's all the water you want, 
 onlimited cost another million ; thar 's all 
 the pay gravel you want in and outer the 
 ground call it two millions more. Now 
 my time 's too vally'ble ; my professhun 's 
 too high-toned to 'work mines. I make 'em. 
 Hand me over a check for ten millions and 
 call it square, and work it for yourself.' 
 So Capital hands over the money and waltzes 
 down to run the mine, and you original lo- 
 cators walks round with yer hands in yer 
 pockets a-top of your six million profit, and 
 you let 's Capital take the work and the re- 
 sponsibility." 
 
DEVWS FORD. 293 
 
 Preposterous as this seemed from the lips 
 of Whiskey Dick, Christie had a haunting 
 suspicion that it was not greatly unlike the 
 theories expounded by the clever young 
 banker who had been her escort. She did 
 not interrupt his flow of reminiscent criti- 
 cism ; when he paused for breath, she said, 
 quietly, 
 
 " I met Mr. George Kearney the other 
 day in the country." 
 
 Whiskey Dick stopped awkwardly, 
 glanced hurriedly at Christie, and coughed 
 behind his handkerchief. 
 
 " Mr. Kearney eh er certengly 
 yes er met him, you say. Was he 
 er er well ? " 
 
 " In health, yes ; but otherwise he has 
 lost everything," said Christie, fixing her 
 eyes on the embarrassed Dick. 
 
 " Yes er in course in course " 
 continued Dick, nervously glancing round 
 the apartment as if endeavoring to find an 
 opening to some less abrupt statement of 
 the fact. 
 
 " And actually reduced to take some men- 
 
294 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 ial employment," added Christie, still re- 
 garding Dick with her clear glance. 
 
 "That's it that's just it," said Dick, 
 beaming as he suddenly found his delicate 
 and confidential opportunity. " That 's it, 
 Miss Christie ; that 's just what I was sayin' 
 to the boys. 4 Ez it the square thing,' sez I, 
 4 jest because George hez happened to hy- 
 pothecate every dollar he has, or expects to 
 hev, to put into them works, only to please 
 Mr. Carr, and just because he don't want 
 to distress that intelligent gentleman by let- 
 ting him see he 's dead broke for him to 
 go and demean himself and Devil's Ford by 
 rushing away and hiring out as a Mexican 
 vaquero on Mexican wages? Look,' sez I, 
 ' at the disgrace he brings upon a high-toned, 
 fash'nable girl, at whose side he 's walked 
 and danced, and passed rings, and senti- 
 ments, and bokays in the changes o' the 
 cotillion and the mizzourka. And wot,' sez 
 I, ' if some day, prancing along in a fash'na- 
 ble cavalcade, she all of a suddents comes 
 across him drivin' a Mexican steer ? ' That 's 
 what I said to the boys. And so you met 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 295 
 
 him, Miss Christie, as usual," continued 
 Dick, endeavoring under the appearance of 
 a large social experience to conceal an eager 
 anxiety to know the details " so you met 
 him ; and, in course, you did n't let on yer 
 knew him, so to speak, nat'rally, or p'raps 
 you kinder like asked him to fix your sad- 
 dle-girth, and give him a five dollar-piece 
 eh?" 
 
 Christie, who had risen and gone to the 
 window, suddenly turned a very pale face 
 and shining eyes on Dick. 
 
 " Mr. Hall," she said, with a faint attempt 
 at a smile, " we are old friends, and I feel I 
 can ask you a favor. You once before acted 
 as our escort it was for a short but a 
 happy time will you accept a larger trust ? 
 My father is busy in Sacramento for the 
 mine : will you, without saying anything to 
 anybody, take Jessie and me back at once 
 to Devil's Ford?" 
 
 "Will I? Miss Christie," said Dick, 
 choking between an intense gratification and 
 a desire to keep back its vulgar exhibition, 
 " I shall be proud ! " 
 
296 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 " When I say keep it a secret " she 
 hesitated "I don't mean that I object to 
 your letting Mr. Kearney, if you happen to 
 know where he is, understand that we are 
 going back to Devil's Ford." 
 
 " Cert'nly nat'rally," said Dick, waving 
 his hand gracefully ; " sorter drop him a 
 line, saying that bizness of a social and 
 delicate nature being the escort of Miss 
 Christie and Jessie Carr to Devil's Ford 
 prevents my having the pleasure of call- 
 ing." 
 
 44 That will do very well, Mr. Hall," said 
 Christie, faintly smiling through her moist 
 eyelashes. " Then will you go at once and 
 secure tickets for to-night's boat, and bring 
 them here ? Jessie and I will arrange every- 
 thing else." 
 
 " Cert'nly," said Dick impulsively, and 
 preparing to take a graceful leave. 
 
 " We '11 be impatient until you return 
 with the tickets," said Christie graciously. 
 
 Dick shook hands gravely, got as far as 
 the door, and paused. 
 
DEVIL'S FORD, 297 
 
 " You think it better to take the tickets 
 now ? " he said dubiously. 
 
 "By all means," said Christie impetu- 
 ously. " I 've set my heart on going to-night 
 and unless you secure berths early " 
 
 " In course in course," interrupted 
 Dick nervously. " But " 
 
 " But what ? " said Christie impatiently. 
 
 Dick hesitated, shut the door carefully, 
 and, looking round the room, lightly shook 
 out his handkerchief, apparently flicked 
 away an embarrassing suggestion, and said, 
 with a little laugh, 
 
 " It 's ridiklous, perfectly ridiklous, Miss 
 Christie ; but not bein' in the habit of car- 
 ryin' ready money, and havin' omitted to 
 cash a draft on Wells, Fargo & Co." 
 
 " Of course," said Christie rapidly. " How 
 forgetful I am ! Pray forgive me, Mr. Hall. 
 I did n't think. I '11 run up and get it from 
 our host ; he will be glad to be our banker." 
 
 " One moment, Miss Christie," said Dick 
 lightly, as his thumb and finger relaxed in 
 his waistcoat pocket over the only piece of 
 
298 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 money in the world that had remained to 
 him after his extravagant purchase of Chris- 
 tie's saffrona rose, " one moment : in this 
 yer monetary transaction, if you like, you 
 are at liberty to use my name." 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 299 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 As Christie and Jessie Carr looked from 
 the windows of the coach, whose dust-clogged 
 wheels were slowly dragging them, as if re- 
 luctant, nearer the last stage of their journey 
 to Devil's Ford, they were conscious of a 
 change in the landscape, which they could 
 not entirely charge upon their changed feel- 
 ings. The few bared open spaces on the up- 
 land, the long stretch of rocky ridge near 
 the summit, so vivid and so velvety during 
 their first journey, were now burnt and 
 yellow ; even the brief openings in the forest 
 were seared as if by a hot iron in the scorch- 
 ing rays of a half year's sun. The pasto- 
 ral slopes of the valley below were cloaked 
 in lustreless leather : the rare watercourses 
 along the road had faded from the waiting 
 eye and ear ; it seemed as if the long and 
 dry summer had even invaded the close-set 
 ranks of pines, and had blown a simoom 
 
300 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 breath through the densest woods, leaving 
 its charred red ashes on every leaf and spray 
 along the tunnelled shade. As they leaned 
 out of the window and inhaled the half -dead 
 spices of the evergreens, they seemed to 
 have entered the atmosphere of some ex- 
 hausted passion of some fierce excitement 
 that was even now slowly burning itself out. 
 It was a relief at last to see the straggling 
 houses of Devil's Ford far below come once 
 more into view, as they rounded the shoulder 
 of Devil's Spur and began the long descent. 
 But as they entered the town a change more 
 ominous and startling than the desiccation 
 of the landscape forced itself upon them. 
 The town was still there, but where were the 
 inhabitants ? Four months ago they had 
 left the straggling street thronged with busy 
 citizens groups at every corner, and a 
 chaos of merchandise and traders in the 
 open plaza or square beside the Presbyte- 
 rian church. Now all was changed. Only a 
 few wayfarers lifted their heads lazily as 
 the coach rattled by, crossing the deserted 
 square littered with empty boxes, and glid- 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 301 
 
 ing past empty cabins or vacant shop win- 
 dows, from which not only familiar faces, 
 but even the window sashes themselves, were 
 gone. The great unfinished serpent-like 
 flume, crossing the river on gigantic trestles, 
 had advanced as far as the town, stooping 
 over it like some enormous reptile that had 
 sucked its life blood and was gorged with 
 its prey. 
 
 Whiskey Dick, who had left the stage on 
 the summit to avail himself of a shorter foot 
 trail to the house, that would give him half 
 an hour's grace to make preparations, met 
 them at the stage office with a buggy. A 
 glance at the young girls, perhaps, convinced 
 him that the graces of elegant worldly con- 
 versation were out of place with the revela- 
 tion he read on their faces. Perhaps he, 
 too, was a trifle indisposed. The short 
 journey to the house was made in profound 
 silence. 
 
 The villa had been repainted and deco- 
 rated, and it looked fresher, and even, to 
 their preoccupied minds, appeared more at- 
 tractive than ever. Thoughtful hands had 
 
302 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 taken care of the vines and rose-bushes on 
 the trellises ; water that precious element 
 in Devil's Ford had not been spared in 
 keeping green through the long drought the 
 plants which the girls had so tenderly nur- 
 tured. It was the one oasis in which the 
 summer still lingered; and yet a singular 
 sense of loss came over the girls as they 
 once more crossed its threshold. It seemed 
 no longer their own. 
 
 " Ef I was you, Miss Christie, I 'd keep 
 close to the house for a day or. two, until 
 until things is settled," said Dick ; 
 "there's a heap o' tramps and sich cattle 
 trapsin' round. P'raps you would n't feel 
 so lonesome if you was nearer town for 
 instance, 'bout wher' you useter live." 
 
 " In the dear old cabin," said Christie 
 quickly ; " I remember it ; I wish we were 
 there now." 
 
 "Do you really? Do you?" said 
 Whiskey Dick, with suddenly twinkling 
 eyes. " That 's like you to say it. That 's 
 what I allus said," continued Dick, address- 
 ing space generally ; " if there 's any one 
 
DEVWS FORD. 303 
 
 ez knows how to come square down to the 
 bottom rock without flinchin', it 's your high- 
 toned, fash'nable gals. But I must mean- 
 der back to town, and let the boys know 
 you 're in possession, safe and sound. It 's 
 right mean that Fairfax and Mattingly had 
 to go down to Lagrange on some low busi- 
 ness yesterday, but they '11 be back to-mor- 
 row. So long." 
 
 Left alone, the girls began to realize their 
 strange position. They had conceived no 
 settled plan. The night they left San Fran- 
 cisco they had written an earnest letter to 
 their father, telling him that on learning 
 the truth about the reverses of Devil's Ford, 
 they thought it their duty to return and 
 share them with others, without obliging 
 him to prefer the request, and with as little 
 worry to him as possible. He would find 
 them ready to share his trials, and in what 
 must be the scene of their work hereafter. 
 
 " It will'bring father back," said Christie; 
 " he won't leave us here alone ; and then to- 
 gether we must come to some understanding 
 with him with them for somehow I feel 
 as if this house belonged to us no longer." 
 
304 DEV1D8 FORD. 
 
 Her surmise was not far wrong. When 
 Mr. Carr arrived hurriedly from Sacramento 
 the next evening, he found the house de- 
 serted. His daughters were gone ; there 
 were indications that they had arrived, and, 
 for some reason, suddenly departed. The 
 vague fear that had haunted his guilty soul 
 after receiving their letter, and during his 
 breathless journey, now seemed to be real- 
 ized. He was turning from the empty house, 
 whose reproachful solitude frightened him, 
 when he was confronted on the threshold by 
 the figure of Fairfax Munroe. 
 
 " I came to the stage office to meet you," 
 he said ; " you must have left the stage at 
 the summit." 
 
 " I did," said Carr angrily. " I was anx- 
 ious to meet my daughters quickly, to know 
 the reason of their foolish alarm, and to 
 know also who had been frightening them. 
 Where are they ? " 
 
 " They are safe in the old cabin beyond, 
 that has been put up ready to receive them 
 again," said Fairfax quietly. 
 
 " But what is the meaning of this ? Why 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 305 
 
 are they not here ? " demanded Carr, hiding 
 his agitation in a burst of querulous rage. 
 
 " Do you ask, Mr. Carr ? " said Fairfax 
 sadly. " Did you expect them to remain 
 here until the sheriff took possession ? No 
 one knows better than yourself that the 
 money advanced you on the deeds of this 
 homestead has never been repaid." 
 
 Carr staggered, but recovered himself with 
 feeble violence. 
 
 " Since you know so much of my affairs, 
 how do you know that this claim will ever be 
 pressed for payment ? How do you know it 
 is not the advance of a a friend ? " 
 
 " Because I have seen the woman who ad- 
 vanced it," said Fairfax hopelessly. " She 
 was here to look at the property before your 
 daughters came." 
 
 " Well ? " said Carr nervously. 
 
 " Well ! You force me to tell you some- 
 thing I should like to forget. You force me 
 to anticipate a disclosure I expected to make 
 to you only when I came to ask permission 
 to woo your daughter Jessie; and when I 
 tell you what it is, you will understand that 
 
306 DEVWB FORD. 
 
 I have no right to criticise your conduct. I 
 am only explaining my own." 
 
 " Go on," said Carr impatiently. 
 
 " When I first came to this country, there 
 was a woman I loved passionately. She 
 treated me as women of her kind only treat 
 men like me, she ruined me, and left me. 
 That was four years ago. Hove your daugh- 
 ter, Mr. Carr, but she has never heard it 
 from my lips. I would not woo her until I 
 had told you all. I have tried to do it ere 
 this, and failed. Perhaps I should not now, 
 but" 
 
 " But what ? " said Carr furiously ; " speak 
 out ! " 
 
 " But this. Look ! " said Fairfax, pro- 
 ducing from his pocket the packet of letters 
 Jessie had found ; " perhaps you know the 
 handwriting ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " gasped Carr. 
 
 " That woman my mistress is the 
 woman who advanced you money, and who 
 claims this house." 
 
 The interview, and whatever came of it, 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 307 
 
 remained a secret with the two men. When 
 Mr. Carr accepted the hospitality of the old 
 cabin again, it was understood that he had 
 sacrificed the new house and its furniture 
 to some of the more pressing debts of the 
 mine, and the act went far to restore his 
 waning popularity. But a more genuine 
 feeling of relief was experienced by Devil's 
 Ford when it was rumored that Fairfax 
 Munroe had asked for the hand of Jessie 
 Carr, and that some promise, contingent 
 upon the equitable adjustment of the affairs 
 of the mine, had been given by Mr. Carr. 
 To the superstitious mind of Devil's Ford 
 and its few remaining locators, this new 
 partnership seemed to promise that unity of 
 interest and stability of fortune that Devil's 
 Ford had lacked. But nothing could be 
 done until the rainy .season had set fairly 
 in ; until the long-looked-f or element that was 
 to magically separate the gold from the dross 
 in those dull mounds of dust and gravel had 
 come of its own free will, and in its own 
 appointed channels, independent of the fee- 
 ble auxiliaries that had hopelessly riven the 
 
308 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 rocks on the hillside, or hung incomplete 
 and unfinished in lofty scaffoldings above 
 the settlement. 
 
 The rainy season came early. At first in 
 gathered mists on the higher peaks that 
 were lifted in the morning sun only to show 
 a fresher field of dazzling white below ; in 
 white clouds that at first seemed to be mere 
 drifts blown across from those fresh snow- 
 fields, and obscuring the clear blue above ; 
 in far-off murmurs in the hollow hills and 
 gulches ; in nearer tinkling melody and baby 
 prattling in the leaves. It came with bright 
 flashes of sunlight by day, with deep, monot- 
 onous shadow at night ; with the onset of 
 heavy winds, the roar of turbulent woods, 
 the tumultuous tossing of leafy arms, and 
 with what seemed the silent dissolution of 
 the whole landscape in days of steady and 
 uninterrupted downfall. It came extrava- 
 gantly, for every canon had grown into a 
 torrent, every gulch a waterspout, every wa- 
 tercourse a river, and all pouring into the 
 North Fork, that, rushing past the settle- 
 ment, seemed to threaten it with lifted crest 
 
DEVWS FORD. 309 
 
 and flying mane. It came dangerously, for 
 one night the river, leaping the feeble bar- 
 rier of Devil's Ford, swept away houses and 
 banks, scattered with unconscious irony the 
 laboriously collected heaps of gravel left for 
 hydraulic machinery, and spread out a vast 
 and silent lake across the submerged flat. 
 
 In the hurry and confusion of that night, 
 the girls had thrown open their cabin to the 
 escaping miners, who hurried along the slope 
 that was now the bank of the river. Sud- 
 denly Christie felt her arm grasped, and she 
 was half led, half dragged, into the inner 
 room. Her father stood before her. 
 
 "Where is George Kearney?" he asked 
 tremulously. 
 
 " George Kearney ! " echoed Christie, for 
 a moment believing the excitement had 
 turned her father's brain. "You know he is 
 not here ; he is in San Francisco." 
 
 " He is here I tell you," said Carr im- 
 patiently ; " he has been here ever since the 
 high water, trying to save the flume and res- 
 ervoir." 
 
 " George here ! " Christie could only 
 gasp. 
 
310 DEVWS FORD. 
 
 " Yes ! He passed here a few moments 
 ago, to see if you were all safe, and he has 
 gone on towards the flume. But what he is 
 trying to do is madness. If you see him, im- 
 plore him to do no more. Let him aban- 
 don the accursed flume to its fate. It has 
 worked already too much woe upon us all ; 
 why should it carry his brave and youthful 
 soul down with it ? " 
 
 The words were still ringing in her ears, 
 when he suddenly passed away, with the 
 hurrying crowd. Scarcely knowing what 
 she did, she ran out, vaguely intent only on 
 one thought, seeking only the one face, lately 
 so dear in recollection that she felt she 
 would die if she never saw it again. Per- 
 plexed by confused voices in the woods, she 
 lost track of the crowd, until the voices sud- 
 denly were raised in one loud outcry, fol- 
 lowed by the crashing of timber, the splash- 
 ing of water, a silence, and then a dull, 
 continuous roar. She ran vaguely on in the 
 direction of the reservoir, with her father's 
 injunction still in her mind, until a terrible 
 idea displaced it, and she turned at right 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 311 
 
 angles suddenly, and ran towards the slope 
 leading down to the submerged flat. She 
 had barely left the shelter of the trees be- 
 hind her before the roar of water seemed to 
 rise at her very feet. She stopped, dazed, 
 bewildered, and horror-stricken, on the edge 
 of the slope. It was the slope no longer, 
 but the bank of the river itself ! 
 
 Even in the gray light of early morning, 
 and with inexperienced eyes, she saw all too 
 clearly now. The trestle-work had given 
 way ; the curving mile of flume, fallen into 
 the stream, and crushed and dammed against 
 the opposite shore, had absolutely turned 
 the whole river through the half-finished 
 ditch and partly excavated mine in its way, 
 a few rods further on to join the old fa- 
 miliar channel. The bank of the river was 
 changed ; the flat had become an island, be- 
 tween which and the slope where she stood 
 the North Fork was rolling its resistless yel- 
 low torrent. As she gazed spellbound, a por- 
 tion of the slope beneath her suddenly seemed 
 to sink and crumble, and was swallowed up 
 in the rushing stream. She heard a cry of 
 
312 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 warning behind her, but, rooted to the spot 
 by a fearful fascination, she heeded it not. 
 Again there was a sudden disruption, and 
 another part of the slope sank to rise no 
 more; but this time she felt herself seized 
 by the waist and dragged back. It was her 
 father standing by her side. 
 
 He was flushed and excited, gazing at the 
 water with a strange exultation. 
 
 "Do you see it? Do you know what 
 has happened ? " he asked quickly. 
 
 " The flume has fallen and turned the 
 river," said Christie hurriedly. " But 
 have you seen him is he safe ? " 
 
 " He who ? " he answered vacantly. 
 
 " George Kearney ! " 
 
 " He is safe," he said impatiently. " But, 
 do you see, Christie ? Do you know what 
 this means ? " 
 
 He pointed with his tremulous hand to 
 the stream- before them. 
 
 " It means we are ruined," said Christie 
 coldly. 
 
 " Nothing of the kind ! It means that 
 the river is doing the work of the flume. It 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 313 
 
 is sluicing off the gravel, deepening the ditch, 
 and altering the slope which was the old 
 bend of the river. It will do in ten minutes 
 the work that would take us a year. If we 
 can stop it in time, or control it, we are safe ; 
 but if we cannot, it will carry away the bed 
 and deposit with the rest, and we are ruined 
 again." 
 
 With a gesture of impotent fury, he dashed 
 away in the direction of an equally excited 
 crowd, that on a point of the slope nearer the 
 island were gesticulating and shouting to a 
 second group of men, who 011 the opposite 
 shore were clambering on over the choked 
 debris of the flume that had dammed and 
 diverted the current. It was evident that 
 the same idea had occurred to them, and they 
 were risking their lives in the attempt to set 
 free the impediments. Shocked and indig- 
 nant as Christie had been at the degrading 
 absorption of material interests at such a mo- 
 ment, the element of danger lifted the labors 
 of these men into heroism, and she began to 
 feel a strange exultation as she watched 
 them. Under the skilful blows of their 
 
314 LEV IDS FORD. 
 
 axes, in a few moments the vast body of 
 drift began to disintegrate, and then to 
 swing round and move towards the old chan- 
 nel. A cheer went up, but as suddenly died 
 away again. An overlapping fringe of wreck- 
 age had caught on the point of the island 
 and arrested the whole mass. 
 
 The men, who had gained the shore with 
 difficulty, looked back with a cry of despair. 
 But the next moment from among them 
 leaped a figure, alert, buoyant, invincible, 
 and, axe in hand, once more essayed the pas- 
 sage. Springing from timber to timber he 
 at last reached the point of obstruction. A 
 few strokes of the axe were sufficient to 
 clear it ; but at the first stroke it was appar- 
 ent that the striker was also losing his hold 
 upon the shore, and that he must inevitably 
 be carried away with the tossing debris. 
 But this consideration did not seem to affect 
 him ; the last blow was struck, and as the 
 freed timbers rolled on, over and over, he 
 boldly plunged into the flood. Christie gave 
 a little cry her heart had bounded with 
 him ; it seemed as if his plunge had splashed 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 315 
 
 the water in her eyes. He did not come to 
 the surface until he had passed the point be- 
 low where her father stood, and then strug- 
 gling feebly, as if stunned or disabled by a 
 blow. It seemed to her that he was trying 
 to approach the side of the river where she 
 was. Would he do it? Could she help 
 him ? She was alone ; he was hidden from 
 the view of the men on the point, anct no 
 succor could come from them. There was 
 a fringe of alder nearly opposite their cabin 
 that almost overhung the stream. She ran 
 to it, clutched it with a frantic hand, and, 
 leaning over the boiling water, uttered for 
 the first time his name. 
 
 " George ! " 
 
 As if called to the surface by the magic 
 of her voice, he rose a few yards from her 
 in mid-current, and turned his fading eyes 
 towards the bank. In another moment he 
 would have been swept beyond her reach, 
 but with a supreme effort he turned on one 
 side ; the current, striking him sideways, 
 threw him towards the bank, and she caught 
 him by his sleeve. For an instant it seemed 
 
316 DEVIL'S FORD. 
 
 as if she would be dragged down with him. 
 For one dangerous moment she did not care, 
 and almost yielded to the spell ; but as the 
 rush of water pressed him against the bank, 
 she recovered herself, and managed to lift 
 him beyond its reach. And then she sat 
 down, half fainting, with his white face and 
 damp curls upon her breast. 
 
 " George, darling, speak to me ! Only 
 one word ! Tell me, have I saved you ? " 
 
 His eyes opened. A faint twinkle of the 
 old days came to them a boyish smile 
 played upon his lips. 
 
 " For yourself or Jessie ? " 
 
 She looked around her with a little fright- 
 ened air. They were alone. There was 
 but one way of sealing those mischievous 
 lips, and she found it ! 
 
 " That 's what I allus said, gentlemen," 
 lazily remarked Whikkey Dick, a few weeks 
 later, leaning back against the bar, with his 
 glass in his hand. " ' George,' sez I, ' it ain't 
 what you say to a fash'nable, high-toned 
 young lady ; it 's what you does ez makes 
 
DEVIL'S FORD. 317 
 
 or breaks you.' And that 's what I sez gin'- 
 rally o' things in the Ford. It ain't what 
 Carr and you boys allows to do ; it 's the 
 gin'ral average o' things ez iz done that gives 
 tone to the hull, and hez brought this yer 
 new luck to you all ! "