LIBRARY 
 
 OK THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Y. M. C. A. OF U. O, 
 
 Accession \ 1.7.6.6 Class . 
 
Code 
 
 REP01 
 
 Dept. 
 
 Thi s option only 
 
 .se 
 owned 
 
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 and report on sheet C) 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1SS4, 
 BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 I. Too late! . 5 
 
 II. Retrospective. Introductions 12 
 
 III. Retrospective. A Purchase 27 
 
 IV. A Welcome Visitor 49 
 
 V. Was it a Dream? 63 
 
 VI. "My House is my Castle" 73 
 
 VII. A Change of Base 82 
 
 VIII." Out of the Depths " . 08 
 
 IX. " John Buridan s Ass " 113 
 
 X. A Wonderful Woman 123 
 
 XI. First Impressions 141 
 
 XII. The Woman and the Man 149 
 
 XIII. The Morning after 169 
 
 XIV. " They have come !" 185 
 
 XV. "Go, and sin no more!" 199 
 
 XVL "Did he wish to see her again?" 213 
 
 XVII. Diplomacy .221 
 
 XVIII. Negotiations 231 
 
 XIX. A Movement in Politics 242 
 
 XX. "Three Cheers for Tyscovus!" 258 
 
 XXL " $5,000 Luke Kittle" 272 
 
 XXII. " Mr. Bosler s Twelfth Victim " 283 
 
 XXIII. "Lai must go!" 296 
 
 101766 
 
iv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGEI 
 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 XXIV. A Renewed Acquaintanceship 
 
 XXV." That Lesson is for you !" 314 
 
 XXVI. "An Admirable Crichton" 326 
 
 XXV1L On the Brink 341 
 
 XXVIII. " Thank God, you are safe!" 35 ? 
 
 XXIX. In the Toils of the Enemy . ... 370 
 
 XXX. Broken Fetters 89 
 
 XXXI. The Destiny of the Pine-Tree 403 
 
 XXXII." Look at me again ! " 
 
 XXXIII. Lai s Story is told 436 
 
 XXXIV." Will you be my Wife, Lai ? Good-by ! " . . .454 
 
L A L 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 TOO LATE ! 
 
 years ago, near the point where the road from 
 Hellbender to Bill Dodd s Gallon crosses Wildcat Creek, 
 there stood on a rocky knoll, rising from a prairie stretch 
 ing for many miles in every direction, a log-cabin, consist 
 ing of what, in the vernacular of that region, is known as 
 "two pens and a passage." This structure was of the 
 rudest and most primitive description. It was built of un- 
 hewed logs, rough with the bark they wore as they stood in 
 the forest high up on the mountain-side. The wide spaces 
 between them were " chinked" with bits of stone and wood, 
 and the rafters were covered in some places with slabs of cot- 
 tonwood and in others with pieces of old tents and various 
 similar materials, that originally had served for far differ 
 ent purposes. The chinking had not been done with that 
 thoroughness which the honest workman puts into every 
 piece he turns out from his hands, for there were many 
 crevices that allowed the wind to enter freely, and that in 
 the winter made the cabin rather uncomfortable for the in 
 habitants ; for the winters in that part of the country were 
 hard, beginning early and ending late, and being severe 
 while they lasted. 
 
 There was no stint of space in the rooms of this cabin 
 
6 
 
 LAL. 
 
 or in the passage-way between them. The architect that 
 had presided over its construction was evidently a man not 
 fettered by rules of symmetry or of proportion ; but he was 
 just as clearly one endowed with large ideas. He had set 
 out to build a house in which he could not only "swing a 
 cat by the tail " without danger of breaking the animal s 
 skull, but one also in which he could move about with 
 that freedom which those who live much in the open air 
 regard as indispensable for their comfort ; and certainly 
 he had succeeded in his task more completely than many 
 more ambitious and better educated architects had done 
 before him. It was not an elegant house, but it suited 
 him and those who were to occupy it with him, and, as he 
 had constructed it for his own and their use, no one else had 
 any right to find fault with his methods. Occasionally, 
 when the wind blew especially hard, and rifts of snow or 
 sprays of rain came driving in through the unchinked 
 spaces between the logs, his wife or daughter might vent 
 ure on a word or two of complaint ; but this was seldom, 
 and the murmurings were so evidently reasonable that he 
 did not have it in his heart to contradict them. 
 
 Then, again, the doors were a good deal too small for 
 the apertures they were intended to close, and thus another 
 means of ventilation was afforded. Being hung on leathern 
 hinges, made from pieces of old boots, they sagged more 
 than was altogether compatible with smooth and easy mo 
 tion. The windows, however, by their size, compensated 
 to some extent for the smallness of the doors, for as he 
 himself the architect and owner had graphically put it, 
 " they was so dar nation tight that they would neither open 
 when they was shet nor shot when they was open." The 
 chimney, built of sticks crossed, " pig-pen fashion," and 
 daubed with clay, had never since its erection been strictly 
 vertical. It had been blown down once, and washed down 
 twice by the tornadoes and rain-storms so common in the 
 
TOO LATE! 7 
 
 country, and with each rebuilding had been set up with less 
 regard for the principles of perpendicularity governing the 
 construction of chimneys, until now, at a little distance, it 
 looked not unlike an enormous centiped crawling up the side 
 of the house. As to the roof, it had been carried away sev 
 eral times by the winds, and in spite of its numerous 
 patches always let in more or less water when rain or snow 
 fell. Indeed, it would have been easy on any clear night 
 to study the motions of the stars through its many open 
 ings. 
 
 But, for all these things, the house was, as the owner 
 remarked to an intending purchaser, who had called on 
 him that day and of whom we shall presently have more 
 to say "a darn sight better warmin -place in a cold snap 
 than half the ranches the boys has in these parts ; and ef 
 you don t believe me, stranger, jist you try one o them 
 cabins over at The Canon some night when a blizzard s 
 blowin and ef you don t wish you was here you may call 
 me a liar." 
 
 This confidence of the owner in the comfort-giving 
 qualities of his house had apparently not been unheeded by 
 the new-comer ; for the bargain had been struck without 
 his attempting the terrible experiment suggested, and con 
 sequently without the opportunity of questioning the ve 
 racity of the gentleman with whom he was dealing. 
 
 Possession was given immediately, and then Jim Bosler 
 and his wife and daughter entered a wagon, into which a 
 pair of stout horses, ostensibly belonging to that individual, 
 had been hitched, and drove slowly down the winding road 
 leading to the plain below. And John Tyscovus began the 
 occupation of his newly acquired estate, embracing not only 
 the house, but the knoll, a rude hut at its base that served 
 as a stable, and about ten acres of prairie-land. 
 
 The purchaser had walked twenty miles that day, and 
 was tired ; so he made a big fire of cottonwood logs, ate 
 
8 LAL. 
 
 his supper of hard bread and toasted bacon, and then, light 
 ing his pipe, sat by the fire, absorbing its heat while he 
 puffed great whiffs of smoke from his mouth. For nearly 
 half an hour he remained motionless, apparently lost in the 
 thoughts passing through his mind. Finally, he roused 
 himself, emptied the ashes from his burned-out pipe on the 
 hearth, and then strode two or three times across the solid 
 oak floor that rested directly upon the still more solid earth. 
 Then, for the first time, he made a careful survey of his 
 new acquisition, lighting a pine-knot and visiting the room 
 on the other side of the passage. "It is not much of a 
 place," he said aloud as he returned to the apartment he 
 had just left, " but it will do, and to-morrow I shall begin 
 my work." Then he opened his knapsack, took out several 
 books and bundles of papers, and a map very much marked 
 with pencil-tracings of routes and localities, which the 
 maker had not thought it worth his while to indicate. 
 The former he laid on the table, but the map he hung on 
 the wall. For several minutes he continued to pace the 
 room, his head bent upon his chest and his hands clasped 
 behind his back. Every now and then he stopped to in 
 spect the map, following out with his finger certain courses, 
 and, to judge by the expression on his face, well pleased 
 witli the result of his examination. Then he threw two or 
 three sticks of resinous pine on the fire, and, turning over 
 the books on the table, appeared to be in search of a volume, 
 which, however, he did not find. He seemed troubled at 
 this result, and, again lighting a pine-knot, went out to the 
 passage and looked carefully over the floor, and then out on 
 the ground in front of the house. Still not discovering 
 the object for which he was looking, he proceeded slowly 
 down the patli by which he had ascended the hill, holding 
 his extemporized torch close to the earth and minutely in 
 specting every inch of the ground. He went as far as a 
 large bowlder about half-way down the path, and then, still 
 
TOO LATE! 9 
 
 unsuccessful in his search, he slowly retraced his steps. 
 "It seems to be gone," he said, regretfully. "I would 
 rather have lost every other book I own than that ; and yet 
 I do not see how it can so utterly have disappeared." He 
 looked again through his knapsack, and around the room, 
 but the book was nowhere to be seen. Reluctantly he 
 abandoned his efforts, and, wrapping himself in a blanket, 
 lay down in front of the fire, with his knapsack for a pil 
 low, and was soon sound asleep. 
 
 He had slept probably two hours, when he was partially 
 roused by the sound of many voices and the tramping of 
 heavily-shod feet on the floor of the passage. Before he 
 could, in his half-awakened state, collect his thoughts, the 
 door of the room in which he slept was burst from its 
 rotten hinges, and a dozen or more men with pine-knot 
 torches and revolvers in their hands crowded into the 
 apartment. 
 
 "It s no use, Jim, "said the leader of the party ; " we ve 
 got you this time sure, and your hour s come. Ef you ve 
 any message to leave, or any other little thing of that sort 
 you d like attended to, jist signify the same and I ll see to 
 it, as certain as ef I was doin it for a honest man." 
 
 "But, my friends," began the now fully awakened man 
 to whom this comforting speech had been addressed "my 
 name " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! your name is jist anything you ve a mind to 
 call yourself, but in these parts you re known as Jim Bos- 
 ler, the horse-thief, and you ve got to swing inside o five 
 minutes ! So, ef you want to pray, or tell where you hid 
 the money you got from them Canon fellows for Doc Willis s 
 mare, why, you d better begin at once, for the time s short." 
 
 "But," again attempted the owner, "I never stole a 
 horse in my life, and my name is not Jim Bosler." 
 
 "That s not Jim, sure !" said a man with a torch in his 
 hand, coming forward and holding it so that the light fell 
 
10 LAL. 
 
 full in the face of the intended victim, showing it to all in 
 the room "that s not Jim Bosler. I ought to know, for 
 he was my pard for more n a year, and would a bin yit, for 
 all I know, ef he hadn t a-took a likin to my mule." 
 
 "No !" exclaimed several others "that s not Jim." 
 
 " Not Jim not Jim Bosler ! " cried the leader, in aston 
 ishment. " Well, now, gentlemen, you ought to know, for / 
 never seed the darned cuss in my life, although he s run off 
 a dozen o my best stock. But ef that s not Jim Bosler 
 and I must own there s doubts arisin in my mind on that 
 p int why, all I ve got to say is, that we ve made a all-fired 
 flummux of the whole matter. This rope," he continued, 
 taking a stout cord from his pocket, " ain t no manner o 
 use this time, and we ve got to git back to Hellbender with 
 our tails, so to speak, atween our legs. Ain t that so, 
 gents ? " 
 
 "Well, I know," said another of the party, "that that 
 gent ain t no Jim Bosler. Jim, when I last seen him, was 
 a short, thick-set man, with a broken nose and only one eye, 
 and he had all-fired red hair, and was fifty year old, and 
 lie didn t talk any more like this ere gent than a poll-par 
 rot talks like a primy donny. Leastwise that s the sort 
 of a cuss Jim was last Saturday when I seen him at The 
 Canon. Now I axes you all ef this ere gent answers to 
 that bill?" 
 
 " No ! " cried several of the party with one voice. 
 
 "It is quite true, gentlemen," said John Tyscovus, 
 whose face had all through the discussion, notwithstand 
 ing his peril, worn an amused expression " it is quite 
 true that I am not Jim Bosler. That individual left here 
 several hours ago, after disposing of his property to me. 
 Allow me to express my regret at your disappointment, and 
 my satisfaction that you discovered your error before you 
 had proceeded to extremities." 
 
 "So you ve come to live among us?" said the chief 
 
TOO LATE! 11 
 
 spokesman of the party. " I guess you ve bought about the 
 only thing in these parts as belonged to Jim Bosler by 
 rights. We ve barked up the wrong tree this time, boys," 
 he continued, addressing his followers ; "Jim must a got 
 wind of this little business somehow, and took himself off 
 in time to save his neck. I sort o feared as much when I 
 looked in the stable as we come up the butte, and seen the 
 wagon and horses was gone. But, we re bound to ketch 
 him some time or nother, unless he makes tracks out o 
 these parts quicker nor lightnin . Come ! don t let s keep 
 the gentleman up any longer. Perhaps we may meet ag in 
 some time," he went on, addressing Tyscovus, " specially 
 as you ve come to stay ; and, ef we do, we ll likely know 
 one nother. My name s Brattle, and yours is " 
 
 " Tyscovus," interrupted that gentleman. 
 
 "Well, that s the queerest name as ever I heard; is it 
 Dutch ? sounds to me like Latin ; but I ain t no jedge of 
 your furrin languidges. However, a name s no thin , as 
 Shakespeare says. You look like a trump, and we ve done 
 you some trouble, for which we re sorry. So, good-night, 
 and * may you live long and prosper ! as old Rip says. Come, 
 boys !" turning to the men as he spoke, "let s be off. The 
 darned skunk s got away this time, darn his ugly picter ! " 
 Saying which, he and his party filed out of the room, leav 
 ing Tyscovus to meditate over his first night s experience 
 on his estate, and the risk he had run of playing that most 
 undesirable role of a vicarious victim. He listened for sev 
 eral minutes to the loud talking and laughing of the men 
 as they descended the knoll. Then, after all was quiet, he 
 again fell asleep. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE. INTRODUCTIONS. 
 
 THE knoll, or "butte," as a hill was called by the set 
 tlers, upon which the cabin reared its unshapely mass, was 
 in form very much like a truncated sugar-loaf. The flat 
 surface on the top was probably a hundred feet in diameter, 
 and in the center, as nearly as the eye could judge, stood 
 the cabin, with nothing between it and the horizon on any 
 side, except one giant pine-tree, which, springing from the 
 side of the hill half-way up from its base, seemed as much 
 out of place on the knoll as the knoll was out of place on 
 the plain. There was no other vegetation, either on the 
 flat top or steep and rocky sides, save a few scattered tufts 
 of buffalo-grass, and here and there a stunted cactus-plant 
 which grew in the crevices. The pine-tree (although wood 
 was rather scarce in that locality) had hitherto managed 
 to escape destruction. Several times Bosler had taken an 
 axe and started out to cut it down for fire-wood ; but each 
 time he had experienced such a strong feeling of repug 
 nance to the necessary physical exertion incident to the act, 
 that he had returned to the house a colder but less ex 
 hausted man. This tree, rising as it did above the summit 
 of the buttc, with its limbs running out at right angles to 
 the trunk, and one of them a convenient distance above 
 the ground, would have admirably served the purpose of 
 the vigilance committee in their public-spirited if unlawful 
 intentions against Mr. Bosler, had they succeeded in lay- 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. INTRODUCTIONS. 13 
 
 ing hands on that sharp-witted individual. Hanging, in 
 that part of the country, was effected after a very primitive 
 method, when not performed under the auspices of the law ; 
 and it was seldom the case that this social institution had 
 any say in the matter. A rope thrown over a limb, such as 
 the one we have described, one end of which was fastened 
 around the supposed criminal s neck, and the other held by 
 the hands of half a dozen strong men pulling vigorously, 
 answered every purpose ; fulfilling all the requirements of 
 the occasion, safely, quickly, and as pleasantly as was com 
 patible with the object in view " Tuto, cito, et jucunde," 
 as Hippocrates says, in describing the action of a favorite 
 medicine. If the subject of the operation struggled and 
 squirmed more than was considered altogether decorous, 
 his suspended body was riddled with bullets, and his sup 
 posed agonies were thus still more rapidly hastened to an 
 end. 
 
 A hundred yards or so to the east of the butte flowed 
 Wildcat Creek on its way to Bobtail Eiver, as the people 
 called it, though it was said to have owed its name to a 
 French hunter called Bobataille, who discovered it many 
 years ago. The banks, though not high, were steep, and 
 were bordered with cottonwood- trees and scrub-oak bushes, 
 with here and there an American poplar and a sycamore. 
 It was full of trout, not very different from those found in 
 Eastern waters so far as their appearance went, but, from 
 unfamiliarity with the wiles of man, altogether tamer in 
 their ways, and hence not giving so high a degree of zest to 
 the pleasure of the angler. 
 
 It was not much of a creek in ordinary times. It came 
 down from the mountains only a few miles off to the north, 
 and after falling rapidly in its course down the bottom of 
 the canon, sputtering and spuming like a veritable cat 
 aract, as it jumped from terrace to terrace and bowlder 
 to bowlder, it suddenly became a respectable, easy-going, 
 
14 LAL. 
 
 and unemotional stream, as it flowed peacefully through 
 the broad prairie covered with yellow buffalo-grass, till it 
 reached Bobtail River. 
 
 But, for an hour or two after a thunder-storm, Wild 
 cat Creek was throughout its whole course an angry tor 
 rent. Often it overflowed its bounds and flooded the 
 meadows that lay between its western bank and Bobtail 
 River. Many a cabin had been demolished, and many an 
 ox, horse, and sheep been swept away, in the overwhelming 
 waters. As Bobtail River generally felt the effects of the 
 storms and thaws even more decidedly than Wildcat 
 Creek, though not quite so suddenly, it was usually the 
 case that, when a flood came, either from rain or from the 
 melting of the winter s snows, the whole country around 
 was one wide expanse of water. It was doubtless to avoid 
 the inconvenience of being swept off by one of these floods 
 that Jim Bosler had built his house high above the danger- 
 line. Perhaps there were other reasons, that may be made 
 apparent in the course of this history. 
 
 Hellbender was a flourishing town when the first settler 
 drove in his stakes at Bill Dodd s Canon ; and it was still 
 the more respectable so far as the tone of its society, the 
 number of its churches, and the size and dignity of its 
 dwelling-houses were concerned. Near it to the south and 
 in a mountain-gorge was a deep lake, so deep in fact that 
 it was said no one had yet sounded its bottom. It was fed 
 entirely by the water from melted snow and ice which 
 flowed into it all through the summer months. It was a 
 cold, black, gloomy-looking lake, and the only inhabitant 
 which had yet been discovered in it was a species of that 
 remarkable batrachian to which naturalists give the name 
 of menobranchus, and which is called by the common peo 
 ple hellbender. Hence the name of the town. 
 
 But, although deficient in social standing, Bill Dodd s 
 Canon, or " The Canon," as it was now generally called, 
 
RETKOSPECTIVE. INTRODUCTIONS. 15 
 
 was much the larger place of the two. It was peopled with 
 men, women, and children from all parts of the world, 
 civilized and uncivilized ; and it was altogether a more en 
 terprising and a busier settlement than the older town. 
 People with very little morality, and many more with no 
 morality at all, they were ; but they were also vigorous, 
 progressive, and desperate. These qualities were likely to 
 be of more service to them in the region in which they 
 lived than any founded on a high-toned regard for the pro 
 prieties of life. A consistent Christian, or Jew, or Bud 
 dhist, would have had little chance of a prolonged existence 
 at The Caiion, or even of safety for his property. It was a 
 " word and a blow " with the people there, and generally 
 the blow came first, in the character of a bullet from a re 
 volver. 
 
 Not a day had passed for over a month that some one 
 had not been killed. It was getting to be monotonous ; and 
 one night at Crump s bar a drinking-place of even worse 
 repute than others at The Canon as quiet and as inoffen 
 sive a man as there was at the place, named Hallam, said, as 
 he leaned against the counter : " Five minutes to twelve, 
 and nary a fellow killed to-day. It was gittin to be quite 
 too usual, and hang me ef I ain t glad it s stopped." 
 
 " Perhaps you mean that for me," exclaimed our friend 
 Jim Bosler, as he drew his six-shooter and leveled it at Hal- 
 lam. " Tha r s still three minutes and a half to spare to 
 keep the thing a-goin , and I guess you ll do as well as any 
 other cuss ! " and, pulling the trigger, the victim gave a great 
 bound into the air and fell to the floor with a bullet through 
 his heart. Then Mr. Bosler looked around at the specta 
 tors in a savage sort of a way, still holding his smoking 
 pistol in his hand ready for the next customer, but, finding 
 no one to question the propriety of his act, he stalked out 
 of the room, whistling a merry air, and left the occupants 
 to pick up the dead. This was his eleventh man since he 
 
16 LAL. 
 
 had been in those parts. It might have been said of him, 
 as of a distinguished French murderer, that " he ought to 
 have had a cemetery of his own." 
 
 Hallani, however, had friends, and they intimated to 
 Mr. Bosler their disapproval of his summary proceedings, 
 and their intention to shoot him on sight if he staid 
 twenty-four hours longer at The Canon. They desired to 
 give him a chance for his life, for in his way he was at times a 
 useful man. It was only when he broke through the bounds 
 of what they regarded as the customs of good society that 
 they felt aggrieved, and this he always did when he had 
 imbibed too freely of the rot-gut " whisky that formed 
 the staple beverage of the inhabitants. He was therefore 
 advised that it would be prudent for him to confine himself 
 in future to his legitimate business of horse-stealing, pro 
 vided he restricted his operations to the comparatively 
 wealthy citizens of Hellbender, and brought the animals to 
 The Canon for sale at half their value. Six anonymous 
 letters informed him that he must depart at once, and be 
 take himself to his ranch at Wildcat Creek, under penalty, 
 in case of refusal to take the hint that at that particular 
 moment his room was more desirable than his company of 
 more effectual measures being adopted. 
 
 Mr. Bosler, influenced by the state of his emotions, 
 which at that time were somewhat disturbed through re 
 flections upon the narrow-minded policy of his enemies, 
 and the continued use of whisky, had declared with much 
 emphasis that he would " knock hell out of any skunk " 
 that interfered with his right of domicile, and make as many 
 graves necessary as Hallam had friends before he would stir 
 an inch ! But after much earnest thought, to which, as he 
 had run through his debauch, abstinence from his accus 
 tomed stimulus materially contributed, and a full consid 
 eration of the large odds against him if things went much 
 further, he very wisely concluded to kick the mud of Bill 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. lOTRODTTOTIONS. 1 7 
 
 D odd s Canon from his boots, and to seek the society of his 
 wife and daughter at the butte. In the abstract, he had 
 very little regard for the sanctity of human life ; but when 
 his own skin was in danger, and his brain was not befud 
 dled with the fumes of alcohol, his mental processes were 
 affected with a degree of accuracy and force that generally 
 led him to the safest if not the most righteous conclusions. 
 In the present instance the communications he had re 
 ceived went to the point with a directness that left noth 
 ing to be desired, and the advice they contained was couched 
 in language that, if not elegant, was a model of conciseness 
 and perspicuity. The writers evidently "meant business." 
 So, with the remark to his " pards " that if he could "find 
 the low-flung cusses as writ them letters, kingdom-come 
 would have an increase in its population," he set out for his 
 place of banishment with mingled feelings of sorrow and 
 anger. 
 
 His wife and daughter were already there, so that very 
 little change in the existing arrangements was necessary to 
 fit it for the occupancy of the husband and father. His 
 daughter, a girl of about seventeen years of age, slept in 
 one of the "pens," which at the same time was kitchen 
 and eating-room, while Mr. Bosler and his wife occupied 
 the other, which was also the family sitting-room when the 
 time for sociability arrived, or when visitors made their ap 
 pearance. In winter the passage was boarded up at both 
 ends, and thus a kind of anteroom to the other apartments 
 was furnished, and at the same time the cold blasts of air 
 that swept down from the mountains and up from the 
 prairie were, to some extent, impeded in their entrance to 
 the inhabited parts of the house. 
 
 The family had been reunited about a month, when one 
 afternoon it was in the early part of September, and the 
 days were hot Mr. Bosler, who was seated in his own 
 room, with his feet on the table before him, on which there 
 
18 LAL. 
 
 was also a bottle of whisky, his chair tilted back on its hind- 
 legs, and his face expressing a degree of inward satisfaction 
 that a glass or two of alcoholic liquor always developed in 
 him, happened to look out of the one window of the apart 
 ment, and saw coming along the road from Hellbender a 
 man toiling wearily and carrying a large knapsack on his 
 shoulders. The heat of the sun s rays was intense, the 
 road was dusty, and every now and then the traveler 
 stopped and rested his load on a long cane that he car 
 ried. Wayfarers were not common in that part of the 
 country, and Mr. Bosler watched the man with interest as 
 he gradually came nearer to the butte. " Ef he only had a 
 hoss, now," he said to himself, "dang me ef I wouldn t go 
 for it !" The knowledge that the individual did not pos 
 sess one of these useful animals on which Mr. Bosler could 
 lay his predatory hands appeared to have a somewhat dispir 
 iting influence. At any rate, something urged him to place 
 the mouth of the bottle near by in contact with his lips, and 
 he did not remove it till several gurgling sounds occurring, 
 showed that no inconsiderable portion of the contents had 
 gone down his throat. "Hello !" he continued, aloud, as 
 he returned to the window, " he s a-comin to the butte as 
 sure as a gun ! A parson, too, to jedge by the cut of his 
 toggery, or I m a liar. Good Lord ! Thar s work enough 
 for him in these parts, ef that s what he s lookin for." 
 
 The man had turned off from the main road and was 
 painfully climbing the path that led to Jim Bosler s cabin, 
 while this gentleman anxiously watched him from his com 
 manding point of observation. It was a steep hill the trav 
 eler had to surmount, and the path went almost perpendicu 
 larly up its side. There was a wagon-road that he might 
 have taken, but it was much longer, winding as it did 
 around the knoll, till, by its spiral course, it eventually 
 reached the top. Evidently he preferred the quick and 
 severe exertion of the shorter road. 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. INTRODUCTIONS. 19 
 
 "He s got jist about as much as he can stagger under," 
 resumed Mr. Bosler as he continued to watch the climber. 
 " Here, Moll ! " to his wife, who was in the passage engaged 
 at the wash-tub " here s the fellow you ve bin a-wishin 
 f or a parson to do your prayin for you ; come and take a 
 look at him." 
 
 Thus addressed, Mrs. Bosler ceased her work, approached 
 the window, and, with her husband, studied the appearance 
 of the stranger who was gradually nearing the house. She 
 was a woman of apparently about thirty-five years of age, 
 and, so far as facial characteristics went, the very opposite 
 of the head of the family ; her eyes and hair being of the 
 most intense black hue, while his hair was of a pale, 
 washed-out, carroty tint, and his one eye of that nonde 
 script color, neither gray, blue, nor green, so common with 
 members of the Scandinavian race. Her eyes were large, 
 full, and expressive of a certain kind of cheerful sadness, 
 which sets so well on some women. His one was small, 
 ferretty, blood-shot, and inclined to twinkle when the 
 owner s breast was more than usually disturbed either with 
 pleasant or painful emotions. She had been engaged in 
 the performance of the laundry-work of the family, it being 
 Monday, a day sacred to that duty through the force of 
 tradition. Her arms were bare, and her petticoat was 
 tucked up behind so as to protect it as much as possible 
 from the contaminating influence of the soap-suds. She 
 placed one arm akimbo, and rested the other lovingly on 
 her husband s shoulders. Evidently they were on very 
 good terms with each other. 
 
 The traveler made his way with difficulty, occasionally 
 stumbling over some unobserved obstacle, and once or twice 
 stopping in his ascent to turn and take a rapid survey 
 of the prairie through which Wildcat Creek and Bobtail 
 River ran. Far off to the north were several detached, 
 snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Madre, lit up with many 
 
shades of red, purple, and yellow, as the rays of the sun 
 fell upon them ; while to the east were high table-lands, 
 cut up by numerous canons, one of which, having been dis 
 covered and occupied by Bill Dodd, had been named after 
 that adventurer. 
 
 " I don t think he s a preacher," said Mrs. Bosler, after 
 a hurried but searching scrutiny of the traveler ; "he looks 
 more like a peddler, to my mind, and that s his pack on his 
 shoulders." 
 
 " Preacher or peddler, it s all one. He s comin here." 
 
 " That s true," replied the woman. " Don t you think, 
 Jim, you moughtgo down and give him a little h ist up the 
 hill ? It s steep, and he looks awful tired." 
 
 " Now, look here, Moll Bosler, did you ever know me do 
 such a all-fired soft thing as that ? Ef you want to help 
 him so darned bad you can jist do it yourself ! " 
 
 " So I will, Jim, and Lai with me Come, daughter," 
 she continued, opening the door and calling across the pas 
 sage into the other room. " Thar s a stranger comin up 
 the butte. Let s go down and give him a lift. Prehaps 
 he s a peddler, and then you can get them stockin s you was 
 wantin . " 
 
 The girl thus addressed was singing at the top of her 
 voice : 
 
 " It s a bargain, a bargain for you, young man, 
 It s a bargain, a bargain for you, young man ; 
 You promised for to marry me six months and more ago : 
 I ll keep you to your promise, and I ll never let you go." 
 
 "Don t you hear me, Lai ?" exclaimed Mrs. Bosler, in 
 louder and shriller tones, as the verse was repeated. " Come 
 out here at once ! Ef you want them stockin s, now s 
 your time." 
 
 Before the words were out of the woman s mouth the 
 singing ceased, and an untidy and scantily clad girl came 
 out into the passage. Her hair was hanging in long, black, 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. INTRODUCTIONS. 21 
 
 frowsy masses over her naked shoulders, and her face did 
 not exhibit any obvious indications of a recent acquaintance 
 with soap and water. A single garment, much the worse for 
 dirt and wear, and rather shorter at both ends than was 
 altogether proper, covered a portion of her body ; her feet 
 were bare : certainly she wanted stockings as well as other 
 articles of female apparel. Still, she was not a bad-looking 
 girl, in spite of the disadvantages in the way of cleanliness 
 and adornment under which she labored. Her black eyes, 
 with their intelligent and thoughtful though good-natured 
 expression, her well-formed and white teeth which she 
 liberally displayed when she laughed, and her shapely 
 mouth ample but not overlarge made altogether an en 
 semble that was capable of exciting both admiration and 
 interest in most of those who might take the trouble to 
 study her face. In some respects she resembled her 
 mother, but she had not a single feature of her father s in 
 her whole physical organization. To look at the two, no 
 one would have supposed that they bore even the most dis 
 tant relationship to each other, much less that they were 
 father and daughter. She was rather above than below the 
 medium height, was well and strongly put together, was 
 muscular without being bony, and graceful in her move 
 ments, without perhaps possessing that suppleness of motion 
 resulting from slenderness. Her hands and feet, though 
 giving evidence of hard usage, were nevertheless small and 
 well made. Clearly, she was rough and uncouth in mind 
 and body. She had grown up like a garden- weed, untu 
 tored and uncared for. Yes, even worse ; for the good points 
 that Nature had put into her had not even been allowed 
 to develop after their own way, but had been dwarfed and 
 twisted and deformed, and crowded out of place, by the 
 circumstances under which she had lived as a child and ex 
 panded into womanhood. 
 
 "What air you doin , Lai, that you can t hear when 
 
22 
 
 you re spoken to ? " said her mother, with some degree of 
 asperity in her voice. " Here have I bin a-callin to yon, 
 and you go on singin as ef you had no thin to do all day 
 but screech." 
 
 "Well, mother," answered the girl, "I was cleanin 
 them fish I ketched this mornin , and singin a song I learnt 
 over at The Gallon last Sunday. Thar ain t no harm in 
 singin , is thar ? " 
 
 " Harm or no harm ain t no matter now ; don t you see 
 thar s a man comin up the butte ? He s give out with his 
 load, and you and me s got to go down and help him to lift 
 it. Prehaps he s got things to sell, and ef we help him 
 we ll git em cheap." 
 
 " A strange man, and me without no frock and nothin ! 
 Jist wait, mam, till I tidy up a bit." 
 
 " Now, Lai Bosler, ef you ve got to fix up and make 
 yourself decent, you can jist go back to your singin and 
 fish-cleanin , and I ll do the job myself. No, you needn t 
 bother yourself," as the girl snatched up a dilapidated 
 shawl and threw it over her shoulders. " I ll do it myself. 
 I ve lifted heavier things nor that pack in my time, and I 
 kin do it ag in, I guess. Go back to your fish-cleanin and 
 your scrcechin , and leave the man to me." 
 
 " All right, mam," said the girl, good-humoredly ; " it 
 ain t much clothes as I ve got, but I like to put some of em 
 on when strangers is about, specially if they re men. I ll 
 be all fixed by the time you re here ag in. You mought 
 ask him about the stockin s afore you brings him up." And 
 with these words she hurried back to her room, and Mrs. 
 Bosler descended the hill with the laudable purpose of 
 helping the unexpected stranger. 
 
 Again he had stopped, and was looking long and search- 
 ingly around the landscape, as if trying kr discover some 
 particular mark of identification, shading his eyes with his 
 hands as he turned toward the west, where the sun lay low 
 
RETROSPECTIVE INTRODUCTIONS. 23 
 
 in the sky, sending horizontal beams into his face. Finally, 
 he appeared to be satisfied with the inspection he had made 
 of the surrounding country ; for a smile lit up his face, 
 and he turned to resume his toilsome journey up the hill. 
 Suddenly, however, ere he had taken half a dozen steps, a 
 troubled expression passed over his countenance, and, throw 
 ing his pack on the ground, he sprang with the strength 
 and agility of an athlete to the top of a large bowlder near 
 by, and standing up at his full height again surveyed the 
 country around him. 
 
 He was apparently about thirty years of age. In figure 
 he was tall and slim, but there was no element of weakness 
 in his straight and supple body, every muscle of which was 
 strong and well developed, and upon which there did not 
 appear to be an ounce of fat. The long coat, not unlike a 
 clerical cassock, that he wore, was, probably on account of 
 the heat, unbuttoned, and the strong prairie-wind blew the 
 skirts back so that the full proportions of his form could 
 be seen as it stood out in bold relief against the western 
 sky, with not another object on the same plane, save the 
 tall, gaunt pine-tree with its horizontal limbs. 
 
 His face like the rest of him was thin so thin, in fact, 
 that it would have almost warranted the designation of 
 1 hatchet-shaped." And yet it was by no means an un 
 graceful face. The forehead was high and broad, neither 
 prominent nor receding, but straight, like that of a Greek. 
 His dark eyes, shaded by well-defined but not exaggerated 
 eyebrows, were set somewhat deeply in his head, but their 
 expression, instead of losing in force thereby, as is the case 
 with many, seemed to gain in vigor and intensity. 
 
 They were wonderful eyes ! eyes which, when once seen, 
 were not likely to be soon forgotten. They were piercing, 
 inquiring, analyzing eyes, before which most others that 
 might attempt to stem their gaze would probably retreat 
 in confusion ; and yet it was evident that, when the mood 
 
2i LAL. 
 
 was on him, no one could put more kindness and sympathy 
 and love into eyes than could the man who stood bare 
 headed on the rock, his auburn hair ruffled by the sirocco- 
 like wind that swept over the prairie, and with a half-anx 
 ious, half-despairing expression on his countenance. They 
 were not the twinkling, snapping eyes which dark-skinned 
 people sometimes possess, which are always disagreeable, 
 and which never express a profound emotion of any kind 
 as if it were really felt. He was of a fair-skinned race, 
 and yet his eyes were almost black. At times perhaps it 
 was when some earnest but tender emotion swayed him 
 their color changed to a hazel tint, and they appeared to 
 be less deeply set in their orbits. Whatever it was that in 
 fluenced them, it seemed then that not only their expres 
 sion but even their anatomical characteristics were altered. 
 They appeared, indeed, to be endowed with a life of their 
 own, acting independently of, but in unison with, the force 
 in the brain behind them. 
 
 But, if his eyes expressed individuality, his mouth was 
 a still more characteristic feature of a face in which there 
 was nothing mean or commonplace. There was no mus 
 tache to hide the splendid teeth, or the sharply limned con 
 tours of the thin but not meager lips, which, while ex 
 pressing refinement and nobility of mental organization, 
 showed by a certain firmness of outline the strength of 
 purpose and of will that actuated the man to whom they 
 belonged. Decision, energy, resoluteness, and courage were 
 never more markedly exhibited, and these traits were in 
 tensified by the large Roman nose that dominated every 
 feature of his countenance. The absence of all vestige of 
 beard allowed the clear, olive complexion to be seen, while 
 at the same time it revealed the hollowness of his cheeks 
 and the massive, clear-cut form of his chin. 
 
 Altogether it was not a face that many persons would 
 have called handsome. It was too far removed from all 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. INTRODUCTIONS. 25 
 
 vulgar standards for that ; but few would have failed to 
 see that it was the face of a man to be feared or loved as 
 occasion required, and of one who, when he chose, could 
 be very dangerous to his enemies and very tender to his 
 friends. 
 
 He continued to stand on the bowlder for several min 
 utes, scanning the land around him. Then he took a little 
 note-book from his pocket and began to read from it, stop 
 ping every now and then to look around him, as though 
 endeavoring to verify its statements. 
 
 " It must be the place," he said. " The points of identi 
 fication are too many for there to be much chance of an 
 error being committed, and yet there are several features 
 here in the description that I do not find in the landscape. 
 A blunder now might be irretrievable. A creek flowing 
 toward the south/ " he continued, after a moment s pause, 
 and reading from his note-book. " A conical hill, flattened 
 on the top. On its western slope a single pine-tree near 
 the summit. So far so good, but the remainder of the 
 description does not agree with the facts. From a large 
 bowlder to the left of the path that leads to the summit, 
 and in a southwest direction on a line with a snow-capped 
 mountain-peak, three dead trees in a row and at right angles 
 to the line of vision, will be seen. These trees are about a 
 mile from the knoll, and distant from each other about ten 
 feet. Well ! Here is the bowlder there is no other 
 there is the mountain-peak covered with snow, but where 
 are the trees? Besides, on this hill there is a log-cabin, 
 whereas nothing is said here of any such structure. How 
 ever, three years have elapsed since this was written. The 
 trees may have been cut down, and the cabin built in that 
 time. Yes, it must be the same. For two days I have had 
 this hill in sight, and, when I came to the path leading to 
 the top, I turned into it as automatically as though I were 
 going to my own home in Warsaw." 
 2 
 
26 
 
 For a moment longer he stood as though still uncertain. 
 Then his countenance changed as if some sudden inspira 
 tion actuated him ; he descended from the rock, took up 
 his pack, and with a cheerful smile upon his face began 
 again to climb the hill. He raised his eyes toward the 
 goal he was attempting to reach, now scarcely a hundred 
 feet distant, and encountered those of Mrs. Bosler staring 
 at him with an inquiring but not an unkind expression. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 
 
 "I THOUGHT as how you was tired/ said that lady, 
 smiling, "and as you peared to be com in our way, I says 
 to Lai Lai s my daughter, you know says I, Let s go 
 down and help the stranger up the butte. But she s sich 
 a high-sailin gal that nothin would do but she must fix 
 up ; as ef what s good enough for me an her father ain t 
 good enough for any one else. Now I knowed ef you had 
 to wait for her to git through with her washin s and comb- 
 in s and sich like, you d have to h ist that pack up the butte 
 all by yerself, and it s a good smart pull yit afore you git 
 to the top." 
 
 "Many thanks, madam, for your consideration," said 
 Tyscovus, raising his hat, "but I am not at all tired, and 
 I can very easily carry my knapsack the short distance that 
 remains. No ! " he continued, as she made a motion to re 
 lieve him of his load, "I really can not allow you to carry 
 so heavy a burden heavy, that is, for a woman, though 
 it is nothing for me." 
 
 "Well, I m used to liftin heavier hefts nor that, but 
 and she stopped an instant to look at him attentively, 
 "you re a furriner of some sort, for, though you speak jist 
 like one from the States, it s easy to see it s not your own 
 languidge you re talkin . I could talk as good as any one 
 onst, and I kin now when I try, for I used to teach school 
 in Indiany afore I was married. But twenty years livin 
 
28 
 
 with Jim and sicli like around has brought me down a 
 peg or two, I tell you. Not as he s bad to me," she hast 
 ened to add, as if fearing that her words might be miscon 
 strued, "but he s not much on grammar and other larnin , 
 and I kind o fell into his ways. It s a deal easier. As for 
 Lai, she never knowed no better, but sometimes I m right 
 smart shamed o her and me too. Now give me the pack, 
 and you ll git all the sooner to the top whar you kin rest 
 yersclf as long as you likes." 
 
 "No, not on any account," replied Tyscovus, smiling, 
 for though fatigued he was amused at the woman s loquaci 
 ty ; "I should be ashamed of myself if I allowed a woman 
 to do such a thing for me so long as I can do it myself. 
 But there is something you can do for me, and then I shall 
 be very much obliged to you. Tell me, were there ever 
 three dead trees over in that direction, between us an d the 
 mountain yonder ? " 
 
 "Well, there was, till about a week ago, and then some 
 sk person who d nothin better to do chopped em down." 
 
 " You are quite sure ?" 
 
 " Jist as sure as shootin ! Jim that s my man and 
 Lai will tell you the same thing." 
 
 " And that is your house on the top of the hill ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir ! That ranch is mine, or rather it s Jim s." 
 
 "May I ask how long it has been there ?" 
 
 " Law ! you may ask anything you like. I guess it s 
 bin thar about three year. " 
 
 " Thanks ! Now let us go on." 
 
 Mrs. Bosler led the way, Tyscovus following closely be 
 hind her. 
 
 "Mought I ask," she said, "what mought your coun 
 try be?" 
 
 " Poland," he answered, as he strode on after her. 
 
 " Poland ! Yes, I ve heard tell of it long ago ; but you re 
 the first man, or woman either for that, as ever I seen from 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 29 
 
 Poland." Then, after another moment s silence, "How 
 long now haye you bin in the States ? " 
 
 "About six months." 
 
 " Six months, and talkin English like that ! " 
 
 " Oh ! I studied English at home ; and then, besides, 
 my mother was an American ; and again, I have lived many 
 years in England." 
 
 "Married?" she resumed, after taking half a dozen 
 more steps. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Preacher?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Peddler?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Then," she continued, stopping and turning around 
 to face him, "what air you ? " 
 
 "Nothing but a man." 
 
 "I thought all the Polanders was counts or sich 
 like." 
 
 " When I am at home I am a count, but here I am plain 
 John Tyscovus." 
 
 "John Tys Tys what did you say ?" 
 
 " John Tyscovus, and very anxious to get to the top of 
 this hill," he answered, smiling. 
 
 "I thought you d be tired afore you got thar. John 
 Tyscovus ! Well, of all the names I ever heard tell on or 
 come across, that beats the lot ! " 
 
 Another half a dozen steps. 
 
 " Have you come here to stay ? " 
 
 "That I do not know yet. It depends on how you 
 treat me." 
 
 " How we treat you ! Why, you don t want to stay with 
 us, do you ? " 
 
 " Not exactly. I shall probably ask your husband to sell 
 the place to me. I like the situation, and would be de- 
 
30 LAL. 
 
 lighted to own it. What do you say ? Will you help me 
 to persuade him to let me have it ? " 
 
 " Oh, thar won t be no trouble about that ! All you ve 
 got to do is to give him his price, and the ranch s your n. 
 And I do hope you ll git it, and then may be Jim ll leave 
 these parts, and things ll be better with us than they air 
 now." 
 
 " What do you mean ? Do not things go well with you 
 now?" 
 
 "No," she answered, stopping again and looking 
 around her, " no ; thar s Lai she gits no bringin up and 
 no schoolin , though I mought have given her both if I d 
 had half a chance ; but I ve jist let her go her own way, 
 mostly because I didn t have no chance. She s learnt her 
 self to read and write, and cipher a bit. She s a good gal, 
 and never gives me no trouble except when she gits mad, 
 and then she raises bloody Moses, I tell you ! Ef I could 
 git her away out of these parts to somewhar whar there 
 was schools and women, it would be all the better for her 
 and Jim and me. Oh, yes ! I ll help you all I kin to git 
 the place. But here we air," as she stepped on the level 
 ground on which the cabin stood "and here s Jim too." 
 
 " Glad to see you, stranger ! " exclaimed Mr. Bosler, 
 coming forward with outstretched hands. " Tough work 
 climbin this butte, I tell you ! You ought to V gone round 
 by the wagon-road. Ilowsomever, this one s shorter, and 
 that s what you wanted, I guess. You ain t no preacher 
 nor peddler neither," he continued, scrutinizing his visitor 
 from head to foot ; " you re a perspecter, that s what you 
 air. Ilowsomever, that s all right. Thar s plenty of em 
 about here, but blow me if I ever seen one jist like you ! 
 My name s Bosler what mought yours be ? " 
 
 "John Tyscovus." 
 
 " Well, every man lias a right, I guess, to his own name, 
 and as many on em as he likes too. But you ve got one as 
 
KETBOSPEOTIVE. A PURCHASE. 31 
 
 no fellow s likely to take away from you, and thar ain t 
 none o your kin in these parts, neither. Walk in and take 
 somethin . Here, Lai/ he continued, as he and his visitor 
 reached the house, " bring a cup or somethin fit to drink 
 out of. Confound the gal ! she ain t got through her fixin 
 yit. Never mind, though ! Come in and take things as 
 they air." 
 
 With these words, and with an exuberance of manner 
 indicative of a hospitable feeling which it must be con 
 fessed did not often reign in Mr. Bosler s breast, he ushered 
 Tyscovus into the chief room of the cabin. 
 
 " Now, sir ! " he resumed, wiping with his coat-sleeve 
 the mouth of the bottle to which reference has already been 
 made "here s somethin as ll take the tire out of you 
 better nor all the cheers and beds atween this and Denver. 
 It s prime, I tell you, and after a long tramp, or a wet ride, 
 goes right to the heart as straight as a sand-hill crane to its 
 nest. Come, sir ! don t be bashful ; I m not much for fine 
 talk, but dang me if I don t like to do the squar thing by 
 a stranger ! " 
 
 Not to appear wanting in appreciation of Mr. Bosler s 
 good-fellowship, Tyscovus put the bottle to his lips and 
 swallowed a few drops of the burning liquor. He had a 
 strong head and a strong stomach, but the infinitesimal 
 quantity he took almost turned both. He managed, how 
 ever, to conceal his sensations, and thanking his entertainer 
 returned him the bottle. 
 
 "Well," said the latter, "I d about made up my mind 
 that I d drunk enough for to-day, but hang me ef I kin 
 ever let this ere bottle go out o my hands without makin 
 acquaintance agin with what s inside of it. Thar, now ! " 
 he continued after the prolonged contact between his mouth 
 and that of the bottle had come to an end, " ef I take any 
 more to-night you may call me a liar, and when Jim Bos- 
 ler says that he means it sure. Take a cheer and make 
 
32 LAL. 
 
 yourself at home. We ain t much rigged up here, but what 
 we ve got is your n for to-night, anyway/ 
 
 " Thanks," said Tyscovus ; "you are very kind. But 
 I have come on a little business, Mr. Bosler, and with your 
 leave I will now proceed to lay it before you." 
 
 At these words, Mr. Bosler s expression became one of 
 intense curiosity, not unmingled with one of alarm. He 
 looked fixedly at Tyscovus for half a minute, during which 
 neither spoke a syllable. Then he reached with his right 
 hand to somewhere about the small of his back, and 
 brought forward a revolver, which he laid on the table be 
 fore him, all the time keeping his eyes fixed on his com 
 panion s face. "It may be all right stranger," he said, 
 when he had completed this movement; "you don t look 
 like a sheriff, or any of that kind o cuss, but when a man 
 says business to me, specially when that man s unbeknown 
 to me, it s not in human natur to let him take the first 
 lick. You see it mought be darned onconvenient ; and 
 though thar ain t likely no needcessity for this little friend 
 bcin one of our party, thar ain t nothin like bein ready for 
 anything as mought turn up. You see, I ve bin thar 
 afore ! " 
 
 Tyscovus smiled. 
 
 "You are all wrong, my friend," he said; "my busi 
 ness is of the most peaceful character. I like the situation 
 of your house, and I want to buy it." 
 
 " You want to buy this ere ranch ? " 
 
 "Yes, if you are Avilling to sell it. If not, I must look 
 elsewhere." 
 
 "And what in the devil do you want this pertic lar 
 ranch for ? It ain t such a all-fired fine place as to suit one 
 o your kind." 
 
 Tyscovus judged that it would be better not to appear 
 too anxious to strike the bargain. 
 
 " Well, I like the situation I am also fond of fresh air ; 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 33 
 
 but I see the house would require a good deal of work 
 on it to make it suit me, so we will say nothing about the 
 matter now. I shall be around here for some time yet, 
 and if you change your mind let me know, and perhaps 
 we can then come to terms." 
 
 " Who said I didn t want to sell it ? You see, Mr. 
 dang me ef I kin git your name ! I m sort o tired o these 
 parts, and so is my wife and Lai. The women ain t got no 
 society here, and I ve bin thinkin for a year and longer of 
 going to a higher-toned place, whar the gal could git some 
 schoolin . Now how much will you plank down in good 
 hard cash for the house, the whole butte, and ten acres of 
 prairie ? Say the word, and ef we agree, the ranch s 
 your n, and off we go to-night ! " 
 
 " I have no idea of the value of such a piece of prop 
 erty ; you must fix your own price." 
 
 "Well, wait a minute till I go and talk to the old 
 woman and Lai," said Mr. Bosler, moving toward the 
 door. "Women in general don t know much, and a man 
 as is always runnin to his wife to tell him what to do is 
 poor shucks, I think. But for this occasion only, as 
 they puts it on the theatre-bills, they knows more n me. 
 Ef it war a hoss or a mule, I d tell you to a dollar what it s 
 worth, but when it comes to houses and buttes, blow me 
 ef I ain t jist like a grizzly in a drug-store a darned sight 
 more apt to git the wrong thing than the right one." 
 
 He left the room with a shuffling gait, not so much the 
 result of intoxication for he had not yet taken enough 
 whisky that day to disturb his mental or moral equilib 
 rium as of the down-at-the-heel carpet slippers that he 
 wore, and that flopped unpleasantly on the floor with every 
 step he took. 
 
 As soon as he was gone, Tyscovus went to the window 
 and looked out over the country, which could be seen at 
 that elevation for many miles in all directions. The sun 
 
34 LAL. 
 
 was just sinking behind the highlands in the west, but the 
 atmosphere was still full of light, and he could see dis 
 tinctly all the striking features of the landscape. The 
 long road by which he had come lay on the prairie like a 
 great yellow snake stretched out at full length. Wildcat 
 Creek flowed peacefully at the foot of the butte, the snow 
 capped peak was far off in the distance, still lit up with the 
 rays of the sun. Yes, it was the spot he was seeking ; of 
 that there could be no doubt. The thought carried him 
 back to his own land far off in the East, and to the strange 
 events that had brought him to where he now stood. By 
 what influence had he been guided ? What was to be the end 
 of it all ? Why not now confess himself the ass his father 
 had once called him, and go back to his own princely home 
 in Warsaw ? Something a little like indecision swayed 
 him, but it was only the doubt that every reasoning mind 
 at times experiences in the face of difficult questions 
 that require to be decided at once, and in regard to which 
 positive information is scant. lie stood and looked, deep 
 ly, awfully impressed with the sense of grandeur that all 
 before him excited. He recalled how, not many years 
 before, lie had surveyed from a mountain-height another 
 scene as vast, as grand as this that now lay at his feet. 
 But there all was ice and snow and desolation, and he was in 
 the company of felons, with chains upon his limbs, and 
 brutal masters to strike him with whips if he spoke, or 
 faltered in the work set for him to do. Here, how dif 
 ferent ! All nature seemed alive the grass was growing, 
 the water flowing, the air was warm and genial, and, as he 
 drew it into his lungs, it seemed to reach with its enliven 
 ing influence the remotest nerves of his body. And, above 
 all, he was free free to go or stay, with no one to question 
 his right or power. No not that not free ! For is not 
 the tyranny of an irresistible impulse more of a despotism 
 than the iron heel of the autocrat as shown through his 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 35 
 
 soldiers and convict-drivers ? There was no escape. He 
 must go on, and this place, the refuge where his work was 
 to be done, must become his. 
 
 But what if the price should be beyond his present 
 means ? He had money in plenty in the bank at Denver, 
 but had only brought five hundred dollars with him, and 
 it was scarcely to be expected that the owner would take 
 the check of an unknown person for any sum above this 
 that might be required. " Besides," he said to himself, as 
 he again sat down in his chair by the table, " it would be al 
 together within the probabilities for that man, who is evi 
 dently not troubled with scruples when he wishes to do 
 anything out of the way, and whose fears were just now 
 excited by the consciousness that he deserved to feel the 
 weight of the law, to attempt to take the small sum I 
 have, or even to murder me. Still, it would trouble him a 
 little, I think, so long as I have this weapon at hand," 
 taking, as the words passed through his mind, a short, thin 
 dagger from a sheath in the right side of his trousers, and 
 then instantly returning it to its place of concealment. 
 "He does not know our Siberian way of carrying such a 
 thing, or that I had my hand on it ready to plunge it into 
 his heart if he had raised his pistol an inch from the table. 
 I thought at one time that I should kill him the very next 
 instant. Evidently, however, he has no intention at pres 
 ent of doing me harm. He is apparently as anxious to sell 
 his ranch/ as he calls it, as I am to buy it." 
 
 In the mean time Bosler had repaired to the other room, 
 and in a few brief but effective words had explained the 
 situation to his wife and daughter. 
 
 " You see," he said, sitting down on an inverted wash- 
 tub, while the two women, stopping their work, listened 
 attentively to what he had to say "you see he s a per- 
 specter, sartain sure. He s got some notion of gold and 
 silver bein about here, and he likes the lay o this ranch. 
 
3G 
 
 Preliaps he s come out here as a agent for some o them 
 rich Eastern fellows as has got more spondulix than they 
 knows what to do with. But, Lord bless you ! there ain t 
 no gold nor silver here nor anywheres near here. These 
 parts has bin gone over and over by them scientific chaps 
 as thinks they knows more n other fellows, and not a nug 
 get nor a lead did they git. Howsomever it ain t none of 
 our business to tell him that. He ll find it out quick 
 enough for himself, I ll bet. Now what do you say, old 
 woman and what do you say, Lai ? " 
 
 "Well, for my part, Jim, I d sell it right away and be 
 done with it," said Mrs. Bosler, emphatically. " These 
 parts ain t good for you, and I think you d better be makin 
 tracks for another settlement. Thar s a feelin agin you 
 here and none of us ain t safe, not even Lai and me. Thar s 
 no tellin what them Hellbender sneaks might do any night 
 while we re here in our beds, and it ain t safe, as you knoAvs, 
 Jim, for you to go out on the road, even for a mile or two." 
 
 "That s jist as true as anything you ever said in your 
 life, Moll," said Mr. Bosler, slapping his knee with his big 
 red hand, on which there were several scars, healed and un- 
 healcd "jist as true as gospil, and this here letter, which I 
 picked up bout a hour ago at the foot of the butte, makes 
 it a darn sight truer that is, in course, cf I make it out 
 right. Here you take it, Moll, and read it out to me and 
 Lai, and we ll see ef I ve got the c rect understandin 
 of it." 
 
 Mrs. Bosler took from his extended hand a soiled and 
 crumpled piece of paper that her husband had abstracted 
 from the breast-pocket of his coat, and read as follows : 
 "ME. JIM BOSLER : 
 
 " The comite will be down on you to-night as certain as 
 shootin ! Git away as soon as you kin, and don t lose no 
 time nether ! 
 
 " From a trew Friend." 
 
RETEOSPECTIVE.-A PURCHASE. 37 
 
 Up to this time Lai had taken no part in the conversa 
 tion. This young woman had finally succeeded in making 
 herself look "decent." She had combed and brushed her 
 hair, put on a frock and shoes and stockings, and had 
 thereby decidedly improved her personal appearance. A 
 red ribbon that she had bound around her head held her 
 glossy black hair back from her forehead, and gave an air 
 of finish to her toilet, which was more effective, through its 
 simplicity and the striking contrast it afforded, than would 
 have been a more elaborate garniture. Now that she had 
 washed her face, it was seen also that she had a clear, 
 healthy complexion that not even exposure to sun and 
 wind and rain and dirt had served to impair. Altogether, 
 Lai Bosler could have held her own, so far as natural 
 good looks were concerned, with many a more artisti 
 cally-dressed girl. 
 
 The effect produced upon the two women by the read 
 ing of the anonymous letter was very different in each. 
 
 Mrs. Bosler became as pale as death and trembled with 
 fear and excitement ; while Lai, on the contrary, flushed 
 with anger and defiance. 
 
 " I wouldn t budge a step ! " she exclaimed, indignantly, 
 her black eyes flashing with the emotion she felt, and her 
 voice trembling. " We ve rifles and pistols here, and we 
 knows how to use em, too ! Let em come ef they dar ! 
 "We never did em no harm, did we, father ? Why do they 
 want to drive us away, and may be even kill us ? " 
 
 " Well, as to harm, Lai, that s altogether a matter of 
 opinion, I guess," said Mr. Bosler, reflectively, and with 
 becoming modesty. "People, you see, don t always look 
 at what a fellow does jist as they orter. Now, bosses and 
 mules is things, to my notion, that no man has a right to 
 call his n ef another fellow kin git em. It isn t likely as 
 God Almighty was goin to make hosses and mules for the 
 perticler use of any cuss in perticler, is it ? Well, sich 
 
38 
 
 bein the case," he continued, after a pause, as if he really 
 expected a negative answer, during which he looked around 
 the room as though addressing a large audience "sich. 
 bein the case, it stands to reason that the smartest fel 
 low s goin to git the most stock in the long run. Now 
 I ve had pretty good luck as things go, and that s made 
 em jealous o me on that score. Lucky men is always bin 
 down on by them as is jealous and onlucky. Them s the 
 two worst things a man can be jealous and onlucky and 
 there ain t nothin they won t stop at when they feels them 
 feelin s. That s the whole story. Prehaps I ve bin a leetle 
 too free with my six-shooter when I had too much whisky, 
 but it ain t that as riles em and sets em on to formin com 
 mittees ag in me. It s the hosses and mules as does it, Lai. 
 That s what it is." 
 
 Mr. Boslcr spoke these words in a tone of injured inno 
 cence that was not without its effect on the girl. She evi 
 dently regarded his view of .the matter as one to be upheld 
 by the whole Bosler family. 
 
 " Then stay and fight it out," she said ; " don t sell the 
 place till to-morrow, anyhow, and ef they come to-night 
 the stranger ll give us a hand ; and, from what I seen of 
 him as he come up the hill, he d be worth a dozen sich men 
 as them in Hellbender in a fight. Don t let s run away 
 because o them skunks as comes in the night and daren t 
 face you in the sunlight." 
 
 " No, no, Lai ! " exclaimed Mrs. Bosler, who since she 
 had read the note had not ceased to exhibit the most in 
 tense apprehensions, and who probably had a fuller concep 
 tion of Mr. Bosler s misdoings than had her daughter 
 "no, no, we can t run no sich resks. Why, there ll be 
 twenty on em ef there ll be one, and all on em with six- 
 shooters. What chance would we have with a crowd like 
 that stealin up at night and murderin us all afore we ask 
 God to forgive us our sins ? No, Jim, sell the place at onst, 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 39 
 
 and let s leave right away ; we ain t got much to carry,, and 
 the cart ll take us all over to The Canon in two hours." 
 
 " You see, Lai," said Mr. Bosler, rising from the in 
 verted wash-tub and pacing the room as he warmed with 
 his subject, though not apparently noticing his wife s ap 
 peal " what you say goes straight to my heart. I d like 
 to stay and fight it out onst for all with the cowardly cusses 
 as begrudges a man a livin for himself and family, and I ll 
 bet a hundred dollars to ten cents, and give you back your 
 money ef you loses, that more n one on em wouldn t git off 
 this butte with his own legs. I ain t no steer to lay down 
 and let em kick me. But you see, my gal, the odds is too 
 much ag in us. Ef I was alone, I d rig up the old place into 
 a reg lar block-house, and I guess I could stand it as long 
 as they could. But, with you and your mam to see to, I 
 guess we d better slide along. May be I ve bin a hard sort 
 of a man in my time, but whenever I knowed what I was 
 doin I ve always stood by you and the old woman, and 
 done the best I knowed how. Whenever it s bin different, 
 it s bin when I ve had more whisky than was good for me. 
 There s one thing I ve done that I m bound to on do ef I 
 have to kill the cuss as made me do it, and then I guess 
 I m squar with the world. But hero s a chance to sell the 
 ranch jist as we ve got to leave it, anyhow. That s what I 
 calls luck, and darned good luck too. Still, I won t deny 
 that what you say, Lai, makes me feel prouder nor a tur 
 key-cock that I m the father of a gal with spunk and sperit 
 enough to shame many a one o them Hellbender cusses as 
 thinks they re better nor other folks. The next time I 
 goes on a tramp, blow me ef I don t take you along ! You ll 
 make the best pard as ever I had." 
 
 "You re right, Jim," said Mrs. Bosler, her face show 
 ing the joy she was experiencing at her husband s decision. 
 " Sell the place, and let s go at onst. While you settle the 
 thing with the stranger, I ll hitch up the bosses, and we ll 
 
40 LAL. 
 
 be at The Canon afore its much more n dark. And it s 
 full moon to-night, too." 
 
 " Hold on, Moll ! " interrupted Mr. Bosler ; " don t rat 
 tle on quite so fast. I guess we ve got to go, but there s 
 strong reasons why we can t jist now drive in our stakes at 
 The Canon. You see things is not workin exactly right 
 for me over thai*. They ve a sort of a spite ag in me gon 
 darn em, for a set o skulkin cusses ! and it mought be a 
 leetle resky for us to go thar jist at this pi nt o time. We 
 can go back here about five miles whar them New York 
 fellows had a camp when they was perspecterin for gold. 
 Thar s a right smart cabin thar, and no one near to say 
 4 no to us. You and Lai kin stay thar for a few days, and 
 I ll jist look round at The Canon and see that it s all right 
 and safe. You see, Moll," he continued, drawing his wife 
 aside and talking in a whisper, " Luke Kittle s over thar 
 now, and it wouldn t do for him and me to meet. Now " 
 speaking aloud " how much ought I to get for this ranch ? 
 That s what I want to know. " 
 
 "A thousand dollars," said Lai, impetuously. "It s 
 worth that ef it s worth a cent." 
 
 " A thousand fiddlesticks ! " exclaimed her father, with 
 a sarcastic laugh. "It s scarcely worth a thousand cents. 
 How much is a thousand cents, Lai ? " 
 
 " Ten dollars," answered the girl after a moment s re 
 flection. 
 
 " Well, ef your mam don t see no objection, I perpose I 
 fix the valley o this ranch at two hundred dollars, cash down. 
 You sec the butte and the prairie below goes with it." 
 
 "It s enough, I suppose," said Lai, still with asperity ; 
 " but it makes my blood bile to think o runnin away from 
 a lot o cowardly villins and stealin off in the night as ef 
 we was thieves." 
 
 "That s it, Lai, you ve hit it exactly," exclaimed her 
 father "not that you and your mam is to be so called, 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 41 
 
 though you ve stood by the old man like his hest trumps 
 every time ; but that s what they call me, and jist because 
 I ve made a honest livin for my family by pickin up a boss 
 or two at times, and mayhap a mule. But, as for oxes and 
 sheep, I never took one in all my born life ; for I always 
 said to myself, said I, that would be takin the meat out o 
 some one s mouth, and Jim Bosler ain t the man to do that. 
 Ef he is, you may call me a liar. And as to things as really 
 belonged to a man, sich as personal property as they calls 
 it, I m a head and shoulders above takin sich ]ike. Why, 
 thar s lots o fellows around here, and some on em on the 
 committee too, as would a made short work o that ere 
 stranger sittin in thar, and V gone through his pockets as 
 quick as a prairie-dog through a meal-bag. But that s not 
 the sort of a chap I am no, not by a darned sight ! Ef I 
 am, you may call me a liar ! So you go and help your mam 
 to git ready, and then off we goes in a jiffy. But ef you d 
 like to say a word or so to the stranger in thar, why come 
 and do it now. He s a fair-spoken man enough, I guess, 
 though he s some sort of a furriner." 
 
 " I don t want to look at him," exclaimed Lai, who had 
 not yet recovered her equanimity, and who, seeing that the 
 battle was over, had accepted the situation and was busily 
 engaged in getting her things together "I don t want to 
 look at him. I ve enough to do to pack up, seein as we ve 
 got to go in half an hour." 
 
 "All right! Thar ain t no perticklar needcessity for 
 you to see him. He s a tony kind of a chap, though, and 
 kind o different from the boys around here. And you look 
 so darned nice in your fixin s, that I jist thought I d like 
 him to see what a spruced-up gal the old butte can turn 
 out when it tries. But I guess you re about right. There 
 ain t no time to spar ; so while you and your mam gits 
 things ready I ll settle the trade with him, and we ll be off 
 to Bighorn Springs afore it s dark." 
 
"Father," said Lai, ceasing her work and coming up 
 to him while she laid her hands on his arms, " when you 
 git the money for the ranch you ll be so to say pretty rich, 
 and I want you to promise me to leave these parts and go 
 somewhar whar you won t have to go round trampin at 
 night and havin people down on you. I m not so much of 
 a baby but what I kin work for you and mam. I m not 
 afraid, neither. I don t know much, that s sartin, but I 
 can learn more, and ef we was all settled down in some 
 quiet place we d be happier than leadin this sort of a life. 
 0, father," she continued, with increased earnestness, 
 "I ve often wanted to say this to you, but I ve never had 
 jist the right kind o a chance till now." She clasped her 
 arms around his neck and looked pleadingly into his face, 
 while her eyes filled with tears. 
 
 Mr. Bosler was evidently impressed with the force of the 
 appeal made to him. His one eye twinkled with increased 
 activity. The muscles of his face twitched convulsively, 
 and he wriggled in his clothes as though he were endeavor 
 ing to twist himself out of them. He put one arm around 
 his daughter s waist. 
 
 "Why, Lai, gal," he said at last, though in a broken 
 and husky voice, "what s got into you all on a suddent ? 
 You ain t ashamed of your old father, are you, because he 
 picks up a loose hoss or may be a mule now and then, from 
 fellows as has no more right to em nor he has ? " 
 
 " I don t know," answered the girl, while she sobbed 
 with emotion, which she vainly endeavored to suppress. 
 " Sometimes I think I am. It ain t right no, no, it ain t 
 right and once you would a knowed so, too. O, father ! 
 let s go away far, far away. You re gittin old, and things 
 is all goin wrong with us, I know." 
 
 Mr. Bosler showed evidences of still greater mental dis 
 turbance. He looked as though his feelings were hurt, 
 and, breaking from Lai s embrace, he shuffled up and down 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 43 
 
 the floor for several turns, doubtless with the hope of sooth 
 ing his troubled emotions by the physical exercise. In the 
 mean time, Lai had covered her face with her hands and 
 was sobbing convulsively, while the tears flowed through her 
 fingers. 
 
 "Well ! " at last said her father, assuming the injured 
 tone of voice he so often affected as though he was constantly 
 under the belief that the world had combined to persecute 
 him "well ! I wish I may be blowcd ef my own daugh 
 ter ain t ag in me ; her as I ve raised from a infant and 
 clothed and fed by the sweat o my brow often, too, at the 
 resk o my life ! Even my own daughter," he continued, 
 his accents of injured innocence becoming tinged with a 
 slight degree of anger. " No wonder the Hellbender cusses 
 is ag in me. No wonder the world is down on me. But 
 dang me ef I ll stand it ! " he exclaimed, his voice becom 
 ing louder and huskier. " I ll give you to a man as I knows 
 of as ll tame you, I guess. I ll " He stopped suddenly, 
 for his eyes caught the look that was on Lai s face. The 
 girl had ceased crying and was standing in the middle of 
 the room, her lips compressed, her face as pale as a sheet, 
 her eyes staring at vacancy, her hands grasping convulsively 
 the back of a chair as if to keep herself from falling, while 
 her breath came quickly and spasmodically, like that of a 
 person in the incipiency of suffocation. Mr. Boslcr was 
 frightened. He was fond of his daughter ; fonder than 
 of anything else on the face of the earth. His threat was 
 the result of his anger, and whatever basis there might be 
 for it, he had no intention at that time of carrying it into 
 execution. Indeed, he had determined in his own mind 
 long ago, that a certain promise he had made should not 
 be fulfilled, even if bloodshed resulted from the failure to 
 keep his word. He, therefore, deemed it best to disabuse 
 Lai s mind of the impression his words had conveyed, not 
 only that she might be reduced to a tranquil state and 
 
4 LAL. 
 
 hence rendered more useful as well as happier, but also that 
 his own mental peace might be secured. In the execution 
 of his philanthropic intentions he shuffled up to where his 
 daughter stood, and putting an arm around her waist while 
 he patted her cheek with his other hand, he said in his 
 most seductive accents : 
 
 " Don t you be skeered now, Lai. You see I didn t know 
 what I was sayin till the words was out o my mouth. Do 
 you think I d let any o them Canon fellows have my gal ? 
 Not ef I knows myself, and I think I do. Prehaps you re 
 right bout it. But it s the liquor as does it. Ef it wan t 
 for that I wouldn t be sich a all-fired hard cuss. But, you 
 see, when I gits a lectle too much into me, ef it s only one 
 drink, it makes me so rickless that I don t care for nothin 
 nor nobody, but lets things go jist as they come up in my 
 mind. Ef it wan t for that I d never p int a six-shooter at 
 nobody onless it was he p inted one at me first. But ef I 
 git out o this scrape, I shouldn t wonder ef things went 
 different with me. Now don t you bother about it, but jist 
 go and help your mam, and I ll see the color o this man s 
 money. I mought, may be, scrape together here and thar 
 a right smart pile ; enough, I guess, to give you a little 
 schoolin . Now you go," releasing her from his embrace. 
 "You re a good gal, and I ll see, yes, I ll see what I can do 
 about it," 
 
 During the delivery of this long harangue, Lai had 
 gradually recovered her composure. She was obliged, for 
 the present at least, to be satisfied with his assurance and 
 half promise. She therefore rejoined her mother, and Mr. 
 Bosler went to meet his visitor and to conclude the incho 
 ate bargain. The terms were accepted, not without a little 
 apparent hesitation, and two hundred dollars in gold were 
 counted out to him in exchange for a bill of sale that made 
 John Tyscovus the owner of the butte and its appurte 
 nances. 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 45 
 
 And then the whole Bosler family prepared to take their 
 departure. The wagon stood at the door in readiness, and 
 the personal baggage and joint effects of the intending trav 
 elers had been stowed away in the rear, while two seats in 
 the front served for the occupation of Mr. and Mrs. Bosler 
 and Lai the latter having a board to herself. She had 
 fought rather shy of Tyscovus. Her father had brought 
 her up and introduced her in due form, but she had merely 
 nodded her head in answer to Tyscovus s bow, and had then 
 turned away without saying a word. It was evident that 
 she was suspicious of him, and not at all inclined to be on 
 friendly terms. The two older people, however, by their 
 effusive demonstrations toward their successor, more than 
 made amends for all the girl s coolness. 
 
 But, as the preparations for departure verged toward 
 completeness, Mr. Bosler and his wife began to show some 
 degree of anxiety to get off, doubtless bearing in mind the 
 contents of the epistle that some sympathizing friend had 
 sent to him. Lai, however, lingered about the house, mak 
 ing "much ado about nothing," till her father and mother 
 had taken their seats in the vehicle that was to bear them 
 away to their temporary home at Bighorn Springs. Then 
 she furtively beckoned to Tyscovus, who was standing in 
 the passage prepared to bid a good-by to the departing trio, 
 and, when he came to her at the door of her room, she said : 
 
 " You ain t got no hosses, have you ? " 
 
 " Not yet, though I probably shall have a pair of broken- 
 down ones in a few days." 
 
 " They ll pick up some here. The grass is rich. But 
 come here I want to show you somethin ! " saying which 
 she led the way to the other room, and, pointing to a bell 
 fastened to the ceiling near the center of the apartment, 
 said : 
 
 " Do you see that bell?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
46 
 
 "Well, thar s a rope as leads from the stable-door to 
 that bell but it ain t up now ; some one must have took it 
 down and when the door s opened it rings the bell. So, 
 you see, as father was always afeared his hosses mought be 
 took, he rigged up that bell so as he d be sure to hear ef 
 any one came thar in the night. " 
 
 "A very admirable telegraph system, fully calculated 
 to answer the purpose for which it was intended. But I 
 shall scarcely need it, as no one will be likely to steal my 
 horses. " 
 
 " Don t you count on that. Some people is jist crazy 
 after hosses, and I wouldn t trust no one in these parts. 
 So I think you d better put up the rope ag in. It used to 
 lead up from the stable-door to the tree and then to the 
 house. The pulleys, I guess, is all there still." 
 
 ""Well, Miss Bosler," said Tyscovus, smiling at the evi 
 dent interest she took in the safety of his horses, "lam 
 very much obliged to you, and if I have horses I shall cer 
 tainly replace the arrangement." 
 
 " Come along, Lai ! " called out Mr. Bosler from the 
 wagon. " We re all ready here, and only waitin for you to 
 git in. We ve five miles to go to-night, and a good deal to 
 do too after we git thar." 
 
 " Yes, father, I m comin . And oh, sir," she continued, 
 clasping her hands together and again addressing Tyscovus, 
 "cf you should happen to hear the bell ring some night, 
 don t shoot to kill. Jist fire off your six-shooter two or 
 three times to scare em, but don t p int it at em. It ll 
 be enough to scare em ef you fire it off ; and you wouldn t 
 kill a man for a boss, would you ? " 
 
 " I don t know about that, Miss Bosler," answered Tys 
 covus, still amused at her earnestness, though ignorant of 
 its cause. " If I knew some one was trying to steal my 
 horse, I think I should endeavor to do him some damage 
 and he might get killed." 
 
RETROSPECTIVE. A PURCHASE. 47 
 
 V, 
 
 " I thought may be you d promise. You don t look like 
 a hard man/ she continued, gazing at him fixedly, "but 
 looks is sometimes deceivin . Ef you was to fire at em, 
 jist as like as not they d fire back, and then you mought git 
 killed yourself." 
 
 " Of course. The man that would steal a horse would 
 doubtless just as soon as not kill the owner. I must take 
 the consequences, and so must he should any such attempt 
 be made." 
 
 " Lai ! ef you don t come right away, blow me ef I don t 
 drive off and leave you to foot it all the way to Bighorn ! " 
 exclaimed Mr. Bosler. " What in the devil is the gal talkin 
 about?" 
 
 " I rather hoped you would promise," resumed Lai, not 
 heeding her father s summons. " It ain t much for me to 
 ask nor for you to do. " She turned sharply away, and had 
 slowly taken several steps toward the wagon when Tysco- 
 vus exclaimed : 
 
 " Stop, Miss Bosler. I have not the heart to refuse you, 
 even though your request does strike me as being a little 
 unreasonable. You shall have it as you wish. I will not 
 shoot to kill, or even to wound, if they should carry off the 
 whole stable and its contents, so long as they do not at 
 tempt to steal me." 
 
 "I m much obliged," said Lai, returning and taking 
 his hand. " You re not as hard as I took you to be." She 
 smiled, and Tyscovus for the first time thought she looked 
 pretty. " Good-by," she continued, "prehaps you mought 
 some day want a friend, and then you kin count on me." 
 
 "Thanks," said Tyscovus, raising his hat with as much 
 dignity and grace as though he were speaking to a princess. 
 " I shall be happy to serve you in any way in my power ; 
 and if I seemed to hesitate just now it was only because I 
 could see no reason for your request. A woman s reasons, 
 however, are sometimes unfathomable." 
 
48 LAL. 
 
 He followed her to the wagon and helped her to her 
 seat. Then Mr. Bosler cracked his whip, and, amid wishes 
 for good luck reciprocally exchanged, the team slowly de 
 scended the hill, and Tyscovus was left in the full and un 
 disputed possession of his purchase. As we have seen, how 
 ever, he was not allowed to remain long unmolested. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A WELCOME YISITOR. 
 
 THE morning after the stirring incidents recorded in 
 the preceding chapters, Tyscovus was early awakened by 
 the falling of drops of water on his upturned face as he lay 
 asleep upon the floor. He jumped up and looked out of 
 the window. The rain was pouring in torrents, and sev 
 eral pools of water, caused by the drippings from the leaky 
 roof, had formed near where he had lain. The apartment 
 still bore the marks of the inroad of the vigilance commit 
 tee. The door, which had been burst open, had parted with 
 both latch and hinges and merely rested against the lintels, 
 and the floor gave evidence of the muddy boots worn by 
 the dozen or more rough men that had invaded the prem 
 ises the night before. Altogether the circumstances and 
 the surroundings were not enlivening, but Tyscovus was 
 one of those rare souls that are able to find occupation and 
 amusement in their own thoughts or resources. There was 
 enough for him to do. 
 
 First, despite the state of the weather, and profiting by 
 the fact that there was probably not a human being to 
 whose gaze he ran the risk of being exposed, he divested 
 himself of his clothing, and, making his way down the 
 butte, plunged into the creek and floundered about in its 
 cool water, already swollen and turbid from the rain. Pre 
 viously to his bath he had felt mentally and physically lan 
 guid, but now he seemed to have regained his wonted ener- 
 3 
 
50 LAL - 
 
 gies of body and mind, and he sprang up the hill in the pelt 
 ing rain with a lightness and strength that argued well for 
 the robustness of his constitution. He walked about on the 
 plateau, luxuriating in his supplementary shower-bath, each 
 drop of which stung his skin pleasantly and heightened the 
 reaction he was experiencing. How long he would have 
 continued this pleasant exercise is uncertain, but when he 
 had spent nearly an hour in the refreshing promenade in 
 the rain he began to experience the pangs of hunger. He 
 therefore finished his toilet in front of a large fire that he 
 kindled, and, donning some clean linen that he took from 
 his knapsack, made himself a pot of coffee, toasted a couple 
 of slices of bacon, and, adding a hard biscuit, sat down to 
 his first breakfast on the butte. 
 
 Nearly a week ago he had started from Denver, well 
 mounted, and with a light wagon loaded with his baggage. 
 But, on the fourth night out, all his horses were stampeded, 
 by a pack of wolves that rushed through his camp, and 
 not one of them was recovered. Thus, he had found him 
 self on the prairie with only his teamster for a companion, 
 and with the prospect of one of the two being obliged to 
 walk to the nearest settlement, fifty miles distant, in order 
 to procure assistance, while the other remained in charge 
 of the wagon. Fortunately, just as he had determined to 
 send the man for aid, he was overtaken by a party of half a 
 dozen men going to Hellbender, and they, being well pro 
 vided with animals, he had been able to buy a couple of 
 horses to haul his wagon to its destination. But the roads 
 were heavy, and, though he and the driver walked in order 
 to lighten the load as much as possible, the team was al 
 most completely exhausted before reaching Hellbender. He 
 therefore decided to leave his effects in charge of the man, 
 with directions to travel a very few miles each day, and 
 then, taking a knapsack and stocking it with a few requi 
 sites, he had pushed on ahead. 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR. 51 
 
 He was a good walker, and besides lie had a far better 
 opportunity to study the country than he would have had if 
 cooped up in a wagon. For four days he was on the road, 
 bivouacking at night by the side of a spring or brook, and, 
 though suffering somewhat from the cold peculiar to that 
 region in the autumn after sunset, enjoying the physical 
 exercise, the pure, bracing air, and the simple meals to which 
 he was confined. Arriving at Hellbender, he had at first 
 determined to remain there till his wagon came up, but on 
 second thought deemed it better not to rest till he had 
 reached his destination, and secured, if possible, the owner 
 ship of the knoll of which he was in search. As we have 
 seen, everything had resulted to his satisfaction. 
 
 As he sat before the fire after eating his breakfast, he 
 reflected that it would probably yet be several days before 
 he could reasonably expect the advent of the wagon with 
 his books and papers. He had directed the teamster to rest 
 two days at Hellbender, and then to follow the road to The 
 Gallon till he received further instructions. It was neces 
 sary, therefore, for him to watch the road, in order that the 
 man should not go too far. This was an easy task, as, 
 from his commanding position on the butte, in its situation 
 not unlike an observatory, or the castle of some feudal 
 baron, he could see such an object as the wagon while it 
 was yet a long distance off. However, there was time 
 enough for that. 
 
 And in the mean time he might be doing something in 
 the way of examining his estate, and in putting it in better 
 order than existed when it came into his possession. The 
 rain had ceased, and the sun was endeavoring to break 
 through the clouds, every now and then receiving sufficient 
 encouragement to warrant a perseverance in the attempt. 
 He, therefore, went out to take a survey of his possessions. 
 
 First of all he proceeded to the stable. This he found 
 to be a log-hut, not much worse as a shelter than the one 
 
LAL. 
 
 he himself inhabited. It consisted of a single room, about 
 twenty feet square, and was built on a sort of a terrace 
 that had been dug out of the side of the hill near the base, 
 and opposite to the path by which he had ascended. 
 There were stalls for three horses and room for a wagon 
 besides all the space he would be likely to require. 
 Without difficulty he found the rope to which Lai Bosler 
 had called his attention, and he spent half an hour in at 
 taching it to the door and to the bell in his room. 
 
 Then he descended to the plain, and inspected the 
 boundaries of his property. He ascertained that the butte 
 stood almost in the center of the tract of land he had pur 
 chased, which also included about an acre of timber-land, 
 so that he should not want for fuel, generally so scarce in 
 that part of the country. Finally, he returned to what 
 was now his home, and, taking out his pipe, filled it with 
 tobacco, lit it and began to smoke. 
 
 During his walk he had diligently renewed his search 
 for the book that he had missed the night before, but it 
 was nowhere to be seen. He recollected that just after eat 
 ing his midday meal he had taken it from his knapsack to 
 read a few pages from it, while resting in the shade of a 
 cottonwood-tree during the heat of the early part of the 
 afternoon, and that on resuming his journey he had put it 
 back in the same place from which he had taken it. Doubt 
 less it was lost somewhere on the road, and there was but lit 
 tle chance that it would ever again come into his possession. 
 The book was a rare one. Indeed, it was well known to 
 bibliophilists that no other copy was in existence ; but it 
 was precious to him not so much on this account as that 
 it was the life of one of his great ancestors, a certain Count 
 John Tyscovicius, who in the early part of the seventeenth 
 century suffered a frightful martyrdom for his religious 
 faith. Among other things, it contained many of the phil 
 osophical maxims of this learned man, and it was the habit 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR. 53 
 
 of his descendant to read these at different times, and to 
 reflect upon them, evolving often from the lines of thought 
 suggested, other thoughts of his own that bore upon the 
 objects he had in view. The loss of the book, therefore, 
 was a great privation to him, for though he knew it almost 
 by heart, from beginning to end, the recollection could not 
 take the place of the actual words before his eyes. 
 
 He tried to forget the matter, and while the smoke 
 rolled from his lips, his mind, influenced doubtless as much 
 by the isolation of his position as by the sedative influence 
 of the tobacco, worked in a listless, dreamy sort of a way, 
 rambling from one thing to another, and never going deeply 
 into any subject it touched. 
 
 " I am not quite sure," he thought, " that in one sense 
 at least I am not fairly entitled to the appellation of John 
 Buridan s Ass/ that my father gave me when I was ten 
 years old. To think that I should have come all the way 
 from Poland to discover this place, and should really find 
 it exactly as it had been pictured to me, are certainly re 
 markable facts. And it is still more astonishing that the 
 knoll and its surroundings should have been originally 
 brought to my mind in so surprising a manner. But, now 
 that I am here, the motive for coming seems strangely in 
 adequate. Surely there is solitude enough in Poland to 
 answer my purposes without the necessity of traveling more 
 than five thousand miles to obtain it. Still, I have what I 
 came for, and to a degree equal to that, apparently, to be 
 had on any other part of the earth s surface. Here I can 
 meditate without risk of being disturbed every moment by 
 the petty cares or labors that those who live in the society 
 of mankind can never expect to escape. 
 
 " I don t think I am superstitious. I certainly do not 
 believe in a man s being subject to impulsions from some 
 occult influence that he can not resist ; and yet, if not that, 
 how am I to escape the idea that I have been so acted upon ? 
 
51 LAL/ 
 
 What alternative is there but that of chance ; and could 
 chance, accident, hap-hazard, have created the conception 
 in my mind, and then have brought me straight to the 
 spot, over seas and plains and rivers and mountains, to find 
 it just as it had been described ? It is possible there is 
 some such power acting upon us at times, with a force 
 that we do not feel save by its effects calmly, irre 
 sistibly leading or driving us onward to an intelligent 
 conclusion, a logical goal ; and we poor, blind mortals, 
 imagining that we are guided by chance, which of course 
 is no guide at all ; or that we are acting from our own in 
 tuitions." 
 
 His pipe was exhausted, and, taking a little gold to 
 bacco-box from his pocket, he refilled and relighted it." 
 
 " And yet it is just the place my soul craves," he went 
 on, after satisfying himself that his pipe was fairly started. 
 " Solitude there is in Poland, but it is liable to be broken 
 at any moment ; isolation is the law of Siberia, but it is of 
 such a character that life is not tolerable under its influence. 
 Sequestration I had there for three long and weary years, 
 but with a degree of physical and mental suffering that 
 almost wore me out. But here," he continued, rising 
 from the chair and pacing the floor in the excitement his 
 thoughts developed, " here I can live secure from intrusion, 
 except "as he thought of the incursion of the night before 
 " from the visits of vigilance committees, though, as the 
 cause has disappeared, there will be nothing more to appre 
 hend on that score. And here, with only my own thoughts 
 and my books, and in the presence of this vast Nature, where 
 there are no events to divert the mind from its labors, and 
 no human being to weary and disgust me, I shall do the work 
 of the new life upon which I have entered. Here, more 
 than seven thousand feet above the sea, I can breathe an 
 atmosphere uncontaminated by the filth of civilization, and 
 lead a life that must necessarily be virtuous, for sin and 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR,. 55 
 
 crime are alike impossible. Good Heavens ! what a right 
 eous world this would be if each individual in it were sepa 
 rated from the polluting influence of association with his 
 fellows ! From this height I look out over hundreds of 
 square miles without seeing a human being, or even a sign 
 that man has ever set foot in the country. There is not 
 even a vestige of animal life, not a bird nor a beast yes, 
 there is a solitary coyote, sneaking back to his hole after 
 helping to make night hideous ; leaving his companions 
 to go to his kithless den to enjoy the delights of solitude ! 
 But perhaps he has a mate to interfere with his liberty, 
 while I am alone, cut oil, isolated, with only myself to con 
 sult, and no one to say nay to anything within my power 
 that I may choose to do. In so far, I am more fortunate 
 than that wolf." 
 
 He sat down again and continued to puff vigorously at 
 his pipe. As he lay back on his chair his eyes fell upon 
 the bell hanging to a beam overhead, and to which he had 
 fastened the rope connected with the stable-door. 
 
 "AVell!" he said, with a tone of intense contempt, 
 "that was an idiotic thing for a man to do whose chief ob 
 ject in life is to obtain solitude. I shall probably have a 
 horse or two, for horses are modest animals and do not in 
 trude on you when they are not wanted ; but if I should 
 have fifty, why should I thrust myself into contact with any 
 ruffian that should take a fancy to them ? Better far to let 
 them go than to be instrumental in causing an event in 
 which I must necessarily be a prominent actor. If gentle 
 men stole horses, there might be some excuse for devising 
 means to let me know when they were about to pay me a 
 visit, but to be driven into relations with a vulgar horse- 
 thief would be intolerable. No, I will have nothing of 
 the kind." 
 
 He rose, and, going to a corner of the room, seized a long 
 pole that stood there, and with a blow brought the bell to 
 
56 
 
 the floor. After this performance he again sat down and 
 resumed his pipe and his reflections. 
 
 " I wonder/ he thought, why that girl was so anxious 
 that I should run no risk of shooting the enterprising indi 
 vidual that might attempt to steal my horses ? By Saint 
 Stanislaus, it never struck me before ; but I now see that 
 she was looking out for her father s safety, Mr. Jim Bosler, 
 the horse-thief, whom the public-spirited vigilance com 
 mittee were so anxious to string up by the neck last night ! 
 And so that pretty girl is a horse-thief s daughter ! Poor 
 child, I pity her. But she will doubtless hold her own in 
 the world, for she has all the finesse of a trained diplomatist 
 in her composition." 
 
 The sound of footsteps on the floor of the passage inter 
 rupted him, and he could scarcely get out the words : 
 "Now, who the devil is there ?" when a half-dozen loud 
 knocks on what was now only a door by courtesy, caused 
 him to spring from his chair and to approach the opening. 
 Before he could remove the obstruction to free entrance, it was 
 pushed aside from without, and, without ceremony or hesi 
 tation, a man squeezed through the aperture into the room. 
 
 "What do you mean!" exclaimed Tyscovus, angrily, 
 facing the individual menacingly, " by coming into my 
 house in that manner without leave or license ? " 
 
 "Now, don t be mad, stranger," replied the intruder, 
 seating himself on a chair close at hand. " You see, I was 
 here last night with the committee, and I jist thought I 
 would ride over from Hellbender this mornin and see how 
 you was gittin along. Quite in a friendly way for, o 
 course, I ve nothin ag in you, and you can t have nothin 
 ag in me neither." 
 
 "Well, my friend for I suppose I must consider you 
 in that light now that you have come, please oblige me 
 by going away as quickly as you can. I am not at all in 
 need of your society, and I wish to be alone." 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR. 57 
 
 "Now, look here, stranger, don t be so all-fired huffy jist 
 because I looked in on you in a neighborly sort of a way. 
 You see, I m a store-keeper down thar in Hellbender, with 
 a complete line o dry-goods, groceries, and notions, to say 
 nothin o household and kitchin furniture and provisions 
 generally. And it mought be that you ll be wantin some- 
 thin in my way afore long. If so, you ll find that I ve got 
 the finest and biggest assortment of everything to eat, drink, 
 and wear, as is to be raked together this side o Denver. 
 My name s Higgins, Samuel T. Higgins, born in Illinois,, 
 raised in Pike County, Missouri, and flourishing in Colo 
 rado. I heard your name last night, but it s too much for 
 me ; so, ef you ve no objection, I ll call you captain. 
 
 Tyscovus reflected a moment before replying to this 
 epitomized autobiography of Mr. Higgins. He had made 
 no arrangements for supplying himself with food, and per 
 haps he had now the opportunity of doing so without hav 
 ing to think of the matter day after day. Nothing was 
 more insufferable to him than those details of life so neces 
 sary to be attended to, and yet so insignificant in them 
 selves. If he could, by paying Mr. Higgins a fixed sum, 
 provide for all his wants for a year, he would be very glad 
 to do so. Something must be done. He had seen that 
 morning, during his wanderings, that there were plenty of 
 trout in Wildcat Creek, and doubtless he would be able to 
 kill a rabbit or a black grouse now and then, after the 
 wagon arrived with his guns and ammunition ; but he 
 could not very well depend on these uncertain means of 
 food-supply, and there were many utensils and articles of 
 provision he would require. Upon the whole, therefore, he 
 concluded that Mr. Higgins s visit was not inopportune. 
 With a smile on his face he turned to the applicant for his 
 custom. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Mr. Higgins," he said, holding 
 out his hand, which that gentleman grasped with effusion, 
 
58 
 
 "for my rudeness. The truth is, that your arrival was so 
 sudden, and I was so busy thinking of other things when 
 you knocked at the door, that I forgot my good manners. 
 I am glad to see you. There are many things I shall want 
 of you, and if you will kindly make a note of them now 
 you will save me a great deal of trouble." 
 
 " Don t mention it, captain," remarked Mr. Iliggins. 
 "I seen you was worried about some thin , and I ain t one 
 o them thin-skinned fellows as gits mad at every word, ef 
 it is a little cross. Now," he continued, taking from his 
 pocket a note-book and pencil, "give us the items, and ef 
 I ain t got em, I ll git em for, you ef I have to send to 
 Denver for em." 
 
 "Thanks," said Tyscovus. "Now we understand each 
 other nicely. First of all, I want a couple of chairs and 
 tables, and about five hundred feet of lumber, two or three 
 pans, the same number of earthen pots, a tea-kettle, and a 
 small stove." 
 
 " Plates, dishes, knives and forks, a bed and bedding, 
 towels, and sich like," continued Mr. Higgins, looking 
 round the room. 
 
 " No ; I have a well-furnished mess-chest and all the 
 other things you mention, besides an iron bedstead and 
 bedding. I have also all the clothing I shall need. Every 
 thing is in my wagon, which will not arrive for two or 
 three days yet. I expect to live here quite alone, and to 
 do all my own work, even to cooking my food and wash 
 ing my clothes. You know how much and what things I 
 ought to eat say every month. Send me those things 
 without any further orders from me. I should say pota 
 toes, rice, canned fruits and vegetables which you put up 
 so well in this country sugar, salt, tea, and coffee." 
 
 "All right, captain ! I think I understand. You re a 
 man of business and so am I. You re not very stout now," 
 he continued, running his eyes over Tyscovus s figure, " and 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR. 59 
 
 thar s enough room to spread. I ll send the things over to 
 morrow. Let s see this is the 10th of September. Well, 
 on the 10th of every month you ll git em as punctual as 
 clock-work. You won t have no manner of bother over it. 
 They ll come, and all you ll have to do is to eat em, and," 
 he added, after a slight pause, " pay for em. Cash s the 
 rule in these parts." 
 
 4 And quite right, too. Here are fifty dollars to begin 
 with," said Tyscovus, placing five ten-dollar gold pieces in 
 Mr. Higgins s hand, "and the remainder will be paid on 
 the delivery of the goods. I want the lumber as soon as 
 possible, for the house needs a roof, and I am going to put 
 it on myself." 
 
 "Put it on yourself !" exclaimed Mr. Higgins ; "cap 
 tain," he continued, in an imploring tone of voice, "don t 
 try it. You ain t made for work o that kind. You jist 
 set down and look at em, and I ll send Stokes the carpen 
 ter, and some of his men over here, and they ll do it quicker 
 and better than you can." 
 
 " No, I prefer to do my own work. Besides, why should 
 I not, for I am a carpenter by trade ? " 
 
 "You a carpenter!" said Mr. Higgins, in a tone of 
 voice so loud and so elevated that it was almost a shriek, 
 at the same time looking at Tyscovus s hands, which were 
 certainly not those of a tradesman "you a carpenter!" 
 he repeated, in accents that had something of reproach and 
 sorrow in them. "Now, captain, it s possible I look like 
 a fool and may be I am one, but I didn t think you d try to 
 come it over a friend in that way. Mought I ask," he went 
 on, his tone changing to one of incredulity and banter, 
 "whar did you learn your trade ?" 
 
 " In a prison," answered Tyscovus. 
 
 "In jail?" 
 
 " Yes, I am an escaped convict." 
 
 " Then, by the Lord ! you take it quite nat ral like. It 
 
60 LAL. 
 
 don t go to rile you much, does it ? I ve seen escaped con 
 victs afore now, but they weren t as peart about it as you 
 air. TJiey rather wanted to keep dark about that one part 
 of their lives, because, you see, thar s pretty generally re 
 wards out for them sort of cusses. But you blurt it out as 
 ef it war some thin to be proud of." 
 
 "Yes, I am proud of the fact that I am an escaped con 
 vict. I regard the term of my imprisonment as that part 
 of my life of which I have most reason to feel no shame, 
 miserable as it was while it lasted. Besides, the gracious 
 sovereign who saw fit to imprison me, also deemed me a 
 suitable object of mercy, and granted me a full pardon; 
 not, however, till I had set myself free." 
 
 "Forgery ?" said Mr. Higgins. 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Bank president, and stole the funds ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Counterfeiter?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Pizened your wife ?" 
 
 "No I never had a wife." 
 
 "Well! what in thunder air you?" exclaimed Mr. 
 Iliggins, with less respect in his manner than he had ex 
 hibited in the early part of his interview. " What in the 
 devil did you do ?" 
 
 "I committed blasphemy. It is the hereditary crime 
 of our family." 
 
 " That s swearin , ain t it ? Ef that s all, why then, 
 captain, I m bound to say that your country is darnation 
 strict. Ef they was to put men in jail here for swearin , 
 blow me ef they wouldn t have more n half the Territory in 
 prison ! " 
 
 "I did not exactly swear," said Tyscovus, "neither did 
 I speak disrespectfully of God ; I only said a few light and 
 thoughtless words about the ruler of sixty millions of peo- 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR. 61 
 
 pie, when I was a student and had taken a little more wine 
 than was good for me. For that I was tried by a court-mar 
 tial and condemned to ten years imprisonment in Siberia. 
 There I was taught the trade of a carpenter. But, after 
 three years of exile and suffering, I succeeded in making 
 my escape. And shortly afterward the Czar, hearing all 
 the facts of the case, granted me a full and unconditional 
 pardon. But I am, as you see, an escaped convict, though 
 not the kind of a one you supposed. " 
 
 " Give us your hand, captain. You re the man for me, 
 by gum ! Take back your fifty dollars, and don t you talk 
 about paying me in advance. I ll trust you jist as long as 
 you like. You re a patriot, that s what you air. Give us 
 your hand, captain, and darn the Czar ! " With which 
 emphatic words Mr. Higgins grasped Tyscovus s hand and 
 shook it till the owner winced. 
 
 "No," said Tyscovus, as Mr. Higgins pressed the five 
 gold pieces upon him " no ; keep them. It is just as 
 convenient for me to give them to you now as at any other 
 time, for, as you know, I have no use for money here." 
 
 " They d burn a hole in my pocket ef I was to keep em," 
 rejoined Mr. Higgins. " No ; ef you won t take em, I ll 
 jist lay em here on the table. Good-by, captain," he con 
 tinued, again shaking Tyscovus by the hand. "You re in 
 a land of liberty and equality now, thank God, and can 
 hold your head up with the rest of us ! Good-by. You ll 
 find the things comin along to-morrow, and I ll tell the 
 boys what a true son of freedom you air." And with these 
 words Mr. Higgins strode to the place where he had hitched 
 his horse, and mounting that animal rode down the butte, 
 while Tyscovus watched him as he galloped over the road 
 to Hellbender. 
 
 " And this," he thought, " is my first day of solitude. A 
 vigilance committee and a man that will bring all his friends 
 and acquaintances to see the escaped convict/ that is at 
 
62 LAL - 
 
 the same time a patriot and a son of freedom ! It will 
 never do ! At this rate I shall not only not finish my task, 
 but I shall not even begin it. But there is no time like the 
 present for what one has to do. This very moment I will 
 inaugurate the work to which the two coming years, at 
 least, of my life are to be devoted. Once begun, the labor 
 will be light. It will be a joy to which I have looked for 
 ward with hope, and just enough fear and trembling to 
 prevent insipidity. Yes, I will begin at once." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WAS IT A DREAM ? 
 
 TYSCOVUS opened his knapsack, and, taking from it the 
 materials for writing, sat down at the rough table and en 
 deavored to compose his thoughts. He had for a long time 
 reflected deeply on the subject of the treatise he desired to 
 give to the world, and had made extensive and profound 
 studies in connection therewith. While a prisoner in Si 
 beria for having, at a convivial gathering of students of 
 the University of Warsaw, said that, "after all, the Czar 
 was only a man, that a coal of fire would burn his skin as 
 well as that of a beggar, and that the same necessity existed 
 for him to eat, drink, and sleep as was felt by a peasant " 
 while in banishment and in prison for this want of respect 
 to his master, he had arranged in his own mind the ma 
 terials he had collected up to that time, and had thought 
 it would be an easy matter to write out his ideas. Since 
 his escape, however, he had visited Germany, France, and 
 England, and had exchanged views with many wise and 
 learned men on the subject of his meditations, until finally, 
 as is always the case under like circumstances, except with 
 fools, he had ascertained that what he knew of the matters 
 in question was but a small part of the accumulated knowl 
 edge of centuries, and that his conceptions were of the 
 wildest and most superficial character. 
 
 Then he began from new stand-points to reinvestigate 
 all the phenomena of nature bearing upon his studies. He 
 
64 LAL. 
 
 found out what had already been done by others working in 
 like directions, and he was able to profit by the mistakes 
 they had made. New lines of inquiry were suggested to him. 
 Some of these he followed till he ascertained that they led 
 to nothing definite ; others he worked to advantage to a cer 
 tain distance, and then discovered that nothing more was 
 to be obtained by longer continuance in the course they in 
 dicated ; while still others, and by far the smallest number, 
 he found to yield the most precious results. 
 
 Then, he had been irresistibly led to the conviction 
 that the Old World had given him all it was capable of af 
 fording, and that if he courted originality he must seek in 
 other lands, in which there existed a newer civilization and 
 in which the physical surroundings were different, for the 
 ideas that should give scope and depth and individuality to 
 his work. Many of his views were of striking originality, 
 and, moreover, he had formed new notions in regard to the 
 way in which opinions should be presented to the world in 
 order to make the most vivid and enduring impressions. 
 He found that the associations he had contracted were not 
 such as were best adapted to the advanced stage of thought 
 he had reached, and that, for the full development of his 
 theories, he must cut loose from all the ties he had formed, 
 and in the vastness and solitude of nature give his mind 
 that opportunity for introspection and for abstract thought 
 which it could never have as he was then situated. He 
 had studied his own character and temperament with all 
 the thoroughness and disinterestedness of which he was 
 capable, and had become convinced that the weaknesses 
 he had discovered were of such a nature as to stand like a 
 great wall against all his efforts to advance. He was im 
 pressionable, lacking in power of decision, and prone to in 
 constancy, when everything demanded the most rigid per 
 severance. His emotions were thus easily aroused, and 
 when they were excited they governed him, till they had, 
 
WAS IT A DREAM? 65 
 
 through their own force and intensity, exhausted their vi 
 tality, and reason was again permitted to assume control. 
 
 These were characteristics that, perhaps, in the earlier 
 part of his career, were not prejudicial to his obtaining an 
 extended knowledge of mankind, and of the conditions by 
 which humanity is surrounded. They had led him into 
 the imprudent remarks, while in the company of spies 
 and police-agents, that had resulted in his exile to Siberia, 
 They had likewise been the means of getting him into nu 
 merous entanglements with men and women, from which 
 he had not always escaped without suffering, even though 
 there had been no sacrifice of honor. But, at the same 
 time, they had been the means of bringing him into closer 
 contact with human nature under many different phases. 
 He had become experienced in the ways of the world to a 
 degree that he could never have attained by the exercise of 
 the highest mental powers ; and the knowledge thus ob 
 tained had been used to the utmost advantage in the elabo 
 ration of the theories to which his mind had been directed. 
 To describe humanity with thoroughness, it is not only 
 necessary to mingle superficially with men and women of 
 a certain class ; one must know them, and of all kinds and 
 conditions, and under all the different circumstances and 
 situations of life. 
 
 But, finally, the time came when, after much self-exami 
 nation, he was convinced that his whole nature must be 
 changed if he desired to succeed in the work that he had 
 laid out for himself. He was then nearly thirty years of 
 age, and though we have daily evidence that under the 
 influence of the grace of God the most thoroughly de 
 praved of his creatures, even though they be well advanced 
 in years, can be born again with new hearts and nobler 
 aspirations, it must be confessed that such cases are rare. 
 The change he felt it was necessary for him to undergo 
 was even more revolutionary than the regeneration effected 
 
66 LAL - 
 
 through conversion from sin, and it was not to be accom 
 plished through priestly ministrations or devotional exer 
 cises, but by the force of his own will, acting upon his 
 impulses, his thoughts, his feelings, his very perceptions of 
 things. From being infirm of purpose, he was to become 
 resolute and determined ; from being impulsive in his ac 
 tions and inconstant in his pursuit of the ends he had in 
 view, his conduct was to be marked by deliberation ; and 
 when once a line of procedure had been determined upon, 
 it was not to be swerved from, without such good and 
 sufficient reasons as he should feel in his heart were of 
 overpowering force. "It is possible," he had said to him 
 self, "for a person s ideas, and even his senses, to be influ 
 enced by the emotions that at the time govern him. He 
 sees what he desires to see, or hears the sounds he fears. 
 lie thinks as his feelings incline him, instead of feeling in 
 accordance with his thoughts. Everywhere emotion rules 
 him. Here," he continued, "is a poem written by my 
 friend Skobinsky ; I admire it I compare it to the immor 
 tal works of Dante or Shakespeare. I praise it to all my 
 companions ; I write laudatory reviews of it. Skobinsky 
 is the dearest of all my friends. He once saved my life, 
 and he has often rescued me from situations of the greatest 
 peril to my liberty and happiness. How, therefore, can I 
 be capable of a thoroughly disinterested opinion of his 
 poem ? Suppose he were an enemy and hateful to me, 
 would I still find pleasure in the perusal of his verses and 
 in the study of his thoughts ? It is scarcely possible ; and 
 yet the book would be just as good. 
 
 "Levanoff, in his Review/ systematically attacked ev 
 erything I wrote, and even descended to personal abuse. I 
 determined to chastise him. No/ said Skobinsky, send 
 him ten rubles as your subscription to his journal. It 
 will be much less troublesome and far more efficacious. 
 I did so, and since then Levanoff has been most fulsome 
 
WAS IT A DREAM? 67 
 
 in his praise of all that appears over my name. Doubtless 
 he was sincere throughout. The ten rubles only made 
 him see me in a different light. 
 
 " Now, I must get away from all emotion. I must avoid 
 being subjected to its influence as it is exhibited in others, 
 and I must crush it out in my own mind. To do this I 
 must have solitude solitude unbroken by the presence of 
 living man or woman ; and then then " 
 
 He was lying at full length on a sofa covered with the 
 skin of a polar bear. He had been smoking, but his pipe 
 was exhausted and had dropped to the floor by his side. 
 Suddenly he saw before him a tall, gray-haired and gray- 
 bearded man, wearing the robes of an Aulic councilor. The 
 old man stood for a moment steadily regarding him with an 
 expression of keen interest on his face, and then slowly ap 
 proached, till he stood close by the couch. He raised his 
 hands as though to ask attention, and then spoke, in a soft, 
 melodious voice. "My son," he said, "you are right, you 
 require solitude for the complete amplification of your 
 character. You have reached but one stage in your exist 
 ence, and the change that is to come will be only another 
 period of your mental growth. Some minds attain to 
 their full proportions at an early age. Some characters 
 are completed before manhood is reached. With you it is 
 different, and many years will yet be required before you 
 will gain that perfection of mental development that will 
 surely eventually be yours. Hitherto, you have, like the 
 child, done little more than receive impressions. True, 
 you have used your means of investigation to good purpose, 
 and have laid up a store of facts that will stand you well 
 when you come to need them. Life opens two paths to 
 the choice of man. The one leads to a fragrant garden 
 and delightful groves, perfumed with the sweetest odors, 
 where a verdant bed, bedecked with roses, invites the en 
 chanted senses to a soft repose. This is that path of pleas- 
 
C8 
 
 ure that tlie multitude are so easily seduced to follow, and 
 where music, dancing, and love are thought to convey such a 
 variety of delights. The other is a less-frequented path, al 
 ways tiresome, sometimes rugged, the progress through it 
 slow and marked by dangerous precipices, down which the 
 toilsome passenger often falls when he most thinks his footing 
 secure. A dark, boundless desert, where the cries of savage 
 animals, and the mournful boding of the raven are heard, 
 presents itself to the affrighted mind. The path of pleas 
 ure conducts us to the world, but the rugged path of virtue 
 leads to honor. The one winds through life to places and 
 employments either in the city or at court. The other, 
 sooner or later, leads to solitude. Upon the one road, a 
 man may, perhaps, become a villain, rendered dear to so 
 ciety by his amiable vices ; upon the other road it is true, 
 he may be hated and despised, but he may become a man 
 after my own heart." 
 
 " Stop ! " exclaimed Tyscovus ; " what you say is 
 strangely familiar to me. Indeed, I have been reading 
 those words this very night, exactly as you have spoken 
 them. Who are you, and whence came you ? " 
 
 " I am Zimmermann, and I am repeating to you a few 
 sentences that you have just read, and that I desire to im 
 press upon your mind." 
 
 " Zimmermann ! the author of the Treatise on Soli 
 tude, every precept of which has become a part of my 
 mental being ? But, no ; the author of that learned work 
 has been dead nearly a hundred years. You can not be he." 
 
 "It is not for me to argue with you on the subject of 
 my identity. I am here solely for the purpose of guiding 
 you aright in the new life you have resolved to lead, and to 
 save you, if possible, from such a horrible fate as was my 
 portion on this earth. For nearly seventy years I never 
 knew one moment of unalloyed happiness, and ere I left 
 this stage of existence my reason tottered and fell. Would 
 
WAS IT A DREAM? 69 
 
 you learn why my life was wrecked ? Because, while know 
 ing how to obtain happiness, I lacked the force of will to 
 carry out my own precepts. Experience had taught me 
 that the rudiments of a great character could only be formed 
 in solitude ; that there alone the solidity of thought, the 
 fondness for intellectual activity, the abhorrence of mental 
 indolence, that constitute the characters of heroes and sages, 
 were to be acquired. It is there that the mind gains the 
 habit of thinking there, where it is withdrawn from the 
 contemplation of that variety of objects by which the atten 
 tion is distracted, and turns inward to the contemplation of 
 its own working." 
 
 " Tell me what I am to do," said Tyscovus, excitedly. 
 " You only express my own thoughts, but the way to carry 
 them out is not clear to me. I am ready to follow any 
 course you may advise." 
 
 " That is well," rejoined the sage. " There is still, I see, 
 enough of vitality in you to enable you to surmount the 
 difficulties that now hinder your advance, and to permit 
 your organization to ripen to its full fruition. But not 
 here no, not here ! You must leave this country. Yes, 
 turn your back upon the effete and corrupt civilization of 
 this Old World, and go to that continent beyond the sea, 
 where every one can, without hindrance, strike out his own 
 path in his own way. There, amid its mountain-heights 
 and table-lands, where the air is so highly rarefied that your 
 lungs are forced to extreme expansion in order to get enough 
 oxygen to serve the purposes of life ; where the heart beats 
 fuller and stronger ; where the ozonized atmosphere de 
 stroys the impurities that here are incorporated into your 
 system, and where your thoughts, consequently, are more 
 profound, quicker, and, above all, are perhaps purer, no 
 bler, and freer than those that are evolved in this king- and 
 priest-ridden country, you will accomplish the work you 
 have undertaken. Here it would be impossible." 
 
70 LAL. 
 
 " But your knowledge is greater than mine," said Tys 
 covus, eagerly; "I am in your hands. Name the place 
 best suited to me, and to that place I will go as surely as 
 you now stand before me ! " 
 
 The old man cast his eyes toward a large globe that 
 was placed in the corner of the room, and appeared to be 
 studying it minutely, though it was at least twenty feet 
 from where he stood. Tyscovus followed his gaze, and saw 
 that the globe turned upon its axis, though no hand or 
 other agency was near it. At last it stopped, and the ven 
 erable visitor again spoke : 
 
 " Towns and cities are nothing to me," he said, " and I 
 can not guide you by a reference to such works of man. 
 Besides, in that region they are springing up and dying out 
 .with every phase of the moon. But there is a spot, all the 
 features of which are in consonance with your spiritual 
 needs, and to that place I desire you to go. It is a conical 
 hill, flattened on the top, and standing in a vast plain. A 
 brook flows southward at its base On its western slope, 
 and near its summit, is a single pine-tree. From a large 
 bowlder, to the left of the path that leads to the top, and 
 in a northwest direction, on a line with a snow-capped 
 mountain-peak, three dead trees in a row, at right angles 
 to the line of vision, will be seen. These trees are about a 
 mile from the knoll, and distant from one another about 
 ten feet." 
 
 "But how am I to find this hill ? It will be an impos 
 sible undertaking." 
 
 "No, you will go to it without deviating a hand s 
 breadth from the right direction. It is situated on the 
 meridian of 105 27 1C" west longitude, and on the parallel 
 of 37 19 21" north latitude. You are a scholar, and are 
 skilled in the art of astronomical observations. Farewell ! " 
 
 Tyscovus started at these words, and picked up the pipe 
 that lay at his feet. He looked around him amazedly, but 
 
WAS IT A DREAM? 71 
 
 he was alone. In the corner stood the globe to which the 
 visitant had referred, but there was nothing else to indicate 
 that any part of his vision was a reality. He went to the 
 globe and scanned it closely. There was a small red dot, 
 scarcely as large as the head of a pin, on its surface. He 
 ascertained its exact position. It was longitude 105 27 16" 
 west, and latitude 37 19 21" north. 
 
 Whether he had fallen asleep and dreamed, the basis of 
 his vision being his own thoughts of a few minutes pre 
 viously ; whether he had been in a reverie and abstracted 
 from the contemplation of all else but his own reflections ; 
 whether some friend had played a practical joke upon him, 
 or whether the spirit of Zimmermann had actually appeared 
 to him, he did not know, nor did he care to inquire mi 
 nutely into the circumstances. He went only so far as to 
 ask if any one had entered the room, or had marked his 
 globe with a spot of red ink or paint ; but both questions 
 received negative answers. He had faith in the intuitions 
 he had received, and it was of no consequence whence they 
 came. The drowning man snatches at the plank that floats 
 in his way, without asking who pushed it toward him. The 
 directions given him were so vividly impressed upon his 
 mind that he felt sure they would not be forgotten. Nev 
 ertheless, he wrote them down in his note-book exactly as 
 he recollected them. 
 
 He owned a dark and gloomy castle some hundred or 
 more miles from Warsaw, untenanted except by an old man 
 and his wife, who lived in one corner of it, and kept it from 
 becoming the haunt of wild beasts. He resolved to pass 
 six months in this castle, in order that he might initiate 
 the change in his mental characteristics that was so desir 
 able. Here, he practiced the most rigid scrutiny of his 
 thoughts and emotions, and tried by constant effort to 
 regulate them in accordance with his ideas of right and 
 wrong. His rule of himself was harsh, but in the end he 
 
72 
 
 had acquired the mastery of which he was in search. Cer 
 tainly lie no longer deserved the name of reproach that 
 his father had o?ice given him, and that had clung to him 
 through all his life, of "John Buridan s Ass." 
 
 But this was only the beginning. After this period of 
 what might well be called his probation, he started upon 
 his journey for that land in which the alteration was to be 
 completed and the work of his life accomplished. How his 
 faith in his vision, or whatever else it was, was justified by 
 the result, we have already seen. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " MY HOUSE IS MY CASTLE." 
 
 TYSCOVUS sat at the table, endeavoring to get his 
 thoughts into good working order. It was impossible for 
 him to do more than to begin the preliminary matter of his 
 treatise, for his notes, which were very voluminous, were 
 packed away with his luggage, and the wagon was still 
 many miles distant from the butte. He had already formed 
 in his mind the general plan of his work. It was no trouble 
 to him to write, for he never began to put his thoughts on 
 paper till he had elaborated them as thoroughly as was in 
 his power, and then he wrote as fast as most men could 
 talk. He began : 
 
 "CHAPTER FIRST. THE NATURE A:NT> SCOPE OF THIS 
 TREATISE. 
 
 "Since the beginning of the historical period, and 
 doubtless for ages before man s instinct led him to keep 
 records of his thoughts, feelings, and actions, two diverse 
 opinions have existed relative to that greatest of all prob 
 lemsthe essential " 
 
 He stopped, for he distinctly heard the sound of heavy 
 footsteps on the floor of the passage-way. In an instant 
 they were followed by a loud knocking on the door. He 
 had taken the trouble, after Mr. Higgins s departure, to re 
 place the fastenings that had been so violently removed by 
 the vigilance committee ; he had turned the key in the 
 4 
 
74; i AL. 
 
 lock, and he determined that he would make no response 
 to the unmistakable indications of a desire to enter that 
 this second visitor of the day was making. He hoped, by 
 this course, that the intruder would think him absent, 
 asleep, or perhaps dead, and would go away. But in this 
 he reckoned without his host, for the knocking continued 
 with redoubled violence, and was supplemented by re 
 peated requests to open the door, and threats of forcible 
 entry, couched in no gentle or polite tones, if the demand 
 were not immediately complied with. At last, seeing that 
 there was no prospect of his tormentor taking himself off, 
 fearful of another catastrophe to his door, and irritated be 
 yond endurance by the persistency with which the blows 
 and kicks were administered, Tyscovus sprang to his feet, 
 and, throwing the door wide open, seized the disturber 
 of his peace by the throat, and, without stopping to see 
 what manner of man he was attacking, shook him with all 
 the strength he had in his body, while he dispensed several 
 vigorous kicks upon the fellow s nether limbs. For a mo 
 ment the man seemed so much astonished at this unlooked- 
 for assault that Tyscovus had things pretty much all his 
 own way ; but it was for only a moment. A pair of enor 
 mous arms were clasped around his chest, he felt as though 
 his limbs were being crushed ; he could scarcely breathe, 
 and each instant he was sure he would be lifted from his 
 feet and dashed headlong upon the floor. But, though 
 the great muscular strength of his antagonist enabled him 
 to raise Tyscovus from the ground, the latter always came 
 down on his feet, and he held with the tenacity of a bull 
 dog to the grip he had on the man s throat. Then the 
 stranger, who was a tall and powerful but at the same time 
 an active individual, hooked his legs around those of Tys 
 covus, and bringing his whole weight to bear upon his ad 
 versary, forced him to the ground. Here the struggle was 
 continued witli varying advantage, first the one and then the 
 
"MY HOUSE IS MY CASTLE." 75 
 
 other being on top, and neither relaxing his hold. Already 
 the contest had lasted several minutes, and both combatants 
 were beginning to be exhausted, and yet neither showed 
 any signs of yielding. No great amount of damage had 
 been done, beyond the disarrangement of clothing necessa 
 rily incident to such an encounter. Tyscovus had main 
 tained his hold on the neck-wear of the intruder ; but, 
 owing to the tight embrace that he suffered from the mus 
 cular arms that almost suffocated him, he had been unable 
 to exert his full strength, or to give the twist necessary to 
 the occlusion of his opponent s respiratory apparatus. No 
 blow had been struck, for each felt that, if he let go for an 
 instant, the other would not fail to take advantage of the 
 occasion to complete the work he had set about to accom 
 plish. Neither had spoken a word not, perhaps, so much 
 from a desire to be silent, as from the utter inability each 
 experienced to articulate a sound. At last, however, vic 
 tory seemed about to perch on the standard of Tyscovus. 
 His staying faculty appeared to be superior to that of his 
 antagonist ; the latter s power to squeeze was evidently be 
 coming less every moment. Tyscovus, finding the com 
 pression of his chest relaxing, put forth all his energies, 
 and, with a desperate effort, succeeded in forcing his fists 
 so violently and strongly against the man s throat as to still 
 more impede the entrance of air into his lungs. Already 
 he felt the elation incident to triumph long deferred, when 
 suddenly the arms around his chest fell lifeless to the 
 ground, the face before him became purple, the eyes at 
 which he was looking rolled upward and their lids twitched 
 convulsively. Then a deadly pallor swept over his adver 
 sary s countenance, and a spasm distorted his features. He 
 ceased to struggle ; his limbs stiffened out in one great 
 throe. To all appearance he was. dead. 
 
 Tyscovus was so exhausted by the tremendous physical 
 exertion he had made that for a full minute he lay pant- 
 
76 LAL. 
 
 ing for breath and unable to rise. He had a vague idea 
 that he had killed his adversary, but his brain was in such 
 a state of commotion from the rough treatment he had re 
 ceived that his conceptions of the matter were by no means 
 clear. The predominant emotion he experienced was still 
 that of anger, and with this was a divided feeling of elation 
 at his victory, and of having gotten rid of a brute in human 
 form that had persisted in forcing himself into his house. 
 At last, with some difficulty, he rose to his feet, and then 
 looked with what calmness he could command at the pros 
 trate form before him. Gradually he began to appreciate 
 the circumstances of the situation, and to experience regret 
 and alarm at the idea of the possible consequences of the 
 contest through which he had passed. His first act was to 
 rush into the room, and returning with a cup of cold water, 
 to throw the contents into the man s face. Not the slight 
 est evidence of vitality was exhibited. Then he bent over, 
 and taking hold of the hand that lay stretched out mo 
 tionless on the floor, he endeavored to feel the pulsation of 
 the artery at the wrist, but there was not the faintest throb 
 to be perceived. Without thinking, he let go the hand and 
 it fell like lead, and with a loud noise, on the boards. " My 
 God !" he exclaimed, the full horror of the crisis bursting 
 with all its force upon him ; " he is dead, and I have killed 
 him ! " 
 
 For a few moments he stood gazing stupidly at the 
 body that lay limp and lifeless before him. What should 
 he do ? His first thought was to hurry away from the 
 scene of his great misfortune, to turn his back upon a spot 
 that was now hateful to him, and to return to Poland with 
 all possible speed. There, while there might be spies, po 
 lice-agents, informers, and a despotic military government, 
 there was at least order ; and people, unless they came with 
 the majesty of the law, or an order from the commanding 
 officer, did not venture to force themselves unbidden into 
 
"MY HOUSE IS MY CASTLE." 77 
 
 other people s liouses. But this was only a momentary 
 suggestion, that flashed through his mind and was gone 
 without his judgment s accepting it even for an instant 
 His second thought was to go at once to Hellbender, which 
 he knew to be the county-seat, and, informing the authori 
 ties of what he had done, give himself up to be dealt with 
 according to law. Upon reflection, though he deeply re 
 gretted the untoward result of his contest a result that 
 he certainly had not intended he could not seriously 
 reproach himself for what had happened. The man had 
 been a trespasser of a violent kind, and had persisted m 
 attempting by might and main to enter a house without 
 the permission of the owner. If every man s house was his 
 castle surely he had the right to put such a person off of 
 his premises, using such a degree of force as might be 
 necessary to effect his purpose. This had been his inten 
 tion, but the energetic resistance of the invader of his 
 privacy had materially interfered with the task he had set 
 himself, and death had ensued in the most unforeseen 
 
 manner. 
 
 However, he could not conceive what had been the 
 immediate cause of the calamity. He had, it is true, 
 seized his antagonist by the cravat and shirt- collar, and 
 had attempted to choke him ; but he had not been able to 
 accomplish this object to his entire satisfaction, or to such 
 an extent as to seriously injure the man. Then he had 
 pushed his clinched fists against his throat, and had cer 
 tainly, for a little while, stopped his breath. But he 
 understood enough of the human system to know that 
 such an interruption was no serious matter, unless con 
 tinued for a very much longer period than in this instance. 
 Doubtless the man had died of some kind of heart-dis 
 ease, and the efforts he had put forth, conjoined with the 
 semi-strangulation Tyscovus had inflicted, had caused his 
 death. He also called to mind the fact that the man s 
 
 
78 
 
 strength had begun to fail before the struggle had reached 
 its height, and before he had been able to choke him. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, from the reasoning process 
 going on in Tyscovus s mind, that he had, in a great meas 
 ure, gotten over his agitation, and was looking at the mut 
 ter in a cool and philosophical way very much to the credit 
 of his intellect. Although, at the outset, he had broken 
 through all the laws he had laid down for his guidance, 
 and had been influenced by as much emotional activity as 
 is generally shown by men under like circumstances, there 
 was very little feeling connected with the ideas that now 
 ran through his head. Still, he was sincerely sorry, and at 
 any rate he had a duty to perform, and this he had no 
 intention of shirking. Stooping once more to feel the 
 man s pulse, and applying his ear to his chest to discover 
 whether or not the heart was beating, and obtaining only 
 negative evidence from both these procedures, he seized the 
 body by the shoulders, and dragged it over the floor into 
 the room that the man, when alive, had been so anxious 
 to enter. He considered this a precaution necessary to pre 
 vent the coyotes arid other wolves, so numerous in that part 
 of the country, from devouring it during his contemplated 
 absence. He then straightened out the limbs, not yet stiff 
 though at that great altitude rigidity ensues very soon 
 after death arranged the clothing, and then, before going, 
 made a parting inspection of the form that, less than half 
 an hour ago, was fall of life and courage, but that now was 
 food for the elements. The face was not distorted, and, 
 but for the absence of all signs of vitality, it might easily 
 have been supposed that sleep, not death, was the existent 
 condition. The body was, as he had already practically 
 discovered, that of a tall and powerfully built man, appar 
 ently not over forty years of age. The clothing was the 
 rough costume of the country : a flannel shirt, trousers, and 
 long, thick boots extending above his knees, and with the 
 
"MY HOUSE IS MY CASTLE." 79 
 
 soles studded with spikes like those worn by miners. The 
 man s hat had fallen off in the struggle, and Tyscovus 
 went out into the passage and brought it into the room. 
 There was no name in it, to indicate to whom it belonged. 
 He thought of searching the pockets for some evidence 
 of identification, but, upon reflection, deemed it better to 
 leave that process to the officers of the law, whom he in 
 tended to summon. Then he locked the door, and, put 
 ting the key into his pocket, started off on his journey to 
 Hellbender. 
 
 He went down the hill, which, less than twenty-four 
 hours previously, he had ascended with far different feel 
 ings from those that he now experienced. He reached 
 the road, and, turning to the north, walked rapidly toward 
 the town, in which it was quite possible he might have to 
 remain a prisoner till a judicial inquiry, if not a trial for 
 murder, could be begun and finished. And this was the 
 first notable result of his journey of over five thousand 
 miles in search of isolation ! Truly the outlook was not 
 encouraging. 
 
 As he trudged along the thought would every now and 
 then occur to him that when the affair was ended he would 
 return to Poland, a wiser if not a better man ; and, aban 
 doning all the studies to which the best years of his life 
 had been given, confess himself worsted in his battle against 
 ignorance and error, and spend the rest of his days in se 
 clusion in his gloomy Polish castle, or perhaps in exile in 
 Siberia. He knew that a refuge from the world could 
 always be had whenever he chose to perpetrate an act, or 
 even speak a word, against the despotism that ground his 
 country in the dust. 
 
 He had walked a couple of miles on the dusty road, his 
 eyes most of the time cast on the ground. He did not, 
 therefore, see the man that was approaching him in an old- 
 fashioned gig, drawn by a couple of fast-stepping trotters, 
 
80 LAL - 
 
 till the horses were so close to him as barely to be checked 
 in time to prevent their running over him. 
 
 " Look out, my friend ! " exclaimed the driver. " Why 
 don t you watch where you are going ? A little more, and 
 my horses would have been over you." 
 
 " It seems to me," answered Tyscovus, with a little tinge 
 of anger in his voice, "that it is you who should look out. 
 You saw me, and I did not see you." 
 
 " By Jove, I believe you are right ! But you see I did 
 look out. If I had not, you would have been run over, 
 and then I should have had, most likely, the opportunity 
 of setting a broken arm or leg for you. The fact is, how 
 ever," lie continued, while a pleasant smile overspread his 
 face, "I saw while you were half a mile off that you were 
 deep in thought, and I was at once interested. Thinking 
 men are rare in this country. So I drove right at you so 
 as to have an excuse for stopping you. Can I be of any 
 service to you ? In this out-of-the-way region we should 
 always be ready to help each other." 
 
 Tyscovus looked at the man with more attention than 
 he had yet given to him. He was evidently of a class su 
 perior to any with which he had yet come in contact, and 
 he was certainly kind and genial in his manner. A medi 
 cal man, judging from his remarks about a broken arm or 
 leg. At any other time, Tyscovus would have been ruffled 
 at being spoken to in the patronizing tone adopted. He 
 was not one to tolerate liberties, and, as he never interfered 
 with others who pursued their own course without infring 
 ing on his rights, so he was intolerant of everything that 
 seemed like a desire to pry into his aifairs, or to interrupt 
 him when lie was diligently engaged in minding his own 
 business. But now, matters with him were in such an un 
 pleasant state that he began to experience the want of sym 
 pathy. His feeling of self-reliance was a little shaken ; his 
 desire for solitude was, at that instant at least, scarcely so 
 
"MY HOUSE IS MY CASTLE." 81 
 
 strong as it was a few hours previously. He had just killed 
 a man, by misadventure, as he believed, but yet while he 
 was endeavoring, to the utmost of his ability, to inflict 
 bodily injury. Whoever has done this, under like circum 
 stances, for the first time, can hardly escape some unpleas 
 ant qualms. 
 
 The man before him looked like a gentleman and spoke 
 like one. Yes, he would tell him what had occurred and 
 ask his advice. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A CHANGE OF BASE. 
 
 JIM BOSLER, on reaching the flat country at the foot of 
 the butte, crossed Wildcat Creek and took the road leading 
 to The Caflon. He had not proceeded more than half a 
 mile over the prairie, before he turned off sharply to the 
 west, being guided, apparently, by a few ruts cut by wagon- 
 wheels in the soft, loamy soil. Here he found it necessary 
 to go at a much slower rate of speed than that which he had 
 adopted while on the well-beaten road he had first struck ; 
 for, not only was the ground comparatively unbroken by 
 horse or wagon, but he deemed it expedient to keep a sharp 
 lookout against missing his way, and thus being compelled 
 to stay all night in the wagon. 
 
 All the occupants of the vehicle appeared to be disposed 
 to silence. Mr. Bosler was not ordinarily of a communica 
 tive disposition, especially when as in the present instance 
 he had many important matters on his mind. Beyond 
 the exclamations that he considered it necessary every now 
 and then to address to his horses, either for the purpose of 
 accelerating their pace or quickening their faculty of atten 
 tion, he had not opened his mouth to articulate a word. 
 
 On the contrary, Mrs. Bosler was naturally gifted with 
 brilliant conversational powers, and rarely failed to put 
 them to use upon the slightest provocation. This evening, 
 however, she kept the silentcst of silent tongues in her 
 head, busying herself in watching the road, looking first to 
 one side and then to the other, and occasionally bending 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 83 
 
 over the side of the wagon to give a glance behind, as 
 though fearful of being followed. Every now and then, 
 however, she addressed a few words in a low tone to her 
 husband, who apparently took no other notice of her re 
 marks than to urge his horses, with a cluck of his tongue 
 or a snap of his whip, to greater speed. 
 
 Lai sat alone on the seat behind that occupied by her 
 father and mother. During the first part of the jour 
 ney, while it was still light enough, she read from a little 
 vellum-bound book, rolling up the curtains of the wagon 
 in order that she might see to better purpose. But, as 
 night approached, finding, with every minute, increased 
 difficulty in the pursuit of the knowledge or amusement 
 she was extracting from the volume, she would stop and 
 rub her eyes, as though to freshen them up to increased 
 power of vision. Finally, the forces of nature became too 
 much for her, so she closed the book, and, taking a piece of 
 brown paper from the pocket of her dress, she wrapped it 
 up carefully and laid it on the seat beside her. For a few 
 moments after this act she sat in silence, seemingly deep 
 in reflection over what she had read. It was now quite 
 dark, and the obscurity was deepened from the fact that 
 the wagon had entered a thick wood, through which, even 
 in the broad light of day, the rays of the sun did not fully 
 penetrate. Still greater care was now requisite in driving, 
 and not infrequently the wheels struck against a stump or 
 a large stone, though, as a rule, Bosler managed with a 
 surprising degree of skill to avoid such obstacles. 
 
 "I don t quite like that man," said Lai, at last, as 
 though expressing the sum-total of her thoughts since leav 
 ing the butte. " He thinks too much of himself, and don t 
 care nothin for them as is nothin to him." 
 
 "Well ! why should he, I d like to know ? " exclaimed 
 Mrs. Bosler, with a little sharpness in her tone. " Who 
 does ? I don t, and you don t, neither." 
 
84 LAL. 
 
 " I don t mean that," answered Lai. "I mean as he s 
 stuck up and proud, and thinks what he don t know ain t 
 worth knowing and that what other people says ain t worth 
 sayin ." 
 
 " I can t see as you ve had any chance to tell much about 
 him." 
 
 There was silence for a few minutes, and then Lai again 
 broke it. 
 
 "I d like to know what he wanted our house for," she 
 said, without addressing any one in particular, but as if 
 giving utterance to a thought that troubled her. " He 
 came right to it jist as ef he knowed whar to find it, and 
 had made up his mind to git it afore he seed it." 
 
 " Now, what do folks ginerally want with houses, Lai 
 Bosler ? " inquired her mother with increased irritation, 
 "ef not to live in em? Some friend o his, I spose, 
 told him about it, so he come and seen it, and paid his 
 money. " 
 
 " Yes, and I ve got it in my pocket," said Mr. Bosler, 
 joining in the conversation for the first time, and chuckling 
 with satisfaction "jist as good gold as Uncle Sam ever 
 turned out o his mint. Twenty on em ! What he wants 
 with the ranch is his own business, and I don t propose to 
 stick my spoon into another fellow s mush. Leastwise," 
 he added, after a pause, during which he doubtless recol 
 lected several occasions on which he had stuck his spoon into 
 other people s messes "leastwise not this time, ef I knows 
 myself." 
 
 " I don t like him nohow," reiterated Lai, doggedly, 
 "and I never will neither." 
 
 " Well, as you ain t likely never to lay eyes on him ag in, 
 I don t see as it makes much difference whether you likes 
 him or not, said the elder lady, "so you mought as well 
 stop thinkin about him. Ile ll never be nothin to you, 
 nor you to him." 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 85 
 
 " I ain t so sure about that, mam/ said the girl. " Some 
 how or Another I feel as ef we hadn t seen the last of 
 him." 
 
 "Now jist stop talkin , will you?" broke in Mr. Bosler. 
 "We re nearly thar now, and I don t want no more noise 
 than thar s needcessity for. For all I know thar may be 
 parties in them shanties as we wouldn t want to see. Least 
 wise I wouldn t when I ve two women on my hands to look 
 after. Hush ! thar they are jist at the fur end of the clear- 
 in . I see the roofs shinin in the moonlight. Now," he 
 continued, reining up the horses, "you two stay here jist 
 whar you air, and I ll git out and perspect around a bit." 
 With these words he handed the lines to his wife, and, tak 
 ing his revolver from its receptacle at the small of his back, 
 jumped to the ground. 
 
 "Hold on right here, Moll," he continued, "till you 
 hear me whistle. Then drive straight ahead, for it ll be all 
 right. And don t keep up no gabblin neither." 
 
 In a moment he was lost in the deep shadows of the 
 woods, as he flitted noiselessly from tree to tree. 
 
 The two women were not exactly afraid, but they were 
 certainly anxious. Neither uttered a word, and each could 
 hear the beating of her heart, as she sat motionless, waiting 
 for the signal from the man that it was safe to advance. Lai 
 scarcely understood the full- gravity of the situation. She 
 knew that her father was something of an outlaw, that his 
 conduct was not such as to command the respect even of 
 the rough and non-exacting people among whom he lived, 
 and that threats involving his life had been made. But 
 she was not aware of the full extent of his iniquities, and 
 that at that moment it would not have been safe for him to 
 show himself at The Cation, which had heretofore protected 
 him. Mrs. Bosler, however, was fully acquainted with the 
 fact that the vigilance committee of Hellbender had deter 
 mined on her husband s death. She knew that the house 
 
86 LAL - 
 
 on the butte was to be visited that night, and that perhaps 
 even at that moment search for him was being made. She 
 had an inkling also that something had occurred at The 
 Canon that rendered it extremely dangerous to Mr. Bosler 
 for him to visit that settlement, but what it was he had 
 never clearly told her. He was generally extremely reti 
 cent in regard to his affairs and doings when away from 
 home, but occasionally, when he had taken just the proper 
 quantity of whisky to loosen his tongue, and not enough to 
 make him ill-natured, he would let out little bits of infor 
 mation that served as guide-posts to those in search of fur 
 ther knowledge. Hence, she knew he had killed a man 
 at The Canon, but she had no idea that it was one of the 
 most unprovoked and altogether beastly murders that had 
 ever been enacted in the long list of outrages of which 
 desperadoes in that region had been guilty. Mrs. Bosler s 
 faith in the astuteness of her husband was supreme, Many 
 a time before, he had been in fully as great peril and had 
 always managed to escape. Once, however, a rifle-bullet 
 sent after him had taken away the bridge of his nose and 
 one eye, just as he was turning to give a parting shot at his 
 pursuers. Strange as it may seem, she loved him, and this, 
 though her whole life, for the twenty years she had been 
 his wife, had been one of hardship and degradation ; for 
 drunken, thieving, murderous as he was, he had always, 
 after his fashion, been kind to her and Lai that is, he 
 had not beaten them, and he had provided for them accord 
 ing to his means and the customs of the country. Even 
 the cross words that he had at times thought it his duty to 
 address to them were generally mere sound and fury, and 
 were tinged with a vein of good-nature that they thor 
 oughly understood. Familiarity with events such as she 
 was now experiencing had made her courageous, and had 
 given her a degree of presence of mind in the face of danger 
 that not one woman in a thousand naturally possesses, or 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 87 
 
 one in a hundred can acquire though the opportunities be 
 innumerable. 
 
 Twenty years previously she had married Bosler. She 
 was then the teacher of a primary school in Indiana, and 
 knew enough to do her work to the satisfaction of the school 
 committee, who did not know half as much as she did. 
 Bosler was a respectable farmer, working a quarter-section 
 of land in Kansas, and, meeting the girl while he was on a 
 visit to his father and mother, fell in love with her at sight 
 and carried her back with him to his farm. He was totally 
 uneducated, loved whisky too much for his own good, as 
 well as for the good of those with whom he came in con 
 tact, and, though never absolutely convicted as a rogue, was 
 yet well known to be not over-scrupulous as to his ways 
 and means of getting along in the world. His, moreover, 
 was the stronger nature of the two, and so, little by little, 
 his wife had become assimilated to him in her ways of 
 thought, expression, and action. Soon after his marriage 
 he had sold his farm, and ever since the two had been go 
 ing west, keeping a little in advance of the current of civ 
 ilization, and getting lower and lower in the social and 
 moral scale, till now they had reached a point at which it 
 seemed that further degradation was impossible. Drink 
 had mainly been instrumental in making him what he was, 
 but she had clung to him, hoping against hope, in a passive 
 sort of a way, that something might occur to save him 
 from the fate that she perceived was slowly but surely 
 overtaking him, but yet never interfering, by word or deed, 
 to arrest his course to destruction. No other person had 
 come to do the work that she, at one time at least, might 
 easily have done, and gradually she began to feel that she 
 was becoming reconciled to the life she was leading. She 
 had assumed his forms of speech ; his ways all but the 
 drink were getting to be her ways ; she found excuses in 
 her own mind for his lawless acts ; she had even encour- 
 
88 LAL. 
 
 aged him in some of them, and, worst of all, she had brought 
 up her own daughter to regard, not only without horror, 
 but with admiration, the deeds of robbery and bloodshed 
 that the head of the house was constantly committing. 
 She had brought herself to the point of believing that 
 horses and mules were the legitimate spoils of whoever 
 could take them, and on several occasions had assisted her 
 husband in his raids on his neighbors stock. She even jus 
 tified the taking of human life in which, in order to the 
 accomplishment of his horse-thieving operations, he had 
 sometimes been obliged to indulge. "For," as she said, 
 " ef they d let him alone Jim was as harmless as a babe, when 
 he was after a hoss ; but when they drawed on him it warn t 
 in human natur not to draw back." 
 
 It was true that, during his predatory excursions, Mr. 
 Bosler was always as sober as a judge; no alcoholic liquor 
 ever at these times passed his lips; and when not intoxi 
 cated he never quarreled with or attacked any one unless he 
 was first threatened. But, when he had sold the proceeds 
 of his depredations, he had, he thought, acquired the 
 right to enjoy himself in the way that gave him the most 
 pleasure, and then it was that he got drunk, and when he 
 was drunk he was, as we have seen, a murderous beast. At 
 such times, a word, a look, even the exhibition of a disposi 
 tion to avoid him, was sufficient to excite in him the spirit 
 of murder. To the extent of supporting him in this tend 
 ency Mrs. Bosler could not go. She felt the necessity of 
 drawing the line somewhere, and she drew it at the point 
 of the unprovoked, deliberate taking of human life. She 
 knew that, but for whisky, her husband would be a com 
 paratively quiet and inoffensive man, but she had never 
 until quite recently ventured to remonstrate with him. 
 Perhaps she was afraid that she might gain his ill-will if 
 she attempted to interfere with him in his pursuit of hap 
 piness, and hence she had lamented in secret without dar- 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 89 
 
 ing to evince any open demonstrations of repugnance to his 
 habits. Latterly, however, chiefly through the influence 
 of her daughter, whose wits were keener and whose mental 
 organization of altogether a stronger build than her OAvn, 
 she had made a few feeble efforts to induce her husband to 
 forego the use of his accustomed beverage. Her success 
 had not been such as to give her much encouragement, till 
 the murder of Hallam was perpetrated. Since then, Mr. 
 Bosler had apparently been touched by the persuasions of 
 his wife joined to those of his daughter, and he had several 
 times been almost brought to the point of "swearing off." 
 Never before had he felt the death of any one of his vic 
 tims so acutely as he had that of the last. Hallam was, as 
 we have seen, a well-disposed young man that never gave 
 intentional offense to any one, and the peculiarly cold 
 blooded way in which he had been killed had excited a 
 very warm feeling against his murderer, the effect of which 
 upon Mr. Bosler, conjoined with the spontaneous remorse 
 he experienced, was such as to almost persuade him to yield 
 to his wife s and daughter s solicitations, and to declare 
 that never again should any intoxicating liquor pass down 
 his throat. Perhaps the most powerful argument ad 
 dressed to him was that which related to Lai s education. 
 He admitted with more force than elegance that he would 
 "rather see her layin rottin in her grave than to take up 
 with any o them fellows at The Canon," and that she 
 would eventually, if left to her own devices and those of 
 the "boys," "take up" with some one or perhaps more 
 of them, appeared to be accepted by him and Mrs. Bosler 
 as a foregone conclusion. Mr. Bosler, however, had his 
 own plans relative to his daughter s marriage, and he did 
 not mean that they should be interfered with. 
 
 Lai already had several followers from among the fash 
 ionable young men of The Canon, and already blood had 
 been shed on her account. The most persistent of her ad- 
 
90 LAL - 
 
 mircrs was a certain miner named Luke Kittle, otherwise 
 known as "The Gulcher" why or wherefore is lost in the 
 antiquity of the region and by that cognomen he was 
 generally known among his friends. This gentleman was 
 a sort of under-foreman in the Santa Constanza silver-mine, 
 and in addition varied the tedious monotony of his occupa 
 tion by keeping a monte-table, over the destinies of which 
 he presided when work in the mine was over for the day, 
 and on Sundays, when mining operations were either alto 
 gether suspended or carried on with a diminished force. 
 On some accounts "The Gulcher" would have been as 
 desirable a life-partner for Lai as could have been found 
 at The Canon. He always had plenty of money, dressed 
 well and fashionably after his work in the mine was ended 
 for the day, had the biggest gold watch and heaviest and 
 most elaborately constructed watch-chain to be found any 
 where in the region, and kept the most resplendent and 
 best-frequented gambling establishment existing outside of 
 Denver or Santa Fe. So strong were his claims and so 
 powerful certain personal inducements offered by him that 
 Mr. Bosler had, on several occasions, when in a generous 
 mood from moderate potations, informed " The Gulcher " 
 that "Lai was his n whenever he was ready for her." But 
 just as soon as the enlivening effects of the whisky had passed 
 off he had hardened his heart and raised his price, and de 
 clared that "no Gulcher, nor the likes o him, should ever 
 tackle on to Lai." This vacillation of Mr. Bosler in the 
 expression of his intentions had led to a coolness between 
 him and Mr. Kittle, which was far from being assuaged by 
 the comments of society at The Canon, to the effect that 
 " Bosler had gone buck on his word," and that " The 
 Gulcher " was " a good enough man for Lai Bosler any day." 
 So great had been the pressure brought to bear, that Mr. 
 Bosler was gradually weakening in his determination ; not 
 so much from any change in his own convictions, as from 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 91 
 
 the inability he experienced to maintain a continued re 
 sistance to the force of public opinion. Hence, whenever 
 lie thought of the matter, he cursed "The Gulcher" and 
 himself for the existence of a claim that he had allowed 
 to be established, and to which, though under existing 
 circumstances abhorrent to him, he felt he should eventu 
 ally be obliged to yield. 
 
 There were many objections to Mr. Kittle that any 
 prudent and loving father would have been bound to take 
 into consideration. In the first place, he was more or less 
 full of bad whisky all the time that he was not on duty in 
 the mine, and although "a fellow-feeling makes us won 
 drous kind," Mr. Bosler had enough practical experience 
 of the effects of alcohol, when taken into the stomach, to 
 know when he himself was sober that a man who was 
 always under its influence was not likely to be a good son- 
 in-law or husband. Secondly, " The Gulcher s" face had, 
 by the premature explosion of a blast, been so effectively 
 demolished that its appearance was scarcely that of a hu 
 man being. The original effects of the dynamite had been 
 of a sufficiently disfiguring character ; but these were noth 
 ing in comparison with those due to the bungling procedures 
 of the quack doctor called in to render surgical aid. This 
 person had left unreduced a fracture of the lower jaw, 
 and had inserted his stitches in such a way as to produce a 
 degree of distortion which no explosive compound yet dis 
 covered could have equaled. Thirdly, "The Gulcher s" 
 passion for Lai was so intense that he had declared, with 
 sundry emphatic expletives, that unless she became his 
 wife before the following New- Year s day, somebody would 
 need the services of an undertaker. By this positive 
 but at the same time rather indefinite threat, often and 
 publicly repeated, several persons were kept in a state 
 of annoyance altogether incompatible with that peace of 
 mind constituting mental health. For, whether Mr. Kit- 
 
92 LAL - 
 
 tic referred to Mr. or Mrs. Bosler, to Lai, or to him 
 self, he never condescended to explain. The idea that 
 he mi flit mean his sanguinary menace for one of the three 
 Boslers made all of them uncomfortable. The suspicion 
 that he might, in the event of a persistent refusal of his ten 
 der of marriage, perpetrate suicide, rendered many worthy 
 citizens unhappy. For Mr. Kittle was a popular man, one 
 highly esteemed, educated better than the mass of the peo 
 ple around him, and certain of political advancement if his 
 life should be spared a contingency always to be borne in 
 mind at The Canon. " The Gulcher " was a man of his 
 word, and Lai had answered that she - would rather die 
 than take up with Luke Kittle," so that the prospect of 
 a catastrophe of some kind was imminent. Besides, Mr. 
 Bosler had resolved in his own mind that, before the first of 
 January came round, he would, as an act of self-protection, 
 as well as a short and easy method of getting rid of his 
 promise, embrace the first convenient opportunity of put 
 ting a bullet from his six-shooter into a vital part of "The 
 Gulcher s " anatomy. It will be seen, therefore, that the 
 situation was not without its difficulties, and that the hap 
 piest solution of the whole affair would be for Mr. Bosler 
 to yield to his wife s and daughter s solicitations, turn their 
 backs for good and all upon the whole region, and seek in 
 a distant locality for that peace and quiet which The Canon 
 and its vicinity no longer afforded. 
 
 But there was another lover, who, if not so troublesome 
 as " The Gulcher," was almost equally persistent in the mani 
 festation of his attachment, and who, moreover, enjoyed the 
 great advantage over his rival of being regarded with no 
 indifferent feelings by the object of his affection. His name 
 was Manuel Vaca, a New-Mexican, from the not distant 
 town of Don Fernando de Taos, or plain "Taos," as it was 
 generally called. This man was also well endowed with 
 this world s goods, owning several ranches and many thou- 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 93 
 
 sand sheep. He had shown his devotion to Lai by stabbing 
 the gentleman that had danced twice with her at a ball 
 given to commemorate the birth of the Father of his Coun 
 try on the last anniversary of that happy event, and that 
 had been, in his turn, shot and seriously wounded by the 
 too assiduous dancer, as soon as he had recovered from the 
 effects of the knife-thrust he had received. Lai had been 
 deeply touched by these evidences of the New-Mexican s 
 infatuation, and was strongly disposed to favor his suit ; but 
 Mr. Bosler swore, with all that pointedness and emphasis 
 he knew so well how to exhibit when occasion required, 
 that "no darned nigger" should ever marry his daughter 
 
 a remark that went to show that, however good a judge 
 
 of equine natural history Mr. Bosler might be, his anthro 
 pological knowledge was neither exact nor profound. More 
 over, he had still further exhibited his contempt for his 
 would-be son-in-law by running off that individual s horses 
 to the number of about fifty, and selling them at The Canon 
 under his very nose ! This was undoubtedly an audacious act, 
 one that showed that Mr. Bosler was aware of the advantages 
 he enjoyed as Lai s father. Nevertheless, Don Manuel, as he 
 was called, though feeling compelled by the necessities of 
 the situation to smother his wrath, swore by all the saints 
 in the New-Mexican calendar, as well as by Our Lady of 
 Guadalupe, that he would not only have Lai, by fair means 
 or foul, but that he would get even with her father for his 
 scurvy trick. Mr. Bosler had reason to believe, from the 
 fact that Don Manuel made no secret of his feelings, as 
 well as from Lai s known predilection for her New-Mexican 
 lover, that that energetic and wronged person might not 
 only attempt to do him serious bodily injury, but might 
 concoct some scheme for abducting his daughter from the 
 paternal protection. 
 
 It was true that Mr. Bosler had offered, for a certain 
 consideration, to withdraw all opposition to Don Manuel, 
 
94 LAL. 
 
 notwithstanding his supposed state of ethnological degra 
 dation, but the Mexican had persistently rejected all such 
 overtures, and had declared that his terms should be made 
 with Lai, or with no one. 
 
 The two women had sat for nearly half an hour, anx 
 iously expecting the signal, and yet no sign of the result of 
 Mr. Bosler s reconnaissance had been received. They were 
 beginning to feel some apprehensions for his personal safe 
 ty, when suddenly a distant light flashed upon them, and a 
 long-drawn-out whistle was heard. " Git up ! " exclaimed 
 Mrs. Bosler to the horses, at the same time laying the whip 
 over their flanks. The animals sprang forward, judicious 
 ly restrained by their driver, and, after traversing a quarter 
 of a mile or more of open prairie, were met by Mr. Bosler, 
 who, taking them by the heads, conducted them to the 
 spot where he had concluded to rest. "Git out, Moll 
 git out, Lai!" he said, with a good-natured laugh, "it s 
 all right ; but I thought it best to make sure. Thar s so 
 many darned skunks in this world that a fellow s got to 
 look out for em night and day. " 
 
 "I don t see no house, Jim," said Mrs. Bosler, as she 
 and Lai jumped to the ground. 
 
 "Well, ef you l don t see no house, Jim, " replied Mr. 
 Bosler, mimicking his wife s words and tone, "it ain t my 
 fault, is it ? Thar s the ranch, right under your nose, in 
 the shadow o them trees." 
 
 Thus informed of its exact situation, Mrs. Bosler and 
 Lai had no difficulty in discovering the cabin, which, 
 as Mr. Bosler had remarked, stood so close to the wood 
 that the shadows of the dense foliage prevented it being 
 distinctly seen. In a short time, by the united efforts 
 of the three, the wagon was unloaded, the furniture and 
 baggage carried into the cabin, the horses unhitched, 
 watered in the stream that flowed near the house, and 
 picketed in the midst of the rich growth of buffalo-grass 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 95 
 
 that covered the prairie. Then preparations were made 
 for supper. 
 
 The house was altogether a better one than that which 
 Mr. Bosler had sold. It consisted of three large apart 
 ments, arranged en suite, but each opening exteriorly, as 
 well as by communicating doors. It did not take long to 
 empty the wagon of its contents, and to place them in the 
 several rooms of the cabin. A few barrels and boxes that 
 the former occupants had left behind them, served for 
 tables and chairs, and ere long a savory meal of fried bacon, 
 slapjacks, and coifee was prepared by the joint efforts of 
 Mrs. Bosler and her daughter. 
 
 In the mean time, and all through the repast, Mr. Bos 
 ler was in a state of unusual hilarity. He had escaped the 
 danger that was impending over him, and had secured a 
 safe retreat for himself and family till such time as he 
 could look around him, and make up his mind in regard 
 to his future movements. He joked with Mrs. Bosler and 
 Lai, and laughed uproariously when he thought he had 
 made a more than commonly sharp remark about either of 
 them. 
 
 "Now, Lai," he said, rubbing his hands together, while 
 he lay back against the wall, after gulping down great 
 mouthfuls of coffee, from a tin cup of the capacity of a 
 quart, "you don t want to take up with none o them 
 Canon fellows, when thar s a man around as I would be 
 proud to see in the family." With which remark he 
 winked at his wife, and chuckled, with a sense of his own 
 humor. 
 
 But Lai was not disposed to participate in her father s 
 joke. She made no reply, but her look warned Mr. Bosler 
 that he was treading on dangerous ground. In his heart 
 he was afraid of his daughter, for she had, upon several 
 occasions, spoken her mind with great freedom, telling 
 him some wholesome truths, with either the anger, or pa- 
 
96 LAL - 
 
 thos necessary to impress him with a due sense of the re 
 ality of her convictions. He knew that she might now 
 make an answer that would be sure to recall disagreeable 
 associations. So he judged it best to let the subject drop, 
 which he did, with the knowledge that his remark had 
 thrown a damper over the spirits of the little party that 
 would not be removed that night. 
 
 After supper the rest of the meal having been passed 
 in grim silence preparations were made for going to bed. 
 The light of the fire served for the two elder people, and 
 Lai, lighting a candle and sticking it into the mouth of an 
 empty bottle, went into the adjoining room. Her bed lay 
 upon the floor. Her first work was to arrange it for occu 
 pancy, which was no difficult task, as its furniture consisted 
 merely of a couple of blankets. Then she took from her 
 pocket the little book that she had been reading in the 
 wagon and carefully removed the paper that she had 
 wrapped around it. She stood for several minutes looking 
 admiringly at her treasure. It was bound in white vellum, 
 very much embossed in gold. She turned it over and over, 
 scanning it closely, and opening and shutting it with evident 
 feelings of pleasure. She lingered long over the title-page, 
 and, after studying it apparently without obtaining a clear 
 idea of its significance, she closed the book, and, with an 
 expression of keen disappointment on her face, laid it on 
 the empty box turned upside down, which served as a 
 table. Then she began to prepare for bed, but she was still 
 preoccupied about the book, for, after removing her shoes 
 and one stocking, she suspended further operations in the 
 way of undressing, and, taking up the book, again resumed 
 her inspection of the title-page, as if determined to perse 
 vere in the effort to solve its mysteries if it took all night 
 for the purpose. She read it over repeatedly, with consid 
 erable difficulty as regarded some of the words, for the type 
 was old-fashioned and looked strange to her not very prae- 
 
A CHANGE OF BASE. 9T 
 
 ticed eyes. Eventually, however, arriving at the conclu 
 sion that she had mastered it, she replaced her treasure on 
 the box. "The life of Count John, Tyscovicius of Biesk, 
 in Podolia," she said, aloud. " I wonder what on earth a 
 Tyscovicius is ? A mayor or sheriff, I suppose ; and 
 Count John was Tyscovicius of Biesk, in Podolia ! Biesk, 
 I guess, is a town, and Podolia, I s pose, is a country. Tys 
 covicius ! Why, that s something like the name of the man 
 as bought our ranch. Oh, now Pve got it ! " she con 
 tinued, laughing. "Wasn t I a stupid fool ?" and, again 
 opening the book, she read : " The Life of Count John 
 Tyscovicius, of Biesk, in Podolia/ That s him, I guess, or 
 may be his father. No ! Well I jist ain t got no sense for 
 larnin . This book was printed in one M, one V, one C, 
 and two X s. That makes Lord ! I don t know ; but 
 it s a long way back, that s sure ; may be more n a hundred 
 years, I guess, and that s the reason it s sich hard readin . 
 But it s lively, for all that. I wonder will he miss it ? I 
 didn t steal it, that s sartin. A gal s got a right to what 
 she finds. She ain t bound to run all round creation tryin 
 to find out a owner." Finally, having eased what little 
 conscience she had relative to rights in property, she took 
 off the remaining stocking, slipped out of her frock, let 
 down her hair, which fell in black waves to her waist, and 
 then, putting the candle on the floor, close to the pillow 
 upon which her head was to lie, she got between the blank 
 ets. But, instead of going to sleep, she read from the 
 little book far into the night, and until her candle sputtered 
 in the neck of the extemporized candlestick, and went out, 
 burned to its last end. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 
 
 THINGS went on in a monotonous kind of a way at Big 
 horn Spring, and Mr. Bosler began to feel the irksomeness 
 of the situation, when, at the end of three or four days of 
 separation from his friends at The Cailon, and of enforced 
 abstinence from whisky his supply of that beverage having 
 become exhausted he announced his intention of paying a 
 visit of observation to the settlement. Besides, the stock 
 of provisions was getting pretty low. And as it was prob 
 able that a week or two would elapse before he could com 
 plete his preparations for departing forever from the neigh 
 borhood, even should he determine upon that measure, it 
 became necessary that the larder should be replenished. 
 
 In addition, there were several important business mat 
 ters that required attention. There was a little piece of 
 property, consisting of a house occupied as a "saloon," 
 that he desired to sell, and for which he had already been 
 offered a handsome price ; there were a number of unad 
 justed accounts with receivers of animals he had stolen 
 that it was expedient to settle ; and, above all, there was 
 the matter with "The Gulcher," relative to which he had 
 determined to make a last effort toward a satisfactory ad 
 justment. 
 
 But, although he felt obliged to make the journey, it 
 was not without considerable apprehension for his personal 
 safety that he bade his wife and daughter good-by, and, 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 99 
 
 jumping into his wagon, drove off to The Canon. And this 
 well-grounded fear was shared by the two women he left 
 behind. Lai had begged hard to be allowed to go with 
 him, feeling sure that her presence would be some safe 
 guard from any attack that might be contemplated, but 
 this he positively refused. "There ain t goin to be no 
 trouble," he said ; "I kin always take care o myself, and 
 ef one o them darned skunks should come down on me, I 
 don t want no women around to bother me. All the sense 
 I ve got I want for the low-lived cusses." She was, there 
 fore, obliged to abandon the idea, and her father, with a 
 crack of his whip over his horses and a " Git up ! " soon 
 disappeared in the thick woods that skirted on every side 
 the prairie on which the house stood. 
 
 For several minutes she remained standing at the door 
 of the cabin, looking anxiously at the place where the 
 wagon had disappeared in the timber, and shading her eyes 
 with her hand to exclude the rays of the sun, not more than 
 an hour high. Then, with a heavy sigh she entered her 
 room and busied herself with some little details of dress, 
 and of arrangement of the scanty furniture that seemed 
 necessary. Mrs. Bosler was busy making a calico frock. 
 There was nothing special for Lai to do, so she sat at the 
 unglazed window, of which she had thrown back the solid 
 shutter, and, taking her book from its paper wrappings, 
 opened it and began to read. 
 
 She had done more that morning in the way of personal 
 care than ever previously in her life. She had risen before 
 the sun, and, moved by an impulse she had never yet ex 
 perienced to a like extent, had plunged into a wide and 
 deep pool formed by the water from Bighorn Spring, some 
 hundred yards or so below its source. The water was cold, 
 but the walk back had quickened her circulation, and she 
 felt the warm glow and the exhilaration that people of 
 strong constitutions and good health always feel after the 
 
100 LAL - 
 
 external application of cold water. Moreover, she was 
 cleaner, and it was not often that Lai Bosler was in that 
 condition that, whether next after or next before godli 
 ness, is certainly equally with it conducive to the develop 
 ment of the moral sentiments. 
 
 As neither her father nor mother had yet left their bed, 
 Lai had walked up and down on the grass in front of the 
 house, drying her hair in the warm sun, while at the same 
 time she combed and brushed it as well as the rather 
 imperfect instruments for the purpose that she owned 
 would permit. She had put on shoes and stockings an 
 other unusual circumstance and, in addition, had donned 
 a calico frock that, if of a glaring and antiquated pat 
 tern, both as regarded material and cut, was nevertheless 
 clean. Having dried her hair, she fastened it up in a knot 
 behind that was an unconscious and graceful imitation 
 of a Greek maiden s coiffure, and then began to get break 
 fast ready. There was not much to do in this direction. 
 A fire was readily made on the wide hearth of the middle 
 room of the series ; coffee, of a rather low degree of potency 
 was boiled ; a batch of dough, strongly impregnated with 
 saleratus, was baked into a cake, and the everlasting bacon, 
 fried in a skillet, in its own fat, completed the matutinal 
 repast. In the mean time Mr. and Mrs. Bosler had left 
 the conjugal couch, and, after partaking of breakfast, her 
 father had, as we have seen, gone off on his excursion to 
 The Canon. 
 
 Lai had not been reading long in her seat by the open 
 window, when she stopped suddenly, seemed for a few 
 moments to be lost in reflection, and then closing the vol 
 ume and wrapping it in its paper envelopes, she put it into 
 the pocket of her frock, and went into the farthest room, 
 where her mother was sitting, sewing. 
 
 Mrs. Bosler looked up as the girl approached, and re 
 garded her with an affectionate expression on her not 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 101 
 
 uncomely face. It was now a sad face, and her eyes were 
 red, as if from weeping. She was very fond of Lai, and 
 the two were accustomed to exchange confidences, a habit 
 encouraged by the long and repeated absences of the head 
 of the house. At these times, Mrs. Bosler would talk 
 freely of her own early life, of the education she had re 
 ceived, the offers of marriage she had rejected, and of 
 the coming of Mr. Bosler, and her eventual surrender, 
 after much skirmishing, to the assaults of that worthy 
 man. "Ah, Lai !" she would say, "things was very dif 
 ferent then. I knew lots o things that has long sence 
 passed clean out o my mind. Laws bless you ! I had 
 parsed clean through Pollok s Course o Time/ and I d 
 read Scott s novels, and Miss Edgeworth s tales, and ( Opie 
 on Lyin / and I d the best class in Sunday-school as 
 there was in Tippecanoe County. But now I never looks 
 at a book once in a blue moon. Not as I don t care to, 
 but how kin I, with your father gone more n half the 
 time, and me havin to look after everything ? Then, 
 too, you see, my mind s always full o some thin else, as 
 knocks all likin for larnin right out o my head. But it 
 wouldn t take much to bring it all back ef I only once had 
 the chance." 
 
 " I ve been readin , mam," said Lai, sitting down on an 
 empty box turned on one side. 
 
 "Yes, I seen you the night we come over from the 
 butte, and then ag in two or three times sence. One o 
 them yeller-kivered books as Luke Kittle brought over 
 from Hellbender, I s pose ? " 
 
 " No, mam, it s better nor any book as ever I seen afore, 
 and thar ain t no murders, nor house-breakins , nor none o 
 them things in it neither leastwise not yet," she added, 
 doubtfully, "though things is beginnin to look as ef 
 thar s goin to be hard times for some o them. " 
 
 " That s jist the way I was afore you was born. I read 
 
102 LAL - 
 
 Lalla Rookh all through in one night, and it took me so 
 of a heap, that, when I come to give you a name, I called you 
 Lalla, though you don t git but the half on it now from 
 nobody ; and I mought as well V called you Lai in the 
 start. Let s see your book." 
 
 Thus commanded, Lai took from her pocket the parcel 
 she had just placed there, and, undoing it, produced the 
 book from the perusal of which she had derived such 
 intense satisfaction. 
 
 "Why/whar in heaven, Lai, did you git that?" ex 
 claimed her mother, taking the little volume and examin 
 ing it with critical eyes; "I never seen the like o that 
 afore ! All covered with white and gold ! YVhar did you 
 git it?" 
 
 " I found it, mam." 
 "You found it! Whar ?" 
 
 "Well, while you, and pop, and the man as bought our 
 ranch was talkin , I seen somethin layin in the grass, jist 
 alongside the hitchin -post ; somethin shinin in the sun. 
 I picked it up, and that s it." 
 "But it belongs to the man." 
 "Yes, "doubtfully. 
 "It s not yours." 
 
 "No," still more doubtfully; "but I s pose findin s is 
 keepin s, ain t they ? " This with more decision. 
 
 Mrs. Bosler stopped to reflect before answering the ap 
 posite question proposed by her daughter. In the peculiar 
 system of morality existing in the Bosler family relative to 
 horses and mules, possession was all the points of the law, 
 no matter how the tenure was brought about. For many 
 years Mrs. Bosler had tacitly, if not overtly, countenanced 
 that doctrine, while her husband had confirmed it with 
 many emphatic and convincing arguments. At first, she 
 had tried in her small, weak, and vacillating way, to com 
 bat the views relative to horse - stealing that Mr. Bosler 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 103 
 
 brought forward. But, as is generally the case when inter 
 est, or at least apparent interest, is on the side of the spe 
 cious pleader for wrong-doing, when the most fallacious 
 reasoning is addressed to minds of little force, her scruples 
 had been gradually undermined, and she had, at last, been 
 brought to give her countenance to acts that, when she 
 was a school-teacher in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, would 
 have filled her with horror. But, for some little time past, 
 a change had been gradually taking place in Mrs. Bosler s 
 moral sentiments. An awakening from the torpor of nearly 
 twenty years had, almost imperceptibly to herself, taken 
 place. She was beginning to look further into the future 
 than she had hitherto cared to pry, and to ask herself ques 
 tions relative to what was before her husband, herself, and 
 especially Lai, the answers to which moved the very depths 
 of her heart. For, though she was markedly deficient in 
 force of intellect and in will-power, she was a woman whose 
 emotions, when one aroused, were almost always of a noble 
 character. She often concealed them, too. She was of the 
 kind that can suffer patiently for years, when passion, or 
 even a milder feeling scarcely rising to the force or dignity 
 of passion, prompts to self-abnegation. Now, she had a 
 prospect of leaving the semi-barbarous regions in which 
 twenty years of her life had been spent, and of taking up 
 her abode in some quiet place, where horse-stealing would 
 not be considered one of the manly virtues, or be the source 
 whence her daily bread was derived ; where her husband s 
 life would cease to hang by a thread, and where Lai would 
 have those advantages in the way of education and society 
 from which she had, ever since her birth, been debarred. 
 The prospect thus opened to her contemplation was a source 
 of joy far exceeding any that her hard existence had yet 
 experienced. It had turned her thoughts inward, had 
 given them a new direction, had assimilated them, in part, 
 to what they would be should her hopes be realized. Lai s 
 
104 
 
 question set her to thinking as she had not thought before in 
 years. Here was the chance to give the girl her first lesson 
 in the new system of ethics that would prevail when the 
 anticipated social changes should be effected ! Here was 
 the opportunity to plant the seed that, in time, under 
 new auspices, and through the influence of right teaching, 
 would develop into a pure symmetrical growth, regenerat 
 ing, refining, and enriching the soil in which it flourished. 
 But there was another point to be considered. Lai, she 
 knew, possessed a mind that, though unformed and im 
 pulsive in its tendencies, was yet in its processes often for 
 cibly if roughly logical. Mrs. Bosler had never said a 
 word to her calculated to make her think badly of her 
 father. How, then, could she blame the girl for appropriat 
 ing a book that did not belong to her ; stealing it, in fact, 
 and yet not condemn the still greater crimes that her fa 
 ther had perpetrated almost every day of his life ? What 
 would be the next question the girl would ask if she told her 
 the book was not hers, and that she was guilty of the crime 
 of petty larceny, and of the sin of violating the eighth com 
 mandment ? She knew in her heart what it would be. 
 She could almost see Lai s lips move as the words came out 
 of her mouth. She could almost hear them as with awful 
 distinctness they fell on her ears : " Ef the book isn t mine, 
 I don t see how hosses is father s." That is what she would 
 say ; and the words would be spoken with a degree of 
 scorn, and a sense of outraged right, that had often before 
 marked Lai s speech. What could she reply ? How could 
 she put the girl on the right track without condemning 
 with irresistible force lapses from virtue of which her father 
 was so often guilty ? The food she ate came from the pro 
 ceeds of thefts ; the clothes she wore on her back were pro 
 cured with money paid to her husband for animals he had 
 stolen ; the material of the very frock she was now making 
 had been given in exchange for a mule that he had taken 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 105 
 
 in the night from its owner s stable. No ; the logic of 
 events was against her. She could not give the lesson now ; 
 the sower was not yet ready to cast the seed. She could 
 not look her daughter in the face and tell her to be honest, 
 and meet that daughter s half-inquiring, half-condemning 
 gaze, and hear the words she knew would be spoken. She 
 hesitated ; she was silent. 
 
 A struggle of a far different character was going on in 
 Lai s mind. She sat in silence, her head dropping on her 
 breast, her eyes filled with those quiet tears that come to 
 all, men or women, children or adults that feel deeply. 
 Then she raised her face and looked anxiously and search- 
 ingly into her mother s eyes. 
 
 "Mam," she said at last in the clear tone that showed 
 how she had controlled her feelings. "I ve been readin 
 some thin in that book that has kind o sot me thinkin . 
 I ve thought a little at times in the same way, but not 
 much, mam, for you see things goes here all in one way, 
 and thar ain t nothin to keep you different from what s 
 goin on. I ve read somethin here that I guess has fixed 
 me. The book ain t mine ; I stole it. I knowed I was 
 stealin it when I picked it up and hid it under my shawl, 
 and I m goin to take it back this very day, ef I walk all 
 the way to the butte on my bended knees. I don t quite 
 like that man, though he was kind to me onst. He looks 
 so hard, and he mought send me to jail ; but the book s 
 his n, and he s got to have it afore the sun goes down to 
 night." 
 
 For a moment Mrs. Bosler looked as though she were 
 stunned, then she broke down. 
 
 "0 Lai! oh, my darling!" she cried, throwing her 
 arms around the girl and bursting into a passion of tears, 
 while she unconsciously resumed the manner of speech of 
 her own early life. "God has set you right when I I, 
 your mother have let you grow up in sin and shame all 
 
106 LAL - 
 
 through your young days till now. I believe, my heart is 
 almost broken. " 
 
 No no, mam, you couldn t help it," exclaimed Lai, 
 as she clasped her mother s face in her hands while the 
 tears, no longer restrained, ran like rain down her cheek. 
 " Haven t I seen how you was fixed, and how you was 
 strugglin betwixt father and me ? I never knowed nothin 
 sure, till I read that book. And didn t I want to stay at 
 the butte and fight it out when you was wantin to git 
 away ? You re a deal better nor me, mam." 
 
 "It is all my fault," replied Mrs. Bosler. "You have 
 never been told what was right and what was wrong, while 
 I knew, and might at first have stopped it all if I hadn t 
 been a wicked woman." 
 
 "Don t you go on so, mam; it s no fault of your n. 
 We re goin away, and things will be different for you and 
 me and father. I know I ain t worth much, and the 
 blame s more on me than you, but ef it hadn t bin for you, 
 mam, I guess I d a bin a " she paused for a moment, and 
 then continued" much worse. Oh, you don t know how 
 bad as I d a bin, ef I hadn t heard you cryin and moanin 
 one night when father was away. But I m not as bad as 
 some of the gals at The Canon, am I, mam ? " kissing her 
 mother as she spoke, and putting an infinite tenderness 
 into her voice. 
 
 "Oh, no, dear ! and the glory is all your own for 
 what you are not; the shame all mine for what you 
 arc. 
 
 "It might have been different," she continued, after a 
 pause, while she still held Lai s head tight against her 
 breast, " if I had done my duty to your father and you. 
 But I was so weak oh, so shamefully weak and I let the 
 sin come in little by little without a word of rebuke, when, 
 if I had spoken that word, it would have fled away forever ; 
 and now my God ! how can I see my way through 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 107 
 
 all the darkness that is before me, and how can I atone for 
 the wickedness of the past ? " 
 
 "We won t talk about it any more, mam. It ll all 
 come right." 
 
 " NO no ; it can never come right, for, Lai, I feel as 
 if we had seen your father for the last time. When he 
 drove into the timber this morning, I stood at the door and 
 watched him till he disappeared, and then I felt that we 
 should never see him again. Yes, Lai, I know that he has 
 gone, never to return, and I know that but for me he might 
 have been a good man, with no reason for any one to do 
 him harm." 
 
 "Don t you talk like that, mam; cheer up! Pop 
 ain t no fool. He knows what he s about, and he ain t 
 goin to run no resks. Oh, he s as sharp as the rest on em 
 when he s on the road, and the man as catches him sleepin 
 has got to git up airly. Now you stop cryin , for I ve got 
 to go right away, and I don t like to leave you all alone 
 when you feel like that." 
 
 " Must you go now, Lai ? Can t you wait till to 
 morrow ? " 
 
 " No, not a minute ! The book s his n, and I ve got to 
 take it back right away. I sha n t be gone long, unless he 
 claps me in jail. I ll take the short cut over the hill, and 
 down the Little Canon, and I ll be back most afore you 
 know I ve gone, ef he lets me." 
 
 Mrs. Bosler had stopped weeping, and was drying her 
 eyes on her apron. "Perhaps you re right, Lai," she said, 
 falling with the disappearance of her emotion into her 
 usual way of speaking ; " as you say, the book s his n, 
 and he ought to have it jist as soon as your legs can carry 
 you to the butte." 
 
 "It s a good book," said Lai, reflectively, as she took 
 the volume in her hands and wrapped it carefully in its 
 paper coverings. "There s somethiii here as sot me think- 
 
108 
 
 in . It s about a gal as found a diamond ring on the ice 
 whar she war skatin . It jist fit her finger, and she d been 
 wantin a ring like that for a long time. A lady, as lost it, 
 come back to look for it, and she asked the gal if she d seen 
 anything of a ring layin about thar on the ice. The gal 
 had the ring in her pocket, but she said as how she hadn t 
 seen no ring nowhar. Then the lady went home. She was 
 the sister of the man as the book s about, and they was both 
 moughtily cut up about losin the ring, for you see it had 
 belonged to about a dozen or more grandmothers one after 
 the other, and was worth lots o money besides. But that 
 night, when they was all asleep in their beds, they heard 
 a loud ringin of the bell at the gate, and it ringed so loud 
 that all the folks in the castle was woke up. And when 
 they opened the gate thar stood the gal, and she said as 
 how she wanted to speak to the lady. Well, they took her 
 up to the lady, and then she falls on her knees and holds 
 out the ring, and says : I m a wicked gal, for I found this 
 ring and put it in my pocket, and I meant to keep it, and 
 I lied when you asked me about it. But when I went home 
 I got to thinkin , and when I went to bed I couldn t sleep, 
 for I knowed I was a thief. The ring was on the table, and 
 the light o the moon was shinin on it, and it looked jist 
 like the eye of a devil, and, whether I shet my eyes or cov 
 ered up my head in the bedclothes, thar was the eye a-star- 
 in me in the face. I couldn t stand it no longer, so here s 
 the ring, and I m ready to go to prison or to be killed, jist 
 as you please. 
 
 "Then the lady was very mad, and she called to the 
 police to take the gal and load her with chains, and put 
 her in jail, so that in a few days her head mought be cut 
 off for stealin from a great lady. But the man that the 
 book s about, said : No ! if we put this gal in prison and 
 cut off her head, we ll spile a body as God made, and take 
 away a soul from the world as may do good some time or 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." 109 
 
 nother, and good souls is scarce in these parts. So he 
 begged his sister to forgive her, which she done, very much 
 aginst her will. Then he sent the gal home, and give her 
 books to read, and learnt her lots o things that edicated 
 her, and made another kind of a gal of her. And she 
 growed up, and got to be a saint, or somethin o that 
 sort, and worked in the hospitals and jails a-helpin the 
 sick and the prisoners to be good and happy. Then she 
 died many years after, and the king and queen come to her 
 burial, and they put a monument over her as said on it as 
 she was the kindest and the best woman as had ever lived 
 in them parts. 
 
 66 It s a long story, mam, but it s the thing as fixed me. 
 I ain t very different from that gal, and she was a thief. 
 I m bound to take the book back, for I m jist sure, ef I d 
 keep it another night, I d see it shinin in the dark with 
 thief in big letters on the kiver ! Ef he wants to put me 
 in jail I m willin to go, and I guess he s a hard man ; but 
 it s right for me to go and let him do as he likes ; and when 
 I git out I guess I ll be a better gal, and I ll know that 
 what s another s ain t mine." 
 
 " He won t put you in jail, for thar ain t no jail 
 cept in Hellbender, and he won t bother to go over 
 thar jist to lock you up. But I can t see as he s a hard 
 man. " 
 
 "I ain t so sure about that ; but I think he d do what 
 he thought was right, ef he had to take me thar himself. 
 He may be a good man, but I never seen one like him 
 afore, and he s kind o new to me. That s why I don t 
 like him, jist because I don fc know him ; but I promised 
 to be his friend, and I will, too, for he was good to me ; 
 but, somehow, I don t like him. I guess I m afeard of 
 him." 
 
 "That s when you was talkin to him jist afore we 
 started from the butte ? " inquired Mrs. Bosler. 
 
110 LAL - 
 
 " Yes ; I asked him ef any one come to run off his hosses 
 not to fire to kill ; for you see what I was after." 
 
 "And did he promise ?" 
 
 " Yes, but it went ag in his grain. He didn t want to. 
 He said as how he only promised because o me, and that s 
 why I said I d be his friend ef eyer he wanted one ; but 
 he d jist as soon kill a man as not ef he thought it was 
 right." 
 
 Lai went to her own room to make preparations for her 
 journey to the butte, but returned in a few minutes equipped 
 for the expedition. The only addition to her dress was a 
 thick shawl that she had thrown over her head and shoul 
 ders. Mrs. Bosler was still sewing on her frock. 
 
 " Good-by, mam," said Lai, as she entered the room. 
 " Thar s only one thing more as I d like to know about 
 afore I go, and that s Luke Kittle. You know father told 
 him I d marry him, and that he d make me do it ef I wouldn t 
 o my own free-will. In course, he never knowed what he 
 was say in , and it was all-fired mean o Luke Kittle to hold 
 him to it. But I ain t goin to marry him, never ! No ! " 
 she continued, with vehemence, "not ef all the world was 
 to beg me, and they d all die ef I didn t ! " 
 
 "I don t think it ll come to that," said Mrs. Bosler, 
 stopping her work for the moment. "I had a talk with 
 your father last night, and we agreed as twas best for him 
 to see Luke Kittle, and try and settle things without no 
 muss." 
 
 "I ll never marry him!" repeated Lai, with all the 
 energy of which she was capable. 
 
 " But he may kill your father ef you don t." 
 
 "Let him !" repeated the girl, savagely. "Ef father 
 drinks whisky and trades me off to a man like Luke Kittle 
 he mought jist as well be killed as not." 
 
 " Lai, don t talk like that ! You wouldn t let your 
 father be killed." 
 
"OUT OF THE DEPTHS." HI 
 
 " I would !" exclaimed Lai, her eyes flashing, her head 
 thrown back, her form erect, her whole attitude one of defi 
 ance and concentrated anger. " I d see him, father o mine 
 as he is, dead at my feet afore I d marry Luke Kittle ! Why 
 don t father kill him, ef he wants to keep me from marryin 
 him, as he says he does ? He s killed men afore this, and for 
 less too, I guess. What s about Luke Kittle as he can t be 
 killed, I d like to know ? " 
 
 Mrs. Bosler was terrified at the violence of the explo 
 sion. She sat without endeavoring to stay the force of Lai s 
 eloquence, and even when the girl ceased, and sat down ex 
 hausted with the emotional strain to which she had sub 
 jected herself, Mrs. Bosler dared not open her mouth to 
 speak, for fear of a repetition of her daughter s ungovernable 
 excitement. But it did not take long for Lai to become cool. 
 As in other high-strung natures, the duration of her rage 
 was in inverse proportion to its violence. She saw that her 
 mother was appalled by what she had said, and the manner 
 in which she had said it. To make amends for a fault she 
 had committed was a strong point in Lai s mental organi 
 zation ; and, besides, she was going away, and if she had 
 to go to jail, might not see her mother again for many 
 months. 
 
 "Good-by," mam, she repeated, going over to where 
 Mrs. Bosler sat in a state of semi-stupefaction, and, putting 
 her arms around her neck ; "don t you mind me ! I m as 
 bad as the rest on em, I guess." 
 
 " It s all right. You ain t got no reason to marry Luke 
 Kittle, but we won t talk about it now. Good-by," kissing 
 her daughter s cheek, which was now flushed with the re 
 action, for Lai was one of those persons that get pale when 
 angry and red when the paroxysm has passed off. "Go, 
 now, and take back the book. Then you ll feel cl ar in 
 your own mind, even ef you have to go to prison. Oh, my 
 darling, my Lai ! There s good in your heart yet," she con- 
 
112 
 
 tinned, using again the form of speech of her early days 
 " yon are stronger and better than your mother, and God 
 will take care of you in his own way, and for his own ends 
 go, Lai," kissing her as she spoke ; " God guide you and 
 send you back safe to me with your heart purer and hap 
 pier, and you knowing that you re doing right, even if you 
 do have to go to jail first ! " 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " JOHN BUEIDAN S ASS." 
 
 " You speak so kindly," said Tyscovus to the gentleman 
 in the gig, "that I am tempted to ask your advice and 
 assistance in a matter of great importance to me one in 
 which I have unintentionally committed an awful act. I 
 have just killed a man, and his dead body is lying on the 
 floor of my house." 
 
 " You ve killed a man ! Is that all ? Now, my friend, 
 if you had been as long in this country as I have, you 
 would know that you have, even under the worst possible 
 circumstances, perpetrated a venial offense. If you had 
 stolen a horse, now, and been caught, you would probably 
 hang for it ; but as to murder, it s nothing." 
 
 " That is a bad state of affairs. In my country the 
 killing of a man, by any one not a Russian soldier or a 
 policeman, is a serious crime." 
 
 "Whether homicide is crime or not, depends alto 
 gether on the attendant cirumstances. The mere fact that 
 you have killed a man, need not cause remorse, or excite 
 apprehensions for your personal safety. You may have 
 done a very righteous deed, killing your man in self-defense, 
 or in the line of your duty ; or a blameless one, killing him 
 by misadventure or accident. I am sure I have killed a 
 good many in my time men, women and children and I 
 don t reproach myself either, for I was trying to save their 
 lives. Only a few days ago, a man had a terrible injury of 
 the elbow- joint. The examination to discover the extent 
 
m LAL. 
 
 of the damage would have caused an immense amount of 
 suffering, if conducted without an anaesthetic. I deter 
 mined to give him chloroform, and, finding his heart and 
 lungs in apparently good condition, I began causing him 
 to inhale it. But hardly had he taken two or three whiffs 
 of it when he gave a great gasp, turned over on his side 
 and ceased to breathe. All efforts at resuscitation were 
 futile, lie was dead. Of course, I felt the proper amount 
 of regret for the poor fellow s death ; but I had done my 
 best, and I did not therefore go round lamenting that I 
 had killed a man. He died from causes that could not 
 have been foreseen. As you know now, I am a physician, 
 Doctor Willis, of Hellbender. 7 Tyscovus bowed, and the 
 two men shook hands. 
 
 " My name is Tyscovus," he said. " I bought the place 
 owned by a Mr. Bosler, back here on the butte. About an 
 hour ago a man knocked at my door and insisted on enter 
 ing when I did not wish to be interrupted. I rushed at 
 him without stopping to inquire who he was or what he 
 wanted. We had a severe scuffle, without either of us 
 speaking a word ; when suddenly, as I was getting the bet 
 ter of him, he ceased to struggle, his grasp of me relaxed, 
 and I found that he was dead. Certainly, nothing that I 
 did to him killed him, but, for all that, he is as much of a 
 corpse as any I ever saw." 
 
 " I have already heard of you, Mr. Tyscovus," said the 
 doctor, smiling, "from some friends of mine that paid you 
 a very unceremonious visit last night. They said you were 
 as plucky as a fighting-cock, and as good-natured as an 
 Alderney cow. But about your man. Are you quite sure 
 he is dead ? He may only have fainted." 
 
 "No, he is dead. He did not breathe, and the pulse 
 had quite stopped beating. I dragged the body into the 
 room, locked the door, and immediately came away to give 
 myself up for trial." 
 
"JOHN BURIDAN S ASS." 115 
 
 " Pooh, pooh ! you shall not do anything of the kind. 
 Come ! I am going past your place ; jump into the gig and 
 we will see about this. Perhaps he is not dead, after all, and 
 then my services may be of use to him." 
 
 "You are very kind/ said Tyscovus, getting into the 
 vehicle and occupying the vacant seat by the side of the 
 doctor. " Your plan is certainly the best that can be fol 
 lowed, but I am quite sure you will find the man dead, and 
 even cold by this time." 
 
 " What sort of a looking man was the fellow ? " 
 
 "Rather tall, and stoutly built, black hair, beard, and 
 
 eyes." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! there are dozens like him about here. How 
 
 was he dressed ? " 
 
 " In a red-flannel shirt, and dark-blue trousers tucked 
 into high-top boots." 
 
 " Very good ; I ve seen fifty dressed in similar costume 
 to-day. But were there no special features about his person 
 or attire that attracted your attention ? " 
 
 "No," answered Tyscovus, musingly, "I think not, 
 yes," he added, after a pause, "I noticed that, though he 
 was a comparatively young man, he had lost all his front 
 teeth." 
 
 "Ah ! If he is the man I am thinking of, they were 
 knocked down his throat about a month ago by a blow from 
 the handle of a revolver. But did you notice nothing else ? 
 No peculiarity of build ? You might have seen what I 
 have in my mind, when you were laying him out on your 
 floor." 
 
 "I noticed nothing, unless it may have been the ex 
 traordinary length of his arms." 
 
 "That s it ; that s the point to which I refer," inter 
 rupted the doctor ; "he has the longest arms of any man I 
 ever saw, and he goes by the nickname of The Monkey/ 
 on account of this anatomical feature. He is the biggest 
 
116 LAL - 
 
 rascal, with, one exception, to be found between the Atlan 
 tic and Pacific Oceans, and you know that is saying a great 
 deal. I hope you have really killed him. If so, you have 
 either saved the county the expense of hanging him, or 
 the vigilance committee the trouble of hunting him up, 
 and performing that very proper operation. But I am afraid 
 .there is no such good luck in store for us. I think I know 
 what has happened; however, we shall soon see." 
 
 The conversation was continued till, arriving at the foot 
 of the butte, it was decided to picket the animals on the 
 prairie, while the two gentlemen ascended the height on 
 foot. 
 
 Entering the covered passage-way of the cabin, the first 
 thing that met the astonished gaze of the owner was the 
 wide-open door of the room in which he had left the sup 
 posed corpse. This prepared him for what was to follow. 
 The apartment was empty empty not only of the body 
 which, imagining it to be lifeless, Tyscovus had laid out so 
 carefully on the floor, but of everything in the way of 
 clothing, books, papers, and other things, which were of a 
 portable character and worth stealing. The five ten-dol 
 lar gold-pieces, which Mr. Higgins had so confidingly laid 
 on the table had also disappeared, as well as the manu 
 script upon which Tyscovus had been engaged when the 
 interruption to his literary labors occurred. 
 
 To say that Tyscovus was astonished at what had hap 
 pened, would very inadequately express the state of his 
 feelings. For a moment he was speechless, as he looked 
 around the room and missed various articles of his proper 
 ty, and could scarcely believe in the reality of the apparent 
 circumstances. Then he turned toward the doctor, who 
 all the time had been silently watching the expression of 
 Tyscovus s face, having seemingly, to judge by his entire 
 composure, arrived at a satisfactory explanation of the 
 state of affairs. 
 
"JOHN BURIDAN S ASS." 117 
 
 " It is just as I expected," he said, in answer to Tysco- 
 vus s inquiring and puzzled expression; "you have had a 
 visit from the most thorough-paced villain in this Territory, 
 with one exception, as I remarked before ; one who stops 
 at nothing that his great strength and audacity permit 
 him to accomplish, and whose power for evil-doing is only 
 limited by the fact that he is subject to a disease of the 
 heart that, on occasions of great mental or physical excite 
 ment, deprives him of consciousness. His name is Abe 
 Wilkins, alias The Monkey. Doubtless, he came here 
 to rob you, for he prefers stealing by force and violence, 
 than secretly or by stratagem, when he can have a choice 
 in the matter." 
 
 "And then he recovered, and went off with my prop 
 erty?" 
 
 " Yes, that is exactly what he has done, the scoundrel ! 
 If you had opened the door to him, or had allowed him to 
 burst it open, he would have seized you by the throat, have 
 pinioned you, and then have proceeded leisurely to rob you 
 of all your possessions to which he might have taken a 
 fancy. If he had killed you he would not have cared, 
 though he does not especially desire to kill his victims." 
 
 "My over-conscientiousness saved his life. If I had 
 not gone to deliver myself up to the authorities, I should 
 have found him out, and then I should have killed him." 
 
 "Or he would have killed you, as he would probably 
 have done in the beginning but for the fact that your vigor 
 ous assault took him entirely by surprise, and a paroxysm 
 of his heart-disease put him hors de combat and gave you the 
 victory. But for that he would certainly have overcome 
 you in the struggle, for he is of twice your weight and 
 strength, and as active as a wild-cat. I have seen him in a 
 couple of his attacks, and eventually they will kill him. 
 Did you have any money here ? " 
 
 " Yes, I had two hundred and fifty dollars in gold in 
 
118 LAL. 
 
 my knapsack, and fifty here on the table. The latter is, I 
 see, gone, and I suppose the other is also. Yes," he con 
 tinued, after merely for form s sake searching in the now 
 empty knapsack, "he has cleaned me out as completely as 
 a cloud of seven-year locusts cleans out a wheat-field. The 
 money I can easily replace, but the loss of my books and 
 papers will, I fear, cause me a great deal of trouble, and 
 may be irremediable. " 
 
 "I suppose," said the doctor, "there will be no great 
 difficulty in getting them back by negotiation. Those fel 
 lows will always come to terms, and in this case the books 
 and papers can be of no use to him except as means of ex 
 torting money from you. In a few days you will probably 
 hear from him, with an offer to return them on the receipt 
 of a certain sum of no modest amount. Then your diplo 
 matic talents will become of service to you. Now," he con 
 tinued, approaching Tyscovus and laying his broad hands 
 on his shoulders, "I like you; you are here alone, with 
 nothing but four bare walls to keep you company, and no 
 human habitation within five miles of you in any direction. 
 Your baggage will not reach you till the day after to 
 morrow. Come and stay with me, at least till it arrives. 
 I am going to The Caiion to see a patient, and will be back 
 this way in a couple of hours, at farthest. Don t say No," 
 he went on, seeing that Tyscovus was on the point of de 
 clining his invitation ; " my daughter, who keeps house for 
 me, is tired of her old father and wants other society. You 
 will be quite a godsend to us both." 
 
 " I do not think I can go," said Tyscovus. " I came 
 here for solitude. Thus far I have failed lamentably in 
 the object of my search, but, now that I have nothing more 
 to be stolen, perhaps I shall be let alone." 
 
 " Rut you have nothing to eat ? " 
 
 True, I have nothing to eat ; but there is my book, 
 the work upon which so much depends." 
 
"JOHN BURIDAN S ASS." 119 
 
 c< My dear fellow, you can t eat your book, and you can t 
 write it either without pen, ink, paper, or notes. Don t 
 you see that The Monkey has carried off everything ? " 
 
 "I can at least practice myself in getting used to soli 
 tude." 
 
 " And starve while doing it. By the time you accus 
 tom yourself to the isolation to which you will be sub 
 jected, you will be dead." 
 
 "I have no clothes to wear that are fit for the presence 
 of ladies." 
 
 " I ll lend you all you want," replied the doctor, laugh 
 ing, as he looked at his own burly figure and Tyscovus s 
 slim body. "Besides, your baggage will be at Hellbender 
 to-morrow, and you can then have your own things ; and, 
 again, there are plenty of clothiers in the town who will 
 supply you with all you want ; and, as to money, rny 
 bank account is at your service ; so you see there is no 
 escape." 
 
 "I feel that I ought not to accept your kind invitation, 
 and yet I want to go. I am more than ever ( John Buri- 
 dan s Ass. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " i John Buridan s Ass. My father, who was a scholar, 
 and very appreciative of his son s character, gave me that 
 name when I was a boy, and it stuck to me in our family 
 till I became a man. I am going to resume it ; for my 
 asinine qualities are becoming better developed every day 
 of my life." 
 
 " My dear fellow, you excite my curiosity. I never 
 heard of John Buridan or of his ass. Won t you take the 
 trouble to explain to me the rationale of so remarkable an 
 appellation being given to you ? How did i John Buri 
 dan s Ass differ from any other ass ? And why are you 
 like that animal ?" 
 
 Tyscovus laughed as he answered: "I am not at all 
 
120 LAL. 
 
 astonished at any one s ignorance of the subject. I should 
 certainly know nothing about it, but for the fact that the 
 name was given to me. My father, like others of my an 
 cestors, was inclined to theological studies, and among the 
 works he dipped into were those of John Buridan, a 
 school-man of the fourteenth century. This disputant, 
 who appears to have had a tendency to the use of the 
 reductio ad absurdum, proposed this problem to those who 
 denied the existence of free-will in man : Suppose, said 
 he, that there is an ass who is equally hungry and thirsty, 
 each appetite acting upon him to exactly the same extent ; 
 and suppose he has a trough of water on one side of him, 
 and on the other, at the same distance and relative situa 
 tion, a bundle of hay of like size with the trough of water. 
 Now, which will he take first, the water or the hay ? Of 
 course, if it was answered that he would take either one or 
 the other first, John Buridan replied, Then the ass has 
 free-will ; he is free to choose, and, if an ass, how much 
 more a man ! If the answer was that t he would take 
 neither, for that, being equally affected by the two sub 
 stances and appetites, neither could predominate so as to 
 influence him, Buridan had his opportunity to apply the 
 reductio ad absurdum by asking if it was to be supposed 
 that an ass so situated would die of hunger and thirst. 
 Now, as I was always wanting more facts and proofs before 
 I could make up my mind to act in matters which required 
 deliberation, my father dubbed me John Buridan s Ass/ 
 alleging that I lacked the power to decide in all subjects of 
 importance." 
 
 "It s all very funny, and very interesting," said the 
 doctor, laughing heartily, "but was that your true char 
 acter ? " 
 
 "I think it was, but by long and severe discipline I 
 think I am sure I overcame the indecision, which was 
 my most notable failing. Probably, too, I was assisted in 
 
"JOIIX BURIDAN S ASS." 121 
 
 my efforts by the fact that it was only a youthful trait. 
 The boy is not always father to the man." 
 
 " I don t think the name is fairly applicable to you now ; 
 but if you don t make up your mind quickly to come with 
 me I shall change my opinion and agree with your father. 
 Don t let the story go abroad here, for, with the tendency 
 of the people to apply nicknames, they will certainly call 
 you The Ass, and the cognomen would not be flattering 
 to your mental powers. But, come ! decide, for I must be 
 off. Say Yes, and I ll stop for you at the foot of the butte 
 and take you home to a good, hot supper, a glass of cognac, 
 and a real Havana that will take out of you what little 
 asininity is left." 
 
 " I ll go," said Tyscovus, fairly overpowered by the doc 
 tor s arguments and entreaties. "You are so kind that I 
 can not resist ; but I know I shall never be able to repay 
 your hospitality, for I am obliged to work, and work in 
 solitude, too." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you will ! After you get settled here I ll come 
 down occasionally and stay with you overnight. I am 
 fond of talking, as you may have noticed, and I am inclined 
 to think you can teach me many things I want to know. 
 As to solitude, we shall see. It s my deliberate opinion 
 that the one spark of weakness in your composition is your 
 tendency to solitude. I shall cure you. Be on the watch 
 for me in two hours from now, and meet me at the foot of 
 the butte." So saying, the doctor, without waiting for an 
 answer from Tyscovus, jumped into his gig with as much 
 agility as his portly form permitted and was driving off, 
 when Tyscovus called to him. 
 
 " You spoke twice of an exception to your statement 
 that Wilkins is the worst man in the Territory. Please tell 
 me whom you regard as pre-eminently wicked." 
 
 " Why, Jim Bosler, of course," said the doctor, as he 
 drove off " the man from whom you bought this place. 
 6 
 
122 LAL. 
 
 He stole my blooded mare a few nights ago, and is alto 
 gether the most unmitigated ruffian, thief, and murderer I 
 ever saw." 
 
 "I thought he was the man you meant. Good-by. I ll 
 meet you at the foot of the hill, with many thanks for your 
 thoughtfulness." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 
 
 THE doctor drove away to The Canon on his errand of 
 mercy, and Tyscovus re-entered his despoiled mansion. 
 Everything seemed to be against him. He began to get 
 an inkling of the difficulties he would be obliged to sur 
 mount, and to fear that they might be of so grave a char 
 acter as to be beyond his power to master them. The soli 
 tude of which he had come in search appeared to be getting 
 farther and farther away from him. He was forming rela 
 tionships which would inevitably, if not soon broken, sep 
 arate him from his work and indispose his mind to that 
 concentration which was so necessary to the successful ac 
 complishment of his task. To think, as he was at present 
 situated, was an impossibility. Vexations and interruptions 
 to a degree he had scarcely ever before experienced had 
 come upon him, forcing his thoughts into incongruous 
 channels, and driving from his mind the ideas which, if he 
 was to gain his ends, must reign supreme and alone. Had 
 he been less determined, less interested in his object, he 
 would then and there, once and for all, have abandoned his 
 undertaking, and have let himself drift along without re 
 sistance wherever the current might carry him. Perhaps, 
 after all, this would be the better course for one whose 
 chief purpose in life could only be fully attained by the study 
 of human nature. And here, where mankind was exhibiting 
 itself in phases and traits of which heretofore he had had no 
 experience, what a vast field lay before him, in all its pris- 
 
124: LAL. 
 
 tine freshness, ready for his investigations ! His was to be 
 a cosmopolitan work, and yet all the personal knowledge 
 he had of its fundamental principles was derived from the 
 study of humanity as it existed under one of the most re 
 stricted and artificial systems in all the world. Had he 
 ever before encountered such a man as Jim Bosler, or such 
 another as Abe Wilkins ? Such a woman as Mrs. Bosler, 
 such a girl as Lai ? And of these people he hardly knew 
 anything beyond the superficial characteristics which they 
 displayed to all with whom they came in contact. What a 
 mine of wealth there might be in all of them, if he would 
 only take the trouble to look for it ! What new lights would 
 be thrown on labors that were to reconstruct society if he 
 could only have three or four people to study in all the varied 
 moods into which the peculiar circumstances of their lives 
 were continually throwing them ! And then, such study 
 could scarcely fail to bring him into association, or at least 
 contact, with many other individuals living under conditions 
 of existence to which he had heretofore been a stranger, 
 and hence presenting mental and physical characteristics of 
 which he had as yet no positive knowledge. True, he had 
 read books of travel and novels in which the anthropologi 
 cal social type with which he was now brought into rela 
 tion was more or less perfectly described ; but his very lim 
 ited acquaintance with it had been amply sufficient to show 
 him that the descriptions had lacked that fidelity to nat 
 ure which he had all his life so assiduously cultivated in 
 his investigations. The idea to which he had arrived, that 
 his studies of human nature were complete, that his store 
 of facts was ample, had suddenly by two or three what, 
 to that region, were commonplace events been forcibly 
 knocked out of his head. He had read of such men as Jim 
 Bosler, but no description could take the place of the liv 
 ing acquaintanceship with a man the like of whom did not 
 exist in all Europe. He had met, in his readings, with 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 125 
 
 many accounts of vigilance committees, but the half-hour s 
 contact with the men who invaded his premises the night 
 of his arrival had given him insights of which he had never 
 dreamed. And there were Mr. Higgins, and Abe Wilkins, 
 and even the doctor were they not all individualities, 
 the like of which had never occurred to his mind ? 
 
 And Lai Bosler ? He had not thought much of her, 
 but every time the memory of her pleading with him for 
 what might be her father s life, the earnest look of her eyes, 
 the melodious tenderness of her voice, the agonized expres 
 sion on her face, flashed across his mind, his interest deep 
 ened, and he reproached himself for not having recognized 
 at once, that, in spite of her uncouth speech, her low moral 
 status, the squalor of her surroundings, her ignorance of 
 every artificial refinement, and of the most commonplace 
 learning, there was, perhaps, something in her worth the 
 effort to develop, and which, when once brought out to the 
 light of noble influences, would purify every other faculty 
 of her mental being. How much better to save one such 
 soul as that of the horse-thief s daughter, than to spend 
 years upon a book which, when finished, might never have 
 a dozen readers ! 
 
 " But no," he thought, after he had walked the floor 
 for over an hour, considering the various points of his situ 
 ation. "I have been here but twenty-four hours. To 
 change all my well-laid plans and thoroughly worked-out 
 system of study, the results of years of reflection and labor, 
 for any cause that a single day should bring forth, would 
 be an act of the most unspeakable folly, worthy of an ass of 
 less reputation than John Buridan s. I have made the 
 great mistake of beginning too soon. I shall wait now till 
 my wagon arrives and I am comfortably established, before 
 I again put pen to paper or even think of my work. Then, 
 I shall let every one know that I wish to be alone. I shall 
 insert a notice to that effect in the newspapers at Hell- 
 
126 LAL. 
 
 bender and The Canon ; put a placard with a like intimation 
 at the foot of the butte, and, if necessary, get a couple of 
 blood-hounds or other savage dogs to guard the premises. 
 People will then understand that I mean what I say, and 
 then I shall show what power for work is in me." 
 
 With his hands clasped behind him and his head bent 
 upon his chest, as was his wont when his mind was intently 
 occupied, he continued to pace the floor, unconscious of the 
 lapse of time, until suddenly the idea struck him to look at 
 his watch, when he found that already the two hours that 
 the doctor expected to be absent had passed. He went out 
 on the plateau and looked down the road that led to The 
 Canon, and ere long he saw the doctor s gig coming as 
 rapidly as a pair of fast trotters could bring it. Without 
 shutting a door of the house, which now contained nothing 
 of the least value, he descended the butte and joined his 
 newly-found friend. 
 
 "It s rather a dangerous piece of business for any one 
 but a physician to visit The Canon," said the doctor, as they 
 drove along. " Several times it has happened that people 
 from Hellbender, who were well mounted, have been fol 
 lowed out of town by one or more of the horse-thieves who 
 infest that place and robbed of their animals. They rarely, 
 however, treat a doctor with any such disrespect. Jim 
 Bosler is the only one of them who ever plied his vocation 
 on me." 
 
 "Such things are very strange to me," said Tyscovus. 
 " I don t understand why such scoundrels are not cut short 
 in their careers by the officers of the law. You have all the 
 machinery of justice here courts, judges, sheriffs and 
 good laws under which they can be set in motion. Why, 
 then, is such lawlessness permitted to exist, and why are 
 private organizations, like your vigilance committee, allowed 
 to take the law into their hands and execute justice, or 
 rather vengeance ? " 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 127 
 
 "I ll tell you," answered the doctor. "If any one of 
 the outlaws should be seen within the limits of Hellbender, 
 he would be shot down at once, or arrested before he had 
 gone fifty yards ; but they take good care to keep out of 
 the way, and to live in a place that is made up of them 
 and their friends. It would be impossible for any force, 
 less than a company of soldiers, to take Bosler or Wilkins 
 from The Canon, unless it were done by stratagem. Then, 
 even in case of arrest, there would be the formality of a 
 trial, and the strong probability that, either through per 
 jured evidence, or a sympathizing friend or two on the jury, 
 a failure to convict would follow. You see the officers of 
 the law must act according to law. Their hands are in a 
 measure tied. They can not proceed to the extremity of 
 shooting such rascals down, unless they are caught in the 
 commission of some unlawful act, and they take devilish 
 good care not to be caught. A sheriff or his deputy armed 
 with a warrant for the arrest of one of these fellows, would 
 either be waylaid and killed, or shot down, should he at 
 tempt to serve it. They are banded together for self-pro 
 tection, and know just when warrants are issued, and to 
 whom they are committed for service. The only way to 
 meet them is for the law-abiding portions of the commu 
 nity to fight them with their own weapons. Hence, a vigi 
 lance committee, a portion of which paid you so untimely a 
 visit last night, is organized. It has no fine-spun scruples ; 
 but though it has often acted, it has never yet, I am con 
 vinced, made a mistake. It has but one punishment 
 death as it takes no cognizance of petty offenses. It 
 gives every one a fair trial, and sentence is immediately 
 pronounced and executed on all who are found guilty." 
 
 "It seems to me, however," said Tyscovus, after a mo 
 ment s reflection, "that the existence of the necessity for 
 such an extra-legal body as a vigilance committee is a con 
 fession of the inability of the people to govern themselves 
 
123 LAX. 
 
 under the forms of law. I came here an ardent republican, 
 with unlimited faith in the capacity of mankind to rule 
 themselves according to the innate principles of justice and 
 right in every mind. I had lived where all the people are 
 slaves, and hold their property, their happiness, their lib 
 erty, their very lives, at the will of one man. I have read 
 much of the majesty and nobility and sense of justice of 
 the people when allowed an opportunity to expand under 
 free institutions. Well, I have lived under these free insti 
 tutions for twenty-four hours, and I don t like them. I 
 have been invaded by a lawless body of men, who take pos 
 session of my house at night, and come very near hanging 
 me. I have been attacked and robbed under my own roof 
 in broad daylight, and am told that the ruffian who stole 
 my property must be allowed to go free, because no officer 
 of the law dare arrest him ; and I hear of other villains 
 who defy the authorities. Your vigilance committee is 
 worse than the Council of Ten of Venice, or the Vehmge- 
 richte of Germany, for they were legal bodies, while yours, 
 so far as I can see, is an irresponsible mob. My friend, I 
 am not quite sure that I do not prefer Poland. There our 
 lives and property are safe so long as we obey the laws and 
 keep out of politics. There is but one master there, and 
 he is civilized. Here there are a hundred or more, who are 
 semi-barbarians. I think I would have a better chance of 
 getting justice according to law there, under the despotism 
 of one man, than here under that of a mob, with nothing 
 to restrain them but their own unenlightened and vicious 
 consciences. " 
 
 The doctor listened in silence to this long and outspoken 
 harangue. He was completely taken aback by the manner 
 of the speaker, as well as by the language to which he gave 
 utterance. Tyscovus was a natural orator. His gestures 
 were well placed and used with the utmost effect, and the 
 intonation and accent he employed gave force and expres- 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 129 
 
 sion to every word he spoke to just the extent necessary to 
 make it convey the full purport of his thoughts. 
 
 But the doctor was a man of good sense in most matters, 
 and of liberal education. He had served several years in 
 the army as a surgeon, and had read much and traveled 
 extensively. He had made especial study of politics and 
 sociology, and nattered himself that he knew something of 
 these inchoate sciences. He was not, therefore, disposed 
 to rest quietly under the attacks that Tyscovus had made 
 on some of his most cherished doctrines. At the same 
 time he was forced to admit that there was considerable 
 truth in what Tyscovus had said. Without, therefore, 
 venturing a set reply, he merely said : " You are making 
 no allowances for the fact that but a few months ago this 
 region was inhabited only by wild beasts and Indians. So 
 ciety is a progressive organization, but in a free country 
 like this it advances with a rapidity of which you in 
 Europe have no conception. Your laws have existed for 
 many centuries. You ought, therefore, to have arrived at 
 something like perfection in the knowledge of how to 
 secure the happiness and general welfare of the people. I 
 have traveled in Poland, and I saw more filth, wretched 
 ness, and ignorance there in one month than I have seen 
 in America in all my life. Here the degradation of indi 
 viduals is exceptional ; there it is general, and yet you have 
 existed for hundreds of years. In ten years from now this 
 Territory will abound in schools of all grades, there will be 
 the fullest liberty under law, and life and property will be 
 as safe as anywhere else under the sun. We will do more 
 in ten years than you have done in a thousand. You have 
 resided here twenty-four hours, and your experience has 
 not, I confess, been altogether pleasant ; but you have ex 
 pressed sentiments here within these last five minutes, in 
 regard to the government under which you live, which, if 
 applied at home to your own government, would send you 
 
130 LAL. 
 
 to Siberia. Surely that is a privilege not to be under 
 valued, and worth a good deal of inconvenience in smaller 
 matters. I am not going to argue the subject with you 
 now. It will not be worth while ; the logic of facts and 
 experience will convert you, and if you stay with us a 
 couple of years there will be no more thorough-going 
 American than you. You have the energy, the ability, 
 and the honesty to make your way if you choose. 
 
 "I am ready now to admit the truth of what you say 
 about freedom of speech. It is a great right, and one 
 which 1 enjoy hugely, because I have never enjoyed it 
 before." 
 
 "Yes," answered the doctor, dryly, "so Higgins was 
 telling me this afternoon. Ha, ha ! " he went on, laugh 
 ing heartily. "That was a good joke of yours about the 
 escaped convict. You have made a friend of Higgins, 
 and he is prepared to worship you. But no more politics 
 just now. I have good news for you. " 
 
 :< You have heard something of my papers ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have not only heard of them, but here they are ; 
 every scrap that was in the cabin." With these words the 
 doctor took from the breast-pocket of his coat a package, 
 which he handed to Tyscovus. 
 
 "You are, indeed, a friend," exclaimed Tyscovus, over 
 joyed at again obtaining possession of his manuscripts; 
 " but how did you get them ? " 
 
 " I had just finished my visit to the patient a bad case 
 of gunshot-wound I was called to see, when a messenger 
 requested me to go to a child suddenly taken with convul 
 sions. Of course, though in a hurry, I went at once. Doc 
 tors have very little choice in such matters. They must go 
 whether they want to or not. I found it was Wilkins s 
 baby, and it was having fit after fit, in a way sufficient to 
 appall both father and mother. He was present, and I have 
 rarely seen more real distress than he exhibited. After I 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 131 
 
 had done what I could for the child, in which fortunately 
 I was successful, I taxed him with robbing you, and he at 
 once admitted the charge. I reproached him with having 
 stolen from one of my friends, and taken not only his 
 money, but papers which were of no use to any one but the 
 owner. Doc./ said he (I hate that word ( doc., but one 
 has to submit to it here), I m a beast, I knows, but I ain t 
 goin to hurt any one o your friends ef I knows it. How- 
 somever, he s the toughest customer as ever I come across, 
 and I ve seen a good smart lot, too. Here s his papers, 
 which is all done up together ; and here s his money, too 
 three hundred dollars in gold. The other things, seem as 
 how they re heftier and bulkier than you d like to carry, 
 I ll send over to the butte to-morrow. I can t do nothin 
 to hurt a friend o your n, doc. You ve saved my baby, 
 and Abe Wilkins don t forgit things like that. 
 
 " I took the property and commended him for the 
 change of principles which I assumed had caused the resti 
 tution, but he was too honest to sail under false colors. 
 
 " It ain t that, doc., he said ; < it s jist because he s a 
 friend o your n. Ef it wasn t for that, do you think I d 
 give back that gold and them papers as he d give a thousand 
 dollars for ? Not much, doc. ! I wouldn t be such a dar- 
 nation fool, after the resk and the tussle I had to get em, 
 too, to say nothin of the worst fit o that heart-ail as ever 
 took me. 
 
 " Did he fight hard ? I asked. 
 
 " Hard ! Well, you ought just to a seen him ! You 
 see, doc., I went thar, thinkin as how I d find a greenhorn 
 from one o them Eastern cities like them fellers as come 
 here last year from New York with their pockets full o 
 greenbacks, and I kicked ag in his door, and I meant to go 
 in and tie him, and go through him and his ranch as quick 
 as lightnin and be off. But all at onst he bust open the 
 door, and, afore I could git my senses together, he had me 
 
132 
 
 by the throat, a-chokin me like death. Whar he got his 
 strength from, dang me ef I knows, but he looked like the 
 devil, and his eyes seemed to go right through me as ef I 
 was made o that airth on the sage-plains, instead of good, 
 solid Missouri clay. I squeezed him as hard as I could, but 
 the feller was so darned thin I couldn t git no purchase on 
 him, and I only wore myself out and he grippin my throat 
 like a vise. We was on the floor, and perhaps I m ought a 
 worn him out, but all at once he got an extra clinch on me 
 somehow or nother, and then I felt myself goin . That s 
 about all I knows of it till I come to and found myself 
 alone in the cabin. In course, the chance was too good to 
 pass by, so I jist helped myself to all there was and made 
 oh* as fast as I could go. I seen you and him a-comin along 
 the road together, but I didn t know, doc., as he war a friend 
 o your n. That heart-spell war a bad one, and I ain t got 
 over it yit. I suppose it will git me some day. 
 
 "I embraced the occasion to warn him against all such 
 exciting occurrences as those in which he has been in the 
 habit of participating, generally as chief actor. 
 
 " ( It s no use, doc., he answered, with sadness in his 
 tone and a mournful shake of the head ; I s pose my lines 
 is laid out, and I ve got to follcr em. Either I ll die o this 
 heart-trouble, or the vigilance committee will string me up. 
 
 " That is about the purport of our conversation," con 
 tinued the doctor, laughing ; "you see how proficient I am 
 in his dialect. There s nothing easier than to fall into the 
 manner of speech of these people, and, if I did not make 
 strong efforts to prevent it, I should acquire it permanently, 
 a fact which seems to show that theirs is a more natural 
 or at least easier method than that sanctioned by gram 
 marians. Now," he continued, putting, as he spoke, his 
 hands into his trousers pockets and taking them out filled 
 with gold-pieces, "let me get rid of this load. Here s your 
 money, three hundred dollars." 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN". 133 
 
 Tyscovus could only express his thanks and astonish 
 ment. No experience he had ever passed through had 
 brought him into contact with such a type of humanity 
 as that by which he was now surrounded. Again, the 
 thought took possession of him that it would be better, be 
 fore going on with his work, to study human nature as it 
 was found in the region in which he now lived. This, 
 however, was neither the time nor the place to argue the 
 subject with himself. 
 
 "There must be a great deal of good in these fellows," 
 he said, after a long pause, "in spite of the generally 
 vicious lives they lead. .But for that," he continued, mus 
 ingly, " so there is in every one, no matter how low or de 
 praved he may be." 
 
 "That I deny," exclaimed the doctor, emphatically. 
 " If there is any opinion which I am sure is wrong it is 
 that optimistic one which finds good in all men. I have 
 had a great deal of worldly experience, have met all kinds 
 of people, and have seen men who did not have a single 
 redeeming quality men who were lower than the beasts, 
 and viler than your imagination can conceive. For in 
 stance, there is your friend Jim Bosler, a cold-blooded 
 murderer and thief, utterly incapable of a generous senti 
 ment ; a cruel, lying, treacherous knave, to compare whom 
 to a beast would be a libel on what are called the lower 
 animals a man who ought to be killed on sight, as an 
 enemy of mankind." 
 
 "I don t think he is so bad as that. Men are pretty 
 much what circumstances or accidents make them. Among 
 worthy associates, Bosler would probably have made a good 
 citizen." 
 
 " You don t know him, and I do. You may think I 
 speak warmly because he stole my blooded mare. But I 
 thought the same of him long before he interfered with 
 me. I saw him murder an inoffensive Mexican because he 
 
134: LAL. 
 
 would not drink with him ; he threw a poor deformed boy 
 into a well, for no other reason than that the unfortunate 
 cripple s dog barked at him ; and less than a month ago 
 he killed a man named Hallam for nothing at all. These 
 are only a few of his murders, and as to his other crimes 
 they are innumerable." 
 
 "Doubtless he is, as you say, a great rascal," answered 
 Tyscovus, "but his wife and daughter seem fond of him, 
 and they scarcely would be if he were unkind to them. 
 Give him credit, then, for some human feeling. I only saw 
 him once, it is true, but I saw enough to convince me that, 
 though rough, he was kind and considerate for their wel 
 fare." 
 
 "I don t think that should go for anything," rejoined 
 the doctor ; "even the she-wolf is tender with her cubs, and 
 the rattlesnake does not bite its own young. But I deny 
 that he is kind to them. lie may not beat them or starve 
 them or subject them to physical tortures, but these are 
 negations. See how he has corrupted and brought down 
 the woman, his wife, to his own low standard, and see what 
 lie is making of his daughter ! I knew them all in Kansas 
 many years ago, when I was a medical officer in the army. 
 Bosler had a farm near the fort at which I was stationed. 
 He was then a knave, a low, depraved wretch, a whisky 
 seller and drinker, a thief, a debaucher of women. He 
 married his wife while I was there. She never had much 
 sense, but she was a good girl when he brought her home. 
 He taught her to lie and steal, corrupted her moral princi 
 ples, and well, I can t tell you what else he did, but it was 
 horrible ! I never could quite prove it on him, or he d have 
 gone to the gallows long ago. " 
 
 "The girl seems to be fond of him," said Tyscovus, 
 feebly, for his little faith in Jim Bosler was being under 
 mined by the vigorous assaults of the doctor. "I heard 
 her pleading with him about something or other in which 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 135 
 
 she apparently gained the point, and she was evidently in 
 terceding with me for him, in advance of any predatory act 
 he might perpetrate." 
 
 " Lai has many good points in her, I admit ; I have 
 known her ever since she was born, for I brought her into 
 the world. Yes," he added, reflectively, "I m quite sure 
 of that, in any event. Under proper influences she would 
 make a good woman, perhaps even a noble one. Her natu 
 ral impulses are almost all good. She is frank, affectionate, 
 independent, good-natured, when nothing crosses her, but 
 the very devil when aroused. She likes Bosler because she 
 does not know the full depth of his depravity, and because, 
 as he is afraid of her, he treats her with some degree of con 
 sideration ; but, poor girl ! she will soon have reason to 
 know how vile he is. She little knows what is in store for 
 her." 
 
 "What do you mean, doctor ?" 
 
 " I heard while at The Cation that a fellow named Luke 
 Kittle, generally known as The Gulcher, is very much in 
 fatuated with Lai. Kittle is a desperado of the worst kind, 
 and is horribly disfigured from the effects of an explosion 
 in a mine. He has been in league with Bosler in some of 
 his most nefarious schemes, aiding him and sharing the 
 profits, and being one of the gang protecting him from ven 
 geance. Now you will scarcely, perhaps, with your predi 
 lections, believe it, but I was told by Wilkins, who is one of 
 the same lot, and who had no reason for lying about the 
 matter, that Bosler has, in the presence of witnesses, re 
 peatedly promised to give his daughter to Kittle as a wife 
 in consideration of receiving five thousand dollars for him 
 self, and knowing that the villain already has one living in 
 St. Louis. Practically, the second wife, as we are not in 
 Utah, will be only a mistress. Now, Mr. Tyscovus, what 
 do you think of that ? Does it not," continued the doctor, 
 unable to resist the temptation of giving a shot at Tysco- 
 
136 LAL. 
 
 vus, "remind you of some of the doings in Circassia, which 
 is, I believe, a part of the great Russian Empire ? " 
 
 "It is perfectly horrible," said Tyscovus, not noticing 
 the doctor s attack. " But are you sure of your facts ? " 
 
 "Entirely. As I said, I had the circumstances from 
 Wilkins, who informed me that he had first been told of 
 the matter by Kittle himself. These men when they are 
 pards, as they call it, seldom deceive each other, and Wil 
 kins would not deceive me. It was added, however, that 
 Bosler was trying to get out of his bargain, but this was 
 thought to be only an attempt to extort more money." 
 
 "She ought to be saved from the machinations of the 
 wretch," said Tyscovus, with feeling. "Can nothing be 
 done ? " 
 
 " Yes, a good deal can be done. If I only knew where 
 he was, I would inform the vigilance committee, and in a 
 few hours Mr. Bosler would be swinging on a tree, and Lai 
 would be saved." 
 
 " I know where he has gone, but I think I am bound in 
 honor not to tell, unless the revelation of his whereabout 
 be necessary to save the girl from Kittle s toils. I find it 
 difficult, however, notwithstanding the apparent authen 
 ticity of your information, to credit the existence of so 
 much villainy in a father." 
 
 " I could tell you worse things than that of Jim Bosler, 
 and I know of other reasons which in his mind would re 
 lieve the act of much of its unnaturalness. It is true ; that 
 you may depend upon. To-morrow, I shall make some in 
 quiries in regard to his hiding-place, so for the present let 
 us drop him, and I will tell you something about whom 
 you are going to meet at my house." 
 
 " I am anxious to know, and am prepared to like them. 
 I hope they will like me. " 
 
 "There is only one my daughter, Theodora, the Gift 
 of God. Her mother died five years ago, leaving her to my 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 137 
 
 sole care. I have brought her up in a somewhat peculiar 
 way, unfortunately, for it ought to be the way in which all 
 girls should be educated. As it is not, it is peculiar, of 
 course. My studies medical, anthropological, historical, 
 and general have convinced me that the relative position 
 of men and women should be changed. That is, the gov 
 erning power of the world should be placed in the female 
 sex. Mentally and morally man is far below woman. He 
 only excels her physically, and he has seized power by- 
 means of his brute force, and holds it by the mere strength 
 of bone and muscle. It is an instance of the triumph of 
 matter over mind ; but, of course, only a temporary one, 
 though it may last yet for centuries to come. What are 
 centuries, however, in the long eternity of the universe ? " 
 
 Tyscovus listened in astonishment. Doctrines such as 
 these he had not only never heard, but they were far in 
 advance of any of which he had read. Here was an appar 
 ently sensible man, a man of the world and of education, 
 enunciating views that in Poland would have been consid 
 ered evidence of his insanity, and have probably been good 
 ground for committing him to a lunatic asylum. And this, 
 too, with a coolness of demeanor as though he were giving 
 utterance to the most commonplace sentiments ! He was 
 unprepared to say a word, even if it would have been proper 
 under the circumstances to question the correctness of the 
 doctor s ideas. Without seeming to notice the expression 
 of amazement on Tyscovus s face, the doctor continued : 
 
 Holding these doctrines, it was, of course, my duty to 
 educate my daughter in accordance with their tenets, and 
 thus to give the world a practical example of the faith 
 that I had in their correctness. I did not propose to unsex 
 her to dress her in man s clothing, or to make her affect 
 the manners and customs of the opposite sex. On the con 
 trary, my object was to develop her womanhood to its ut 
 most limit, and to show that a woman s brain is capable of 
 
138 LAL. 
 
 evolving the most intense and most abstract thoughts. I 
 have no sympathy with the women who play base-ball, and 
 row boats, and ride steeple-chases, in emulation of men. 
 They who do these things, and many others I might men 
 tion, are merely reducing themselves to the level of men, 
 and are hence destroying their womanhood. Brains should 
 govern this world, not muscle. Woman has the brain, man 
 has the muscle. He has developed his brain, but woman 
 heretofore has kept hers in what may be called its chrysalis 
 state. However, to come to the application. 
 
 1 My daughter is just turned twenty-one. She has never 
 been to school. I have educated her myself. She is a true 
 woman in perceptions, intellect, emotions, and will. She 
 has to-day the best mind in the Territory. She is, in fact, 
 mind personified. I have discouraged all athletic pursuits. 
 She has never been in a gymnasium, nor swung an Indian 
 club, nor a pair of dumb-bells, nor dangled at the end of a 
 flying trapeze. She walks a good deal, but only for the 
 purpose of improving her mind by the study of Nature, not 
 w ; th any object of developing her legs ; and she rides horse 
 back a fiery, spirited animal in order that she may be 
 come accustomed to governing. There is nothing so good 
 to begin on as a high-strung, self-willed, even vicious, horse. 
 She is now engaged on a series of experiments in evolution, 
 from which I anticipate the most striking and original re 
 sults. As to her looks, /think she is beautiful, for every 
 feature of her face expresses mind, and that s what I want 
 to see in a woman s face, after all. But of that you will 
 judge for yourself. Thus there are only us two out here in 
 the mountains of Colorado, living almost alone, for we have 
 very little society in the town, but yet as happy as the day 
 is long. I may add that my daughter assists me in my 
 practice. She has never taken a medical degree, but she 
 has studied under my direction ; is a first-class anatomist 
 and physiologist, having dissected hundreds of animals, 
 
A WONDERFUL WOMAN. 139 
 
 from man to insects, and, though she does not go out to 
 see patients, there are many who, preferring her opinion to 
 mine, come to her during her office-hours, and I often con 
 sult her in my difficult cases." 
 
 " Could this man be really a lunatic ? " thought Tys- 
 covus, while the doctor was speaking. " A girl of twenty- 
 one having a medical practice and acting as consulting phy 
 sician with her father, and in difficult cases, too ! " This 
 capped the climax of his experience in the far West, and 
 here were still different types of humanity to study before 
 he could go on with his book. The doctor s views, as he 
 had expressed them, were directly at variance with his own 
 on like subjects. They were so preposterous that he could 
 scarcely bring himself to regard the holder of them as sane 
 and responsible for his beliefs. But there were no excite 
 ment of manner, no exaggeration of language, no incoher 
 ence of expression, such as would have been, in all proba 
 bility, exhibited by a maniac ; and the doctor s previous 
 conversation and actions had been such as altogether to. 
 preclude the idea of mental derangement. So he must be 
 in his right mind, and must have spoken the truth. But, 
 if so, what sort of a woman was the daughter, brought up 
 under such influences, with a medical education, having 
 dissected animals of all kinds, from a man to a caterpillar, 
 and who was now performing experiments relative to evo 
 lution ? He felt sorry he had accepted the doctor s invita 
 tion. A woman of the kind he imagined to himself, when 
 he thought of the description just given, would certainly 
 be an abomination to him. It was one contrary to all his 
 ideas of the eternal fitness of things, and of common de 
 cency. He pictured her to himself as of sickly physical or 
 ganization, with a hollow chest, round shoulders, a big, over 
 grown head, an enormous nose, weak, spectacled eyes, with 
 congested lids, a dirty, sallow complexion, huge feet, clumsy 
 hands, with red and bony knuckles, and sitting all day with 
 
140 
 
 a dissecting-knife in her hand, or her eyes screwed into a 
 microscope, or peering into a retort watching eperiments in 
 evolution ! Was there no escape for him ? Must he meet 
 this horrible creature and pass several days in her company, 
 while she discussed the revelations of her scalpel or bored 
 him with disquisitions on evolution and spontaneous gen 
 eration ? The idea was horrible ! If something would 
 only happen a tornado, an earthquake, an attack by road- 
 agents anything, no matter how horrible, to save him 
 from the greatest misfortune that had yet befallen him, 
 lie would be willing to endure it uncomplainingly. 
 
 He was recalled to himself by the voice of the doctor. 
 " I hope you will like her ; she is very dear to me and won 
 derfully intelligent. But here we are, and you will soon be 
 able to judge for yourself." 
 
 While Tyscovus was thinking, the vehicle had entered 
 an inclosure and had stopped in front of a large and hand 
 somely built house. There was no time for an answer, or, 
 in fact, for any remarks in reply to the doctor s expression 
 of his opinions and the description of his daughter. The 
 two gentlemen jumped out of the gig, while a man came 
 round from somewhere behind the house and took charge 
 of the horses. 
 
 The doctor preceded his guest up the wide steps that 
 led to the piazza, and, crossing it, threw open the door. 
 " Welcome to Chetolah ! " he said, with a hearty ring in his 
 voice that made Tycovus a little ashamed of his thoughts of 
 a moment ago. " Toda mi casa esta a su disposition de V. 
 scnor, as the Mexicans say, but with this difference : that 
 whereas with them it is a mere courteous formality, signify 
 ing nothing, with me it comes from the depths of my 
 heart, and means all that the most learned philologist could 
 extract from, the words." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 TYSCOVUS had latterly been waging war against his 
 emotional nature, and had begun to natter himself that 
 he had, in a great measure, subjected it to the control of 
 the intellectual part of his mental organization. He had 
 shown his mastery over his feelings in his treatment of the 
 vigilance committee; he had measurably restrained him 
 self during the visitation of Mr. Higgins, having treated 
 that gentleman, from an intellectual stand-point, after due 
 consideration of the matters at issue and upon purely busi 
 ness principles. But the attack upon his privacy made by 
 Abe Wilkins or "The Monkey " had entirely disturbed the 
 relations between intellect and feeling, which he had begun 
 to believe were well established. He had altogether lost 
 control over himself, had flown into a violent passion, and 
 had assaulted, vi et armis, the individual who had invaded 
 his premises. He had endeavored to justify his action 
 upon the ground that he had simply defended himself 
 from the burglarious act of a desperado, but reflection in 
 calmer moments had tended to convince him that he 
 had been inconsistent with the ideas of propriety which, 
 after mature reflection, he had deemed most suitable for 
 the regulation of his own conduct. " How much better," 
 he had said to himself, during the drive from the butte to 
 Hellbender, " that he should have allowed Abe Wilkins to 
 batter his door down, and to have helped himself to his 
 
142 LAL. 
 
 property, than to have indulged in a vulgar broil with a 
 ruffian over a few dollars worth of effects ! " 
 
 How much more dignified would have been his conduct, 
 if he had gone on with his writing, and had reasoned calm 
 ly with the house-breaker relative to the nefarious nature 
 of his proceedings ! 
 
 Doubtless, the man would have listened, and would 
 have bargained liberally with him in regard to the papers 
 and any other thing of special value he might have wished 
 to retain. He would have gone away peaceably. The 
 stolen property could have been readily replaced, he would 
 not have encountered the doctor, and, above all, he would 
 not have had forced upon him an association with a hor 
 rible human nondescript, such as the physician s daughter 
 undoubtedly was. Altogether, it would have been more 
 consistent and more profitable to him to have controlled his 
 actions, and to have allowed " The Monkey " the free range 
 of his house. 
 
 And now again his emotions were getting the better of 
 him. The last speech of the doctor s had fairly unsettled 
 him. He could only seize his host s hand and press it 
 fervently, not trusting himself to speak, lest he should dis 
 play yet greater feeling. Besides, he still felt ashamed of 
 himself for the ideas he had just entertained, and which he 
 conceived were disloyal to the kind-hearted gentleman, who 
 had befriended him in his hour of need, and a poor return 
 for his trouble and hospitality. 
 
 The two gentlemen had hardly more than taken off 
 their hats and overcoats, when a light step was heard on 
 the floor above, and, almost instantly afterward, the gentle 
 sound of feet on the oak staircase and the rustling of dra 
 pery reached their ears. It was nearly dark out-of-doors, 
 and no light had as yet been placed in the hall, so that 
 Tyscovus could not distinguish the face of the lady who 
 now came toward them. What he did see, however, of her 
 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. U3 
 
 general appearance was sufficient to somewhat disturb his 
 prepossessions. 
 
 "Ah, Dorie, my dear, how are you?" exclaimed the 
 doctor, as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed 
 him. "I was just beginning to wonder why you had not 
 made your appearance." 
 
 "I was busy in the laboratory, papa, and did not hear 
 the gig on the gravel ; I was already wondering why you 
 did not come, when I heard the horses neighing as Fran 
 cisco took them round to the stable. Did you have much 
 to do at The Canon ? " 
 
 " Yes, more than I expected some of it very pleasant 
 work too. I have brought a friend with me, the Polish 
 gentleman of whom we were speaking this morning. Mr. 
 Tyscovus," he continued, "allow me to present you to my 
 daughter." 
 
 The gentleman and lady bowed, and the latter, holding 
 out her hand, said : " You are very welcome to Chetolah, 
 Mr. Tyscovus ; papa has become quite tired of talking to 
 me, I believe, and you will be a godsend to him." 
 
 " Mr. Tyscovus knows that, however tired I may be of 
 talking to you, I have shown no signs of fatigue of talking 
 of you," said the doctor, laughing. 
 
 "I shall put you in the confessional after tea, and make 
 you tell me all you said. Then I shall appeal to Mr. 
 Tyscovus to know if you have told the truth, the whole 
 truth, and nothing but the truth. 
 
 " Great Heaven ! " thought Tyscovus, was this the 
 female physician, the dissector, the experimental evolu 
 tionist ? this woman, whose tall and comely form he 
 could see in outline against the dark wall near which she 
 stood, whose voice was melody, whose manners were grace 
 itself, and whose little, cool, firm hand was as unlike the 
 clammy, flabby, big one with prominent knuckles he had 
 imagined, as that of a Baltimore maiden is removed from 
 
LAL. 
 
 that of a German hausfrau ! He could only stammer out 
 awkwardly a few words of acknowledgment, while he 
 bowed low, as though lie were standing before a Polish 
 princess. 
 
 "Come, Doric," said the doctor, "have Mr. Tyscovus 
 shown to his room. Send him from my wardrobe all the 
 clothes he wants no, never mind that, I ll do it myself ; 
 how the deuce should you know what he ll want ? and 
 then give us something to eat, for I am sure he s dying 
 with hunger and I know I am. Remember there is a 
 decided diiference between being sure of a thing and know 
 ing it. In the one case a certain amount of doubt is " 
 
 "Yes, papa, but while you are drawing nice philological 
 distinctions, Mr. Tyscovus is waiting for an opportunity to 
 wash his face and hands, and get off some of the alkaline 
 dust with which he is doubtless covered. Thomas," she 
 continued, to the man who now came forward, "you 
 ought to have been here to help the gentlemen off with 
 their coats. Now show Mr. Tyscovus to the Japanese 
 room, and then get for him the clothes that the doctor will 
 give you." 
 
 "If you please, miss," said the man, speaking with an 
 English accent, " I was late because I was watching the 
 coluber constrictor. I think they re coming, miss." 
 
 " Very well, Thomas. Now do as I tell you. Excuse 
 me, Mr. Tyscovus," she added, turning to that gentleman, 
 "I have an important matter to look after, and in the 
 mean time you will find your room ready. Come down to 
 the drawing-room when you have finished your toilet. 
 You will find us or at least me waiting for you, and 
 then we shall have some tea." 
 
 "You will, I am sure, pardon any incongruity of dress 
 I may exhibit, Miss Willis," said Tyscovus, " when I tell 
 you that I have been for several days separated from my 
 baggage, and have been, besides, the victim of a robbery." 
 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 145 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Papa never wears evening dress now, ex 
 cept when we make our usual summer visits to the East. 
 A swallow-tailed coat/ she added, with a little silvery 
 laugh, " would indeed be more of an incongruity in Hell 
 bender than anything you are likely to present. And 
 then, when you come down, you shall tell me about the 
 robbery." 
 
 Tyscovus again bowed ; speech was still, in a measure, 
 wanting ; his astonishment was redoubled with every word 
 he heard fall from the lips of the self-possessed, polished, 
 considerate, and doubtless beautiful girl, who had so sud 
 denly appeared to him on the very outskirts of civilization, 
 surrounded by Jim Boslers, Abe Wilkinses, Mr. Higginses, 
 vigilance committees, and other inconsonant things. He 
 was utterly bewildered, and, scarcely knowing whether he 
 was on his head or his heels, he followed the servant to the 
 room that had been assigned to him. 
 
 "Is .there anything more, sir ?" said the man, when he 
 had attended with the utmost fidelity to all of Tyscovus s 
 wants. 
 
 "No, thanks. Yes, there is," he added, after a little 
 hesitation, "there is one thing more. I am a miserable 
 ignoramus, but, like other fools, I am full of curiosity. 
 Will you be so kind as to tell me what a coluber con 
 strictor is ? " 
 
 "Oh, certainly, sir, with pleasure, sir," said Thomas, 
 grinning with the consciousness of superior knowledge. 
 "A coluber constrictor is a black snake. It s the scien 
 tific name, sir." 
 
 "Oh, yes, of course ! Thank you, that will do. A 
 black snake ! " he continued, talking to himself, after the 
 man had left the room, as he made a thorough application 
 of cold water, put on one of the doctor s shirts which was 
 a mile too big for him, and otherwise made himself pre 
 sentable. "A black snake ! and even the servants versed 
 7 
 
LAL - 
 
 in zoological lore! And they are coming. What are 
 coming ? More coluber constrictors, I suppose, and she has 
 gone oft to see them. But the idea of a lady, and a lady 
 like that, busying herself with such things ! It is horrible ! 
 simply horrible ! I shall not go on with my book till I 
 have seen more of these wonderful people, and of this 
 especially wonderful girl. my prophetic father ! How 
 well you knew your son, when you dubbed him John 
 Buridan s Ass ! If you could look into his heart now and 
 see the doubt and uncertainty reigning there, you would 
 flap your angelic wings with joy at the idea of your fore 
 knowledge." 
 
 lie kept on thinking a good deal more to the same 
 effect, and then, having got himself into a somewhat suit 
 able shape for appearing before a lady, descended the broad 
 oaken staircase to the drawing-room, which, as Thomas 
 had informed him, was the first apartment on the right of 
 the front door. The hall was now lighted, and he saw that 
 the doctor had enriched it with several excellent paintings, 
 that here and there a bracket bore a lovely little bit of bronze 
 or porcelain, and that a few rare old Delft placqucs hung 
 at intervals on the walls. lie stopped for a moment before 
 a portrait, that attracted his attention more on account 
 of the ugliness of the face represented on the canvas than 
 from any excellence of the painting, as a work of art, 
 though it was not badly done. It was that of a woman of 
 about twenty-five years of age. She had a scalpel in her 
 hand, that she had apparently just been using on a frog 
 that lay on the table before her ; for the animal was dead, 
 and the skin had been removed from one leg, exposing the 
 large nerve in the thigh, with which the wires from a small 
 galvanic battery were in contact. The expression of the 
 young woman s face was certainly intellectual ; but there 
 was no trace of refinement to be detected, and those ele 
 ments which go to make up what is called a type of beauty 
 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 14.7 
 
 were conspicuous by their absence. The eyes were small 
 and wide apart ; the forehead high, broad, and prominent, 
 like that of a dangerously precocious child ; the nose sharp 
 and prominent, with a disagreeable twist to one side ; the 
 mouth wide, the lips thin and ill-shaped, and the lower 
 jaw massive almost masculine in character. The hair was 
 arranged like that of a man, cut short and parted on one 
 side, and but for the dress the portrait might readily have 
 been taken for that of a coarse-grained though intelligent 
 man. 
 
 Tyscovus felt his heart sink within him as he studied 
 this portrait. It must be that of the doctor s daughter ; of 
 the girl who had "dissected all kinds of animals from a man 
 to an insect," and who had chosen to be painted while en 
 gaged in her favorite occupation, with a frog for her subject. 
 It was just such a face as he had, during the drive from 
 the butte to the doctor s residence, imagined the intel 
 lectual daughter of that gentleman to possess, except that 
 there were no spectacles. It was just such a face as he 
 would have drawn had he been asked to represent his idea 
 of a female anatomist. For once, then, his preconceptions 
 were correct, and the certainty he felt on this point gave 
 him that species of satisfaction that every one feels when 
 his anticipations have been realized, especially when they 
 have been formed from insufficient premises. It was a dis 
 appointmenta grievous disappointment for he had, dur 
 ing the last half-hour, been looking forward with pleasure 
 to meeting the girl with the graceful figure and musical 
 voice, but still it was in accordance with the harmony of 
 Nature, which rarely gives great intellect and great beauty 
 to any one woman. 
 
 He raised his eyes once more to the portrait. It was 
 assuredly not a commonplace face, but it was certainly a 
 very disagreeable one. And he was to be more or less in 
 the company of the woman it represented for several days, 
 
148 LAL. 
 
 to listen to the conversation between her and her father in 
 regard to their joint patients ; to hear her discourses on 
 evolution and other scientific subjects of which she could 
 not possibly have more than the most superficial idea ! 
 That she was superficial there could be no doubt. All 
 women were that he had ever met, and his female ac 
 quaintance, at one period of his life, had been extensive. 
 
 His hat hung on a peg at his side, lie could seize it 
 and take French leave of the doctor and his intellectual 
 daughter. For an instant, he felt impelled to rush out of 
 the house and make his way back to the butte as well as he 
 could on foot, and in the darkness of the night. To do so 
 would put an end to all his relations with two people who, 
 as matters now stood, were certain to interfere with the 
 successful prosecution of his plans. But though, like all 
 other persons, he had impulses toward the perpetration of 
 incongruous acts, Tyscovus was a gentleman from the 
 roots of his hair to the soles of his feet. Without another 
 moment s hesitation, he opened the drawing-room door. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE WOMAN AND THE MAN". 
 
 IT was a large and well-furnished apartment in which he 
 found himself. It was lighted to just that degree of illumi 
 nation which reveals objects without giving the vulgar glare 
 of a shop- window with its electric light or dozen gas-burners. 
 His eyes at once rested on the doctor and his daughter. 
 
 " I was expecting to have a laugh at you," said Theo 
 dora, "when you appeared in papa s clothes. But I see I 
 shall not be able to enjoy the luxury. They seem to fit 
 you admirably." 
 
 She laughed a light, rippling, musical laugh as she 
 spoke. Tyscovus looked at her for a moment, as she stood 
 in front of the open wood-fire, with one hand resting on her 
 father s shoulder, while the other caressed a beautiful brown 
 setter that stood by her side, wagging its tail and gazing 
 wistfully and affectionately into her face. It was only the 
 look of a fraction of a minute, but it was enough for the 
 object he had in view, though he felt as if he would be 
 willing to stand there forever if she continued to stand 
 there before him. 
 
 It is stated by Houdin, the magician, that when he was 
 training his son to follow in the footsteps of his father, it 
 was his custom to take him to walk in the streets of Paris, 
 and to cause him to tell at a glance the contents of the 
 shop- windows before which he passed. At first the boy 
 made many mistakes, but, little by little, he acquired the 
 
150 LAL. 
 
 power to enumerate every one of a hundred or more articles 
 he had seen in a window as he walked rapidly by it, glanc 
 ing but for an instant at the contents. Women seem to 
 have this faculty intuitively. Who lias not seen two wom 
 en meet in the street, look at each other for a moment as 
 they passed, then turn round for a glance behind, and then 
 go home and tell their friends every article of apparel that 
 each one wore ? 
 
 Tyscovus had practiced himself in this art, and had ac 
 quired a high degree of perfection in its exercise. He could 
 even tell on the instant the number of watches hanging on 
 their racks in a jeweler s window, or describe with the & ut- 
 most minuteness and exactness the features of half a dozen 
 persons upon whom he had given no more than a passing 
 glance. A momentary inspection, therefore, was all that 
 was requisite to give him a correct idea of the facial charac 
 teristics of Theodora Willis. 
 
 Instead of the original of the portrait in the hall, he saw 
 before him a face certainly the most beautiful he had over 
 seen in all his life. But, aside from the grace and perfec 
 tion of every feature, the expression was one of such depth 
 of feeling and high mental development, that he saw at 
 once that hers was an exception to Kature s usual method 
 of constructing the faces of women. On her forehead were 
 a few curls of the reddish-brown hair, the rest of which ap 
 peared to have been gathered up as it fell in masses over 
 her shoulders, and brought together in a simple knot on 
 the back of her head. Her eyes were of a dark gray, large, 
 bright, intelligent, vivacious, and evidently used, not simply 
 for seeing, but for looking. A fool can see, but it is only 
 those with minds that are trained and developed who know 
 how to look. Theodora was one of these. Tier mouth was 
 large enough for all the purposes for which Nature intended 
 it, and was shaped like that of the "San Sisto Madonna/ 
 though perhaps more expressive of the expansive emotions 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 151 
 
 than is that feature in Raphael s wonderful picture. "When 
 it is added that her teeth were perfect ; that her nose was 
 not quite a continuation of the plane of the forehead, as is 
 that of the Venus de Medici ; that her complexion was an 
 ivory-white, just allowing at times a tinge of pink to appear 
 on her cheeks, and that the general contour of her head 
 when looked at from the front was seen to be almost exactly 
 that of an egg, there is nothing more to be said that can 
 give an idea of Theodora Willis s face. All such descrip 
 tions, no matter how exact they may be, fail absolutely to 
 tell how the person they refer to looks. There is always so 
 much that depends on the mind, and that varies with every 
 emotion and thought, that no one can convey to another 
 the idea that a face creates. 
 
 For an instant, Tyscovus felt such a revulsion of feeling 
 at the sight of the beautiful girl before him, so utterly un 
 like the one he had expected to see, that he stood as if 
 rooted to the floor. The sound of her voice, her silvery 
 laugh, her pleasantly spoken and unconventional, even fa 
 miliar words, which, innocent as they were, were of such a 
 character that no maiden in all Poland would have used 
 them under like circumstances ; her self-reliance, never 
 reaching boldness ; her ready adaptability to the situation, 
 all flashed over him like a bright beam of sunlight reflected 
 by a mirror, and brought him in a measure to himself. 
 Still, he had not entirely recovered his normal degree of 
 composure and aplomb, when, advancing toward her, he 
 bowed with the formality and deference which a Polish 
 gentleman always exhibits toward ladies with whom he is 
 not on the most intimate terms based on a long acquaint 
 anceship. 
 
 "I am so bewildered," he said at last, with a smile 
 that touched the hearts of his two auditors at once and 
 put them both in sympathy with him, "at the many evi 
 dences of good taste and refinement that I see around me 
 
152 LAL. 
 
 wherever I turn my eyes, here beyond what is generally 
 known as the confines of civilization, that perhaps I do 
 not feel so awkward in my borrowed plumage as I other 
 wise would. If the doctor could only give me with his 
 coat a portion of his philanthropy, and you, Miss Willis," 
 bowing low to Theodora as he spoke, "with your kind 
 words a share of your amiability, I should be content to be 
 incongruous. " 
 
 "That s all true about your lacking philanthropy," 
 broke in the doctor. " Think of a man in the latter part 
 of the nineteenth century trying to live in absolute soli 
 tude ! Yes, you certainly do want philanthropy ; but amia 
 bility ! Bah ! Amiable people are always weak, and, if you 
 got your amiability from Theodora, you d have precious 
 little, for she hasn t enough to swear by. " 
 
 "A beautiful character you are giving me, papa ! " said 
 Theodora. " Come, Mr. Tyscovus," she continued, taking 
 his arm, " tea is ready for us. Don t let him corrupt you 
 with the horrible sentiments he utters. He loves amiable 
 people, and, if I were not amiable, there would not be much 
 peace of mind for him in this house." 
 
 "It is not your amiability that subdues me," said the 
 doctor, as they went into the tea-room adjoining; "I 
 recognize the existence of your superior intellect/ and, 
 in accordance with my sociological belief, I think you 
 ought to govern. And you do, Doric, as you know very 
 well." 
 
 Theodora smiled without making any response to this 
 assertion of her father s. 
 
 Just as they were sitting down to such a "tea" as is 
 usually eaten by well-to-do Southern families living on 
 their estates in the country, Thomas, who was officiating 
 at the table, approached Theodora with every appearance 
 of interest, and said, loud enough for all to hear, " If you 
 please, miss, Jane says they re coming." 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 153 
 
 " So you told me less than an hour ago." 
 "Yes, miss, but she says she can see the toes now." 
 "I am afraid I must ask you to excuse me for a mo 
 ment," said Theodora, addressing the gentlemen, " but, be 
 fore I leave you, I will make your tea." With which words 
 she seated herself at the head of the table, and busied her 
 self with the tea-things for a few minutes. Then, with a 
 smile and a remark that she would not be gone long, she 
 left the room. 
 
 " What could it mean ?" thought Tyscovus. This was 
 the second time he had heard the statement made that 
 "they were coming," and now it was supplemented with 
 the assertion that the "toes" were making their appear 
 ance. Was she, like Frankenstein, constructing a monster 
 or several of them, or was she engaged in experiments 
 with an ecaleolion, and were the eggs just beginning to 
 hatch ? Yes ! this must be it. These, then, were the in 
 vestigations in evolution that the doctor had informed 
 him his daughter was conducting. The idea tended to 
 lessen the charm that he felt Theodora was casting over 
 him. He began to conceive that she was something of an 
 anomaly, a heterogeneous compound of feminine and mas 
 culine characteristics, and hence likely to become a more 
 or less unpleasant acquaintance. He had not yet shaken 
 off the influence of early associations, and of the traditions 
 of many centuries of European civilization, all of which 
 went to confirm the conviction that the pathway of woman 
 through life should be straight and narrow, and that the 
 only fruits she should be allowed to gather were those 
 that her sex had gathered before her, and that were to 
 be found without effort ready to fall into her hands. That 
 she could make experiments in natural science, and at the 
 same time retain those womanly characteristics of mind and 
 person that Theodora apparently possessed, was to him an 
 impossibility. The mere study of such a subject as develop- 
 
154 LAL. 
 
 ment must inevitably take from her something of her femi 
 ninity, and hence lower her in his estimation. 
 
 His meditations were interrupted by the doctor. 
 
 " She s a wonderful woman ; and I am glad that at last 
 her great experiments in evolution are about to succeed. 
 She has devoted nearly six months intense study and labor 
 to the investigations. At one time, we both thought the 
 result would be nothing ; but, latterly, the signs that she 
 is about to triumph over all obstacles, and to demonstrate 
 to the world that evolution is truth, are unmistakable. She 
 may not establish the fact to-day, but, if not to-day, she 
 will to-morrow ; and if not to-morrow, then the day after. 
 A few hours more or less arc of no consequence." 
 
 "May I ask," said Tyscovus, " the nature of the experi 
 ments ? " 
 
 The doctor hesitated for a moment, and then with a 
 laugh, answered: "Oh, she will tell you herself; and not 
 only that, but I am sure she will be delighted to explain 
 them to you in detail, and to show you all the apparatus 
 and agents by which success is to be attained. She will 
 not fail she never fails ! " 
 
 "I do not know," rejoined Tyscovus, "which most to 
 admire, the scientific acquirements of Miss Willis, or your 
 faith in your daughter s capacity to grapple with the most 
 abstruse problem of Nature. Doubtless your encouragement 
 is her highest incentive." 
 
 " Not at all not at all ! " exclaimed the doctor. " The 
 most powerful factor she has to urge her to work is her 
 own indomitable will, prompted by her love for science. 
 Oh, she is a wonderful woman ! There never was her 
 equal ! " 
 
 Tyscovtis bowed an assent, as politeness required, but 
 his astonishment at the extravagant laudations that the 
 doctor lavished on his daughter was so intense that he 
 scarcely knew what reply to make in words. Happily, be- 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 155 
 
 fore it was necessary for him to express an opinion, Theo 
 dora returned. 
 
 " It was all a mistake," she said, with a smile, which 
 showed that, however great might be her disappointment, 
 she knew how to conceal it. "Jane has again allowed her 
 wishes to run away with her judgment. She mistook two 
 rather large ventral scales for toes." 
 
 "Jane is an ass," interrupted the doctor ; "she always 
 was an ass, and, of course, she always will be one. Assi- 
 ninity is ineradicable." 
 
 "I am sorry to hear that," said Tyscovus, laughing, 
 " for you know I am one. But then I am a man, also. If 
 I were not a donkey, I suppose I would know what * ventral 
 scales are. " 
 
 " Oh, that will be part of your instruction to-morrow, 
 when Theodora asks you to visit her laboratory. In the 
 mean time, for your consolation, I may tell you that I did 
 not know myself when I was your age, but 
 
 " If you please, sir," said a servant-maid, interrupting 
 him, "there s a man just been killed at The Gem, and 
 they want you to come down as soon as possible." 
 
 "A man been killed! Well, and what in the devil 
 have I to do with dead men ? That comes of taking a bul 
 let from a fellow s brain a few days ago. There s no such 
 advertisement for a doctor as a cured patient. Most people 
 are proud of their diseases, and when they get cured, or 
 rather when they get well, they are proud of their doctor. 
 Are you sure the man is dead, Mary ? " 
 
 " Well, sir, the boy who brought the message said he 
 was shot in the heart, and I know that when a man gets 
 shot in the heart he always dies. " 
 
 " Oh, you did ! Mary, I am afraid I shall have to put 
 you in the same category with Jane. " 
 
 " Oh, sir, don t, please, sir ! It s bad enough to be in a 
 laboratory, much less a category." 
 
156 LAL. 
 
 The doctor laughed, as did also Theodora and Ty&covus. 
 " Evidently," thought the latter, " the scientific atmosphere 
 of the house is inhaled by all the servants, but they get it 
 in a very diluted form." 
 
 " I suppose I shall have to leave you," said the doctor, 
 hastily swallowing the remainder of his tea and gulping 
 down a piece of antelope-cutlet. " Of course, the man is 
 not dead. He is probably shot somewhere in the chest." 
 
 "How horrible it all is !" said Theodora. "Hellben 
 der is usually a very orderly place, but we have had two 
 shooting affrays in the past week." 
 
 "There s been an invasion of discharged miners from 
 The Canon," replied the doctor, "who are great ruffians, 
 and who seem bent on causing trouble. Well, good-by," 
 he continued. " Take care of Mr. Tyscovus, Doric, till I 
 come back, which will be in an hour, I suppose. " With 
 which words the doctor took his departure, and, after a few 
 minutes conversation on indifferent subjects, the two others 
 proceeded to the drawing-room. 
 
 "Mr. Tyscovus," said Theodora, after they had placed 
 themselves in comfortable arm-chairs before the fire, "in 
 what I am going to say to you I think I am doing right, 
 for it will be the means of averting misunderstanding that 
 is certain to occur if you are kept in ignorance of certain 
 facts. Father has taken a great liking to you, and you will 
 probably see a good deal of him, and perhaps of me, too," 
 she added, with a bright smile, "and I am anxious, there 
 fore, to stand well in your eyes, or, at least, not to be 
 thought worse than I really am. But I am still more anx 
 ious that you should not misjudge my father, who is all 
 the world to me, as I am to him." 
 
 "My dear Miss Willis," said Tyscovus, "whatever you 
 may say will command my serious attention ; but I beg 
 that" 
 
 " Oh, I am sure you do not regard any explanations as 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 157 
 
 necessary, but it is to prevent them becoming so that I am 
 about to speak of matters that are of intense interest to 
 me. 
 
 " About five years ago my mother, after a long illness, 
 died of a painful and lingering disease. My father had 
 nursed her with the most tender care, sparing neither his 
 means nor his time to make her life happy while it lasted, 
 and to smooth her way to the grave. In these objects he 
 was as successful as humanity can ever be under such cir 
 cumstances. She died in his arms, and the light of his life 
 was for a time extinguished. " 
 
 Theodora stopped for a moment. Tyscovus, who had 
 been sitting at some little distance from her, drew his 
 chair nearer, as if instinctively impelled to offer his sym 
 pathy. After a moment s pause, she resumed: 
 
 "For several months he was, if not deprived of his 
 reason, in such a state of profound melancholy, that I 
 feared he might be persuaded by his morbid thoughts 
 to destroy himself ; but, fortunately, one day the cloud was 
 suddenly lifted, and he appeared to be almost in his natural 
 state of good health. Previous to my mother s death, he 
 had always been very fond of me, but I was at the time a 
 mere child, and scarcely capable of interesting him to an 
 extent beyond that resulting from our relations as father 
 and daughter. But now he began to take an interest in 
 my education, that he had not before evinced, and I 
 noticed also that his views relative to woman had under 
 gone a radical change. He had always vehemently op 
 posed what are called woman s rights, and was especially 
 violent against women-physicians, whom he denounced as 
 libels on their sex, and unworthy of being recognized by 
 the medical profession. Now, however, I discovered that 
 he had elevated woman to a position in intellect above that 
 occupied by man; that he was in favor of every profession, 
 and particularly the medical, being opened to her ; and 
 
158 LAL. 
 
 that he thought she not only ought to be allowed to vote, 
 but that the government of nations should be placed in 
 her hands. He had always before this contended that 
 every woman was more or less hysterical, but now he de 
 clared that what he had regarded as hysteria was only a con 
 dition in which nerve-force was exploded in an irregular 
 and violent manner, and that this would all be obviated by 
 educating women in such a way as to develop their intel 
 lect at the expense of their emotions. I then found that 
 my education was to be conducted in accordance with these 
 principles. He had heard of a Swiss lady, a certain Friiu- 
 lein Schwartzfeld, and he determined to send for her and 
 commit my education to her hands. I was hardly old 
 enough to appreciate the full benefit of the course of de 
 velopment upon which I had entered. Friiulein Schwartz 
 feld was a woman certainly without marked emotions of 
 any kind. But she had, apparently, mastered the details 
 of what she had come to teach me, and hence, as I was 
 assiduous, I began to learn and to take an interest in my 
 studies. But I did not, for all that, neglect those things 
 that I instinctively felt a woman ought to know. The 
 Friiulein, therefore, with a little persuasion from me, was 
 induced to teach me French and German, and to read with 
 me the most notable works in the literature of those lan 
 guages with which she thought I ought to be acquainted. 
 We had a well-selected library, and I made good use of it 
 in pursuing a course of reading in English literature. 
 Still, my education was mainly in the direction of science, 
 and especially natural history. 
 
 "But about two years ago, my father, who all this time 
 had watched my progress with the greatest interest, and 
 who was constantly encouraging me to work harder, con 
 ceived the idea that I must study medicine. Friiulein 
 Schwartzfeld had taken the degree of doctor of medicine 
 both at Zurich and at Paris, and was fully qualified to give 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 159 
 
 instruction in that branch of science. I did not at all fancy 
 the idea at first, but finally I was persuaded by my father 
 and the Frtiulein to begin. With every book I read, and 
 every scrap of information I acquired, I liked it better, 
 until, at last, I think I could have said that nothing I had 
 ever undertaken had given me more pleasure." 
 
 "Of course, Miss Willis," said Tyscovus, who had 
 listened to every word with almost breathless interest, "you 
 have had very little opportunity in this part of the world 
 for the practical study of anatomy. Dead bodies healthy 
 ones, too are probably plenty enough, but the generality 
 of ignorant people, such as are about you, have prejudices, 
 and do not like to have their friends and relations dis 
 sected." 
 
 Theodora raised her eyes to his, and met his look un 
 flinchingly, but with a modesty that was revealed by the 
 slight flush that mantled to her cheeks. There was some 
 thing in his voice, though not in his words, that told her 
 that he was not prepared to approve of women searching 
 for knowledge in the direction of anatomizing corpses. 
 Yet, if she had been asked to state what it was, she would 
 not have been able to comply. Perhaps it was the least 
 possible sarcasm that crept out against his will, and tinged 
 the words with its hue of condemnation. 
 
 "I have dissected several human bodies," she said, 
 gravely and deliberately, as though measuring the import 
 of each word, "and I have never done so without feeling 
 that the act was one of awful majesty, not to be under 
 taken lightly. I have always felt that there before me lay 
 a temple in which God had placed, and from which he had 
 taken away, an immortal soul ; that, only a few hours be 
 fore, it had been moving about on the earth alive, its heart 
 beating, its brain replete with thought, and that now it 
 was helpless, dead, and at the mercy of all who might ap 
 proach it with good or evil intent. To seek with reverence 
 
160 LAL. 
 
 to understand its wonderful mechanism, to come before it 
 with the spirit of truth and knowledge, knowing that it 
 was made in God s own image, never caused me to feel that 
 I had degraded myself, either in my own estimation or in 
 that of good and intelligent men and women the world 
 over. " 
 
 "Whatever you would do, you would do nobly," said 
 Tyscovus, speaking with emotion. "You remind me of 
 the times when it was deemed impious for any one to dis 
 sect a human body, and when the thunders of the Church 
 were directed against those who disregarded the injunc 
 tions that religion imposed. I can understand your feel 
 ings, Miss Willis. I remember a picture by Hamon, in 
 the Louvre, I think, that represents Vesalius about to 
 begin the dissection of a corpse stretched out at full length 
 on a rough table, in a narrow cell, lighted by a single small 
 window, and no one present to witness the sacrilegious 
 deed. Vesalius stands with the knife in his hand, but, 
 before making his first incision, he turns his head and 
 looks earnestly at the crucifix hanging on the wall, as 
 though to ask the divine sanction for an act that he feels 
 is a righteous one. Perhaps, ere long, we will regard those 
 who view with disapprobation, it may be," he added, after 
 a little pause, " even with disgust, the idea of women dis 
 secting dead bodies, very much as we now do those be 
 nighted people who, three hundred years ago, persecuted 
 Vesalius." 
 
 His words did not express his own approval, but they 
 were nevertheless kind, and certainly not condemnatory. 
 She gave him a look of gratitude, and then resumed : 
 
 " I pursued my medical studies with great ardor under 
 the direction of Fraulein Schwartzfeld and my father. 
 The fact became known, and I was often visited by sick 
 women, and by others who brought their children to me 
 for treatment. I was fortunate enough to be of service to 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 
 
 many, and in this way I found that a boundless field for 
 charitable works was open to me. But I have never re 
 ceived a fee for my services. It has never been my object 
 to pursue medicine as a profession. I studied because I 
 loved the science, linked as it is indissolubly with all other 
 sciences, and I practice it for the good that it enables me 
 to do." 
 
 Tyscovus was silent. He was thinking of the strange 
 circumstance that here, in the wilds of the Western Conti 
 nent, he should be receiving lessons in charity and progress 
 from a beautiful girl ten years his junior, who showed by 
 every word she uttered that she had convictions of which 
 she was not ashamed or afraid, and whose self-reliance and 
 presence of mind were apparently equal to any emergency 
 in which she might be placed. 
 
 "I should scarcely have felt at liberty, Mr. Tyscovus," 
 she continued and now her voice trembled slightly, and he 
 thought he saw her eyes dim with the tears that started to 
 them "to trouble you with this long account of myself, 
 but that it is a necessary introduction to what I am now 
 about to say. All this time ever since my mother s death, 
 I think I began to notice that my father became singular 
 in his ideas and conduct. I have already mentioned how 
 his views in regard to women had suddenly changed. But 
 little by little it seemed as though his opinions were being 
 concentrated on me. He acquired the most exaggerated 
 idea of my mental qualities and powers, and was constantly 
 speaking in public of what he considered was my great 
 intellect. Upon one occasion he attended a political meet 
 ing, and nominated me for mayor of the city. Then he 
 insisted on naming me as a candidate for the Legislature, 
 and in other ways he has brought me prominently, and, I 
 need not say, very much to my repugnance, before the 
 community. To everybody whose acquaintance he makes 
 he extols me in the most extravagant and entirely erroneous 
 
162 LAL. 
 
 way ; one calculated to give sensible people a very mistaken 
 idea of my capacity and opinions. So far, however, as I 
 am myself concerned, I should not care for this, but his 
 statements are so utterly at variance with probability, that 
 it has frequently happened that he has been accused of 
 intentional misrepresentation, whereas nothing could be 
 further from the truth, for he certainly believes everything 
 he says. I am often obliged to humor him, for any avoid 
 ance on my part of his laudation causes him great distress, 
 from which, sometimes, he does not recover for several 
 days, and which once produced such a degree of mental 
 excitement as to alarm me very much. I have, therefore, 
 to beg and this is the chief object of this long story that 
 you will not misjudge him in what he may say of me, or 
 question the correctness of any opinions he may express. 
 I have felt it my duty, even at the risk of wearying you, to 
 enlighten you in regard to my father s state of mind on this 
 one subject. On every other point he is as mentally sound 
 as it is possible for a person to be ; but, every day, I think 
 I can see that he becomes more and more infatuated and 
 unbalanced where I am concerned. Knowing its cause, 
 and his great affection for me, I can not find it in my heart 
 to oppose him, and there is no physician here to whom I 
 can apply for advice. I am, consequently, under continual 
 apprehension lest his actions may lead him into trouble, or 
 the mental disturbance extend to other subjects. You are 
 the first one to whom I have unburdened my mind since 
 Fniulein Schwartzfeld left us, several months ago, to estab 
 lish a school in Denver." 
 
 She ceased speaking, and was evidently controlling her 
 self with difficulty. Tyscovus was embarrassed. He felt 
 for her deeply, and would have been only too glad to have 
 shown his sympathy, but he had known her for only a 
 couple of hours, and how can a man of thirty years of age 
 exhibit feeling toward a woman of twenty-one, and on an 
 
THE WOMAN" AND THE MAN. 1(53 
 
 acquaintanceship of two hours, without running the risk of 
 going too far, and hence of being subjected to rebuke ? 
 
 But his admiration went far beyond his compassion, 
 lie could understand the sacrifice she had made of her own 
 feelings in determining to save her father from any danger 
 of being contradicted or crossed, when, as he was sure to 
 do, he went beyond the bounds of reason in speaking of his 
 daughter s good qualities, or of being suspected of false 
 hoods, when he passed, as he was also certain to do, the 
 limits of truth in enumerating her virtues and powers, or 
 of being regarded as deficient in that good taste and discre 
 tion which all gentlemen exhibit when speaking of mem 
 bers of their families. He could see that she thought it 
 better that the truth in regard to her father should be 
 known, than that anything derogatory to his honor should 
 be alleged against him. Better far to be insane than a liar, 
 a braggart, a snob ! A monomaniac she could respect ; but 
 for the vulgar, ill-bred, and falsifying knave she could only 
 entertain contempt, even though he were her own father. 
 Such thoughts as these, by which he conceived she had 
 been actuated, were in entire accordance with his own ideas 
 of the fitness of things ; hence his readiness to do homage 
 to the courage and high sense of duty she had manifested. 
 He had, it is true, only known her a couple of hours, and 
 considerably less than that time had been passed in her pres 
 ence. But he began to see that acquaintanceship, like every 
 thing else in that part of the country, was a much more 
 rapid process than with the people of Europe among whom 
 he had lived. He knew more of Theodora Willis than he 
 could have acquired of a Polish woman in a hundred times 
 the period of intercourse he had had with her. She had 
 given him her confidence ; he would let her see how great 
 was his appreciation of her frankness by acting toward her 
 with equal sincerity. 
 
 He was a rapid thinker. His momentary embarrassment 
 
LAL - 
 
 and hesitation vanished, and, ere more than a very few sec 
 onds had elapsed after Theodora had finished her recital, 
 he spoke, in no uncertain tone, words that, in all the years 
 to come, never faded from her memory. 
 
 " That you are a woman," he said, rising to his feet and 
 standing before her, while he looked down upon her bowed 
 head with a world of sympathy in his eyes, "and I am a 
 man, and that a few hours ago neither of us knew of the 
 other s existence, shall not prevent me saying that at this 
 moment I love you more than I have ever loved a human 
 being. Perhaps I do not use the exact word, for I am a 
 foreigner, and hence not skilled in all the niceties of the 
 English language. You, however, are too pure, too noble, 
 to misjudge or misunderstand me. The love that I feel for 
 you is as far above the passion that goes by the name, as 
 you are above the bedizened coquettes that flaunt their 
 charms before all whose attention they crave. It is a love 
 that courts no return, for it has its reward in the conscious 
 ness that it possesses of its own existence. You have, by 
 a few words and by the force of your own honorable exam 
 ple, taught me that what I considered to be truths were in 
 reality gross errors. You have shown me that knowledge, 
 when sought with a pure heart and virtuous aspirations, 
 not only does not debase the mind of woman, but that it 
 dignifies, and exalts, and refines it with each truth that 
 enters its portals. For this I love you ; and, so far as one 
 mortal may worship another, I worship you." Saying 
 which, he took her hand, and raising it, touched the tips 
 of its fingers with his lips. " Henceforth, if I have the 
 opportunity," he continued, "I will learn many things of 
 you." 
 
 " You are very kind," she said. " I do not misunder 
 stand you. I am free to say that I do not view with indif 
 ference the good opinion of the world ; of that part of it, 
 I mean, whose good opinion is worth having. Yes ; I 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 105 
 
 comprehend all that your words imply, and I see nothing 
 in them beyond what you intend. I think/ she added, 
 after pausing a moment as though to be quite sure she was 
 right, " that I have felt toward the dead image of God whose 
 brain I was about to examine, very much as you feel toward 
 me as, perhaps, Vesalius felt when he turned from the 
 corpse to the crucifix, and was reminded that the image on 
 the cross was of the same form as the body that lay on the 
 table. You have made me very happy ; but what you could 
 learn from me would bear only a small proportion to what 
 I could learn from you. I think I should like to regard 
 you as a friend." 
 
 " You seem to be getting on together admirably," said 
 Doctor Willis, entering the room as Theodora was saying 
 the last words. "I am sure we should both be delighted 
 to count Mr. Tyscovus among our very few friends. But 
 you must let me tell you my adventures since leaving you. 
 First, however, is there anything more from the experi 
 ment ? Have they come yet ? " 
 
 " Not yet, papa," answered Theodora. " I think we shall 
 have no more false alarms. But you look tired, and you 
 must let me make you a cup of tea before you talk much." 
 
 " If that girl," said the doctor, as she left the room on 
 her errand, " were given despotic power in this Territory, 
 there would be no such affairs as that of which I have just 
 seen the result. I have half a mind to institute a rebellion, 
 set up a new government, and declare Theodora Willis 
 queen. She would at once institute measures that would 
 teach these gentlemen of the bowie-knife and the revolver 
 that they are under the law. I think I shall mention the 
 matter to the vigilance committee at its next meeting. 
 She s a wonderful woman ! don t you think so ? " 
 
 "I regard Miss Willis," said Tyscovus, "as certainly 
 one of the most remarkable, and, at the same time, womanly 
 women I have ever met." 
 
166 LAL. 
 
 " That is just the idea I have always held. There is 
 nothing of the man about her ! Xo aping of college boys ; 
 no longing for trousers, or for smoking cigarettes; no 
 playing base-ball or cricket. She s a < womanly woman/ 
 and is simply engaged in the effort to develop the female 
 mind in accordance with the requirements of anatomy and 
 physiology. And she will do it, too mark my words ! 
 Woman is every day coming nearer to the front, and ere 
 long must take the lead." 
 
 The temptation to reply was great, but Tyscovus re 
 membered what Theodora had told him, and refrained from 
 the expression of any views in opposition to those expressed 
 by the doctor, and in a few moments Theodora returned 
 with a silver tray, holding a delicate little egg-shell tea-pot 
 and cup, from which the aromatic odor of tea arose. 
 
 Now," said the doctor, after he had thanked his 
 daughter for the refreshing beverage, and as he sat in a 
 deep arm-chair with his tea-cup in his hand " now for 
 my adventures ! The Gem is, as you know, Doric, one 
 of the least reputable of our drinking-saloons. A large 
 number of miners had been discharged, and they had 
 come over here to take the town, as they said. They had 
 plenty of money, and were followed by Luke Kittle and a 
 Mexican named Manuel Vaca, both of whom, it seems, are 
 in love with your friend" (turning to Tyscovus) "Lai Bos- 
 ler. Kittle and Vaca opened rival gambling-dens, to which 
 the miners repaired, but in far greater numbers to the one 
 kept by Vaca. It seems there was a good deal of bad blood 
 between the two men on account of Lai ; and Kittle, be 
 sides, felt aggrieved at the fact that Vaca was getting 
 very much more of the boys" money than himself. He 
 therefore closed his den, and, going over to Vaca s place, 
 began betting. It was not long before all his money was 
 in Vaca s possession. Then they all went to The Gem, 
 and while there Kittle accused him of cheating. The 
 
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN. 167 
 
 Mexican at once drew a knife, struck at Kittle, missing his 
 blow, however ; and the latter, drawing his revolver, shot 
 his rival through the lung. 
 
 " When I arrived, I found Vaca sensible, but just about 
 breathing his last. He called for pen, ink, and paper, and 
 a lawyer, and dictated and signed a will, giving all his prop 
 erty, of whatever kind, to me, in trust for Lai Bosler, to 
 be paid to her on her attaining the age of twenty-two. A 
 few minutes afterward he breathed his last. I am in 
 formed that the will is perfectly valid, and that Miss Bos 
 ler will be worth something over a hundred thousand dol 
 lars, in addition to about five thousand found on Vaca s 
 person, which last is doubtless in part the proceeds of his 
 winnings to-night." 
 
 "I am very glad for her sake," said Theodora, "but 
 with such a father as she has, the money may do her more 
 harm than good." 
 
 "I shall immediately send her East to school, and I 
 shall take good care that none of the money gets into Jim 
 Bosler s hands. Besides, it will be five years yet before Lai 
 can have control of her property, and by that time Mr. Bos 
 ler will, in all probability, be holding a high office among 
 the demons of the lower regions." 
 
 " I think," said Tyscovus, "that the money is well be 
 stowed, and that Miss Bosler will not be slow to take every 
 advantage that her newly-acquired wealth will give her. 
 She struck me as being a young woman of excellent natural 
 parts. " 
 
 " So she is so she is !" exclaimed the doctor. "It is 
 a great wonder to me that with the influences to which she 
 has been subjected she has not gone to the bad long ago. 
 But, come, Doric, our friend is doubtless tired and sleepy. 
 He has had much to-day to fatigue him. Good Heavens ! " 
 he continued, looking at his watch, "it is half-past eleven. 
 Time for all of us to be in bed." 
 
168 LAL. 
 
 As they were separating for the night at the foot of the 
 hall stairs, Tyscovus glanced at the picture of the anatomi 
 cal woman that had in the afternoon attracted his atten 
 tion. 
 
 " That is Fraulein Schwartzfeld ?" he asked of Theo 
 dora, who was engaged in lighting his candle. 
 
 "Yes, she painted it herself several years ago, and left 
 it with us as a token of her regard, and, as she said, that 
 we might not forget her." 
 
 "I thought I thought " said Tyscovus, hesitatingly, 
 and blushing as he spoke. 
 
 "You saw it as you came down-stairs this evening!" 
 exclaimed Theodora, laughing, "and you took it for me. 
 papa, just think of Mr. Tyscovus taking the Fraulein s 
 portrait for mine ! " 
 
 The doctor laughed, Theodora laughed, and Tyscovus, 
 who had recovered his presence of mind, laughed with 
 them. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE MORNING AFTER. 
 
 THE doctor s residence, to which he had given the In 
 dian name of Chetolah, signifying " sweet repose," was sit 
 uated in a large park on the outskirts of Hellbender. He 
 had beautified the place in accordance with the principles 
 of good taste, and without regard to expense ; for the doc 
 tor was a very wealthy man, owning several silver-mines 
 and much real estate, besides being a large stockholder in 
 several banks in Hellbender and Denver. He had built 
 his house in anticipation of seeing it occupied by his wife 
 as its first mistress ; but she had died just as the work was 
 finished, and preparations were being made for providing it 
 with every luxury and comfort that money could procure. 
 Without pretending to make a display for the sake of show, 
 everything at Chetolah was conducted with a degree of 
 attention to comfort, and with a quiet elegance, that left 
 nothing to be desired. The doctor was not one of the 
 nouveaux riches. He was of an excellent Virginian family, 
 and had always possessed sufficient means to enable him to 
 live in ease and refinement. After his resignation from the 
 army he had settled in Baltimore, and had begun the prac 
 tice of his profession, but the breaking out of the civil war 
 disturbed the pleasant social relations that had previously 
 existed between him and the best people of that city. For 
 the doctor, though born a Southerner, sympathized with 
 the cause of the Union, while the feeling among the wealthy 
 8 
 
170 LAL. 
 
 and educated classes generally was on the other side. About 
 this time his wife s health became very bad, and this fact, 
 conjoined with the interruption of many ties of friendship 
 and even of blood for the Union and the secession spirit 
 both ran high determined him to leave that city and to 
 go to the south of France, in the hope that Mrs. Willis 
 might regain her health and strength. Accordingly he, 
 his wife, and only child his daughter Theodora then 
 only seven or eight years of age, went to Nice, where they 
 remained till four years afterward, when Mrs. Willis, hav 
 ing in a measure shaken off the disease with which she suf 
 fered, they returned to the United States. But there was 
 nothing of stability in the improvement that had been 
 shown in his wife s health. Her lungs were now seriously 
 involved, and, considering where he could take her with 
 the best prospect of ameliorating her condition, he thought 
 of that mountainous region that has been not inaptly 
 called the " Switzerland of America," and in scouts through 
 which a great part of his early life in the army had been 
 passed. lie first made a journey alone to the region in 
 question, and decided that if there was a place on earth at 
 which his wife could regain her health it was Colorado. 
 He accordingly made all the necessary arrangements for 
 removing with his family to a district of the Territory that 
 appeared to him to combine in itself all that was most valu 
 able from a sanitary point of view, and, in a few months, 
 they took up their permanent residence in one of the love 
 liest spots to be found in that land of paradises. Large 
 deposits of gold and silver were soon afterward discovered 
 on land that, guided by his geological knowledge, he had 
 bought, and a town was laid out on property belonging to 
 him. To this place he one day jokingly gave the name 
 of Hellbender, from the batrachian reptiles found in the 
 vicinity, and the designation, as is often the case in like 
 instances, had stuck to it permanently. 
 
THE MORNING AFTER. 
 
 All these pieces of good luck, or good management, or a 
 combination of both, had made Doctor Willis a very wealthy 
 man. Then he had built the house in which he was living 
 when introduced to the reader a house that, with the im 
 mediate surroundings, would have done credit architectu 
 rally and a3sthetically to an older civilization. It was sol 
 idly built of hewed stone, but, though of Gothic style, it 
 was not, as are most structures in which that order is fol 
 lowed, constructed without regard to the comfort of those 
 who were to inhabit it for it was duly supplied with 
 what are known as the ft modern conveniences." Before, 
 however, it was occupied, Mrs. Willis s disease, which had 
 been retarded in its progress by the pure and rarefied atmos 
 phere of the elevated region in which she lived, took fresh 
 start, and, in a few months thereafter, she was carried to 
 her grave. Then the doctor and his daughter were left 
 alone, and things went on, so far as they were concerned, 
 in the way that Theodora had described to Tyscovus. 
 
 With Hellbender and its people the inmates of Chetolah 
 had little to do except in the way of business or charity. 
 The doctor s profession, which he had never renounced, 
 notwithstanding his great wealth, brought him into fre 
 quent contact with people of all grades of society, and 
 Theodora had numerous works of benevolence that threw 
 her into association either with those who assisted her in 
 her good offices, or those who were the objects of her kind 
 ness. As to the town itself little could be said in its favor, 
 except that it felt the influence of the Willises, father and 
 daughter, and hence was far in advance, morally and so 
 cially, of similar places in the Territory. Then the doctor 
 had built and equipped a hospital especially for the miners 
 that might be injured in their work or otherwise require 
 its shelter and scientific aid. He had called it ostensibly 
 after -Saint Eadegundes, but in reality in memory of his 
 wife, whose name was the same as that of the mediaeval 
 
172 LAL. 
 
 queen and saint, and who was probably more worthy of the 
 honors of sanctification than the rather problematical 
 female to whom they had been given. For " Saint Rade- 
 gundes s Hospital " Theodora had organized a corps of 
 nurses, and spent a good deal of her own time in the 
 wards, either in such medical and surgical work as she 
 could do, or in reading or talking to the patients. 
 
 The doctor, regardful of the educational needs of the 
 inhabitants considering them as he did as being under his 
 special protection had also instituted a public library and 
 lyceum, which was not only well stocked with books, but 
 at which weekly, during nine months of the year, lectures 
 were delivered by himself and such learned men as he 
 could get hold of, on subjects of popular interest, or upon 
 such scientific matters as were likely, when treated in a 
 non-technical manner, to benefit the people. Several times, 
 he had prevailed on Theodora to lecture, and she had done 
 so, on topics that were specially calculated to interest and 
 instruct the female portion of the population. 
 
 The morning following the events referred to in the 
 preceding chapter, was one that revealed the beauty of 
 the situation of Chetolah and the grandeur of the sur 
 rounding scenery in all their glory and impressiveness. 
 Tyscovus rose early, and after drinking a cup of chocolate 
 brought to his room by a servant that must have been on 
 the watch to discover the precise moment at which he left 
 his bed, and a plunge into the bath-tub, cut from a single 
 piece of marble that stood in the dressing-room attached 
 to his chamber, he arrayed himself in as tasteful a manner 
 as was possible under the circumstances, and betook him 
 self to the grounds surrounding the house. The whole 
 landscape was in shadow, for the sun had not yet risen 
 above the mountain that reared its snow-clad summit fif 
 teen thousand feet above the surrounding country ; but it 
 lit up with its golden rays a peak that stood far off to the 
 
THE MORNING AFTER. 1Y3 
 
 west, and that formed a gorgeous object, as the snow and 
 ice, crowning its topmost crags, glittered as though it 
 were a coronet of diamonds. The air was cool, but it was 
 invigorating, and he drew it into his lungs in great gulps, 
 as though every inspiration caused him a positive pleasure. 
 Then, as he had still two hours to spare before breakfast, he 
 resolved to walk to the town and make some inquiries in re 
 gard to his wagon, which he thought it just possible might 
 by this time have arrived at Hellbender. The distance was 
 not over a mile to the business center, and it took him only 
 a few minutes, with his long, swinging gait, to traverse it. 
 Here, he found, upon seeking information of a policeman 
 who was one of the ten that constituted the force upon 
 which the civil power of Hellbender relied for protection 
 that the wagon on its arrival would probably be put up at 
 the " Mountain Hotel," a hostelry much affected by team 
 sters and the agricultural portion of the population, the 
 miners going by preference to the " Bullion House." 
 
 On repairing to the inn named he found that, in fact, 
 his wagon had arrived the night before, and that the team 
 ster was then engaged in hitching up preparatory to start 
 ing out on his last day s journey. His horses had turned 
 out better than had been anticipated, and would doubtless 
 reach the butte in the course of the afternoon. His visit, 
 therefore, to Chetolah would be considerably shortened 
 from the period he and the doctor had estimated ; for 
 he should be obliged to return that day to the butte, in 
 order to take care of his property. 
 
 During his walk back, his thoughts recurred, as they 
 often had done that morning, to the conversation with 
 Theodora of the night before. The more he considered 
 the details of what she had told him, the more he was 
 brought round to the belief that there were many phases 
 of the " woman question " that he had not fully examined, 
 and of which he had very insufficient knowledge. 
 
LAL. 
 
 Tyscovus was a fair-minded man. He never did inten 
 tional and deliberate injustice to any one, either in thought 
 or deed, and when he had been wrong no one was ever more 
 ready than he to confess his error, and make the proper 
 amends. He was not yet quite convinced in regard to sev 
 eral of the points brought forward by Theodora, or, at least, 
 inferentially touched upon by her. He was willing to ad 
 mit that he had been too absolute in some of his beliefs ; 
 that in the matter of anatomy, for instance, it was possible 
 for a pure-minded girl to dissect a man s body without los 
 ing any of the delicate bloom of maidenhood. He was also 
 ready to concede that those women that desired to adopt 
 the profession of medicine could frequent the dissecting- 
 room without impropriety, and, by so doing, aid in making 
 themselves useful members of society. But he would not 
 want to have such women for his acquaintances or friends, 
 and he certainly would not think of loving or marrying a 
 woman of that description. Still, he was in favor of all 
 women that had arrived at years of discretion being allowed 
 the utmost liberty of selection, when their subsistence or 
 their happiness was in question. No one, he thought, had 
 any right to say to such a woman, "you shall or you shall 
 not " study this or that science. There were certain laws 
 of anatomy and physiology that could not be superseded 
 or infringed with impunity. If woman s ideas of self -de 
 velopment led her to attempt work that was above her 
 powers, or to assume functions for which Nature never in 
 tended her, all such efforts could result only in failure and 
 discomfiture. The experiment might, however, be a costly 
 one, and in the mean time we should seek, by a thorough 
 study of woman s physical and mental organization, to as 
 certain the limits beyond which it would not be safe for 
 her to go. 
 
 And as regarded Theodora, never had he, in all his va 
 ried experience, met with a woman that had so impressed 
 
THE MORNING AFTER. 175 
 
 him with a sense of her truth and honesty. Her deter 
 mination, formed apparently on the instant, to inform him 
 of her father s monomania before he should misjudge him, 
 or discover it for himself, struck him as being the noblest 
 piece of work he had ever known a woman to perform. 
 
 And then how sweetly and powerfully she had argued 
 in defense of the right of a woman to seek knowledge 
 wherever it was to be found ! Ah ! if all women were as 
 pure-minded as Theodora ; if all women were as strongly 
 fenced about with faith in themselves, and devotion to 
 science as was she then all women, so far as he could per 
 ceive, might dissect* any animal, from man down, to be 
 found in the whole range of creation, and be all the better 
 for the act. 
 
 His mind reverted to the doctor. Strange, he thought, 
 that on all subjects, but this one of his daughter and "wo 
 man s rights," he should be so thoroughly sound, as his 
 conversation showed him to be, and yet on that one should 
 be so completely deranged ! But was that really the only 
 evidence of mental aberration that the doctor exhibited ? 
 How was it possible to reconcile the fact of a gentleman, 
 with a stake in the world such as he had, a man whose 
 whole sympathies would, as a natural thing, be on the side 
 of law and order, as one must think his would be, enrolling 
 himself as a member of a vigilance committee, and plotting 
 the illegal execution of certain citizens who, if of bad repute, 
 were yet entitled to lawful trial ! What awful inconsistency 
 was there here ! A man of science, a member of a profes 
 sion whose duty it was to save life, sanctioning by his influ 
 ence and presence the taking of life by methods unknown 
 to the law ! This was to Tyscovus almost as strong an in 
 dication of the doctor s lunacy as the exaggerated character 
 of his opinions of his daughter and the position of woman. 
 In this opinion, however, he showed his ignorance of the 
 American mind, which looks upon all political power as 
 
176 LAL. 
 
 springing directly from the people, and being delegated by 
 them to certain officers, to be exercised for the public good. 
 Hence, when there is a general lack of ability, or an indis 
 position to make use of this power, or when criminals are 
 so bold and numerous as to defy the law, or when from any 
 other cause the laws against crime arc impossible of en 
 forcement, they do not hesitate to resume the power that 
 they have, as it were, loaned to their servants, and to exe 
 cute justice upon wrong-doers. If crime were as rampant 
 in any Eastern city as it was in California in its early days, 
 or in other of our Western Territories in the beginnings of 
 their political careers, vigilance committees would certainly 
 come into vogue. Indeed, the propriety of their organiza 
 tion has more than once been seriously considered by promi 
 nent citizens of the city of New York. 
 
 Before he had got half through his meditations, he 
 found himself at the entrance of the doctor s grounds, and, 
 before he reached the house, that gentleman was out on the 
 lawn to meet him. 
 
 " Ah, my friend," he exclaimed, as Tyscovus approached, 
 " I intended to be up this morning early enough to show 
 you some of our strong points before breakfast, but you 
 got the start of me. The fact is, I went to bed very tired, 
 and then I am at least ten years older than you, and hence 
 require more sleep. But where have you been ? " 
 
 "I took the opportunity afforded by you and Miss Willis 
 being still asleep to walk over to Hellbender to look after my 
 wagon. I found it had arrived last night, with horses and 
 contents in good condition, and that it will reach the butte 
 to-day. This will require me to take myself away from 
 your hospitalities several days sooner than we expected." 
 
 "I am sorry for that, and so will Theodora be when 
 she hears of it. I know she was looking forward with 
 great pleasure to showing you her laboratory. However, 
 there is no such hurry as that. You can stay till late this 
 
THE MORNING AFTER. 177 
 
 afternoon, and then I will drive you over. Your wagon 
 can not well reach there before this evening." 
 
 " Thanks ! That will suit me admirably, for I assure 
 you I am very anxious to know something of Miss Willis s 
 plans of study." 
 
 "Then that is settled ! You will also have time to ex 
 amine the plans of a building I am about erecting, in com 
 memoration of the more notable of those women that, in 
 different periods of the world s history, have performed 
 acts of heroism or that have been prominent in politics." 
 
 "There are many such, I have no doubt," said Tys- 
 covus, encouragingly, for he perceived that the doctor was 
 verging on the subject of his aberration. 
 
 "Many! My dear fellow, there are thousands! But 
 I have records of all, and I shall select about five hun 
 dred. I shall have their names cut in letters of gold in 
 the grand hall of the building, and Theodora s will stand 
 first. My wife was a good Avoman, a true wife, but she 
 was not heroic, and never shone in politics ; but Theo 
 dora has made her mark in both these spheres. She has 
 saved lives at the risk of her own, and she has drawn up 
 several bills that have passed the Legislature and are now 
 laws." 
 
 "You are to be congratulated on having such a daugh 
 ter," said Tyscovus, with sincerity, though with different 
 reasons in his mind from those the doctor alleged. 
 
 "Yes, but what troubles me most now is the idea that 
 I must some day make up my mind to losing her. She 
 will marry, I suppose. Not here, for there is not a man in 
 the Territory I would give her to, or that she would take. 
 But every summer, when we go East, it is the specter that 
 I see constantly before me. Yet it will come, and I shall 
 not oppose my will against hers. Every woman should 
 marry ; an unmarried woman is only in a low state of de 
 velopment. Her evolution is not completed. When Theo- 
 
178 LAL. 
 
 dora marries, there will be a perfect woman, and then the 
 world will possess what it never yet has possessed. But 
 come ! she is waiting breakfast for us, and when you have 
 replenished the inner man with a cup of coffee, made after 
 an ingenious process of her devising, she will show you her 
 laboratory." 
 
 Fortunately, the doctor s statements in regard to Theo 
 dora s perfections were rarely of such a character as to re 
 quire an answer. He appeared to be so firmly convinced 
 of the absolute correctness of all his assertions, that the 
 concurrence of others was unnecessary. A difference of 
 opinion would not in the least have lessened his confidence 
 in the absolute integrity of his judgment, but it would 
 have irritated him, for the reasons, in the first place, that 
 he would have been convinced that the doubter was a fool, 
 and he was always intolerant of stupid people ; and, in the 
 second place, because it would have been a reflection upon 
 the accuracy of his statements, and this was another thing 
 he could not endure. While Tyscovus would certainly not, 
 in any event, have contradicted him, he doubtless would 
 have been led, but for Theodora s warning, to express more 
 or less doubt of the correctness of some of the doctor s 
 views. Although even this would have been done in the 
 most delicate and unirritating manner, as befitted a guest 
 arguing with his host, the effect would certainly have been 
 unpleasant. It was a relief to his mind, however, when the 
 doctor suggested breakfast, and they went into the house, 
 where Theodora was awaiting them. 
 
 Perhaps there is no better test of a woman s health and 
 beauty than her appearance when she presents herself at an 
 early breakfast-table. She is then more as Nature made 
 her than at any other period of the day, when art has been 
 brought in with a view of heightening her charms. If she 
 has slept well, it argues, to some extent, a sound nervous 
 system, and the effect is seen in the brightness of her eyes 
 
THE MORNING AFTER. 179 
 
 and the tone possessed by the muscles of the face and neck. 
 Her movements are full of grace, for her limbs have been 
 refreshed and strengthened by repose, and her mind is clear 
 and bright, for it also has rested, and there have been no 
 bad dreams to exhaust her nervous system and make her 
 limp and haggard. Her intelligence is then at its maxi 
 mum, and she feels the mental recklessness that is so 
 generally the result of sound, healthy sleep, and that is 
 only a natural elation of the emotions, pleasant, doubtless, 
 for her to exhibit, but far more pleasant to those to whom 
 it is manifested. If, on the contrary, she has slept badly, 
 or has suffered from nightmare in consequence of a feeble 
 digestive system, her eyes are weak, dim, and watery, her 
 face is flabby, her head appears to be held unsteadily on her 
 shoulders, for it droops on her chest, or bobs helplessly from 
 side to side, her complexion is dull and blotchy, red where 
 it ought not to be red, and pale where it ought not to be 
 pale. Her expression is indicative of the discomfort she 
 has undergone during the night, her movements are either 
 painfully slow or aggravatingly brusque, her intellect shows 
 stupidity, her emotions are torpid, her perceptions dull. 
 
 While the woman that is in good physical health ex 
 hibits all the beauty in the early morning that her feat 
 ures are capable of expressing, the one whose organic life is 
 deranged is at this period of the day at her worst. There 
 is no better test of a woman s health than her ability to eat 
 a hearty breakfast, and it might almost be said that her 
 physical beauty is in direct proportion to the amount of 
 beefsteak or mutton-chops she can put into herself at this 
 meal. Certainly, pretty women can always eat a hearty 
 breakfast. 
 
 Theodora had already been in the garden, and was ar 
 ranging on the breakfast-table the flowers she had gath 
 ered, when the gentlemen entered the room. She looked 
 up with a happy smile as she bade Tyscovus " good-morn- 
 
180 LAL. 
 
 ing." "The cold nights are playing sad havoc with my 
 flowers," she said, "but here are two buds from a rose-bush 
 that grows under a wall, with a southern exposure. One 
 for you," she continued, fastening it in the button-hole of 
 her father s coat, " and one for you," doing the same grace 
 ful office for Tyscovus. "Now we will sit down to break 
 fast." 
 
 If Tyscovus had thought her beautiful when he first 
 saw her, he was enraptured with her now. Evidently she 
 had slept well, evidently she had not been visited by night 
 mare, for she was bright and joyous in mind, while her 
 physical loveliness could not have been more perfect if 
 Venus herself had officiated at her toilet. He felt that 
 it was well that to-day was to end his visit to Chetolah. 
 To fall in love at this time would be, in his opinion, the 
 most deplorable event that could happen to him. It would 
 not only be destructive of all the plans he had laid out for 
 himself, but it would be an act disgracefully weak, and one 
 that would cause him to fall immensely in his own estima 
 tion. Moreover, his judgment told him that Theodora 
 Willis would not be a proper person for him to marry. 
 He had reached the point at which he could endure in wo 
 man the possession of a desire for knowledge, even when it 
 went to the extent of studying medicine and dissecting 
 human bodies ; but he did not go so far as to admit for a 
 moment that any such woman would be a suitable wife for 
 him. She might please some men, but he was not one of 
 them. And yet he had not sat five minutes at the break 
 fast-table before he knew, with absolute certainty, that if 
 he were to be thrown much into the company of Theodora 
 Willis, he should lose his head. He was now master of the 
 situation. He could go back to his house on the butte and 
 shut himself up from all the world, but he knew the dan 
 ger of association, and that further intercourse would de 
 prive him of the power over himself that he now possessed. 
 
THE MOENING AFTER. 181 
 
 Already he felt ashamed of himself that, after so short a 
 time, he should be obliged to confess that there was peril, 
 and that, too, from a species of woman he had always held 
 in disesteem. 
 
 Both Theodora and her father were earnest in their 
 expressions of regret at his early departure, and then the 
 conversation turned on the killing of Manuel Vaca, and the 
 good fortune that had befallen Lai Bosler. Certain legal 
 formalities in regard to the will had yet to be complied 
 with, and, as it had been executed in the presence of the 
 lawyer and the doctor only, the latter determined that he 
 would not make its provisions public till it had been ad 
 mitted to probate, and the matter thus placed beyond doubt. 
 So far as was known, Vaca had no relatives ; but then it 
 often happens that a person dying apparently without 
 relatives, and leaving a large amount of money, has dozens 
 of devoted uncles, aunts, and especially cousins, springing 
 up to claim kinship with the dear departed. 
 
 " But/ said Tyscovus, " I don t think you told us what 
 became of Kittle after he had killed Vaca, except that the 
 latter s thrust with his knife had not injured him." 
 
 "No, he was not touched which, to say the least, was 
 a great misfortune. When these gentlemen fight, it is gen 
 erally to be desired that as many of them as possible shall 
 be killed ; but, in this instance, the better of the two re 
 ceived his quietus, while the bigger villain escaped. In 
 deed, Don Manuel was not a bad sort of a fellow for this 
 part of the country. He did not steal, and never used his 
 knife or pistol except in the heat of blood. Of course, his 
 slayer will escape. He will probably not even be arrested, 
 and, if he is, it will be easy for him to prove that he acted 
 in self-defense, and that Vaca made a murderous assault 
 upon him. Still, The Gulcher, as he is generally called, 
 was so manifestly the aggressor, that perhaps the vigilance 
 committee, which is about organizing a more complete sys- 
 
182 LAL. 
 
 tern for preserving order, will take his case in hand. There 
 is a meeting to-night." 
 
 "Which you will attend ?" said Tyscovus, inquiringly. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I am a kind of a balance-wheel to the com 
 mittee, which, though composed of our best citizens, has 
 several hot spirits in it that are rather disposed to be too 
 sweeping in their actions. We shall proceed very guard 
 edly, and entirely in the direction of obtaining relief from 
 a set of scoundrels from which the laws, copied after those 
 of older countries, and hence ill adapted to our require 
 ments, are powerless to protect us." 
 
 "I suppose it is all necessary," replied Tyscovus, after 
 a little reflection, " but it strikes me, a foreigner, as a sin 
 gular state of affairs that requires a staid and enlightened 
 citizen like you to belong to an unlawful body like this 
 vigilance committee." 
 
 " So it is," replied the doctor, with animation " so it is 
 a very singular state of affairs ; such a condition, probably, 
 as the \vorld has never before witnessed, and for which it 
 is entirely unprepared. But you forget the innate spirit of 
 self-reliance found in the Anglo-Saxon race, and that is 
 still further developed in its American descendants. It is 
 always ready for emergencies, and when the laws are inade 
 quate it at once attemps to grasp the situation and to pro 
 vide a remedy. It is very evident to me and all good citizens 
 that if the present state of affairs continues much longer, 
 anarchy will prevail. It is to obviate such a condition that 
 we have formed the vigilance committee, and already its 
 influence can be perceived." 
 
 " Yes, it is a magnificent stock to come from," rejoined 
 Tyscovus. "We Slavs are a different people altogether. 
 When we settle a new country, as we have occasionally 
 done, we do it with soldiers and under martial law. Per 
 haps we have more order, but we do not develop, and our 
 peace is the peace of slavery." 
 
THE MORNING AFTER. 183 
 
 "At the meeting to-night/ continued the doctor, "I 
 shall make a proposition that may at first excite some dif 
 ference of opinion, but that I am sure will be eventually 
 concurred in, and that is that Theodora shall be the presi 
 dent of the committee. She has such a fund of common 
 sense, and is so well acquainted with the peculiarities of 
 human nature as they are developed under different circum 
 stances, that I am confident she would be the best executive 
 officer the committee could have." 
 
 Tyscovus could only listen in astonishment to this re 
 markable idea. Here was a man, reasoning clearly and 
 with exactness upon all other subjects, and yet proposing 
 in cold blood to make his daughter, a young and beautiful 
 girl, the president of an organization that intended to 
 make short shrift with the criminal class, and the opera 
 tions of which would certainly be attended with danger to 
 the lives of those engaged in them. This was going fur 
 ther than he had conceived it possible for the doctor, mono 
 maniac as he undoubtedly was, to go. He expected to see 
 Theodora exhibit in every look, and gesture, and word, her 
 repugnance to a scheme so utterly fatal to her womanliness, 
 but, to his intense surprise, and even disappointment, she 
 took the proposal as a matter of course, although express 
 ing her desire to avoid its acceptance on the ground of her 
 time being already occupied. 
 
 " You know, papa," she said, "that the experiments in 
 evolution require a great deal of attention, and that if I am 
 elected president of the vigilance committee I should have 
 to be always ready to respond to any call that might be 
 made. The chief officer of such a body should be con 
 stantly prepared to act in the interest of the public safety, 
 and I am afraid that, with my present duties, I should not 
 be as efficient as the necessities of the case might require. 
 I should not like to fail in anything I undertook." 
 
 "Perhaps you are right, Doric," replied her father, co- 
 
184 LAL. 
 
 melding at once with her views. "I should not like you 
 to neglect the experiments, and, when I come to think of 
 it, attention to them must require all your time. You are 
 right, as you always are, but it is a great pity, nevertheless, 
 that we shall have to do without you. " 
 
 This, then, was the way in which she managed him ! 
 No violent opposition, no indignation, no positive refusal, 
 but a skillful interposition of such objections, urged with 
 apparent reluctance, as entirely disarmed, without irritat 
 ing him. Tyscovus could not sufficiently admire her cool 
 ness and discretion, the infinite tact that she exhibited 
 
 a skill that, like that of the experienced angler, does not 
 prompt to violent and sudden jerks of the line to which the 
 fish is hooked, and that might result in the loss of the 
 captured animal, but that is exhibited in gentleness and 
 seeming yielding, while all the time the victim is being, al 
 most imperceptibly to itself, drawn from the water. It was 
 science instead of brute force in the one instance, tact 
 against clumsy violence in the other. 
 
 "Now," said the doctor, as they rose from the table, 
 "while I go off and look after my patients, you will have 
 an opportunity to see some of Theodora s work. I shall re 
 turn in time for dinner at two o clock, for we dine early 
 here, and then, if you will go, I shall drive you over to the 
 butte." With which words he kissed his daughter a good- 
 by, bowed to Tyscovus, and was gone. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 "THEY HAVE COME!" 
 
 "Now, Miss Willis," said Tyscovus, as they went into 
 the library, a large room on the other side of the hall, the 
 walls of which were, half-way to the ceiling, covered with 
 well-stocked book-cases, "I am full of interest to see some 
 thing of your daily life. All this is so new to me that I am 
 sure you will pardon my anxiety." 
 
 "You are a student," rejoined Theodora, "and hence 
 you have a natural desire to know how other students work. 
 I am afraid you will not find much in the way of results." 
 
 "Your studies are so unfamiliar to me that whatever 
 I find will be interesting. I know very little of natural 
 history ; scarcely anything of physiology little, in fact, of 
 man or animals as individuals. My chief studies have 
 been in the direction of ethnology, and the development 
 of nations in the arts and sciences, and in sociology. I 
 have laid out a good deal of work for myself, and I came 
 here for the purpose of doing it." 
 
 "I do not know, then, that I can show you much that 
 will interest you ; still, there may be a little, and if you will 
 come with me into the next room I will expose all my pov 
 erty to you." 
 
 She led the way into an apartment so far isolated that 
 it was a sort of a wing to the main building, being con 
 nected with it only on one side, and there by a long pas 
 sage. This arrangement was, as she said, adopted in order 
 
186 LAL. 
 
 t 
 
 to obviate all danger of fire, and to lesson the liability of 
 noxious vapors getting into the inhabited parts of the 
 house. 
 
 It was a room about twenty feet square into which she 
 conducted her guest. It was built of brick and paved with 
 encaustic tiles. It was lighted both by a sky-light and by 
 windows on all three of its exposed sides. At one end was 
 a brick furnace, at the other, under a window with a north 
 ern exposure, a table, on which was a large microscope, 
 covered with a bell-glass. Around the room were cases 
 and tables containing bottles and various kinds of chemical 
 and physiological apparatus, and in one corner was an 
 enormous electrical machine. Altogether, it had the ap 
 pearance to Tyscovus of being a well-equipped chemical, 
 physical, and physiological laboratory, one amply sufficient 
 for the carrying on of original researches in these depart 
 ments of science. In a large bay-window, of which not 
 only the sides, but the top, were of glass, and that was so 
 situated that the rays of the sun were on it nearly all day, 
 stood a solidly constructed iron table. The top had a ledge 
 running all around it, so that it had the appearance of a 
 tray of some four or five inches deep. This was filled with 
 sand. On this sand rested a glass case of the dimensions of 
 five by ten feet, and in the case were two enormous snakes. 
 Two pipes led into the case, one from an air-chamber, 
 which was heated by the furnace, and another from an ar 
 rangement consisting of retorts and receivers. The mouths 
 of these pipes, as they opened into the glass case, were cov 
 ered with fine wire gauze. Tyscovus at once surmised that 
 this was the apparatus with which the experiments in evo 
 lution were being conducted, and, as he had considerable 
 knowledge of chemistry, he was able to obtain, from a slight 
 examination, a tolerably full idea of the nature of the in 
 vestigations. He pretended, however, to a less knowledge 
 than he really possessed, for he was anxious to hear Theo- 
 
"THEY HAVE COME!" 1ST 
 
 dora herself describe the researches she was conducting. A 
 word of inquiry met with a ready response. 
 
 " As you know/ she said, " many years ago, Lamarck, 
 the real author of the development hypothesis, said that in 
 all probability birds were evolved from fishes ; that the 
 latter, through countless ages, had been cast ashore by 
 storms or tides, and that the struggles they made in the 
 effort to get back, had, in the lapse of time, continued as 
 they were through myriads of generations, led to the de 
 velopment of wings and the alterations of the other parts 
 of the body to the extent necessary to change them from 
 aquatic to atmospheric animals. Perhaps this was a stretch 
 of the imagination far beyond our powers of belief, but that 
 Lamarck s idea was right few naturalists of the present day 
 have any doubt. It is acknowledged that organs are de 
 veloped in accordance with the necessities of the situations 
 in which living beings are placed. 
 
 " Being a firm believer in the development hypothesis, 
 as originated by Lamarck and elaborated with such thor 
 oughness by Darwin, the idea occurred to me that it might 
 be possible, under extraordinary circumstances, to obtain 
 indubitable evidence of its correctness, and this from actual 
 experiment. 
 
 " In the first place, it was necessary to select such ani 
 mals as might, from their structure, undergo changes from 
 one species, genus, or order to another, without too great 
 a strain on their powers of development being required. 
 Changes from one species to another species would not be 
 sufficiently striking, and the conditions under which they 
 could be obtained are not sufficiently well known. The 
 like is true of genera. The attempt to change one class 
 into a higher class would obviously require too long a time, 
 even if the conditions were known. Certainly no investi 
 gations in the direction of the theory of birds being devel 
 oped from fishes were possible. Besides, the zoological dis- 
 
188 LAL. 
 
 tance between these two classes is so great as to render it 
 extremely doubtful if they bear any direct developmental 
 relation to each other. 
 
 " It is true there are fish that leave the water, crawl upon 
 the land, and even climb trees, and there are the so-called 
 flying-fish. There are several genera, also, that make nests 
 similar to those constructed by birds ; but, even if I could 
 have obtained any of these kinds, the practical difficulties in 
 the way of their development would have been insuperable. 
 " Thinking upon the subject, it one day occurred to me 
 that it has been pointed out that there are great analo 
 gies between reptiles and birds, and that at a former period 
 of the world s history the resemblances were still more 
 striking among some of the representatives of each class 
 then on the earth than exist now. It appeared to me, 
 then, as being extremely probable that birds have been de 
 veloped from reptiles, and my first idea was to institute a 
 scries of experiments for the purpose of showing whether 
 or not this supposition was correct. Further reflection, 
 however, convinced me that a very long time would be re 
 quired, extending probably through many generations, be 
 fore any definite results could be obtained either for or 
 against the theory. The analogy existing between certain 
 orders of reptiles was then suggested to me, and I reflected 
 upon the fact that very striking transformations ensue in 
 the course of the life of certain members of some of them. 
 I called to mind the analogies that arc found present be 
 tween snakes and lizards ; how some lizards have no feet, 
 and how some snakes have rudimentary feet. The lizard is 
 doubtless a higher order of being than a snake, and it 
 might be possible to change a snake into a lizard, or, at 
 least, to obtain some evidence that such a change is possi 
 ble. The thought then came to me that the common black 
 snake of the country has rudimentary ventral limbs, and I 
 determined, therefore, to ascertain how far I could, by the 
 
"THEY HAVE COME!" 189 
 
 operation of certain agents, cause these appendages to be 
 still further developed." 
 
 "It was admirably thought out/ said Tyseovus, who 
 had listened intently to every word and had followed closely 
 Theodora s reasoning. "You appear to have gone to work 
 in the most systematic manner, and if you do not succeed 
 it will be either because the time is too short, or that the 
 influences you have brought to bear upon the process have 
 been insufficient in power. We see that, under the demands 
 of the system, the fur of animals becomes thicker in win 
 ter, so as to afford them increased protection from the cold, 
 and thinner in summer, so as to allow them to get rid of 
 their heat more readily. I perceive no reason why, under 
 the stimulus of the proper factors, legs should not be devel 
 oped in snakes. The necessity for them would first, how 
 ever, have to be created. I am curious to know what agents 
 you employed." 
 
 "You shall hear. I knew that snakes, like other rep 
 tiles, were cold-blooded animals, and I was also aware, from 
 some experiments of my own, that the temperature of lizards 
 is slightly above that of serpents. My object was to con 
 vert a snake into a lizard, and therefore one point to be 
 provided for was a method for securing a due supply of 
 heat to the snakes. Here," she continued, going over to 
 where the case with the snakes stood, " is the arrangement 
 by which that object is attained. As you see, this pipe comes 
 from the furnace and transmits heated air to the case. Ven 
 tilation is provided for by the opening at the top. Of 
 course, it was important that the heat should never be ex 
 cessive. After a good many experiments, I ascertained that 
 a steady temperature of ninety-five degrees, Fahrenheit, 
 met the object in view, and by means of this automatic 
 arrangement it is always maintained at that point. When 
 ever it rises above ninety-five, this valve in the pipe closes ; 
 when it falls below that standard, the valve opens, so that 
 
190 LAL. 
 
 you perceive there is always a uniform temperature inside 
 the case." 
 
 Tyscoyus made a minute examination of the mechanism 
 by which this important object was secured, and expressed 
 the greatest admiration of its effectiveness and simplicity. 
 
 "This could as well be applied to houses as to this 
 case," he said, after he had studied every detail. 
 
 "Yes, I have it in operation at the * Lyceum. We can 
 secure any temperature we desire there. It is only neces 
 sary to set the apparatus at the degree required, and then 
 that is maintained all the time. 
 
 " Well," she continued, "having provided for the regu 
 lation of the heat, the next point was the acceleration of 
 the movements of the snakes in the case so as to create a 
 i demand, so to speak, for the legs. Two ways of doing 
 this occurred to me, and I adopted them both. They are 
 oxygen gas and electricit}^ The oxygen is supplied from 
 the receiver, which, as you see, communicates with the in 
 terior of the case by this pipe. At stated periods during 
 the day and night the valve is opened and the gas is ad 
 mitted. The effect is very striking, as you will perceive, 
 for I am now going to give them a dose." 
 
 The snakes, two enormous reptiles, each probably five 
 feet in length, lay sluggishly on the floor of the cage. They 
 were not asleep, for every now and then their forked tongues 
 were darted forward and their heads moved slowly and reg 
 ularly, as though keeping time to music. Theodora turned 
 the valve of one of the pipes leading into the case. The in 
 fluence of the stimulating gas that the reptiles were now 
 obliged to inhale was almost immediately perceived. At 
 first, they simultaneously moved their tails and began to 
 coil and uncoil their long, polished bodies. Then they ap 
 peared to be tied together in a series of intricate, living 
 knots that twisted themselves into an infinite variety of 
 contortions, while their heads darted here and there, their 
 
"THEY HAVE COME!" 191 
 
 eyes flashed, and their forked tongues moved with a veloci 
 ty that rendered them almost invisible. Finally, each ser 
 pent appeared to arrive at the determination of acting 
 independently. They untwisted themselves from their ap 
 parently inextricable combinations, and glided around the 
 floor of the case as though animated by a force that they 
 could not resist, and that therefore carried them, in spite 
 of themselves, through their rapid circumvolutions. Eound 
 and round they went, sometimes chasing each other, some 
 times abreast, but always in motion, till Tyscovus, as he 
 looked at them, felt his brain grow dizzy in sympathy with 
 the swiftly-moving reptiles, as they SAvept on in their cease 
 less rounds. 
 
 "Now," said Theodora, placing her hand on a valve at 
 the opposite side of the case, "I will close this opening for 
 a few moments, so as to prevent the entrance of atmos 
 pheric air, while the oxygen, continuing to flow in, will 
 soon fill the case, and the snakes will be subjected to the 
 still more potent influence of the non-diluted gas. " With a 
 slight motion of her fingers she shut the valve. For a few 
 seconds the snakes appeared to glide on in their circuitous 
 courses with, if possible, increased velocity, and their eyes 
 to shine with augmented brilliancy. Then they seemed 
 to have reached their climax, for both straightened them 
 selves out at full length, while their bodies swelled and 
 diminished in size as they inhaled and expired the blood- 
 stirring gas. But the stupor was only temporary, such as 
 might as it probably was have been produced by an over 
 powering agent that had for the moment, before the sys 
 tem could adapt itself to the situation, stunned every fac 
 ulty of the body. Then a strange thing took place : each 
 snake, one after the other, deliberately raised itself and 
 crawled up one of the glass sides of the case till it reached 
 the top. Then it slowly and cautiously, as though afraid 
 of falling, crept around the case, sliding its body along, not 
 
192 LAL. 
 
 with the undulating movements of a snake, but with a 
 straightforward motion like that of an arrow when shot 
 from the bow. Tyscovus had never seen anything so pecul 
 iar in all his life, and he stood lost in astonishment at the 
 singular spectacle before him. 
 
 "It is very wonderful," he said, "but do they never 
 execute this movement except in an atmosphere of "non-di 
 luted oxygen ? " 
 
 " Never, and it is only within the last ten days that 
 these movements have been produced. But, while they are 
 clinging to the glass, let me show you how the electricity 
 reaches them. Experiments have shown that if the two 
 poles of a galvanic battery be stuck into the earth at op 
 posite points of a box in which a flower, for instance, is 
 planted, that the growth is much more rapid than it is in 
 another plant of the same kind and size, and similarly sit 
 uated, but that has no galvanism supplied to it. Acting 
 on this knowledge, I arranged a galvanic battery of one 
 hundred cells, and connected the poles in the way you see 
 here with the sand in which the case rests. As you see, 
 the legs of this table are of glass, and the sand in the iron 
 tray is kept constantly wet. The bottom of the case is of 
 wood, and, as it rests in the wet sand, it absorbs water, and 
 is hence made a good conductor. The arrangement pre 
 vents the snakes coming in direct contact with the poles, 
 and hence receiving a sudden shock ; while the electricity, 
 being prevented by the glass legs from escaping into the 
 earth, is diffused through the iron top, the sand, and the 
 wood, and thus continually, though gently, acts on the 
 animals. " 
 
 " It is admirable ! You are a born experimenter, Miss 
 Willis. You know how to originate, to plan, and to exe 
 cute. You are one of the very few women I have encount 
 ered that could do these things, and you surpass them all. 
 You possess that rarest quality of woman originality." 
 
"THEY HAVE COME!" 193 
 
 "Ah, that is only because I have had a chance to work. 
 There are thousands of women that could do as well, or 
 better, if they had the opportunities. But their education 
 is so hampered with absurd restrictions that their progress 
 is almost impossible. Why should knowledge on any sub 
 ject be restricted to one or the other sex ? " 
 
 Tyscovus did not answer ; he was engaged in closely ex 
 amining the snakes, which still clung to the glass. 
 
 "You are looking for the legs," continued Theodora. 
 "We have had several false alarms, for I have had a watch 
 kept on the case night and day, but in each instance the 
 wish was father to the thought. No, they have not come 
 yet." 
 
 "But they have ! " cried Tyscovus, excitedly. "Each 
 snake has a pair of well-defined legs, with feet and claws 
 emerging from the skin, apparently. See, Miss Willis ! 
 there can be no doubt about the fact. I congratulate you 
 most heartily. You will now become a famous woman," 
 with which words he held out his hand to Theodora, who 
 gave him hers in return. 
 
 "Yes," she said, examining the snakes, "you are right. 
 There is a pair of ventral extremities developed on each. I 
 am very glad, and I am glad that you were the first to dis 
 cover them." Then she blushed and withdrew her hand, 
 which, in her preoccupation of mind, she had allowed Tys 
 covus to retain for a moment longer than was absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 "I look upon this," said Tyscovus, whose face still ex 
 hibited the satisfaction he felt, "as the greatest event in 
 connection with life that has ever occurred within the 
 knowledge of man. You have, indeed, been highly fa 
 vored. But no ! that is the stereotyped way of congratu- 
 ing the successful. You have commanded the results by 
 your admirable forethought, your knowledge of the require 
 ments of the subject, and your indefatigable energy. The 
 9 
 
LAL. 
 
 honor and glory are yours, and yours alone, for nothing has 
 been left to chance." 
 
 For nearly an hour they continued to converse on the 
 great fact that had been accomplished by the intelligence 
 and perseverance that Theodora had brought to bear upon 
 her investigation. Tyscovus was quick to perceive the im 
 portant bearing it would have on his work, the nature 
 and scope of which he promised to explain to her on a 
 future occasion. Then, after she had exhibited several 
 other arrangements of the laboratory, that were admirably 
 adapted to original researches in several departments of 
 science, they went back to the library. 
 
 It was only then that Tyscovus fully returned to him 
 self, and recollected that in a few hours he would go back 
 to his own solitary home on the butte, and begin the labors 
 that were to keep him in isolation for months, perhaps 
 years. Upon one or two occasions, as we have seen, he 
 had, when under the influence of impulse, felt inclined to 
 give up his work and to return to Poland ; but he had not 
 before experienced a distinct idea of so doing, nor had he 
 conceived any repugnance to the task he had given himself. 
 Now, however, he began to feel a decided dislike for the 
 butte, and to entertain a doubt relative to the necessity for 
 the book he was going to write, and, consequently, of the 
 wisdom of writing it. Here was a woman, ten years his 
 junior, that, in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains and the 
 Sierra Madre, had done more for the establishment of a 
 hypothesis of infinite importance to humanity than he, 
 with all his studies and other advantages, had been able to 
 accomplish ! The thought caused him a little sense of 
 humiliation not envy, for he was a frank, generous, mag 
 nanimous man, who was thoroughly incapable of so mean 
 a feeling ; but there was just the least touch of self-re 
 proach and chagrin that he had overlooked so grand an 
 opportunity for distinction and usefulness. While he had 
 
"THEY HAVE COME!" 195 
 
 been busying himself with theories and abstractions ; while 
 he had been using the researches of others as bases for his 
 ideas, this girl, with her innate tendency to originality and 
 intense spirit of investigation, had practically settled a 
 question of which the whole world had been waiting the 
 solution. And yet, it has been said, and he had been one 
 of the most strenuous supporters of the doctrine, that 
 woman was incapable of abstract thought, and was devoid 
 of originality ! Evidently he could learn much from such 
 a woman, and clearly there was yet much for him to learn 
 before he would know enough to warrant him in beginning 
 a work that was to serve, he had fondly hoped, as a guide 
 for mankind in some of the most important functions of 
 humanity. 
 
 But this was not all. He could not conceal from him 
 self, as he sat with Theodora in the library, listening to 
 her musical voice, and watching the varied expressions 
 that passed over her countenance, that this girl was in the 
 incipiency of exercising an influence over him of a very 
 different kind from that that one scientist usually exercises 
 over another. 
 
 When he had told her he "loved" her, he had used an 
 English word in its Polish, and, in fact, its Continental 
 sense ; but now he began to experience, in a tenfold degree 
 of intensity, the fears that had come upon him that morn 
 ing, and that had caused him to resolve to leave Chetolah 
 immediately, and to shut himself off from the rest of the 
 world in his isolated dwelling. He knew that every time 
 he saw Theodora the feeling that gave birth to his fears 
 would be deepened, till at length she would be the one sole 
 object to fill his heart. This would be an absolute destruc 
 tion of all the ends he had had in view, and must be pre 
 vented at all hazards. There was but one way to do this, 
 and that he had already determined upon. As to the pain 
 he should suffer, that it would be severe he knew very 
 
196 LAL. 
 
 well, but all mental suffering, unlike that of the body, is 
 lessened with time, and to time he would trust. In the 
 midst of his reflections, he said with an abruptness that 
 evinced his earnestness, "As this is the last time, Miss 
 Willis, that I shall be permitted to enjoy your society" 
 
 "The last time!" exclaimed Theodora, interrupting 
 him ; "why, it is only a few minutes ago that you promt 
 ised to tell me all about the book you are writing, and of 
 the studies to which you have given your life." 
 
 "That is true, Miss Willis," he answered, bitterly, 
 "and you will not be surprised at the change in my deter 
 mination when I tell you that I have been generally known 
 among my relatives and friends as John Buridan s Ass/ 
 and that the name was given* to me in consequence of my 
 inability to make a decision." 
 
 "But it was a wrong one," said Theodora, laughing, 
 "for it seems to me that it is not the inability to come to 
 a determination that is a characteristic, but a tendency 
 to form too many decisions ; now < John Buridan s Ass, 7 if 
 I recollect aright, was supposed by some to have died of 
 thirst and starvation, because he could not decide whether 
 to cat or drink first. Xow you I beg your pardon for 
 the supposition would have drunk a little, and then have 
 eaten a little, and then have drunk a little more, and so on, 
 till you had swallowed all the water and all the hay." 
 
 ^ " You have hit it exactly," replied Tyscovus, " and that 
 is just what I imagine the ass did unless, indeed, he was a 
 bigger ass than any other of the species. Doubtless I shall 
 change my present determination, and, if I do, no one will 
 rejoice more than myself." He uttered these last words 
 with considerable bitterness, and, rising, walked to the 
 window and looked out on the lawn as though to conceal 
 the expression of his face. 
 
 "My friend," said Theodora, with a world of sympathy 
 in her voice, " I think your views of life are morbid. They 
 
"THEY HAVE COME!" 197 
 
 are not such as a man like you, of sound mental and physi 
 cal health, should hold. They are the offspring of a life 
 that has doubtless had its regrets and its sorrows, but 
 that is, if I do not greatly mistake, sound to the core. 
 I have no right to advise you ; indeed, you would in your 
 present frame of mind reject any counsel I might offer. Go 
 back, therefore, to your home on the butte. Enlarge your 
 vision of life so as to comprehend something more than your 
 own part, and leave the rest to your own good sense. And 
 when you think I can assist you, when you have, by your 
 own unaided reflections, brought yourself to the belief that 
 any words of mine might be of service to you, let me know." 
 " There is nothing you could say to me now or at any 
 other time/ said Tyscovus, turning from the window and 
 approaching Theodora, " that would fall upon heedless ears. 
 Speak ! " he continued, passionately. " I am ashamed of my 
 self, of my past, my present, my future, of every aim I have 
 ever had in life, of all the results I have ever obtained, of 
 
 all" 
 
 "No, no!" interrupted Theodora, warmly; "that is 
 surely not true. You are speaking impulsively and from 
 the stand-point of comparing what you have accomplished 
 with what you think I have done. Perhaps it is well for 
 every one to underestimate his own acts, but you carry the 
 process further than is just to yourself or to others. You 
 forget for the moment the stores of facts you have accumu 
 lated, and that you will some day use for the benefit of 
 the world, even if you have not already done so. But what 
 is worse," she continued, "you place too high a value on 
 the poor learning I have been able to acquire. If I were a 
 man, you would see nothing surprising in the fact that I am 
 something of a student, and have picked up here and there 
 a smattering of knowledge. But because I am a woman, 
 and women generally are not students of science, you form 
 an idea of my position altogether unwarranted by the facts. 
 
198 LAL. 
 
 I am not one of those that think women the equals intel 
 lectually of man ; I am simply one that desires to make the 
 most of the humble gifts that God has given her, and that 
 thinks that man should place no obstacles in the way of her 
 advancement. But I am not going to discuss the subject 
 with you now. If we should meet again after you have 
 fairly begun your work, and have entered upon the soli 
 tude that you imagine you require, we will return to it. 
 But now, if you think you would enjoy a walk, let me show 
 you a spring the water of which is almost as cold as ice, and 
 another, within ten feet of it, in which you can boil an ego-." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "GO, AXD sitf xo MORE !" 
 
 BEFORE the cabin at Bighorn Spring was built, Lai Bos- 
 Icr had frequently visited the place in company with her 
 father, who had a small flock of sheep that he pastured in 
 the meadow. She was, therefore, well acquainted with the 
 locality, and with its relative position to the butte, and had 
 been accustomed to take the path connecting the two places, 
 which was shorter, by over two miles, than the wagon-road 
 that they had traversed on bidding a final farewell to the 
 old residence. 
 
 Entering the timber at the back of the cabin, Lai went 
 on through a dense forest for about a mile, when she 
 emerged into the open prairie at the foot of a high table 
 land. Like other formations in that region, the side was 
 an inclined plain consisting of gravel and moderate-sized 
 bowlders, and had evidently, even to Lai s ungeological 
 eyes, formed at one time or other the bank of an immense 
 lake. Indeed, in all directions, as she looked around when 
 half-way up the side, she could see similar formations, so 
 that the prairie and the forest formed a large plateau that, 
 sunk as it was, some four or five hundred feet below the 
 tops of the table-lands, and shut in on all sides by their 
 frowning heights, looked, for all the world, like what it 
 doubtless had been, the bed of a large lake. In her jour 
 neys from the one place to the other, Lai had often picked 
 up shells that, though she had no idea of the full purport 
 
200 . LAL. 
 
 of their presence so far from water, nevertheless brought 
 to her mind the fact that, at some time or other, water had 
 been where there was now a steep and dry hill-side. 
 
 The ascent was by no means easy, and she frequently 
 
 stopped to rest, sitting down at such times on the largest 
 
 bowlder near her, and looking below at the extensive basin 
 
 shut in on every side by walls such as the one she was 
 
 climbing. She could not see the cabin she had left, for it 
 
 stood, as we know, immediately on the edge of the timber, 
 
 and was hence concealed by the forest that intervened! 
 
 But she could trace out the road taken by her father when 
 
 he set out for The Canon, till it entered the woods on the 
 
 opposite side of the prairie, and she could see far off, over 
 
 plain and forest, The Canon itself, though the houses at its 
 
 mouth were, at that distance, indistinguishable. Finally, 
 
 she reached the top, a broad, flat surface, extending in one 
 
 direction some eight or ten miles, but only about half a mile 
 
 wide at the place where she designed crossing it. 
 
 It did not take her long to traverse the table-land, or 
 mesa, as it, and others like it, were called in the country, 
 and then she had a declivity to descend for all the world 
 exactly like that she had just climbed. This was a com 
 paratively easy undertaking though, in her haste, she sev 
 eral times stumbled and once fell, rolling down the hill till 
 her further progress was arrested by a big rock, against 
 which she came with such force as almost to knock the 
 breath out of her body. For a moment she was nearly 
 stunned, but quickly picked herself up, laughing heartily 
 at her mishap, but changing her mirtli to grief when she 
 found that she had torn her best gown, and taken the skin 
 off of a prominent part of her nose. Satisfying herself that 
 the book was safe, she proceeded on her way with more 
 caution, and in a few minutes reached the bottom of the 
 canon. 
 
 The prefix of "little" was applied to this particular 
 
"GO, AND SIN NO MORE!" 201 
 
 canon, not because it was remarkably small, but for the 
 reason that it was not so large as any of the other canons in 
 the vicinity. The floor of it was not much above a hundred 
 feet across from one side to the other at any point, and in 
 one place was not a third of this width, but it extended 
 back to the Sierra Madre, a distance of nearly twenty miles, 
 and was there connected with a larger and deeper canon, 
 which led far into the recesses of the mighty mountain 
 range. 
 
 In the other direction it debouched into the wide prairie 
 upon which the butte stood, at a distance of about a mile 
 from where Lai had descended its steep side. 
 
 At the very bottom of the canon flowed a stream that 
 formed the origin of Wildcat Creek, or rather the chief 
 source, for there were several minor tributaries, that, when 
 the snow was melting in the mountains, or the rain fell 
 heavily, helped to swell the waters of that fluctuating 
 stream, which, as we have seen, oscillated between the two 
 extremes of an overwhelming torrent and an insignificant, 
 thready brook. 
 
 It was at its minimum now. There had been no rain 
 for several days, and the melting of the snow in the mount 
 ains had gone about as far as it could till the hot sun of 
 the following summer should beat down upon it in the 
 ravines, and on the peaks and crags where it had lain all 
 winter, undisturbed by any other force. The water was 
 clear and it was cold, for it ran through the very deepest 
 part of the canon, and hence was little subjected to the rays 
 of the slin. Lai stopped when she reached it, and sitting 
 down on a bowlder at its very edge, began to repair, as well 
 as she was able, the rent she had made in her frock. A 
 few pins concealed some of its worst features ; and then, 
 having washed the blood from her nose, and removed from 
 her face the. traces of her recent encounter with " Mother 
 Earth," she resumed her journey. 
 
202 LAL. 
 
 She had, as we have said, only about a mile to go before 
 arriving at the butte, and the path was, for the greater part 
 of its course, comparatively easy. Two or three times, in 
 order to avoid climbing over rocky projections, she crossed 
 the stream, which was only a yard or so wide, and which 
 she could generally get over, by stepping from rock to rock, 
 without even wetting her feet. Once, however, where a high 
 point of solid granite crossed the path, she was obliged to 
 take off her shoes and stockings and wade the stream ; but 
 this caused only a short delay, and soon afterward she 
 emerged from the deep ravine on to the open prairie. Right 
 in front of her, scarcely a quarter of a mile distant, stood 
 the butte. 
 
 She crossed the intervening space at a rapid gait and 
 began the ascent of the hill by the same path that Tyscovus 
 had taken when he made his first appearance at her father s 
 house. The way was familiar to her, and she went up the 
 steep knoll with the agility of a mountain-goat. She 
 reached the plateau and stood on the very spot where she 
 had found the book. Her first impulse was to place the 
 volume exactly where she had first seen it, and to return 
 precipitately to Bighorn Spring without making her pres 
 ence manifest to the occupant of the cabin. She looked 
 around her. All was still, and there was no one in sight. 
 She bent her head to listen ; for the hitching-post at which 
 she stood was only a few feet from the passage-way, and the 
 steps of any one moving about in either room could have 
 been readily heard, but no sound reached her ears. Should 
 she go back, or should she go honestly and fearlessly into 
 the house and take the consequences of her crime ? For a 
 moment she hesitated. She could restore the book, and no 
 one but her mother would ever be the wiser so far as her 
 offense was concerned. "JX T o," she said at last, taking the 
 package containing the book from her pocket, " I m not 
 afeard, and I ve got to go sure, and the sooner the better." 
 
"GO, AND SIN NO MORE!" 203 
 
 She mounted the two steps necessary to reach the floor 
 of the passage-way, and walked noiselessly to the door of 
 the room in which she supposed Tyscovus to be, and which, 
 as we have seen, was the one previously occupied by Mr. 
 and Mrs. Bosler. It was shut. She knocked gently at 
 first, and then a little louder, and, meeting with no re 
 sponse, raised the latch and pushed open the door. A 
 larcro table, covered with books and papers, stood in the 
 middle of the room, and at it, with his back toward her, 
 and his head bowed upon his folded arms, sat a man, ap 
 parently utterly unconscious of her presence, or of any 
 noise she had made. For a moment she stood motionless, 
 somewhat astonished at the sight before her. Then she 
 advanced as quietly as she could till she stood so close to 
 the man that she might have touched his shoulder, 
 he did not move. She saw that he breathed, but beyond 
 that there were no signs that he was even alive. "He is 
 asleep," she said to herself ; " I ll lay the book on the table, 
 and then I ll go out and wait till he wakes up, which, I 
 guess, won t be long." 
 
 She went round to one side of the table, and was abc 
 placing the book where he would be certain to see it the mo 
 ment he awoke, when suddenly he started up in surprise, and 
 she, equally astonished at his unexpected return to conscious 
 ness, retreated a step, letting the book fall on the floor. 
 
 " I seen you was asleep," she said, after she had regained 
 possession of the volume. "I knocked on the door, and 
 then I thought may be I d better come in. But I was jist 
 goin away ag in to wait till you woke up. " 
 
 " I was not asleep ; I was only thinking. But you are 
 Miss Bosler, are you not ? " 
 
 "Yes, I m Lai Bosler, as used to live here." 
 "Won t you sit down ?" said Tyscovus, placing a chair 
 by her side, " and, I beg of you, pardon the fit of abstrac 
 tion which prevented me hearing you knock. " 
 
204 LAL. 
 
 "I ain t got no time to set down/ answered Lai, 
 "and I ain t got not nothin to pardon neither, as I knows 
 of." 
 
 " Then won t you tell me the object of your visit ? Can 
 I do anything for you ?" 
 
 "No, I don t see as you kin do much," answered Lai, 
 advancing toward him with the book in her hand. "You 
 see," she added, looking at him at the same time full in the 
 face, "I stole this book, and now I ve brought it back, and 
 I m ready to go to jail." 
 
 " You stole my book ! " said Tyscovus, taking the pack 
 age which she held out to him. "Oh, yes, I see ! The 
 life of one of my ancestors. I missed it several days ago. 
 May I ask how you stole it, and why ? " he continued, with 
 a little severity in his tone. 
 
 "I found it on the ground, close by the hitchin -post, 
 and I jist picked it up and put it under my shawl and car 
 ried it away the night we left the buttc ; and that s all 
 there is about it." 
 
 "No, that is not all," said Tyscovus, with less hardness 
 in his voice. 
 
 " No, "repeated Lai, "it s not all, and I m ready to go." 
 
 "Go where ?" 
 
 "To jail." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " For stealin your book, o course." 
 
 "For stealing my book ! Well, sit down first, and let 
 me talk with you a moment or two." 
 
 Lai took the chair which he had brought for her. 
 
 "Why did you bring back my book ?" continued Tys 
 covus. 
 
 "Jist because o somethin I read thar." 
 
 "The account of Saint Iledwiges ?" 
 
 " I guess that was it. It was about the gal as stole the 
 ring." 
 
"GO, AND SIN NO MORE!" 205 
 
 "Yes, and that my ancestor saved from prison and 
 death ; for they killed for theft in those days." 
 
 He paced the floor for several minutes, during which 
 time Lai sat rigidly on her chair, her eyes fixed on vacancy, 
 and with a slight, very slight tremor of her upper lip, but 
 no other sign of emotion visible on her face. 
 
 Finally, he stopped in front of her, and, resting his hand 
 on her head, said, " And do you recollect what my ances 
 tor said when it was proposed to send her to prison and cut 
 off her head?" 
 
 " He said as how they hadn t no right to spile a body 
 as God made," answered Lai, her face maintaining its im 
 passivity, and her eyes their stony stare, " and no right to 
 take away a soul as mought, some day or nother, be good ; 
 for good souls was scarce in them parts." 
 
 "My dear child," continued Tyscovus, "good souls are 
 scarce the world over. Do you think they are so plentiful 
 here that I should run the risk of losing yours by sending 
 you to prison ? No, I would rather cut off my right hand, 
 as my ancestor s was cut off, than stop the growth of what 
 I hope may one day be a nobler soul even than Saint Hed- 
 wiges s." 
 
 Lai made no answer. She could not speak. Her lips 
 were tightly closed, but they were tremulous with emotion, 
 and tears were flowing from her fixed, staring eyes. 
 
 " Lai," continued Tyscovus, taking both her cold hands 
 in his and drawing her from the chair till she stood erect 
 before him, " stand up and look me in the face, for you are 
 worthy to stand before any man fearless and unabashed. 
 You stole my book. It was a sinful, a criminal, act ; but 
 a sin followed by honest repentance leaves the soul purer 
 than before the wrong was done. It is here, as we are told 
 it is in heaven, * there is more joy over one sinner that re- 
 penteth than over ninety-and-nine just persons that need 
 no repentance." 1 
 
206 LAL. 
 
 " Oh, don t talk to me like that ! " exclaimed Lai, break 
 ing down at last and bursting into a torrent of sobs and 
 tears " don t talk to me like that ! I can t bear it; for, 
 you see you see oh, send me to jail ! Let me be pun 
 ished, and then I guess I ll feel better. Things can t be 
 squar till Fve worked it out in jail. Then I guess I ll start 
 fresh." She clasped her hands together and looked implor 
 ingly into his face, while her bosom rose and fell with the 
 storm of emotions that swayed her. " Yes, she continued, 
 " things will be squar then betwixt you and me." 
 
 Tyscovus had watched her all through the ebullition of 
 passion which he felt was moving him almost as much as 
 it did her. Here w r as nature pure, uncultivated nature ! 
 and, had he been sufficiently cold-blooded, he would have 
 studied each feature, as, in response to the tempest of emo 
 tions, it wept, or trembled, or twitched convulsively, or 
 varied in vocal inflection or pathos ; just as, in obedience to 
 a tornado, trees are uprooted, houses blown down, water 
 tossed into overwhelming waves. He might have found in 
 the phenomena ample material for a chapter of his book, 
 just as Darwin had discovered in the muscular movements 
 of animals the basis of the emotional disturbances of man. 
 But he was not cold-blooded ; on the contrary, he was by 
 nature as impetuous, as impulsive a man as lived, and what 
 ever control he had of himself was the result of the severest 
 and most self-denying discipline. At that moment, as Lai 
 stood trembling and sobbing, her attitude and demeanor ex 
 pressing the most intense humiliation and remorse, he felt 
 very much toward her as three days before he had felt toward 
 Theodora Willis. Perhaps he experienced a still stronger 
 feeling, for there was more to call it forth. Here was a 
 furious whirlwind, an uncontrollable torrent, that carried 
 everything before it ; there, whatever emotion was felt was 
 kept in subjection by the still stronger intellect. Yet even 
 that had moved him to declare that he experienced a higher 
 
"GO, AND SIN NO MORE!" 207 
 
 degree of loye for the woman who spoke than he had ever 
 before felt for human being. He might have used the 
 words "regard/ "esteem," "respect," or any one of a 
 dozen others. He might have said, " I like you for your 
 courage and for your devotion to your father for your love 
 for science" ; but no one of these expressions would have 
 conveyed the real thought by which he had been inspired. 
 His whole heart had gone out to her he had loved her ; 
 but the love he felt was born of the intense friendliness 
 which at the moment pervaded his whole being, and which 
 was given to her as the representative of humanity. 
 
 Now he would, had he yielded to the impulse that 
 moved him, have clasped Lai to his heart, as a fond brother 
 might clasp a sister, and have soothed her troubled spirit 
 with the kindest and sweetest words in his vocabulary. 
 Nothing appealed so strongly to his sympathy as self-sacri 
 fice, and Lai had brought herself down into the very depths 
 of abjectness in order to satisfy her sense of right. This, 
 to him, was true nobility ; this was atonement in its fullest 
 expression ; and then when the chief actor was a woman, 
 one whose whole life had been at variance with the ideas 
 that now governed her, the measure of his tenderness was 
 full to overflowing. He did not pity her, for pity implies 
 inferiority of some kind in the recipient. He honored her, 
 as one who had shown her true heart, and who was prepared 
 to pay, without a murmur, even with joy, the penalty of 
 her misdoing. It mattered not that her speech was rude 
 and uncouth ; it was of no consequence that her manners 
 and habits were not those of a lady ; it was immaterial that 
 she was the daughter of a horse-thief and murderer. She 
 was all these, but she was a member of the great brother 
 hood of humanity a woman making atonement. That 
 was enough for him. But he felt that his powers of self- 
 control were taxed as they never had been before. He 
 dared not touch her lest he should do more, that, prompted 
 
208 LAL. 
 
 though it might be by the purest motives, would neverthe 
 less be in violation of the canons governing the relations of 
 young men to young women. He could not even trust him 
 self to speak till Lai s agitation had subsided, and she stood 
 calmly before him, like a prisoner before her judge waiting 
 for the sentence that is to deprive her of life or liberty. 
 
 "I called you Lai just now, may I do so again ?" 
 said Tyscovus, now fully master of himself. 
 
 " Oh, as to that, everybody calls me Lai, and I guess 
 you kin, too, if you want to." 
 
 " Very well ! Thanks. Now, Lai, won t you sit down 
 and let me talk with you a few minutes ? It is early yet ; 
 and, besides, if it should get dark before we have finished 
 our conversation I will walk home with you." 
 
 " Oh, as to that," said Lai, as she took the chair he 
 drew toward her, "I know the way well enough to keep 
 the path on the darkest night, and I ain t a bit afeard." 
 
 "Very well, we will see about that matter after a while. 
 Have you read much of this book ? " he continued, taking 
 from the table the little volume Lai had brought back to 
 him. 
 
 "I guess I ve read about all there is of it, cept, pre- 
 haps, the last chapter." 
 
 "It is the life of a good man." 
 
 "Yes, he was a moughty good man, that s a fact." 
 
 "He was an ancestor of mine." 
 
 "I don t know about that; but I thought as how he 
 mought be kin to you." 
 
 " Yes, I am descended directly from him." 
 
 " His name s not quite the same as your n, is it ?" 
 
 "It is the same name, but about a hundred years ago it 
 was contracted from Tyscovicius to Tyscovius, and still 
 later to Tyscovus. I suppose if I were to make this coun 
 try my home I should still further abridge it to Tysco, and 
 my descendants would call themselves Tys." 
 
"GO, AND SIN NO MORE!" 209 
 
 " Mought you be goin away ? " said Lai, raising her eyes 
 for the first time since the beginning of the conversation. 
 
 " I suppose I shall go back to Poland some day or other, 
 but certainly not now. But about my ancestor. You don t 
 know what happened to him ? " 
 
 "No; I seen he was a-gittin into trouble bout his 
 religion, but I hadn t come to the part as told what they 
 done to him." 
 
 "I will tell you, and then you will see how a good man 
 dies for his opinions rather than give up what he thinks is 
 
 right. 
 
 "John Tyscovicius was the questor of the town of 
 Biesk, and a count of the kingdom of Poland. The coun 
 try was then divided on questions of religion, and Count 
 John held to his views with great firmness. On one occa 
 sion he had to take an oath, and it was demanded that he 
 should swear on the crucifix that was held out to him. 
 He refused to swear by a graven image, and, throwing the 
 crucifix on the ground, declared that his God was eternal, 
 and that he would appeal to him for the truth of what he 
 was about to declare. For this act he was arrested and 
 thrown into prison ; was tried for blasphemy, and was sen 
 tenced to have his tongue pierced with a red-hot iron for 
 having spoken disrespectfully of the crucifix ; to have his 
 hands cut oif for having thrown it down ; and to have his 
 feet cut off for having trodden upon it. Then he was to 
 be beheaded ; and, finally, his dead body, or rather what 
 remained of it, was to be burned at the stake. This sen 
 tence, horrible as it may appear, was executed in all its 
 frightful details more than two hundred and fifty years 
 ago, and my house in Warsaw faces the spot where my 
 great ancestor gave up his life." 
 
 "He was a trump," said Lai. "I guess I d V done 
 the same things. What s the use o livin ef you can t 
 think what you please ?" 
 
210 LAL. 
 
 "I am quite sure," said Tyscovus, looking her full in 
 the face, " that, rather than give up an opinion that you 
 thought was right, you would allow yourself to be cut into 
 little pieces no bigger than your hand." 
 
 "That depends on what it mouglit be. But ef I d 
 made up my mind, and people was a-forcin me to alter it, 
 you may jest bet your pile I d stand out ef I was to die by 
 inches. 
 
 " 1 hope you may never be put to the trial ; and, should 
 you be, that you may be sure you are not wrong before you 
 determine to die by inches for your right of judgment." 
 
 "It mouglit come," said Lai, musingly, "a rnost any 
 day now." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "Luke Kittle. I mouglit be tried to be got to marry 
 him, but afore I d do it I d be slashed up to Hinders ! " 
 
 Evidently she had not heard of "The Culchcr s" last 
 performance, and of the consequent death of one of her 
 admirers, or of the wealth that had been bequeathed to 
 her. As we know, she had spent the last few days with 
 her father and mother at Bighorn Springs, and that they 
 had had no communication with the rest of the world. 
 Doubtless her father knew of it at The Canon, whither he 
 had gone that morning, but he had not been heard from 
 since his departure. Tyscovus reflected whether he should 
 tell her of her mixture of good and bad fortune ; but, 
 finally concluding that the first information had better 
 come from the doctor, her guardian under Vaca s will, he 
 continued the conversation : 
 
 " You don t like Mr. Kittle, then ?" 
 
 "Like him? I hate him !" 
 
 There was a degree of concentrated, wrathful indigna 
 tion in the tone and emphasis of the last three words that 
 caused Tyscovus to elevate his eyebrows a trifle, while a 
 quiet smile passed over his face. 
 
"GO, AND SIN NO MORE!" 211 
 
 " Well," lie said, " let us hope you will never be called 
 upon to do anything so repugnant to you as marrying Mr. 
 Kittle, who, from what I can learn, is altogether a disrepu 
 table fellow. But to come back to matters of more imme 
 diate importance. You like that book ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, how could I help likin it when, ef it hadn t 
 V bin for it, I wouldn t a bin here ? " 
 
 "I am glad you like it, for I want you to take it as a 
 gift from me, and as something that will always cause you 
 to recollect this day." 
 
 Lai for a moment looked astonished. Then she hid her 
 face in her hands and remained silent. When she removed 
 them her features were composed. 
 
 "You are too good to me," she said, after a moment s 
 pause, during which Tyscovus had written her name in the 
 book and the date of the presentation, " and I guess I won t 
 forgit what you ve said to me to-day. We re goin away 
 from these parts jist as soon as father comes back from 
 The Canon, and then I ll have a better chance. I d like 
 to know more n I knows now, and to do that I ve got to 
 work hard, I guess. I d like to say somethin now," she 
 added, after another pause. " I thought as how you was 
 a hard man, and I didn t quite like you ; but you ve bin 
 good to me, yes, very good, and I think I ll not forgit it. 
 You mought a took me to jail, and perhaps it mought V 
 bin better, for then I d be sure to remember. But I m 
 thankful, and I ll try hard ; oh, yes, I ll try very hard, to 
 to do jist what you d like me to do. Oh, I ll not forgit ! 
 You ve spoken to me like as I never heard afore, and and 
 I think I ll go now." 
 
 "I ll trust you, Lai. Here s your book. I ve marked 
 several passages that I think will please yon. I am sure, 
 too, that you will be happy," he continued, as he thought 
 of the fortune that had been left her, and of the advan 
 tages she would have as Doctor Willis s ward, " and that 
 
212 LAL. 
 
 you will become a good and a wise woman like Saint Hed- 
 wiges." 
 
 "I ll keep this book jist as long as I live," said Lai, as 
 she placed the little volume in the bosom of her frock. 
 "It s the thing as fixed me. Good-by ? " she continued, 
 her voice beginning to tremble a little. "It ain t much as 
 I can do, and it don t seem as ef it was right for me to ask 
 God to do ary a thing for you, but," holding out her hands 
 as she spoke, "I ve heard tell of angels as watched over 
 good people. I don t know as thar s any of em about here 
 now, but, ef thar is," dropping on her knees and clasping 
 her arms around Tyscovus, while her head was bowed 
 almost to the floor, " I pray as they ll stick by you as long 
 as you live, and keep all harm away from you, for you ve 
 been good to me. Good-by," she went on, as Tyscovus, 
 raising her from the ground, held both her hands in his, 
 while a smile of ineffable sweetness swept over her tearful 
 face "good-by !" and, before he could utter a word, she 
 broke from him, and, rushing out of the house, was half 
 way down the hill ere he had reached the door. He called 
 to her as he saw her retreating figure. She turned, waved 
 her hand to him, and then quickening her pace was soon 
 out on the open prairie. He stood gazing at her till she 
 disappeared in the shadows of the Little Canon. Then, 
 with his head bent upon his chest and his hands clasped 
 behind his back, he slowly re-entered the house. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " DID HE WISH TO SEE HER AGALN" ? " 
 
 ON returning to the butte from his visit to Chetolah, 
 Tyscovus found that not only had his wagon arrived, but 
 that Mr. Higgins had been as good as his word, and had 
 sent over all the things he had ordered, together with sev 
 eral others that the good man thought might be useful. 
 The next morning Tyscovus had set to work, and in a 
 short time had made himself a comfortable table, and a few 
 articles of domestic furniture that he required. He even 
 began the rather to him herculean task of making his roof 
 water-proof, and by nightfall had so far succeeded that 
 the room that he occupied was in a condition to resist 
 any reasonable fall of rain or snow. The following day he 
 continued his work on the roof, and, in addition, did some 
 thing in the way of rechinking the house and regulating 
 the lines of the chimney. 
 
 He determined to occupy but the one room, and to use 
 the other as a receptacle for his boxes and store of pro 
 visions. Knowing that the winters were severe, he lined 
 the walls of the apartment in which he expected to pass 
 the most of his time with thick cotton cloth which Mr. 
 Higgins, with considerable forethought, had sent over for 
 the purpose. He then came to the conclusion that he had 
 done nearly enough to make himself comfortable. In fact, 
 it seemed to him that he had provided sufficiently for all 
 probable contingencies, with the exception of the means 
 
214: LAL. 
 
 for heating his room and cooking his food. Mr. Bosler 
 had left a small quantity of wood, but it was nothing to 
 what would be required for the six or eight cold months 
 before him. He, therefore, retained the teamster who had 
 driven his wagon, and set him to work, he himself assist 
 ing, to pull down the stable, the logs of which were well 
 seasoned, and to haul them up to the top of the butte. 
 They were then ready for his labor whenever he wanted 
 fuel and exercise. Besides this supply, he sent the man 
 and team into the forest to collect such dry wood as could 
 be found. Altogether, he laid in a sufficient supply, even 
 should the cold weather be excessive or prolonged beyond 
 its ordinary limit. 
 
 He hud pulled down the stable, not only because he 
 wanted the logs of which it was built, but for the reason 
 that he had determined not to keep his horses. He had 
 made up his mind not to leave the butte all winter. 
 Horses, therefore, would be of no use to him ; and, more 
 over, their presence would be a constant temptation for 
 him to break through his resolution upon slight cause. 
 
 The teamster had been very efficient, honest, and faith 
 ful. When the time came to dismiss him, toward the end 
 of the third day, he thanked him, paid him in full, and 
 then made him a present of the wagon and horses. The 
 man, whose name was Alexander Montgomery, was profuse 
 in his thanks, and announced his intention to run the team 
 and vehicle as a stage and express- wagon, from Hellbender 
 to The Cafion, making tri-weekly trips between the two 
 places, and carrying passengers and such light freight as 
 might offer. 
 
 " And then you see, sir," said the man, "cf you want 
 ed anything or nother I could stop as I went by and fetch 
 it over to you, and then you wouldn t have no kind o 
 trouble to git what you pleased." 
 
 "No," answered Tyscovus, who was resolved to have no 
 
"DID HE WISH TO SEE HER AGAIN?" 215 
 
 more visitors at the butte than he could help, "that will 
 not be necessary. Should I require anything, I will put 
 up a red flag where the road touches the butte, and will 
 fasten to the pole a memorandum of what I want. You 
 can bring it and leave it at the foot of the butte, and I will 
 fetch it up myself." 
 
 " All right, sir ! what suits you suits me." And, again 
 expressing his thanks, the man jumped into his wagon, 
 and singing a merry song in reference to a "Jolly Bold 
 Baker," he drove off, and, arriving at the prairie, took the 
 road to Hellbender. 
 
 Again Tyscovus was alone. lie had now firmly estab 
 lished himself in his new home, and might begin his work 
 with a reasonable assurance of being allowed to go on with 
 it undisturbed. It was not likely that visitors would trouble 
 him, for even the doctor, who had announced his intention 
 of seeking his society, had abandoned the idea on under 
 standing that Tyscovus desired to be let alone. 
 
 "If, at anytime," he had said, on taking leave after 
 driving his guest home, "you shall want to see me, or I 
 can do anything for you, send me word or come yourself. 
 My house is always open for you. " 
 
 Tyscovus thanked him. 
 
 "Do not think me churlish," he said, pressing the doc 
 tor s hand warmly, "if I do not now invite you to come 
 and see me. I have a great work to do a work that re 
 quires all my time and energies. You and your daughter 
 are people after my own heart, and it is for "that very rea 
 son that I must cut myself off from you at this time. I am 
 the moth, you are the candle ; if you were here I should be 
 constantly seeking you, but if I do not see you, I shall not 
 burn my wings." 
 
 "You are right," rejoined the doctor ; "every intelli 
 gent person must respect your determination. Go on with 
 your work, and when it is done, or you require me or my 
 
216 LAL - 
 
 assistance at any time, it will only be necessary for you to 
 let me know." 
 
 After the departure of the teamster with his newly-ac 
 quired property, Tyscovus had seated himself at the large 
 table he had made, and endeavored to arrange his thoughts 
 for a serious attempt at beginning his book. His notes 
 were on the table before him, as were also many books of 
 reference that he might require. He continued for a few 
 minutes the introduction he was engaged in writing when 
 Abe Wilkins caused him so complete an interruption. His 
 thoughts, however, flowed slowly, and could scarcely be 
 said to be in the work before him, for continually recol 
 lections of his recent visit to Chetolah, and ideas that the 
 memories evoked, flitted through his mind, notwithstanding 
 all the effort he made to concentrate his attention in the di 
 rection of his book. Finally, perceiving that he was even so 
 distrait that he was writing words that had no relation to the 
 subject before him, he threw down his pen and abandoned 
 himself to the full current of images and reflections that 
 had taken complete possession of his mental organization. 
 
 " Theodora," he thought " the gift of God. The 
 very name is music to me. What is the object of life, if 
 not happiness ? And where can my happiness be more cer 
 tainly found than in her presence ? What is the possible 
 fame to be derived from my work, in comparison with the 
 delight of seeing her, of hearing her speak, of watching the 
 play of her mobile features as they respond to each thought 
 or emotion that flashes through her mind ; of listening to 
 the words of wisdom that fall from her lips, or to the ad 
 mirable sentiments she expresses in regard to every subject 
 that engages her thoughts ? She is a woman to admire, to 
 respect, and, in a certain sense, to love. She is a woman 
 to choose as a friend, but whether she is one to whom I 
 could give my heart, and with whose soul I could blend my 
 own forever, I do not know. 
 
"DID HE WISH TO SEE HER AGAIN?" 217 
 
 "She has ( dissected every animal from man to an in 
 sect/" he continued, after he had erased several wrong 
 words he had written. "Faugh! Thank God! I only 
 know her as a lovely woman whose manners are those of 
 a princess ; whose voice is both melody and harmony ; 
 whose taste in dress is perfect ; whose tact and knowledge 
 of the world are wonderful. The image satisfies me. Were 
 I to see her in a dissecting-apron, a scalpel in one hand 
 and the other groping in the opened chest of a corpse, 
 fingering with delight the lungs and heart of a man upon 
 whom the vigilance committee had executed their ideas of 
 justice great Heaven ! I should turn away in disgust and 
 never wish to lay eyes on her again. And yet she does 
 exactly those things. Her beautiful hands have been im 
 bued with the blood and the horrid juices of a dead body ; 
 her delicate fingers have torn asunder the once living tis 
 sues of a human form in search of the cancer, the ulcer, 
 the gangrene, or other grewsome disease that may have 
 caused death ; and I have touched them with mine yes," 
 as he recollected the emotion he had displayed when Theo 
 dora told him about her father and herself, "have pressed 
 them to my lips ! " 
 
 "And yet," he continued, after a short pause, during 
 the early part of which his face wore an expression of which 
 disgust was the most prominent characteristic " and yet, 
 after all, it is the motive, not the act, that elevates or de 
 grades, according as it is noble or mean. Women have 
 sucked the poisoned wounds of those they loved, and wives 
 and mothers do not hesitate to perform, in cases of neces 
 sity, the most loathsome offices for husbands or children. 
 Why, then, should a woman who, in order that she may be 
 qualified to save life, dissects a human body, be considered 
 as having contaminated herself ? It is unreasonable and 
 wrong, but the fact, nevertheless, exists. I suppose no fine 
 grained gentleman in any part of the world could hear for 
 10 
 
218 LAL - 
 
 the tirst time, without some shock to his sensibilities, that 
 a woman whom he loved had dissected a human body. But 
 it is difficult to tell how much of the disturbance he would 
 feel would be due to a violation of a true sense of right, 
 and how much to outraged prejudices. There is the trouble ; 
 and so, after all, each man must be a judge for himself. 
 
 " I am quite sure the woman-movement will fail, but not 
 till it has obtained some success. If this were the first at 
 tempt at what is called emancipation I should be in doubt. 
 But it has been repeatedly tried before, and has reached 
 points far higher than it is likely to reach now ; but, in the 
 end, Nature has resumed her sway, and women have re 
 turned to that position in the family and state for which 
 they are suited." 
 
 These were his thoughts when, as we have seen, he was 
 interrupted by the appearance of Lai Bosler, and the intru 
 sion had tended strongly to confirm him in the line of 
 meditation and conviction which his mind was taking. 
 Here was a woman the very opposite in appearance, in posi 
 tion, in character, to her who presided at Chctolah, and 
 had "dissected all animals from man to insects." The one 
 would view a human corpse with indifference, perhaps even 
 in some relations with pleasure ; the other would doubtless 
 start with fear or horror at the sight of a dead man s body. 
 It was the difference between education and nature ; and 
 certainly, as he felt then, he would have preferred the love 
 of the emotional, passionate, natural woman to that of the 
 intellectual, educated one, who measured her feelings by her 
 reason, and who guided her emotions whither she would, as 
 the helmsman steers a ship, the course of which has been 
 given him by higher authority. 
 
 Yes ! Lai Bosler had impressed every fiber of his being. 
 Low-born as she was, uneducated, unrefined, with degrad 
 ing associations, she was Nature s child, a very woman with 
 her mind set in the direction of truth and right, ready to 
 
"DID HE WISH TO SEE HER AGAIN?" 219 
 
 be led on to almost any point of perfection if only the 
 guides were prudent and wise. With, what earnestness she 
 had uttered her homely phrases ; with what strength her 
 convictions were held ; with what sincerity she had expressed 
 her willingness to go to jail ; what total abnegation of self 
 she had exhibited ; and then how every word of the prayer 
 that burst from her lips had come from the depths of her 
 soul, as she knelt as his feet, her arms around him, her 
 head bowed in adoration and humiliation ! He had looked 
 and listened in bewilderment, in admiration, in love, his 
 mind and heart stirred as he had vainly intended they never 
 should be stirred. He wondered, now that she was gone, 
 why, when he had first seen her, he had not been more 
 strongly impressed with a sense of her personal beauty. 
 Doubtless it was because he thought, on reflection, Lai s 
 beauty was one rather of expression than of feature ; the 
 kind that required to be developed by the emotions that 
 governed her, than that form that exists in repose, and 
 that often disappears when the placidity of the features 
 is disturbed. It was the kind he loved ; it was the kind 
 most intellectual men admire, for it not only gratifies the 
 eye, but it pleases the mind also. 
 
 Lai fulfilled almost every requirement of his standard 
 of female beauty. Her smile, when she rose to her feet 
 after the agony of supplication in his behalf, was the tcn- 
 derest he had ever seen, her tears the most eloquent, her 
 pathos the most moving. But she was gone, and he would 
 probably never see her again. Did he wish to see her 
 again ? He tried to dismiss the question from his mind 
 and to resume his work. But a graceful, tearful form 
 stood between him and his book, and looked beseechingly 
 into his face. In vain he endeavored to concentrate his 
 thoughts on the system of social statics that it was his 
 object to elaborate and give to the world. He might as 
 well have sought to melt the snows on the Sierra Madre by 
 
220 LAL. 
 
 blowing his breath on them. Did he want to see her again ? 
 He pushed his manuscript away in disgust and took refuge 
 in his pipe. He was more than ever "John Buridan s 
 Ass." But the tobacco now made him take a more hope 
 ful view of the situation by removing all disturbing influ 
 ences from his mind. Yes ! He would like to see her 
 again, coarse, untamed, rude, ignorant, the daughter of 
 the "worst man between the two oceans," a thief herself 
 ay, but a repentant one, and Christ had pardoned a re 
 pentant thief ! as she was, if he could by a word have 
 brought her then and there before him, he would have 
 spoken that word, regardless of the past, of his work, of 
 all that might have resulted. He was "John Buridan s 
 Ass " no longer. lie had made his decision. The stately, 
 intellectual, gracious beauty of Chetolah might do more for 
 humanity ; she might exhibit her devotion for the sick and 
 miserable ; she might extend the knowledge of mankind ; 
 she might establish the truth of the doctrine of evolution 
 by making legs grow out of a snake s belly; she was a 
 woman to be respected, admired, loved with the chaste af 
 fection that the pupils of Ilypatia had for their teacher, or 
 the soldiers of Jeanne d Arc for their commander. 
 
 But Lai, the untutored daughter of the wilderness, cared 
 nothing for the world at large, the hypothesis of develop 
 ment would not interest her ; whether or not snakes could 
 be made to have legs was of no consequence to her. She 
 did what she thought was right for her own sake ; her benev 
 olence was limited to those she loved, and those that in 
 jured or offended her she hated. But she loved him ! Had 
 she not clasped her arms around his knees, and almost 
 kissed his feet ? Had she not called down blessings upon 
 his head, while prostrate before him in a passion of loving 
 thankfulness ? Yes, he certainly wished to sec her again. 
 He must see her again. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Mr. Bosler started on his journey to The Caiion, 
 he had, as we have seen., several distinct objects in view, all 
 to be arranged preparatory to bidding a last farewell to that 
 part of the country. Before taking leave of his wife and 
 daughter, he had made up his mind with all the decision 
 of which an habitual drunkard deprived for several days of 
 his accustomed stimulus is capable, that he would move 
 away to a more civilized locality. When, therefore, he 
 told them that, on his return, he and they would at once 
 depart, he intended no deception. He believed what he said. 
 He spoke as sincerely as he had ever spoken in his life. 
 But Mr. Bosler was of a reflective turn of mind, and being 
 alone in his w r agon, and the horses owing to the character 
 of the road that had quite recently been cut through the 
 dense timber being obliged to go at a slow pace, he began 
 to think seriously of many circumstances in which he had 
 a strong personal interest. Chief among them was the sub 
 ject of cutting loose forever from The Canon, and leading 
 a different life from that in which he had hitherto taken so 
 great a degree of pride. 
 
 "Ef it warn t for Lai, now," he said, letting the reins 
 lie loose on the horses backs, " blow me ef I d stir a step ! 
 The old woman s used to it, and raythur likes it, I guess, 
 and it don t do her no harm nohow. But, as to Lai, I d 
 like to give the gal some larnin and bringin up sich as she 
 
222 LAL. 
 
 can t git in these parts. But it sgoin to be darned hard on 
 me. What would I do warm store-clothes and b iled shirts 
 week-days as well as Sundays, and layin around loose, with 
 none o the boys on hand to make things a little lively ? 
 It s askin too much, darn me ef it ain t, and I ve a goll- 
 darned mind jist to cut the whole darned thing and stay 
 whar I am. The Bighorn s a good-enough place for any one, 
 man, woman, or child. Git up thar, darn your ugly hides ! 
 What the blazes do you mean, gittin out o the road in 
 that way ? " He gave the reins a jerk as he spoke, and 
 laid the whip forcibly over the horses flanks. There was a 
 little plunging and kicking by the animals, and a good deal 
 of highly scientific swearing from Mr. Bosler, before peace 
 between the contending parties was fully restored. Then 
 he lolled back on his seat and resumed his monologue : 
 
 "It ain t in natur to expect the head of the family, 
 who s got all dependin upon him, to pull up stakes and git 
 away from a place he mought call his home, jist because 
 tw r o women, who ain t got no responsibility in the matter, 
 takes a notion to go. I m as willin as a steer mostly, but 
 thar s some things as ain t right, and this ere s one on em." 
 He stopped talking for several minutes, and in the mean 
 time the wagon emerged from the wood and was on the 
 main road connecting The Canon with Hellbender. Here a 
 greater speed was practicable, and Mr. Bosler was not slow 
 to avail himself of the advantages of the prairie road on 
 which he was now traveling. Suddenly, as though his de 
 termination could no longer be kept back, he yelled out at 
 the top of his voice : " I ll be darned ef I go, and that s jist 
 the end of it ! I ll git some books," he continued, in a 
 lower key and with less excitement, " and Lai kin larn her 
 self jist as well as she could in Denver. She s smart enough 
 for that, I guess." Having arrived at this conclusion in so 
 easy and altogether satisfactory a manner, Mr. Bosler be 
 came more composed, and taking out his pipe from an in- 
 
DIPLOMACY. 223 
 
 side pocket filled it with some cuttings from a piece of 
 chewing-tobacco, and, lighting a match on the seat of his 
 trousers, applied the flame to the heaped-up mass of the 
 Weed and began to smoke. 
 
 It was still early, and Mr. Bosler hoped to arrive at The 
 Canon before many people were stirring, and then, taking 
 refuge at Crump s friendly saloon, ascertain from the pro 
 prietor a former "pard" of his how the feeling was in 
 regard to himself before he ventured to appear in public. 
 If the prejudice against him still existed ; if there were yet" 
 lawless individuals thirsting for his blood then, indeed, 
 things were hard with him. If he could not with safety 
 show himself at The Canon in a community that had here 
 tofore countenanced him, there was little security to be ex 
 pected anywhere in the neighborhood. lie was not with 
 out strong hope that time had softened the vindictive 
 emotions of Hallam s friends. "They wouldn t," he 
 thought, "be sich all-fired mean skunks as to keep up a 
 grudge ag in a fellow for a thing like that." Still, his con 
 fidence in human nature was not so great as the boldness of 
 his words might have seemed to imply, and certainly not 
 so strong as to admit of his incurring any avoidable risks. 
 He, therefore, on arriving at the outskirts of the town 
 made a slight detour so as to come in through a back street. 
 He thus reached the stable-yard attached to " Crump s " 
 without meeting any one but a few women and children to 
 whom he was unknown, and who, moreover, were prevented 
 getting a good view of the occupant of the wagon, owing 
 to the fact that he had moved the seat farther back from 
 the front, so that only his legs were visible to passers-by. 
 He gave his team into the charge of the Mexican who offi 
 ciated as hostler, with many emphatic injunctions as to the 
 feeding of the animals, and then boldly stalked into the 
 house. 
 
 The front shutters had not yet been taken down, and a 
 
224 LAL. 
 
 general air of dirt and discomfort pervaded the flashily 
 furnished " saloon." A kerosene-lamp burned dimly on a 
 table, and a man attired in shirt, trousers, and boots, was 
 sleeping on the bar-counter, in a disturbed sort of a way, if 
 a judgment could be formed from the fact that he groaned, 
 and snored, and tossed his unpleasant-looking arms and 
 legs from side to side, as though every minute his contor 
 tions would land him on the floor. 
 
 Mr. Bosler did not stop to awaken the sleeping guard 
 ian ; he looked at him for a moment or two, and then, 
 opening a door at the end of the bar, went behind the 
 counter, and taking down a little bottle, the exact situa 
 tion of which he seemed to know, helped himself to a long 
 draught from its mouth. With a gentle smack of his lips, 
 and an inspiration composed of a demand for fresh air, and 
 a feeling of palatal gratification, in about equal proportions, 
 he replaced the bottle, retreated from the inclosure, and 
 then going out of the door by which he had just entered 
 the room, shut it, and, giving three or four loud knocks, 
 waited in expectation of the result. There being no re 
 sponse, he pounded again, and louder than before. 
 " Hello !" from within. 
 
 There was a scuffling of feet, and then, again, " Why 
 don t you come in, ef you want to ? " 
 
 Thus invited, Mr. Bosler opened the door, and advanced 
 into the room. 
 
 "Why, Jim, ole boy, how air you ?" exclaimed the now 
 aroused custodian ; "glad to see you. Whar in the blazes 
 have you bin all this time ? " 
 
 "How air you, Crump?" exclaimed Mr. Bosler, hold 
 ing out his hand, which the other grasped and shook vehe 
 mently" how air you ? How s things goin ? " 
 
 "Well, as to that," replied Crump with some delibera 
 tion, " I ain t quite sure. I guess, though, things is pretty 
 well settled down, except as to Sam Hodges and Joe Botts. 
 
DIPLOMACY. 223 
 
 One on em, you know, is Hallam s wife s brother, and 
 t other s his uncle. They is a good deal riled yifc, but they 
 went over to Hellbender a couple o days ago with The 
 Gulcher, and they ain t got back yit, so I guess you 
 needn t be afeard o them jist at present." 
 
 "As ef I wasn t more n a match for both on em !" 
 exclaimed Mr. Bosler with indignation ; "and is Luke got 
 back yit?" 
 
 "No, he is over in Hellbender, of! and on. But ain t 
 you heard the news ? " 
 
 "Nary a darned news. How the devil could I, when 
 I ve bin out o the way so long ? What s up ?" 
 
 "Well, The Gulcher V done for Manuel Vaca, one 
 thing." 
 
 "The devil he has!" exclaimed Mr. Bosler, jumping 
 down in his excitement from the counter on which he had 
 seated himself. 
 
 " Yes ! Made a hole in his chist that you could stick 
 your fist in, so they say. He s to be buried to-day." 
 
 " Well, I ain t much sorry as I knows on, but I wouldn t 
 a cried ef The Gulcher d got his papers too. Tell us all 
 about it." Mr. Bosler listened attentively to the particu 
 lars of the affair between The Gulcher and Don Manuel 
 Vaca, and which had resulted so disastrously to the latter, 
 uttering as he took in the details of the story many ex 
 clamations of astonishment or pleasure, to accord for the 
 time being with the state of his emotions. When Crump 
 had concluded, his auditor appeared for a few moments to 
 be lost in reflection over the possibilities of the situation. 
 Then he laid a two-bit piece on the counter, and jerked 
 his head significantly toward the bottle, with which he had 
 already made a surreptitious acquaintance. Crump placed 
 it before him, and Mr. Bosler, taking a tumbler from a 
 stand near by where a half-dozen others had been put to 
 drain, filled it nearly to the brim, and swallowed the un- 
 
226 
 
 diluted liquor in about four consecutive and uninterrupted 
 gulps. 
 
 " I guess I ll go over to Hellbender and see Luke. I ve 
 a leetle business with, him as mought as well be settled 
 now. " 
 
 You d better not, Jim. It ain t safe for you over 
 thar, and The Gulcher ain t no friend o your n neither." 
 
 4 I ain t af card o the whole d d keboodle ! " ex 
 claimed Mr. Bosler, who began to feel the inspiratory effect 
 of his potations. "And as to Luke Kittle, ef he s got ary 
 a thing ag in me, we mought as well settle it now onst and 
 for all." 
 
 "I don t know as he s got much," answered Crump, 
 "but, you see, thar s that matter o Lai. He thinks you 
 ain t treated him squar , and that you went back on your 
 promise which you done, Jim, I guess," added Crump, 
 with a slight addition of reproach to his vocal expression. 
 
 "What the h s that to you ! " exclaimed Mr. Bosler, 
 raising his excitement to the requirements of the occasion, 
 and slapping his open hand down on the counter to give 
 additional emphasis to his remark. 
 
 " Well, now, don t be so all-fired cantankerous, Jim, 
 specially with a friend like me," said Crump, conciliating- 
 ly. " In course, it ain t none o my business, and I only 
 said it in a friendly way like." 
 
 Mr. Bosler, not being yet up to the homicidal point, 
 accepted the apology, and invited Crump to drink with him 
 in token of the amicable state of his feelings. 
 
 " You see, Jim," said Crump, as they stood leaning on 
 the counter, taking their liquor by sips this time, "you re 
 too proud-spirited and thin-skinned. *" The Gulcher ain t 
 sich a bad fellow when you knows him well. In course," 
 he added, hesitatingly, as if dreading another ebullition 
 of temper from his companion, "it ain t none o my busi 
 ness, and my remark ain t in the least personal ; but ef I 
 
DIPLOMACY. 227 
 
 had a daughter, and The Gulcher wanted her, blow me 
 ef I d stop to think much about it ! " 
 
 "Not if she didn t like him, would you?" said Mr. 
 Bosler, inquiringly ; " and he wouldn t come to terms ? " 
 
 " That wouldn t make no difference. Ef she didn t like 
 him at first, she d git to like him. They always does. Why, 
 Lord bless you ! when I married Jane Slocum, I guess she 
 hated me like pizen, but she s as lovin as a sick kitten 
 
 now. 
 
 As Mrs. Crump was generally more than half the time 
 in bed, as the result of her husband s brutality, the com 
 parison to a sick kitten was not altogether inappropriate. 
 
 Bosler was evidently touched, and Crump, seeing the 
 impression he had made, continued : 
 
 " Think how it is with yourself, Jim. Now, I guess 
 when you was first married, your wife didn t take to you 
 much, did she ? " 
 
 " Not so very much," answered Mr. Bosler, reflectively 
 and apologetically. 
 
 "And every year she got lovin er and lovin er, didn t 
 
 she ? " 
 
 "I guess she did, Bill," answered Mr. Bosler, calling 
 Mr. Crump, under the influence of the pleasant recollec 
 tions evoked, for the first time by his Christian name. 
 
 " Till now you re jist as used to each other as a old 
 pair o boots, ain t you ? " continued Crump, a little lack 
 ing in the logic of his comparison, but following up his 
 advantage like the profound strategist that he was. 
 
 "Jist as used, Bill jist as used," replied Mr. Bosler, 
 with a sympathetic nod of his head. 
 
 " Well, now," continued Crump, pursuing his argument 
 to its legitimate conclusion, "don t you see that that s jist 
 the way it would be with Lai and Luke ? Afore the year d 
 be out they d be as sweet on each other as a duck on a June 
 bug." 
 
228 LAL. 
 
 " Like as not, Bill, but it never took me that way 
 afore." 
 
 " Now, see here, Jim," approaching Boslcr, and talking 
 in a lower but even more earnest tone than he had yet 
 adopted, "you and I is old pards, and is bound to stick 
 together, I guess. Leastwise, I m bound to stick to you 
 through thick and thin. I don t like to see you a-holdin 
 out ag in Luke, and bein talked about for goin back on 
 your word. JS T o, dang me ef I do ! " he continued, bring 
 ing his fist down on the counter with a force that sent the 
 tumblers dancing over its polished surface ; "no, I don t !" 
 he repeated, as though his mind on the question was made 
 up quite beyond the possibility of change ; " and so when 
 The Gulcher, in the most gentlemanly way, was talkin 
 with me about it t other day and hopin as things would 
 come right, says I, < Gulch, it ain t nothin as I wouldn t 
 do to bring things straight twixt you and Jim Boslcr ; 
 and then, says he, Bill, thar ain t no man as I has sich a 
 friendly feelin for as Jim Boslcr, and ef he only hadn t 
 gone back on his word, thar ain t nothin as I wouldn t do 
 for him. " 
 
 Yes ; that s darned pretty talk, it is ! " said Bosler, the 
 remembrance of certain threats of Mr. Kittle s occurring 
 to him; "what did he mean by sayin that ef he wasn t 
 hitched on to Lai afore New Year s, some one would be 
 wantin a coffin ? " 
 
 "Well, you see, Jim, I heard about that, and so I jist 
 up and asked him, and, blow me, cf he didn t say it was a 
 all-fired lie. He did, Jim, as sure as shootin . But here s 
 the p int," he continued, with increased earnestness : " Luke 
 is jist crazy after Lai, and he told me to tell you that ef 
 you was willin and would fix things easy for him he d give 
 you ten thousand dollars, and, you know, you only held out 
 for five thousand. Ten thousand dollars ! cash down in 
 your hand, the very minute the parson said the word. He 
 
DIPLOMACY. 229 
 
 wants to be generous and git your good-will, so he jist 
 doubled your figger. " 
 
 After making this declaration of Mr. Kittle s intentions, 
 Crump remained a moment in an attitude of expectancy 
 for the answer ; but, as it did not come as soon as he had 
 anticipated, he assumed a manner of indifference, and, go 
 ing over to the door opening on to the street, unlocked it. 
 Then he opened the windows, took down the shutters, and 
 let in a little light and fresh air. Meanwhile, Bosler re 
 mained standing by the bar, apparently overcome by the 
 character and magnificence of the proposition that had been 
 made to him, and as though doubting that he had heard cor 
 rectly. Finally, he seemed to have made up his mind : 
 
 " Bill," he said, somewhat hoarsely, " leave them darned 
 cheers and things alone and come here, will you ? " 
 
 ""Well, Jim," said Mr. Crump, giving a table a finish 
 ing brush with his shirt-sleeve, "it ain t no business o 
 mine. She ain t my daughter, you know ; but ef she war, 
 I d be all-fired glad to git The Gulcher for her husband ; 
 specially ef I was paid ten thousand dollars in good hard 
 gold, all for myself. " 
 
 "I ain t got no feelin ag in Luke, and I always meant 
 to stick by my word. I did feel kinder put out at what I 
 heard he was sayin ; but ef he didn t say it, I ain t goin to 
 keep no grudge. So here s my hand, Bill, and ef he ll make 
 it five thousand now, and the rest when the job s done, she s 
 his n right away. " 
 
 "Now, that s what I call sqnar talk !" exclaimed Mr. 
 Crump, shaking Bosler s hand while he spoke. " I always 
 knowed you was right at the core, Jim. I guess thar won t 
 be no trouble about the spondulix ; Luke s pretty flush now. 
 He ll be back from Hellbender this mornin , and I ll squar 
 it all up. You d better lay low here till it s all settled, 
 and then you kin see Luke and finish things agreeable all 
 round. " 
 
230 LAL - 
 
 "Has The Gulcher bin over in Hellbender ever since 
 the muss with Vaca ? " 
 
 " No, he s bin goin and comin . They took him up and 
 bailed him, but as the croner s jury brought in a verdick of 
 self-defense, I guess when he comes over to-day he ll come 
 
 to stay." 
 
 "Well, I guess I ll stay inside till things is squar . Not 
 as I cares a darn for Hodges and Botts, nor any o that lot, 
 but I don t want no muss as mought stop things. She ll 
 have him, Bill. I ll be boss in my own family, by jingo ! 
 Ef I don t, you may call me a liar, and when Jim Bosler 
 says that he means it." 
 
 " That s the way a man like you orter talk," said Crump. 
 And then, overcome by the nobility of the sentiments ex 
 pressed by Mr. Bosler, he seized that worthy gentleman 
 around the waist and gave him a hug that a grizzly bear 
 might have envied. " Come with me," he continued, lead 
 ing the way into an inner room. " Mack that s my bar 
 tender you know 11 be here in a minute, and then I ll come 
 back and we ll have a quiet little game till The Gulchcr 
 comes. And he ll be along afore noon, and it s nine now. 
 Here s a deck," he continued, taking a dirty pack of cards 
 from his pocket, "and you kin play sol tare till I come." 
 
 The room into which Crump conducted his friend ad 
 joined the "saloon," but had no communication with the 
 exterior except by a window looking out into the stable- 
 yard. This was already shut ; but, to obtain still greater 
 privacy for the occupant, the proprietor closed the blind, 
 and then, lighting a lamp, left Mr. Bosler to his own 
 thoughts, and such amusement as he could extract from 
 the game of solitaire. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 KEGOTIATIOXS. 
 
 OK leaving Bosler, Crump went back to the " saloon/ 
 and waited a short time till " Mack " the bar-tender made his 
 appearance. Then, instead of returning to his friend, to 
 divert him with the promised " quiet little game," he ascend 
 ed to the second story, and stopped before a door near the 
 head of the stairs. Here he remained quietly for a mo 
 ment, and, bending his head, listened for any sound that 
 might reach him from the interior. Apparently satisfied 
 that the apartment was still tenanted, he knocked loudly. 
 A muffled groan, or rather grunt, was the first response, 
 and then he heard the rustling of bedclothes and a step on 
 the floor. The key was turned in the lock, the door thrown 
 wide open, and Mr. Crump was confronted by a man with 
 a horribly distorted face, who, to judge by his appearance, 
 had been awakened from a heavy sleep, or rather, who had 
 been disturbed, without yet having been fully awakened. 
 
 The man s countenance was so terribly disfigured by 
 scars and contractions, that it would have been impos 
 sible for the most skillful physiognomist to determine 
 whether he was pleased or offended at the intrusion. He 
 glared at his landlord for a moment, with an expression 
 that might readily have been interpreted to be the result of 
 a desire to make mince-meat of Mr. Crump, but that was 
 probably intended as a demonstration of good- will, for he 
 invited him into the room, and closed the door. 
 
232 LAL. 
 
 "Well, Bill, what is it?" he said, proceeding very 
 leisurely to habilitate himself in the rest of his clothes. 
 
 " The best luck in the world," answered Crump ; "Jim 
 Boslcr s down-stairs, and " 
 
 "Oh, he is !" interrupted Mr. Kittle, for it was that 
 gentleman to whom the perfidious Crump was talking ; 
 "then I guess I ll have to go for him at once, and settle 
 our little affair before he gets out of the way." 
 
 " No, you won t, for I ve settled it. I had a good 
 chance when we was by ourselves, and so I told him what 
 you said, and he s entirely agreeable. Never saw a fish 
 bite like him. Took the bait, hook and all ! " 
 
 "You don t mean to say he s agreed, do you? "ex 
 claimed Mr. Kittle, with a look that was, doubtless, intend 
 ed for one of great delight, but which, instead of obeying 
 the emotional impulse, deviated into a track peculiarly its 
 own. 
 
 "Yes, I do that s jist what I do mean." 
 
 "Then he can t have heard anything." 
 
 "Not a darned thing. lie only knows as Vaca s done 
 for, and that he heard from me." 
 
 " Nothing about the money ? " 
 
 "Not a word. Ef he had, do you think he d V come 
 round so quick ? Not much ! Jim ain t no fool, I tell 
 you." 
 
 " No, he ain t a fool, but he s the biggest scoundrel I 
 know, and he might have agreed, so as to get the money." 
 
 "I m jist sure he don t know nothin about it. All 
 he asks is for you to pay him five thousand down, and 
 the rest when you ve got the gal. That seems fair, 
 don t it?" 
 
 " I suppose it s fair enough, if he don t mean to play 
 a cursed trick on me. But we ll have to hurry up like 
 blazes, for, of course, he ll find out before many days, and 
 then the jig s up. I ll give him the cash to-day, if he 
 
NEGOTIATIONS. 233 
 
 wants it, and the thing will have to come off this week. 
 If he fools me this time, I ll kill him like a dog ! " 
 "I guess he s goin to be squar this time." 
 "I don t trust him any farther than I can see him. 
 I ll give him the money^but I ll have him watched night 
 and day till the girl s mine. And as soon as he shows the 
 least sign of shuffling, he ll get his papers for kingdom- 
 come !" 
 
 "It s lucky for you you found out about the money 
 the gal s to git." 
 
 " Yes, and I wouldn t neither if it hadn t been that the 
 lawyer I got to help me out of the scrape was the same one 
 that drew up Vaca s will. He told me, and I m to give 
 him five thousand dollars when the thing s settled ; that, 
 with the thousand you re to get, and the ten thousand to 
 Bosler, will be a pretty good slice out of the girl s hun 
 dred thousand." 
 
 "You kin stand it, Luke. You ll have eighty-four 
 thousand left, besides a good pile of your own. You ought 
 to run for delegate to Congress at the next lection. You d 
 go in sure." 
 
 "Well, perhaps I will, but I d like just to go to the 
 Territorial Council this session ; and there I guess you can 
 help me, Bill." 
 
 "Help you ! Well, I kin, Gulch, and I ll do it, too. I 
 guess I kin bring in about a hundred votes, and thar ain t 
 no cuss as would dar to run ag in you." 
 
 "I don t know about that. I heard at Hellbender that 
 they were trying to get up an opposition. They d do any 
 thing up there to beat me, but I guess I can knock em. 
 Now about this girl. I m going to make Bosler sign a re 
 ceipt for the money, and give me his promise in writing 
 that the girl shall marry me. Then, all I ask is a fair show 
 with her, and no underhand work from Bosler, and I ll fix 
 the thing by Saturday week at farthest. It s got to be done 
 
234 LA.L. 
 
 by that time, for the court meets on the Monday following, 
 and the will will come up to be proved. After that, of 
 course, there ll be no secret about it. But I was told, by 
 good authority, too, 77 continued The Gulcher, winking 
 one eye as well as the scarred eyelids permitted, "that 
 Doc Willis, the trustee, didn t intend to say a word about 
 it till the whole thing was fixed." 
 
 "Well, you ve got ten full days to work in, and you 
 ought to do it in that time." 
 
 "And I will, too ! Now suppose you go down and keep 
 Bosler quiet till I come." 
 
 "lie thinks you re in Hellbender, Luke, and that you 
 won t git back afore twelve o clock ; so you needn t hurry 
 yourself." 
 
 " All right," said " The Gulcher," taking out his elegant 
 gold hunting-case watch and looking at the time. " I ve got 
 nearly two hours yet, and I guess I ll go and see how the 
 mine s getting on. I haven t been there for a week, except 
 just to look in occasionally." So saying, and having com 
 pleted his toilet, "The Gulcher" took his departure, leav 
 ing Crump to console Mr. Bosler with a " quiet little game," 
 till the hour of noon arriving, he should, in accordance with 
 existing arrangements, show himself as having just returned 
 from Hellbender. 
 
 lie was a sharp, shrewd man ; ambitious and unscrupu 
 lous, and, like most ambitious and unscrupulous men, suc 
 cessful successful, that is, from his point of view. He had 
 received a tolerably good common-school education, and 
 upon several occasions of popular excitement had made his 
 mark as an impassioned orator. lie had accumulated a con 
 siderable amount of wealth ; partly by honest work, but 
 mostly by gambling and sharp practices in business transac 
 tions. He had never actually stolen according to the legal 
 definition of theft, and he had never, though several times 
 using his knife or pistol in affrays, killed any one till he had, 
 
NEGOTIATIONS. 235 
 
 as we have seen, felt himself compelled to put an end to Don 
 Manuel Vaca s career. Although the legal technicalities, so 
 far as they related to the actual killing of Vaca, were in his 
 favor, there was no doubt as to his having provoked the 
 quarrel, and consequently there was among the better class 
 of citizens, both at Hellbender and The Canon, a good 
 deal of feeling against him, and indignation at the facility 
 with which he had escaped all punishment. And, though 
 there had been no open threats of violence, there was a 
 general impression that the vigilance committee would 
 take his case into consideration. Though not afraid, espe 
 cially at The Canon, where the majority of the inhabit 
 ants were friendly to him, Mr. Kittle thought it prudent 
 to keep a keen lookout for any possible attack that might 
 be made upon him. The dead Mexican had several friends 
 in the place, who, though probably not desirous of keeping 
 up any personal feeling, yet might be induced to make a 
 sudden attack if the murderer came unexpectedly in their 
 way. 
 
 As he went down the long, straggling street, therefore, 
 Mr. Kittle kept his eyes in use, looking far ahead, and turn 
 ing them from side to side as he passed the corners or came 
 opposite to a drinking-saloon. He reached the mine, how 
 ever, without meeting with any interference, and, having 
 transacted a little business with the superintendent, and 
 made provision for a day s longer absence, he started on 
 his way back to Crump s. As he walked cautiously through 
 the muddy streets, he busied so much of his mind as he 
 could divert from the consideration of his personal safety, 
 with the affair he was about to transact with Mr. Bosler. 
 Matters seemed to be getting on in a much better way than 
 he could have anticipated, and to the satisfaction of both 
 the high contracting parties. As to the possible light in 
 which Lai might view the arrangements that were being 
 made for her future life, he did not deem it necessary to 
 
236 LAL. 
 
 concern himself. If lie could insure the support or even 
 the neutrality of her father, he had no fears in regard to 
 the ultimate result. Lai might object and be defiant, and 
 even vindictively violent for a while, but he had faith in 
 his powers of persuasion, and still greater confidence in 
 certain compulsory measures he might be called on to 
 adopt. However, he was of the opinion, from a long ac 
 quaintance with the mysteries of the female mind, that 
 women did not long maintain a spirit of resistance when 
 met by such indomitable firmness as he knew he possessed ; 
 and that the duration of their opposition was in inverse 
 ratio to the positiveness with which they asserted their in 
 tention of never yielding. 
 
 As regarded Mr. Bosler, he determined to tie him up 
 by such written pledges that, if he violated them, he would 
 have ample ground for encompassing his destruction. lie 
 recognized the fact, however, that the strongest hold he 
 would have on that gentleman would be the five thousand 
 dollars he was to pay him on the conclusion of the marriage 
 ceremony. And that reminded him that the first install 
 ment of the ten thousand was to be paid that day ; so he 
 stopped at his own "saloon," and opening the burglar-proof 
 safe that stood in a corner of the apartment deserted as it 
 was in the daytime by all but the attendants he took out 
 five bags, each holding a thousand dollars in gold. These 
 he put into a small leather traveling-bag, and resumed his 
 way to Crump s, not without some grumbling at the twenty- 
 five pounds or so of dead- weight that he was obliged to 
 carry. 
 
 Arriving at his friend s establishment, he repaired at 
 once to his own room, sending word to Crump that he had 
 arrived. This individual and Mr. Bosler were carrying on 
 the "quiet little game" that had been promised, with the 
 result of the loss to the latter of the entire proceeds of the 
 sale of the butte to Tyscovus, with the addition of all the 
 
NEGOTIATIONS. 237 
 
 other spare cash that Mr. Bosler had in his possession. 
 Although, consequently, in no pleasant frame of mind, he 
 was, nevertheless, so situated that a replenishing of his ex 
 hausted finances was an event much to be desired, and the 
 advent of " The Gulcher" excited a corresponding amount 
 of joy in his paternal breast. When, therefore, Crump re 
 turned with an intimation that Mr. Kittle was in his room, 
 and would be delighted to see his prospective father-in-law, 
 he sprang up with a degree of agility that few other ex 
 citations would have developed. 
 
 The meeting between the two gentlemen was affective. 
 They had not seen each other for several months, and, when 
 they had last come together, high words and even threats 
 had passed between them. Nothing now, however, could 
 have exceeded the kindly manner in which The Gulcher 
 held out his hand, and distorted his face into what he in 
 tended as a smile. Mr. Bosler met these affectionate mani 
 festations half-way, his one eye twinkled, and too much 
 overcome either by the intensity of his emotions, or the 
 strength of the whisky he had been drinking all the morn 
 ing, or, more probably, by a combination of both factors 
 to speak, he could only grasp Mr. Kit tie s outstretched 
 hand, and mumble over it some inarticulate expressions of 
 good-will. 
 
 " L always knowed as you was prime, Luke," he said, 
 when he had sufficiently recovered his composure to be en 
 abled to speak intelligibly ; "and though thar s bin misun- 
 derstandin s atween us, we have bin sot on ag in each other 
 by some darned skunks as didn t want to see us friends. 
 Thar s Vaca now, he was about the worst on em, and it s a 
 good riddance you ve made o him. But I never believed 
 the half they said about you, Luke. Ef I did, you may 
 call me a liar." 
 
 "It s all right now, Jim, anyway," answered Mr. 
 Kittle ; "we ve had our little ups and downs like the rest 
 
238 LAL - 
 
 of em, but it s all right now, I guess, and we ll be good 
 friends hereafter." 
 
 " That we will, Luke ! I was savin to Lai a few days 
 ago that I guessed she d better make up her mind to take 
 you. You see, you re a risin man, and you ll rise, and 
 rise, till you git higher nor a kite. I says to Lai, Here s the 
 man, now, as kin make a lady out o you, and there ain t 
 another man in the Territory kin do it better." 
 
 " And what did she say to all that ? " 
 
 "Well, she didn t say much," said Mr. Bosler, to whom 
 the question came too unexpectedly for him to frame a 
 suitable lie in answer ; " she don t talk much, but I knows 
 her well," he added, having in the mean time recovered his 
 usual mendacity ; "and I kin see as she s got a sneakin 
 fancy for you, Luke, jist as the rest on us has. These 
 gals is mighty onsartin and dcceivin . You think you ve 
 got em, and you finds you ain t ; and you thinks you ain t 
 got cm, and you finds you has." 
 
 " Bill tells me that he informed you of what I was 
 ready to do. I like Lai very much, and I would be glad 
 to make her Mrs. Kittle as soon as possible, and I want to 
 be friends with you, too. It ll all be in the family." 
 
 " He did, Luke. Half down, and the rest when the 
 thing s done ; that s what he said, and that s agreeable to 
 
 o 
 
 me. 
 
 " Xo, that was not exactly my proposition. I said I 
 would pay you ten thousand dollars when the job was 
 done. Still, I don t care to stand off on a trifling matter 
 like that," added Mr. Kittle, magnanimously " especially 
 with the man who s going to be my father-in-law ; and if 
 it suits you better, I ll pay you five thousand in advance." 
 
 "It would, Luke it would! You see I m all-fired 
 short jist now, and thar ll be lots o things to git for Lai so 
 as to make her fit to be your wife. You see I m a darned 
 proud kind of a man, and I wouldn t like to see no gal o 
 
NEGOTIATIONS. 239 
 
 mine goin to a man like you without being well.pervided. 
 I s pose it ain t the right sort of a feelin , but I ve got it 
 sure. Oh, yes ; pride, I guess, is my worst fault, Luke." 
 
 " That s all right. Now you wait a minute till I write 
 out a paper for you to sign, and then I ll hand you over 
 the money." 
 
 < Paper ! Oh, I wouldn t like to sign no paper. Atween 
 gentlemen like us, what s the use of dockyments ? My 
 word s jist as good as my bond, I guess." 
 
 " Well, there are several reasons. First, your memory 
 ain t any of the best ; second, I wouldn t give five thousand 
 dollars to any man, without papers passing ; third, you 
 might die ; and, fourth, I ll see you wriggling on the devil s 
 pitchfork before I ll go on with the matter, unless you 
 sign a paper I m going to draw up ! If you don t, the 
 thing s off, and I ll get the girl in my own way, whether 
 you like it or not ! " 
 
 At any other time, and under any other circumstances, 
 bold words like these would have insured an energetic re 
 sponse of some kind from Mr. Bosler. But the bait that 
 had been held out to him was so large, that it had not only 
 entirely destroyed all his powers of resistance to Mr. Kit- 
 tie s intentions toward his daughter, but had converted him 
 from opposition to thorough acquiescence. He was deter 
 mined to have the ten thousand dollars, and therefore he 
 made no further objection to " The Gulcher s " plan of 
 proceeding. This candidate for the honor of being Mr. 
 Bosler s son-in-law at once, therefore, took the matter into 
 his own hands, and was soon engaged in the composition of 
 an instrument that he intended should set forth all the 
 facts and be sufficiently binding on Mr. Bosler s conscience. 
 Not being very expert at literary work, the writing of this 
 paper took him over half an hour. It was not long, but it 
 was sufficiently comprehensive and emphatic to fulfill all 
 the requirements of the occasion as they understood them, 
 
24:0 
 
 though doubtless a legal luminary less astute than a Phila 
 delphia lawyer could have picked many flaws in it. It was 
 
 as follows : 
 
 "BILL DODD S CANON, COLORADO, 
 "September 13, 1873. 
 
 " I, James Boslcr, of Costilla County, in the Territory 
 of Colorado, being of sound mind and memory, do hereby, 
 in consideration of the sum of ten thousand dollars, five 
 thousand of which I have received, agree as follows : 
 
 " 1. My daughter, Lalla Bosler, shall be married to Luke 
 Kittle, of the county and Territory aforesaid, on or before 
 three o clock, on Saturday, the 23d day of September, 1873, 
 at Bighorn Spring, in said county and Territory. 
 
 "2. I agree, in good faith, to do all in my power to 
 make said marriage agreeable to my said daughter. 
 
 " 3. In case of any failure in cither of the provisions set 
 forth in No. 1 and No. 2 of this paper, I hereby agree to 
 return the said sum of five thousand dollars to the said 
 Luke Kittle, at the time and place aforesaid. 
 
 "4. In case all the provisions are fulfilled, I agree fur 
 ther to receive the additional sum of five thousand dollars 
 in full for all claims against the said Luke Kittle, his heirs 
 or assigns. 7 
 
 Mr. Kittle read this document in a loud tone, and then 
 Jim Bosler, after receiving a paper from " The Gulcher," 
 in which that gentleman expressed his obligation to pay 
 the further sum of five thousand dollars when the marriage 
 was performed, affixed his signature. Mr. Crump signed 
 as witness to both instruments. The money was counted 
 out to Mr. Bosler, the traveling-bag given him to carry it 
 in, and the transaction was complete. Then " The Gulcher " 
 generously ordered whisky and tobacco, and the trio sat en 
 gaged in conviviality only, till the supplies were exhausted. 
 It was then nearly three o clock. Mr. Bosler was still suffi 
 ciently sober to know that the sum in his possession was 
 
NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 too large to be kept about his person either with safety or 
 convenience ; so, taking his satchel in his hand, he went 
 across the street to the bank and made a deposit of all but a 
 small amount which he reserved for his immediate necessi 
 ties. He then returned to Crump s, ate a little dinner, and, 
 though somewhat solaced by a sense of the importance of 
 the affair he had just completed, thought it best, as he in 
 tended to start early in the morning for Bighorn Spring, 
 to go to bed, and to sleep, if not the "sleep of the right 
 eous," as soundly as his particular degree of righteousness 
 might warrant. 
 11 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A MOVEMENT 1^" POLITICS. 
 
 THERE was great rejoicing at Chetolah when the results 
 of Theodora s experiments in evolution became known to 
 the household. As soon as her father had returned from 
 the butte, whither he had driven Tyscovus, she called him 
 into her laboratory, in order that they might together 
 verify the discovery that had been made. The snakes 
 were now reposing quietly on the floor of the case in which 
 they were confined. Although the black snake is not poi 
 sonous, large ones like those in question have a great deal 
 of constricting power, and would, if seized, make it decid 
 edly uncomfortable for the arm of the attacking individual. 
 It is known that, in one instance, a snake of this species, 
 not longer than Theodora s, when seized just behind the 
 head by a professor of natural history who had captured it, 
 wound its strong body around the unfortunate man s neck 
 and strangled him to death. 
 
 But the doctor and his daughter were not only more 
 wisely cautious than the rash professor, but they were 
 more scientific. Opening a little door in the top of the 
 case, the doctor took a large sponge, and, saturating it with 
 a mixture of ether and chloroform, he dropped it into the 
 apartment close to the animals heads. They made a few 
 sluggish and ineffectual efforts to avoid inhaling the stupe 
 fying vapor, but soon relapsed into a state of insensibility. 
 Then the doctor took first one and then the other out of 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 
 
 the cage, and laying them on a long table, placed the anaes 
 thetic sponge close to their heads, so that they might con 
 tinue to inhale a soporific atmosphere. He then proceeded 
 leisurely to examine into the question of legs or no legs, 
 assisted by Theodora, whose interest in the matter was 
 equal to his own, though perhaps not so prominently ex 
 hibited. 
 
 Turning the limp and insensible reptiles on their backs, 
 the two investigators pursued their examination in the 
 most minute and thorough way, though, in truth, the ex 
 istence of a pair of ventral limbs, exactly situated as Tysco- 
 vus had discovered them, was so obvious as to be readily 
 seen by the most superficial observer. There they were 
 leg, foot, and claws the whole extremity being already 
 nearly an inch long. The enthusiasm of the doctor was 
 boundless. He embraced and kissed his daughter, and 
 walked about the room in a fever of delight. " You have 
 not only, my dear," he said, " demonstrated the truth of 
 the evolution hypothesis, but you have created a new genus 
 of reptiles, perhaps even a new order. If this had been 
 done in France, you would have been decorated and elected 
 a member of the Academy, and even, most likely, have had 
 a statue erected to your honor in some public place in the 
 city of Paris. Here, however, no one outside of this house 
 will care a sou marque whether these snakes have legs or 
 not." 
 
 Theodora laughed. "Not even Mr. Tyscovus, papa ?" 
 she inquired, demurely. 
 
 "Well, I didn t think of him," said the doctor. "I 
 suppose he would take an interest in such matters." 
 
 "I am sure," continued Theodora, earnestly, " that he 
 takes an interest in everything that directly or indirectly 
 concerns the human race. He is very intelligent, very 
 liberal in his views, very anxious to do something for hu 
 manity." 
 
244 LAL. 
 
 "You arc enthusiastic over him, Doric," said the doc 
 tor, laughing, and preparing to replace the snakes in their 
 case. "Perhaps he may, ere long, have an opportunity of 
 serving mankind in a way of which at present he has no 
 suspicion." 
 
 Theodora looked inquiringly at her father, but said 
 nothing. 
 
 "This morning," continued the doctor, "I met Ilig- 
 gins, and he is determined on nominating Mr. Tyscovus 
 for the Territorial Council. There is a vacancy in this dis 
 trict, and Luke Kittle, one of the biggest blackguards I 
 ever knew, has been urged by many persons as base as him 
 self for the seat. He will poll a large vote, and probably 
 be elected, unless some one can rouse the people into a 
 furor against him and the lawless classes of the commu 
 nity. Higgins declares Tyscovus is the man, and perhaps 
 he is. If the law permitted, I would urge you, Dorie, as 
 the proper one for the position, but, unfortuately, it is out 
 of the question." 
 
 Theodora smiled. "Oh, yes," she said, "that, of 
 course, is impossible. But how about Mr. Tyscovus ? 
 Would he be allowed to serve, and would he consent to 
 serve ? " 
 
 "All he would have to do would be to declare his inten 
 tion to become a citizen of the United States, and that he 
 could do to-morrow. As to whether or not he would accept 
 a nomination, I do not know. I promised to see him on 
 the subject in a few days, but I am not certain that I can 
 fulfill my engagement. He is so anxious to get to work, 
 and so infatuated on the subject of solitude, that I dislike 
 to disturb him. Besides, I fear he would not give his con 
 sent," 
 
 "I think if you could make it apparent to him that he 
 could do much good by giving his influence and vote in 
 favor of good laws and their enforcement, that he would be 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 245 
 
 willing to make any sacrifice required of him. He is very 
 conscientious and very honest." 
 
 "Well/ rejoined the doctor, laughing again, "you 
 seem to know him, Doric. I think I shall have to delegate 
 my duties as ambassador to you. Will you see him ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, papa ! It would scarcely be proper for me to 
 call on Mr. Tyscovus." 
 
 "A woman of your intellect, my dear, can do anything 
 not positively immoral. Conventionalities are only for 
 people of weak minds, who, not knowing how to regulate 
 their own conduct for themselves, are dependent for guid 
 ance on the opinions of others. However," continued the 
 doctor, yielding as usual to Theodora, " perhaps it might 
 be better for me to beard the lion in his den. So, if the 
 people really want him as their councilor, I ll go down to 
 the butte some day this week and talk the matter over 
 with him. I ve got to go by there to The Canon in a few 
 days to make some inquiries into the condition of Vaca s 
 affairs." 
 
 "That will be much better, papa," said Theodora. "I 
 think," she added, " that I might venture to send him a 
 message by you. But about Senor Vaca s estate. Will it 
 be as much as you thought last night ? " 
 
 "Yes, I think so perhaps more. He has two ranches 
 of several thousand acres each, and about thirty thousand 
 sheep. Besides, he owns a good many shares in the ( Good 
 Luck silver-mine, one of the best in the Territory." 
 
 "I suppose you will not tell Miss Bosler of her good 
 fortune till all is settled." 
 
 "No ; but even if I wished to do so I could not, for I 
 have no idea where she is. No one knows, probably, 
 except Tyscovus, and he will not tell, for fear I should head 
 the vigilance committee in their movement against her 
 father." 
 
 " And should you, papa ? " 
 
246 LAL. 
 
 " Certainly I should, and with the greatest pleasure. I 
 am sure I should be doing the country a good service by 
 aiding in the stringing up of Mr. Jim Bosler the greatest 
 scoundrel I have ever known." 
 
 "But, papa," said Theodora, laying her hand on his 
 arm, "don t you think it would be inconsistent with your 
 duty as the guardian of the daughter to assist in the killing 
 of her father ? " 
 
 " Guardian of the daughter !" he exclaimed, with some 
 hesitation and confusion of manner. "Well, I never 
 thought of that. Perhaps it would be a little out of the 
 way for me to take an active part in the operation. You 
 are right, Doric, as usual always right ! but " 
 
 "But, papa," persisted Theodora, "would it not be 
 still more in accordance with your known character and 
 your obligations to this poor girl, whom I have often heard 
 you speak of as having many good qualities, to do what 
 you could to prevent the lynching of her father, and to help 
 him to leave the country, as I hear he intends to do ? " 
 
 "To tell the truth, Doric, it never struck me in that 
 way before. But I dare say you are right. Yes," he added, 
 after a moment s reflection, " I am sure you are right. I ll 
 help to get him and Mrs. Bosler away, and then I shall 
 have a clear conscience in my treatment of Lai. It would, 
 I confess, be unpleasant to have her at some time or other 
 reproach me with having aided and abetted in the hanging 
 of her father. Good God ! what a narrow escape I ve had 
 from remorse that would have clung to me all my life ! 
 And all through you, Doric, my dear. If it wasn t for 
 you, I don t believe your old father could keep himself in 
 a state of sanity or respectability." 
 
 "You are everything that is good," said Theodora, put 
 ting her arms around his neck and kissing him; "and, see ! 
 the snakes are quite revived. I think we can leave them 
 now and take our tea, which is doubtless ready for us." 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 247 
 
 So saying, she took her father s arm, and the two walked 
 back into the inhabited part of the house. 
 
 Several days elapsed, during which there were repeated 
 visits to Chetolah by Mr. Higgins and other local politicians 
 who desired to exchange views with the doctor on the subject 
 of the Council nomination. There appeared to be an entire 
 unanimity relative to the desirability of selecting Tyscovus 
 as the man to beat Luke Kittle. In the first place, he was 
 especially eligible, for the reason that no one could, with 
 truth, bring any charges against him of such a character as 
 to unfit him to represent the freemen of the district of 
 which Costilla County formed an important part ; second, 
 his personal associations had been so limited that he had 
 formed no enmities, unless, indeed, Mr. Abe Wilkins should 
 consider himself aggrieved, and should enter the caucus as 
 the friend of " The Quicker " ; and, third, every one ad 
 mitted that his educational qualifications were of a charac 
 ter not often met with in a Territorial legislator. 
 
 But a caucus of the opponents of Mr. Kittle was to be 
 held, and, as it happened, the night selected was that of 
 the day on which Lai had made her visit to Tyscovus for 
 the purpose of taking back the book she had stolen. She 
 had returned to Bighorn Spring ; Mr. Bosler was in bed at 
 Crump s ; and Tyscovus was making strenuous endeavors to 
 concentrate his attention on his book, but was only suc 
 ceeding in arriving at the conclusions that Lai loved him, 
 and that he must see her again. 
 
 The caucus was to be held in the lecture-room of the 
 Lyceum, and at half-past six o clock the two or three hun 
 dred individuals who had been notified to attend began to 
 assemble. There were, also, a dozen or more -representa 
 tives from the other counties composing the Council dis 
 trict. It was arranged that at seven o clock the meeting 
 should be called to order by Colonel Edward T. Brattle, a 
 prominent coal-dealer of Hellbender, late a cavalry-officer 
 
218 LAL. 
 
 under Stonewall Jackson, and whom the reader will recol 
 lect as the leader of the vigilance committee, when they 
 made their visit to the butte in search of Mr. Bosler. Colo 
 nel Brattle was to make a few remarks explanatory of the 
 object of the assembling of so many of the first citizens of 
 Hellbender, and was to nominate Doctor Willis as president 
 of the meeting. 
 
 At the hour designated for the beginning of the pro 
 ceedings, the hall was well filled, and, amid much stamping 
 of feet and clapping of hands, Colonel Brattle arose and 
 called the meeting to order. 
 
 "Fellow-citizens of the Fourth Council Deestrick," he 
 cried, in a loud voice, " we ve come here to-night to 
 nominate a gentleman to represent us in the Territorial 
 Legislature. We re law-abidin citizens, and we mean to 
 put a stop to the things ag in law as is goin on right 
 under our very noses." (Applause, and cries of "That s 
 so!" from all parts of the hall.) " Sich bein the case," 
 continued the orator, warming to his work under the en 
 couragement of the assemblage, "I want to know what 
 you re goin to do about it ? Air you a-goin to low 
 murderers and scoundrels to drag the fair name of the 
 Fourth Council Deestrick in the mud?" ("No! no!" 
 from hundreds of voices. ) " Not ef you knows it, you ain t. 
 You keers for liberty ; you keers for law ; you keers for 
 decency as they war handed down to you by the immortal 
 fathers of the republic, and which is now jist as necessary, 
 perhaps more so, as they war then. And you re a-goin to 
 git em ! " (applause, and cries of " We air ! we air ! ") ; and 
 you re a-goin , probably, to send a man to the Council of 
 this Territory as knows what freedom is ; for he s suffered 
 in the cause of his country ; he knows what law is, for he s 
 bin whar they ain t got none but what one man makes, and 
 it s darned bad law at that ; and he knows what decency is, 
 for he ain t a horse-thief or a murderer ; and he knows how 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 
 
 to defend himself when his rights is invaded. I seen him, 
 too, under very tryin circumstances, and all I kin say is, 
 that he behaved like a man and a gentleman. Fellow-citi 
 zens ! I won t name him." (Applause, and cries of "We 
 know him ! ") " Others will do that ; but I nominate Doc 
 tor Robert Willis, the man as has done more for Hellbender 
 than any other man, a man as you all knows and respeks, 
 as president of this ere meetin . All in favor of that 
 nomination will say e Aye ." (A perfect storm of "ayes" 
 followed.) " Contrary opinion, < No ! " 
 
 There was silence for a moment, and then a solitary 
 " No ! " was heard from a corner of the hall. " Put him 
 out ! put him out ! " came from all quarters. In vain the 
 doctor arose and begged for toleration. His voice was 
 drowned in the tumult of cries. A dozen men started to 
 ward the objector, who turned out to be an English gar 
 dener whom the doctor had discharged from his service for 
 insolence. He was seized neck and heels, and, in spite of 
 the appeals of the doctor, was hustled, not very gently, out 
 of the room. "We ain t goin to let no danged furriners 
 interfere with the liberty of speech in this free country," 
 said a burly miner, the overseer of a gang of men who 
 worked in one of the doctor s mines, as he returned to 
 his seat. " They d ride rough-shod over you ef you d 
 let em." 
 
 Order being restored, the doctor took his seat as presi 
 dent, and then made a few remarks explanatory of the ob 
 jects in view, and describing the lawless state of the country 
 under the present administration of justice. " We must 
 turn them all out as we get the chance," he said, amid the 
 cheers of the audience, " and we have now an opportunity 
 to begin the good work by sending to the Legislative Coun 
 cil my friend, and the friend of all good citizens, John 
 Tyscovus. I won t say anything now in his praise you 
 have heard about him from the gentleman who has just 
 
250 LAL - 
 
 spoken. But if you nominate him, and he accepts, my 
 word for it, you will hear from him in tones of no uncer 
 tain sound." 
 
 There were speeches by others, and then, amid loud 
 cries of " Higgins ! Higgins ! " that gentleman arose. " Fel 
 low-citizens ! " he said, standing on a chair and waving 
 both arms as though to clasp the whole meeting in a loving 
 embrace, "I m not goin to give you a speech; I m only 
 goin to say a few words as will strike into your souls, and 
 rouse the sleeping lion that now reposes in fancied security. 
 Rome lost her liberty by trustin to tyrants, and we ll lose 
 ours if we goes around waggin our tails and lookin pleased 
 when the danger s all about us. Fellow-citizens ! I know 
 Captain Tyscovus." (He had finally succeeded, after many 
 lessons from the doctor, in getting the name.) " I ve seen 
 him, a rich and powerful man, leavin his own country to 
 taste the blessin s of freedom in this enlightened land. 
 He s had the irons of the tyrant on his limbs because of his 
 love for his country. Fellow-citizens ! the man as would 
 suffer for the country whar he was born wouldn t be likely 
 to squeal if danger come to his adopted country this great 
 and glorious Union!" (Immense applause.) "No! fel 
 low-citizens ! you see him a-takin his part like the rest on 
 us, jist as he stood by his own home when a ruffian tried to 
 burgle him. Therefore, fellow-citizens, I nominate Cap 
 tain John Tyscovus, of Costilla County, for councilor from 
 the Fourth Council Deestrick." 
 
 The nomination was seconded ; and then, after making 
 a few remarks, in which he spoke of the qualifications of 
 Tyscovus for the vacant seat in the Territorial Council, the 
 doctor put the question, and, with a unanimous storm of 
 "ayes!" the nomination was made. A committee, con 
 sisting of Messrs. Higgins, Brattle, and the chairman, was 
 appointed to inform the nominee of the desire of his fellow- 
 citizens that he should represent them in the Legislature ; 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 251 
 
 and then, with " three cheers and a tiger " for " Tyscovus 
 and reform ! " the meeting adjourned. 
 
 It was arranged that on the following evening the com 
 mittee should visit the -butte, and formally announce to 
 Tyscovus the action of the caucus ; and then the doctor 
 returned home to inform Theodora of what had been 
 done. Over the big open fire of the drawing-room at 
 Chetolah they discussed the probabilities of Tyscovus ac 
 cepting the nomination ; and then, after the doctor in 
 spite of the sanitary knowledge that told him it was 
 wrong had taken his usual cup of tea before retiring, the 
 two repaired to their respective bedrooms ; the doctor to 
 sleep as soon as his dose of strong tea would permit, and 
 Theodora to sit for an hour before the cheerful fire in her 
 room, thinking of those things that most interested her. 
 This to her was the most cherished hour of all the twenty- 
 four ; the one in which, safe from interruption, she could 
 either consider the events of the day passed, or those likely 
 to occur in future ; or, with some loved volume in her hand, 
 find food for reflection in the ideas suggested by the au 
 thor. To-night, the incidents that the last two days had 
 brought forth were sufficiently exciting to engage her at 
 tention. She was not prone to overestimate the value of 
 her scientific acquirements, or to attach too great an 
 importance to any contributions she could make to the 
 knowledge of the world. She never conversed on such 
 matters, unless with persons whose interest in them was 
 equal to her own. She was never, therefore, in danger of 
 being taken for one of those priggish women who, having 
 a smattering of information on subjects not generally famil 
 iar to what is called "society," air their slight learning on 
 all occasions. She knew that such women are much more 
 offensive than men of similar characteristics. 
 
 Now, the important results that had been obtained in 
 the matter of investigating the truth or falsity of the doc- 
 
252 LAL. 
 
 trine of evolution upon which she had entered, engaged a 
 large share of her thoughts, as she sat in front of the bright 
 wood-fire, her little feet, delicately incased in her bedroom 
 slippers, resting on the polished brass fender, her reddish- 
 auburn hair falling in warm waves over her neck and 
 shoulders, and her attitude in the luxuriously cushioned 
 chair suggestive of the most perfect bodily ease. Her train 
 ing had been such as to encourage the cultivation of her 
 thinking faculties, and she had, therefore, no difficulty in 
 inducing the condition of mental concentration without 
 which deep thought, except as suggested by perceptional 
 excitations, is impossible. If, as has been asserted, women 
 are incapable of abstract thought, she was an exception to 
 the rule. 
 
 And yet, with intellectual powers of a high order, there 
 was no lack of sentiment in Theodora Willis, and no de 
 ficiency in her power of emotional expression. There was 
 nothing "hard" about her. She was impressionable, with 
 out being weak, and, even when she was firm in the tenacity 
 with which she held opinions or pursued a course that 
 others thought inadmissible, she persevered with a sweet 
 ness of manner that was of itself usually sufficient to dis 
 arm all opposition. She had no desire for notoriety, and 
 yet it was very necessary that the scientific world should 
 become acquainted with the important results she had been 
 able to obtain. In that way only could further investiga 
 tions in the same direction be initiated. Besides, she felt 
 herself incapable of dealing with the great fact in such a 
 manner as to make it useful in still further advancing the 
 boundaries of science. Then, she was not unmindful of 
 the fact that the mere circumstance of her being a woman 
 would in the estimation of some scientific men for nar 
 rowness of mind is not absolutely incompatible with the 
 possession of great knowledge be sufficient to cast a doubt 
 on the authenticity of her discovery. An idea was prev- 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 253 
 
 alent, she thought, that her sex was, as a rule, inexact ; 
 that women did not appreciate the importance of being 
 thorough and precise ; and that without being governed by 
 the motive of intending to deceive, they nevertheless did, 
 by the looseness of their statements, often lead to the for 
 mation of erroneous inferences. She had taken the pains 
 to look into the matter of these charges, and, while she 
 found much ground for their correctness, she was quite 
 certain that the fact was altogether due to the character of 
 the education given to the majority of women from the 
 time they are born till they reach the grave. 
 
 Though living a great part of every year in the wilds of 
 Colorado, Theodora and her father spent every summer in 
 the East, where they always had access to what is known as 
 the " best society." She had not failed to recognize the fact 
 that it was constituted of elements that gave neither per 
 manency nor dignity to the organization. She had met 
 people at balls and dinners one season, who were invisible 
 the next, and, on inquiring the reason had been told that 
 the head of the family had lost his wealth in business-vent 
 ures, and that the wife and daughters were no longer con 
 sidered desirable acquaintances. New people had come in, 
 many of whom, after holding their places for a season or 
 two, would disappear, and be heard of no more. She had 
 driven in the Central Park of New York, and after a month 
 or two had got to know, by sight at least, many of the 
 elegant equipages and their occupants, that filled the roads 
 every afternoon. The next year there was a new set, still 
 more magnificent than the former, and the latter had gone 
 the way of all unfortunate speculators in stocks, pork, or 
 breadstuffs ; possibly to reappear, in after-years, but prob 
 ably never more to haunt the places they loved so well. 
 All this had disgusted her, and she had always turned with 
 avidity to her studies, grieved at the reflection that, as mat 
 ters were now constituted, there was little hope for the 
 
LAL. 
 
 elevation of her sex in the intellectual scale. The improve 
 ment, she saw, would not come till men frowned on the 
 frivolities and ignorances of women, and sought their wives 
 among those who had thought it a matter of importance to 
 cultivate their intellects. 
 
 With the quick perception that was such a striking 
 feature in her character, Theodora had at once recognized 
 the superiority of Tyscovus to the majority of men of his 
 station in life. She had seen his readiness to be enlight 
 ened, and the little hold that his opinions had upon him 
 when facts no longer warranted their being held. She dis 
 covered at once that, though he had strong convictions on 
 every subject upon which the conversation touched, he was 
 ready to modify or renounce them so soon as it was shown 
 that the logic of circumstances was against them. There 
 was no trace in him of that intellectual obstinacy which men 
 of weak minds are so prone to exhibit ; no disposition to 
 argue for the sake of arguing ; no ungenerous concealment 
 of the fact that his views had changed. On the contrary, 
 to admit that he had been in error appeared to be a passion 
 with him ; magnanimity had cropped out in every discus 
 sion she had had with him ; he appeared to be absolutely 
 free from ineradicable prejudices, and to keep his mind 
 open to receive new truths as fast as they were presented. 
 
 All this was very pleasant to her. Such men as he were 
 rare ; indeed, she had before encountered but one like him, 
 and she would have been pleased could she have seen more 
 of him and have interchanged ideas with him on those 
 many subjects that interested them both. When, there 
 fore, he announced that he intended to seclude himself 
 on the butte for several months, she experienced a feeling 
 of disappointment that scarcely, however, reached the point 
 of regret, and that, therefore, did not touch her emotional 
 nature to any but a very moderate degree. It is true he 
 had given her his sympathy when she had told him of the 
 
A MOVEMENT IN POLITICS. 255 
 
 course of her education and of her father s mental disturb 
 ance ; he had also expressed manfully, generously, his ap 
 preciation of the pregnant results that had been obtained 
 from her experiments in evolution ; he had renounced, to 
 some extent at least, the views he had held relative to the 
 part that women should play in the grand social economy 
 of mankind ; and he had shown in a hundred ways, each 
 trifling if taken by itself, but all together indicating un 
 mistakably how deeply she had impressed herself upon his 
 
 mind yes, even his heart. Still, she was a woman who 
 
 kept her feelings well under control, and whose whole 
 training had been in the direction of intellect rather than 
 emotion ; whose life had been, with the single exception of 
 the episode of her mother s death, a singularly even one, 
 with scarcely a ripple of excitement to disturb its placid 
 surface. Thus, while she had felt a certain degree of 
 pleasure in the brief association she had had with Tysco- 
 vus, this was due more to the effect that his ideas had 
 exercised upon her, than to any merely personal, physical, 
 or mental qualities. She saw that his appearance and man 
 ners were those of a gentleman. She thought his face, 
 though markedly different from the types of manly beauty 
 that had hitherto come under her notice, so full of expres 
 sion and so indicative of emotional and intellectual activity, 
 that she was disposed to regard it as to her mind the hand 
 somest she had ever seen. The tones of his voice were soft 
 and musical, but yet free from the least trace of effeminacy, 
 and he had that bearing of indescribable ease combined with 
 deference, when he listened or spoke to her, that all women, 
 from the peasant to the princess, regard as the highest hom 
 age they can receive. 
 
 She had noticed all these things, but they had not im 
 pressed her with any deep sense of his personality, beyond 
 contributing mildly to swell the sum-total of the pleasure 
 she had derived from his short visit. 
 
256 LAL. 
 
 As she sat in her bedroom looking into the fire, and sur 
 rounded with all the luxuries that wealth and refinement 
 could procure, she thought of Tyscovus, solitary on his 
 isolated butte, deep in the work that he had come many 
 thousand miles to undertake. This was a fact that ap 
 pealed strongly to her sympathy. It was one she could 
 understand and respect, and now she thought it strange 
 that, though he had been gone from Chetolah more than 
 three whole days, and though in that time she had fre 
 quently had him before her in her mind s eye, she had 
 never once pictured him as the exile in a strange land, far 
 from friends, struggling against what to him must be al 
 most insuperable obstacles in the effort to do something 
 for the good of mankind. This she thought was true no 
 bility. This was heroism; nothing like it had ever before 
 come into the current of her life, and she felt herself 
 moved as she never had before been moved. She glanced 
 at the Dresden porcelain clock that stood on the mantel 
 piece before her. It was nearly eleven o clock. Was he 
 then sitting in his rough and lonely cabin, with not a liv 
 ing soul within miles of him, laboring at the book to the 
 completion of which he was willing to devote his life ? 
 With no hope of reward, with not even the expectation of 
 appreciation, but with the thorough disinterestedness of 
 the scholar, the sage, the hero, he had cut loose from 
 wealth and luxury, to do the work to which he felt him 
 self called. How small and mean and pitiful her own life 
 seemed by the side of that which this Polish gentleman had 
 lived, and was living ! What had she ever sacrificed ? Noth 
 ing ! She had lived in affluence and ease throughout her 
 whole existence, and would probably continue to do so should 
 she survive to be a hundred years old ; and she would in all 
 likelihood keep on doing, according to her light and her 
 powers, the work that came in her way. There was no 
 heroism in this. There was not even self-denial. 
 
A MOVEMENT IX POLITICS. 257 
 
 She covered her face with her hands so as to shut out 
 the sight of the blazing fire. Yes, there might be self- 
 denial, even heroism, in it, after all ; but could she make 
 the sacrifice ? Was it a woman s duty to give her life to 
 those pursuits for which men were better fitted than she ? 
 Did not the life she was leading unfit her for those respon 
 sibilities which Nature had imposed on her sex ? Had she 
 mistaken her vocation ? For what purpose was she in the 
 world ? These were startling questions. She removed her 
 hands. It was eleven o clock. She had sat for one hour 
 thinking, and had settled nothing. She sighed as she rose 
 and prepared to go to bed. "At any rate," she said, "I 
 will write to Mr. Darwin and inform him of the results of 
 my experiments." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 "THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOVUS!" 
 
 0^ the day following Lai s return home after her visit 
 to the butte, Tyscovus managed to concentrate his atten 
 tion on his book, and had done, by the time evening ar 
 rived, a good day s work, which, although not up to his 
 usual standard of clearness and conciseness, was neverthe 
 less such as with a little revision would do very well. lie 
 was writing his treatise in English, which, as the reader will 
 have perceived, he spoke grammatically and witli a proper 
 knowledge of the value of words, except perhaps in the one 
 instance of that of "love " to express the state of his feel 
 ing toward Theodora Willis. 
 
 lie was sitting, as was his wont after eating his frugal 
 evening meal, in front of the large fire that the increasing 
 coldness of the nights now rendered necessary. lie was 
 smoking his third pipe. It was his custom to smoke six 
 before doing a little more work preparatory to going to bed. 
 lie retired early, rarely being up after nine o clock, and 
 rising in the morning with the sun. He never smoked 
 through the day ; tobacco with him excited recollections, 
 not original thought, and hence he could not indulge while 
 at his work, and he was using his brain to create ideas. 
 
 But in the evening it was different. Then was the time 
 for recalling to mind those events that had impressed them 
 selves upon him and that had no special relation with his 
 work, and then it was that his pipe came to his aid with its 
 soothing and reminiscent power. 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOVUS!" 259 
 
 As he sat smoking the meerschaum he had brought with 
 him, the color of which would have excited the envy of a 
 college student, many thoughts of his recent visit to Che- 
 tolah passed through his mind. He could not avoid com 
 paring Theodora Willis with Lai Bosler, and perceiving 
 what directly opposite types of women they were, not only 
 in all the elements of personal beauty, but in those of men 
 tal organization in perhaps even a more marked degree. 
 Theodora had at first astonished him, and had demolished 
 several ideal idols that he had been worshiping for many 
 years. In the beginning, this had unpleasantly shocked 
 him, but, before he had been longer than a few minutes in 
 her society, the charm of her personal appearance and the 
 sweetness of her manners had swept away the barriers that 
 his education had erected against the inroads of women, and 
 he had been brought to confess that he had been wrong in 
 many of the notions that he had regarded as being essen 
 tially sacred, and secure from all chance of eradication. 
 
 His prejudices against Lai were of a different character, 
 and were due to ideas that had, as it were, been born in him 
 and been strengthened with every moment of his existence. 
 His family was the very oldest in Poland ; he was entitled 
 to bear twenty-four quarterings of nobility on his coat-of- 
 arms ; his ancestors had been nobles before those of the 
 Emperor of Russia were heard of ; a mesalliance had never 
 been contracted by any son or daughter of his house ; his 
 own personal nature was refined and delicate ; he hated 
 dirt and rudeness of speech and uncouth manners, and 
 mean, low ideas and ignorance. All these things were an 
 abomination to him, and he had always shunned as far as 
 practicable those persons, men or women, in whom they were 
 exhibited. And he had done this not rudely or unkindly, 
 but with that gentle, almost deferential, though sufficient 
 ly positive air that disarmed while it repelled. Lai had ex 
 hibited, when he had first made her acquantance, many of 
 
260 LAL. 
 
 the most repulsive qualities in his category of bad traits, 
 but even then there were a winsomeness in her ways, a 
 frankness, an enthusiasm, a passionate devotion to the ob 
 ject she had in view, that had strongly impressed him, and 
 that, as she had shown them in her late interview, had fair 
 ly captured him mind and body. The image of her, pros 
 trate on the ground before him, her arms clasped around 
 his knees, pouring out her very soul in her homely but fer 
 vid words in a prayer for his welfare, was ever before him. 
 The soft, wonderfully musical voice was constantly in his 
 ears, and yet she was low-born, the daughter of a murderer 
 and a horse-thief, who, in all probability, would ere long end 
 his days on a gallows or some other arrangement for hang 
 ing him by the neck ; but her eyes were the softest and the 
 most loving he had ever seen, her smile one that a guard 
 ian angel might have envied, and he had reason to believe 
 that she was not inherently vulgar. No woman, he 
 thought, witli a smile like hers could be, and the faults she 
 had were such as resulted from her associations, and were 
 hence remediable through the influence of education and 
 refined society. 
 
 Yes, but her father was a drunken beast, against whom 
 every honest man s hand was raised ; and her mother, as he 
 had seen her, a commonplace, ignorant, degraded sloven, 
 who had fallen almost as low in the social scale as her hus 
 band. To connect himself with these people would be to 
 outrage all the traditions of his family, to violate every 
 principle of sociology bearing upon the point for which he 
 had ever contended. True, he might marry her and edu 
 cate her as had often been done before in like cases ; or he 
 might wait till she had, under the guardianship of his 
 friend Doctor Willis, received the scholastic benefits of the 
 murdered Don Manuel Vaca s money. And then in either 
 case he could take her away to a land where Jim Bosler and 
 his wife had never been known. 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOVUS!" 261 
 
 Upon full consideration lie concluded that the mere fact 
 that she was the daughter of a murderer and horse-thief 
 ought not, if justice went for anything, and she herself 
 were worthy, to count in the scale against her. That far 
 his prejudices could be overcome, without much strain 
 upon his principles, by a simple and direct appeal to his 
 sense of right. But the idea of such an intimate associa 
 tion with the two Boslers, father and mother, as must of 
 necessity exist were he to marry Lai and remain at the 
 butte, was so utterly repugnant to him that he felt the alli 
 ance would be altogether out of the question. There was 
 nothing to do, therefore, but to wait for such further devel 
 opments as seemed about to take place. Lai would soon 
 come into the possession of a fortune sufficiently large to 
 give her every educational advantage ; the doctor was a 
 man who would certainly use the means at his disposal so 
 as to produce the utmost possible beneficial results. She 
 was yet young, and by the time she had received the mental 
 and moral training of which she stood so greatly in need, 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Bosler might have passed away from 
 this earthly stage of existence. Yes, he must wait, and in 
 the mean time it would be better that he should not see her 
 again. There could be no use in their meeting at present ; 
 on the contrary, further intercourse was sure to increase the 
 feeling, now only latent, or at least not fully developed, 
 which they entertained for each other, and perhaps lead to 
 additional complications. 
 
 Besides, as he resolved the matter over in his mind 
 while he was diligently giving a deeper tinge to his meer 
 schaum, he was not quite sure that he had been sufficiently 
 exact in his estimation of the nature of Lai s feeling toward 
 him. Experiencing in his own heart a passionate glow 
 which, if not love, was certainly akin to it, he had jumped 
 at the inference that she had been actuated by a like emo 
 tion, when, in fact, it might have been nothing stronger 
 
262 LAL. 
 
 than gratitude she was cherishing. He was not, however, 
 the man to run much risk of being deceived in a matter of 
 this kind. No one probably ever had less vanity than he ; 
 instead of exalting, he was constantly in his own mind de 
 preciating himself. He knew all his short-comings, and 
 was aware that others perceived them. He would have 
 felt humiliated had he thought himself capable of believing 
 a woman to be in love with him when she was simply polite, 
 or kind, or evincing gratitude. No, he could not have been 
 mistaken. There was a look in Lai s eyes, when he raised 
 her to her feet, that had never been there before for him, 
 at least, and which revealed to him the very instant when 
 the spirit of love took possession of her heart. 
 
 Suddenly, without a moment s warning, the harsh clam 
 or of a brass band, apparently at his very door, rang out 
 upon the evening air in such ear-piercing and discordant 
 sounds, that he thought for a moment that pandemonium 
 had broken loose, and that all the fiends of the lower re 
 gions had united together for the purpose of producing a 
 noise that would split his head. He jumped to his feet 
 and listened. For a moment he thought it was just possi 
 ble that the discordant strains were intended for the Scot 
 tish air, "Hail to the chief who in triumph advances." 
 Without having the least idea of what it all meant, he 
 flung the door wide open, and then beheld a sight that 
 filled him with the most utter astonishment. There on 
 the plateau, arranged in the form of a semicircle, stood 
 fully fifty men, several of them carrying transparencies, on 
 which were printed in large letters such sentences as "Law 
 above License," "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence," and 
 one that especially excited his wondering curiosity, " Tys- 
 covus and Eeform." As soon as he made his appearance 
 on the plateau the band ceased playing, and a stentorian 
 voice exclaimed, "Three cheers for Tyscovus!" These 
 were given with a will, and were supplemented in true or- 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOVUS!" 263 
 
 thodox style with a "tiger." Before he could inquire the 
 meaning of what he now saw was intended as a compli 
 ment, but of the nature of which he had not the slightest 
 idea, one of the party, whom he at once recognized as Mr. 
 Higgins, stepped a little in advance of the rest, and, ad 
 dressing him, said : 
 
 " Captain Tyscovus ! It becomes my pleasin dooty, in 
 the absence of our chairman, Doctor Willis, who has been 
 called out perfessionally, and tharfore couldn t come, to 
 inform you that the freemen of the Fourth Legislative 
 Council Deestrick have met in their majesty and might, 
 and have nominated you as their candidate for the Legisla 
 tive Council." 
 
 ( Three cheers for Tyscovus ! " shouted some one in the 
 crowd. Three deafening yells, and a "tiger" worse than 
 the rest, awoke the echoes in the " Little Canon," and 
 started several coyotes to barking. 
 
 "The people," continued the orator, "ain t sich fools 
 as they re often took to be. They looked round for a man 
 as they thought would be safe to give their interests to, 
 and it didn t take em long to make up their minds. They 
 looked down here toward the butte, and thar they seen a 
 son o freedom livin the life of the good citizen ; thar they 
 seen one as had suffered for his country ; thar they seen 
 one as bearded the lion in his den, and had spoke out like 
 a brave man and a second Dannel, who warn t afeared to 
 tell the tyrant of Roosia jist what he thought of him. And 
 the man they seen was the same as is now standin afore 
 me, Captain John Tyscovus, the honest man s friend, and 
 the next councilor from the Fourth Deestrick. Fellow- 
 citizens ! I propose three cheers and a tiger for Captain 
 Tyscovus." Again the assemblage of freemen lifted up 
 their voices, and the band added to the din by a series of 
 violent demonstrations, evidently intended for a fanfare. 
 
 Tyscovus had, by the time Mr. Higgins finished his 
 
264 LAL. 
 
 speech, obtained a tolerably correct idea of the object of 
 the demonstration. To say that he was surprised would 
 very inadequately express the state of his feelings. Was it 
 a joke ? Did these people really wish him to represent 
 them in the Territorial Legislature, and had they formally 
 nominated him for a seat in that body ? He did not know 
 what to say. He could only bow his thanks, and shake 
 Mr. Higgins s outstretched hand. The latter, however, 
 soon relieved him from his embarrassment. 
 
 " You see, captain," said this gentleman, in a low tone, 
 " I knowed as you didn t have no liquor around, and I 
 knowed as the boys would be thirsty after their cold ride, 
 so I jist turned a kag o old Bourbon into my wagon, and 
 had it drawn up the hill while the others left their teams 
 below. It s here now, jist behind the house. I ll git it 
 and start a fire, and then, while the boys is warmin them 
 selves inside and out, you and me and Colonel Brattle will 
 jist go in and talk matters over, and then you kin come 
 out and make the boys a speech. I ve got a letter here for 
 you from the doctor." So saying, Mr. Higgins produced 
 the epistle, and then going into the shadow of the house, 
 soon reappeared, rolling a keg on the ground by kicking it 
 with his foot. 
 
 "Boys," he said, addressing the assembly, "you ll find 
 some fat wood round thar, and you d better start a rousin 
 fire as ll not only warm you, but will sarve to light up a 
 good part of the Fourth Deestrick, and show em as we 
 ain t goin to hide our light under a bushel-measure. And 
 here s somethin better, as Captain Tyscoyus told me to 
 give you, with his best wishes for the success of the cause. 
 It s a prime article ; none o your rot-gut as they sells over 
 at The Caiion, and thar s a darned sight more of it, too, at 
 my store in Hellbender." Again the welkin rang with 
 cheers, and, following the directions given them, the 
 "boys " made a big fire, and, broaching the cask of Bour- 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOVUS!" 265 
 
 bon, proceeded at once to make themselves merry by be 
 fuddling their brains with its contents. 
 
 While they were engaged in this pleasing occupation, 
 Tyscovus, with Mr. Higgins and Colonel Brattle, entered 
 the house and proceeded to the discussion of the important 
 business before them. 
 
 Tyscovus opened the doctor s letter, which he found 
 contained an open note from Theodora. He read first 
 what the doctor had to say. The communication was a 
 long one and placed the matter clearly before him, closing 
 with an earnest request that, disregarding any merely pri 
 vate considerations that might suggest themselves, he would 
 aid in bringing about such a condition of affairs in the 
 Territory as all good citizens must desire should be initiated 
 at as early a day as possible. Then he opened Theodora s 
 note. The envelope was dainty to begin with, the paper 
 linen ; it was unsealed. There was no gaudy monogram 
 or armorial bearing at the head of the sheet. Only the 
 words " Chetolah, Hellbender, " printed from an engraved 
 plate in dark-blue ink, and in modest letters. It read : 
 
 " DEAR MR. TYSCOVUS : You have now an opportunity 
 for doing good that I hope, for all our sakes, you will not 
 disregard. It may seem to you a strange thing that, after 
 being less than a week among us, you should be offered a 
 seat in the Legislature, but things move rapidly in this 
 country. If they did not, they would not move at all. The 
 occurrence, however, is, I assure you, not an unusual one in 
 our newly-formed Territories. My father feels more on 
 the subject than he would venture to write. He thinks 
 the matter ought to be left to your own judgment, with 
 out solicitation. I think otherwise, and therefore I ask 
 you to yield to the wishes of your friends. 
 " Yours, sincerely, 
 
 1 THEODORA WILLIS." 
 12 
 
206 LAL. 
 
 Tyscovus sat, holding the note in his hand, and almost 
 making up his mind to accept the nomination and enter 
 energetically upon his canvass. In the midst of his medi 
 tations, Mr. Higgins, doubtless thinking that the nominee 
 had had sufficient time to consider the arguments of the 
 doctor and his daughter, broke in with his own : 
 
 You see, captain, ef we don t git you, thar s no man 
 as kin lick Luke Kittle ; and ef he goes in, thar won t be 
 no safety in these parts for any man s life or property. I 
 don t suppose as you re naturalized, but thar ain t no need- 
 cessity for that ef you ll come over to Hellbender right 
 away and declare your intentions." 
 
 " So far as that is concerned," answered Tyscovus, "I 
 am more than half an American already. My mother was 
 a New-Yorker, and several years ago, while on a visit to 
 her family, I took the opportunity of declaring my in 
 tention to become a citizen of the United States. All I 
 would have to do now would bo to go and be naturalized, 
 and that can be done at any time. So that, if that were 
 all, I should have no obstacle to interpose to your wishes. I 
 am deeply flattered at the great honor you have done me. 
 I am sincerely touched here in my heart," he continued, 
 laying both hands on his breast, "but I do really doubt my 
 ability to serve you, and I came here to do a special work, 
 which, if I accept this nomination, must be deferred for a 
 long time perhaps altogether given up." 
 
 "As to your fitness," said Colonel Brattle, joining for 
 the first time in the conversation, " we ll resk that. Didn t 
 I see you when you was took all on a suddent by the com 
 mittee, and didn t you behave like a trump ? No man 
 could V done better. Thar warn t no sign of a white 
 feather about you, and you talked just as don t-care-a- 
 darn Mike, as though you mought be speakin to your own 
 brother. As to the work you speak of well, o course, you 
 knows better than us ; but ef thar s any more important 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOVUS!" 267 
 
 work to be done than savin the Territory from murderers 
 and thieves, I d like to know what it is. Wouldn t you, 
 Higgins ? " 
 
 "I would that," answered the gentleman addressed. 
 " You see, captain, it ain t no use. The boys want you ; 
 you re qualified right up to the hub, and, even ef you don t 
 like it, you ought to go in jist to save the country. Now, 
 say you will, and I ll tell the boys, and then you ll make a 
 little speech and they ll drink your health, and we ll go 
 home and run you in by the biggest vote as the Old 
 Fourth ever polled!" 
 
 Tyscovus reflected. There was a good deal of truth in 
 what these men said in their homely but expressive lan 
 guage. Here was a practical way at once opened to him of 
 benefiting the human race, not only directly through his 
 vote and personal influence in the legislative body in which 
 it was proposed to place him, but by means to which they 
 did not allude. For, not knowing the nature of his stud 
 ies, and of the work upon which he was engaged, they were 
 not prepared to call his attention to the important point 
 in question. His keen perception had, however, at once 
 grasped the situation. He knew that, no matter how good 
 his book might be, there would be a difficulty in getting 
 the public to read it. He knew that the critics would give 
 opinions about it according to their preconceived notions 
 or their personal feelings ; and that, too, without having 
 read it, or perhaps even without having seen it. The 
 trouble would be in getting an audience, and years might 
 elapse before the subject could be hammered into the heads 
 of an apathetic or hostile public. 
 
 But as a member of the Legislature of a flourishing Ter 
 ritory, there was a field for effective work spread out be 
 fore him. He would be at once thrown into the whirl of 
 politics, and would make speeches, which would be reported 
 in the newspapers and spread broadcast over the land. He 
 
268 LAL. 
 
 would have occasion to introduce bills embodying his views, 
 and, though the field was not an extensive one, it was some 
 thing, and it might lead to his being called to still higher 
 positions and more extensive opportunities. 
 
 Then he read Theodora s letter again. It was a pleasant 
 epistle, couched in just the right language ; making a dig 
 nified request, but not venturing on importunity. And 
 then the character of the stationery used showed that she 
 had not, in spite of her scientific studies, neglected one of 
 the little graces of life. He had met in London and New 
 York two or three scientific and literary women, and they 
 were slovenly, not only in their dress but in their ways. It 
 was a small thing, perhaps, to judge a woman by, but it 
 would have been something to almost every man of gentle 
 tastes, and to Tyscovus it meant a great deal. Yes, Theo 
 dora was not losing her femininity. Had she been retro 
 grading in this respect she would have written on dingy, 
 perhaps even ruled, paper ; she would have used an enve 
 lope with "If not delivered in ten days, return to " 
 
 printed in one corner ; whereas Tiffany never sent out a 
 more perfect ensemble for epistolary use than that employed 
 by Theodora. It was pleasant to him to handle and read 
 her {-esthetic letter, and it helped, to no unimportant ex 
 tent, to bring him to a decision. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said, addressing the two committee- 
 men, " I accept the nomination. I will do my best to be 
 elected, and I thank you and the people of the Fourth 
 Council District for the confidence they place in me." 
 
 " Bully for you ! " exclaimed Mr. Higgins, jumping to 
 his feet, and grasping one hand while Colonel Brattle shook 
 the other. " Now come out and speak to the boys, who 
 air jist sp ilin to hear a word from you." 
 
 In the mean time "the boys" had kindled an enormous 
 fire, and were beginning to feel the effects of the whisky 
 with which they had been provided. As soon as the three 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSOOVUS!" 269 
 
 gentlemen made their appearance, they gathered round the 
 passage-way, anxiously expecting to be informed of the re 
 sult of the conference. Mr. Higgins was the first to speak. 
 He said : 
 
 " It s all right, boys ! It gives me pleasure to introduce 
 to you our fellow-citizen, Captain John Tyscovus, the next 
 councilor from the old Fourth. Although a native of Po 
 land, the country which the tyrant of Roosia holds down 
 with his foot on her neck, his mother was an American, a 
 descendant of one of the old Revolutionary families as 
 fought, bled, and died in the defense of their liberties. 
 Every one knows that a man gits his good qualities from 
 his mother, and tharfore Captain Tyscovus has got em, 
 and of the kind you d like him to have. Things is all goin 
 wrong in this Territory. We want reform, and we can t 
 git it from the men as holds the offices. They re too firm 
 sot in thar ways. Kin the leper change his spots ? No, 
 fellow-citizens, he can t. Onst a leper always a leper. 
 Everybody knows that. The doctor ll tell you it s true. 
 He may want to change em ; he may even want to git rid. 
 of em altogether, but he can t do it. Thar they stick. 
 But he s better nor the men as we ve got here to manage 
 things. He d like to change his spots. They don t want 
 no reform. Fellow-citizens ! I d rather be a leper as white 
 as snow than one o them. We ve got to take things onto 
 our own hands, and the first step is to be took by electin 
 Captain Tyscovus to the Council from the Fourth Dees- 
 trick. Gentlemen ! three cheers and a tiger for Captain 
 John Tyscovus ! " 
 
 Louder than before the yells were given, and they were 
 followed by cries of "Speech ! speech!" with such a de 
 gree of persistency, that Tyscovus felt doubly impelled to 
 say a few words. 
 
 "My friends," he said, standing bareheaded before 
 them, "your kindness so overwhelms me that I scarcely 
 
270 LAL. 
 
 know how to thank you in adequate terms for the honor 
 you have done me, and for the kind way in which you 
 have informed me of your action. I accept the nomination 
 which you, moved, as I am sure, by a desire for the public 
 good, have offered me. And I here declare that, if elected, 
 I will do all in my power to promote the best interests of 
 this wonderful and beautiful country. That you should 
 elect me, a stranger, to be your servant, fills me with aston 
 ishment, but none the more does it diminish the grateful 
 sense of your goodness that moves my heart. I should 
 like to shake each one of you by the hand before we part 
 to-night, but I hope to meet you often during the interval 
 between now and the election. Again, my friends, I thank 
 you." 
 
 The enthusiasm over this brief speech was immense. 
 " The boys" danced and shouted and sang and waved their 
 transparencies, and the band struck up what was intended 
 by one part for the "Star-spangled Banner," and by the 
 other for "Yankee Doodle," and which, therefore, was an 
 incongruous though noisy and patriotic medley of such a 
 character as to make Saint Cecilia, if she heard it, wring 
 her hands in very anguish. Still, it served its purpose of 
 making a noise, and expressing the exuberance of their 
 emotions. A general hand - shaking took place ; after 
 which, with repeated .cheers, the party scrambled down the 
 butte to their wagons, which they had left below all but 
 Mr. Higgins and Colonel Brattle, who remained to say a 
 few words in regard to future arrangements for conducting 
 the canvass. 
 
 "I ll tell you what it is, captain," said Mr. Biggins, 
 shaking Tyscovus s hand for at least the twentieth time 
 that night, "you re the biggest man in Colorado, and you ll 
 be one of the first Senators as goes to Congress when she s 
 admitted into the Union. Mind, now, what I say, Brattle, 
 for it s bound to come true as sure as my name s Higgins." 
 
"THREE CHEERS FOR TYSCOYUS!" 271 
 
 Before they left, Tyscovus wrote short notes to the doc 
 tor and Theodora, which he intrusted to Mr. Higgins to 
 deliver. The latter was only a few words. " You are yery 
 kind," he said. " I have done as you wish." 
 
 Then the two committee-men joined their friends, and 
 Tyscovus heard the well-pleased party as they shouted and 
 sang, and the brass band blowed, till they were far on their 
 way back to Hellbender. 
 
 His manuscript and books of reference were still on the 
 table ; his complement of pipes was still unsmoked. Again 
 he sat before his fire, his brain busy over what had oc 
 curred, and with speculations as to the possible results. 
 At last he knocked the ashes out of his sixth pipe. Then 
 he went very deliberately to the table, and, collecting all 
 the books together, put them on the shelves that he had 
 constructed. Next he gathered into a bundle all the loose 
 sheets of his manuscript. He looked at them longingly 
 and regretfully for a moment, and then placed them in a 
 big chest which stood in a corner of the room. Again he 
 gazed at them as though he were looking at them for the 
 last time. Suddenly he closed the lid with a bang, and 
 soon afterward went to bed. 
 
CHAPTER XXL 
 
 "85,000 LUKE KITTLE." 
 
 OK the morning after the important financial transac 
 tion consummated by Mr. Bosler, that gentleman awoke, 
 notwithstanding his liberal potations of the day before, 
 feeling refreshed and vigorous,, and ready for any arduous 
 mental or physical labor to which he might have to devote 
 his energies. It was his intention to go home that day, 
 after attending to the business matters that he had mainly 
 in view in making his visit to The Canon ; but the bargain 
 entered into with "The Gulcher" had been so influential 
 in sustaining his change of plans in regard to leaving that 
 part of the country that some of them had become unneces 
 sary. "With Lai the wife of Mr. Luke Kittle, there would 
 no longer be any special reason why he should sunder the 
 ties that bound him to The Cailon and its vicinity. The 
 house that he rented out as a "saloon" was bringing in 
 a fair rent, and he decided, therefore, not to offer it for 
 sale. There were thus only a few debts to collect, and 
 purchases of provisions to make, and then lie was ready 
 to go back to Bighorn Spring, and attend to the matter of 
 inducing Lai to accept Mr. Kittle as her husband. 
 
 The more he thought of the subject, the more the an 
 ticipations that he had originally formed in regard to the 
 difficulties before him were confirmed. That Lai would 
 quietly consent to aid him in his schemes, he did not for a 
 moment believe. He knew, on the contrary, that her in- 
 
"$5,000 LUKE KITTLE." 273 
 
 dignation at the sense of the outrage would be intense, and 
 he was well enough acquainted with his daughter s temper 
 ament to understand just what Lai s intense indignation 
 meant. If he could have gotten rid of his bargain without 
 being obliged to return to Mr. Kittle the five thousand dol 
 lars he had received, and renouncing his right and title to 
 the remaining moiety of his bonus, there was little doubt in 
 his mind as to what he would do. He experienced, there 
 fore, a very mild degree of regret ; but this by no means ex 
 tended to the point of giving up two sums actual and pro 
 spective of five thousand dollars each. He would rather 
 have resigned a dozen daughters to as many Luke Kittles 
 than do that. 
 
 As to conscientious scruples, Mr. Bosler was, probably, 
 less troubled with them than any other individual in that 
 or any other Territory. If he had been examined upon the 
 subject, he would, probably if there were no reasons for 
 lying have admitted that he had never experienced a feel 
 ing of regret due to any violation of his sense of right. In 
 fact, he had no such principles in his mental organization. 
 He was often sorry, but that was on account of some per 
 sonal inconvenience resulting to himself, or from a knowl 
 edge that a different line of conduct from that which he 
 had pursued would have resulted more advantageously to 
 his well-being, or, in rare instances and to a slight degree, 
 when things had gone badly in reference to his wife or 
 daughter, the only two human beings for whom he had 
 the least affection. When, however, their interests clashed 
 with his, it did not take him long to decide in which direc 
 tion his duty called him. 
 
 But although he looked forward with apprehension to 
 the contest he was sure to have with Lai, he had no doubt 
 in regard to the ultimate result. She might protest, and 
 storm, and denounce ; she might gnash her teeth with 
 rage, and lash herself into a fury she should marry Luke 
 
271 LAL - 
 
 Kittle. She might beg, and importune, and supplicate, 
 on her bended knees ; she might appeal to him by every 
 tie that bound them together ; she might cry to God to 
 come to her aid nevertheless, she should marry Luke 
 Kittle ! On this point, there was no uncertainty in his 
 mind, no wavering in his decision. So far as a man could 
 determine any future event, he had determined this. 
 Still, had there been time, he would have postponed his re 
 turn, and thus have put of as long as possible the inevi 
 table struggle ; but there were barely nine days remaining 
 before the hour fixed for the wedding, and it would, prob 
 ably, take all of them to reduce Lai to the proper degree 
 of subjection. No, ho could not delay, he must face the 
 girl, tigress though she might prove to be, and fight it out 
 with her at once. 
 
 Accordingly, after drinking a couple of stiff horns of 
 his favorite beverage, just to set him up for the day, and 
 eating a hearty breakfast for, strange to say, Mr. Bosler s 
 addiction to whisky had never yet interfered with his ap 
 petite, or with his bodily health generally he hitched up 
 his team, and drove about the town, occupied with the 
 affairs that required his personal attention. His business 
 settled, mostly to his satisfaction, he went to the bank and 
 got the five thousand dollars he had deposited there the 
 previous day. Then he bade adieu to Mr. Crump and one 
 or two other sympathizing cronies, and departed from the 
 town, without having encountered any of Ilallam s particu 
 lar friends, and richer by at least five thousand dollars 
 than when he left Bighorn Spring. Thus far, Fortune had 
 evidently favored him. 
 
 On his way back, he revolved in his mind the subject 
 that at that time was uppermost in his thoughts. How 
 should he begin the attack ? Should he tell Mrs. Bosler, 
 and allow her to bear the first burst of Lai s wrath? 
 Should he try persuasion before resorting to force ? Yes, 
 
"$5,000 LUKE KITTLE." 275 
 
 undoubtedly, mild means were preferable to begin with. 
 But he had very little faith in the efficacy of any induce 
 ments of a conciliatory character. He was not strong in 
 the use of blandishments, and he knew so well Lai s opinion 
 of Mr. Luke Kittle as to be quite sure that all such measures 
 would be absolutely without avail. " It ain t no use tryin 
 to fool her," he said, as he rolled along over the prairie 
 road. " She s got as much sense as a bob- tail mule, and 
 she hates Luke Kittle worse nor he war the devil. Coaxin 
 ain t a-goin to do nothin with her, except, may be, to 
 make her more obstreperous. Children," he added, after 
 taking a long drink from a bottle with which he had pro 
 vided himself, in addition to a keg containing about five 
 gallons of his favorite brand of whisky " children ain t 
 what they used to be. 
 
 "Now, when I was a boy, ef the old man said, Jim, 
 do this or that/ I knowed I had to do it, or I d ketch per- 
 tic ler fits. But, now, boys and gals does jist about as 
 they ve a mind to, and the poor fathers and mothers has 
 got to sit by and stand it. It s darned hard, it is," con 
 tinued Mr. Bosler, with a sigh, "to see them as you ve 
 brought into the world, or raised from the time they was 
 babies, and looked after, most times to your own on con 
 venience, turn ag in you in your old age, and marry some 
 other fellow as you don t know nothin about ! 
 
 " It s darned lucky Vaca s out of the way. Lai, I rather 
 guess, had a sort of a sneakin fancy for the blamed nigger. 
 By jingo ! I ll tell her Vaca s dead, afore I let her know 
 what she s got to do. That ll git one snag out o the way 
 anyhow ! " This bright thought caused a gleesome chuckle 
 to be emitted from Mr. Bosler s throat, and kept him in a 
 good humor till he entered the timber that lay between 
 Bighorn Spring and the prairie. Then, as his progress be 
 came impeded by the obstacles that Nature had placed in 
 the road, and that man had not yet seen fit to remove, 
 
276 LAL. 
 
 his thoughts flowed with greater readiness, until, when he 
 reached the cabin, he had fully resolved upon the line of 
 action to follow. 
 
 All things considered, it was not a bad plan, and its 
 conception showed that, under more favorable auspices, 
 Mr. Bosler might have made his mark in the world in a 
 more elevated line of operations than had fallen to his lot. 
 He felt quite sure of his wife s loyalty and entire submis 
 sion to his wishes in everything. He determined, there 
 fore, to inform her of what had been resolved upon between 
 him and " The Gulcher." lie came to this conclusion, not 
 so much from a desire to admit her into his confidence, as 
 from the conviction that her assistance would be absolutely 
 indispensable for the furtherance of his scheme. But as to 
 Lai, he decided to give her no hint of what was in store 
 for her till the very moment that the marriage was to 
 take place. Then, as he conceived, she would be so over 
 whelmed by the suddenness with which the revelation 
 would be made, that active resistance would be impossible, 
 and she would fall an easy prey to Mr. Luke Kittle s wiles. 
 Either this would be the case, or the outburst would be 
 so violent that exhaustion and reaction would follow, and 
 she would be like a piece of dough, capable of being mold 
 ed into any shape he might choose. 
 
 In the mean time, everything was to be made ready, and, 
 at the appointed hour, Mr. Kittle, accompanied by a jus 
 tice of the peace, of whom there were several devoted to his 
 interests, would arrive, and the ceremony would take place 
 almost as a matter of course. It might be necessary for 
 him to exert his paternal authority to its utmost limit. 
 He intended that there should be no half-way measures on 
 this score, and that, if necessary, he would resort to physi 
 cal force, even to the extent of dragging her before the mag 
 istrate and knocking each word of consent out of her with 
 a blow. He could not recollect that he had ever struck his 
 
"$5,000 LUKE KITTLE." 277 
 
 daughter ; but he would beat her now, before he would 
 allow her to defeat the scheme the success of which was 
 so essential to his welfare. Such an emergency had never 
 before this occurred to him in his relations with his daugh 
 ter, but it was on him now, and he meant to see it through, 
 regardless of consequences. "As ef," he muttered when 
 he had arrived at this conclusion, " I d allow her to stand 
 atween me and ten thousand dollars ! I ain t that sort of a 
 steer. Ef I am, you may call me a liar." From all of 
 which it will be seen that Mr. Bosler was a man of resolu 
 tion, and fully resolved to be master in his own family. 
 
 At the same time, while preserving absolute secrecy 
 relative to his intentions in the interests of Mr. Luke Kit 
 tle, he determined to inform Lai at once of the death of 
 Vaca, and hence allow her to see the hopelessness of any 
 attachment she might have formed for the Mexican. -He 
 was by no means certain that there was such a predilection 
 on Lai s part. She was extremely reticent in regard to all 
 affairs that simply concerned herself, and was not accus 
 tomed to resort to him, either as a confidant or for counsel, 
 in any matters in which she might require advice. Still, 
 he thought that at times she had evinced more than an or 
 dinary interest in Yaca by defending him when attacked, 
 as he had been very often by him, and by speaking her 
 mind freely ; as for instance when she one day saw her father 
 riding a horse that she knew had a short time before be 
 longed to the Mexican. When she was quite a child, Vaca 
 had given her a snow-white lamb, and this gift had made 
 a great impression upon her. At a ball that had taken 
 place at The Caiion not long before, he had, as the reader 
 already knows, risked his life for her in a way that, 
 though probably superfluous, impressed Lai, who had only 
 her own impetuous and ignorant notions to guide her, 
 as an act of great heroism and devotion. To have a man 
 in love with her who was so infatuated as to stab another 
 
278 LAL. 
 
 who, he thought, was too profuse in his attentions, and then 
 to be the recipient of a pistol-shot in return, were facts 
 that had appealed strongly to her feelings. There are 
 few women in any walk of life who would not be touched 
 by such evidences of intense devotion. 
 
 But, with all these circumstances before him, Mr. Bosler 
 was unable to arrive at any certain opinion relative to the 
 state of Lai s feelings toward Vaca. However, what was 
 the use of thinking of the man at all ? He was dead and out 
 of the way ! 
 
 He resolved, too, that he would omit no opportunity of 
 singing Mr. Luke Kittle s praises, so far as that could be 
 done without awakening Lai s suspicions. In this way, he 
 thought, perhaps upon the principle that drops of water 
 falling upon a rock continually, wear it away, he might 
 succeed in impressing his daughter with a sense of Mr. Kit- 
 tie s many virtues, and hence cause her to look with favor 
 upon the idea of a matrimonial alliance with that gentle 
 man. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when Mr. Bosler emerged 
 from the timber and saw the smoke rising from the chim 
 ney of his cabin at Bighorn Spring. A short drive across 
 the stretch of open prairie brought him to the door, and in 
 a moment Mrs. Bosler and Lai, hearing the noise made by 
 the wagon, came out to greet him. The women were cer 
 tainly greatly relieved at his appearance, and Mrs. Bosler 
 had to admit to herself that her gloomy prognostications 
 relative to her never seeing him again had, as had often 
 been the case before, failed to be verified. 
 
 Mr. Bosler was in such exuberant good spirits that he 
 kissed them both several times, inquired how they got along 
 without the "old man," and whether they were not glad 
 to have him once more as their companion and protector. 
 "I couldn t get along without you two," he said, as, with 
 an arm around the waist of each, he walked into the house, 
 
$5,000-LUKE KITTLE." 279 
 
 after unhitching his horses and picketing them out to grass. 
 "I jist felt so lonesome-like all the time I was at The 
 Canon, that I couldn t a smiled ef a angel had tickled my 
 ear with a peacock-feather. No, blow me ef I could ! You 
 see I m a family-man, and now I m come back to stay till 
 we leaves these parts for good. By jingo ! " he continued, 
 excitedly, "I forgot! "and, dropping his arms from the 
 waists of his two loved ones, he rushed back to the wagon, 
 in the bottom of which lay the bag of gold which, in the ex 
 citement incident to his return, had escaped his memory. 
 " To think o me bein sich a darned fool ! " he exclaimed, 
 putting the bag under his arm as though it contained any 
 thing else than gold, and returning to the house with as 
 nonchalant a manner as he could assume on the spur of 
 the moment. "You ll find a good lot o things in the 
 wagon, Moll," he resumed, "and you and Lai mought as 
 well fetch em in. Take care o that kag, now," he ex 
 claimed, with increased interest ; "it s got some prime old 
 Bourbon in it as Mr. Kittle give me. He s the risin man 
 in these parts, I guess," he went on, with apparent indif 
 ference. " He s goin to be lected to the Legislature, and 
 I wouldn t be opset much ef I heerd he was app inted Gov - 
 nor." He glanced furtively at Lai as he uttered these 
 praises of his friend, but the shaft missed its aim, for, before 
 he had finished, she and her mother had left the house to 
 attend to the removal of the supplies, without either evinc 
 ing the least interest in the subject of Mr. Bosler s laudation. 
 " Is thar any news, Jim ? " said his wife, as she and Lai 
 entered, carrying between them a big side of bacon. 
 
 "It strikes me," said Mr. Bosler, in a grieved tone of 
 voice, " that news ain t no consequence to you. I started 
 out jist now to tell you somethin , and you both rushes out 
 o the house while I was a-speakin . Yes, thar s plenty o 
 news. For one thing, Manuel Vaca s dead." As he uttered 
 the words, he fixed his one eye on Lai. 
 
2SO LAL. 
 
 "Manuel Vaca dead !" she exclaimed, letting go her 
 hold of the bacon. " Who killed him ? " 
 
 "Well, you see" began Mr. Bosler. 
 
 " Who killed him ? " repeated Lai, going up to her 
 father, who cowered a little before her look and manner 
 "Did you?" 
 
 "No, I didn t. What would I kill him for? He never 
 did nothin to me. Ef you d keep quiet, I d tell you all 
 about it." 
 
 "I m glad o that," resumed Lai. "It don t make no 
 difference to me who killed him, as long as you didn t. I m 
 sorry he s dead," she continued ; "he was kind to me, and 
 I always liked sich." She stopped, and for a moment 
 seemed to be thinking. Then she took hold of the bacon, 
 and she and her mother put it on a shelf on one side of the 
 fireplace. 
 
 "And you don t kecr to know who killed him !" said 
 Mr. Bosler, sneeringly ; "perhaps he died o the mountain- 
 fever, which is very bad now at The Canon, or perhaps he 
 was blowed up in a mine, or perhaps he killed himself jist 
 because you didn t keer nothin for him." He turned his 
 eye on his daughter as he spoke, as though anxious to 
 watch the effect of what lie intended to be a soul-harrowing 
 speech. 
 
 "No, I don t keer. So long as he s dead, it don t make 
 no difference who killed him. He was kind to me, and I m 
 sorry. I guess he was the best o all them Canon men ; 
 for he had a heart, and there ain t many on em as has got 
 one." She walked away to the wagon, but presently re 
 turned with a small sack of flour in her arms, which she 
 placed on the shelf with the bacon. 
 
 Mr. Bosler was, to say the least, disappointed in the 
 effect that had been produced by his announcement. 
 Evidently she had not been in love with Vaca, however 
 kindly she may have felt toward him. He was in doubt 
 
$5,000 LUKE KITTLE. 1 281 
 
 whether to tell her the whole truth or not. To do so might 
 prejudice her still more against "The Gulcher" ; while 
 not to do so might result in her receiving the information 
 from other sources, and without the peculiar coloring which 
 he could give to the circumstances attending the murder. 
 Finally, he determined to tell her. 
 
 " You see," he said, as she was going back to the wagon 
 for another package, " he tried for to kill a friend o mine 
 and he got massacreed himself ; and that friend was the 
 people s man, Luke Kittle. Ef I d been in his place I d V 
 done it too." 
 
 "Luke Kittle !" exclaimed Lai, turning pale ; "did he 
 kill Vaca ! " 
 
 "Well, he did ! and ef he hadn t, Vaca would a killed 
 him sure." 
 
 " Was it about about " 
 
 "No, it warn t about you, ef that s what you re goin 
 to ask. It war over a monte-table." 
 
 " I m glad it warn t about me," said Lai, with a sigh of 
 relief. "It don t make no difference to me who killed 
 him, but ef Luke Kittle did it I guess I know whar the 
 blame ought to lay." With which words she again left the 
 room. 
 
 "Well, by jingo!" exclaimed Mr. Bosler, "of all the 
 cool cusses as ever I seen, she beats em all ! She don t 
 keer no more about him than ef he war a dead rabbit. It s 
 all right, I guess, though," he continued, after refreshing 
 himself with a draught from the bottle of whisky he had 
 brought from The Caiion, and which was emptied by this 
 last demand made upon it " it s all right, for thar won t 
 be no snags to git out o the way, and we ll boost right along 
 under a full head o steam." Then, feeling somewhat over 
 come with fatigue and excitement, and, above all, by the 
 effects of the vile compound he had partaken of so liber 
 ally, Mr. Bosler staggered off to the next room, and, with- 
 
282 LAL. 
 
 out removing any of his clothing, threw himself on the bed, 
 and was soon in a state of alcoholic stupor of so profound 
 a character as to prevent the possibility of his doing harm 
 in any direction for several hours to come. 
 
 In the mean time, Lai and her mother finished unload 
 ing the wagon, and then, leaving Mr. Bosler in a condition 
 of unconsciousness, from which they knew by experience he 
 would not be aroused till the next morning, they sat down 
 to discuss the death of Vaca and a few other items of news 
 that Mr. Bosler had brought home with him. From a re 
 mark that he had let drop, they had inferred that he had 
 made all the necessary arrangements for leaving the coun 
 try, and the circumstance was a source of great joy to both. 
 While thus engaged, Lai perceived lying on the floor near 
 where her father had been sitting a traveling-bag, which 
 she recognized as the one that he had left in the wagon 
 and had subsequently brought into the house. She picked 
 it up and soon ascertained, from its weight and feeling, 
 that it was full of coin. She was delighted with the 
 discovery, for she argued that he had sold his property 
 and had collected the money due him, and had brought 
 back the proceeds in good, hard cash. She turned the bag 
 over in her hands and observed some figures and letters 
 that had at first escaped her attention. Taking it to the 
 open door, she held it in the light and read, " $5,000, LUKE 
 KITTLE." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 "MR. BOSLEE S TWELFTH VICTIM." 
 
 LAL S interview with Tyscovus was the most important 
 event that had hitherto occurred to her in the whole 
 course of her life. It was the turning-point in her career. 
 She had reached the acme of one phase of her existence. 
 She was now to enter upon another kind of a life in which 
 all the old ideas that tended to drag down her moral na 
 ture were to be left behind. She had been made to compre 
 hend in the short space of half an hour that there was 
 something higher and better in humanity than she had 
 ever before thought possible. True, she had several times 
 experienced glimpses of this nobler life, notably when she 
 had read the story of Saint Hedwiges ; but now she had 
 been one of the actors. She had participated in it, and 
 the principles which, till then, she had held but by a fra 
 gile tenure, were now confirmed past all liability of relapse, 
 as integral parts of her mental organization. The advance 
 had, indeed, been greater than at first she could altogether 
 comprehend ; not that she was by any means deficient in 
 intellect; on the contrary, she was possessed of an un 
 usually sound and robust mind. Her perceptive powers 
 were quick and accurate, and her capacity for under 
 standing a subject, and for judging correctly, was such 
 as many persons of good natural abilities only attain 
 after long training and exercise. She was deficient in 
 knowledge. She had very much to learn and scarcely 
 
234 LAL. 
 
 less to unlearn, but there was certainly no lack of mental 
 potentiality. 
 
 She hurried through the "Little Calion" and over the 
 mesa and across the timber till she reached Bighorn Spring, 
 her mind in a whirl of confusion, but a feeling of intense 
 joy pervading her whole being, giving lightness to her step 
 and preventing all sense of fatigue, though she had run 
 nearly every foot of the way. 
 
 It was quite dark when she arrived at the cabin. She 
 stopped for a moment before entering and looked in through 
 the uncurtained window. Her mother was there before the 
 fire, preparing the evening meal, and evidently expecting her 
 return ; for the table was set for two. Should she tell her 
 what had occurred ? No, not all. She felt that it would 
 be impossible for her to lay bare her heart even to the gaze 
 of her mother. She could not speak of Tyscovus s words of 
 sympathy and kindness, or of his gracious actions, except in 
 the most general way, or of her own humiliation, and tears 
 and gladness, without feeling that she would be profaning 
 the trust that he had said he placed in her, and violating 
 the sense of honor that he had done so much to evoke. She 
 might never see him again. She never expected to see him 
 again, but the memory of the meeting was to be henceforth 
 sacred between him and her, and to live in her heart for 
 evermore. 
 
 She opened the door and stepped into the room. 
 
 "Gracious, Lai, how you skeered me !" exclaimed her 
 mother, looking round from her cooking operations. " You 
 see I knowed you would come back, and I was jist gittin 
 ready to give you somethin to eat. Well, did you have a 
 good time ? " 
 
 "Yes, mam; it s all right. lie s a good man, and he 
 give me the book to keep, and he writ my name in it and 
 the day of the month, so as I d never forgit ; though thar 
 ain t no chance o that." 
 
"MR. BOSLER S TWELFTH VICTIM." 285 
 
 "I knowed he would act decent, and that thar warn t 
 no chance of his sendin you to jail. Let me see what he s 
 writ in the book." 
 
 Lai took the volume from the bosom of her frock, and 
 opening it, read with some difficulty: "Lai; from her 
 friend, John Tyscovus. The Butte, September 13, 1873." 
 Then her mother examined it and noted also the fact that 
 Tyscovus had marked certain passages which he had wished 
 to impress upon Lai s attention. 
 
 "I guess it s all right, Lai," she said, returning the 
 book to her daughter; "it s a pretty nice sort of a keep 
 sake. But he s got plenty o them, I s pose." 
 
 " But this is the life o his great-great-great-grandfather 
 as lived more an two hundred years ago. And he valeys 
 it very much." 
 
 " Then I don t see why as he should a give it to you." 
 
 " I don t see neither," said Lai, not anxious to continue 
 the conversation, fearing that discussion might require ex 
 planation. " Ef the supper s ready, I guess we mought as 
 well eat it." 
 
 Nothing more was said on the subject. It was one that 
 Mrs. Bosler in its actualities would have been utterly un 
 able to comprehend, and this Lai instinctively knew. She 
 therefore shrank from explanations, and went to bed with 
 the bloom on her heart untouched by vulgar contact. 
 
 All the next day she was quiet and thoughtful. When 
 alone or at her work she had always been a great singer 
 of two or three homely songs ; but now she went about 
 her household duties without a word or a note, evidently 
 preoccupied with the events of the preceding day, and 
 with the thoughts that the recollection of them evoked. 
 But the return of her father had brought her back to the 
 consideration of the stern realities of the life to which she 
 was subjected. She was clever enough to see that, in the 
 remarks that he had made concerning Luke Kittle, there 
 
286 LAL. 
 
 was an underlying motive that he did not intend her to 
 perceive. At first she was not quite sure that he was tell 
 ing the truth in regard to Vaca s death. She thought, for 
 the moment,, that he was the murderer, and, had her sus 
 picions been confirmed, she had resolved, with the rapidity 
 of lightning, not to live another hour under the roof of 
 such a wholesale butcher of men as was her father. She 
 intended to walk out of the house with her mother, if she 
 could pursuade that feeble-minded woman to go with her, 
 but alone if the worst came to the worst. 
 
 She never had had more than a liking for Vaca. He 
 had always treated her with more refinement of manner 
 and kindness than had any other man at The Canon, and 
 she appreciated his consideration, but the idea of loving 
 him, and of becoming his wife, had never entered her 
 mind, except occasionally, as a possible alternative, should 
 Luke Kittle be in any way forced upon her. She had 
 thought that, in that contingency, it might happen. 
 Then she would go away and be married to Vaca. His 
 death was a shock to her ; a greater one, in fact, than she 
 had allowed to appear, for, aside from the suddenness with 
 which the event was communicated to her, she felt that 
 she had lost one of the friends who would have stood by 
 her in any trouble she might have relative to Mr. Luke 
 Kittle. But she did not love him, had never loved him ; 
 and now her whole heart was filled with another, whom she 
 regarded with feelings almost reaching adoration, though 
 it was not possible that she would ever be anything to him, 
 or he anything to her but an image that she would keep 
 in the depths of her soul as long as she lived. She felt no 
 regret when she thought of the hopelessness of the love 
 that had overwhelmed her. The idea of marrying Tys- 
 covus never entered her mind. She was content as things 
 were, though she would have liked to be with him, to hear 
 him speak with a melody and a gentleness such as were 
 
"MR. BOSLER S TWELFTH VICTIM." 287 
 
 altogether new to her, and every now and then to meet a 
 merciful and loving look such as had fallen upon her when 
 he raised her from her knees. Then it was that her heart 
 had gone out to him, and she had dashed out of the house 
 frightened, yet wonderfully happy, with the new emotion 
 she experienced. 
 
 Then, when she found the bag of gold, with the amount 
 and Luke Kittle s name written upon it in large and dis 
 tinct characters, her suspicions that some wrong act had 
 been consummated were awakened. She knew that her 
 father could have had no honest transaction with that man 
 that would require the payment of so large a sum. Natu 
 rally, her knowledge of her father s habits led her at once 
 to the conclusion that he had been unusually successful at 
 the gaming-table. Then she reflected that it was quite 
 probable that, needing a bag to contain the proceeds of his 
 sales of property and his collections of money due him, he 
 had borrowed one that then, or at some former period, had 
 belonged to her enemy. She never for a moment suspected 
 the true explanation. She had repeatedly been threatened, 
 sometimes jocularly, and at others in anger, with Luke 
 Kittle for a husband, and she knew that her father had 
 promised him that she should be his wife. But she had 
 been given to understand that this had been done when he 
 was in the reckless state into which too much whisky 
 always brought him, and that, as soon as the effects of the 
 potations had passed off, the promise had been repudiated. 
 But she was well aware that she was not safe, although the 
 apprehension had never been definitely formulated in her 
 mind, and she had often been told by her father, when he 
 was in a cheerful or loving mood, that he would never con 
 sent that she should ever be the wife of any man at The 
 Canon. His sincerity at these times was unmistakable, and 
 often led him into making threats that bore strongly on 
 Mr. Kittle s prospects of long life. Still, she did not feel 
 
288 LAL - 
 
 safe. She had witnessed many instances of her father s 
 treachery and weakness, especially when he was drunk, 
 and, though she believed that he loved her dearly, she did 
 not know what a day might bring forth. Who does when 
 a fool or a drunkard is endowed with the power of work 
 ing evil ? 
 
 She had, since her father s return, observed one circum 
 stance which had excited some apprehension, and that was, 
 the disposition that he manifested to extol Mr. Kittle ; and 
 this, shown as it was in regard to matters with which the 
 man had no logical connection, had set her thinking. It 
 was always a suspicious point in Mr. Bosler s conversation 
 when he went out of his way to praise a person with whom 
 he had had trouble. Heretofore, so far as Lai could recol 
 lect, it had invariably indicated either that her father had 
 fully made up his mind to attack his enemy on the first 
 favorable occasion, or that he had entered into an alliance 
 with him to despoil a third party, or the community at 
 large. Up to the time of discovering the bag she had been 
 in doubt as to which of these was the factor in causing Mr. 
 Bosler s laudations of Luke Kittle ; but, putting this piece 
 of evidence in connection with her father s speeches, she 
 was forced to the conclusion that the "hatchet had been 
 buried," and that she was to be the object of their common 
 attack. She did not, however, dream that she had been 
 as actually sold as any ox that ever stood in the shambles. 
 
 The morning after Mr. Bosler s return that gentleman 
 was up bright and early looking after his horses, and at 
 tending to such other work about the household as he 
 thought he might perform without sacrifice of dignity or 
 comfort. He had not yet told his wife anything about his 
 arrangements with Luke Kittle, for he had not, from the 
 time he had thrown himself on the bed till he awoke in the 
 morning, been in a condition to carry on a conversation. 
 Mrs. Bosler had slept with Lai, and consequently there had 
 
"MR. HOSIER S TWELFTH VICTIM." 289 
 
 been no opportunity for taking her into his confidence 
 while he was engaged in the simple morning toilet that 
 usually sufficed to make him presentable. But he took the 
 occasion of his first meeting with her to call her aside, and 
 to make the important communication, which, as was cus 
 tomary, was interspersed with such lies and perversions of 
 the truth as he thought would tend to put his own conduct 
 in the most favorable light. 
 
 "You see, Moll," he said, "Lai ought to be lookin 
 round now for a settlement in life, and relievin me and 
 you of all the trouble as we ve had in a-bringin of her up. 
 I ve thought night and day about the matter. Many a 
 time I ve passed the whole night jist a-thinkin what would 
 be best for that gal. I m bound to say that I ve thought 
 bad of Luke Kittle, but I think, Moll, that when a man s 
 bin wrong, he s bound like a honest cuss to come right out 
 and say so. That s jist the pint ! " he continued, rising 
 from the barrel on which he was sitting, and slapping one 
 hand into the other, to give emphasis to the statement 
 " that s jist the p int ! He ought to come right up and face 
 the music. Honesty s the best policy in the long run. 
 
 " Well, you see, I ve bin considerin Luke Kittle. I 
 thought about him all the day as I druv over to The Canon, 
 and then I thought as, perhaps, after all, I d bin wrong. I 
 thought as Luke was a-risin man, well dressed in the best 
 store-clothes, and bound to be in the Legislature makin 
 laws for the good of the people. Now, what, I ask you, 
 Moll, would a honest man do under them circumstances ? 
 Jist what I did. I went up to Luke, and says I : Luke, 
 here s my hand. I guess I ve bin wrong, and I begs your 
 pardon. At first, he was a little offish, but at last he come 
 round, and then we fixed things up about Lai, and she s a- 
 goin to marry him a week from Saturday, right here, and 
 we ll be jist as jolly as crickets. Lai s a good gal, and she ll 
 make a good wife, and you see, then, when Luke goes to the 
 13 
 
290 LAL. 
 
 Legislature, we ll all move over to Denver, and settle down 
 jist as happy and contented, old woman " (putting his arm 
 around her waist as he spoke), "as we was when we was 
 young and took on with each other." 
 
 Mrs. Bosler received the announcement at first with 
 surprise, for she exclaimed, " Jim ! " without being able, 
 apparently, to say another word. Then her astonish 
 ment was succeeded by grief, for she began to sob and to 
 cover her face with her hands, and she said, "You know, 
 Jim, as Lai can t bear him ! " at the same time wiping her 
 eyes with an apron which, to judge from its appearance, 
 had been used to sop up liquids quite different from tears. 
 
 "Well, in course I knows what she says, but gals don t 
 know thar own minds. Why, she ain t seen him half a 
 dozen times in all her life." 
 
 " But he s so ugly, Jim ! Why, his face is all battered 
 up, so as you d scarcely think he was a man." 
 
 " Well, he ain t much for good looks, that s a fact ; but, 
 for the matter o that, I ain t neither. Jist look at me, 
 now ! " 
 
 " She ll never do it, Jim," replied Mrs. Bosler, without 
 turning her eyes on her husband s face, and still wiping 
 them with her apron. " I do believe it will kill her." 
 
 "Kill her !" exclaimed Mr. Bosler, contemptuously ; 
 " no, it won t neither. She ain t sich a fool, and ef she was, 
 I wouldn t let her. She s got to do it Saturday week, and 
 no mistake, at three o clock in the afternoon. And I want 
 you jist to git ready without sayin a word to her ; mind 
 now, not a word ! " he continued, in a threatening tone. 
 " It s got to be, and she s got to make the best of it. And 
 she won t know nothin about it," chuckling with delight 
 as he spoke, " till Luke and the squire s in the house. 
 And as to good looks, he s got two eyes and a whole nose 
 anyhow, and that s mor n you kin say for me." 
 
 " She ll never stand it, Jim ; I knows she won t," cried 
 
"MR. BOSLER S TWELFTH VICTIM." 291 
 
 Mrs. Bosler, wringing her hands and sobbing violently. 
 " She hates him worse n pizen ; and it don t seem right to 
 make her marry a man as she can t bear even to look on." 
 
 " Now, Moll Bosler, don t you be sich a darned fool as 
 to put notions into her head, for, dang me, ef I ll stand any 
 sich stuif ! She s got to marry Luke Kittle next Saturday 
 week jist as sure as I m sittin on this bar l ! I ain t goin 
 to stand it, and I want you to know it. It s one of them 
 things as is settled. Ef it ain t, you may call me a liar, and, 
 when I says that, you knows by this time that I means it." 
 
 " Jim, Jim, it ll kill her, I knows !" exclaimed Mrs. 
 Bosler, still sobbing ; " and," she added, clasping her hands 
 together and looking imploringly into his face, "it ll kill 
 me, too ! " 
 
 " Well ! " said Bosler, ramming both hands into his 
 trousers-pockets, coming up to where his wife sat and look 
 ing down on her with a mingled expression of contempt 
 and anger, while his one eye twitched and worked convul 
 sively in its orbit "ef you want to be sich a fool as to die, 
 why you can go and do it jist as soon as you pleases, but I 
 can t afford to let Lai go yit, and, what s more, I don t 
 mean to. And I want you to understand that you ve got 
 to see this thing through with me ; and, ef you don t," 
 seizing her by the shoulders as he spoke, " I ll do what 
 I ve never done before though, perhaps, it would a bin 
 better ef I had I ll beat you black and blue, as sure as my 
 name s Bosler ! Now, stop that darned sniveling, and git 
 up, and see to things, and, mind you, don t you dar to say 
 a word to Lai till I tell you. Now, I guess we understands 
 each other, and thar won t be no trouble ." 
 
 "It ll kill her, Jim, jist as sure as you stand thar. 
 Yes," she continued, speaking as she used to speak before 
 her marriage, "I know she will die if you force her to 
 marry that man. It s a cruel thing to do. You know he s 
 a brute, and a vile, bad man, and " 
 
292 LAL. 
 
 "Now see here ! " exclaimed her husband, grasping her 
 by the wrist, " don t you know you ve got to stop this ? 
 Do you want me to break your arm ? " he continued, giv 
 ing that member a sudden twist that caused Mrs. Bosler 
 to utter a smothered cry. "You don t, eh ! Well, I will 
 ef you says another word, or snivels another snivel. Now 
 go !" giving her a push as he spoke, "and mind what I 
 told you, or thar ll be trouble all around." 
 
 During the whole day and for several days thereafter 
 Mrs. Bosler went about the house attending to her work in 
 a dazed sort of a way, as though she scarcely understood 
 what she was doing. She rarely spoke a word even to Lai, 
 and indeed avoided her as much as she could, for she felt 
 afraid that the condition of her mind might be perceived, 
 and that questions might be put to her that she would find 
 it difficult to parry, without her daughter s quick percep 
 tions discovering that something was wrong. She felt in 
 bodily terror of her husband. She had never been treated 
 quite so roughly before. Occasionally he had, when angry, 
 threatened her with various whimsical penalties, such as 
 " bustin her liver," " knockin both eyes into one," "mash- 
 in her jaw," and others of the like, but then he had always 
 been in a state of partial intoxication, and she knew that 
 they were either mere idle talk or else only emphatic ex 
 pressions intended as re-enforcements of his opinions or com 
 mands. But now she was convinced that he was in earnest. 
 His eye had gleamed and twinkled as she had never before 
 seen it affected, except upon an occasion several years pre 
 viously, when he had shot and killed a man in her presence, 
 during a heated discussion in relation to the division of a 
 number of horses of which they had jointly but illegally 
 become possessed. There was an ugly look in his face when 
 he seized her by the arm, that had frightened her and which 
 was constantly before her eyes as she went listlessly through 
 her routine of work, trying to take an interest in the labors 
 
"MR. BOSLER S TWELFTH VICTIM." 293 
 
 that her position imposed upon her, and yet conscious 
 that her preoccupation was noticed by the one person from 
 whom she felt it must be concealed. She knew enough of 
 her husband to be aware, from the earnestness and positive- 
 ness he had shown in the matter, that some more than usu 
 ally powerful cause had changed his opinions of "The 
 Gulcher," and brought him to his present state of mind in 
 regard to the marriage of his daughter to that individual ; 
 but even she never associated these events with the five 
 thousand dollars in gold contained in a bag that had evi 
 dently once been Mr. Kittle s property. There was clearly 
 no reason why she should do so. She knew nothing of 
 Lai s prospects as an heiress, and of the fact being known 
 to Luke Kittle, while her husband had no information on 
 the subject. Nothing, therefore, could have been more 
 improbable than that the man would give five thousand 
 dollars for her daughter, and that the girl s own father 
 would sell her for that sum. And yet that there had been 
 some arrangement, and that her husband had profited or 
 was to profit by the contemplated marriage, she was cer 
 tain. 
 
 In the mean time Mr. Bosler continued to drink heavily, 
 though never quite to the extent of producing complete 
 intoxication. He had gotten over the fit of temper he had 
 experienced at his wife s obstinacy in taking an unfavor 
 able view of his matrimonial designs in regard to his 
 daughter. At times, he was jovial with both the women 
 of his household, though he did not fail to notice his wife s 
 dejected manner, and to give her numerous warnings of his 
 vigilance and determination in the shape of savage looks 
 from his one eye and significant shakes of his head. Once 
 when he had caught her behind the house crying and 
 wringing her hands he had spoken a few sharp words of 
 remonstrance, which he had enforced by pinching her arm 
 till it was black and blue. "You want me to break your 
 
294 LAL. 
 
 arm now, don t you ? " he had said, savagely, as he squeezed 
 the flesh till his nails penetrated the skin, while he gave the 
 limb a sudden jerk that almost dislocated her shoulder. 
 " That s only a taste of what you ll git ef you don t mind ! " 
 Then changing his manner, he added : 
 
 " Don t you go on about it so, Moll. It s got to be, and 
 you m ought jist as well take it quietly. I didn t mean to 
 hurt you," he continued, as the woman writhed with the 
 pain he had caused. "Now let s make up," kissing her as 
 he spoke. " Sometimes, Moll, I m a rough cuss, I knows ; 
 but I guess my heart s in the right place, after all, and you 
 knows it, Moll, don t you ? " 
 
 " Jim, ef you d only give this thing up ! It s not 
 too late. Jim for my sake, for me, give it up ! " 
 
 "Now, thar you are ag in, goin on in the old way, and 
 all because I m a-gittin a good husband for my daughter. 
 Women is the most onreasonable people in the world, and 
 I ve got one on em here in this very house as beats all the 
 rest. See here," he continued, as though moved by a sud 
 den inspiration, " I ve a darned good mind to tell you the 
 whole thing, and then may be you ll see as I ain t sich a fool 
 as you takes me to be. Luke loves that gal all-fired much. 
 He jist thinks thar ain t no such gal nowhar around, and 
 he s a risin man, too, is Luke. Well, now, what would 
 you say ef I was to tell you that he give me five thousand 
 dollars in gold the same as is in that bag as I put away 
 for safe keepin and that when Lai s his wife he s to give 
 five thousand more ! What would you say to that, Moll ? 
 Wouldn t that make you feel proud as you had a daughter 
 as was worth ten thousand dollars cash down ? " 
 
 "My God, Jim ! is that true ?" 
 
 " True ! every word on it jist as true as gospil. Now 
 you see it ain t so bad as you thought it was. But don t 
 you go and tell Lai till I give the word," he went on, not 
 noticing his wife s changed expression, " for I don t want no 
 
"MR. BOSLEE S TWELFTH VICTIM." 295 
 
 more rows nor I kin help. One woman at a time s about 
 as much as I kin manage, I guess. Why, hello, Moll ! 
 What s the matter ? Here, Lai ! Lai ! come here quick ! 
 thar s something wrong, I guess. " 
 
 Evidently there was something very wrong, for Mrs. 
 Bosler was leaning against the cabin as pale as a ghost, while 
 a crimson torrent of blood was gushing from her mouth. 
 She sank to the ground in her husband s arms, and Lai and 
 he carried her into the house and laid her on the bed, the 
 blood all the while continuing to flow. She did not appear 
 to recognize either of them. She never spoke a word, and 
 in a few moments, after half a dozen deep gasps for breath, 
 each one of which increased the flow of blood, she was dead. 
 
 This was Mr. Bosler s twelfth victim since he had taken 
 up his residence in Colorado. For he was just as much 
 morally guilty of her death as though a bullet from his re 
 volver had caused the bleeding from her lungs. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 "LAL MUST GO !" 
 
 MKS. BOSLER S death occurred on Saturday, and there was 
 still a whole week before the time fixed for Lai s wedding. 
 For a few moments Jim stood by the side of the bed on 
 which the corpse of his wife lay, the subject of several con 
 tending emotions. He had loved the woman after his man 
 ner, and more than he had loved any other human being, 
 except perhaps his daughter. If his ways with other peo 
 ple were taken into consideration, it would in common jus 
 tice have to be admitted that as a rule he had treated her 
 well ; better, probably, than men of his kind generally treat 
 their wives. But, for al] that, he had been a brute, and had, 
 through her weakness and his own persistently evil exam 
 ple and precept, brought her down almost to his own level. 
 Now she was dead, and as he stood looking at the body 
 from which the life-blood had flowed till death had come, 
 and brushed away with his shirt-sleeve the single tear that 
 rose to his single eye, he felt sorry that she was gone. 
 
 But the predominant feeling, or at least the one that 
 soon became predominant, was connected with the disposi 
 tion that he had made of his daughter ; and it was a fear 
 that, in some way or other, the catastrophe might interfere 
 with the contemplated fulfillment of his obligations to Mr. 
 Kittle, and the consequent receipt from that gentleman 
 of the further sum of five thousand dollars, to say nothing 
 of being called upon to return the amount he had already 
 received. Thoughts of this kind obtruded themselves upon 
 
"LAL MUST GO!" 297 
 
 Mr. Bosler in the midst of his grief, and eventually suc 
 ceeded in banishing that emotion altogether. So far, how 
 ever, as he was concerned, he was determined that there 
 should be no postponement of the ceremony. Indeed, as 
 he argued with himself, there was all the more reason, now 
 that Lai was motherless, that she should have the protect 
 ing arms of a husband thrown around her. He was con- 
 
 o 
 
 scions of his own inability to look after his various interests, 
 and at the same time be a companion to her. "Lai s one 
 o them gals," he said to himself as she lay across the bed, 
 her head buried in her dead mother s bosom, "as must 
 ha,ve society, and it s my dooty to git the best for her as I 
 kin. I guess now she ll feel kind o lonely, and won t be so 
 keen to kick over the traces as she mought a bin. All 
 things is for the best, I guess," he added, resignedly, address 
 ing his daughter, "though it s hard sometimes to take it 
 all in at onst. I shouldn t wonder ef she was better off now 
 than she would a bin ef she d a staid with us." Which, 
 admitting, as Mr. Bosler did, the existence of a future state, 
 was about as true a remark as had ever fallen from his lips. 
 " Come, Lai," he continued to his daughter, who was sob 
 bing as though her heart would break, "don t you cry any 
 mor n you kin help. In course you feels bad, and I don t 
 objeck to your cryin . What you ve got to do now is, to do 
 them things as she and me d agreed was best for you. Her 
 heart was jist sot on one thing, and when you do that she ll 
 know it even ef she is dead, and she ll be glad, I guess, as 
 she left a good daughter behind her." 
 
 Lai did not hear half of what he said ; and if she had 
 heard, she could not, in her then condition of overwhelm 
 ing grief, have given it attention. She therefore made no 
 reply, either to Mr. Bosler s pious platitudes or to the ref 
 erence he had made to her mother s wishes. 
 
 The brilliant idea of giving Lai to understand that her 
 mother had specially desired that the marriage with Luke 
 
298 LAL. 
 
 Kittle should take place had only occurred to Mr. Bosler 
 while he was making his remarks at the bedside of his dead 
 wife, and had at once been acted upon. The reference was 
 indistinct, but it was enough, under the circumstances, 
 when he could not be expected to go into details ; and it 
 would serve as the basis for more specific allegations as to 
 the dead woman s wishes, to be stated at a subsequent 
 period. Now, arrangements had to be made for the fu 
 neral. So Mr. Bosler, leaving Lai alone in charge of the 
 corpse, hitched up his horses and started for The Canon, to 
 procure the services of an undertaker and a clergyman. 
 
 It was not his intention to stay long at the town. His 
 friend Crump would, he thought, attend to matters for 
 him ; and, having once engaged his services, he designed 
 returning immediately to Bighorn Spring. He had an in 
 distinct idea that it would not be seemly for him to appear 
 prominently in public while his wife lay a corpse in his 
 house. And in some matters Mr. Bosler was very par 
 ticular. 
 
 lie saw Crump, and, what was more, saw "The Gulch- 
 cr," and found them both fully as sympathetic as he could 
 have desired. It was agreed that no postponement of the 
 proposed wedding should take place, but that punctually 
 at three o clock, on the following Saturday afternoon, Mr. 
 Kittle, the justice of the peace, and such friends as he de 
 sired to invite to the ceremony, should make their appear 
 ance at Bighorn Spring, and that there and then Lai should 
 become his wife. 
 
 The funeral of Mrs. Bosler, it was arranged, should be 
 conducted quietly the following morning, the grave being 
 dug in the cemetery belonging to the town. That evening 
 the body was brought to The Canon and laid out in a pri 
 vate room at " Crump s," and the next day, followed only 
 by Mr. Bosler, Lai, Messrs. Kittle and Crump, and two or 
 three women-friends of the deceased, it was deposited in its 
 
"LAL MUST GO!" 299 
 
 final resting-place. There was no formal inquiry as to the 
 cause of death. A physician asked a few questions of Lai 
 and her father, looked at the corpse, from the mouth of 
 which the blood was still oozing when it arrived at The Ca 
 non, and then gave a certificate of ( death from pulmonary 
 haemorrhage." 
 
 Mr. Bosler and Lai, as soon as the funeral was over, 
 drove back to Bighorn Spring. Although she had no 
 knowledge of the altercation that had been the immediate 
 cause .of her mother s death, she was aware, from various 
 preceding circumstances, that a difference of opinion on 
 some important subject existed between them. She had 
 several times surprised her mother in tears, and, upon in 
 quiring, had received evasive answers. She had observed, 
 too, that her father and mother rarely talked to each other 
 as they had formerly done, and that, although he was appar 
 ently in good spirits, these were certainly not shared by his 
 wife. And, in addition, she had repeatedly seen her father 
 look threateningly at her mother, and had perceived that 
 the latter quailed under the infliction. All these things now 
 came back to Lai with increased force, and the efforts that 
 Mr. Bosler made to lead her to believe that never before 
 had he been so loving to his wife as during the last few 
 days, only served to increase the doubts that were being 
 developed in her mind. 
 
 Few words were spoken during the drive home. Mr. 
 Bosler once or twice made some indifferent remark, to 
 which Lai either gave a short answer or none at all, as the 
 occasion required. She had not yet gotten over the first 
 burst of grief, and the state of mental torpor into which 
 her mother s sudden and awful death had thrown her. As 
 well as she could, she was thinking of all the incidents 
 that had any apparent connection with the event. Then 
 she recollected that her mother had gone to the back of the 
 house, whither she had been followed by her father. She 
 
300 LAL. 
 
 knew of nothing more till she heard him call for asssist- 
 ance, and, on hurrying from the work on which she was 
 engaged, finding her mother sinking to the ground with 
 the blood gushing from her mouth. 
 
 But yet, though she knew so little, she instinctively 
 felt that he, in some way or other, was connected with her 
 mother s death, and the thought gave her a terror and a re 
 pugnance that, with all her efforts, she could not overcome. 
 That there had been no murder she believed, for she had 
 seen with her own eyes the crimson current that welled up 
 from her mother s breast like water from the bottom of a 
 spring. And she had also witnessed the dismay and sor 
 row of her father, when, in the height of the catastrophe, 
 he had supported his dying wife in his arms, and, after his 
 rough method, had soothed her last moments. But what 
 had caused the blood to flow, and what were they doing 
 there together ? Ah ! that she did not know might, per 
 haps, never know. Mrs. Bosler had not been ill ; there had 
 been no cough, no sign of lung-disease ; the doctor who 
 gave the death-certificate had said that some sudden ex 
 citement might have caused the breaking of the blood 
 vessel. What had been the cause of that excitement ? 
 Something her father had said or done ? Something to 
 produce a climax to the mental disturbance that her 
 mother had suffered ever since her father had returned 
 from The Canon ? 
 
 "With this imperfect conclusion, unsatisfactory as it was, 
 Lai was obliged for the present to be content. Her mother 
 was dead ! From that fact there was no escape. Her best 
 friend, the only one to whom she had been able to go in her 
 troubles, would never more be able to help her with the 
 sympathy that had so often confirmed her in the right. 
 She called to mind how, only a few days before, her mother 
 had strengthened her in her determination to return the 
 stolen book, and she recognized the fact that but for the 
 
"LAL MUST GO!" 301 
 
 support she had given, the book might still have been 
 stolen property. She did not stop to consider that her 
 mother had done but a small portion of her duty ; she did 
 not think of the toleration of crime, the neglect of both 
 precept and example, the weakness toward her husband s 
 outrages, the degradation of her own nature, that the woman 
 had exhibited. That woman was her mother; and Lai 
 only thought of the good parts of her disposition and char 
 acter, especially as they had been exhibited during the last 
 few days of her life. It had seemed that Mrs. Bosler had 
 been suddenly awakened to the sense of her short-comings, 
 when she had revealed her heart to her daughter, scarcely 
 a week before she was placed beyond the possibility of mak 
 ing further progress toward a reformation. Lai thought 
 of her most as she had lived last. 
 
 Arriving at Bighorn Spring, Mr. Bosler went at once to 
 his own room, and, shutting the door, proceeded to make 
 himself comfortable by taking off his coat, boots, and cra 
 vat. Then, from a recess that he had constructed behind 
 the fireplace, he took his bag of five thousand dollars and 
 began to count the bright gold-pieces. Five hundred there 
 ought to be, and five hundred there were, of ten dollars 
 each. Ten piles of fifty, or fifty piles of ten, or five piles 
 of a hundred all kinds of numerical combinations could 
 be made of them ; but he thought they looked best when 
 spread out over the table singly, in the form of a parallelo 
 gram, counting twenty-five one way and twenty the other. 
 He sat and looked at this figure, his eye twinkling with 
 pleasure at the sight of the golden sheet and with the ideas 
 that were evoked. In another week he would be able to 
 make it twice as big or to have two, one at each end of 
 the table. He rubbed his hands with glee as his imagina 
 tion pictured the augmentation of his wealth. And all 
 obtained so easily ! No risk of losing his life, as in horse- 
 stealing ! He actually began to see that the latter was not 
 
302 LAL. 
 
 entirely an advantageous way of seeking a living. There 
 were objections to it. He was now a capitalist, and, like 
 others before him, with their attainment of wealth, he was 
 becoming conservative. He was almost ready to kick down 
 the ladder that he had been climbing so many years. He 
 might even stop drinking whisky. He only wished he had 
 a dozen daughters. He would be perfectly willing to sell 
 them all for ten thousand dollars apiece. 
 
 But he did love this one, and he did feel a pang or two 
 of regret that he should have to give her up in a week from 
 that time, and to a man who, however much he might try 
 to deceive himself into the idea that he was worthy, he 
 knew in his heart was a beastly wretch, with scarcely a re 
 deeming quality, and this, even from his stand-point, which 
 was not an elevated one by any means. 
 
 Yes ; he must part with Lai, and for ten thousand dol 
 lars. There was compensation in the thought, but yet he 
 felt uneasy. For a moment or two he imagined to himself 
 a wild scheme, by which it might be possible to get all the 
 money and keep his daughter too. Kittle would doubtless 
 bring the money with him. Why not pick a quarrel with 
 him, kill him, possess himself of the bag of gold he would 
 have with him, and then with Lai make his escape ? No ; 
 it would not do. There would be the justice of the peace ; 
 and, doubtless, " The Gulcher " would not be such a fool 
 as to put his head into Mr. Bosler s trap without having 
 thoroughly provided for his escape. He would come with 
 his friends all armed to the teeth, ready for, and perhaps 
 even expecting, treachery. Mr. Bosler knew that his repu 
 tation was not good, even with his own class. 
 
 There was one other alternative ; and that was to escape 
 from the country immediately, taking his daughter with 
 him, and being satisfied with the five thousand dollars he 
 had already received. But a very little reflection sufficed 
 to dismiss this idea from his mind the five thousand dol- 
 
"LAL MUST GO!" 303 
 
 lars in expectancy constituted an allurement that he was 
 absolutely powerless to resist. Besides, he had reason to 
 believe that any effort at escape would be futile. " The 
 Gulcher " was sharp ; he knew the man he was dealing 
 with ; and he would not have risked his five thousand dol 
 lars without having provided ample guarantees for security. 
 Doubtless, there were spies watching every movement he 
 made ; doubtless, they were at that very moment around 
 the house, ready to intercept any attempt at flight that he 
 might make. No ; there was no alternative the bargain 
 must be fulfilled. Lai must go ! 
 
 There was one thing yet to do, and that was to commu 
 nicate to his daughter the information of the fate that was 
 in store for her. It was to Mr. Bosler s credit that he 
 shrank from doing this, and there were two reasons that 
 caused him to view the act of revelation with apprehension. 
 In the first place, he knew she would be distressed ; and, in 
 the second, he was eqally certain she would be angry. He 
 loved her a little too much to be willing to cause her a pang 
 if he could have seen his way out of the matter, and he 
 stood in some terror of Lai s anger. He did not know what 
 it might result in. He had several times provoked her to 
 great indignation by merely mentioning Mr. Kittle to her 
 as a possible husband, and he had been fearful from her ap 
 pearance and actions that she might be going to have a fit, 
 or to become insane, or to plunge a knife into her breast or 
 perhaps into his ; and all this had been brought about mere 
 ly by the suggestion that a man she loathed might some day 
 be her husband. What would she do when told that she 
 should be this man s wife, that it was all settled, and that 
 the day was only a week distant ? He positively trembled 
 when he thought of it, and he determined that the contest, 
 if it needs must be severe, should be a short one, and that 
 therefore he would say nothing to her on the subject till 
 the night before the wedding was to occur. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A KENEWED ACQUAINTANCESHIP. 
 
 THE election that was to take place in the Fourth Legis 
 lative Council District was a special one, for the purpose of 
 filling the vacancy occasioned by the lamented demise of 
 Councilor Thomas Hughson, who had been accidentally 
 drowned while attempting to cross Bobtail Eiver on horse 
 back. The next day after Tyscovus s nomination, Doctor 
 Willis came down to the butte to confer with the candidate 
 relative to the best means of obtaining success. The doc 
 tor s knowledge of the country and of the people was of 
 great service to Tyscovus, and, after an hour s conversation 
 with his friend, he obtained a very clear idea of the condi 
 tion of affairs and of the measures to be taken to insure 
 reform. 
 
 It was arranged that Tyscovus should make a series of 
 speeches in various parts of the district, beginning at Hell 
 bender and ending with The Canon. The latter place was 
 well known to be devoted to the interests of Mr. Luke Kit 
 tle, the rival candidate ; and the doctor, knowing the char 
 acter of the majority of the inhabitants, was at first disposed 
 to omit it from the list, under the idea that violence might 
 be offered to any one opposing their favorite ; but to this 
 Tyscovus would not consent. He intended, he said, to be 
 fully as outspoken to the citizens of that place as to those 
 of any other locality, and hoped to be able to convince some 
 of them that it would better to have an honest administra- 
 
A RENEWED ACQUAINTANCESHIP. 305 
 
 tion of the laws than such a disregard of the principles of 
 order as then existed, and that must end ere long in a state 
 of complete anarchy. 
 
 For a while, the doctor endeavored to dissuade him 
 from persisting in this part of his plan of operations, but 
 eventually gave in his adhesion, though not without ex 
 pressing his fears that some offensive act might be commit 
 ted. " It would be so easy," he said, "for any rascal who 
 might take umbrage at your remarks, to shoot at you from 
 the crowd listening to your speech, and none of us would 
 ever know from whom the shot came ! However, we will 
 try to be on our guard against any such surprises ; and an 
 idea strikes me in this connection which, if we can carry it 
 out, will afford you complete protection, besides, probably, 
 enabling you to get a majority at The Canon. Don t ask 
 me now what it is. I shall at once attend to it, and you will 
 probably know in a few hours. " 
 
 Tyscovus had already arranged to have funds placed to 
 his credit in the " Miners National Bank," at Hellbender, 
 and the doctor engaged to purchase for him a pair of horses 
 and a light wagon which he would require in making his 
 campaign. Then the doctor took his departure for The 
 Canon, promising to stop on his way back to report the re 
 sult relative to his idea, and to drive Tyscovus over to Che- 
 tolah for a couple of days visit, so as to give him a better 
 opportunity of consulting with his political friends ; and 
 also that he might at once secure his naturalization papers. 
 
 It was not without a full appreciation of the importance 
 of the step he was taking, that Tyscovus contemplated the 
 act of renouncing his allegiance to all other potentates, and 
 especially to the Emperor of Eussia, The change of nation 
 ality must always to a thoughtful man be a matter of grave 
 importance. But, as the reader knows, he was through his 
 mother well imbued with American ideas. He had at vari 
 ous periods made long visits to the United States, and had, 
 
306 LAL. 
 
 several years previously, declared his intention to become 
 an American citizen. He had also, as part of the course of 
 study requisite for the composition of the book in which he 
 had been engaged, devoted a good deal of time to the in 
 vestigation of the American political system. He knew 
 all the provisions of the Constitution, better than do the 
 majority of educated adult Americans ; and he had ad 
 mired without stint the admirable checks and guarantees 
 contained in that wonderful instrument. 
 
 As the reader already knows, Tyscovus had fully thought 
 out the matter of his candidacy in all its relations, and had 
 decided to give up, or at any rate postpone, further work at 
 his book. The opportunity afforded him for being of prac 
 tical benefit to humanity was too excellent to be disregarded. 
 Should he be unsuccessful in his contest, the loss of time 
 would not be great, as the election was to take place in 
 about two weeks, and his numerous journeys around the 
 country, necessary to the conduction of his political cam 
 paign, would at least serve to enlarge his knowledge rela 
 tive to the interesting people among whom his fortunes 
 would be cast for several years. 
 
 The prospect of again meeting Theodora was pleasant 
 to him, and, although it was probable that most of his time 
 would be taken up with other matters, he anticipated being 
 more or less in her society during his stay at Chetolah. He 
 began to long for such refined woman-companionship as she 
 was capable of affording. He had felt the charm of her 
 presence very acutely, and now that he had, as he thought, 
 arrived at the decision that marriage with a woman of her 
 tastes and predilections was out of the question, he had lost 
 the fear of association with her with which he had at first 
 been imbued. She was a woman to have as a friend, and 
 he was quite sure that, were he to be in constant companion 
 ship with her, he should never regard her in any other light 
 than as a friend. 
 
A RENEWED ACQUAINTANCESHIP. 307 
 
 In the course of the afternoon Doctor Willis returned, 
 and, to the surprise of Tyscovus, brought with him the 
 man Abe Wilkins, or " The Monkey," who only a few days 
 before had made a strenuous effort to enter his house. Tys 
 covus looked at him with astonishment, contemplating the 
 extraordinary appearance presented by the man s long arms, 
 and wondering how he had been able to resist the embrace 
 which they seemed to be capable of giving. On the other 
 hand, "The Monkey" regarded his late antagonist with 
 equal wonder, that a man so spare as Tyscovus appeared 
 to be should have been able, not only to resist him, but 
 to have shown himself an aggressive combatant not to be 
 despised. 
 
 " Now that you have inspected each other sufficiently," 
 said the doctor, laughing, " I must explain the object I had 
 in view in bringing about this meeting. I was quite sure of 
 Wilkins s good-will toward you," he continued, addressing 
 Tyscovus, "and I am now convinced of his earnest desire 
 to reform, and to atone, so far as he can, for his former 
 lawless career. The narrow escape of his child from death 
 the other day has been of service to him, by setting him to 
 thinking that he had neglected his duty as a father, and 
 causing him to resolve to do better in future. In the first 
 place, he desires to ask your forgiveness." 
 
 "That s about it, I guess," said Wilkins, "I m goin to 
 quit, and I d like to start squar ." 
 
 " I am perfectly willing to forgive you," said Tyscovus, 
 "especially as you have made restitution, but you have 
 broken the law, and, although I shall take no active meas 
 ures for your punishment, I can not insure you against ar 
 rest, or promise that I will not appear as a witness against 
 you." 
 
 "Oh, as to that," said Wilkins, laughing, "I ll take 
 my chances. Thar ain t no one, I guess, would keer to 
 take me up, so long as you re satisfied. Besides, thar ain t 
 
308 LAL. 
 
 no one as knows anything about it cept you and the doc 
 tor." 
 
 "It looks to me something like compounding a felony," 
 said Tyscovus, gravely. Then suddenly it occurred to him 
 that he had already, in the case of Lai Bosler, done that 
 very thing. She had violated the law, not to the same ex 
 tent as the man before him, but still had committed a dis 
 tinct infraction of the statute against larceny. She had 
 expressed contrition and had made restitution, and he had 
 not only forgiven her, but had fallen in love with her. 
 Wilkins had expressed contrition had also made restitu 
 tion ; why, then, should he not compound his felony as 
 readily as he had Lai Bosler s ? Many hyper-conscientious 
 people would have worried themselves into a morbid state 
 of mind over this question. Tyscovus, however, saw the 
 matter in its true light. Setting aside altogther his per 
 sonal feelings, he recognized the facts that the objects of 
 all law are the protection of society and the reformation of 
 the criminal. The first end he knew was to be obtained, 
 not only by putting the offender in such a position as re 
 garded the world that further crime would be impossible 
 that is, shutting him up in prison, or taking his life, accord 
 ing to the nature of his crime but by acting upon him mor 
 ally, and by using him as an example to others who might be 
 contemplating violations of the law. Lai s offense was not 
 a public one ; it was the result of impulse, and was not one 
 of a series committed by a hardened criminal, habituated 
 to crime. No court would have inflicted upon her much 
 more than a nominal punishment. Moreover, she had ex 
 piated her offense by her humiliation and grief. 
 
 As to Wilkins, he was an old offender ; he exhibited no 
 evidence of contrition beyond his own assertion ; he had 
 come there purposely to commit crime ; he had used vio 
 lence ; he was known throughout the Territory as a lawless 
 man ; his punishment would serve as a much-needed ex- 
 
A RENEWED ACQUAINTANCESHIP. 3Q9 
 
 ample, and would effectually provide against the perpetra 
 tion by him of further crimes. 
 
 Yes, there was a difference. It was not necessary for 
 him to go further into the consideration of the subject. It 
 was right to condone Lai s venial sin and crime, and it 
 would not be right to prevent the law dealing with Mr. 
 Abe Wilkins certainly not till there were better evidences 
 of that individual s reformation than had been yet offered. 
 He was not going to denounce him, and neither was he 
 going to protect him. His future action would depend 
 very much on how the neophyte in virtue conducted him 
 self. 
 
 "So it is compounding a felony," said the doctor, tak 
 ing up Tyscovus s last remark, and walking with him out of 
 the room. " That means, that you are willing to say noth 
 ing about the matter provided the offender does certain 
 things. Every father, I suppose, acts in that way with his 
 children, and he would be a very bad father if he did not. 
 And even courts suspend punishment in such cases as they 
 think can be dealt with mercifully to the advantage of the 
 guilty person and of society. Now, I know Wilkins pretty 
 well. I believe he means to be a different and a better 
 man hereafter. He has told me something to-day that has 
 stirred every fiber of my body, and I advise you to trust 
 him absolutely. By so doing, you will confirm him in his 
 good resolutions and benefit your country." 
 
 * I don t think I quite understand," said Tyscovus. 
 
 " Of course you don t ; you are not likely to suspect me 
 of conceiving such a brilliant stroke of genius as I have 
 not only thought out, but executed. We shall carry The 
 Canon for you by at least a hundred majority." 
 
 "I still don t understand." 
 
 "No, for I have not yet explained. Now. listen : Abe 
 Wilkins controls a large portion of the votes of The Ca- 
 fion. The other side has relied on him to influence this 
 
310 LAL. 
 
 vote for Kittle. He will not. He will work in your in 
 terest, and every mother s son of the gang will go for you." 
 
 "And what am I to do ? I must confess that at first 
 sight I don t quite like the idea of votes in a free country 
 being transferred, without regard to principles, from one 
 party to the other. I suppose something will be required 
 of me." 
 
 " You will not be required to pay money, or to sacrifice 
 principle, or to do anything, worthy or unworthy, in regard 
 to these men. You will go down there and speak, and you 
 will tell them that you are a law-and-order man, and that 
 your very first duty, if you are elected, will be to introduce 
 measures looking to a reform in the system of administer 
 ing law. You will say as severe things as you please and 
 these men will applaud you, and then they will vote for 
 you. Surely it is desirable to win these people over to the 
 side of right, and it is proper for you to avail yourself of 
 the assistance of the only man who can control them." 
 
 "And what inducements will Wilkins hold out to 
 them?" 
 
 "None at all, except that of voting to oblige him. He 
 controls them by his own personal influence. They will go 
 as he goes, and he is now on your side. They neither know 
 nor care anything about the principles involved." 
 
 " And yet they have the privileges of freemen ! I think 
 it is very horrible." 
 
 " My dear fellow, there are ignorant men in every com 
 munity who are just as unworthy as they are of the rights 
 of the citizen. But what can you do ? They have votes 
 that they do not know how to use. Somebody must guide 
 them. Now, who shall it be, you or Mr. Luke Kittle ? 
 If you do not accept the leadership, your opponent will, 
 and he will be elected." 
 
 " Of course, Wilkins expects something, "said Tyscovus, 
 still unsatisfied. " What is it ? An office ? " 
 
A RENEWED ACQUAINTANCESHIP. 311 
 
 " By no means. He is actuated solely by good-will to 
 you, originating, I suspect, in a wholesome admiration for 
 your prowess. Besides, he feels that he has done you an 
 injury, and he wishes to atone for it, and as amply as is in 
 his power." 
 
 " I will accept his proposition," said Tyscovus after a 
 little reflection, " upon the condition that I have an oppor 
 tunity of addressing his gang, as you call it, informing 
 them of my principles, and calling their attention to the 
 fact that their votes are their own, and not to be cast for 
 me unless they are satisfied that I am the better man and 
 will make the better legislator." 
 
 " I think you are over-sensitive," said the doctor, laugh 
 ing ; "but I will engage that you shall have the opportuni 
 ty you desire. Now, I am going to propose to you to leave 
 Wilkins in charge of your house while you are with us at 
 Chetolah. It is not safe to leave it unguarded, as you have 
 now many valuable things in it." 
 
 ""Well, of all the extraordinary propositions I ever 
 heard," said Tyscovus, with an amused expression of coun 
 tenance, " that exceeds ! " To think of employing as a 
 keeper of a house the man who robbed it, is certainly a 
 most original idea, and one that only the brain of an Ameri 
 can could have evolved. However, I am willing. Such 
 an experience of human nature as you are giving me will 
 be very valuable, especially if on my return I do not find 
 that he has again made off with all of my effects that he 
 could carry." ^ 
 
 " And that is exactly the experience you will have. 
 You will find that not a thing will have been touched with 
 out your permission. Come, let us go back and settle mat 
 ters with him at once. Then I shall drive you over to 
 Chetolah. Theodora is waiting to welcome you. Her ex 
 periment in evolution is a perfect success, and she is about 
 devising others in which she wants your advice. She is de- 
 
312 
 
 LAL. 
 
 lighted with your nomination. I have been trying to in 
 duce her to make a speech or two in your behalf, but she 
 pleads other and more imperative duties. Besides, she is 
 expecting visitors from New York in a few days some 
 people whom she met last summer and whom she likes very 
 much, and who are coming at a most opportune moment." 
 " I shall be delighted to meet Miss Willis again," said 
 Tyscovus, with animation ; " I would much rather converse 
 with her than make political speeches." 
 
 "Of course, you would!" exclaimed the doctor, with 
 entire sincerity. "Who wouldn t? She s capable of en 
 tertaining the wisest man that ever lived." 
 
 "Well, I m not that," said Tyscovus, laughing; "I m 
 only an ass, as you know. But, for all that, I have a hum 
 ble liking for being entertained. I suppose John Buri- 
 dan s Ass was delectably enlivened when he found him 
 self between the water and the hay." 
 
 " I don t know about that," said the doctor ; " the oc 
 casion was too serious for much amusement. Now, Wil- 
 kins," he continued as they entered the room where that 
 individual was seated waiting their return, "all is settled, 
 and Mr. Tyscovus will be glad to have you remain in 
 charge of his house till he gets back, which he will in a 
 couple of days. I told him he could trust you. " 
 
 " So he kin, doc ; I guess all ll be safe with me, and, 
 what s more, I won t let no one else touch em neither. 
 Now, ef thar s any instructions, I m ready for em." 
 
 "I have no instructions," said Tyscovus, to whom the 
 latter part of the remarks had been addressed ; " I leave all 
 to you, simply to be taken care of." 
 
 "And I ll take care of em, that you kin bet your pile 
 on." 
 
 Then Tyscovus filled a traveling-bag with what he 
 thought he should require, and he and the doctor took 
 their departure for Chetolah. 
 
A RENEWED ACQUAINTANCESHIP. 313 
 
 During the drive, the doctor scarcely opened his mouth 
 to speak, except occasionally to utter some exclamation 
 brought out apparently by the thoughts passing through 
 his mind. Tyscovus saw that he was preoccupied, and 
 forbore to interrupt the current of his ideas. .But, as they 
 were entering the house, the doctor said : 
 
 "I ve heard something to-day which will, if true and 
 I do not see how it can be false require some prompt 
 work, and will make several people happy. I can not 
 speak more fully at present, not even to Theodora, but a 
 few days will reveal all. It settles all the doubts of many 
 years. But come in I must not keep you standing in the 
 cold while your tea is waiting for you." 
 14 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 "THAT LESSOR IS FOR YOU ! " 
 
 TYSCOYUS was glad to meet Theodora again, and Theo 
 dora was equally delighted to encounter Tyscovus. The 
 mere sight of her was sufficient to recall in him all the emo 
 tions of pleasure that he had experienced on first seeing 
 her, and that had grown so long as the personal association 
 had continued. But he had resolved not to allow his feel 
 ings to become involved beyond the point of friendship 
 based on admiration and esteem, and, as Theodora evidently 
 regarded him in a similar light, there was at first entire 
 ease in their conversation and manner with each other. 
 
 But Tyscovus was so constituted that self-control in the 
 matter of his emotions was a very difficult matter. He had 
 at one time, before leaving Poland, and even for a short 
 period after his arrival in Colorado, succeeded in mastering 
 these troublesome mental faculties to such a degree that he 
 began to flatter himself that he had at last acquired com 
 plete command over them. He had then been subjected to the 
 severest system of self -discipline that he had ever employed 
 against himself, and his efforts had, as he thought, resulted 
 in a victory for his intellect ; but he had latterly been 
 forced to admit that the superiority was by no means abso 
 lute. Still, there was less brusqueness in the manifestation 
 of his feelings always ; there was a greater power of repres 
 sion, and some were entirely restrained. He reasoned more 
 forcibly and logically in regard to them, his faculty of 
 
"THAT LESSOR IS FOR YOU!" 315 
 
 introspection was markedly developed, he had acquired 
 increased power of considering his desires from unselfish 
 stand-points, and of deciding irrespectively of his likes and 
 dislikes ; courageous to a fault, he was not afraid of him 
 self. He shirked no responsibility. He did not wish to 
 fall in love with Theodora. His reason told him, whether 
 rightly or wrongly, that she could not be such a wife as he 
 would desire. He might easily have avoided all risk of los 
 ing his heart by keeping away from Chetolah, but associa 
 tion with her was delightful, and to have avoided her would 
 have been unkind and cowardly. 
 
 Now, as he sat in the luxuriously furnished drawing- 
 room, on one side of the comfortable wood-fire, while Theo 
 dora, looking to his eyes more beautiful than ever before, 
 sat on the other, he began to wonder how it had ever been 
 possible for him to think of her as a woman to whom 
 marriage should be forbidden. She was telling him of 
 some recent novels she had been reading. Her interest was 
 aroused and her cheeks glowed with the soft mellow hue 
 which the peach wears when the summer sun begins to 
 ripen it. Her remarks revealed her capacity to analyze 
 characters and motives, and were couched in a diction 
 that showed how thoroughly she had mastered the prin 
 ciples of the English language and how perfect was her 
 taste in the choice of words. 
 
 Tyscovus looked at her with undisguised admiration. 
 There was nothing of the female anatomist about her now. 
 No one seeing her beautifully formed hands with their ta 
 pering fingers would have supposed that they had ever held 
 such a thing as a scalpel, or had dabbled in the unpleasant 
 ooze of post-mortem examinations. She looked and spoke 
 like a veritable woman without masculine aspirations or 
 masculine modes of thought. Like one who, finding her 
 greatest happiness in the study of the beautiful in Nature 
 and in Art, preferred their refining influences to those to be 
 
316 LAL. 
 
 derived from a public career, or from sitting on scholastic 
 benches with " Tom, Dick, and Harry." 
 
 She was speaking of the heroine in a somewhat popular 
 novel of the day. 
 
 "I do not like her," she said with decision, and with a 
 pretty little gesture of the hands. "She is hard, and 
 such women are always undesirable acquaintances, whether 
 I meet them in real life or in fiction. Sorrows and misfor 
 tunes, instead of refining her and making her more gentle, 
 served, on the contrary, to array her only the more strong 
 ly, not only against those about her, but against the whole 
 human race. An author has no right to make such a char 
 acter the central figure of his story. Of course, disagree 
 able, and even mean, base, vile personages, may be prop 
 erly introduced into novels ; but they should never be 
 made the heroes .or heroines. ISTo properly constituted per 
 son ever cares, frohi choice, to read the lives of real male 
 factors or other abominable people, or of those who are 
 constantly exhibiting unworthy traits of disposition or 
 character. Why, then, should such creatures be imagined 
 by the novelist, and a halo of glory be thrown around them, 
 by making them the chief figures of his story ? 
 
 " The novel should, of course, depict life, and I am not 
 so squeamish as to exclude all ignoble natures ; but these 
 should always be subordinate to those better types of hu 
 manity of which the world is full, and which, when well 
 conceived and described, always give pleasure as well as in 
 struction to the reader." 
 
 "lam not quite sure that you arc altogether right," 
 said Tyscovus. " It appears to me that we can not avoid 
 meeting with wickedness in this world, and that novels 
 that assume to depict the manners, customs, passions of 
 mankind, can not ignore the bad. A great part of the good 
 ness of the world comes from a knowledge of the evils at 
 tendant on the pursuit of vice. The Spartans were observ- 
 
"THAT LESSON IS FOR YOU!" 317 
 
 ant people, and well informed in regard to the working of 
 the human mind. As you know, they made their slaves 
 drunk, and then submitted them to the observation of their 
 children, in order to show them the disgusting effects 
 of drunkenness. It was an immoral and beastly experi 
 ment. It was doing positive evil in order to obtain a pos 
 sible good ; but, doubtless, it was instructive. I don t sec 
 why the novelist should not also make us acquainted with 
 the horrors of a vicious life provided he is careful not to 
 glaze them over with the thin varnish of decency or of 
 beauty, but allows them to stand out in all their naked de 
 formity and ugliness. I can even conceive that he might 
 imagine a totally depraved character and make him the 
 principal personage of his story, but then he should be very 
 sure that he presents him in such a way as to leave no 
 doubt in the minds of his readers as to what he himself 
 thinks of the moral status of his hero. There should be no 
 extenuation of his crimes or sins, and his wickedness should 
 meet with its due reward." 
 
 " Then you think the novel should inculcate a lesson ?" 
 said Theodora, inquiringly. 
 
 " Of course I do ; but at the same time I regard the 
 discussions that are constantly taking place, relative to the 
 functions of the fictionist, as in great part superfluous, for 
 I can not conceive of any well-told story failing to teach a 
 lesson of some kind. I think the moral should not be 
 obtrusive. If it is, the character of the story as a work of 
 art is impaired. Something should be left for the imagina 
 tion of the reader, but, for all that, it should be there, and 
 not so hidden, either, that the wayfaring man, though he 
 be almost a fool, should have any difficulty in finding it." 
 
 Theodora smiled at the earnestness which Tyscovus 
 exhibited, a quality which, however, he manifested at all 
 times in everything he undertook to say or do. It was 
 this that constituted one of the chief charms of the man, 
 
318 LAL. 
 
 and which impressed the listener or observer with a high 
 sense of his honesty of purpose. Theodora felt the influ 
 ence which every thorough-going and sincere person exer 
 cises upon those with whom he is associated ; and yet she 
 was not impressionable in the ordinary sense of the word. 
 She was not one to be led away by an emotion from what 
 her intellect, in her cooler moments, would tell her was 
 right. But her reason was usually in such happy accord 
 with her feelings, and acted so promptly upon the excita 
 tions they offered, that no one could have called her cold- 
 hearted, or have regarded her as being slow to respond to 
 any appeal addressed to her heart. 
 
 But with her interest in the manner and matter of 
 what Tyscovus had said was mingled no small degree of 
 astonishment, that he, a foreigner, and of a nationality far 
 removed in modes of thought and of expression from her 
 own, should have been able to convey his ideas with such 
 clearness, and without, so far as she could perceive, a single 
 lapse from the highest standard of good English. At his 
 former visit she had, as it were, been the teacher, and he 
 had said little of a character to reveal the type of mental 
 organization he possessed, or the methods by which his 
 mind worked. Now, however, he was, without seeming 
 to have a purpose of so doing, becoming the instructor, 
 and she, equally unconsciously, was listening to the words 
 that fell from his lips as though he spoke with the divine 
 right of an oracle. 
 
 And yet she was not annoyed at the change that was 
 taking place, although she saw at once that his was the 
 stronger mind, and that, in any future associations, he 
 would lead and she would follow. It was not so much the 
 ideas he expressed that revealed to her a knowledge of the 
 relative positions they would henceforth occupy, as it was 
 the energy and decision he displayed in their enunciation. 
 She saw that these were masculine qualities that man, by 
 
"THAT LESSON IS FOR YOU!" 319 
 
 the very nature of his organization, must possess in a 
 higher degree than they are held by woman, and she ad 
 mired them accordingly. And not only this, but, with 
 true feminine instinct an instinct, however, which, like 
 that of maternity, is slowly but surely fading out of the 
 human female organism she recognized their possessor as 
 one whom she would be content to accept as a guide; 
 whom, in fact, she would be compelled to accept. Like 
 most properly organized women, she felt a contempt for 
 weak-minded or weak-bodied men. She saw that Tyscovus 
 was neither the one nor the other. Her father had told 
 her of some of his antecedents his imprisonment in Sibe 
 ria ; the object of his visit to America ; his contest with 
 Abe Wilkins and she perceived for herself that there was a 
 vigor of understanding that could not fail to make itself 
 felt whenever an emergency might arise. 
 
 "Doubtless you are right so far as society at large is 
 concerned," she said, at last. " My remarks were too gen 
 eral. I should have restricted them to myself. I imagined, 
 for the moment, that what was unpleasant to me must be 
 so to the rest of the world. Besides, if you choose," she 
 added, laughing, "you can set the expression down to my 
 inherent tendency, in common with the rest of my sex, to 
 be inexact. But you spoke, just now, of totally depraved 
 persons. Are there any such ? " 
 
 "No," replied Tyscovus, laughing in turn, "I do not 
 believe there are. You may set my expression down to my 
 national tendency to exaggeration. But I see, Miss Willis, 
 that you know how to give thrusts as well as to parry them. 
 Coming back, though, to totally depraved persons, your 
 father contends that Mr. Jim Bosler is without a redeem 
 ing trait. He regards him as being the worst man between 
 the two oceans. Admitting this last allegation to be true, 
 I still believe that he is not altogether bad, that he loves 
 his wife and daughter, and that further acquaintance with 
 
320 LAL. 
 
 him would reveal the existence of other qualities of a char 
 acter to redeem him from the charge of total depravity." 
 
 "I think your example is about as strong a one as you 
 could have chosen," said Theodora. "Bosler is assuredly 
 as bad a man as there is. There may be others who have 
 committed more crimes, and of a more horrible nature, but 
 he has the capacity for any depth of wickedness into which 
 the heart of man can plunge. It is strange to me that he 
 can have had a daughter as naturally good as Lai. I have 
 always believed in the hereditary transmission of qualities 
 good and bad, but this instance appears to be in opposition 
 to the theory. Do you believe in it ? " 
 
 Ko, I do not/ answered Tyscovus, with emphasis, 
 "or rather I should say, in regard to this matter as well as 
 to many others, that I am an agnostic. The evidence is 
 not sufficient either way, and I prefer to hold my belief in 
 abeyance till there are more facts bearing on the question. 
 I have reached that step of mental evolution in which I 
 accept nothing till it is proved." 
 
 -There I think you are wrong," said Theodora, with 
 Agnosticism has always struck me as such a 
 hard, cold condition for the mind to reach. It shows so 
 little confidence in one s self, and leaves no room for future 
 mental development except in the miser-like direction of 
 the continual accumulation of facts." 
 
 "I do not think I quite follow you," said Tyscovus, af 
 ter a moment s reflection. 
 
 " I will try and make myself clear. Suppose, for ex 
 ample, a person should ask me whether or not you were a 
 burglar ? Do you think I should say, I do not know I 
 have not accumulated a sufficient stock of facts yet in regard 
 to him to enable me to answer the question ? No, I should 
 at once reply that you were not, and I should base my opin 
 ion upon certain traits that I know you to possess, and 
 that are also totally incompatible with the existence of a 
 
"THAT LESSON IS FOR YOU!" 321 
 
 tendency to enter people s houses by violence. I should have 
 this knowledge as firmly as any other I could acquire." 
 
 " No, that I deny ; you could have the inference, perhaps ; 
 but as to the knowledge, that you could not possess unless 
 you knew more of my former life than you do know. As a 
 matter of fact, my dear Miss Willis," he continued as ear 
 nestly as though he were expressing a serious doubt relative 
 to his non-burglarious antecedents, "you do not know 
 whether I am 3 burglar or npt. For all you can allege with 
 certainty, I may have broken into many houses, and have 
 even served out a term in prison for my crimes. You can 
 only know a thing when you have applied to it the powers 
 of your senses. What you can see, hear, taste, smell, or 
 touch, that you know, and nothing else." 
 
 " If the senses were infallible," rejoined Theodora, " you 
 might with propriety regard them as the only channels 
 through which sure information is to be obtained. But 
 when you call to mind the fact that they are all liable to 
 lead to illusions and hallucinations, I do not see that we 
 obtain any more certain knowledge through them than 
 through reflection upon such perceptions as seem to us to be 
 real. When we come to actual positive knowledge, about 
 which there is no possibility of a doubt, I think you will 
 agree with me that the amount is exceedingly small. In 
 truth, I am not sure that we have any. If we stopped to 
 act only upon indubitable knowledge, we should do noth 
 ing at all. Faith, after all, is the influence that guides us." 
 
 "I think I could easily invalidate your reasoning," said 
 Tyscovus, with a smile, "if I were not anxious to talk with 
 you about another matter. Do you know much of Miss 
 Bosler ? " 
 
 " Not a very great deal ; in fact, nothing of my own 
 knowledge. Father knows her well, and has always spoken 
 kindly of her." 
 
 "I wish you knew her, for I would like to have your 
 
322 LAL. 
 
 opinion of her. It is very horrible to think that she has 
 such an irreclaimable wretch as Bosler for her father." 
 
 " Yes, but then you know she will probably soon be 
 separated from him, for, as her guardian and the trustee 
 of her fortune, father will never permit her to be surrounded 
 by such influences as those to which she has hitherto been 
 subjected. He will probably send her East in a few days. 
 I suppose you know that her mother is dead." 
 
 "No, I had not heard of it. Then the girl is still more 
 to be pitied, for I suppose her mother was some check to 
 the evil power of Bosler." 
 
 "A little only ; she was a weak creature, and thoroughly 
 under her husband s control. I have heard papa say that 
 at one time she was a very respectable woman, but that 
 association with Bosler soon degraded her almost to his 
 level." 
 
 Tyscovus reflected for a few moments as to whether or 
 not he should tell Theodora of Lai s recent visit to him and 
 of its cause. Finally he decided to do so, and in a few words 
 related the essential points of the matter, but without say 
 ing much relative to his own feelings or those which he 
 thought he had detected in Lai. 
 
 Theodora heard him through to the end without ques 
 tion or comment. When he had concluded, she said : "I 
 see that you understand the great law of kindness. Un 
 doubtedly you have saved her from the commission of fur 
 ther crimes. Of course, you would not under any circum 
 stance have sent her to jail, but you might have spoken 
 harshly to her and thus have hardened her heart. You 
 have done much to start her right on the new career upon 
 which she will soon enter ; for, though her offense was 
 slight, and committed ignorantly or thoughtlessly, it was 
 enough to form the basis for much greater crimes. 
 
 " I never expect to see her again," said Tyscovus, with 
 a tinge of sadness in his voice. 
 
"THAT LESSON IS FOR YOU!" 323 
 
 " You say that regretfully." 
 
 "Yes, I do regret it." 
 
 " Why ? " said Theodora, after a moment s silence, dur 
 ing which she appeared to be thinking whether or not she 
 should put the question. 
 
 " Because she interests me greatly. I should like to 
 watch the development of her mind under ennobling influ 
 ences. I should even like, if possible, to take a part in her 
 education. I can conceive of no greater pleasure. I should 
 like to have her entirely under my own control, and to edu 
 cate her according to my own ideas. Of course, however, 
 that is out of the question." 
 
 "Yes, I think it is." 
 
 "May I ask," inquired Tyscovus with a little pique in 
 his tone, "why you express yourself so positively ?" 
 
 " The reasons are very simple. In the first place, you 
 would injure your own character ; in the next place, you 
 would ruin hers." 
 
 "I suppose that is all quite true," said Tyscovus, mus 
 ingly ; " the world is very wicked and imagines wrong where 
 there is only right. If I were to take this ignorant girl to 
 my home, with the sole object of making her better than 
 she is, and were to carry out my purpose with entire fidel 
 ity, we should both lose whatever reputation for virtue 
 either of us have." 
 
 "I am quite sure you would." 
 
 " And you would go with the world, Miss Willis ? " 
 
 " Ah ! I didn t say that. No, I should not go with the 
 world. I should as soon think you a burglar in disguise 
 as a disloyal and an untrue man. But how many others 
 would have equal faith in you ? To how many others have 
 you revealed yourself as you have -unconsciously to me ? 
 To society at large, only the fact would be known, and you 
 would be condemned. Besides, the thing itself would I 
 think be, if not wrong, manifestly imprudent. Women 
 
324 
 
 should not be subjected eycn to the suspicion of evil ; and 
 civilization has thrown no more safeguards around them 
 than are sufficient for their protection, not only from sin, 
 but from the appearance of sin. But I am fighting a wind 
 mill ; for of course you have never conceived a distinct idea 
 of doing anything of the kind." 
 
 "But 1 have," said Tyscovus, fearlessly. "I have 
 thought it over very seriously and I had almost made up my 
 mind to speak to your father on the subject. So far as my 
 own reputation is concerned, if I do not lose the good opin 
 ion of people like you, Miss Willis, I care nothing whatever 
 for what those who do not know me may think. I regulate 
 my conduct from my own convictions and from the kindly 
 judgment of my friends. As to the rest of the world it 
 may, if you will excuse the expression, go to the devil for 
 all I care. But I admit at once, and without reservation, 
 that I would have no right to inveigle another into any 
 arrangement that would injure her in the estimation of the 
 world. A woman s character is not a thing to be trifled 
 with, even when the critics are fools and knaves. Your 
 opinion is quite sufficient for me, and the matter goes out 
 of my mind with regret, I admit, but none the less defi 
 nitely." 
 
 "If Mrs. Bosler had lived," said Theodora, looking at 
 him with an arch expression, " you might have saved ap 
 pearances by inviting her also to take up her residence with 
 you. As it is, I am not quite sure that Mr. Bosler would 
 not be sufficient, even in the eyes of the most sensorious." 
 
 " That I am afraid would be impossible. But," abrupt 
 ly changing the conversation, "you have told me nothing 
 about the snakes. Are they still developing ? " 
 
 "You shall come and see," said Theodora, rising and 
 leading the way. 
 
 They went on through the library and the hall to the lab 
 oratory. The glass case still stood on the table in the bay- 
 
"THAT LESSON IS FOE YOU!" 325 
 
 window, and the rays of the afternoon sun were pouring 
 down upon it. The serpents lay stretched out at full length, 
 their eyes closed as though they were sleeping. Tyscovus 
 opened the little door in the side of the case and touched 
 one of the reptiles. Then he touched the other. Neither 
 moved, or gave any other sign of vitality. Finally, he took 
 each in his hands, but the bodies were limp and hung down 
 like two great ropes. Both were quite dead. Their elevation 
 in the zoological scale had been of no use to them. They 
 would have lived longer and more in accordance with their 
 serpent-nature if they had been left alone, to crawl over 
 their native earth with the supply of heat, light, electricity, 
 and oxygen that Nature was giving them. Tyscovus and 
 Theodora looked at the dead animals for some time in si 
 lence. " It was a brilliant experiment," said the former, at 
 last, "and, though the snakes are dead, they lived long 
 enough to establish a great truth." 
 
 Yes," said Theodora, they did not live in vain. What 
 are individual snakes, or even individual men or women, in 
 comparison with the demonstration of Nature s laws ? " 
 
 " If you were to ask the snakes or the men and women 
 who were about to be sacrificed, you might get a somewhat 
 different answer from what I would give. Yet, here are 
 the legs, and they have been made to grow through the 
 agencies you employed. I think you may well be content 
 with the result. However, perhaps there is another lesson 
 to be conveyed, and that is, never to attempt to lift any 
 animal out of its proper sphere." 
 
 "Yes, but that lesson is for you," said Theodora, laugh 
 ing, " rather than for me." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 "AN ADMIRABLE CRICHTON." 
 
 DURING the remainder of his visit to Chetolah, Tyscovus 
 saw very little of Theodora, the greater portion of his time 
 being taken up in consultations with his political friends 
 in regard to the most advantageous way of conducting his 
 campaign. Mr. Higgins was the most enthusiastic as well 
 as one of the most useful of his adherents. He had prepared 
 lists of the voters, and, as he said, intended to make it his 
 business to see either by himself or by a discreet deputy 
 every one of them, and if possible ascertain his political 
 views. He had already canvassed Hellbender, and had as 
 certained that more than two thirds of the voters were in 
 favor of Tyscovus. He was sanguine that the rest of the 
 district would show an equally good result, and was accord 
 ingly ready to bet all he was worth that his candidate would 
 be triumphantly returned. 
 
 Tyscovus had taken out his naturalization papers, and it 
 was arranged that on the afternoon of the same day a mass- 
 meeting should be held at the Lyceum, and that he should 
 be introduced with due formality to the assembled citizens, 
 and should then deliver himself of a speech. The pro 
 gramme was duly carried out. Tyscovus s speech was a 
 straightforward statement of his views on the questions of 
 the day, and was peculiarly emphatic in its denunciations 
 of the lawless spirit that pervaded the Territory. He cre 
 ated, however, a little feeling of opposition when he alluded 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE ORIOHTON." 327 
 
 to vigilance committees as being, in his opinion, unneces 
 sary, and, as themselves, by their example, countenan 
 cing violations of the law. He declared that, though 
 there was a shameful neglect or lack of power to preserve 
 order, yet that the emergency was not one that in his 
 opinion called for any such extraordinary measures as a 
 vigilance committee, the members of which charged them 
 selves with the office, outside of the law, of acting as wit 
 nesses, judges, juries, and executioners. He begged, there 
 fore, that if there was any such body organized from among 
 his friends, it might be at once dispersed, and he pledged 
 himself that, if elected, he would devote all his energies to 
 the duty of securing a prompt and efficient administration 
 of all the laws under which they lived. 
 
 Although these remarks did not meet with unqualified 
 approval, there were no objections openly expressed and the 
 speech was, as a whole, enthusiastically applauded. Then 
 Mr. Higgins, who presided, called upon the "Hellbender 
 Glee Club " to sing the opening campaign-song, which was 
 done amid a degree of enthusiasm that caused the windows 
 of the building to shake with the reverberation of the 
 clapping of hands, stamping of feet, and all kinds of yells 
 that followed. 
 
 The doctor was then called upon for a speech, and when 
 he rose to respond was received with a fresh volley of ap 
 plause. It was, however, soon evident to all in the room and 
 to no one more than to Tyscovus, that the excitement of 
 the occasion had been sufficient to unsettle his mind to a 
 greater extent relative to women, and especially Theodora, 
 than he had previously exhibited. He began in a some 
 what rambling way to speak of the great superiority of 
 the female to the male sex, not only in the human race, 
 but throughout all animated nature. Then he cited the 
 examples of women in all ages of the world who had dis 
 tinguished themselves in war, in politics, and in science 
 
328 LAL. 
 
 and art, and declared that the only remedy for impurity 
 in the administration of public affairs was to adopt female 
 suffrage. 
 
 He then went on to state that there were many women 
 in Colorado who were perfectly competent to take the lead 
 in the direction of its public policy, and that there was one 
 especially that they all knew and loved, and who had already 
 made her influence felt in their midst. Here some one 
 called for "three cheers for Miss Willis," and they were 
 given with a good-will and energy that excited the doctor 
 to a still greater degree. 
 
 lie was going on with the most fulsome encomiums of 
 Theodora, and there were already signs among the audience 
 of a disposition to turn him into ridicule, when Tyscovus, 
 who was overwhelmed with mortification at the turn things 
 had taken, determined if possible, to stop the doctor s fur 
 ther progress, even at the risk of endangering their friend 
 ship. He felt that his interference would bo in her inter 
 est ; he knew that she discountenanced the introduction 
 of her name into public assemblies like the present, and 
 that, however much she might contend for the right of 
 woman to be educated according to the highest standard 
 of excellence, she was not in favor of the entrance of her 
 sex into politics. 
 
 But it was not without fear as to the result that Tyscovus 
 decided to put a stop to the doctor s remarks. He recol 
 lected what Theodora had told him in regard to the effect 
 of opposition upon her father, and there was cause to fear 
 that now, when his excitement was at its highest pitch, 
 any contradiction or impediment might act with redoubled 
 power. Nevertheless, the situation was such as to impera 
 tively require interference, and was getting worse every 
 moment. Already cries of derision and mock applause 
 were coming from different parts of the large hall, and even 
 the most sedate and loyal of the doctor s friends were either 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE CRICHTON"." 329 
 
 smiling at the violence and incoherence of his language, or 
 hanging their heads in sorrow. Tyscovus was sitting im 
 mediately opposite the doctor at the very front of the au 
 dience, and in full view of every one in the room. He rose to 
 his feet. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," he said and at the words the doctor 
 stopped speaking, and every eye was, amid the most com 
 plete silence, turned on Tyscovus " I rise for the purpose 
 of calling my friend to order. However much we may 
 agree with him relative to the subject of his remarks ; 
 however much we may admire the lady of whom with 
 paternal pride and love he has spoken, this I respect 
 fully submit to you, Mr. Chairman, and to my dear friend, 
 is a meeting called for a special object. It may seem un 
 gracious for me, your candidate, to interpose in this man 
 ner, but I am aware that there are other speakers waiting 
 to address you on the questions at issue. I hope, therefore, 
 that my friend will not think it amiss if I remind him 
 that we are here for the purpose of conferring with one an 
 other relative to the best means to be adopted to insure 
 the success of the law and order party." 
 
 Tyscovus s remarks were received with loud and long- 
 continued applause. He evidently had the whole meeting 
 with him. 
 
 Perhaps it was this fact, one that even the most furi^ 
 ous lunatic will often recognize, of the overwhelming odds 
 against him, and the consequent impossibility of his speak 
 ing with the feeling of the audience so decidedly adverse, 
 that prompted the doctor to act as he did. Without say 
 ing a word, he bowed to the chairman, then to Tyscovus, 
 and sat down amid renewed applause from the assemblage. 
 Soon afterward the meeting adjourned, and though the doc 
 tor and Tyscovus walked home, together, the former made 
 no allusion to the circumstances that had caused him to 
 suspend his speech. 
 
330 
 
 Indeed, the effect had not only not been what Tyscovus 
 had feared it might be, but was apparently very decidedly 
 sedative in character. The doctor conversed with greater 
 moderation in his expressions, and with less tendency to fly 
 oil to his favorite subjects, than he had before exhibited. 
 Tyscovus, without thinking, made several remarks, that 
 in the doctor s previous state of mind would certainly have 
 acted as suggestions, just as the idea of suicide or murder 
 is sometimes excited by the sight of a suitable weapon ; but 
 now they did not even provoke a response. 
 
 In a few minutes they arrived at Chetolah, where they 
 found Theodora awaiting them and anxious to hear the par 
 ticulars of the meeting. 
 
 Tyscovus spoke of the enthusiasm that had been shown, 
 of the large number present, of the eloquence of the speak 
 ers, and of the result of Mr. Iliggins s canvass. Then, in 
 response to Theodora s direct request, he gave the outlines 
 of his own speech, dwelling particularly on the fact that he 
 had unequivocally condemned all lawlessness, even though 
 it appeared in the respectable shape of a vigilance commit 
 tee. "I will never consent," he said, "to conceal any of 
 my views on public matters. I think the whole system of 
 retributive vengeance is wrong. Unless a criminal is pun 
 ished according to law, he had better not be punished at 
 all. If fifty men can hang a horse-thief, unquestioned by 
 the authorities, then any one man ought to have the same 
 privilege. Besides, a code that punishes every offense 
 with death, is more than Draconian in its severity and in 
 justice." 
 
 "I am glad you spoke as you did," said Theodora, 
 warmly ; " you were certainly right. Papa had, I am happy 
 to say, left the organization before it had done any active 
 work. Last night they hanged a man at Bullion City, ten 
 miles from here, and they are on the track of others. But 
 I am surprised that what you said caused no speeches to be 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE CRICHTON." 331 
 
 made against your views. The feeling here is very wide 
 spread in favor of the committee. " 
 
 " I did not certainly arouse any enthusiasm by my re 
 marks on that head, but at the same time there was no 
 open dissent. I am sure I set the audience to thinking. 
 There would be no objection to vigilance committees if 
 they simply made arrests, and turned their captives over 
 to the legally constituted authorities. But to hang them 
 is, in my opinion, deliberate murder." 
 
 "You will probably lose many votes by the expression 
 of such opinions," said the doctor, joining in the conver 
 sation for the first time "votes that will come from the 
 law and order portion of the community, and you will 
 gain none from the criminal classes. They will feel safer 
 with Mr. Luke Kittle." 
 
 "And if any persons belonging to the so-called law and 
 order party think they would feel safer with Mr. Luke 
 Kittle than with me, they are at perfect liberty to support 
 him. I should dislike to owe my election to any such 
 people. " 
 
 "I was astonished that they took your opinions so 
 quietly. You seem to have the power of bringing every 
 one around to your way of thinking. I used to be a 
 strong adherent of the committee, but -you have converted 
 me entirely. It is not so much what you say, as the way 
 in which you say it. You are so emphatic, and yet there 
 is a degree of consideration for the views of others in your 
 manner, which subdues every one. You remember how bit 
 ter I was against Jim Bosler ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Tyscovus, laughing ; " I recollect that 
 you were exceedingly anxious to hang him to the nearest 
 tree." 
 
 "I was one of the party that visited your house on the 
 night of your arrival. I have never told you this before, 
 but you might as well know it now that we are friends. I 
 
332 
 
 kept in the background, and you did not see me. If we had 
 found Jim that night, we should certainly have hanged 
 him. But I would take 110 part in such a piece of work 
 now. On the contrary, I would do all in my power to 
 prevent it. I had a conversation on the subject with Doric 
 a few days ago, and she put the matter so strongly before 
 me that I had to retire, to save my self-respect. You have 
 confirmed me in the wisdom of my course. Indeed, you 
 first excited my doubts." 
 
 "You make me feel very glad," said Tyscovus, bowing 
 as he spoke. " If I could always have Miss Willis as an 
 aid, I should never fail ; certainly, not with you. To 
 morrow I shall be obliged to go home to look after my 
 watchman and late adversary, Mr. Abe Wilkins, and to get 
 ready for my tour through the district ; but I shall never 
 forget your kindness to me. 
 
 " We shall miss you very much," said Theodora, " al 
 though to-morrow our friends from New York are to ar 
 rive, and we shall not suffer for want of society." 
 
 " May I ask about your friends ?" 
 
 "Oh, yes," said Theodora "first," counting on her 
 fingers, "there is Mrs. Moultrie, a widow lady, the mater 
 familias ; second, there is Mrs. Sin cote, her daughter, also 
 a widow ; third, there is Miss Sincote, a girl of ten ; and, 
 fourth, there is Mr. Moultrie, a widower, son of Mrs. 
 Moultrie, and, of course, brother of Mrs. Sincote." 
 
 "Why don t you add, Dorie,"said the doctor, laughing, 
 " that, in addition to his other virtues, he is uncle to Miss 
 Sincote, and grandson of Mrs. Moultrie s mother ? " 
 
 " Because, papa, those virtues may safely be left to Mr. 
 Tyscovus s imagination." She laughed as she spoke, but 
 Tyscovus, who was one of the most observant of men, 
 thought he detected a little constraint in her tone of voice 
 and in her manner. 
 
 "Mr. Moultrie," continued the doctor, "will have, I 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE CKIOHTON." 333 
 
 see, to depend on me to enumerate his good qualities. In 
 the first place, he is forty years old ; then, he is very rich, 
 and he is very handsome, and is over six feet in height, and 
 as strong as a lion. I have seen him bend a crow-bar over 
 his knees, and, as to energy and force of will, I have never 
 seen his equal. He has projected railways in South Amer 
 ica and Mexico, and has carried them over lines that the 
 most accomplished engineers had pronounced impracti 
 cable. He has tunneled mountains, and dug canals, and 
 built bridges, and now he is contemplating a series of min 
 ing operations of the largest scale. Indeed, were I asked 
 to pick out the man in all the country who was energy and 
 will personified, I would select Geoffrey Moultrie." 
 
 "But you have forgotten to add, papa," said Theodora, 
 " that he is an accomplished musician ; that he has written 
 a play that was brought out in London and ran through a 
 whole season ; and that he has, at his own expense and in 
 memory of his wife, built a hospital for women exclusively, 
 and endowed it with funds sufficient for its support," 
 
 Tyscovus listened to these laudations with astonish 
 ment. He had no idea that such an "Admirable Crich- 
 ton" was possible in the latter part of the nineteenth cen 
 tury, but he recognized the fact that Mr. Moultrie com 
 bined the useful with the ornamental in a way that would 
 have been impossible a hundred years ago. He did not fail 
 to perceive the interest taken by Theodora in what her 
 father said, and the eagerness with which she had sup 
 plemented the list of his good points. Was it possible that 
 her heart was interested in this man ? He was apparently 
 possessed of just such qualities as would have made him 
 the object of her admiration. She was of too decided a per 
 sonality to allow herself to be attracted by a man of weak 
 or immature character, or feeble individuality. At the 
 same time, he knew that her own refinement and tenderness 
 were such that a coarse, self-assertive man could never find 
 
334 LAL. 
 
 favor in her eyes. Yet, she was evidently graciously im 
 pressed with this railway, canal, and bridge king whose chief 
 aim in life seemed to be the subjection of Nature by science, 
 and who yet had found time to cultivate the aesthetic! 
 That the description of such a man by Doctor Willis and 
 his daughter with undiguised admiration, was calculated to 
 excite a feeling of jealousy in one situated as was Tysco- 
 vus, will not be a matter of surprise. He did experience a 
 slight emotion of the kind, but it was healthy and natural. 
 "I have never met with such a man as Mr. Moultrie," 
 said Tyscovus, a little stiffly, and with a certain amount of 
 sarcasm in his voice. "We have none such in Poland. It 
 requires the free air of the United States to develop them. 
 They are very useful here. In Poland we should not know 
 what to do with them. We " 
 
 Then stay over to-morrow and meet Mr. Moultrie," 
 interrupted Theodora. "I am sure you will find much in 
 him to interest you. lie is not exactly of your type, but 
 he is of one not far removed." 
 
 "I should think he was very different/ said Tyscovus, 
 still with a shade of pique in his tone. "Doubtless, how 
 ever, I should find him very instructive, and, as I was 
 going on to remark, the world, especially a new one like 
 yours, could not do without such as he." 
 
 " Then you will stay and learn from him ? lie will 
 arrive to-morrow evening, and you can, if you choose, 
 drive over to the butte to-day, if you feel anxious about 
 the fidelity of your custodian." 
 
 Tyscovus reflected a moment as to whether he should 
 accept or reject this invitation. It was advisable for him 
 to get home now as soon as possible in order to be able to 
 fill his political engagements, but he was, at the same time, 
 anxious to see what manner of man he was who had so com 
 pletely filled Theodora s conception of an ideal. He was 
 quite sure he would not like the big, burly, bustling man 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE CRICHTOK" 335 
 
 of business, even if lie was a musician, a dramatist, and a 
 philanthropist, and it would be a satisfaction to him to be 
 able to feel in his own mind that he was justified in his 
 dislike, and this he could only do through his personal 
 knowledge of the man. Yes, he would stay and see this 
 paragon. Then he would have done what was necessary to 
 form an intelligent opinion of him. 
 
 "I am never willing to leave Chetolah, Miss Willis," 
 he said, at last. " There are charms enough here for me 
 without the additional one of your friends. But you have 
 excited an emotion to which I am not a stranger, though I 
 believe it is supposed to be particularly a passion of women. 
 You have roused my curiosity. I will stay." 
 
 "Thanks," said both the doctor and Theodora, in a 
 breath; "and," continued the former, "if you will be 
 ready in half an hour, I will drive you over to the butte 
 and bring you back." 
 
 " That will suit me admirably. I would be delighted," 
 he continued, "if you, Miss Willis, would honor my poor 
 home with a visit. I have nothing special to show you, 
 can offer you no inducement except the one that you will 
 be giving pleasure to an exile, and, knowing your good 
 ness, I am not without the hope that you may find the idea 
 a congenial one." 
 
 "I think," said Theodora, smiling as she spoke, "that 
 I should like to see how a bachelor-student lives. I have 
 shown you my laboratory, and laid bare to you my scientific 
 heart, such as it is. I think you are bound in common 
 fairness to treat me with equal liberality. Besides, I wish 
 to see the man whom you so nearly killed. So, you see, 
 there are ample reasons of a selfish nature for the visit, 
 without the necessity of putting it on any higher ground, 
 though no motive could be more influential with me than 
 the one you suggest." 
 
 Tyscovus looked at her with pleasure depicted on his 
 
336 LAL. 
 
 countenance. Was there any significance to be attached to 
 the last sentence, or was it only spoken in accordance with 
 the dictates of politeness ? Was it actuated by the kindness 
 and consideration of friendship, or was there a still stronger 
 feeling to prompt to its utterance ? If Theodora had been 
 a Polish woman, he would have expected such a speech to 
 have been accompanied with downcast eyes and a tender 
 ness of expression that would have left no doubt in regard 
 to its purport. But here there was nothing of the kind. 
 "No motive could be more influential with me than that 
 of giving you pleasure." That was what she had said or 
 implied. But the words were spoken without the accom 
 paniments of languishing eyes and sympathetic voice. 
 Doubtless they were sincere, for she was not a woman to 
 indulge in the use of complimentary phrases, but doubt 
 less, also, she had not taken in the full meaning of the 
 words she had employed, and they were to go merely as 
 the expression of her willingness to oblige him in a matter 
 of no great importance. 
 
 While Theodora was getting ready for the drive, Tys- 
 covus had ample opportunity for a little self -interrogation 
 relative to the state of his feelings for her. The expected 
 advent of Mr. Moultrie, with his many attractions, had 
 had the effect, as might have been expected, of quickening 
 the action of his emotional system, and of exciting in him 
 the idea that perhaps the visit of this representative Ameri 
 can was not altogether one of mere friendship. Railway, 
 canal, and bridge kings, even if they were aesthetic, did not 
 leave their luxurious and business associations to come sev 
 eral thousands miles to pay visits of a social or friendly 
 character. Theodora had become acquainted with him 
 during the past summer, and they had been at Newport, 
 doubtless seeing each other every day, driving, walking, 
 yachting, dancing, and dining together in an uninter 
 rupted series of occasions. Under these circumstances a 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE CRICHTON." 337 
 
 visit, made a month or two subsequently, was a significant 
 event. They had liked each other, or the invitation would 
 not have been given and accepted, and this liking must 
 have been very great, or the long and tedious journey 
 from New York to Hellbender would not have been under 
 taken. 
 
 But, then, what matter was it to him whether Mr. 
 Moultrie was or was not in love with Theodora and she 
 with Mr. Moultrie ? Clearly it was none of his business. 
 He had no rights in the case that either of them was 
 bound to respect. He had definitely concluded that mar 
 riage between himself and the doctor s daughter was im 
 possible, and yet he had not, subsequently, been more than 
 a few minutes in her company, before he felt this deter 
 mination fading rapidly away, and he, ready to admit that 
 she was a fit wife for the best man that lived. When with 
 her, the charms of her person and manner drove out of 
 his mind all the horrible images he had evolved from his 
 inner consciousness of her wearing a dissecting-apron, 
 a knife in her hand, and standing before a table on which 
 lay a human corpse ready for the incision that was to ex 
 pose the brain or the heart to the eye of the enthusiastic 
 pathologist. The picture was a vivid one. When away 
 from her, it often obtruded itself upon him ; but, when he 
 was in her presence, he saw her only as one of the most 
 charming of her sex that it had ever been his good for 
 tune to encounter. Indeed, so great was the influence she 
 then exercised over him that he had, on one occasion, actu 
 ally found himself looking at her intently, and thinking 
 that her beauty would be enhanced if she were wearing a 
 dissecting-apron and engaged at the moment in anatomical 
 researches. At such time he thought he really loved her, 
 but no sooner was he separated from her than the old 
 thoughts returned, and with them the image in the dis 
 secting-room with all its repulsive impressiveness ; and then 
 15 
 
338 LAL. 
 
 he know that, however much he might admire and respect 
 her, she was not one whom he could make his wife. 
 
 Now, it was probable, that matters were approaching a 
 crisis. There was a man who evidently had formed a seri 
 ous attachment for her ; and he one that could probably 
 have choice of a wife from among the most eligible maidens 
 of the land. The fact that had been such a stumbling- 
 
 O 
 
 block to him, Tyscovus, that she had " dissected all animals 
 from man to insects," had evidently no terrors for this man 
 of energy and strong will, before whose ideas mountains, 
 plains, and rivers alike yielded, and who was probably coarse 
 by nature and rendered more so by the character of his 
 pursuits. And a widower, too ! A man of experience with 
 women ! 
 
 If the fellow would only stay away, and give him more 
 time to become acquainted with Theodora, he would be 
 satisfied, for then the association of her with anatomical 
 studies, which now stood out so prominently in his mind, 
 would probably gradually disappear ; but to have a decision 
 forced upon him ere he was prepared to make one was 
 uncomfortable, and calculated to disturb his customary 
 modes of thought. 
 
 " Shall I make tea before we go ? " said Theodora, as she 
 entered the room dressed for the drive. " It will probably 
 be late before we get back." 
 
 Tyscovus had been alone, the doctor having gone to see 
 about getting the horses up. He had never seen her look 
 more beautiful than now, dressed as she was in a close-fit 
 ting traveling-habit of some soft, woolen material that 
 fitted her to perfection. He felt as though he would like 
 to take her by the hand and say : " I love you dearly ; bo my 
 wife dissect as much as you choose. You shall teach me, 
 and we will study anatomy together." They were both 
 standing by the window, for on her entrance into the room 
 he had risen to his feet ; their shoulders touched ; the word 
 
"AN ADMIRABLE ORIOHTOff." 339 
 
 "Theodora" was on his lips ; he felt impelled to take the 
 hand that toyed with the window-sash, and speak. A 
 moment, then, would determine the state of her heart. 
 Yes, he would know, the instant her hand came in contact 
 with his. "Did I hear you say something about tea ?" said 
 a voice. It was the doctor s. He had entered while she 
 was speaking, and their backs were turned toward the door. 
 " By all means, Doric. Nothing is so inspiriting before a 
 bracing drive as a cup of tea. But be quick, for it is time 
 we were off." 
 
 She excused herself and left the room. Tyscovus felt 
 chagrined. The opportunity had been all he could have 
 wished. She had apparently been in a friendly mood to 
 ward him ; he had felt the full inspiration of the occasion. 
 He was not sure that he would have spoken the words that 
 flashed through his mind and have taken her little gloved 
 hand in his, but nevertheless he was discouraged and irri 
 tated by what he then regarded as the untimely entrance 
 of the doctor. 
 
 He still stood by the window looking out upon the 
 lawn, but gazing at nothing at all in particular. The doc 
 tor had taken a book, and was turning over its leaves as a 
 sort of an occupation till Theodora returned with the tea. 
 Tyscovus was roused by her voice. "Perhaps, sir, you 
 will kindly take your tea," dropping him a little courtesy 
 as she spoke. She was in wonderfully good spirits. He 
 took the cup that she held out to him, and thanked her 
 with an absent air. " Why was she so happy ? " he asked 
 himself. " Had she intuitively divined what he was about 
 to say and do, and was she glad that she had escaped his 
 declaration ? Or was she thinking of the great man who 
 was to arrive to-morrow ? " "Whatever the cause, the effect 
 was evident. He was inclined to regard both these fac 
 tors as efficient in making her extraordinarily joyous. He 
 knew how keen the intuitions of women are how quick 
 
340 LAL. 
 
 they are to arrive at correct conclusions often from the 
 merest shadow of a premise, and sometimes from a basis of 
 pure imagination. Something in his manner, or the tone 
 of his voice, or the expression, had told her what was likely 
 to come ; and she was rejoiced at the opportune arrival of 
 her father upon the scene and the interruption of his de 
 sign. 
 
 And Geoffrey Moultrie was to arrive to-morrow ! Part 
 of her exuberant spirits was, doubtless, due to this knowl 
 edge. Perhaps she was already engaged to him, and he 
 was coming with his mother and sister to take her away as 
 his bride. A few hours, and he would probably know all. 
 His declaration was only deferred, not abandoned. He 
 would know from her own lips, before this paragon arrived, 
 whether or not she would be his wife. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Otf THE BEIKK. 
 
 " YOUR tea is excellent," said Tyscovus, as he helped 
 Theodora into the carriage that was to take them to the 
 butte, "but I will make you a cup, not better, perhaps, but 
 different. We Poles are very particular about the tea we 
 drink, so I brought a samovar with me, and a quantity of 
 a fragrant and high-flavored tea that is rarely seen out 
 side of the Russian Empire." 
 
 "If you please, sir," said the coachman, addressing the 
 doctor, who was about to enter the open landau, " there s 
 a carriage just entered the gate." 
 
 Both looked in the direction indicated by the man, and 
 there, sure enough, was a large coach rapidly approaching 
 the house. "I shouldn t wonder if it were our friends, 
 Dorie," said the doctor. " If so, we shall have to give up 
 our drive." 
 
 He walked toward the coming vehicle as he spoke. It 
 stopped, and a gentleman quickly got out and advanced to 
 meet him. Theodora at once recognized the new arrival, 
 and Tyscovus also discovered in him the great subduer of 
 Nature. "It is Mr. Moultrie," said Theodora ; " we shall 
 be obliged to postpone our visit to the butte." Both got 
 out of the carriage. The doctor was looking in at the 
 window of the other conveyance, talking to the inmates, 
 while the gentleman who had alighted stood by his side. 
 They were only a few yards distant, and Theodora started 
 
342 LAL. 
 
 to go toward them, leaving Tyscovus standing on the 
 porch. She had not, however, taken half a dozen steps, 
 when the gentleman saw her, and at once came to meet her, 
 with a look, which Tyscovus could see even at the dis 
 tance of fifty yards, of joy on his face. There was shaking 
 of hands, of course, and many exclamations of pleasure. 
 Then they went back to where the carriage was still stand 
 ing, and there were more greetings ; then all came toward 
 the house. Two ladies and a little girl descended, and 
 Tyscovus was formally introduced to the gentleman and 
 each of the two ladies. 
 
 " We have arrived a day sooner than we expected," said 
 Mrs. Sincote, a pretty-looking blonde of about thirty years 
 of age. " We thought we should have to stay overnight 
 at Bullion City, but, owing to your thoughtfulness, doc 
 tor, in sending over for us, we were saved that annoyance." 
 
 " The trains are so very uncertain at this season of the 
 year," said the doctor, "that I told Peter to go three days 
 ago, and remain there till you arrived. I scarcely sup 
 posed, however, that you would reach Bullion before to 
 morrow morning, and wo were just going for a drive to the 
 Castle of our friend Mr. Tyscovus." 
 
 " Tyscovus ! " exclaimed the elder lady ; "is he living 
 here ? " 
 
 "You have just been introduced to him," rejoined the 
 doctor, laughing. 
 
 "I didn t hear the name distinctly. Mr. Tyscovus," 
 she continued, holding out her hand to him, " if you are 
 the son of Count Felinski Tyscovus, I knew your mother 
 very intimately when she was Anna Pinkney, and I was 
 Josephine Ridgely." 
 
 "Yes," said Tyscovus, bowing over her hand "you 
 were one of her dearest friends ; I have often heard her 
 speak of you." 
 
 " How strange that we should meet in this distant 
 
ON THE BRINK. 343 
 
 land ! " resumed Mrs. Moultrie. " I corresponded with your 
 mother for several years, but I never saw her after her mar 
 riage. She went at once to Poland with your father." 
 
 " Yes, and died while I was yet a young child. Meet 
 ing with you, madam, brings back a host of recollections of 
 her goodness." 
 
 "You are like her in face, but your figure is your fa 
 ther s. Come here, Geoffrey," she continued, addressing her 
 son, who was helping to remove shawls and cloaks from the 
 carriage. " I have found an old acquaintance, whom I must 
 reintroduce to you. You have often heard me speak of 
 Count Felinski Tyscovus, and Anna Pinkney, whom he mar 
 ried, now thirty-two years ago. Well, this is their son, and 
 I expect you to be the very best of friends." 
 
 Moultrie deposited his bundle of shawls and other wraps 
 into the arms of the servant that approached, and then, 
 joining his mother and Tyscovus, was reintroduced by his 
 rather exuberant parent to her new-found friend. The 
 two gentlemen shook hands, and then, after the few conven 
 tional words that the occasion required, they, with the rest 
 of the party, went into the house. 
 
 Tyscovus had not neglected his opportunities for observ 
 ing Geoffrey Moultrie. In the first place, he perceived that 
 he was a gentleman. Every word he spoke, the tone of his 
 voice, his manner, appearance, everything, showed that this 
 highest of all stamps that a man can receive had been put 
 on him. Instead of the self-assertive individual, bursting 
 with a sense of his own importance, and glaring around 
 him wildly as though looking out for a mountain to pierce 
 or a river to bridge, he saw a calm, composed, dignified 
 man, dressed in a street-suit such as he might have worn 
 in Fifth Avenue, his linen of unimpeachable whiteness, his 
 boots well blackened, his hands properly gloved, and looking 
 altogether as though he might have just stepped out of a 
 club-house after eating his breakfast, instead of having fin- 
 
344 LAL. 
 
 ished a railway-journey of more than two thousand miles, 
 lie was over six feet in height, robust, broad-shouldered ; 
 a powerful man if any indication could be afforded from 
 the breadth of his chest and the straightness of his back, 
 lie had his hat off when Tyscovus first saw him, and he 
 had therefore an excellent chance to study the face of the 
 man that, he felt, was his rival. It was not one with which 
 lie could find fault. The forehead was broad and high, 
 all his features were well marked, his complexion was clear 
 with a slight tendency to ruddiness, and his hair and beard, 
 which were both short and well-trimmed, were of the chest 
 nut-brown tint not often seen nowadays, but often noticed 
 in the portraits of Van Dyck and Rembrandt. 
 
 Although, as the doctor said, Moultrie was forty years 
 of age, he wore his years with the ease that most men ex 
 hibit when they have lived healthful lives, morally as well 
 as physically. There were no gray hairs on his head or face, 
 and no crow s-feet about the corners of his eyes. 
 
 As Tyscovus regarded him, he was sure that there was 
 something about his face that was familiar to him a re 
 semblance to some one he had met before. It was not in 
 the features, perhaps, so much as in an occasional expres 
 sion ; but whether it reminded him of man or woman he 
 could not for the life of him tell. He puzzled himself 
 about the circumstance several times that day, but he could 
 not solve the mystery, and finally it passed out of his mind 
 for the time. 
 
 Soon after entering the house, all the new-comers went 
 to their respective rooms. Theodora had also excused her 
 self and disappeared, probably, to look after household mat 
 ters which, doubtless, required special attention now that 
 half a dozen people were added to the contingent. Then 
 there was another stir over the arrival of the baggage and 
 two maids the latter, as is generally the case, making more 
 ado than had their mistresses. 
 
ON THE BRINK. 345 
 
 Being alone, Tyscovus looked around the drawing-room 
 for something to engage his attention till the return of 
 some one with whom he could converse. He turned over 
 the leaves of a photograph-album, thinking that he might 
 find there a portrait of Theodora ; but it only contained 
 pictures of fifty or more men and women that he did not 
 know. He was glad, however, to find that Mr. Moultrie s 
 likeness was not in it. 
 
 Then he studied the furniture and bric-a-brac. A Capo 
 di Monte vase occupied him two or three minutes. Then 
 there was a Japanese bronze representing a crocodile with 
 a man standing on its back, wringing the water out of his 
 single garment, while he held a knife between his teeth. 
 The group was full of action, and it also took several min 
 utes of his spare time. 
 
 Finally, he espied the piano, which stood in a distant 
 corner. Once he had been a good performer, but he had 
 not touched the keys for many months. However, he went 
 to it, raised the lid, and seating himself before it began to 
 play, not heeding what chords he touched. Automatically, 
 as it were, he struck into a composition of his countryman 
 Chopin, and, while his thoughts were of far different sub 
 jects, his fingers brought out all the beautiful sadness of 
 the piece that only one who knew it perfectly in all its deli 
 cate shades of meaning could hope to elicit. Somehow 
 or other, the music turned his mind to the contemplation 
 of his own solitary life, and all the strange details of his 
 remarkable career flashed in procession before him. Once 
 more he saw himself in a Siberian prison, confined in a 
 large apartment with a hundred other prisoners, many of 
 them wretches as degraded as the world ever sees ; again, 
 toiling amid ice and snow at tasks above his powers, and 
 punished if the full tale were not given ; then his escape, 
 his pardon, his vision, if so he might regard it, which had, 
 by its suggestions, induced him to come to America, and 
 
316 LAL. 
 
 had therefore, been the crisis of his life ; his journey across 
 the plains, his discovery of the butte Jim Bosler, Mrs. 
 Bosler, Lai. Had he forgotten her ? No, she was not for 
 gotten. The memory of her had slept but it was still there. 
 He saw her now as when with tearful eyes, and a face such 
 as a transfigured martyr might have worn, she rose to her 
 feet after the fervid prayer for his welfare into which she 
 had poured her whole soul ; and then, with a look into 
 which were crowded all the passions of the moment, had 
 rushed from his presence as might have done a frightened 
 fawn. 
 
 Still he played, and still it was the sweet, sad music of 
 his own land, often associated as it is with the memory of 
 the heroes that have died in its defense the Polonaise de 
 KosciuszJco, the most mournfully beautiful of all ; of which 
 Liszt has said that women can not hear it without breaking 
 into sobs Polish women, he doubtless meant and which 
 often brings tears to the eyes of obdurate men, came to his 
 mind and flowed from the instrument, as his fingers swept 
 over the keys, in all its despairing melody. 
 
 Suddenly he stopped ; he could go no further ; he had 
 tortured his own soul past longer endurance. He closed 
 the piano, and, rising to his feet, turned to leave the room, 
 resolved that he would get rid of his melancholic mood by 
 a brisk walk over the prairie ; but, on raising his eyes, he 
 saw Mr. Moultrie standing in the middle of the floor. 
 
 " I feel almost as guilty," he said, smiling, "as though I 
 had been listening to a private conversation. You Poles, 
 when you interpret your national music, especially Cho 
 pin s, put your emotional natures so thoroughly into it that 
 the notes seem more like words than musical sounds. 
 They speak to one so directly and with such force, they 
 express every shade of meaning with such delicacy, that 
 when I hear them played as you play them they awaken 
 not only my feelings but my intellect as well." 
 
ON THE BRINK. 347 
 
 " I was playing without object. I suppose I drifted into 
 Chopin s music because it was ingrafted into me at an early 
 age by my father, who was a true artist. But I am, at best, 
 only a sorry performer, whereas I understand you are an 
 accomplished musician." 
 
 "I am very fond of music, and I learned to appreciate 
 Chopin very early in my life. I went with my father to 
 one of his receptions in Paris when I was only about ten 
 years old. Although I was but a child, scarcely in fact 
 more than an infant, the circumstance made a great im 
 pression upon me, and I remember it as though it were yes 
 terday." 
 
 " You have been more fortunate than I," said Tyscovus, 
 " for I never saw him." 
 
 "He had heard that I was inclined to be musical," con 
 tinued Moultrie, " and he had requested my father to bring 
 me with him to his salon. He was standing, surrounded 
 by lovely women and distinguished-looking men, a pale, 
 thin, slight, intellectual being whose expression, as I recall 
 it now, was one of peculiar sweetness and sadness. Every 
 one looked charmed, all were at their ease ; he was receiving 
 his guests after the true Polish fashion, forgetting himself, 
 and giving all his powers to insure their enjoyment." 
 
 "You interest me greatly," said Tyscovus, when Moul 
 trie paused-. " Pray go on." 
 
 "There is not much more to say," continued Moultrie. 
 "I have since visited Poland several times, and I have al 
 ways been struck most by the hospitality of the people from 
 peasant to prince, and which is so clearly heart-felt. The 
 * Czym lopat tym rad is no mere formula with them, as is 
 the i Toda esta a su disposition de V Senor of the Span 
 iards." 
 
 " Oh, you speak Polish ! " exclaimed Tyscovus, with sur 
 prise and joy. 
 
 " A little ; I could not very well help learning something 
 
348 
 
 of the language, for I lived in Poland three years while em 
 ployed as one of the engineers surveying the routes for sev 
 eral railways, and afterward in superintending their con 
 struction. Then I learned, also, to love the people, and 
 the reminiscences of Chopin that came back to me from 
 childhood, were rendered still dearer to me by the strains 
 of Chopin s music which from farm-house and palace, from 
 road and from street, almost constantly reached my ears." 
 
 " All this is very pleasant to me," said Tyscovus ; "I 
 like to hear you talk, for every word you utter touches a 
 responsive chord in my own heart. Let us take a walk ! 
 No, you must be too tired after your journey for that ; 
 rather let us go into the library where Miss Willis not only 
 allows smoking, but professes to like it. Then you will 
 light your cigar, and I my pipe, and you will tell me more 
 about your experience of Poland." 
 
 Moultrie was very willing to act upon Tyscovus s sug 
 gestion. He tried to induce him to accept one of the cigars 
 that he had recently brought from Cuba, but the Pole 
 preferred the pipe, that had for many years been his 
 friend. 
 
 " I would rather hear you talk than talk myself," said 
 Moultrie, after they had seated themselves in large leather- 
 cushioned arm-chairs, which showed by every feature of 
 their construction that they were comfortable. "A man 
 who can expound Chopin as you can must have a great deal 
 to say." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose I have a great deal to say, for my life 
 has been full of incident. But there has been so much 
 more sadness than joy in it that I am afraid to begin, lest 
 I should disturb your appetite for the delightful tea we 
 are going to get directly. No ! tell me something more 
 of Chopin. Which of his compositions do you admire 
 most ? " 
 
 "That is almost impossible for me to say, for I have 
 
ON THE BRINK. 
 
 never asked myself tlie question. I love them all : but 
 nothing, to my mind, that he has ever written can surpass 
 the adagio of the Second Concerto, the Grand Polonaise in 
 F-sharp minor and the Funeral March in the First Sonata. 
 This last is the most sublime composition of the kind I 
 have ever heard, and no one but a Pole, mourning for the 
 woes of his native land, could have poured forth such heart 
 breaking, despairing, majestic sorrow. I heard it when it 
 was performed for the first time at the funeral ceremonies 
 of the great genius by whom it was composed. " 
 
 "How have you been able to acquire such a critical 
 knowledge of music ? " exclaimed Tyscovus, with admira 
 tion depicted on his countenance "you, whose pursuits 
 lead you into the field, the forest, the mountain ! By what 
 mystical economy of time have you been able to construct 
 railways, tunnels, bridges, and all the other great works 
 that man in these latter days requires, and at the same 
 time become so true an artist ?" 
 
 Moultrie smiled as he said : "You overrate my artistic 
 knowledge. You must remember that I selected the topic 
 of conversation. You shall see me some day display my 
 ignorance of the subjects you will choose for discussion. 
 Chopin and music generally, little as I know about them, 
 are my strong points. But I think a man can always find 
 time for whatever he really wants to do. Wants, mind 
 you ; not simply wishes. Well, I always wanted to know 
 something of music, and hence I continued to study it 
 under what, to some people, would have been unfavorable 
 circumstances." 
 
 " Did you ever write a book ? " 
 
 " No," answered Moultrie, laughing. " God forbid ! I 
 wrote a play once, and that is quite enough. There has 
 been no great demand for more." 
 
 (This was not strictly correct, for the manager of one 
 of the most prominent New York theatres had, ever since 
 
350 
 
 the success of the play that Moultrie had brought out in 
 London, been importuning him for a dramatic work.) 
 
 "You are what they call in this country a * practical 
 man ? " said Tyscovus, interrogatively. 
 
 "Yes," answered Moultrie, smiling again at the naivete 
 of Tyscovus s remark. " I am nothing unless practical. I 
 do not see how I could have been anything else and have 
 accomplished the work I set out to do, and yet I am not 
 quite sure that I like the word. Applied to an engineer 
 that follows his profession, it puts me in mind of the signs 
 one sometimes sees in New York, of John Smith, Practi 
 cal Plumber, or John Jones, Practical Hatter, and of one 
 that I saw in a by-street of Hugh Johnson, Practical 
 White washer. I always feel like inquiring, Who are the 
 plumbers and the hatters and the whitewashes that are 
 not practical ? " 
 
 "If I ask you any more questions," said Tyscovus, 
 laughing, "you will think my Yankee blood has become 
 extraordinarily stirred up, and yet I should be delighted if 
 you would relate to me all the details of your life. I can 
 conceive of nothing more interesting or instructive than 
 the well-told experience of a man who has overcome the 
 obstacles that Nature has placed in the way of progress." 
 
 "I am sure you would be disappointed. My life has 
 not been different from that of a traveler, armed with all 
 the appliances of modern science and civilization to enable 
 him to accomplish his purposes. I have bored holes in 
 mountains with diamond-drills, and blown them up with 
 dynamite ; have dug ditches, called canals, through deserts 
 with excavators each capable of doing the work of a hun 
 dred men ; and have employed caissons in constructing the 
 foundations of bridge-piers ; but that is all. Without the 
 man of science, the laboratory student, the inventor, I 
 could have done none of these things. I have only used 
 the means that they have given me. And," he added, with 
 
ON THE BRINK. 351 
 
 a tinge of sadness in his voice, "like you, I have had my 
 sorrows. " 
 
 " But the same means are open to everybody," said Tys- 
 covus, after a respectful silence at Moul trie s allusion, "and 
 only one in a million, perhaps even a less proportion, em 
 ploys them. Your intelligence, energy, and perseverance 
 are the chief factors, after all. The maker of tools is not 
 the equal of the man who knows how to use them." 
 
 "There I must take issue with you at once. The in 
 ventor, the originator, is almost invariably the superior of 
 the one who uses the machines or the ideas he creates." 
 
 "As compared with the mere mechanic, yes, but not as 
 regards the ideationist who sets the mechanic in action. A 
 copyist may be lower in the mental scale than the man who 
 invented steel pens, but the one who thinks out the ideas 
 that the writer transcribes to paper is above them both." 
 
 At this point Theodora and the other ladies entered the 
 library, and the doctor followed close after. The conversa 
 tion then became general, and in a few minutes " tea " was 
 announced. 
 
 Tyscovus had thus enjoyed an excellent opportunity for 
 forming an opinion of Moultrie, and he had, with his usual 
 quickness, arrived at a conclusion. In the first place, his 
 prejudices had been entirely dissipated. Not a single one 
 of them had been confirmed. Instead of a clumsy, awk 
 ward man, vain of his achievements, and being able to con 
 verse of nothing else, as is generally the case with what are 
 called " self-made men," he had found a gentleman polished 
 in manner and in speech, who had not once mentioned, ex 
 cept in the most general way, anything that he had done, 
 and then only in answer to direct questions. He was evi 
 dently a man that was unobtrusive, because he felt his 
 strength, and that knew that his works would speak for 
 themselves, with every one whose good opinion was worth 
 having. Perhaps he was not much of a metaphysician or 
 
352 LAL. 
 
 of a philosopher in the usual acceptation of either word, 
 but he was evidently well-read ; he knew many things out 
 side of engineering, the strength of materials, or the num 
 ber of cubic yards of earth a mountain might contain ; he 
 was cultivated, he had taken pleasure, even amid the en 
 grossing work that had put him in the very front rank of 
 capitalists, in the study of literature and music, and he had 
 a kind and sympathizing heart, for he loved Poland and its 
 people. No, there were no traces in manner, speech, learn 
 ing, or sentiments of the vulgar rich man about Geoffrey 
 Moultrie. 
 
 The more Tyscovus reflected upon the matter, the more 
 he was convinced that, if not already engaged, Moultrie and 
 Theodora soon would be. So far as the conduct of one to 
 the other was concerned, he could see no evidences that any 
 feeling stronger than that of friendship existed between 
 them. There were no assiduous attentions from him to 
 her, no air of expectancy on her part, and no special desire 
 manifested by either to be in each other s company. At the 
 same time there were an ease, a confidence in their relations, 
 that seemed to Tyscovus to be a strong indication that mat 
 ters between them were settled. When he himself had first 
 made his appearance at Chctolah, Theodora had evinced de 
 cided pleasure in being in his company, and there had been 
 no apparent diminution in, the warmth of her feelings to 
 ward him. Had she not said, only a few hours ago, that no 
 motive could be stronger with her than that of pleasing 
 him? 
 
 But with Moultrie her manner was as calm, as unemo 
 tional, as free from demonstration of all kind, as though 
 she felt that she was perfectly secure in his heart and he in 
 hers. There was none of the exuberance, on either side, 
 which, judging from her remarks in the afternoon, he had 
 been led to expect ; and yet, from the smile which uncon 
 sciously lit up her face when Moultrie spoke to her, and 
 
ON THE BRINK. 353 
 
 from the marked attention he gave to every word she 
 spoke, and the interest it appeared to excite in him, Tys 
 covus judged that there was at least a degree of affection 
 between them which, if not exactly love, was a very short 
 remove from that passion. 
 
 They had finished tea, and the party had repaired to the 
 drawing-room. Tyscovus had found himself at Theodora s 
 side, and had escorted her from the table ; Mrs. Moultrie, 
 Mrs. Sincote, and the doctor were engaged in earnest con- 
 vesation about people they had met during the past sum 
 mer, and places they had visited. Moultrie appeared for 
 a moment to hesitate which party he should join. Finally, 
 he decided in favor of the larger group, and was soon en 
 gaged in an animated discussion with the doctor relative 
 to mining operations in Colorado. 
 
 " What do you think of Mrs. Sincote ? " said Theodora 
 to Tyscovus, as they entered the drawing-room. 
 
 " Mrs. Sincote ! " he exclaimed ; " I do not know her." 
 
 "Mr. Moultrie s sister," she explained. 
 
 " I have not thought of her at all ; I have thought, 
 however," he continued, moved by a spirit of audacity un 
 usual with him, "a good deal of Mr. Moultrie, and" after 
 a little pause "of you." 
 
 " Of both of us together ? " 
 
 "Yes, "he answered, gravely. 
 
 " What have you thought of us ? " she inquired, looking 
 him in the face, not as though she were offended, but with 
 an expression of kindly good-nature. 
 
 " You give me courage to speak," he answered, after he 
 had steadily regarded her for an instant. For a moment 
 the intoxication of the occasion overpowered him. The 
 words were on his lips, " I thought that in you lay all the 
 joy of my life, in him all its misery " when his thoughts 
 reverted with the suddenness of a flash of lightning to a 
 face bathed in tears, but shining with the ecstasy of love ; 
 
354 LAL. 
 
 to a plaintive voice invoking the blessing of God upon him ; 
 to a graceful form disappearing in the shades of the " Little 
 Canon. " No," he said, his manner becoming still graver, 
 "I can not tell you what I thought." 
 
 Doric ! " cried the doctor, " how much silver does the 
 ore from the Tit-for-Tat mine yield ? I have just been 
 telling Moultrie that it is one hundred and twenty dollars 
 to the ton, but he appears to think I am overstating it." 
 
 "No," she replied, as Moultrie rising went toward her, 
 "you are under the mark. Fifty tons have given an aver 
 age of one hundred and thirty-five dollars to the ton." 
 
 "I did not dispute the statement, Miss Willis," said 
 Moultrie, laughing ; " I only expressed my surprise, and you 
 have increased my astonishment. When I last heard from 
 it, it was yielding only about eight dollars to the ton. 
 Have you become interested in the mining industries of 
 your new country, Mr. Tyscovus ? " he added, turning to 
 that gentleman. 
 
 " No, I have the whole subject to learn. As a politician, 
 which seems to be my present vocation, I shall, of course, 
 have to familiarize myself with all its details." 
 
 And this was the end ! He felt now that he should 
 never ask Theodora Willis to be his wife. Lai Bosler had 
 come between them and forbidden the bans. Her spirit 
 had risen up in all its loveliness, and saved him from an 
 act into which his true heart did not enter. He knew that 
 he had deceived himself, and that, sweet as was the charm 
 that Theodora had cast around him, it was not love, as he 
 understood the feeling, that she had evoked. He watched her 
 as she and Moultrie joined each other. Had she imagined 
 his thoughts, and was she chagrined or pleased at her narrow 
 escape, for the second time, from a declaration ? Certainly, 
 there were no signs of a disturbance of her mental equilib 
 rium, for she talked and smiled as though every thought 
 she had was one of joy. Presently Moultrie escorted her 
 
ON THE BRINK. 355 
 
 to the piano, and played an accompaniment while she sang. 
 He had never heard her sing before, and her rich contralto 
 voice was another revelation to him. The song, " Vol die 
 sapete" was not a sad one, and she sang it without the slight 
 est sorrowful inflection, but yet with all the feeling that 
 the words and music required. Yes, she was heart-sound 
 so far as he was concerned. She finished, and Moultrie 
 bent over her and said something to her, probably a few 
 words of thanks. He had risen and was standing by her 
 side. She looked up at him for a moment, and Tyscovus 
 caught the expression of her face. "That is love!" he 
 thought. "She never looked at me like that." 
 
 The next morning, as he was about departing for the 
 butte, the doctor called him into the library. 
 
 " My dear friend," he said, his face beaming with pleas 
 ure, " I know you will congratulate me when I tell you that 
 Theodora is engaged to Moultrie. They settled the affair 
 this morning during a long walk before breakfast. He fell 
 very much in love with her last summer, it seems, but he 
 was afraid, he says, to declare his affection, for she gave him 
 so little encouragement. It appears now, however, that he 
 had made more of an impression than he suspected. They 
 are both very happy, and will, doubtless, continue so to 
 the end of their days, so far as it depends on them." 
 
 " I do congratulate you with all my heart," said Tysco 
 vus, clasping the doctor s outstretched hand. " They are 
 admirably suited to each other. May I speak to them ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Theodora looks upon you, she told me this 
 morning, as though you were her brother. I believe she 
 would like to have you in the house with her all her life." 
 
 " She will always be very dear to me." 
 
 " I wish you were my son, old fellow ! " exclaimed the 
 doctor, putting one arm around Tyscovus s neck ; " I shall 
 miss Theodora awfully, and I know no one who could so 
 nearly fill her place as you. But here they come." As 
 
356 LAL. 
 
 Moultrie and Theodora entered the room, " You can say to 
 her what you just said to me." 
 
 Tyscovus advanced to meet the happy pair ; each held 
 out a hand to him, and he clasped them both. 
 
 " I told papa," said Theodora, " that he must treat you 
 as one of the family." 
 
 " And I," rejoined Tyscovus, " have told him that you 
 will always be very dear to me. Was that right ? " 
 
 She turned her face to his, and looked at him, but did 
 not speak. 
 
 Then, he bent over, and pressed his lips to her fore 
 head. 
 
 " Yes, it was right," she said, softly. 
 
 " Then, you will always be very dear to me. God bless 
 you ! " 
 
 An hour afterward, the doctor, who was going to The 
 Canon, was driving him over to the butte. He left him at 
 the bottom of the knoll, and Tyscovus, climbing up the 
 steep side, was soon in his OAvn house. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 "THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 
 
 Tyscovus arrived at the top of the butte, he 
 found that the " Monkey" had employed his spare time in 
 cutting up into fire- wood the logs that had formerly con 
 stituted the walls of the stable, and that his long arms were 
 then engaged in wielding the axe for the same useful pur 
 pose. 
 
 "Everything s gone on right here, I b lieve," he said, 
 addressing Tyscovus. " I thought Fd just take a little ex 
 ercise with the axe, though, to be sure, I hadn t leave or 
 license to do nothin o the kind. I guess, as I ve about fin 
 ished all the rest, I mought as well tackle that ere tree," 
 nodding his head as he spoke toward the tall pine-tree which 
 reared its ungainly form, sole arboreal occupant of the 
 butte. " Thar s a couple o cords o wood in it sure, and 
 you mought as well have it down here as to have it stand- 
 in thar whar it ain t no use to nobody." 
 
 " Yes, you may cut it down," said Tyscovus. " Have 
 you had any visitors during my absence ? " 
 
 For a moment Wilkins hesitated, and became a little 
 confused in his manner. Then he answered, shifting his 
 axe from hand to hand and looking down at the ground 
 while he spoke, "Well, thar mought a bin one or two 
 down here from Hellbender, but I didn t mind em much." 
 
 " Who was here ? " 
 
 "Well, Mr. Higgins mought a bin one on em." 
 
358 LAL. 
 
 " And who might the other one have been ? " 
 
 " Well, the other mought a bin Colonel Brattle," an 
 swered Wilkins, still uneasily. 
 
 " What did they want ? " 
 
 " I s pose I mought as well up and tell you all about 
 it ! " exclaimed Wilkins, with desperation" though both 
 on em told me I warn t to say nothin , for they thought 
 as how you d kick ag in it, and sp ile the whole thing." 
 
 " I think you had better tell me." 
 
 " Well, you see, thar s about a hundred o the boys, as 
 I m a sort o captain to, and the whole on ? em votes all one 
 way. I m goiii down among em to-night, and, I guess, 
 when the lection comes round, they ll know which way to 
 go." 
 
 " Do you know what my views are about the lawless 
 ness existing in this Territory ? I shall do my best to put 
 it down, and to severely punish all such persons as you and 
 your associates, when you commit crimes." 
 
 " Well," said Wilkins, smiling, " I guess I know what 
 you think, and I guess you d do it too." 
 
 " I certainly will if elected, do all in my power. Now 
 if you put this matter clearly before your friends, and use 
 no threats to make them vote as you wish, I see no objec 
 tion to receiving their support. The sooner they come 
 around to the side of law and order, the better for the Ter 
 ritory, and the better for them. 
 
 " Thar won t be no mistake on that p int," said Wilkins, 
 with decision, "but I d like to see the son of a gun as would 
 dar to go agin what I told him ; I d punch I mean," ho 
 continued, with all the suavity of manner he could assume, 
 " I d just reason the thing out with him, and I guess he d 
 do about what was right." 
 
 "I think," said Tyscovus, after a moment s reflection, 
 " that I had better say a few words to your people, and then 
 there won t be any misunderstanding. If you will get 
 
"THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 359 
 
 them together at The Canon to-morrow afternoon at three 
 o clock, I ll come over and speak to them." 
 
 "I guess that s all fixed. Thar s to be a meetin thar 
 to-morrer afternoon at three o clock, as Mr. Higgins told 
 me. I ll have all the boys thar, and, ef Kittle s gang inter 
 feres, thar ll be a high old time, I tell you ! " 
 
 " I hope there won t be any trouble, but I suppose my 
 right to address a meeting of my fellow-citizens is unques 
 tionable, and I shall certainly attempt to exercise it." 
 
 " Thar ain t nothin like bein ready for ary a thing as 
 mought turn up. That s the best way, I guess, to stop a 
 row. You see," he added, with a knowing smile, " I ve bin 
 thar." 
 
 They entered the house, and Tyscovus found everything 
 exactly as he had left it. Not an article had apparently 
 been disturbed, and he expressed his satisfaction, at the 
 same time offering Wilkins a ten-dollar gold-piece as pay 
 for his services. 
 
 "I ain t goin to take no money," said that individual 
 with a half-offended but determined air "not ef I knows 
 myself. You see you kind o saved my life, captain " he 
 had learned the application of the title from Mr. Higgins 
 "for ef you d a-kept up that squeeze ag in my throat half a 
 minute longer, I d a bin a goner, sure ! " 
 
 "Yes, I suppose you would," said Tyscovus, smiling; 
 "but, you see, I thought you were already dead. Of course, 
 there was no use in squeezing the throat of a dead man." 
 
 "No," said Wilkins, with emphasis " o course thar 
 warn t. Thar ain t nothin surer nor that." 
 
 " Then I don t see that I am entitled to your gratitude 
 for not killing you." 
 
 "Well, perhaps not, captain; but I ve got it all the 
 same. And then when you thought I was dead, you tried 
 to bring me to, and you jerked me into the room so as the 
 coyotes wouldn t spile the corpse, and laid me out quite reg - 
 
360 LAL. 
 
 lar. It war darned mean o me to go off with your things 
 after that." 
 
 " Yes, there I certainly agree with you." 
 
 " Yes, thar ain t no mistake about that. But I say, cap 
 tain," Wilkins continued, with an air of diffidence, as though 
 he was asking a great favor, "ef you d jist show me how 
 you did that grip on my throat, I d be all-fired obleeged to 
 you. I would, by jingo Dang me ! " he went on enthusi 
 astically, "ef it warn t the best thing o the kind and the 
 neatest done as ever I seen." 
 
 "I am afraid you know tricks enough of that kind al 
 ready. I never had occasion to use it before, but I have 
 often seen it employed in Siberia by keepers against muti 
 nous prisoners." 
 
 " Well, as I call the thing to mind, you jist pushed your 
 clinched fist ag in my Adam s apple, and the breath didn t 
 have no room to go in by." 
 
 " Yes, that was what I did to you." 
 
 " Well, I m darned glad you let up when you did. You 
 see, what with the fits and you a-sqeezin my windpipe like 
 that, I couldn t a -held out long. I guess them fits ll git 
 me some day." 
 
 "All the more reason why you should lead a life of qui 
 etude." 
 
 " That s as true as gospil. Now I ll go and cut that ere 
 tree down, and to-morrer I ll come back and chop it up into 
 fire- wood." 
 
 Wilkins left the room, and in a few moments Tyscovus 
 heard the blows of the axe ringing in the clear air. A feel 
 ing of regret came over him at the idea of the destruction 
 of the tree. It struck him as a piece of vandalism of which 
 he ought not to be guilty, and, going out, he called to Wil 
 kins who had already chopped a big gash in the side of the 
 old pine. 
 
 " Stop ! " said Tyscovus ; " I ve changed my mind about 
 
"THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 361 
 
 that tree. You need not cut it down. Some other time, 
 perhaps ; but not now." 
 
 "All right, captain/ exclaimed Wilkins, at once ceasing 
 his work. " It s your tree, and you re the man as have got 
 all the say about it. It s as hard as iron, and I ain t per- 
 tic lar anxious to chop any more ag in it than there s any 
 needcessity for. But I guess I ve about done for it. I ve 
 made a ring clean round it, and when you does that to a 
 tree it kills it as dead as a saw-log." 
 
 "Well, let it stand. I m sorry I didn t stop you be 
 fore." 
 
 " I guess I ll go now and fix things over at The Canon. 
 Good-by, captain. May be I ll jist look in on you ag in to- 
 morrer mornin . I m jist in time to ketch the stage. Yes," 
 looking up the road toward Hellbender, " thar she comes, 
 and I m off." 
 
 After Wilkins had taken his departure, Tyscovus spent 
 a good portion of the rest of the day in studying certain 
 maps and books relating to Colorado, with which the doc 
 tor had supplied him. It was his intention to prepare him 
 self, as fully as was in his power, for the duties of the posi 
 tion to which, as far as could be judged by those signs upon 
 which the political prophet bases his predictions, he was 
 quite certain to be elected. Indeed, he could scarcely think 
 it within the range of possibility that the voters of the 
 Fourth Council District, the majority of whom were re 
 spectable and law-abiding people, would return such a des 
 picable character as Luke Kittle to the Legislature. To a 
 certain degree he felt humiliated at being a candidate 
 against such a man. The mere fact that the highest cham 
 ber of the legislative body was open to him, seemed to be a 
 cheapening of the nomination he himself had received, as 
 well as a depreciation of the councilorship. However, he 
 was in for the contest, and he really began to feel that at 
 last a career was being opened to him such as he could never 
 16 
 
362 LAL. 
 
 have expected would be offered him in his own land. Once 
 or twice the thought of his book occurred to him, but only 
 to be dismissed without the least feeling of regret. He had 
 outgrown all the peculiar ideas with which he had ascended 
 the butte. He no longer desired solitude ; his ideas rela 
 tive to social statics which he had intended elaborating 
 had become so essentially modified during the short time he 
 had lived in Colorado that, in order to expound them, he 
 should be obliged to reconstruct the whole framework of 
 his treatise. Indeed, at the rate at which he was acquiring 
 new ideas, it would not be long before all that he had writ 
 ten in notes or memoranda would be comparatively useless. 
 The book must certainly be given up for the present, and 
 perhaps not resumed till he had acquired greatly increased 
 experience, and should be well advanced in years. In be 
 coming a naturalized citizen of the United States, Tyscovus 
 had acted in entire good faith. His own land, though he 
 should never cease to love it, was in the hands of the spoiler, 
 where, for all he could see, it was likely to remain till the 
 progress of free ideas and education should have remodeled 
 the map of Europe. That this result would ensue, there 
 was not, in his opinion, a reasonable doubt ; but it would 
 not take place in his time, nor for many a long day after 
 he bad been gathered to his fathers. His Polish property 
 had been confiscated to the crown when he was sent a con 
 vict to Siberia, but, through the intervention of influential 
 friends, it had been restored. It was very valuable, consist 
 ing both of land and salt-mines, and yielded him a large 
 revenue, which as fast as received he had invested in United 
 States bonds. Moreover, he had large interests in mines in 
 Austrian Poland, and had besides inherited a considerable 
 estate through his mother, most of which was in the form 
 of houses and lots in Baltimore and New York. 
 
 As he sat, according to his custom after his day s work, 
 smoking his meerschaum, his thoughts naturally turned to 
 
"THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 363 
 
 his plans for the future. He had become much attached 
 to the butte. The air on its summit was pure and fresh ; 
 the view of the surrounding country was one of which he 
 never got tired, commanding as it did the horizon through 
 out its whole circuit ; and doubtless, in time, the country 
 would become settled with a better class of inhabitants than 
 the majority of those who now occupied only a very limited 
 portion of its wide domain. Here, there would be no lack 
 of all the elements of a reputable and pleasant society, con 
 stituted of such people as the Willises. 
 
 It would be very easy to make himself exceedingly com 
 fortable on the butte, for it admitted of improvement and 
 embellishment in almost every direction. There was stone 
 enough on its sides and at its base from which a large and 
 fine house could be constructed, and there was room enough 
 on the top for such a building. He determined that, as 
 soon as the election was over, he would begin his arrange 
 ments for the erection of the house, and that as he had con 
 siderable knowledge of architecture, acquired in the course 
 of his military education, he would make his own plans 
 and superintend their execution. In Wilkins, he would 
 have a factotum on whom he could confidently rely as a 
 devoted adherent to his interests, and he designed taking 
 him permanently into his service, now that the man had 
 reformed and become rehabilitated, as it were. 
 
 Of course, he could not escape reflections upon the no 
 table events that had occurred during his recent visit to 
 Chetolah, and upon the whole he felt no regret at the turn 
 that matters had taken in regard to his relations with the 
 Willis family. His present position as one of their few con 
 fidential friends was very pleasant to him, and he could 
 not but admit that Moultrie and Theodora were admirably 
 suited to each other. He wondered, however, whether or 
 not she would continue to dissect after her marriage. 
 Moultrie had struck him as beins: a man who would not be 
 
364 LAL. 
 
 likely to have much sympathy with women following such 
 practices. Although endowed with many of the most ster 
 ling qualities of man, he was at the same time so artistic 
 in his tastes, and had, apparently, so elevated an idea of 
 woman in her sphere as the complement not the verisimili 
 tude of the other sex, that Tyscovus did not believe that 
 the study of practical anatomy and other branches of medi 
 cal science, the delivery of lectures to miners, and perform 
 ing experiments in evolution, would be in accordance with 
 his views. He remembered, however, how his own long- 
 felt convictions had been overturned, and he therefore at 
 once conceded that even if Moultrie was set in his notions, 
 Theodora s arguments, and still more the charms of her 
 personality, and the evidence which she herself afforded, 
 that the influence of such studies as hers did not necessa 
 rily destroy the delicacy of the female mind, were compe 
 tent to revolutionize his opinions. 
 
 He perceived too that there was a good deal of incon 
 gruity between the emotion that he had felt toward Theo 
 dora, and the slight heart-ache he had experienced when 
 informed that she had given her love to another man. He 
 was confirmed in his opinion that he had really never loved 
 her. In fact, there was no other view at all compatible 
 with the little emotional disturbance he had suffered, and 
 from which he had now altogether recovered. What, then, 
 had been the feeling that had twice brought him to the 
 point of asking Theodora to be his wife, and from which 
 only an interruption in the one case, and a recollection in 
 the other, had saved him ? Can man really mistake the 
 character of his emotions ? Was it not rather real love that 
 he had felt, but love thafc had not become fixed in his mind ? 
 He recollected to have once seen, in Poland, the effect pro 
 duced by an impassioned preacher. The man had so worked 
 on the feelings of his hearers by the vivid pictures that he 
 presented to them of the joys of heaven on the one hand 
 
"THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 365 
 
 and the torments of hell on the other, that men and women 
 were thrown into uncontrollable states of sobbing and weep- 
 in?, during which they made the most sincere promises of 
 amendment. He was sure they were sincere, although some 
 of the worst characters in the place were among the most 
 vehement in their professions of conversion. For, not only 
 was the disturbance too realistic to be an assumption for 
 the occasion, but when the preacher, taking advantage of 
 the condition to which he had brought them, sent his col 
 lectors among the audience, the alms were tenfold greater 
 than had ever been received in that church before many 
 giving who had never heretofore given a copeck, and to an 
 extent far beyond their means. But no sooner were they 
 out of the church than they attacked the eloquent priest, 
 who had so hurried them into repentance and charity, and 
 robbed him of all they had bestowed ! 
 
 It was very much the same thing with Theodora and 
 himself. When he was with her, he felt the allurement of 
 her beauty, her intelligence, the sweetness of her disposi 
 tion. She fascinated him dazzled him. She was so un 
 like any other woman he had ever met, that his attention 
 was at once engaged, and then he found himself consider 
 ing her many excellences of mind and of person, to the ex 
 clusion of all thought of what might be incongruous. But, 
 so soon as he was out of her presence, the sprite of the dis 
 secting-room made its appearance with all its unpleasant 
 accompaniments, and the tender impressions that had been 
 made upon his heart were ruthlessly effaced. 
 
 He would probably never know with certainty the ex 
 act state of her feelings toward him ; but it was impossible 
 for him to avoid the conviction that, though she had been 
 almost if not entirely unscathed, she had been in such a 
 frame of mind that, if Moultrie had never made his appear 
 ance, he himself might, had he so chosen, have stood first 
 in her heart. She certainly had liked him a great deal. 
 
366 LAL. 
 
 She had sympathized with him in all those matters relating 
 to him that were calculated to excite sympathy in a woman s 
 breast, and though liking and sympathy do not constitute 
 love, yet where they are felt, the more intense passion is 
 ready to be lighted up. They are the kindling that are to 
 ignite the combustible materials that are laid in every hu 
 man heart. 
 
 He looked at his watch ; to his surprise he found that it 
 was nearly nine o clock. He had forgotten, in the interest 
 of his studies and the intensity of his thoughts, to make the 
 tea which, with a biscuit and a piece of cheese, constituted 
 his evening meal when he was at home on the butte. He, 
 therefore, got his samovar, and, lighting the spirit-lamp 
 under it, went out for a breath of air from the open, while 
 the water was being brought to a boiL The night was cold, 
 but clear, not a cloud was to be seen anywhere in the sky, and 
 the moon, being near its full, allowed him to sec far away in 
 every direction. Not a sound reached his ear. Nothing, 
 in fact, can be more silent than night on the prairies, when 
 the coyotes are not barking. 
 
 He stood looking now at the heavens, watching the 
 moon and stars, and again at the play of light on Bobtail 
 River, which he could trace out, lying like a broad band of 
 planished silver, as it meandered through the plain below. 
 He was in a contemplative mood that night, and was dis 
 posed to continue his reflections, when suddenly he heard 
 the neighing of a horse, apparently not far off, on the road 
 leading to Hellbender. He listened, and ere long detected 
 the sound of horses hoofs on the stretch of hard earth that, 
 he knew, only extended about a mile from the butte, the 
 rest of the prairie consisting of the light alkaline soil, only 
 strong enough to nourish the sage-bushes that covered its 
 surface. Looking in the direction whence the sound came, 
 he distinctly saw winding over the plain a procession of 
 horsemen, numbering, he judged, near a hundred persens. 
 
"THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 367 
 
 As they came nearer, he made them out more distinctly, and 
 could even hear the clanking of their Mexican spurs and 
 the jingling of their horses bits as they rode along, two by 
 two, the line extending several hundred yards. They passed 
 close to the base of the butte, and, as they went by, not 
 one of them speaking a word, Tyscovus counted them. 
 There were one hundred and five, in fifty-two files, of two 
 each, besides the leader, who rode some ten paces in advance 
 of the rest. 
 
 " Who are these men ? " he asked himself, " and on 
 what business are they bent ? " He followed them with his 
 eyes till they were lost in the prevailing gray hue that over 
 spread the prairie. Then he hurried into the house, and 
 quickly returned with a powerful field- glass that he direct 
 ed toward the procession, no longer visible to the naked 
 eye. Were these men going to The Canon ? No, they 
 had turned oil from the main road, and had taken another 
 which led from it at right angles across the open plain. 
 " The vigilance committee ! " he exclaimed. " They are 
 going to Bighorn Spring, to hang Jim B osier ! " 
 
 For a moment the force of the thought, the correctness 
 of which he did not doubt, fairly overpowered him, for he 
 saw how utterly helpless he was to prevent an act that he 
 felt would be disgraceful to the cause of law and order, 
 which he had pledged himself to uphold. What could he 
 do, even if it were possible for him to reach Bighorn Spring 
 as soon as the committee ? If he could get there before 
 them, he might inform Bosler of his danger, and thus give 
 the man an opportunity to effect his escape. Jle knew 
 that there was a short cut through the Little Canon and 
 over the mesa, but he had no knowledge of its course, and 
 to attempt to find it in the uncertain light of the moon, 
 still more imperfect in the depths of the canon, would be 
 absurd. Now he lamented the fact that he had no horse, 
 for, were he mounted, he could follow the avenging caval- 
 
368 LAL. 
 
 cade, and soon overtake it ; and, though the determined 
 men constituting the committee would probably refuse to 
 yield to his solicitations to spare the life of the man on 
 whose destruction they were so firmly resolved, he might 
 be able to cause some delay, and in such cases no one knows 
 what a moment may bring forth. 
 
 No, there was nothing he could do. He could only 
 wait, and trust that by some fortunate combination of 
 circumstances Jim Bosler might escape the lynching that 
 lie had already so often managed to avoid, but of which he 
 now appeared to be in greater danger than ever before. 
 
 He, therefore, sadly re-entered the house, mortified at 
 the idea, doubtless correct, that the very men, who were 
 engaged in the contemplated outrage against the law of 
 the land in which they lived, were among the most promi 
 nent of his supporters for a seat in the Legislative Council 
 of the Territory. He began to feel a strong disgust with 
 the whole affair, and to wish that he had never allowed his 
 name to be brought before the people for the position in 
 question. He felt that he was to a certain extent identi 
 fied with these men, and the fact that, notwithstanding the 
 unequivocal opinions he had expressed relative to vigilance 
 committees, the organization was still continued, showed 
 how little real influence he had with those who professed 
 to regard him as their leader. He was almost persuaded to 
 retire from the contest, and leave the so-called law and 
 order party to select some one as their candidate whose 
 conscience was sufficiently elastic to permit him to sanction 
 the employment of extra-legal methods to punish crimes. 
 The subject required consideration. The water in the 
 samovar was boiling furiously. He made his tea, and 
 drank several cups while pacing the floor. Perhaps Jim 
 Bosler was at that moment dangling from the limb of a 
 tree ! 
 
 And Lai, what had happened to her ? He felt no ap- 
 
"THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE!" 369 
 
 prehensions in regard to her safety. He knew enough of 
 the working of vigilance committees to be aware that, 
 though their actions were illegal, there was a rude justice 
 in all that they did, and that they were especially consider 
 ate for the innocent members of the culprit s family. But, 
 though she was doubtless safe from injury or insult, the 
 probable situation in which she was placed was terrible 
 enough for any woman, even were all possible tenderness 
 shown her by her father s executioners. The thought of 
 the mental suffering she would be compelled to undergo 
 distressed him beyond measure, and he inveighed bitterly 
 against the forced inactivity to which he was condemned. 
 
 " I can not stay here," he said, at last ; "I must go out 
 and at least make an attempt to reach Bighorn Spring. I 
 feel as though action of some kind is necessary. I am like 
 a rat in a trap. And, perhaps, she may have escaped, and 
 is now wandering about in the Little Canon. Yes, I must 
 go, if only to ease my own mind." He put on his hat and 
 overcoat and buckled around his waist a belt containing his 
 revolver. Then, leaving the lamp burning, and putting 
 several big logs on the fire, he went out into the passage-way. 
 For an instant, before descending the hill, he stopped to 
 listen. Various indistinct sounds reached his ears from the 
 plain below, and yes, there could be no doubt about it 
 some one was climbing the butte. A form approached him, 
 staggering with uncertain and faltering steps as though 
 about to sink to the earth. It was that of a woman. His 
 heart gave one great bound as he rushed forward. Already 
 she had reached the steps ; he held out his arms.* "Lai," 
 he cried, "my darling ! thank God, you are safe !" She 
 saw him, heard him, but ere he could clasp her to his heart, 
 she fell exhausted at his feet. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 IX THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 
 
 IT was Friday afternoon, September 22, 1873, and the 
 following day was the one on which Mr. Bosler had agreed 
 to deliver his daughter into the tender and loving hands of 
 his friend " The Gulcher." It was about five o clock in the 
 afternoon, and, if everything resulted in accordance with 
 the plans of the high contracting parties, before that time 
 to-morrow Lai Bosler would be Mrs. Luke Kittle. And 
 yet no arrangements had been made for the important cere 
 mony of the following day. No trousseau had been ordered 
 for the bride, no brides-maids selected, no wedding-feast 
 prepared. Indeed, the lady for whom the obligations and 
 honors of matrimony were held in expectancy did not even 
 know of the solicitude for her advancement in life that 
 was entertained. 
 
 Mr. Bosler sat in the chief room of the cabin, endeavor 
 ing to prepare himself to make the announcement that 
 could not much longer be deferred. He had assumed his 
 favorite attitude, his chair tilted back on its hind-legs, and 
 his feet on the table, upon which also stood a tin cup and a 
 bottle of his well-beloved beverage. 
 
 "I guess she ll raise bloody Moses ! " he said, emphati 
 cally, as he poured himself out another dose of whisky, 
 "but, it s one o them things as is got to be done, and I m 
 the man as has got to do it. She ought to be obleeged to 
 me, she ought, for takin all this trouble jist to see her well 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 371 
 
 sot in life. Whar would she V bin, I d like to know, ef it 
 hadn t bin for me ? And this is what I git for doin my 
 dooty. It s danged hard, it is !" 
 
 Mr. Bosler swallowed the whisky and wiped his eye, 
 but, whether of a tear excited by the strength of the undi 
 luted "rot-gut," or by the excess of his emotion, will cer 
 tainly never be known in this world. 
 
 He ceased talking, and appeared for several minutes to 
 be absorbed in deep thought. Then, without taking his 
 legs from the table before him, he reached over, rather in 
 conveniently, and helped himself to another cup of whis 
 ky. This potation, seemingly to his surprise, emptied the 
 bottle. If he wanted any more, he would be obliged to 
 disturb his comfortable position, and replenish the bottle 
 from the keg which stood in a distant part of the room, 
 and which itself was rapidly approaching the state of vacu 
 ity most unpleasant for its owner to contemplate. Evi 
 dently arriving at the conclusion that he should, in the 
 course of that sitting, want additional supplies, he took his 
 feet from the table not without a sigh, and, standing as erect 
 as was possible under the circumstances, glared around the 
 room, as though endeavoring to recall the location of the 
 keg. It was strange that Mr. Bosler should have forgotten 
 a matter so near to his heart, but whisky is not conducive 
 to goodness of memory. Men under its influence have even 
 been known to forget the names of their wives and children. 
 Mr. Bosler had as yet only drunk a quart, but he had done 
 so, under the pressure of his thoughts, much more rapidly 
 than was his custom, and the effect, therefore, had come 
 upon him rather suddenly. He stood, supporting himself 
 by resting one hand on the table, while the other clutched 
 the bottle. He looked first at one side of the room and 
 then successively at each of the others, in a helpless sort of 
 a way. Then he peered anxiously into the corners, but 
 they were dark, and littered up with other things, and no 
 
372 LAL. 
 
 sign of his treasure was to be seen. To start around the 
 room on a voyage of discovery, with so much uncertainty 
 in his mind relative to the position of the keg, was not to 
 be thought of, and besides, such a procedure would have 
 been extremely hazardous to the state of equilibrium which, 
 even with the assistance of the table, he maintained with 
 difficulty. 
 
 Now Mr. Bosler was one of those individuals, rarely 
 met with, who become intoxicated in their legs before their 
 speech is markedly affected. He could not walk very well 
 at that particular moment, but he could articulate words 
 almost as perfectly as ever. He therefore sat down, though, 
 as an evidence that he had not abandoned his original in 
 tention, he still kept his hold upon the bottle. "I ll git 
 her to git it," he said, smiling weakly at the brilliancy of 
 the idea. " Lai !" he called, in as loud a voice as he could 
 command. " Lai ! " he repeated, still louder. 
 
 The girl was in the adjoining room, but the door be 
 tween the two was closed, and she was deeply engaged in 
 reading from the little book that Tyscovus had given her. 
 She was much more neatly dressed than it had been her 
 habit to attire herself. Her hair was smoothly arranged, 
 and her face and hands were clean. Indeed, ever since her 
 visit to Tyscovus she had paid increased attention to mat 
 ters of the kind in question. " Everything about him was 
 clean," she had said ; "he didn t have a spot on his hands, 
 and I guess I ll see if I can t be like him. When you git 
 used to it I guess it s about as easy to be clean as dirty." 
 Lai was quick to learn, quick to acquire -a habit, and hence 
 it was not long before she found in truth that it was as easy 
 to be clean as dirty, and much more comfortable. 
 
 Ever since her mother s death, Lai had witnessed circum 
 stances in connection with her father that tended to ex 
 cite suspicions in her mind that some mischief was in con 
 templation of which she was to be the subject. With a 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 373 
 
 degree of clumsiness that argued little for his intelligence, 
 Mr. Bosler was constantly singing the praises of Luke Kit 
 tle. She recollected that when on that morning he had 
 started for The Canon, his feeling against "The Gulcher" 
 was very intense, and that always before that he had never 
 mentioned his name without calling down curses on his 
 head. Now, all was changed. No virtues were too great 
 for Mr. Kittle. He was everything that was good, and the 
 revolution in her father s sentiments had taken place dur 
 ing his visit, and after he had had communication with her 
 enemy. 
 
 Moreover, the circumstance of the satchel bearing Mr. 
 Kittle s name, and containing a large sum of money, prob 
 ably the exact amount marked on the outside, was one cal 
 culated to augment her suspicions. Where had this money 
 come from ? Why had it been given to her father ? He 
 had made no explanation of the matter to her, while here 
 tofore he had always shown a disposition to take her into 
 his confidence, and even to ask her advice. That it had 
 come from Luke Kittle she strongly believed. 
 
 Then her mother s altered demeanor, the occasional 
 paroxysms of weeping with which she had been affected, 
 and which were not unobserved by her daughter, and, last 
 of all, what had probably been an altercation, from the 
 excitement consequent on which she had broken a blood 
 vessel in her lungs and died, gave a painful confirmation 
 to the fears and misgivings with which LaPs heart was full. 
 
 And yet, after all, there was nothing positive upon which 
 she could fix her mind, and there was one possible solution 
 of the matter which, if correct, although bad enough, did 
 not directly concern her. Her father might have robbed 
 Kittle of the money. It was true that, so far as she knew, 
 he had hitherto restricted his thieving operations to horses 
 and mules, and he himself had always declared that he had 
 never allowed himself to be tempted in any other direction. 
 
874 LAL. 
 
 She was, however, well enough acquainted with his charac 
 ter to understand that any declarations he might make rela 
 tive to his righteousness were to be taken with many grains 
 of allowance. That there was a mystery connected with the 
 money was quite certain. That this mystery in some way 
 or other concerned her she had serious apprehensions, but 
 the idea that her father had sold her, and that the day for 
 her nuptials with the man of all others in the wide world 
 she loathed was only twenty-four hours distant, never oc 
 curred to her as she sat holding in her hand the precious 
 volume, at once a witness of her offense and of its forgive 
 ness. 
 
 Then she thought that it was probable her father was 
 endeavoring to induce her to look kindly upon Kittle, with 
 the view of introducing him to the house, and giving him 
 an opportunity to plead his own cause with her ; and the 
 more her mind dwelt upon the subject, the more disposed 
 she was to accept this interpretation. Evidently, he was 
 inclined to propitiate her, for he had never exhibited a 
 greater apparent desire to keep her in good spirits, and to 
 maintain pleasant personal relations with her, than eince 
 his visit to The Canon. 
 
 However, as with most persons who are in doubt rela 
 tive to a matter that closely concerns them, and in regard 
 to which the evidence is insufficient or conflicting, Lai 
 changed her opinions many times in the course of each day, 
 and at last, as time went on, and nothing occurred to inter 
 fere with that rather unstable peace and happiness that she 
 enjoyed, her fears began to abate. Then it was that she 
 began to think that the time had arrived for her father to 
 keep his promise of moving away from that part of the 
 country, and entering upon the new life that he had at 
 times, in a somewhat uncertain manner it must be admitted, 
 declared he was anxious to lead. 
 
 It was to this subject her thoughts tended as she closed 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 375 
 
 the book she had been reading. A passage, one of those 
 marked by Tyscovus, had attracted her attention, and she 
 had read it over several times, in order that she might miss 
 no shade of its meaning. It was a letter that Count John 
 had written to his daughter, from whom he was separated, 
 and was in answer to one from her, in which she had given 
 him an account of her studies and of the progress she was 
 making. " Do not forget, my dear Delphine," he said, in con 
 cluding the letter, "that in order to acquire such a knowl 
 edge of the world and its work as every gentlewoman ought 
 to possess, you can not rely solely on your own individual 
 senses. Cultivate them, of course, to the highest points of 
 excellence, and even then you will have to use those of other 
 people, whose minds and whose facilities for acquiring 
 learning have been greater than yours. No one, even 
 though his life were extended to a thousand years, could 
 obtain such an amount of personal experience as would suf 
 fice to make him an educated and large-minded man. But 
 as we can not go about and ask learned people, even if they 
 were all alive, and we had access to them, what they know, 
 we must read the books they have written. Kead, there 
 fore, and read with discrimination : for, as there have been 
 and still are many worthless men and women, so there are 
 many worthless books, for books are merely the reflections 
 of the minds of those who write them." 
 
 She had just read this letter, of which the foregoing 
 passage is an extract, and was thinking whether in the time 
 to come she would ever be able to follow the advice Count 
 John Tyscovicius gave his daughter, when she thought she 
 heard her father calling her. She started to her feet and 
 listened. Yes, he was calling her, and in no gentle tones 
 either. She put away her book, and went into the next 
 room. 
 
 " Well, Lai," said Mr. Bosler, turning his head around to 
 look at her as he heard the door opened and shut, " I was 
 
376 LAL. 
 
 jist gittin to think as how you mought be deef. Ef I ve 
 called you onst, I ve called you fifty times." 
 
 " I only heard you onst, pop, and I came jist as soon as 
 I could." 
 
 " Readin ag in, hey?" 
 
 "Yes, I was readin ." 
 
 "That s right; that s jist what I like to see. Thar 
 ain t nothin that s half as good for a gal like you, as is goin 
 to be the wife of a first-class man, as readin . I guess ef I d 
 read more when I was a little shaver, I d a bin a darned 
 sight better man nor I am now." 
 
 Mr. Bosler suddenly felt that now the time had come to 
 lay bare his scheme to Lai. His mind was tolerably clear, 
 and what little it had lost in perspicuity, through the action 
 of the whisky, was more than compensated for by the in 
 creased determination and recklessness that large potations 
 always gave him. He was sober enough to recognize the 
 fact that the task before him was one of peculiar difficulty, 
 and lie was determined to exhaust all his powers of ma 
 noeuvring and cunning before resorting to invective or 
 coercion. 
 
 " Ef you d jist be so kind," he continued, " as to find 
 thet ere kag, and to fill this ere bottle, I d be etarnally 
 obleeged." 
 
 " father ! " said Lai, imploringly, laying her hand on 
 his arm, "don t drink any more to-day ! " 
 
 "Well, you see, Lai," said Mr. Bosler, "it ain t so all- 
 fired much as I ve drunk to-day ; only one bottle, as sure as 
 shootin , and it ain t much of a bottle neither." 
 
 "Don t drink no more, father," she repeated, stroking 
 his face with both hands" for my sake ! " 
 
 Under the stress of the emergency that was upon him, 
 Mr. Bosler s wits were getting sharper every moment, and 
 the idea struck him that here was an excellent opportuni 
 ty for making an apparent sacrifice, that could not fail to 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 377 
 
 exert a good deal of influence over his daughter. Taking 
 her hands in his, he said, therefore, in the most plaintive 
 voice he could command : 
 
 " What was that you said, Lai ? Say it ag in." 
 " For my sake, father, don t drink no more." 
 " Well, I won t. When you comes to me and says, < For 
 my sake don t do this or that, dang me ef it s in my heart 
 to hold back ! You re all I ve got now, Lai, sence your poor 
 mother s death, and thar ain t notliin as I wouldn t do for 
 
 you." 
 
 She bent over and kissed him, while the tears started to 
 
 her eyes. 
 
 "I m very glad," she said at last, " and thar s only one 
 thing more as I d like to ask." 
 
 " You can jist ask me what you please, and I ll do it jist 
 as sure as my name s Bosler ; ef I don t, you may call me a 
 liar, and when I says that you knows as well as I do that I 
 means it. Out with it ! " 
 
 " Promise me now, father dear, that you won t drink no 
 more whisky, never ag in." 
 
 "I ll do it!" exclaimed Mr. Bosler, bringing his fist 
 down on the table with a force that made the rickety legs 
 creak at their joints ! "Ef you was to ask me to tear my 
 heart out for you, I d jist jerk it out, and pitch it in that 
 corner. Never a drop o whisky goes down my throat 
 ag in till you tells me to drink it ! You see, I mought be 
 si c k_but I leaves it all with you ; and ef I was dyin , I 
 wouldn t drink onless you told me to." 
 
 " Now I think alPll come right. We ve only got to git 
 away from here, and then we ll stick to each other. Won t 
 we, pop ? " 
 
 " That we will, Lai ! You and me s got to pull together 
 now. It wouldn t do for you and me to fall out, you goin 
 one way and me goin another. Would it ? " 
 
 He looked at her with a degree of cunning in his face 
 
378 LAL. 
 
 that was almost supernatural as he spoke these words. But 
 she did not see it, looking as she was dreamily at vacancy ; 
 thinking, doubtless, of the prospect of life before her. Had 
 she observed the devilishness of his countenance, her sus 
 picions would certainly have been aroused. 
 
 " You ve done that for me, pop, as I ll never forgit all 
 my life," she said at last. " All our troubles come from the 
 whisky, and now you ve promised never to drink another 
 drop until I tell you. Oh, I m very happy now, and thar 
 ain t nary a thing in all the world as I wouldn t do for you 
 nothin , leastwise," she added, "as it would be right for 
 me to do." 
 
 " That s the way I like to hear my gal talk. It shows 
 that she ain t one o them kind as takes all they kin git, and 
 never gives nothin back. It d be a darned poor world, Lai, 
 ef all the favors was on one side a sort of a lopsided af 
 fair, as would jist fetch things to etarnal smash in no time. 
 Now, thar s only one thing, "he continued, putting his arm 
 around her waist and drawing her down on his knee, " as 
 I d keer to have my gal do for me ! " 
 
 " "What s that ?" she said, with a little fluttering of her 
 heart which made itself felt in her throat. 
 
 " Well, you see when your poor mam was alive, she was 
 always a-talkin to me about how she hoped as you mought 
 be settled in a home of your own some day, and jist afore 
 she died she was speakin about it ag in. It peared to be 
 on her mind night and day, and says she, Jim, I only hope 
 as I ll live long enough to see Lai married to a good man. 
 And says I, Thar I m with you. Ef we could only see that 
 gal settled, why you and me could jist pass in our chips as 
 easy as rollin oif a log. And says she, Thar ain t no man 
 in all the country as is as risin and pop lar as Luke Kittle 
 and then, jist as she said them words, the blood gushed out 
 o her mouth, and, as you know, she never spoke ag in. 
 Them war her dyin words." 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 379 
 
 It is due to the versatile and ingenious Mr. Bosler to 
 state that this speech was entirely unpremeditated. When 
 he began it, he had no clear conception of what he was 
 going to say, but he had gone on to its conclusion trusting 
 to the inspiration of the moment, and astonished in no 
 small degree at the readiness with which the numerous 
 lies it contained were suggested to him, and the facility 
 with which he arranged them into a coherent statement. 
 It might have seemed to an observer, acquainted with all 
 the facts, as though the father of lies was at the speaker s 
 elbow, whispering each falsehood into his ear. 
 
 All through its deliverance Lai felt that a crisis was 
 approaching, the nature of which she had no difficulty in 
 determining. The whole scheme flashed before her; she 
 recognized every statement it contained as an untruth 
 a willful, deliberate, malicious untruth and, when Luke 
 Kittle s name was mentioned, she started to her feet and 
 remained standing, with an expression of fear and horror, 
 not unmixed with defiance on her face, till her father had 
 finished. 
 
 "My mam never said no sich words as them!" she re 
 joined, with as much calmness as she could command. 
 
 " She did, Lai ; them s the very words, and they was the 
 last as she ever spoke." 
 
 " No, she never said em. I knows what she thought o 
 Luke Kittle. Her and me talked it over many a time." 
 
 "Well, now, it stands in reason I ought to know; for 
 I war thar and heered em, and I ll take my Bible oath," 
 he continued, bringing his fist again down on the table, "as 
 them s the very words, jist exactly as I ve spoke em to you." 
 
 " She never said em ! " persisted Lai, with increased 
 energy, her feeling of determination and resistance increas 
 ing. "I knows what my mam thought, and, ef you was 
 to swear all night on a stack o Bibles as high as a house, 
 I wouldn t believe it ! " 
 
380 LAL. 
 
 "And you re the gal as war a-goin to do anything I 
 asked you ! " exclaimed Mr. Bosler, with bitterness. 
 
 " I said anything as was right ; but for me to marry 
 Luke Kittle would be the worst thing as I could do, and 
 I ll never do it, for I hate him worse nor I hates a rattle 
 snake." 
 
 " And you re a-goin to run ag in your poor dead moth 
 er s dyin words ! " said Mr. Bosler, with a tone which, if it 
 went for anything, indicated the existence of a broken heart. 
 "She as brought you on to the world and raised you from 
 a infant ! I wouldn t a thought it of you no, dang me ef 
 I would ! " 
 
 " She never said them words never ! never ! " exclaimed 
 Lai, her temper beginning to rise under the reiteration 
 of what she knew to be a falsehood. "She war always 
 good to me," she went on, clasping her hands together and 
 raising her eyes as though appealing to the spirit of her 
 mother, while her voice became more tender in its inflection. 
 " She wouldn t a stood by and seen me married to a man 
 as I hates, for she was a good friend to me always always." 
 
 " Well, perhaps you mean to say as I lies," said Mr. 
 Bosler, keeping control of himself, but, in the agitation and 
 absence of mind due to his suppressed rage, endeavoring to 
 fill his cup from the empty whisky-bottle. In the disap 
 pointment consequent on this attempt, he broke down, and, 
 dashing his fist on the table, exclaimed: "Well, whether 
 she said em or not ain t much account, nohow. / say em, 
 and you ve got to marry him ! " 
 
 "No!" exclaimed Lai, her face becoming pale with 
 anger, while she walked up and down the floor in her excite 
 ment "no ! " she repeated, "I ll never marry him !" 
 
 " Yes, you will, too !" continued Mr. Bosler, rising from 
 his chair and yielding at last to the storm of anger that 
 raged within him. " You ll marry Luke Kittle to-morrow 
 afternoon at three o clock ! Thar ain t no doubt about it," 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 381 
 
 he went on, seizing her by the wrist as he spoke. "It s all 
 fixed. The weddin -guests is invited, the squire s spoke to, 
 Luke ll be here, and you ll be his wife as sure as my name s 
 Bosler!" 
 
 " And you call yourself my father ! " said Lai, trying to 
 free herself from his grip, but only succeeding in pulling 
 him about the room till he caught hold of a thick shelf fast 
 ened to the wall. " Whar did that money come from ? " 
 
 -Whether I m your father or not, don t matter to you 
 now, I guess," he gasped, somewhat overcome by the efforts 
 he had been obliged to make to keep from falling down ; 
 "and, as to the money, that s none o your business nei 
 ther." 
 
 " I know all about it," said Lai, succeeding by a sudden 
 effort in breaking loose from his hold on her wrist. " You 
 got it from Luke Kittle, and he paid it to you for me." 
 
 "It ain t none o your business whar that money come 
 from. It s mine, I guess, and that s all thar is in it. Now 
 you kin go and git ready, for to-morrow afternoon, at three 
 o clock sharp, the thing s a-goin to be done." 
 
 " No, it won t be done. I ll never say the words as 
 makes me Luke Kittle s wife ! " said Lai, with all the deter 
 mination of her strong will emphasizing her speech. " You 
 may bring him here, and the squire may come, and all the 
 people, and you may make me come too, but that s all. 
 That s about as far as you kin go. The making the prom 
 ise is my work, and I ll never make it ! " 
 
 Mr. Bosler saw that the matter was becoming more seri 
 ous every moment. He knew perfectly well that, if Lai 
 persisted in her determination, he could never complete his 
 bargain with Luke Kittle, and that he would have to re 
 fund the five thousand dollars that he had received. What 
 to do in the emergency that was upon him he did not clear 
 ly perceive. He knew Lai well enough to be aware that 
 she would not recede from her declaration, and that, though 
 
382 LAL. 
 
 he might bring her to the metaphorical altar, he could not 
 make her utter an actual word. A woman standing mute 
 in face of the question, " Wilt thou take this man for thy 
 wedded husband ?" has it in her power to defeat the most 
 thorough-going scheme that may have been devised against 
 her. And Mr. Bosler was perfectly aware of this fact. 
 What was he to do ? The excitement had sobered him, and 
 while Lai stood in the middle of the room, expressing her 
 resolution to resist, he was feeling his bodily strength re 
 turning, and was testing the ability of his muscles to do 
 their work by striking out right and left with his arms, and 
 kicking vigorously at the air with his legs, and then stretch 
 ing himself to his full height. 
 
 But, while thus engaged, he did not lose sight of the fact 
 that thus far he had been defeated in his contest with Lai. 
 He had only been able to utter threats which she had been 
 prompt to defy, and her ability to resist was, as matters 
 now stood, far beyond his power to force. Clearly, the 
 present scheme must be abandoned for another more fea 
 sible, and in which her opposition would go for naught. 
 Gradually, all the few scruples he had entertained relative 
 to the propriety of his actions were being eifaced from his 
 mind. He saw before him a rebellious member of his fam 
 ily whom it was necessary he should reduce to subjection. 
 The affection he had had for Lai was rapidly disappearing 
 under the cupidity excited by Mr. Kittle s magnificent lib 
 erality, and the appreciation of the resistance she offered to 
 his wishes. He must keep the money he had received, he 
 must get the rest that had been promised, and he must 
 assert his headship of his own household. 
 
 But, as matters now stood, he did not perceive any way 
 by which, notwithstanding the necessity that existed, these 
 purposes could be carried out. He was prepared to adopt 
 any ideas that might suggest themselves to him and that 
 promised the success he desired, but the ideas did not come. 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 383 
 
 In his extremity he determined to make a final effort to 
 conciliate his antagonist, trusting that in the mean time 
 some plan for effecting his wishes might occur to his mind. 
 
 "Well, Lai," he said at last, with the peculiar suavity 
 he knew so well how to assume, " I guess you re right about 
 it, after all. I knows jist as well as you do that ef you kin 
 lead a hoss to the water you can t make him drink ef he 
 don t want to. I ve done the best I could to git you fixed 
 in life with a man as would be a credit to the family, and 
 I feel as ef I d about done my dooty up to the hub. You 
 kin have your own way about it, and I can t help myself ; 
 but I did think as how, after the promise I made you not to 
 drink any more whisky, as you d do somethin to obleege 
 me." 
 
 "I ll do anything but that, father. I ll work for you, 
 and you needn t do a stroke all your life. I ll keep you 
 in food and in good clothes. I ll talk to you or read to 
 you. I ll go away or I ll stay with you, jist as you likes ; 
 but I can t marry Luke Kittle." 
 
 While she was speaking, an idea occurred to Mr. Bosler 
 which, though at first it shocked him a little, in a few mo 
 ments appeared to him to be the only one that could pos 
 sibly, if carried out, enable him to accomplish his designs. 
 He sidled up, therefore, to where Lai was still standing, 
 and pretended to be examining one of his fingers. "You 
 tore one o my finger-nails most clean off, Lai, jist now, 
 when you was a-haulin me around the floor. You ain t 
 got sich a thing as a knife about you, has you ? " 
 
 "Yes, I have, and a sharp one, too," said Lai, without 
 any suspicion of deceit on his part, taking from her pocket 
 a large clasp-knife, opening the sharpest blade, and hand 
 ing it to him. " Kin I cut it for you ? I don t see how I 
 done it." 
 
 Mr. Bosler took the knife ; but no sooner did he have it 
 in his hand than he shut it, and, seizing Lai around the 
 
384 LAL. 
 
 waist, held her tight, at the same time carrying her bodily 
 toward a corner of the room where lay a pile of ropes of 
 various sizes, together with some stout leather halters which 
 he had had occasion to use in his horse-thieving expeditions. 
 
 " Now who s master, I d like to know ! I ll teach you, 
 dang me ef I don t, that when I says a thing I means it ; 
 and tharfore, when I tells you as you ve got to marry Luke 
 Kittle, you ve got to do it, or worse ll happen to you ! " 
 
 From the moment that Lai felt his arms around her, 
 she had not ceased to struggle with all the strength she 
 possessed, so that Mr. Bosler s words were enunciated with 
 much difficulty, and not with the regular sequence in which 
 they are printed. She fought with all the ferocity of a 
 young tigress, using her feet, hands, and teeth, with a skill 
 and strength that told badly on Mr. Bosler s person. But 
 he was a well-seasoned man, one who had for many years 
 all his life, in fact been accustomed to situations in which, 
 for short periods, very great address and strength were re 
 quired. Gradually, therefore, though not without a good 
 many ejaculations the reverse of pious, he succeeded in 
 forcing her over to the place he had fixed upon. 
 
 He had thus far refrained from any attempt at bodily 
 harm, mainly for the reason that he did not wish to annoy 
 "The Gulcher" by disfiguring or injuring the woman who 
 was to be his wife ; but, when he arrived at the corner where 
 the ropes and straps lay, he found that there was going to 
 be trouble in stooping down and fastening one or more of 
 them around Lai s struggling and squirming body, unless 
 he brought her into a state of comparative quietude. He 
 had only partly succeeded in saving his face from her 
 hands by turning his head away from her ; but, notwith 
 standing this manoeuvre, she had inflicted several deep 
 scratches on his countenance, which detracted from such 
 facial beauty as he possessed, and caused several drops of 
 blood to fall on the floor. 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 335 
 
 As to Lai, she felt that she was contending for even 
 more than her life. She at once surmised that he intended 
 to tie her hand and foot, and leave her in the cabin while 
 he went off and brought Luke Kittle, to whom he intended 
 to deliver her, marriage or no marriage. She had it in her 
 mind to escape from his hold, and not only that, but to 
 rush from the house and seek safety in flight ; but she felt 
 that she was being, little by little, overpowered. She was 
 strong, but the man was stronger, and she saw that in a 
 short time she would become exhausted, and that then he 
 would be enabled to accomplish the end he had in view. 
 If she had had the knife of which his stratagem had de 
 prived her, she would not have hesitated to plunge it into 
 him, with the intention of doing him as much bodily dam 
 age as possible. As it was, she could do nothing beyond 
 resisting as long as her strength held out, hoping that by 
 a bare possibility he might succumb before she did. 
 
 But the odds were against her. Mr. Bosler had gotten 
 her to the corner. The cords and straps lay on the ground 
 before him. He did not wish to strike or choke her if he 
 could avoid doing so, but he began to think he should be 
 obliged to do something the kind ere he could let go 
 with one hand, in order to pick up a broad, thick strap 
 with a buckle, on which he had fixed his eye, and which 
 would serve admirably as the initial ligature. "Ef you 
 don t stop your fightin , you young wolf, I ll knock your 
 teeth down your throat ! " he exclaimed, with all the ac 
 cent that intense rage could give to his words. "Don t 
 you hear what I say ! " as Lai, in answer to his threat, dug 
 her nails into his face. "Well, ef you don t stop, dang 
 you, I ll see ef I can t make you ! " With that, he tripped 
 her up with one leg, and she fell heavily to the floor, but 
 only to seize him with both arms, and to continue the 
 struggle by trying her utmost to drag him down. In this, 
 however, she could not succeed. He held on to the logs 
 17 
 
386 
 
 with one hand, and picked up the strap with the other. 
 Her strength was almost gone ; she lay panting on the floor 
 at his feet, and she was unable to resist him as he slipped 
 the strap under her, and, buckling it tight across her legs, 
 sat down on a chair to recover his breath and to contem 
 plate his conquest at such ease as he could at that moment 
 command. 
 
 " Now, see what you ve done to my face ! " he ex 
 claimed, as he wiped the blood away from the large and 
 deep scratches ; "I m in a pretty fix, ain t I, to go to a 
 weddin ! " 
 
 "I d a killed you ef I could," said Lai, though with a 
 feeble voice, for she was thoroughly exhausted with the 
 gallant fight she had made. " You call yourself my father ! 
 It s a lie, and you knows it ! You re no father o mine, 
 nevermore from this day." 
 
 "Father or no father, I ll give you a lesson, I guess, 
 you she-devil, as you won t forgit in a hurry, even after 
 you re Mrs. Luke Kittle, and I ain t done with you yit, 
 neither." 
 
 Lai made no reply ; she perceived that she was incapable 
 of continuing the contest witj^he least hope of success, 
 and she therefore lay quiet on the floor, waiting for the 
 next move her conqueror should make. 
 
 Her state of expectancy was not of long duration. Hav 
 ing rested sufficiently, and refreshed the inner man from 
 the contents of the keg, Mr. Bosler proceeded leisurely 
 about the work that he had in hand. 
 
 First, with numerous emphatic admonitions to be quiet, 
 that, however, were entirely unnecessary, he tied Lai s an 
 kles together with a strong cord, passing it around them 
 several times, and tying it with one of those scientific knots 
 that his vocation as a horse-thief had taught him. 
 
 Then he readjusted the strap, and, taking another like 
 it, fastened it around her arms and chest, though not with- 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 387 
 
 out some difficulty, as Lai fought with her hands, tearing 
 several tufts of hair from his scanty supply, and inflicting 
 a little additional damage on his countenance. Finally, he 
 fastened her wrists together, and, as she was then so securely 
 hound as to be incapable of moving hand or foot, he gave 
 himself no further uneasiness on her account. 
 
 In her suspicions relative to the further plans that her 
 father had devised, Lai was altogether right, it being his 
 intention to leave her at Bighorn while he rode over to The 
 Canon as rapidly as possible, and, while acquainting Luke 
 Kittle with the fact of his inability to make her go through 
 with a marriage ceremony, offer to deliver her to him, trust 
 ing that in time she would be willing enough to become 
 the ostensible wife of that gentleman. The real wife she 
 could not become, as he knew, though Lai was unaware of 
 the fact, for Mr. Kittle had already a legal incumbrance of 
 the kind living in St. Louis. The actual Mrs. Kittle had, 
 however, never given her husband any trouble since he had 
 left her to try his fortune in Colorado, and Luke had as 
 sured Mr. Bosler that there was no danger to be feared 
 from her, as she had, without waiting for the law or death 
 to release her, taken up^th another man. Mr. Bosler 
 concluded that " The Gulcher " would at once recognize the 
 fact that he was loyal in his intentions relative to Lai, and 
 would agree to the proposal offered him. All he would 
 have to do would be to come to Bighorn with a vehicle 
 and take Lai away with him. Things of a similar character 
 had been done before, as Mr. Bosler well knew, and he 
 therefore had precedent for his conduct. He recollected 
 reading only a short time previously of the abduction of a 
 young woman from New York, after she had been ren 
 dered insensible by some stupefying drug. It was not ne 
 cessary to drug Lai, as there was no one about the neigh 
 borhood to whom she could appeal by any outcry she might 
 be disposed to make. In fact, the more noise she made, 
 
388 
 
 the more she would become exhausted. As to resistance, 
 he had very effectually guarded against anything of the 
 kind. 
 
 " Now," he said, with entire sang-froid, while he care 
 fully inspected the straps and cords with which he had 
 bound Lai, " I guess you ll stay jist exactly on this ere spot 
 till I come back. I m a-goin over to The Canon to bring 
 your husband to see you, and I ll be back in short o two 
 hours. I ve give you a chance to be married like .a decent 
 gal, but you chose to kick up ugly, and now you ve got to 
 take things as they come. I told you as I d give you a les 
 son, and now you re a-gittin it strong. Hopin as I ll see 
 you ag in soon," he continued, smiling under the influence 
 of the pleasant emotions he experienced, " I bid you good- 
 day, miss, and hopin , too, as you ll have a pleasant time 
 till I gits back." With these last words he made a profound 
 bow in mock politeness and left the house. Then, mount 
 ing his horse, he rode at full speed to The Canon, where he 
 found " The Gulcher " doing the honors of his " saloon " to 
 half a dozen gentlemen of sporting proclivities. A few 
 words sufficed to explain matters, and he was much relieved 
 to find that Mr. Kittle s affecti<^ or whatever else he chose 
 to call it, was so strong, that he was willing to accede to 
 his proposition, and go at once to Bighorn prepared to 
 bring Lai to The Canon. 
 
 " She s only a little bashful, I guess," said Mr. Kittle. 
 "Besides, she don t know me yet. She ll find out in a 
 couple of days that I ain t as black as I m painted, and then 
 she ll come round, I guess. I ll fix up the best room in the 
 house for her, and I ll keep the squire ready to step in at 
 any moment that she says she s willing." 
 
 "That s the way to talk," exclaimed Mr. Bosler, de 
 lighted with the easy acquiescence of his friend. "Now 
 git your team hitched up, for thar ain t no time to lose. 
 She s as vicious as a rattlesnake. Jist look at my face ! 
 
IN THE TOILS OF THE ENEMY. 389 
 
 I ve bin a-fightin her all day, more or less, but I ve got her 
 fixed." 
 
 " Poor girl !" said Mr. Kittle, sympathetically ; " she 
 -must be uncomfortable, so we ll hurry over and cut her 
 loose. It s pretty hard on her, I guess, but it ll be all 
 the better for her in the long run. I m always kind to 
 women." 
 
 He did not stop to explain what his idea of kindness 
 was, and in a few minutes he and Mr. Bosler were driving 
 briskly over the road to Bighorn in a light wagon, well pro 
 vided with wraps, and behind a pair of fast trotters that on 
 a good road, and with plenty of room, it would have been 
 difficult for any other team in the country to overtake. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 BROKEJST FETTERS. 
 
 Mr. Jim Bosler took his departure from Bighorn 
 Spring, he left Lai, as we have seen, lying on the floor of 
 the cabin, and tied hand and foot so securely that he was 
 satisfied, on careful inspection, that she would not be able 
 to move till he returned and loosened her bonds. For sev 
 eral minutes after he left the room, she remained quiet 
 first, because she felt thoroughly worn out with the length 
 and severity of the struggle through which she had passed ; 
 and, second, for the reason that she wanted to be perfectly 
 sure that he had got fairly out of the neighborhood be 
 fore she made any attempt to release herself. She knew 
 that he was an adept at all kinds of stratagems, and that it 
 would be just like him to pretend that he had gone, for 
 the purpose of coming in on her suddenly and catching her 
 in an effort to get free. 
 
 But she had no idea of remaining captive till Mr. Kit- 
 tie s arrival, and then to be delivered over into his custody. 
 She was a quick-witted and determined girl, possessed of 
 plenty of self-confidence, and with courage enough to carry 
 out any idea of relief that upon reflection might seem to be 
 advantageous. For a while, she considered what she should 
 do, and very naturally arrived at the conclusion that the 
 first thing to be accomplished was getting loose from the 
 cords and straps that confined her. Very slight attempts 
 in this direction were, however, sufficient to convince her 
 
BROKEN FETTERS. 391 
 
 that she had a task before her that would require all her 
 skill and strength. Her legs were bound by a strap and a 
 cord, both of which were drawn so tight that any motion 
 was impossible. Another broad strap went around her 
 body and fastened her arms above the elbows to her chest, 
 and then her wrists were tied together by a cord that cut 
 into her skin, so forcibly had Mr. Bosler drawn it, and, from 
 the constriction of which, her hands were already greatly 
 swollen. The only motions preserved to her were those of 
 the elbow-joints, both of which could be moved together 
 to a limited extent, and of her fingers, which, however, were 
 stiff and swollen. 
 
 Having satisfied herself relative to her actual condition, 
 Lai looked around the room for the purpose of ascertaining 
 the possibilities of the situation. She was at least ten feet 
 from the table upon which stood the tin cup and empty 
 whisky-bottle. If she should reach it she might be able 
 in some way or other, the character of which she could not 
 determine, to get hold of the bottle, and, breaking it, use 
 the sharp edges of the glass to divide the ligatures which 
 confined her. Experimenting still further, she ascertained 
 that, -by using her elbows as fixed points, she could manage, 
 though with great difficulty, to drag herself over the floor. 
 She at once began a series of movements of the kind, and 
 in the course of several minutes succeeded in arriving at 
 the table. What was she to do next ? There was no diffi 
 culty about upsetting it, but, if she did this, the bottle 
 would be certain to roll over the floor away from her, and 
 she would have another weary journey to perform. And 
 if she succeeded in reaching it, how was she to break it ? 
 And if she broke it, how was she to use the sharp fragments 
 of glass, with her hands bound so tightly together that she 
 could do no more with them than to bend and straighten 
 the fingers, without being able to move the wrists at all ? 
 Clearly the case was a bad one. 
 
392 LAL. 
 
 Then, she thought, she would drag herself out of the 
 house and as far as she could away from it, to some place 
 where she would be able to hide. There were rocks, and 
 tall grass, and stumps of trees, behind which she might 
 conceal herself, and thus have some chance of escaping 
 observation. When Bosler returned with "The Gulcher," 
 the probability was that, not finding her in the cabin, they 
 would suppose she had succeeded in getting free, and had 
 made her escape to Hellbender, or some other place of ref 
 uge, not imagining that she was hidden close by. But 
 then, if they should start off in pursuit, what was she to do 
 next ? Alone, and tied hand and foot in a wilderness and 
 without sufficient protection from the cold of the night, to 
 say nothing of the danger from wild animals, the big prai 
 rie wolf the lobo the coyote, the panther, all of which 
 abounded in that region, with an occasional grizzly bear 
 coming down from the mountains when he felt particularly 
 nomadic that would be her situation. Still, the risk of 
 all these dangers was far preferable to the certainty of Luke 
 Kittle. 
 
 Mr. Bosler had now been gone a full half-hour, and 
 would return certainly in two hours, and perhaps sooner. 
 What she had to do must be done quickly. In two hours 
 she could pull herself probably a quarter of a mile, and she 
 resolved that she would skirt the mesa in a direction away 
 from The Canon, till she came to the bed of a stream which 
 at that time was dry, but which, in the spring and summer, 
 carried off the water from the melting snow and ice in the 
 mountains, and which, after a rain-storm, was sometimes a 
 raging torrent. 
 
 She began to work along over the floor toward the door, 
 when she saw something almost within her reach which 
 caused her heart to beat with joy. She strained her eyes 
 to their utmost in trying to assure herself that she was not 
 mistaken, for she could not afford to waste her strength in 
 
BROKEN FETTERS. 393 
 
 yain journeys around the room. The light was bad, but at 
 last she made up her mind that she had seen correctly, and 
 that there, not five feet away from her, lay the knife that 
 Mr. Bosler had obtained from her by a false pretense. In 
 the confusion and hurry incident to his attack on Lai, he 
 had missed putting it, as he had intended, into his waist 
 coat-pocket, and it had dropped, unperceived by either of 
 them, on the floor. 
 
 To obtain the knife was now an object of prime impor 
 tance ; but, although she succeeded, after a little time, in 
 dragging herself to where it lay, so that it was in contact 
 with the back of her right hand, she had great difficulty in 
 getting it between her fingers, and still more in opening it. 
 Finally, however, after consuming more than half an hour 
 in her efforts, she succeeded in opening the sharpest blade, 
 and then, with a little delicate management of her fingers, 
 she was enabled to begin to cut away at the cord that fast 
 ened her wrists together. After that the task was com 
 paratively easy ; one by one the turns of the cord were 
 severed, and at last her hands were loose. 
 
 She had used her fingers with great difficulty, not only 
 because her hands were tied, but because they were swollen 
 and so numb that she could not tell, without looking, that 
 the knife was there. When the cord was removed they 
 began to ache, and the ends became so painful, from the 
 returning blood, that for several minutes she could not use 
 them to cut the other bonds which restrained her. Finally, 
 by bending and straightening them, and clapping her hands 
 together, she got them so far restored that she was able to 
 work again. The rest was easy enough, and two or three 
 strong cuts with the knife sufficed to divide the straps and 
 cords that still bound her. 
 
 And now she was free, and she would have liked to sit 
 down to rest, and to think of what was next to be done. 
 But she had already consumed an hour of precious time, 
 
394 LAL. 
 
 and in another hour her enemies would be upon her. She 
 therefore did not stop to rejoice or reflect, but, hurrying 
 into her own room, made up a bundle of clothes, wrapping 
 her book up carefully among them, and then, throwing a 
 blanket over her shoulders, she left the house. 
 
 It was then nearly dark, and she had not yet fully deter 
 mined where to go. She had almost made up her mind tb 
 seek protection at Hellbender, for the people there were 
 more civilized than those at The Canon, and hence more 
 likely to give her shelter. But she reflected that she knew 
 no one in the place except Doctor Willis, and that it would 
 take her at least five hours to get there. Still, there was 
 nothing better for her to do, so she took the path that led 
 up the mesa, the same one she had followed when she went 
 to return the book to Tyscovus, and was soon deep in the 
 woods that skirted the open plain upon which stood the 
 cabin at Bighorn Spring. 
 
 The darkness, that every moment became more intense, 
 was a great impediment to her distinguishing the path, and 
 she several times lost her way. But she was well acquainted 
 with the general direction that she had to take, and eventu 
 ally arrived at the top of the table-land forming one of the 
 sides of the "Little Canon." Over this she sped, and then 
 down its steep decline till she arrived at the bottom of the 
 ravine. Then, feeling that she had gotten the start of her 
 enemies, who even yet could scarcely have arrived at the 
 cabin she had left, and being very tired, she sat down on a 
 large bowlder, to rest and to think. 
 
 It will doubtless have been perceived by the discriminat 
 ing and learned reader that Lai Bosler was a young woman 
 of strong mental parts. The few incidents in her life that, 
 previous to the present, we have been able to describe, 
 tended strongly to establish this fact, and the determined 
 contest through which she had just passed, in which, 
 though in the beginning worsted, she had behaved with 
 
BROKEN FETTERS. 395 
 
 valor, and had eventually come out victorious, place the 
 matter, it appears to me, altogether out of the realm of 
 uncertainty. Throughout all the trying incidents of the 
 last few hours she had maintained a clear conception of the 
 situation, and had brought to bear upon it the best work 
 of a naturally good mind, in which strength of will was 
 not the least distinguishing feature. There had been no 
 fainting, no hysterical paroxysms, and no supplications for 
 a mercy that she knew would not be accorded her. 
 
 It must have been close on to nine o clock when she sat 
 down on the bowlder to rest and to decide definitely on her 
 future movements. She felt comparatively safe, for, even 
 if pursued in the direction she had taken, it would be the 
 easiest thing in the world for her to conceal herself behind 
 a rock, or a tree, or in a dark part of the ravine, till her 
 pursuers had passed. But she had yet a long journey be 
 fore her ere she could arrive at Hellbender, and there were 
 two roads, either of which was open to her, though one 
 was probably two miles shorter than the other. 
 
 The one crossed the "Little Canon " in which she then 
 was, ascended the mesa on the other side, traversed the flat 
 table-land, and then struck the wagon-road that connect 
 ed Hellbender with Bullion City. It was shorter than the 
 other, but far more difficult. 
 
 This latter went down the " Little Canon " and joined 
 the road from Bill Dodd s Canon to Hellbender, at the 
 butte ; it being the identical one that Lai had taken a few 
 days previously, when she had made her visit to Tyscovus. 
 It was a far easier road than the other, though as we have 
 said somewhat longer. After a little reflection, she deter 
 mined to take it. "I ll see the place oust more whar 
 he lives," she said, " though like as not it s the last time, 
 for, in course, I ve got to git away from these parts for 
 ever." 
 
 Having settled this matter, and having rested sufficient- 
 
396 LAL. 
 
 ly, she took her bundle in her hand and once more started 
 oif on her solitary way. 
 
 As the reader probably recollects, the butte was not 
 more than two miles from the point where the path over 
 the mesa descended to the bottom of the canon, and a quar 
 ter of a mile of this distance was on the open prairie. 
 Through the ravine Lai had to go very slowly, for, though 
 the moon was shining brightly, it had not yet reached such 
 a height in the heavens as to enable its light to come into 
 the canon, so that it was difficult for her to find her way. 
 Several times she fell over fallen trees and big stones, but 
 in general she got along very well. Fortunately, there was 
 even less water in Wildcat Creek than there was when she 
 crossed it several days before. Once or twice she stepped 
 into the water and wet her feet, but this was of no conse 
 quence, as the exercise, though the night was cold, kept 
 them warm enough. 
 
 At last, she emerged from the canon, and stood on the 
 broad prairie, the full moon shining upon her in all its 
 glory, and the butte standing directly in front, looking like 
 an immense bowl turned upside down. Here the path 
 forked, one branch leading to the right and directly to the 
 butte, the other going to the left and joining the main 
 road from The Caiion to Hellbender. It was this that she 
 designed taking. 
 
 But, before going farther on her toilsome way, she stood 
 looking anxiously at the frowning mass of Tock before her, 
 so close, that it seemed as though she could touch it with 
 her outstretched hand. The moon lit up the top sufficient 
 ly to enable her to distinguish the cabin she knew so well, 
 and even to see the tall pine-tree which, as we know, Tys- 
 covus had that very day, after condemning it to destruc 
 tion, finally rescued from Abe Wilkins s axe. " Was lie, 
 thar ?" she asked herself. She laid her bundle down, and, 
 with her hands clasped together, continued to gaze at the 
 
BROKEN FETTERS. 397 
 
 black, shadowy mass that stood upon the flat summit of the 
 butte. There was no light visible, but, even had there been 
 one in the house, she would not have been able to see it 
 from where she stood, as the window of the room that Tys- 
 covus occupied was on the other side, and the door, open 
 ing as it did upon the passage-way, was also cut off from 
 her line of sight. 
 
 "I hope as the angels is watchin him," she said, and for 
 the first time that day the tears started to her eyes. "I 
 hope as every star as is shinin is a angel watchin over him." 
 
 Oh, if she could now pour out her sorrows into his 
 gracious ear, and hear the words of comfort which she 
 knew would come ! But that was impossible. She was 
 going away. He would have other things to think of, 
 other persons, perhaps, to soothe with his sympathizing 
 words. She picked up her bundle, and then, giving a last 
 look at the cabin, turned away toward the road that led to 
 Hellbender. 
 
 She had taken but a few steps in the new direction, 
 when she thought she heard the noise of horses hoofs be 
 hind her, and, stopping to listen, was sure that she was not 
 deceived. The circumstance was one calculated, in the 
 then existing state of affairs, to cause her considerable ap 
 prehension. She was very certain that, on discovering her 
 flight, Bosler and Kittle, would endeavor to find her, and 
 that her safety depended, not so much on the rapidity with 
 which she could get over the ground, as on their ignorance 
 of the direction she had taken. Her first idea was to run 
 as fast as she could ; her next, to turn oil from the road, 
 and, lying down in the grass, wait for the rapidly approach 
 ing party to pass, before she continued her journey. She 
 had scarcely gone fifty feet, when a light wagon, drawn by 
 two horses, dashed by at full speed. So rapidly did it pass 
 her, that she was unable to see whether it contained one or 
 two persons, and in a few seconds it was out of sight. 
 
398 LAL. 
 
 What was she to do now ? There was no reason for her 
 to suppose that the one or more occupants of the vehicle 
 had any designs against her. It was a common enough 
 event for wagons to be driven over the road between The 
 Cafion and Hellbender, and often at a great rate of speed, 
 especially where the road was as hard as was that particular 
 stretch of a mile or so on each side of the butte. She, 
 therefore, dismissed all idea of danger to herself, from the 
 incident, and started forward on her way. 
 
 But she had gone only a few steps when she again heard 
 the sound of horses hoofs striking the hard earth, but this 
 time coming from the opposite direction. Again she turned 
 oif from the road, stooping down as low as possible in order 
 to diminish the chances of being observed. On came the 
 horses, the driver lashing them with his whip, and urging 
 them with emphatic exclamations to their utmost power of 
 speed. But, when he arrived at a point opposite to where 
 she sat, he drew up his team with a suddenness that threw 
 the animals on their haunches. A cloud had at that in 
 stant passed over the moon, but, as well as Lai could make 
 out, it was the same wagon that had passed by scarcely 
 three minutes previously. 
 
 She was beginning to wonder why it had stopped just 
 at that point, when, to her consternation, two men leaped 
 from it, and engaged in a hurried whispering in which she 
 had no difficulty in detecting the accents of alarm. Sud 
 denly one of them turned toward the horses he had been 
 driving, and gave them several severe cuts with his whip. 
 Away started the frightened animals with all the speed of 
 the wind, and the two men, one of whom she had already 
 recognized as the one that she had declared she would never 
 again regard as her father, ran rapidly away from the road, 
 passing within a few feet of her, but in their evident panic 
 not perceiving her as she lay at full length on the ground. 
 
 But the commotion was not to come to an end with the 
 
BROKEN FETTERS. 399 
 
 dashing away of the horses and wagon, for, while she could 
 still hear the noise they made in their headlong flight, under 
 the stimulus of the whip and a loose rein, she also heard the 
 pattering of horses hoofs approaching from the same direc 
 tion as the two men had last come, and in a few moments 
 a dozen or more horsemen rushed by in a full gallop, appar 
 ently in pursuit of the vehicle that had just been turned 
 loose, and almost at the same instant a series of loud yells, 
 such as only a prairie or mountain man can give, rose on 
 the air from a point farther down the road. 
 
 And now Lai was terrified, and for a moment she lost 
 her presence of mind, but it was only for a moment. She 
 soon began to think logically, and quickly arrived at a solu 
 tion of the several occurrences that had interrupted her 
 on her journey to Hellbender. The men in the wagon 
 were Bosler and Kittle. They had probably been on their 
 way to or from Bighorn Spring, when they were inter 
 cepted by the vigilance committee. It was then, that, di 
 verted from their original destination, they had turned to 
 ward Hellbender, but intending probably to take a branch 
 road to Bullion City, where they were less likely to be known 
 than at the former place. They had not gone far on their 
 way past the place where Lai stood, when they discovered 
 that the road was guarded, and that escape in that direction 
 was impossible. They had then turned back, but, know 
 ing that the party that had first intercepted them was in 
 full pursuit, they had deserted the wagon, whipped up the 
 horses in order to deceive their enemies into the idea that 
 they were still in full flight, and had then attempted to 
 secure safety by retreating to the " Little Canon." As to 
 the yells, they appeared to her to have come from the body 
 of men from which the two fugitives had first fled, and to 
 announce the capture of the runaway horses. 
 
 It did not take Lai long to arrive at this explanation. 
 Her associations had been such as to make her familiar 
 
400 LAL. 
 
 with the devices of officers of the law, vigilance commit 
 tees, and fugitives, and hence she had been able to com 
 prehend the matter as soon as some of the chief circum 
 stances were known to her. 
 
 Clearly her own position was critical. She was alone on 
 the prairie, surrounded by determined men in pursuit of 
 others that they meant to hang if they succeeded in catch 
 ing them. That the search would be continued for a long 
 time yet, and in part over the very ground on which she 
 stood, was not a matter for doubt. 
 
 It was scarcely possible, therefore, if she continued on 
 her way as she had intended, that she would escape contact 
 with these people, and, what was worse, there was more 
 than a mere possibility that the two fugitives, driven like 
 hunted rats from one refuge to another, might come across 
 her. The butte was there looming up in the light of the 
 moon, dark and gloomy-looking, but containing for her 
 all the elements of safety. There was no other place to 
 which she could go. She would creep quietly up the hill 
 and endeavor to get into the room which was unoccupied. 
 Then, before the sun was up, she would resume her jour 
 ney, and he would never know that she had been under 
 his roof. 
 
 She was acquainted with every foot of the country, and, 
 making a little detour that brought her to the path that led 
 up the steep side of the knoll, she slowly for she was well- 
 nigh worn out with excitement and fear and fatigue began 
 the ascent. 
 
 It was painful work for one so tired, but she had not 
 lost courage, and, moreover, was sustained by the conscious 
 ness that the end was near at hand, and that, once reached, 
 her toil would for a time at least be over. Sometimes she 
 stopped to rest, and again to listen, and then she heard the 
 noise made by numerous horsemen as they passed by the 
 butte, some going one way and some another. She could 
 
BROKEN FETTERS. 401 
 
 even see their shadowy forms as they hurried here and there 
 in every direction over the plain below. 
 
 Step by step, each moment fearing that she would be 
 utterly exhausted, she climbed the steep side of the hilL 
 She passed the big pine -tree, and then the bowlder on 
 which Tyscovus had stood when he turned to look at the 
 country below. On she went, her weary limbs tottering 
 under her, her heart beating like a sledge-hammer with 
 the extraordinary work to which it was being subjected, 
 and her breath coming hurriedly and painfully. Her bun 
 dle of clothes, light though it was, was more than she could 
 now carry, so she sat down on the ground, and, opening 
 the package, took out the book, which she placed in the 
 bosom of her frock, and then putting the rest between two 
 big rocks where she could find it again in the morning, re 
 sumed her weary march. 
 
 There was still much hurrying of men on foot and on 
 horseback over the prairie, and occasionally shouts and 
 exclamations reached her ears, but she went on, not pay 
 ing much heed to them, for she was now close to the top, 
 and in a few moments would be safe, when she heard a 
 sound different from the others, and one that caused her 
 to stop and to look back down the path over which she had 
 passed. A man was coming up the hill rapidly, and in his 
 haste was dislodging stones from their resting-places, which, 
 as they rolled down the steep incline, made the noise she 
 had heard. He was quickly approaching her. That was 
 all she saw. She turned once more, and, inspired by the 
 terror that had taken possession of her, she sprang up the 
 ascent with a degree of speed that would have been im 
 possible to her in her days of greatest strength and fresh 
 ness. She reached the top, and, still hurrying forward, ran 
 up the steps leading to the passage-way. A tall figure 
 stood in front of her, apparently barring the way to further 
 progress. She could not see his face, but she knew it was 
 
402 LAL, 
 
 lie. She tried to speak, but the words she would have 
 uttered failed to pass her lips. She heard her name called 
 as he ran toward her, as though eager to clasp her to his 
 heart ere her strength should fail. She held out both hands 
 to him, as though imploring his aid. Again she tried to 
 speak as she heard, the term of endearment he applied to 
 her, but only a low moan escaped her lips, and then she 
 fell senseless to the floor. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXI. 
 
 THE DESTINY OF THE PIJ^E-TEEE. 
 
 TYSCOYUS stooped to raise the fainting girl in his arms 
 so that he could carry her into the house. She seemed to 
 him, at first, to be lifeless, but at last he detected the fee 
 blest possible throbbings of the pulse at her wrist, and then 
 he knew that she was saved, and that a few hours repose 
 would make her all right again. He carried her into his 
 room and laid her on the only bed he possessed. Then he 
 opened a little medicine-chest which he had, and took from 
 it a vial containing a ruby-colored liquid. He poured out 
 a teaspoonful of the fluid, and, mixing it with a little water, 
 succeeded in getting Lai to swallow it, though she was still 
 insensible. While he was doing these things, he heard 
 noises of scuffling and loud conversation on the plateau, 
 together with smothered exclamations delivered with ab 
 normal energy, but he was too busy with more important 
 business to give much heed to what was going on outside. 
 His first interest lay with the helpless girl, stretched out 
 senseless before him. But the sounds of altercation became 
 more notable, and as he was putting the last spoonful of 
 the reviving medicine to Lai s pale lips, a man dashed into 
 the room, and, making for the window, attempted to escape 
 by that opening. He was too late, however, for ere he 
 could raise the sash and, perhaps, had he been in a reflect 
 ive mood at the time, he might have cursed the bad carpen- 
 tery mentioned in the first chapter of this book he was 
 
4:04: LAL. 
 
 seized by half a dozen men, whose faces were covered with 
 black crape, and in an instant was bound securely hand 
 and foot and deposited on the floor. 
 
 " This time, I guess, Jim, thar s bin no mistake," said 
 a voice that Tyscovus did not recognize. " Pick him up, 
 boys thar s use for him outside." 
 
 "What is the meaning of all this ?" said Tyscovus, 
 with some indignation ; " what do you mean by entering 
 my house in that violent way ? " 
 
 " Well, now, captain," said the man who had spoken, 
 " ef Jim here hadn t V entered it a darned sight more vio- 
 lenter than us, we d a kep clar of it all night. Howsem- 
 cvcr, we begs your pardon. We don t mean no harm to 
 you, nor the lady neither," glancing toward the bed, " but 
 you see Jim s led us a darned long chase." 
 
 " Well, now that you have caught him," interrupted 
 Tyscovus, "leave him in my charge, and to-morrow you 
 can come and get him, and deliver him up to the authori 
 ties to be tried according to law for any crimes he may 
 have committed." 
 
 " I don t think that s exactly the bill, captain," said the 
 voice. " Still, thar s no tellin till the rest of the boys 
 comes up." He whispered for a moment with another of 
 the men, and then the latter left the room, and three loud 
 blasts of a bugle rang out on the night air. 
 
 "That ll fetch em up, captain, and then we ll see 
 what s to be done ; but I guess I kin tell you about as near 
 the truth as you ll git it from the jedge himself." 
 
 " I shall not allow you to take that man from this house 
 to-night, unless you pledge yourselves that you will deliver 
 him at the jail in Hellbender." 
 
 " Now, captain, I guess thar ain t none of the boys as 
 would keer to run ag in you, but I m morally sartin that 
 Jim ll swing this night, and that within a half-hour." 
 
 While this conversation was going on, the captive lay 
 
THE DESTINY OF TEE PINE-TREE. 405 
 
 panting on the floor ; his eye was closed most of the time, 
 but occasionally he opened it stealthily and looked at the 
 speakers as though interested, as he doubtless was, in the 
 discussion ; but he never uttered a word, apparently con 
 vinced that nothing he could say would add any strength 
 to the arguments or assertions of either of the disputants. 
 
 " Come, boys," said the man who acted as spokesman, 
 " we ain t got no right to bother the captain with the likes 
 o Jim Bosler. Pick him up and carry him outside till the 
 fellows gits up." 
 
 " You shall not touch him if I can prevent you," said 
 Tyscovus, advancing toward the prostrate man till he stood 
 over the body. " This is my house, and I order you to 
 leave it immediately. I will take care of this man till to 
 morrow morning, and will then deliver him into your hands 
 as he is now. You seem to be friendly to me, and to be 
 governed by some good notions, but you are yourselves vio 
 lating the law, and you are trespassers yes, worse than that 
 on my property." 
 
 "Captain, this is too ridic lous," exclaimed the spokes 
 man, in sorrowful tones. " We don t want no row with 
 you, but I guess we ve got to take Jim. You see, we don t 
 want you to be incommoded by such a all-fired mean cuss 
 as Jim. Ef you knowed that man, captain," he continued, 
 in an argumentative tone, "as we knows him, you d be 
 willin to lay him in among a lot o prairie-dog holes, so as 
 the rattlesnakes mought go for him. That s the sort of a 
 cuss Jim Bosler is. Pick him up, boys, and don t let s 
 bother the captain any longer." 
 
 Three or four of the men stepped forward to obey the 
 order, when Tyscovus drew his pistol and pointed it at the 
 one in advance of the others. " If you come another inch 
 I ll kill you ! " he said, calmly, but with a degree of deter 
 mination that showed how earnest he was. 
 
 "I guess you won t, captain," said the man, with the 
 
406 LAL. 
 
 utmost coolness, while he looked fixedly at some point over 
 Tyscovus s left shoulder; "for, you see, afore you could 
 move a finger on that trigger, you d have a bullet in your 
 own heart." 
 
 Instinctively, Tyscovus turned, and at the same instant 
 the man sprang forward and knocked the pistol out of his 
 hand. It fell far away, and was secured by one of the men, 
 as the others rushed toward him, and, while two of them 
 held Tyscovus, the rest carried Jim Bosler out of the room. 
 
 "I begs your parding, captain, for foolin you. It s a 
 old trick, but you see I had to do it. Orders has got to be 
 obeyed. " 
 
 Tyscovus was beaten. He saw that, in all probability, 
 nothing that he could do would be of the least avail in 
 saving Bosler s life, but he resolved, nevertheless, to make 
 a further attempt. Yet, before following the men, he 
 turned to look at Lai. She was still insensible, but her 
 pulse had risen, her breath came softly, yet regularly and 
 full, and a little color had appeared on her face. Her 
 hands were folded peacefully across her breast, her eyes 
 were closed, and the long black eyelashes rested on her 
 cheeks, undisturbed by the slightest motion. He thought 
 she was very beautiful, and again he thanked God that he 
 had been able to save her. Had he known the whole 
 truth, he would have been still more grateful to Provi 
 dence for having given him the opportunity of affording 
 her a refuge. 
 
 For Tyscovus imagined that the vigilance committee 
 had attacked Jim Bosler in his house, and that this indi 
 vidual with his daughter had succeeded in making their 
 escape and reaching the butte together, closely followed by 
 their implacable and determined pursuers. He knew noth 
 ing of Jim s heartless treatment of Lai, and of his depart 
 ure for The Canon to bring Luke Kittle to consummate 
 the vile bargain he had made. Had he been aware of the 
 
THE DESTINY OF THE PINE-TREE. 407 
 
 circumstances, while lie would doubtless have been fully as 
 energetic in protesting against the lawless acts of the vigi 
 lance committee, he certainly would not have allowed any 
 feeling of compassion for the wretch to have mingled itself 
 with his convictions. With another look at Lai, to see that 
 all was going well with her, he went out of the house. 
 And here a strange sight met his eyes, for fifty or more 
 men, all armed with rifles, or revolvers, or both, and with 
 their faces concealed by black crape, stood in a circle 
 around two men bound and seated on the ground. One 
 of them was Jim Bosler ; the other Tyscovus had never 
 seen before. He was not, however, suffered to remain long 
 in doubt relative to his identity, for a large, powerfully 
 built man made his way into the inclosed space, and said 
 in a clear, full voice, amid the most profound silence : 
 
 " Let the prisoners stand up." Four men stepped into 
 the inclosure, and two, taking hold of each of the captives, 
 raised them to their feet. 
 
 " James Bosler and Luke Kittle," said the man, in a 
 voice full of solemnity, " you are accused before this court 
 of sundry high crimes against the people of this Territory. 
 Into all of these outrages it is not the purpose of the court 
 to inquire. You will be required to plead to only one 
 each. You, James Bosler, to the allegation that on the 
 9th day of August last, at Bill Dodd s Canon, in Costilla 
 County, you murdered a man named Thomas Hallam ; and 
 you, Luke Kittle, that on the 10th of the present month, 
 at the town of Hellbender, in said county, you murdered 
 one Manuel Vaca. James Bosler," he continued, while 
 not a sound was heard safe the swift, hissing noise occasion 
 ally caused by the flaring of the torches which several of 
 the men carried, " what have you to say to the charge 
 against you ? " 
 
 Bosler looked around the group like a caged wolf in 
 search for an opening through which he might escape. 
 
408 LAL. 
 
 His face, which was lit up by the light of several pine-knot 
 torches held near him, was as pale as a sheet, and he looked 
 haggard and worn. Apparently, he had made up his mind 
 that there was no hope, for he cast his one eye upon the 
 ground and muttered : 
 
 "I don t s pose it is worth while to say ary a word." 
 
 "You can say what you please," said the leader of the 
 vigilance committee. " If you deny the crime of which 
 you are accused, witnesses will be sworn for the prosecu 
 tion, and for you also, if you have any ; and they shall be 
 allowed to come and go freely." 
 
 "I kin say this, that I d drunk more whisky than was 
 good for me, and it made me rickless. If it hadn t a bin 
 for that, I wouldn t a drawed on the man." 
 
 " Is that all you ve got to say ? " 
 
 "Yes, jedge, I guess that s about all, and thar ain t no 
 use a-sayin that." 
 
 " Gentlemen of the court of the vigilance committee, 
 you have heard what the prisoner James Bosler has said in 
 his defense. How say you, is he guilty or not guilty ? " 
 
 " Stop ! " cried Tyscovus, before an answer could be 
 given "I claim the right to be heard ; and, in a matter in 
 volving the life of a fellow-being, wicked, criminal, and 
 degraded as that being may be, you will not refuse me." 
 
 " Go on," said the judge. 
 
 " I am not here to extenuate this man s crimes. Doubt 
 less they are as bad as is possible, and I admit at once that he 
 is by his own confession guilty of the murder now charged 
 against him. But, men of Colorado, you are living under 
 a constitutional government, in a Christian land ; you 
 have the inestimable privilege of making your own laws ; 
 you can take this man to the county jail, and there have 
 him kept in safety till he can be tried under legal forms, and 
 with the guarantees against injustice that the courts afford. 
 There is no pretense that the tribunals are not open to you ; 
 
THE DESTINY OF THE PINE-TREE. 409 
 
 you only allege that there may be a possibility of escape, 
 either by a rescue, or through some legal quibble. Well, my 
 friends for, though I do not identify any one of you, I am 
 sure some of you are my friends " (" That s so ! that s 
 so ! " from several parts of the crowd) "it were better for 
 the fair fame of Colorado that this miserable man should 
 escape all penalties for his crimes, than that you should, in 
 cold blood, with calmness and deliberation, place the sin and 
 crime of his murder on your immortal souls. I do not 
 plead for him ; I plead for you that are my friends and 
 neighbors, and I implore you not to sully your consciences 
 with this man s death. If, regardless of my prayer, you take 
 his life, you will commit an act of anarchy worse than any 
 he has committed, and you will be just as guilty of the sin 
 against Heaven and the crime against the State, as was he 
 when he slew the man for whose death you are now de 
 manding vengeance." 
 
 " Gentlemen of the court ! " said the unknown. (Some 
 thing in the tone of his voice excited Tyscovus s attention. 
 Surely he had heard it before ! But where ? The form 
 was too tall for that of the doctor, and the language em 
 ployed too grammatical for that of Colonel Brattle or Mr. 
 Higgins, or any other of the Hellbender people he had met. 
 But certainly he had heard that voice somewhere before.) 
 
 " Gentlemen of the court ! You have heard what our 
 friend has said in regard to this matter. I need scarcely say 
 that every word that falls from his lips, on this or any other 
 subject, is worthy of the fullest consideration. I know him 
 better than he thinks I do, and I know that he admits the 
 divine right of revolution againts tyrants, and of the peo 
 ple to protect themselves against the violence even of those 
 who act in the name of the law. His native land, Poland, 
 fairest among the nations of the earth, is prostrate, with the 
 heel of the tyrant on her throat ! Would he not take, has 
 he not already taken, arms against the oppressor, even 
 18 
 
410 
 
 though the despot acted under the forms of the law ? My 
 friends, I saw him once, single-handed, resist a dozen sol 
 diers armed to the teeth, that came to arrest his friend on 
 the charge of conspiracy ; and yet these minions of the Czar 
 acted under the law, and were only obeying their instruc 
 tions. 
 
 " I cite these facts merely to show that there are two 
 sides of the question. The best proof of the necessity for 
 prompt action in this case is, that James Bosler is known 
 to have deliberately murdered eleven persons, besides being 
 strongly suspected of killing his wife, and that thus far 
 the law, to which our friend appeals so eloquently, has ut 
 terly failed to rid us of this wolf in human form, who kills 
 our citizens whenever he sees fit to do so ! 
 
 "But, gentlemen, the matter is for you to determine ; 
 and again I ask you is the prisoner, James Bosler, guilty or 
 not guilty of the crime of which he is accused ? " 
 
 For a moment there was a silence so complete that Tys- 
 covus could hear the beating of his heart, as he waited for 
 the verdict, and then one single cry of " Guilty ! " broke the 
 stillness. 
 
 " Gentlemen, as you know, there is but one punishment 
 awarded by this court, and it is, therefore, unnecessary to 
 ask your instructions relative to the sentence to be imposed 
 in this case. Still, that our friend here may understand 
 that I am not acting on my sole responsibility, I put the 
 question. What sentence shall be passed upon James Bos 
 ler, adjudged guilty of the murder of Thomas Hallam ? " 
 
 " Once more," exclaimed Tyscovus, " I beg you to pause. 
 The power of life or death does not rest in your hands : this 
 is a lawless assembly ; you are bringing disgrace on your 
 country, on yourselves, on your children. my friends, 
 think before you send this man into the presence of his 
 Maker with all his sins upon his head ! " 
 
 " Yes, it is a lawless assembly," resumed the unknown ; 
 
THE DESTINY OF THE PINE-TREE. 
 
 " the power of life or death is in our hands illegally, and 
 only because we are the stronger party. If the criminal 
 were the more powerful, he would hang us. But it is well 
 to do all things upon reflection, especially when the life of 
 a human being is at stake. The court is adjourned for five 
 minutes, in order that you may confer with one another in 
 regard to your intention. In the mean time," turning to 
 the guards, "watch the prisoners closely." 
 
 Tyscoyus felt that he could do nothing now in the way 
 of saving Jim Bosler s life, but there was still a hope that 
 there might be some difference of opinion among the mem 
 bers of the committee. He therefore spoke a few words, 
 urging them to send Bosler out of the country or to deliver 
 him to the authorities at Hellbender, and then entered the 
 house to look after Lai. 
 
 He found her lying quietly where he had left her and 
 apparently sleeping. Her face was slightly flushed, how 
 ever, and her pulse was so full and strong that at first he 
 thought she had fever. He placed his hand on her fore 
 head, but could not discover that her skin was more than 
 naturally warm. Doubtless, she was passing through the 
 stage of reaction, and when she awoke would be compara 
 tively well. He determined, nevertheless, that he would 
 send at once to Chetolah for Doctor Willis, and then he 
 joined the party out on the plateau. 
 
 But who was this man, the leader and judge, who ap 
 peared to know so much about him, and whose voice he had 
 certainly heard before ? At one moment it seemed to him 
 as though he had heard it only a day or two ago, and again 
 as though years had elapsed. There was nothing about the 
 figure of the man that he could recognize. His face, like 
 that of all the others, was entirely concealed by the black 
 crape he wore, and over his shoulders was a long, black 
 cloak that completely enveloped his form. Clearly, he was 
 a man of education and great force of character. 
 
412 LAL. 
 
 But, while he was in the house, an idea had struck him 
 which, if carried out, might be successful in saving, for the 
 present at least, Jim Hosier s life. He would make one 
 last appeal on behalf of the sick girl, for whose sake these 
 men might yet consent to spare the father. It might be 
 better, perhaps, to speak privately with this man, who 
 seemed to have the power of swaying the others in accord 
 ance with his wishes. He, therefore, sought him out, and 
 found him standing alone on the outskirts of the crowd, 
 
 "I do not know who you are," said Tyscovus ; "you 
 appear, however, to know me, and I perceive, by your 
 speech and manners, that you are a gentleman. I come 
 now to make a last appeal to you for that man s life. His 
 daughter, in escaping from your men, sought safety here ; 
 she lies in that room insensible. Think of her anguish 
 when she awakes, and finds that you have killed her fa 
 ther!" 
 
 " Thank God that she is here ! " he exclaimed, under his 
 breath. Then to Tyscovus : " We feared she might still be 
 wandering about in the night. I have half the committee 
 looking for her in the Little Canon and on the plain." 
 
 " Yes, she is safe, and resting quietly." 
 
 The unknown pressed Tyscovus s hand as he said : 
 
 "Mr. Tyscovus, I appreciate to its utmost all you say, 
 but you must allow me, with all respect and kindness, to 
 observe that you know nothing of what you are talking 
 about. Nevertheless, if, before we proceed to extremities 
 with this wretch, you can honestly come to me and renew 
 that plea, I promise you to save the fellow s life, even if I 
 have to sacrifice my own to do it. Now I must go, for the 
 time has more than expired." 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said, entering the circle and taking 
 the position he had previously occupied, though his voice 
 trembled a little now, "have you deliberated on your sen 
 tence?" 
 
THE DESTINY OF THE PINE-TREE. 413 
 
 " We have ! " from every man. 
 
 "What punishment shall be inflicted on James Bos- 
 ler ? " 
 
 " Death by hanging 1 " uttered as by one voice. 
 
 " If there is any one of you who dissents from this sen 
 tence, let him raise his hand and we will hear what he has 
 to say." 
 
 Not a hand was raised. 
 
 " Your sentence, then, is unanimous ? " 
 
 " It is." 
 
 " Then, James Bosler," turning to the man as he spoke, 
 "you will bo immediately hanged by the neck till you are 
 dead, and may God have mercy on your soul ! If you have 
 anything to say before your execution, say it now, for this 
 is the only opportunity you will have, and it may be that 
 I shall feel compelled to ask you a few questions." 
 
 " Thar s only one thing as I keer to talk about," said 
 Jim, " and then I guess I m ready to go. I d like to ask 
 about a gal as I seen comin up the butte ahead o me." 
 
 "You mean your daughter?" asked the unknown. 
 " She is here, in safety." 
 
 " Yes, she s the one as I means. I d like, jist for cur os- 
 ity s sake, to know how she got here, for you see, when I 
 left Bighorn, to go for Luke Kittle, she war tied so tight, 
 that I couldn t V loosed her myself, without a knife." 
 
 Tyscovus at these words came closer so that nothing 
 should escape him. What did it mean ? What new mys 
 tery was this ? 
 
 " You had her tied, then ? " 
 
 " Yes, in course I tied her, so as she couldn t git away, 
 for you see Luke here give me five thousand dollars, and I 
 was to git five thousand more for makin her marry him, 
 and the weddin was to V come off to-morrow at three 
 o clock wan t it, Luke ?" 
 
 "Mind your own business, damn you !" said that indi- 
 
414: LAL. 
 
 vidual, angrily, "and don t be bringing me into your affairs. 
 What s the girl to do with the matter, anyhow ? " 
 
 Jim, on the principle that a drowning rat catches at 
 straws, thought he might possibly, by concentrating ill-feel 
 ing on Luke Kittle, lessen that existing against himself ; so 
 he told the whole story of his interview with " The Gulch- 
 er," but with many extenuations of his own conduct. 
 Then he related how he had been compelled, through fear, 
 to endeavor to bring Lai to consent to the marriage, and, 
 not succeeding by mild means, had, still under fear for his 
 life, and knowing that Kittle had spies all around him, 
 been obliged to use force ; but that now he was glad she 
 had got away, and that he and Kittle had been captured 
 before they could find her, after her escape from Bighorn 
 Spring. "You see, gentlemen," he said, "if it hadn t V 
 bin for Luke Kittle, thar wouldn t a bin no trouble about 
 Lai. Thar s his five thousand dollars over at Bighorn, in a 
 hole behind the chimley. I don t want it ; nothin would 
 make me take it ; I ain t that sort of a man as to sell my 
 daughter when I kin act free." 
 
 "Is she your daughter ?" 
 
 " Is she my daughter ? Well, now, gentlemen, do you 
 s pose as I d be such a blamed fool as to bring up another 
 man s daughter, and spend my money on her jist as ef it 
 war water ? " 
 
 "Answer the question, and remember you are standing 
 on the brink of the grave ! Is she your daughter ? " Then, 
 looking toward a man who stood a little in front of the rest, 
 the unknown continued, "Number Nine, step forward !" 
 
 The person addressed advanced till he stood about a 
 yard from Jim. 
 
 " Now," resumed the judge, "is she your daughter ?" 
 
 Jim hesitated for a moment. He looked inquiringly 
 and apprehensively at the man designated as "Number 
 Nine," but his face was also covered with crape, and his 
 
THE DESTINY OF THE PINE-TKEE. 415 
 
 form was enveloped in a long cloak, and he stood erect, 
 without moving a muscle or speaking a word. But evi 
 dently Jim perceived that there was a potentiality in this 
 person which, if roused into activity, might convict him of 
 lying, for he turned with his old suave manner to his inter 
 rogator, while he said in his blandest and humblest tones : 
 
 " Well, jedge, now as you speaks serious, it ain t in me 
 to tell no lies. I m a squar man, jedge, and tharfore I m 
 bound to say as the gal ain t no daughter o mine, though I 
 raised her from a infant, and keered for her jist the same 
 as ef she war my own child. You jist ask her now," he 
 continued with more energy, for he thought he saw another 
 straw, "ef I haven t done the squar thing by her up to 
 the time when Luke Kittle stepped in and made me act 
 like a fool." 
 
 "You dirty whelp !" exclaimed "The Gulcher," in a 
 tone of unmitigated contempt, while he made a gesture 
 with his fingers as though he would like to have Mr. Bos- 
 ler s throat in his clutches. 
 
 " It s the gospil truth, Luke, as you knows well," con 
 tinued Jim, in his most plaintive voice. " That s the sort 
 of a man Luke is, gents. Thar ain t no reasonin with him, 
 and I was jist a-f eared as he d kill Lai some day. 
 
 " Well, as I was sayin , jedge, my wife and me always 
 treated the gal jist the same as ef she war our own flesh and 
 blood. My wife s dead and gone now, gentlemen, but, ef 
 she war here, she d up and tell you the truth. We got so 
 at last that we jist thought she war our n. We didn t know 
 no deference, and she never knowed neither. You see we 
 had her nigh on to seventeen year, I guess. But now, as 
 I m on my word, jedge and gents, in course I m bound to 
 say as she ain t no daughter o mine." 
 
 During the delivery of this speech Tyscovus had stood 
 like a dazed man, but at the last words he sprang toward 
 Bosler. 
 
416 LAL. 
 
 " What did you say ?" he exclaimed " not your daugh 
 ter ! My God ! is this true ? " 
 
 " That s exactly what I said, and it s the gospil truth. 
 She s bin jist the same as ef she war my gal. I done my 
 best for her. You kin tell the jedge that, for you seen us 
 a-livin together like Dan el in the lion s den when you 
 come to buy the butte. It s the Good Man s truth, gents ; 
 ef it ain t, you kin call me a liar, and when Jim Bosler says 
 that he means it. You kin jist fetch her out here, and 
 she ll tell you the same. She don t lie ; fetch her out, gents. 
 She s the only witness as I ve got." 
 
 He uttered these last words in a despairing sort of a way, 
 but no one moved, and Jim continued as though his only 
 chance of life depended on Lai s evidence : " For the love 
 of God, jedge, fetch her out ! She ll tell you as I ve al 
 ways treated her good. She won t stand by and see the 
 man as has bin a father to her for seventeen years jerked 
 out of his life, .and jist for a most no thin ." 
 
 "You are not on trial," said the unknown, "for your 
 conduct to the poor girl that you have passed off as your 
 daughter but it is well to remind you that your first and 
 last acts toward her were of such cruelty as to place you 
 almost beyond the pale of humanity but you have been 
 tried and found guilty, after much deliberation, by the 
 court, of the crime of murdering Thomas Ilallam, and for 
 that you are to die. The poor child who lies ill, insensible, 
 in that room, is so by your vile deeds, as your own confes 
 sion shows. If she were to appear as a witness, her testi 
 mony would still further inflame the hearts of all honest 
 men against you. There is evidence in my possession to 
 show that you have for many years looked forward to sell 
 ing her to the highest bidder. You offered her to Manuel 
 Vaca oh ! you did not think I knew that ! " as Bosler 
 started " for ten thousand dollars, and you sold her to 
 this man" turning toward "The Gulcher" "for that 
 
THE DESTINT OF THE PINE-TREE. 417 
 
 sum. Moreover, she can not come, for, as I have said, she 
 is ill, and to be exposed to additional excitement now might 
 kill her. James Bosler, you have said nothing that can be 
 considered as entitling you to mercy. Let the sentence of 
 the court be executed ! " 
 
 "For Heaven s sake, one moment!" cried Tyscovus, 
 rushing before the men who advanced to seize Bosler. Then, 
 turning to that individual, who saw that his last moments 
 had come, and who had gotten into a dogged frame of 
 mind, he continued : 
 
 " Standing, as you do, on the brink of the grave, I ask 
 you, whose daughter is she ? " 
 
 Jim looked at him ; a sardonic smile passed over his face. 
 " You d like to know, wouldn t you ? Well, you kin ask 
 the jedge thar. He pears to know more about it nor any 
 one else. Perhaps he ll tell you ! " 
 
 "Yes," said the unknown, turning to Tyscovus, "I 
 will tell you. She is my daughter ! " 
 
 " Your daughter ! " exclaimed Tyscovus. 
 
 " Your n ! " said Bosler. 
 
 " Yes, mine. This man stole her from me more thnn 
 sixteen years ago, and sent her poor mother to an untimely 
 grave. She never smiled after the loss of her child. Take 
 him away, men," he continued, " and execute the sentence ! 
 Number Two," he went on, "preside over the court while 
 the other prisoner is being tried. And you, Number Nine," 
 addressing the man who had remained standing, as though 
 waiting to be examined, * mount your horse and ride with 
 all speed to Hellbender, with my request to Doctor Willis 
 to come here immediately." Then, turning to Tyscovus : 
 " Now, my friend, take me to her at once ; I owe her life to 
 you!" 
 
 He placed his arm within that of Tyscovus, and the two 
 with bowed heads went into the house. He approached 
 the bed on which Lai lay, and stood for a moment gazing 
 
418 LAL. 
 
 at the child that had been so wonderfully restored to him, 
 his strong form trembling with emotion. Tyscovus stood 
 by, silent in the presence of the father whose rights he felt 
 were superior to his own. 
 
 "Yes," said the unknown, as he gently laid his hand 
 on Lai s head, "she has her mother s hair, her mother s 
 face. Lalage, my darling ! " he continued, in a voice scarcely 
 above a whisper, as he knelt by the side of the bed, " at 
 last at last ! After I had ceased to hope ! My God ! I 
 thank thee for this moment." Then he bent over her, and, 
 raising the crape from the lower part of his face, pressed 
 his lips to her forehead. " She is very ill 1 " he exclaimed, 
 while he put his fingers on her pulse. " Her skin is quite 
 hot, and she has a high pulse. Poor child ! How she has 
 suffered ! " 
 
 f Yes," said Tyscovus, "but her sorrows are, probably, 
 nearly over. I, too, can thank God that she is not the 
 daughter of that man." 
 
 " You have been her friend. I know of all your good 
 ness to her, and I can not find it in my heart to keep my 
 identity longer concealed from you ." 
 
 As he spoke, he tore off the crape from his face. 
 " Geoffrey Moultrie !" cried Tyscovus, in astonishment. 
 "Good God ! is it possible ? Ah ! now I understand the 
 resemblance that I discovered the first day I saw you, and 
 which was then a mystery to me. Yes, you are her father. 
 She is like you." 
 
 "I am her father ; ask me for no explanations now ; to 
 morrow I will explain all to you. In the mean time, all my 
 thoughts are with her. She may yet be very ill." 
 
 " It is only the fever of reaction. She was utterly ex 
 hausted when she reached here. Think of all that she has 
 gone through, and you will understand that she may be 
 weak and feverish for several days." 
 
 " I will sit by her side, and watch her till the doctor 
 
THE DESTINY OF THE PINE-TREE. 419 
 
 comes. He can scarcely get here under two hours. I am 
 afraid to waken her, and yet I long to hear her call me 
 father, and to clasp her to my heart." 
 
 They had been in the house scarcely half an hour. 
 Tyscovus went to the door and looked out. The moon 
 was shining brightly in a cloudless sky, and was now high 
 in the heavens. All was still, and not a man was to be 
 seen. " I will leave him alone with her till the doctor 
 comes," he thought. Then he went out on the plateau. 
 No signs of the recent visitation were to be perceived. 
 " They have gone," he said, as he walked toward the crest 
 of the hill and looked down on the plain. "But, great 
 Heavens ! what do I see ? " he exclaimed. For there, on the 
 lowest limb of the great pine-tree, not ten feet from where 
 he stood, were the dead bodies of Jim Bosler and Luke 
 Kittle, hanging by the necks, and swinging to and fro in 
 the cold night wind. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 "LOOK AT ME AGAIN ! " 
 
 IT was not the next day, nor the day after, nor for sev 
 eral others, that Geoffrey Moultrie told Tyscovus the story 
 of Lai. In the mean time, she had been very ill, being 
 threatened with inflammation of the brain, and suffering 
 from high fever, delirium, and other symptoms of the in 
 tense excitement of her mental and physical systems, incident 
 to the events through which she had passed. Theodora, and 
 the doctor, and Mrs. Moultrie, were assiduous in their atten 
 tions, and, through the skill of the physician, and the care 
 ful nursing of her father, who scarcely ever left her side, 
 and that of the others, she began to recuperate, and on the 
 seventh day was pronounced by the doctor out of all dan 
 ger, provided no fresh excitement occurred to her. 
 
 She had not yet been told of the great change that had 
 taken place in her social relations. She recollected very 
 clearly all the particulars of her escape, and of finding a 
 refuge on the butte. She remembered that Tyscovus had 
 stood before her with extended arms. After that, all was 
 a blank, till on the fourth day she exhibited signs of re 
 turning reason. During her delirium she always recognized 
 Tyscovus, and was continually calling his name and min 
 gling it with ideas which, though incoherently expressed, 
 gave evidence of what was passing in her mind. Little by 
 little, existing circumstances were explained to her. She 
 thus knew where she was. She soon got to know Theo- 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 421 
 
 dora, but several times she looked with surprise at the tall 
 gentleman who was almost always seated by the bedside, 
 and who spoke to her so earnestly and kindly. 
 
 And, then, when Tyscovus entered the room, her eyes 
 never left him. She had been told by the doctor not to 
 talk much, and hence she generally contented herself with 
 looking at him. But one day, soon after the return of her 
 reason, she said to him, as he stood by the side of the bed : 
 
 " I d like to speak a little, ef it wouldn t do no harm." 
 
 "The doctor is afraid you may become excited if you 
 talk much," said Moultrie, who was in his accustomed 
 place. 
 
 " It ain t much as I want to say, and I guess, ef I said 
 it, I d git it off my mind and be quieter." 
 
 " Then speak, dear. Shall I go away while you talk to 
 Mr. Tyscoyus ? " 
 
 " No," with a smile ; " thar ain t no secrets twixt him 
 and me cept one," she added, as she suddenly recollected 
 the incident of the book, "and that ain t what I want to 
 talk about. You see," she went on, addressing Tyscovus, 
 "I wouldn t like you to think as I come down on you on 
 purpose. I war goin to Hellbender when I run away, but, 
 when I seen the wagon go by, and then come back, and the 
 men jump out, and heered the shouts, and seen all the 
 rest on em ridin by like mad, I got skeered, and I didn t 
 know whar to go, onless I come to you as war kind to me 
 onst afore. That s why I come. I guess I oughtn t to a 
 done it, for I know I ve bin a heap o trouble. But you 
 see I war awful skeered." 
 
 " My poor child, you were right to come. How could 
 you think you would be any trouble to me ? " 
 
 "I didn t know," she said, timidly ; "but I ll soon be 
 well ag in, and then I ll go away." 
 
 "No, dear," said Moultrie, unable longer to restrain 
 himself, "you shall never leave us again." 
 
422 LAL. 
 
 "Neverag in?" 
 
 "Never again. Your home is with us now." 
 
 "I don t think I understand." 
 
 "Very soon you shall know all. But now you are fa 
 tigued, and you must not talk any more." 
 
 "Thar s only one thing more, and then I guess Fm 
 done. Did them men git away ? " 
 
 "They are gone," said Moultrie, justifying the reserva 
 tion of the full truth by the necessities of the case. " They 
 will never harm you again." 
 
 A sense of blissful repose was expressed on her counte 
 nance. She closed her eyes, and was silent for several min 
 utes. Then she said : 
 
 "I m glad as they got away. He was very hard on me 
 oh, yes, very hard ; but, afore that, he used to be kind to 
 me, and for that I m glad as he warn t ketched." 
 
 Wearied with the exertion she had made, she fell asleep. 
 The doctor was present when she awoke. She was better, 
 he declared, than she had yet been. " She feels safe now 
 from her enemies," he said. " To-morrow you may tell her 
 all, and then we ll take her to Chetolah." 
 
 To-morrow came. She was sitting at the window, 
 looking out over the country she knew so well. The giant 
 pine-tree was before her eyes, but the bodies that had hung 
 there had been removed and buried, after a coroner s jury 
 had rendered a verdict of " death at the hands of persons 
 unknown to the jury." Only Moultrie and Tyscovus were 
 present. The latter perceived that the time for the revela 
 tion had come, and, actuated by feelings of delicacy, rose to 
 leave the room ; but Moultrie laid his hand on his shoulder. 
 " No, my friend, there is nothing I have to say that you may 
 not hear." Then he went to where Lai sat. She looked 
 up as he approached and held out her hand. " My child," 
 he said, as he clasped it in both his own, "you have won 
 dered who I am ? " 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 423 
 
 "Yes, but I kin wait till you re ready to tell me. I 
 knows as you ve nursed me all the time I was sick. When 
 ever I ve looked up, I ve seen you. Perhaps you re his 
 father, and that s the reason you re so good to me." 
 
 He smiled as he said: "Not yet, dear. Look at me 
 again, and tell me who I am." 
 
 She raised her eyes to his and gazed searchingly into his 
 face. 
 
 "I don t think I know," she said, while her pale face 
 flushed, as though a suspicion of the truth swept through 
 her mind ; " did I ever see you afore ? " 
 
 "Yes, dear, often. I ve held you in my arms many 
 times when you were a little baby. Lai, my darling, my 
 child, I am your father ! " 
 
 She rose from her chair, but would have fallen had he 
 not caught her in his arms. 
 
 " My father ! " she murmured, scarcely above a whisper. 
 
 "Yes ! " he exclaimed, kissing her as he folded her to his 
 heart, "your father, who now, after seventeen long years, 
 has found the daughter he thought was lost to him forever." 
 
 She lay on his breast, stunned by the force of the won 
 derful knowledge that had come to her. Then she raised 
 her arms and clasped them about his neck. 
 
 "I knowed as you was somethin dear to me, but I 
 couldn t tell," she said, bursting into a torrent of tears. 
 "How could I? I thought as he was And she? War 
 she my mother ? She war always good to me. She loved 
 me, and I loved her. She s dead now. Yes, I loved her. 
 Perhaps she d be sorry to find out as I warn t her daughter. 
 Did she know ?" 
 
 " No, she was not your mother. My darling, your own 
 dear mother died when you were stolen from her ; first her 
 reason and then her life faded away. My friend," turning 
 to Tyscovus, " tell her who I am. She scarcely understands 
 yet." 
 
LAL. 
 
 " Yes," she said, smiling through her tears, "I knows 
 it all now. I m your child. You are my father. It s all 
 very sudden and very strange, but I knows it s true. My 
 father! "she took his hand, and kissed it fervently, "I 
 never want to go away ag in." 
 
 Tyscovus slipped out of the room, unobserved, and met 
 the doctor just as he was getting out of his gig. 
 
 "Well," said the physician, smiling, "is it all right ? 
 Have the agonies been gone through with ? How did she 
 stand it?" 
 
 " It is all right ; the agonies were perfect. She stood 
 it like like as a woman should, I suppose. Don t go 
 in there," as the doctor was about ascending the steps ; 
 " they have not quite settled everything yet, but, when I 
 left, matters were going on swimmingly." 
 
 " The carriage will be here in an hour to take the whole 
 party to Chetolah. This affair has interfered with your 
 political engagements, but the election takes place to-mor 
 row, and, as there is no opposition, of course you will go 
 
 "A pretty way you have here of securing the election 
 of your friends! You hang the opposing candidate. Of 
 course I have written, withdrawing from the contest." 
 
 The devil you have!" 
 
 "Certainly I have. I could not consent to go into an 
 ollice when my own friends have killed my competitor." 
 
 For a moment the doctor was silent ; then he burst 
 forth : 
 
 " Well, of all the hypersensitive, abnormally conscien 
 tious and generally ridiculous idiots I ever saw in my life, you 
 take the lead! No, no," he continued, "that s too strong ; 
 I don t mean all that. What did you tell me your father 
 called you ? " 
 
 " John Buridan s Ass. " 
 
 "My dear fellow, I respect your father ; he was a good 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 425 
 
 man, and one of great discrimination. He could discern a 
 man s characteristics with a degree of certainty that I have 
 never seen excelled. Allow me to congratulate you on 
 haying had such a wise progenitor. He is a wise son who 
 knows his own father. He is a wiser father who knows 
 his own son. Au revoir. Of course, we shall see you with 
 Moultrie and his new-found daughter at Chetolah this even 
 ing. If there was time, I d get Theodora to take your 
 place As it is, you ll be elected in spite of yourself. I m 
 going to The Canon to settle that matter of Lai s inherit 
 ance though it isn t of much consequence now, I suppose. 
 I ll see you to-night. I ll bring Higgins, and Brattle, and 
 Theodora yes, and Lai to hear on you. If you think the 
 freemen of the Fourth Council District are going to be 
 bamboozled by any such damned nonsense as that, you re 
 very much mistaken !" The doctor jumped into his gig 
 with this parting shot, and drove furiously down the hill. 
 " He is the most honest, the bravest, the truest gentleman 
 I ever knew ! " he exclaimed, after a few minutes steady 
 thought ; "and I m a narrow-minded blackguard. I ll go 
 down on my knees to him to-night and beg his pardon." 
 
 Tyscovus, the more he reflected on the matter of the elec 
 tion, the more he was convinced that he was perfectly right in 
 declining to have any political association with people who 
 had, notwithstanding his protests, violated the principles 
 that he conceived should govern society. He had no pos 
 itive means of identifying the men that had convicted, 
 sentenced, and executed Bosler and Kittle, but there was 
 no doubt in his mind that his most strenuous supporters 
 were among them, including such persons as Colonel Brat 
 tle and Mr. Higgins. Indeed, as they all came from Hell 
 bender and its neighborhood, he was quite sure that every 
 one of them was an adherent of what was called the 
 "Law and Order party." The doctor, probably, had not 
 been present, but that he sympathized with the high- 
 
426 LAL. 
 
 handed act they had committed was very clear, and his son- 
 in-law, in expectancy, had been the leader. How Moultrie 
 had so suddenly become transformed, from a man appar 
 ently governed by very rigid ideas of the proper constitu 
 tion of society, into the extra-legal judge of a vigilance 
 committee, was beyond his knowledge. In some way or 
 other it was evident that Bosler s connection with the ab 
 duction of his child had been revealed to him, but Tyscovus 
 did not believe that this fact would have caused him to de 
 part from the course that all law-abiding citizens should 
 follow from principle. 
 
 The reader will not fail to perceive that, right or wrong, 
 Tyscovus was utterly unable to recognize the fact in its 
 social relations that "desperate diseases require desperate 
 remedies." He admitted, as Moultrie had reminded him, 
 the right of every people to rebel against tyranny. If, at 
 that very moment, he had received information that a con 
 spiracy, with every prospect of success crowning its efforts, 
 was being organized in Poland, he would not have hesitated 
 one moment before giving it his personal support. He 
 knew that nothing is more subservive of law and order than 
 rebellion, yet he countenanced this last resort of an op 
 pressed people, governed by despotic laws, while he repre 
 hended the rising of a people against a criminal class that 
 good laws were powerless to repress. He made no allow 
 ance for a condition of affairs under which all countries 
 settled as were California, Colorado and other Western 
 States in the height of the gold-fever must, in the beginning 
 of their careers, exist. In such times the laws are admit 
 ted by all good citizens to be powerless. 
 
 The fact that one man on a jury can prevent a convic 
 tion, however valuable a guarantee of liberty it may be in 
 those communities in which society is thoroughly organ 
 ized, is conducive to immunity from punishment for crime 
 in States situated as was Colorado in its early days. 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 427 
 
 Tyscovus could not but admit that the guilt of both 
 Bosler and Kittle was beyond question, and that the good 
 people of the Territory would breathe freer now that they 
 would cause no further trouble. As he subsequently learned, 
 Kittle had pleaded self-defense, but evidence was produced, 
 and, among the rest, a letter written by him, showing that 
 he had gone to Hellbender for the purpose of killing Vaca, 
 in exactly the way in which he had committed the crime. 
 That the execution of both men met with the commenda 
 tion of the best people of the Territory was beyond doubt. 
 The press had, without exception, approved the action 
 taken ; and many public meetings had been held throughout 
 the country, at which the vigilance committee had been 
 congratulated on having rid the community of two desper 
 adoes that the law had been unable to reach. 
 
 Still, the conscience of no other man was a guide to 
 Tyscovus ; so he had adhered to his declination, in spite of 
 the remonstrances of the doctor, and of a letter he had 
 only a few minutes previously received from the executive 
 committee. He supposed that, if his friends persisted in 
 voting for him, he would be elected, but he conceived that 
 it would be to his lasting disgrace if, under the circum 
 stances, he should take his seat in the Legislature of the 
 Territory. That he should consent to profit by the lawless 
 acts of his friends in hanging his competitor, was an utter 
 impossibility. 
 
 During her illness, Tyscovus had shown his anxiety for 
 Lai s restoration to health so openly that no one failed to 
 perceive how deep and true was his attachment. When she 
 fell at his feet, after climbing the butte on that dreadful 
 night, he had felt that the bond between them was never 
 to be severed while either of them lived. It was impos 
 sible, now that he knew that she was not the daughter of a 
 horse-thief and murderer, but of a gentleman, that his love 
 could be strengthened. It was already as intense as even 
 
428 LAL. 
 
 his warm heart was likely to make it, but it was neverthe 
 less a source of great satisfaction to discover that no blood 
 relationship existed between Lai and Jim Bosler, 
 
 As he walked to and fro on the plateau after the doc 
 tor s departure, he determined that in a few days he would 
 communicate to Moultrie the state of his feelings toward 
 Lai, and formally ask permission to speak to her on the sub 
 ject. That was the Polish way of proceeding, in all well- 
 regulated families. Then he would go to the girl herself, 
 and tell her how dearly he loved her, and ask her to be his 
 wife. No one was more thoroughly aware of all that was 
 necessary to be done to make her fit to be the wife of a gen 
 tleman than was he. Her speech, her manners, her knowl 
 edge, were such as would have made each individual hair 
 of his Polish and American relatives stand on end. For 
 which capillary erections, however, Tyscovus would have 
 cared nothing at all. He very well knew that there was a 
 basis of mental and moral excellence in Lai that placed her, 
 in his estimation, far above many princesses and other high 
 born dames that had paid court to him, and whose bland 
 ishments he had resisted. And he also knew that all the 
 defects that grated on refined eyes and ears were such as 
 two or three years of careful education and of association 
 with well-bred people would obliterate. The gem was there 
 in all its beauty. The matrix only, in which it was im 
 bedded, had to be cut away. 
 
 As to how she would receive the declaration of his love- 
 while he knew she loved him, he was not altogether sure in 
 regard to the character of her affection. Still, upon reflec 
 tion, he scarcely thought there was a reasonable doubt on 
 the subject. She was not habituated in the mechanism of 
 concealing the emotions by which she was governed. She 
 could neither control her smiles, the glances of her eyes, nor 
 her blushes, and all these spoke to Tyscovus in a language 
 that he thought he understood. He saw no reason why, 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 429 
 
 if his intentions were approved by Moultrie, and his affec 
 tion returned by Lai, the marriage should not take place 
 immediately, or at least as soon as he could build the house 
 on his butte which he contemplated, and which would be 
 necessary before he could settle down with a wife and enjoy 
 the comforts and luxuries to which his wealth and position 
 entitled him. He had definitely resolved to cast his for 
 tunes with Colorado. He had, he believed, cut loose alto 
 gether from Europe, and while he might, at times, visit the 
 East, his home should be where he had found his wife. 
 
 And, if married at once, how delightful would be the 
 task of educating her in accordance with the views that 
 were to have been inculcated in his great work a work, 
 alas ! that circumstances had caused him to utterly neglect. 
 How great would be his pleasure, as he saw her mind ex 
 pand daily, hourly, under the lessons that would be to 
 him not only a labor of duty but one of love ! 
 
 He was in the midst of these reflections, and of many 
 others, born of the circumstances that a few days had 
 crowded into his life, when, hearing some one approach, 
 he turned round, and found that Abe Wilkins was stand 
 ing within a few feet of him, apparently waiting to be no 
 ticed. The man had not come back, as he had promised, 
 when, several days previously, he had gone to The Canon 
 to enlist his "gang" in Tyscovus s political service, and 
 his employer had wondered what had become of him. 
 Something in the man s attitude attracted his attention, 
 and instantly the truth flashed upon him. 
 
 " You were here the other night with the vigilance com 
 mittee ? " he said, with some degree of sternness in his voice. 
 
 "Well, ef you says I was, I suppose I was." 
 
 "Don t answer me in that way, please. I recognize 
 you distinctly, although you then wore a cloak reaching to 
 your heels. You were standing then exactly as you stand 
 
430 LAL. 
 
 "I ain t got nothin to say. You kin have it jist as 
 you please." 
 
 "You are Number Nine. You stepped forward .as 
 the witness against Bosler when he was accused of abduct 
 ing the girl he called his daughter." 
 
 ( Captain," said Wilkins, in some confusion, "it ain t 
 for me to say yes or no to that ere charge. But you 
 saved my life, and I told you as how I was a-goin to begin 
 over ag in and do better nor I ve done afore. It ain t much 
 of a life, I guess, but it s somethin to me, and, sich as it 
 air, I owes it to you. I don t keer to talk about vigilance 
 committees and them things, ef it s all the same to you. I 
 come to see ef you didn t want me to stay here while you re 
 off with the doctor." 
 "Yes, you can stay." 
 
 "Prehaps you wouldn t object ef I was to bring my old 
 woman and the boy. We could all live in t other room." 
 
 "No, I don t object ; you can bring your family, if you 
 choose." 
 
 :( Thank ee. Ef thar was anything you d like me to 
 do now, I kin pitch right in." 
 
 "No, there is nothing. Yes, there is," he added, as 
 his eyes rested on the tall, gaunt pine-tree. "Bring your 
 axe and chop down that cursed tree ! Then pile all the 
 logs here on the top of the butte and burn them up, so that 
 not a vestige of it will remain. Do it at once. Perhaps, 
 if I had not stopped you when you began the" other day to 
 cut it down, those two men might have escaped hanging." 
 "I guess not, captain. You see it was all up with Jim 
 and Luke from the moment the boys had em ; and ef it 
 hadn t a bin that tree, it would a bin another. Thar s 
 plenty o trees in the Little Canon as would V done, 
 but," he added, surveying the object in question with a 
 Critical eye, "none quite as good as that ere ; and then, 
 you see, it war so mighty handy !" 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 431 
 
 " Well, cut it down. I never want to see it again. I 
 think they might have spared me the insult, after disre 
 garding my protest, of using my own tree for the purpose 
 of a gallows." 
 
 " The jedge war mighty mad, I hear tell," said Wilkins, 
 cautiously, as though afraid of committing himself by pos 
 sessing too much knowledge. " They do say as he said 
 some pretty hard things ag in the boys. But, you see, cap 
 tain, it was so uncommon convenient that I guess they 
 couldn t help tharselves. Howsomever, down she goes, ef 
 you say so." 
 
 In a few minutes Wilkins was raining down his heaviest 
 blows with the axe on the trunk of the tree, and shortly 
 afterward it fell with a tremendous crash, that brought 
 Moultrie and Lai to the door. The former at once under 
 stood the motive by which Tyscovus was actuated. As the 
 reader knows, he had had nothing to do with the actual 
 work of the execution, and had been, as Wilkins said, 
 highly indignant that the hanging should have been done 
 on the butte. 
 
 "It was an outrage," he said, "to do the thing right 
 under your very nose. But I am quite sure it was with no 
 intention of giving offense. It was mere thoughtlessness." 
 
 "The outrage was in doing it at all," replied Tyscovus, 
 gravely. "Any personal indignity I can well afford to 
 pardon. It is the insult to the law which I find diffi 
 cult to forgive. However, it is not likely that we will 
 ever agree on that matter, and I promise never to allude 
 to it again." 
 
 While this conversation was going on, Lai had been 
 alternately listening and looking at Wilkins, who was pro 
 ceeding to cut the limbs and trunk of the prostrate tree 
 into lengths suitable for the fire he proposed to kindle on 
 the butte. He had entered a protest against wasting the 
 wood, which, as he said, would last half a winter as fuel ; 
 
432 LAL. 
 
 but Tyscovus had insisted that no use should be made of 
 it, but that it should be destroyed at the earliest possible 
 moment. 
 
 Evidently Lai did not understand the remarks made by 
 her father and Tyscovus, but she comprehended that, for 
 some reason or other satisfactory to both, the old pine-tree, 
 for which she had acquired a friendship based on long asso 
 ciation, had been cut down, and was to be utterly expunged 
 from the face of the earth. 
 
 "It s about done for now," she said, with a shade of 
 regret in her voice. "It warn t much for shade, but it 
 looked well for all that, and I m kinder sorry it s gone." 
 
 Both the men were afraid she would ask questions that 
 it would be uncomfortable to answer, and they experienced 
 a feeling of relief when she, looking down the road, per 
 ceived the carriage approaching that was to carry them all 
 to Chetolah, and called their attention to the fact that she 
 had some preparations to make. She had kept hold of 
 Moul trie s hand as though fearful that some cause might 
 deprive her of her newly-found father. As she left him to 
 go into the house, she raised it to her lips. 
 
 "I m your Lai, ain t I ?" she said, with one of those 
 smiles which more than anything else showed how beauti 
 ful she was. Then turning to Tyscovus, she continued : 
 "Do you call to mind when you asked me ef you mought 
 call me Lai, and I said as you mought, for that war my 
 name. Well, you won t have to change a bit, for I m still 
 Lai, jist the same as afore. I m glad o that, for I d like 
 you to call me by the same name as you did that day." 
 
 She was gone before Tyscovus could reply, but Moultrie, 
 turning to him, said : 
 
 " Her name is Lalage, but she will always, I trust, be Lai 
 to you. She has told me all about the book. If you could 
 know how grateful I feel to you, it might be some little 
 pleasure to you." 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 433 
 
 What TJSCOYUS had to say to Moultrie were better said 
 soon. He did not, therefore, hesitate. 
 
 " She is a sweet girl. I love her very much. You are 
 her father, and I ask your consent to tell her what is in 
 my heart. " 
 
 Moultrie held out his hand to Tyscovus. 
 
 " No man lives to whom I would as soon give her as to 
 you ; but wait till you have heard what I have yet to tell 
 you of her parentage. And, by-the-by, it will take three 
 persons to relate the story. If, after that, you are of the 
 same mind, and she loves you, I will feel that my happiness, 
 so far as she can affect it, is secure. " 
 
 Tyscovus grasped his hand as he said : 
 
 " I shall not change. I loved her most when her misery 
 was at its height, when she struggled up the butte, fleeing, 
 as she thought, from her pursuers on the night that set her 
 free forever from her past associations. I felt then, as she 
 staggered toward me with outstretched hands, as though 
 she were coming to me never to go away again till death 
 should part us." 
 
 "My friend, so far as we are concerned, the matter is 
 settled. Ask Lai. I have no doubt as to what her answer 
 will be. You loved her when you thought her father was 
 a murderer, a horse-thief, and everything else that is vile, 
 because you thought you saw sterling qualities in her that 
 education would develop. " Well," he added after a little 
 pause, ( she has them, and they will not, I think, be stunted 
 by the father she has found." 
 
 " She has something still more to be prized by you, and 
 by me also, if I am ever to be more to her than I am now 
 a true heart." 
 
 "Yes, that is so. How she ever succeeded in preserv 
 ing the characteristics she got from her mother, is a mys 
 tery to me, surrounded as she was by everything that was 
 wicked and degrading. The germ, however, seems to have 
 19 
 
LAL. 
 
 remained ready to spring into activity under proper influ 
 ences. But, how strange the force was that started it into 
 growth, and how it seems to overturn all our ideas of the 
 fitness of things ! She steals your book, and that sin leads 
 to a complete transformation of her moral nature." 
 
 " I think you regard the matter from a wrong stand 
 point," said Tyscovus. "You must go back much further 
 in search of your prime factor. If my ancestor had not 
 been so firm of purpose as to have suffered a frightful mar 
 tyrdom for his right of private judgment, no one would 
 have taken the trouble to write his life. There would have 
 been, therefore, no such book as the one she picked up from 
 the ground a very mild form of theft at the worst and 
 consequently she would not have received the lessons in 
 morality which it inculcates. Besides, God often makes 
 use of sin to effect a radical change in the conduct of those 
 whose hearts, being inherently right, appear to require, from 
 the very strength and vigor of their organizations, a shock 
 so strong that weak systems would go down before it. St. 
 Paul was on his way to persecute the followers of Christ, 
 when he was converted. I feel that my ancestor did not 
 live and die in vain." 
 
 "Ah!" answered Moultrie, gravely, "you know more 
 of these things than I do ; but here is the carriage " as 
 a landau was driven up to the plateau " that is to take us 
 to Chetolah. Come, my child, are you ready?" opening 
 the door as he spoke. "I will call you Lai after a 
 while," he continued as she came out dressed for the drive 
 as well as her rather limited wardrobe allowed. " At pres 
 ent I think of you always as my child." 
 
 Again she took his hand and kissed it. 
 
 " How did you learn that pretty European caress of 
 children for their parents ? " he said, smiling, as he put his 
 arm around her waist. 
 
 "From my book," she answered; " I seen as all the 
 
"LOOK AT ME AGAIN!" 435 
 
 children of Count John kissed his hand, whenever he said 
 anything good to em, and you re always sayin good things 
 to me ; and so I have to kiss your hand very often." 
 
 " There is another reason, I suspect, my dear." 
 
 " Because I love you ? " 
 
 "Yes, that of course, but there is still another reason." 
 
 "I don t know," she said, reflectively ; "tell me." 
 
 "Because your mother was a Pole, and you are like her 
 in every feature of your face, in every gesture, in every 
 tone of your voice." 
 
 " Her mother a Pole !" exclaimed Tyscovus. 
 
 " Yes, but I must not anticipate. To-night the doctor, 
 and I, and another, will tell you all." 
 
 "I am very glad," said Lai. "Was she named La- 
 lage ? " 
 
 "Yes, that was her name." 
 
 "It s the name of a crick, ain t it ? " 
 
 "The name of a creek ! No, my dear ; what put that 
 idea in your head ? It means babbling or prattling. Per 
 haps it will suit you better when you get older, but it is 
 not entirely misplaced now." 
 
 She laughed. "I thought you told me it was the name 
 of a crick. " 
 
 "No. Oh, I see how you are mistaken. I said it was 
 a Greek name, not creek. The Greeks were a famous peo 
 ple in their time, and many of the names we use are the 
 same that they gave to men and women." 
 
 She blushed a little. I ll larn better after a while," she 
 said. " I don t know nothin now, that s a fact." 
 
 It was nearly dark when -they left the butte. Looking 
 back, after they had gotten about half-way to Chetolah, 
 Tyscovus saw the sky illumed by a bright red glow. It 
 was the last of the giant pine-tree. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 L AL S STORY IS TOLD. 
 
 IT was after " tea," and all the inmates of Chetolah had 
 assembled in the drawing-room. There were the doctor 
 and Theodora, Mrs. Moultrie, her daughter Mrs. Sincote, 
 Moultrie, Lai, and Tyscovus. The new-found member of 
 the Moultrie family had been taken to the hearts of her 
 grandmother, aunt, and her step-mother in expectancy, to 
 say nothing of the affectionate greetings of her young cous 
 in, Florence Sincote, who, after much persuasion on the 
 part of her nurse, and reiterated commands from her moth 
 er, had just gone to bed. Conversation had ceased, for 
 Geoffrey Moultrie had appointed that evening for telling 
 the story of Lai s infancy and abduction, and, though it 
 was familiar in all its details to his mother and sister, and 
 partially known to the doctor and Theodora, it was abso 
 lutely a sealed book to two personages present, and certain 
 ly, next after Moultrie himself, the two most interested. Ev 
 ery one waited anxiously for the recital to begin, and all 
 other subjects were so dwarfed in comparison with the one 
 uppermost in their minds that general conversation was 
 next to impossible. 
 
 It was all very strange to Lai, and she naturally felt 
 under constraint. Her quick perceptions enabled her to see 
 how different the women present were from those with 
 whom she had heretofore come in contact different in 
 dress, different in manner, different in speech ; and she 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 437 
 
 wondered whether she should ever be able to cross the deep 
 gulf which stretched its wide expanse between her and 
 them. Every one, however, was kind to her in a quiet, un 
 obtrusive, non-patronizing way, that she was clever enough 
 to appreciate. No one appeared to notice that she was in 
 any wise different from the rest, and her father s loving 
 glance was always there to reassure her. She sat by his 
 side, holding his hand in hers, as though fearful that in 
 some sudden and mysterious way he might be carried off 
 bodily ; or as if she might still need his protection from 
 Jim Bosler and Luke Kittle, whose fate was yet unknown 
 to her. 
 
 "It is for me," said Moultrie, at last, "to begin and 
 end the history, though, as I told you to-day, Tyscovus, two 
 others will relate important facts in corroboration of what 
 I shall have to say. I shall not weary you with my whole 
 autobiography, and I shall pass over very lightly all those 
 details which, although essential to the full understanding 
 of the subject, do not bear directly upon the events with 
 which, at present, we are most concerned. 
 
 "It happened," he continued, " that when I was about 
 twenty-one years of age, I was acting as an assistant to my 
 father, who was engaged in constructing a railway from 
 Warsaw to the southern part of Poland, the terminus in 
 that direction not having been definitely determined upon 
 by the government. Among the other assistants was a young 
 Polish prince, Stephen Lutomski " (Tyscovus started at 
 the name, but said nothing) "with whom I became very 
 intimate. He was not rich. His patriotism would not 
 permit him to enter the army when he left the university, 
 and, as he had a taste for engineering, he had obtained a 
 position in the corps of which my father was the head. 
 
 " The course of the road was not far from the old castle 
 in which his mother and sister, his only near relatives, 
 lived, and they often visited us in our camps, and I ac- 
 
438 LAL. 
 
 cepted several invitations to visit them. An attachment 
 sprang up between his sister, the Princess Lalage, and my 
 self, and eventually, with his and his mother s approval, sanc 
 tioned by the Czar, we were married. 
 
 " Shortly afterward, my father, who had, in conjunction 
 with several Eussian, English, and American capitalists, 
 purchased a large tract of land in Western Kansas, deemed 
 it necessary that some one acquainted with his ideas rela 
 tive to its development, and in whom he had confidence, 
 should go there to superintend the great interests involved ; 
 and the offer made was so advantageous in every way that, 
 urged by my wife, as well as by my own convictions, I de 
 termined to accept the great responsibilities of the position 
 of director. She was young, and, though, as I said, not 
 rich, had been reared in ease, and was now about to make 
 a sacrifice for me that I was fearful would tax her se 
 verely. I begged her to remain in Poland till I could go 
 first, and make some preparations for her comfort, but 
 she was one of those women whose chief happiness is 
 in sharing the fortunes of their husbands, and whose am 
 bitions are for his advancement ; so she refused to be sepa 
 rated from me. 
 
 "We were not badly situated in our new home, which 
 was not far from a fort garrisoned by United States troops. 
 Among the officers was our friend Doctor Willis, then a 
 young assistant surgeon, not much my senior in years. It 
 was here, my dear child, that you were born. 
 
 " I knew very little of the people of the neighborhood 
 outside of the fort. Some of them were industrious and 
 honest settlers, others were of the very scum of the earth ; 
 many of both classes were employes of mine, either en 
 gaged in working the land, in looking after the numerous 
 cattle belonging to the company, or acting as laborers to 
 the surveyors who were laying out town-sites or farms. 
 
 "One day, when you, my dear child, were about three 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 439 
 
 months old, I was called to a distant part of the estate to 
 examine a place where large deposits of coal were said to 
 have been discovered. I bade your mother and you good-by, 
 for I expected to be gone till late in the evening. You lay 
 upon the bed, and stretched out your little hands as if 
 really bidding me good-by." (Here Lai drew nearer to him 
 and laid her head on his shoulder, while he tightened his 
 hold on her hand.) " I never saw you again to know you, 
 till I knelt a few days ago at the side of the bed upon which 
 you lay senseless. When I returned, I found that you had 
 been stolen, and that your poor mother was delirious, so that 
 she could give me no account of what had happened. I as 
 certained, however, from your nurse, that, soon after my de 
 parture, a strange man had entered the room in which you 
 were, had seized you in the very presence of your mother, 
 had jumped through the window, and had disappeared 
 with you in his arms. Messengers had been sent for me, 
 but I had gone in another direction, and they failed to find 
 me. The alarm had been given as soon as possible, but no 
 one but your mother had seen the man, and she was out of 
 her mind. The commanding officer of the fort turned out 
 his troops, and they scoured the country in all directions ; 
 but nothing was ever discovered, so far as I then knew, 
 leading to any information of you or your abductor. Your 
 poor mother never recovered her reason, and in a few 
 months she died." 
 
 (Tears were flowing down Lai s face, but she did not 
 speak. She evidently scarcely perceived the connection 
 between her abduction and her membership of the Bosler 
 family.) After a few moments Moultrie continued : 
 
 " There is nothing more for me to say now, although, 
 presently, I shall have a few other circumstances to relate ; 
 the rest of the story will be better told by others." 
 
 "I recollect very well," said the doctor, "when our 
 friend brought his wife to the vicinity of Fort Kendrick, 
 
44:0 LAL. 
 
 where I was stationed as medical officer ; I recollect, too, 
 that some three or four months after their arrival, a daugh 
 ter was born to them, and that I officiated at the birth. 
 There was living near the fort a man named James Bosler, 
 who, with his wife, occupied a quarter-section of land ; but 
 he did not till the ground. He was a seller of whisky to 
 the soldiers, a gambler, and a horse-thief. The command 
 ing officer had used every means in his power to get this 
 man out of the neighborhood, but he successfully defied 
 all attempts made to remove him. He lived just oif of the 
 reservation, and consequently the military authority had 
 no real control over him, and the civil powers were too re 
 mote and inefficient to be invoked. 
 
 " Two days after you were born, Mrs. Bosler had a baby, 
 over whose entrance into the world I also presided. There 
 being no other physician, the settlers had to depend on me 
 for such medical aid as they required, and, as a conse 
 quence, I was summoned from far and near. This baby 
 was so much like you, Lai, that it became a subject of con 
 versation whenever I paid my visits to your mother or to 
 Mrs. Bosler. Some people, I know, can not see resem 
 blances between infants. That is simply because they do 
 not know how to look at a young child, or what features to 
 examine. But here were the same black hair, the same 
 shaped and colored eyes, the same delicately molded noses 
 and ears especially the ears, which should always be in 
 spected when resemblance between babies is sought for; 
 and the same matrix might have served for the hands and 
 feet of both. 
 
 " Well, the two infants grew apace, the resemblance 
 still continued, and then one day we were astonished on 
 being informed by a messenger from Moultrie s that the 
 baby had been stolen. The mother was in the room at 
 the time ; the abductor appeared to have entered by the 
 window ; but she could give no account of the affair, as she 
 
LAL S STOEY IS TOLD. 441 
 
 was in a state of acute delirium. She could only make 
 efforts to go to one of the windows of the room, and 
 would have thrown herself out of it, had she not been pre 
 vented. As it was, her eyes were constantly turned toward 
 it, and her hands stretched out in that direction. Hence, 
 we concluded that the thief had entered and left through 
 that opening. 
 
 " Search was, as Moultrie has said, made in every direc 
 tion. Major Selfridge, the commanding officer, turned out 
 a troop of dragoons, and they scoured the country, but 
 without finding the least clew to the thief. Many sup 
 posed that a vagabond Kaw or Pawnee Indian had stolen 
 the child, and means were taken to examine, with the ut 
 most minuteness, all their camps and villages in the region, 
 but without the least success. Large rewards were offered, 
 five thousand, ten thousand dollars, and any amount would 
 have been given if the faintest clew had been obtained. 
 Then, shortly after the death of his wife, Moultrie went 
 back to Poland, leaving me to continue the search, and to 
 offer large sums of money for any information that could 
 lead to the detection of the kidnapper or the recovery of 
 the child. 
 
 " Bosler remained in the neighborhood for several years 
 subsequently, following his disreputable occupations, and 
 leading a dissipated life. . One night at the sutler s store, 
 to which he had come surreptitiously for he had been pro 
 hibited entering the limits of the fort while drinking with 
 a party of teamsters, he made some assertions that led to 
 the suspicion that he had been concerned in the abduction 
 of the child. These were repeated to me ; but when taxed 
 with them and required to explain his meaning, he de 
 clared that when he spoke he was drunk, and that what 
 he had said was entitled to no consideration. Every means 
 was taken to elicit whatever knowledge he possessed, but 
 all was in vain, and shortly afterward he removed from 
 
442 LAL. 
 
 that part of the country, taking his family with him. One 
 night, soon after his departure, I was requested to visit a 
 man who had been employed in the quartermaster s de 
 partment as a blacksmith, but who had always been on 
 terms of close intimacy with Bosler. The man had been in 
 a broil, and had been shot so badly that I saw at a glance 
 that he could live only a few hours at most. He perceived, 
 from the expression of my face, that there was no hope ; 
 and, besides, the nature of his wounds was such that any 
 man would have known that life was impossible. 
 
 "Seeing that he had not long to live, he requested every 
 one else to leave the hut in which he lay, and then he whis 
 pered in my ear that Jim Bosler had, in a drunken rage, 
 killed his own baby, and then, being sobered by the remorse 
 which the crime had excited, and fearful of the effects upon 
 his wife, who was absent for the day, he had stolen your 
 child, Moultrie, and clothing it in his dead infant s apparel, 
 had laid it in the bed as though it was his own. He added 
 that he was present when Bosler killed his baby, and that 
 he had assisted the murderer to bury the child in a spot 
 that he indicated. 
 
 "I asked him whether or not Mrs. Bosler knew of the 
 murder and the theft, and he answered that, so far as he 
 had any knowledge, she was kept in ignorance of both facts, 
 and had always believed the stolen child to be her own. At 
 first, she had expressed a little surprise at what she thought 
 were changed characteristics, but she had never suspected 
 that anything was wrong. But, good Heavens ! what is 
 the matter with the child ? " he exclaimed, looking at Lai. 
 Every one rushed toward her, as she lay senseless in her fa 
 ther s arms, for she had fainted. 
 
 " It is nothing/ said the doctor, feeling her pulse ; 
 "place her on the floor, with her head low. Dorie, my 
 dear, don t you think a little ammonia would be of service ? 
 or would eau- de-cologne be sufficient ? Yes, that will do," 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 443 
 
 as half a dozen vinaigrettes were handed him. She will be 
 all right in a minute or two." 
 
 "Are you sure there is no heart-disease, doctor?" in 
 quired Moultrie, anxiously. "She went over so suddenly ! 
 I felt the clasp of her hand not a moment before she lost 
 consciousness." 
 
 " Heart-disease ? fiddlesticks ! " exclaimed the doctor, 
 contemptuously. 
 
 " She might have overtasked her heart on that dread 
 ful night, when she ran almost all the way from Bighorn 
 Spring to the top of the butte," said Tyscovus. "She 
 was thoroughly exhausted." 
 
 " Oh, yes," said the doctor, dryly, " heart-disease, doubt 
 less, my friend ; but not of the kind you refer to. Why, 
 her heart is as sound as that of an antelope ! " 
 
 "She is getting stronger every instant," said Theodora, 
 who sat on the floor by her side, with her fingers on the 
 wrist of the patient. " Poor dear ! " she continued, " it was 
 too much for her. But it had to come, sooner or later. 
 Have you not noticed, Geoffrey," raising her eyes to Moul- 
 trie as she spoke, " that for several days past she has been 
 absent-minded, and at times very low-spirited ? She has 
 suffered greatly from the inability she experienced to an 
 swer questions she was continually asking herself." 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "it is better for her to know the 
 worst at once, than to brood over the matter as she has 
 been doing. No emotion, in my experience, is so wearing 
 as anxiety. Think how she must have suffered as the wick 
 edness of the man she had regarded for so many years as 
 her father was gradually revealed to her ! " 
 
 "And yet," said Tyscovus, "I could see, as the acts of 
 the story were one by one unfolded, how bravely she was 
 trying to bear up under the accumulation. Few women 
 could have endured it all half so well." 
 
 " Well, it is not necessary for her to hear the rest," re- 
 
444 LAL. 
 
 marked the doctor. * She knows all that it concerns her 
 to kno\v now. There" he continued, as Lai gave a long 
 sigh and opened her eyes she is all right now. Here, 
 my dear, drink this glass of wine, and then your father will 
 carry you up-stairs and lay you on your bed. We will dis 
 pense with your society for the rest of the evening." 
 
 "And with mine too, papa ? " said Theodora. " I will 
 sit with her and talk with her a little." 
 
 " And mine ? " " and mine ? " exclaimed Mrs. Moultrie 
 and Mrs. Sincote in a breath. 
 
 "Yes, you can all go ; but mind you don t excite her 
 with too much talking. If you are going to do that, she 
 had better stay here." 
 
 In Geoffrey Moul trie s strong arms she was like a feather. 
 
 " She is quite well now> I think," he said, as he returned 
 after an absence of a few minutes, "very happy and yet 
 very sad. My heart bleeds for her every moment of my 
 life. She is very glad that Mrs. Bosler had no hand in the 
 fraud, and that she was not undeceived before she died, 
 her love for the woman, who seems to have been always 
 kind to her, is very great. "What would it have been for 
 her own mother had she ever known her ? But, doctor, go 
 on with the story. I want Tyscovus to hear it out to the 
 end." 
 
 " Very well," said the doctor ; " but, now that the ladies 
 are gone, we might as well light our cigars or pipes. Now," 
 he resumed, as that operation was completed, " where was 
 I ? Oh, yes, I recollect ! 
 
 "Well, after making the precious confession, the out 
 lines of which I have related, the fellow lay quiet for a few 
 minutes, and then he completed what he had to do in this 
 world by dying. The spot which he had indicated as the 
 one where he had assisted Bosler to bury the murdered 
 baby was examined, and there, sure enough, the little skel 
 eton was discovered. 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 445 
 
 4 Inquiries were then made for Bosler, and at last he 
 was found. On my affidavit, based on the dying words of 
 the blacksmith, he was arrested, but the most searching 
 examination failed utterly to fix the double crime or any 
 part of it on him. He accounted for every minute of his 
 time on the day the child was stolen, and he declared that 
 the skeleton found was that of Moultrie s child, and that 
 the blacksmith had probably been the kidnapper and the 
 murderer. The baby in his possession was brought before 
 the magistrate, and Mrs. Bosler and half a dozen other peo 
 ple swore that it was hers. One woman deposed that she 
 had been in the house all day, and that any change of the 
 babies, one for the other, would have been impossible with 
 out her knowledge. The grand jury refused to find an in 
 dictment, and Bosler was discharged. Some people thought 
 that he had stolen Moultrie s child and subsequently killed 
 it ; others, that the blacksmith had committed both crimes; 
 but no one, besides myself, thought that his tale was true, 
 and that Bosler had possession of Moultrie s child. 
 
 "I communicated all these facts to Moultrie-, but at the 
 same time informed him that there was no prospect of his 
 finding his daughter. Of course, if the girl in Bosler s pos 
 session were not surely his, he did not want it. Proof on 
 that point appeared to be impossible. However, he came 
 to Kansas this is now fifteen years ago and saw the baby, 
 then a couple of years old, which the Boslers claimed was 
 theirs. They made no objection to letting him see it. In 
 fact, they offered every facility to him, and he went away 
 with no more satisfaction than when he came. He could 
 not identify the child. Last summer, when Theodora and 
 I were at a quiet little place on the sea-shore to which we 
 sometimes go, we met you, Moultrie. I had not seen you 
 since your visit to Kansas, fifteen years before. We talked, 
 of course, about your great loss, and I informed you that 
 Bosler, his wife, and the child, now a young woman, were 
 
446 LAL. 
 
 living quite near us. I described her to you as minutely as 
 I could, and you determined to come here and see her for 
 yourself. You thought, from my description, that she 
 strongly resembled your wife, and that if you could see 
 her, you could identify her by some feature or gesture or 
 habit that might be hereditary. I returned home, and 
 only a few days ago, while you were on your way here, 
 perhaps, I received such information as placed the fact of 
 Lai s parentage beyond a doubt. I was satisfied that she 
 was certainly your child. 
 
 "Now, Tyscovus, comes the part with which you are 
 connected. 
 
 " When I was successful in saving the life of Abe Wil- 
 kins s baby, after you had had your contest with the father, 
 and he had gone off with all your portable property, he not 
 only, out of his gratitude to me, returned your effects, but 
 a few days afterward told me a story that made my heart 
 beat with joy. It was nothing else than a thorough cor- 
 roboration of the account given to me by the blacksmith, 
 and it was confirmed by the production of a necklace of 
 gold beads, fashioned by some Circassian jeweler, which 
 the child had worn at the time. But here, Wilkins will 
 speak for himself. He has really reformed ; partly influ 
 enced, I think, by his gratitude to me, and partly, per 
 haps mainly, by the fear that if he is not very careful his 
 heart-disease will end his days soon and suddenly. What 
 ever the cause, I never saw so thorough a change in a man. 
 He is really now quite a respectable member of society." 
 The doctor rose and rang the bell. " Send Wilkins here," 
 he said, to the servant. In a few moments the man entered 
 the room. 
 
 "I didn t leave the place," he said to Tyscovus, "till 
 the old woman and the boy got thar. I hired Alexander 
 to bring em over. They ll look after things, and I m 
 goin back to-night, anyway." 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 447 
 
 "Very well," said Tyscovus ; "all will be cared for, I 
 have no doubt." 
 
 "Sit down, "Wilkins," said the doctor, "and then tell 
 us what you told me the other day, and anything else that 
 bears on the subject." Wilkins took the chair that was 
 indicated to him, and then began his part of the story : 
 
 " You see, gents, the doctor had forgot all along, ef he 
 ever knowed, that I war a teamster at Fort Kendrick when 
 that ere baby war killed and the other stolen. Jim, and 
 Toby, the blacksmith, and me war pards, and in course I 
 knowed all as war a-goin on. Not as I seen any of it, but 
 I knowed it all the same ; for pards don t have no secrets 
 from one another. 
 
 "It war one day Jim and Toby war drinkin , and the 
 baby war lyin in bed in the same room. Jim war always 
 a pretty hard cuss when he got too much, and this time he 
 had it, I guess. The baby cried more n Jim could stand 
 with him full o liquor, so he jist shook it a lee tie, and 
 then, as it bawled all the more, he give it a jerk out o tlie 
 bed, and it fell on the floor, and struck its head agin a pile 
 o old iron as war layin thar, and then it stopped howlin 
 for good. For, gents, as I am a live man, that baby war a 
 dead one. 
 
 "Jim and Toby was orful skeered, and Jim war jist 
 about as sorry as a man could be. For, gents, afore God, 
 I don t think he meant to kill that baby. His old woman 
 war off somewhar, and Jim war afraid thar d be bloody 
 Moses to pay when she come home, and prehaps he be 
 jerked up by the neck for killin the baby. So what does 
 he do, but start right off to Mr. Moultrie s, whar he said 
 thar war a baby jist like his n, and the same age, and, in 
 less nor a half -hour, he war back with that baby ! And a 
 woman as war in the next room never knowed he war out 
 o the house. For, you see, Toby kept up laughin and 
 talkin jist the same as ef Jim war thar. 
 
44:8 LAL. 
 
 "That s about the whole story, gents, jist as I ve had it 
 from Jim and Toby, both on em. Mrs. Bosler never 
 knowed as the babies war changed, and that night Jim and 
 Toby buried the other. Thar war a gold necklace around 
 the other baby, and Jim give that to me for a mule, more n 
 ten years ago. I give it to the doctor." 
 
 "And here it is !" exclaimed Moultrie, taking, as he 
 spoke, a little box from his pocket. " This is the identical 
 necklace stolen with my child. It belonged to her mother. 
 And here, you see, on the clasp, are the letter <L and a 
 princess s coronet." 
 
 Tyscovus took the necklace and examined it with the 
 utmost interest. It was, as the doctor had said, of Circas 
 sian workmanship, and the letter and coronet mentioned 
 by Moultrie were distinctly visible. Even without Bosler s 
 confession the evidence of Lai s identity would have been 
 complete. And she was born of a Polish mother, a daugh 
 ter of the noble house of Lutomski, whose origin was only 
 a little later than his own, and her father was of the best 
 blood in America ! It was all very pleasant for him to 
 know, but he thanked God that he had recognized the good 
 that was in her, and had loved her while he thought she 
 was the daughter of a horse-thief, a drunkard, a murderer, 
 whose wickedness and depravity were almost beyond belief. 
 
 "That will do, Wilkins," said the doctor. "His story, 
 of course, has been put into the form of an affidavit," he 
 continued, after the man had left the room. "Not that 
 his oath is worth any more than his word, but as a formal 
 measure. Now, Moultrie, you have the finishing touches 
 to give to this remarkable history." 
 
 "One of the chief objects I had in view," he observed, 
 "was, as the doctor has stated, to see the girl that he said 
 Bosler had with him and called his daughter. Of course, 
 soon after my arrival, he told me of the information given 
 him by Wilkins, and gave me the necklace. This latter I 
 
LAL S STOEY IS TOLD. 449 
 
 at once recognized, and then I felt that at last my poor 
 child was within my reach. Bosler s whereabout had not, 
 however, been discovered, and I could not, therefore, pro 
 ceed as rapidly in my efforts to recover my lost daughter 
 as I desired. 
 
 " But, on the afternoon of the day on which she escaped 
 from Bosler s clutches, I heard from Wilkins that the scoun 
 drel had actually sold her to a man almost as bad as himself, 
 and that a marriage, that would have been a mockery 
 for the fellow has a wife living in St. Louis was arranged 
 to take place on the following day. I had been offered, by 
 prominent citizens, the leadership of the vigilance commit 
 tee, and had declined it not because of any conscientious 
 scruples, but for the reason that I had other matters to en 
 gage my attention. Now, however, I saw that nothing 
 was of more immediate importance than the recovery of 
 my child at the earliest possible moment, and the punish 
 ment of the wretch who had stolen her from me and killed 
 my wife. I therefore recalled my declination, accepted the 
 position, and left that night at the head of a hundred men, 
 for the purpose of going to Bighorn Spring, not only to 
 save my child, but to punish the wicked man who was 
 seeking to destroy her. 
 
 "It was late when we got to the Spring, and we were 
 surprised to find no signs that the place was inhabited. 
 We cautiously approached, we opened the doors no one 
 was there. My first thought was, that Bosler had carried 
 her off, but information was then received, from scouts 
 and spies, that he had been to the house, and was then, in 
 company with Kittle, making his way back to The Canon. 
 I at once ordered a pursuit. I was relieved by the knowl- 
 enge that my daughter had escaped him, and the capture 
 of the man was a secondary consideration. Still, I deemed 
 it my duty to do my utmost to rid the country of such a 
 monster, and I therefore directed that the command should 
 
450 LAL. 
 
 separate into four bodies, each of which should take a dif 
 ferent route in their search. As you know, both men were 
 caught Kittle in the Little Canon/ and Bosler at the 
 butte. The trial was a fair one. I made no reference to 
 my own wrongs at the hands of this man and his comrade. 
 They were convicted of recent crimes, and the Territory is 
 well rid of them. Of course, it was contrary to law to 
 hang them, but every one must admit that there are times 
 when law may properly be disregarded. It was an awful 
 responsibility to assume, but I am sure the emergency was 
 such as to justify the acts of the committee. Salus populi 
 supremo, lex est. I think you will admit," turning to Tys- 
 covus as he spoke, "that everything was done decently 
 and in order, except," he added, "hanging them on your 
 premises. " 
 
 "Yes," he answered " no honest jury in the world 
 would have failed to convict them. Still, I think such a 
 jury could have been found here." 
 
 " JSTo, I inquired of the judge and of the sheriff before I 
 accepted the leadership of the committee, and both told 
 me that it would be impossible to get a jury entirely free 
 from friends of those men. A trial would have resulted in 
 a disagreement, and their discharge. I acted just as I 
 would act were I to find it necessary to commit arson to 
 save the lives of human beings. You or I would not hesi 
 tate in such a case. Firemen do it constantly. Why, then, 
 should not homicide be committed to save the lives of many 
 persons, endangered continually by lawless men acting in 
 accordance with their own unbridled passions and inflamed 
 by drink ? You do not hesitate to kill the burglar that 
 you catch in your house. You do not stop to think of the 
 law when you discover a man assaulting a friend. " 
 
 " Well," said Tyscovus, "perhaps something is to be al 
 lowed for the peculiar condition of affairs existing in coun 
 tries situated as is Colorado." 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 451 
 
 "Thanks for that admission. It is the first time you 
 have made it." 
 
 " And I have not yet congratulated you formally on the 
 recovery of your daughter. Allow me to do so now/ shak 
 ing Moultrie s hand as he spoke. "You are a brave man, 
 a typical American, a man of the whole world, and, like all 
 such men, free from local prejudices. I salute you," saying 
 which Tyscovus made Moultrie a profound bow. 
 
 "Now let us hear no more about the vigilance commit 
 tee audits deeds," said the doctor. "Moultrie went the 
 next day, and informed the authorities of his part in the 
 transaction. They declined to arrest him. In fact, as you 
 know, there is but one sentiment here. If deemed neces 
 sary, a declaratory and exculpatory resolution will be intro 
 duced into the next Legislature ; it will pass ; the Governor 
 will sign it, and then the acts will be formally legalized. 
 In the mean time, our friend and his associates will be sus 
 tained by their own consciences and the voice of the peo 
 ple." 
 
 " Still," said Moultrie, " with my present knowledge, 
 if I had the act to do over again, I would decline, and per 
 sist in my declination. Lai does not know that I had any 
 thing to do with the hanging of Bosler and Kittle, or in 
 fact that they are hanged. Doubtless she will learn both, 
 some day, but I wish her to be kept in ignorance as long as 
 possible. In spite of his crimes, and his cruel treatment of 
 her, he was, upon the whole, good to her after his fashion. 
 She is one of those grateful souls that never forget kind 
 nesses. No amount of ill-usage can, with such people, al 
 together obliterate the memory of affection that may have 
 been shown toward them. They will resist oppression, 
 they will fight in defense of their rights, but when they 
 have become calm the old recollections return. I shrink, 
 therefore, from letting her know of my part in the taking 
 off of the man, for, I am afraid she would, if only for a 
 
4:52 LAL. 
 
 moment, think less of me than she does now. Her ideal 
 would be desecrated ; and it is always dangerous to unmask 
 a woman s idol." 
 
 " Yes," said Tyscovus, with a smile, " dangerous for the 
 idol, and dangerous for the one who does the unmasking." 
 
 "But," resumed Moultrie, "you see I am, as you said, 
 already regretting my act. My punishment has begun." 
 
 "And indeed, I hope it will not require many mental 
 pangs to atone for your crime. But, that there should be 
 some punishment, is altogether in accordance with the 
 grand principles of eternal justice." 
 
 "Stop right there," exclaimed the doctor. "As the 
 host of you both, I claim the right to say what subjects 
 shall not be discussed in my house, and I forbid any further 
 allusion to the vigilance committee, or Jim Bosler s execu 
 tion. To-morrow is the election-day I have thought over 
 what you told me," addressing Tyscovus, "and I see you 
 are right. Consider me on my knees, and asking your for 
 giveness for my intemperate language to you this after 
 noon." 
 
 " You refuse to accept an election after your friends 
 have hanged your opponent ? " said Moultrie, with a smile 
 of pleasure on his face. " Of course, you are right ; as I 
 suppose you always would be on a question of morals or 
 ethics." 
 
 "Yes, I shall decline. If, after that, a new election is 
 ordered, and I am nominated, I shall accept. The opposi 
 tion will then have time to select a candidate, and a fair 
 vote can be had." 
 
 The three gentlemen continued the conversation into 
 the small hours of the night, and settled many matters 
 which the altered circumstances of the parties required 
 should be adjusted. 
 
 As they were dispersing to their respective bedrooms, 
 the doctor took Tyscovus aside. 
 
LAL S STORY IS TOLD. 453 
 
 "For several days/ he said, "I have been conscious of 
 a great change in the working of my mind. I see things 
 differently from what I did. I now know that my ideas 
 relative to women were exaggerated beyond all reason, and 
 those that I entertained in regard to my daughter were 
 very little if at all short of indicating insanity. In fact, I 
 was a monomaniac. You have cured me. The way in 
 which you rebuked me at the meeting the other night, so 
 gently and yet with such firmness, was so unexpected, that 
 a sudden awakening of my intellect on the points involved 
 occurred, and I experienced an entire revolution of opinion. 
 Everybody had been humoring me, under the idea that, if 
 opposed, I would get worse, and even Theodora had that 
 notion. Slight opposition certainly did have that effect, 
 but such as yours, I saw at once, was not to be resisted. It 
 was a shock to me, but it cured me. It seems to me, my 
 friend/ he continued grasping Tyscovus s hand in both of 
 his and shaking it warmly, "that for an ass you are a good 
 deal of a man." 
 
 " Well," said Tyscovus, laughing, "I don t think I am 
 an ass in the abstract. I am only John Buridan s ass/ 
 and he was quite an exceptional animal." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 " WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL ? GOOD-BY ! " 
 
 FOE several days, nothing of special interest occurred at 
 Chetolah. The election had taken place, and Tyscovus 
 had received almost all the votes cast, save a few scattering 
 ones in distant parts of the district, and had been declared 
 duly elected. He had at once, however, notwithstanding 
 the protestations and supplications of his political friends, 
 such as Colonel Brattle and Mr. Higgins, written to the 
 Governor, resigning the seat, and another election had been 
 ordered. 
 
 He had not yet gone back to the butte, for he had been 
 invited to stay at Chetolah till at least after the new elec 
 tion. He had been renominated, and, as there was no seri 
 ous opposition to him in any part of the district, no doubt 
 as to the result existed. 
 
 Lai had entirely recovered her health and strength, and 
 every day the influence of her new associations was ap 
 parent. Moultrie devoted his time about equally to her 
 and Theodora, between whom and Lai a warm affection 
 had sprung up. 
 
 The two girls were one morning together in the labora 
 tory, where Theodora was conducting an experiment rela 
 tive to the analogies between the nerve-force and electricity, 
 and Lai was having a world of wonders unfolded to her, by 
 examining through a microscope a large number of prep 
 arations of the feet, heads, wings, and other parts of in 
 sects. 
 
"WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL? GOOD-BY! " 455 
 
 She had just been expressing her sense of astonishment 
 at the foot of a horse-fly and the wing of a mosquito, when, 
 influenced by the thoughts that crowded through her 
 mind, she went over to where Theodora was at work, and 
 stood by her side, watching the delicate manipulations 
 that the difficult investigation required. 
 
 She was a very different-looking Lai from the one in 
 troduced to the reader in the second chapter of this history. 
 All the resources of Hellbender in the way of millinery and 
 dress-making had been drawn upon for her comfort and 
 adornment, and a more or less experienced maid had been 
 secured, whose duty it was to instruct her young mistress 
 in all the intricacies of the toilet and of dress, as one of the 
 fine arts. The result had been so astonishing that no one, 
 who had not known of the process of transition that was 
 going on, would have recognized, in the simply but ele 
 gantly dressed young lady the slovenly, shoeless, and stock- 
 ingless girl of a month ago. Tyscovus had often looked 
 at her in wonder, and could not but admit that the natural 
 woman, no matter how true and honest she may be, is 
 capable of being rendered more attractive by those devices 
 that civilization has taught her to employ. 
 
 This morning she was dressed in an olive-green cash 
 mere frock which fitted her graceful form to perfection. 
 Around her neck was a plain, white linen collar and the 
 gold Circassian necklace she had worn the day she was 
 stolen, and which she seemed to value more than any other 
 of her earthly possessions, with, perhaps, the exception of 
 the book that Tyscovus had given her. Her hair was very 
 simply dressed ; its beauty required no adventitious aid, 
 and her face and hands were clean. Lai had begun to 
 learn the gospel of cleanliness before she came to Chetolah. 
 She knew it by heart now. 
 
 Altogether, she was a very charming-looking girl, and 
 Theodora gazed at her with undisguised admiration. 
 
456 LAL. 
 
 "You look as fresh and as sweet as one of my ear 
 liest garden-roses one of my red roses," she said, smil 
 ing. 
 
 " I am glad you think so," replied Lai, as she laid her 
 hand on Theodora s shoulder ; "it s all so new to me, and 
 I ain t hardly got use to it yit. I suppose I will in time, 
 and I try hard, yes, very hard, not to feel proud. You ll 
 help me, won t you ? It s a hard thing as I ve got to do, 
 and sometimes I think as I moughtn t do jist as I ought, 
 and jist as you and my father would like me to do, and 
 him and that makes me af eared." 
 
 " Don t be afraid, dear," said Theodora, kissing her ; 
 "you are very sweet, and I am certain you will not be 
 spoiled by the good fortune that has come to you. " 
 
 "You ll be my mother soon ?" 
 
 "Yes, dear, so far as I can be." 
 
 "Very soon ?" 
 
 "In less than a month. Then we go East. Your fa 
 ther is anxious to have you live in New York, while you 
 are being educated, and I agree with him entirely. The 
 advantages there, outside of the instruction you will receive 
 from teachers, are such as you can not get anywhere else in 
 this country." 
 
 " I m glad I m to be with you and my father. I m 
 glad you re going to be my mother, though I guess as you 
 ain t much older nor me." 
 
 " Four or five years only." 
 
 "It ain t much; but you knows, I guess, more n I ll 
 know, if I live to be a hundred. Will you keep on study- 
 in after you re married ? " 
 
 "I expect to study as long as I live. Your father would 
 not like me to give up all my work." 
 
 " But you ll give up some ? " 
 
 " Yes, I shall give up a good deal, because I shall have 
 him to study, and that will take much of my time." 
 
"WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL? GOOD-BY! " 457 
 
 " Will you have a lab a laboratory then ? " pronounc 
 ing the word with difficulty. 
 
 "No, dear, the laboratory will, probably, have to go. I 
 shall not care for it." 
 
 "You ll read a good deal, in course ? " 
 
 "Yes, I shall always read much. That is one of the 
 things every woman should do." 
 
 " Will he go East with us ? " 
 
 "No, I think not." 
 
 "I m sorry for that. I d like him to be with us," said 
 Lai, her whole manner becoming more grave, "because, 
 you see, he war the one as give me a start. Ef it hadn t 
 a bin for him, I d V bin a thief." 
 
 " He was very kind to you, dear." 
 
 "He s a good man." 
 
 " Yes, he is one of the best men I ever knew." 
 
 Lai threw her arms around Theodora s neck, and the 
 two stood, without either speaking a word, closely clasped 
 in each other s embrace. How much longer they would 
 have remained thus had it not been for an interruption 
 that occurred, is a point that will never be determined, 
 even if it were of the least consequence. Embraces of the 
 kind are awkward things to break up in cold blood. It is 
 always better when some one else disrupts them. This one 
 was broken by Moultrie. 
 
 " Lai, dear," he said, as he entered, giving as he spoke a 
 grateful look to Theodora, " I have just left Mr. Tyscovus, 
 and I told him you would see him in the library where he is 
 awaiting you. He will have something very important to 
 say to you, my child," he continued, putting his arm around 
 her waist, " in which he has my entire approval. I hope 
 you will be able to answer him according to his wishes, for 
 he is a good man in the noblest and truest sense of the 
 words. " 
 
 " He s the first real friend as ever I had," she answered. 
 20 
 
458 
 
 " He mought a sent me to jail, I guess. Yes, he s bin good 
 to me, and thar ain t nothin as I wouldn t do for him." 
 
 " Don t promise till you know what he wants you to 
 do," said Moultrie, smiling. "Now go and give him his 
 answer." 
 
 She raised his hand to her lips and left the room. 
 
 When Lai entered the library, she did so in such a quiet 
 manner that Tyscovus, who was sitting in front of the fire, 
 with his back partly turned to the door, did not hear her 
 approach. She saw that she was not observed, so with her 
 lightest step on the thick Indian rug, and with that smile 
 on her face that won all hearts to her, she advanced till she 
 stood close behind him, without being perceived. 
 
 It was the first time they had been alone together since 
 her arrival at Chetolah. She remembered that, once before, 
 she had stood near him without his having been aware of 
 her presence and that then he was as deep in thought as 
 he appeared to be now. The whole scene came before her. 
 She took the little vellum-bound book from the pocket of 
 her frock, and then, holding it in her hand, stepped qui 
 etly around till she stood before him. He saw her then 
 instantly, and sprang to his feet. 
 
 " Miss Moultrie ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 For a moment she looked surprised. Then tears started 
 to her eyes. " No," she exclaimed ; " ef I m Miss Moultrie 
 to you, I guess you d better take back the book." She held 
 it toward him as she spoke, but with a manifest effort con 
 trolled herself. 
 
 "Lai, then," he said, taking the hand that held the 
 book and keeping it in his "my Lai ! " 
 
 " Yes," she murmured, softly, while her own sweet smile 
 lit up her face, " I m your Lai. I ll be your sister ef you ll 
 let me, and you ll teach me some of them great things as 
 you knows and writes about." 
 
 " Lai, my darling," he rejoined, taking her head be- 
 
"WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL? GOOD-BY ! " 459 
 
 tween his hands and looking lovingly into her eyes, "I 
 don t want you for my sister. I want you to be my wife ; 
 and it was to tell you this that I asked your father to send 
 you here. Will you be my wife, Lai ? " 
 
 "No ! no !" she sobbed, "I can t not as I wouldn t 
 like to, but I m not fit to be your wife." 
 
 "Why, dear?" 
 
 "Because, I don t know nothin as I ought to know. 
 Onst I d a said yes, but now I knows what a ignorant and 
 rough gal I am. No, no, I m not fit to be your wife." 
 
 But you loye me, Lai, don t you ? " 
 
 Oh, yes, more n I love any one else in the whole world 
 more n I love my dear father. Ef I didn t love you so 
 much, I d be your wife quick enough, I tell you ! " 
 
 " Then you won t marry me, because you love me too 
 much ?" 
 
 "I guess that s about it," she said, with a sob between 
 every two words. "I ain t worth much, I guess," she con 
 tinued, while Tyscovus bent his head and kissed her lips. 
 " My talk ain t like your n " another kiss "and ef I war 
 your wife you -mought be ashamed o me after a while " 
 several kisses. " Ef I didn t keer for you quite so much, 
 I d marry you right away, ef you wanted me to." 
 
 " Then, dear, I shall have to ask you to care for me a 
 little less," said Tyscovus, smiling, " for I want you to marry 
 me right away. But come, sit here on the sofa, close by 
 my side while I say something to you. First, however, 
 you must answer me a few questions. Do you really love 
 me, Lai?" 
 
 "Yes. Oh ! thar ain t no doubt o that." 
 
 "Say Yes, John. " 
 
 "Yes, John. That s your first name, ain t it ?" 
 
 "Say Yes, dear John. " 
 
 " Yes, dear John. Oh, you re very dear to me, and you ll 
 be jist as dear ef I live to be a thousand years old." 
 
460 LAL. 
 
 " Thanks, dear Lai ; now we understand each other, and 
 now I can say what is on my mind. 
 
 " I think I loved you a little soon after I first saw you. 
 I heard you pleading with the man you thought was your 
 father to stop drinking whisky, and to go away to some 
 place where you could begin the world anew and improve 
 your mind. I knew then, dear Lai, that you had a heart, 
 and that you had good sense. There was an earnestness, a 
 sincerity about you, that drew me to you in spite of myself, 
 for I had come here to do a special work in which my heart 
 was engaged, and which required, as I thought, my undivided 
 energies and attention, and I resisted, as best I could, the 
 first promptings of a love that I know now can never die. 
 
 "But I did not begin to know you till you brought 
 back to me the little book that you found on the butte. 
 Then I perceived that you had that power of self-examina 
 tion without which no one can be either good or great, un 
 less it is the negative goodness of the idiot or the unavoid 
 able greatness of the sovereign. And not only this, but 
 that you had the honesty of purpose and the strength of 
 will to do what you thought was right." 
 
 Lai nestled closer to him, but her heart was too full for 
 speech. After a moment s pause, he continued : 
 
 "The more I saw of you, and the better I knew yon, 
 the more I was convinced that my first impressions of you 
 were correct. And my love for you deepened with every 
 instant of my life. It made no difference to me, after I 
 knew my own heart, whether you were really the daughter 
 of a man who had shocked all good citizens with his crimes, 
 or of one that the whole country respects and honors. I 
 had discovered what you were, and that was enough for 
 me. And yet I am not so blind as not to see the advan 
 tages to you of the great change in your condition that 
 has taken place. I only mean to say that, high or low, 
 rich or poor, learned or unlearned, my love for you would 
 
"WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL?-GOOD-BY! " 461 
 
 have been the same. I do not love you because you are 
 beautiful ; neither do I hold back my affection because 
 your speech is the dialect of the people among whom your 
 life has been spent. But I do love you because you are 
 true, because you wish to do right, and because when you 
 look at me as you do now, dearest, your whole soul speaks 
 through your eyes, and I know that it will be tender and 
 loving and faithful through all the good, or all the ill, that 
 life is able to afford. And that is why I want you to be my 
 wife. You will make me happy, and I will try to make 
 you happy." 
 
 " And you think I m all that, and that I kin be some 
 sort of a companion to you ? I knows I ain t the kind of 
 a one as I d like to be, but I don t think I kin stand out 
 ag in you any more ; and ef you re quite sure oh ! so sure," 
 she continued, rising from the sofa and standing in front 
 of him, looking just as she did when she rose to her feet 
 after her prayer that angels might guard him "so sure 
 that you feel it in your heart jist as I feel my love for you, 
 why, then I ll be your wife, your loving wife, always to keer 
 for you and happy ef you ll let me be whar you air. Yes, 
 I ll be your wife ; God help me to be a good one ! " 
 
 Long before she had finished she was clasped to his 
 heart. Let us forbear to pry any further into their words 
 and actions, for they concern them alone. 
 
 Events moved quickly in Colorado in those days. Tys- 
 covus was anxious to be married at once, but Moultrie 
 would not listen to such a thing. He insisted that Lai 
 should spend at least two years in the East, so that she 
 could become acquainted with her relations, and see some 
 thing of the world, to say nothing of receiving such educa 
 tion as would fit her to be a gentleman s wife. Tyscovus 
 had replied that he could instruct her himself, that it 
 would be the joy of his life to act as her mentor, but Moul 
 trie had firmly adhered to his original idea. 
 
462 LAL. 
 
 "My dear Tyscovus," he said, after they had had at 
 least half a dozen other discussions on the same subject, " I 
 am obliged to live in New York, and I think it highly ne 
 cessary that Lai should have the advantages of association 
 with her mother, and other refined and educated women. 
 Theodora loves her devotedly, not only because she is my 
 child, but because she finds in Lai what you found quali 
 ties of mind that are sufficient to endear her to all who 
 know her. Eemember that she has never had the society 
 of women ; not even of such as belonged to the same grade 
 of people as those among whom she has lived. There are a 
 thousand things she must learn that you can never teach 
 her, simply because you are a man, and these are things 
 that only women can teach. Besides and this I think is 
 an important point she is only seventeen years old ; at 
 least two years too young to enter upon the marriage rela 
 tion. Therefore, my friend, in her interest, as well as in 
 yours, I can nob yield. There will be enough for you to 
 teach when you are married." 
 
 " I suppose I shall have to submit ; but you will allow 
 me to come and see her ? " 
 
 "Yes, twice a year, for two weeks at a time. Surely," 
 he added, laughing, "when you consider that she will have 
 her brain taxed to its utmost, with studies of all kinds, you 
 must admit that I am liberal. I don t believe there will be 
 much studying while you are in New York." 
 
 " And we may write to each other ?" 
 
 "Oh, yes ! " laughing heartily at the sorrowful tone of 
 Tyscovus s voice, and at his rueful countenance. " I m 
 not such a tyrant as to forbid your writing to her, or her 
 to answer your letters. Once a week, though, will be suffi 
 cient." 
 
 " I suppose you are right, but it s very hard on me, and 
 on her too, I think." 
 
 "Yes, the separation will be hard for both of you to 
 
"WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL? GOOD-BY! 463 
 
 bear, but she knows it is for her good, and, what is more 
 with her, for yours also. Besides," he added, with a tone 
 of elation in his voice, "she recognizes the fact that she is 
 my child, and that my guardianship of her has not ceased. " 
 
 "God forbid," said Tyscovus, with feeling, "that I 
 should ever do or say anything to her to weaken that sense ! 
 My entreaties have been addressed to you only." 
 
 "I know it, my friend. You are loyality personified." 
 
 A few days afterward, Moultrie and Theodora were 
 quietly married, and the whole Chetolah family were on 
 their way to the railway-station at Bullion City. Tyscovus 
 was at the butte, and it was arranged that the carriages 
 should take the road that passed by his cabin, and that the 
 last farewells should be spoken where he and Lai had first 
 met. The election had, as was expected, resulted in his 
 return by an almost unanimous vote, and in a couple of 
 weeks he was to take his seat as a member of the Legisla 
 tive Council of the Territory. He had endeavored to ac 
 cept, in good faith, the arrangement made relative to his 
 own marriage, and had at last brought himself to the con 
 viction that Moultrie s plan was altogether wise and right. 
 He had written to his agent in Warsaw to accept offers he 
 had received for the valuable salt, iron, and zinc mines 
 that he owned in Austrian Poland, near Cracow and Krz- 
 ezowice, and from which he derived a revenue of nearly a 
 hundred thousand dollars a year. He had received the 
 plans for the house that he intended to build on the butte, 
 and they had been adopted, after Moultrie, Theodora, the 
 doctor, and Lai had each examined and approved them with 
 very slight modifications. Work was to be begun on it the 
 following day, and already a camp of workmen had been 
 formed on the plain at the foot of the butte. 
 
 Lai had received the bequest of Manuel Yaca, and had, 
 with her father s consent, established a trust, of which he, 
 the doctor, Tyscovus, and Mr. Higgins, were the trustees, 
 
the nature of which was, that the income was forever to be 
 used for the education of poor girls living at The Canon. 
 This act had been a very popular one, and had endeared 
 Lai at once to the people of the Territory. 
 
 Tyscovus looked at his watch, and found that in a few 
 minutes he ought to be seeing the train of vehicles round 
 ing the point at the distance of several miles from the 
 butte, on the Hellbender road. At last they came in sight 
 three carriages for the travelers, and two light wag 
 ons for the baggage. It would be at least a half an hour 
 before they arrived at the butte, and then he should watch 
 them once more as they went on their way, carrying with 
 them all that he held dear on earth. How strange it all 
 was, that he should have come to that place in search of 
 solitude, and for the purpose of accomplishing a work of 
 which he had thought for years, and that in a few weeks 
 all the objects and plans of his life should have been super 
 seded by others still dearer to him ! " Upon what," he 
 asked himself, "can a man depend in this world, if his 
 deepest-laid schemes are subject to overthrow such as has 
 befallen mine ? What security have I that the events that 
 now await fulfillment will ever reach maturity ? Two 
 years ! two long and weary years, during which she will 
 see other men, for whom she may forget me. Her life is 
 all before her. Mine has almost reached its acme. Is it 
 possible that, among all those who will surround this rich 
 and beautiful girl, there will not be some one that she will 
 love some one younger, handsomer than the one whom 
 she now thinks is perfection, possibly because she has had 
 no experience with the rest of mankind ? 
 
 " How will she bear her prosperity ? Will her heart 
 become corrupted by the pomps and vanities of the world 
 of fashion into the very vortex of which she may be drawn ? 
 And then, if she does come back, will she be worth taking 
 the place of the true-hearted Lai, who is now leaving me, 
 
"WILL YOU BE MY WIFE, LAL? GOOD BY! " 465 
 
 her whole soul filled with the love I have inspired ? " Ah, 
 well ! those were questions, born of a lover s fears, which 
 no living man or woman could answer. This was one of 
 those instances where Faith comes in, and where Knowledge 
 does not show her face. 
 
 " Yes ! " he exclaimed, " my faith is supreme. Here I 
 stand ! God help her and me ! " 
 
 He kept his eyes fixed upon the carriages that rapidly 
 approached the butte, and that in a few minutes would 
 bring their inmates to the plateau. He went out to meet 
 them. Yes, they were already ascending the winding 
 road, and he could, even now, exchange greetings with his 
 friends, as in following the spiral direction the carriages 
 came nearer and nearer to the top. At last the summit 
 Avas reached, and the travelers descended and entered the 
 house, where a simple luncheon had been prepared for their 
 refreshment. 
 
 "I have no wine," said Tyscovus, "but I shall make 
 tea after our Polish fashion, and in that we will drink to 
 a safe and prosperous journey, and a happy reunion." The 
 samovar was hissing on the table, and in a few minutes the 
 toast was drunk with as much gayety as each could assume ; 
 though it was evidently forced on the part of at least two 
 of the party. 
 
 Then the farewells began to be spoken, and one after 
 the other had taken their last adieus, till only Lai remained. 
 She looked around the room. They were alone. In an 
 instant she was folded in his arms. 
 
 "Oh! it s harder to go nor I thought," she sobbed. 
 You re all the world to me, I guess. I don t see as I kin 
 go. No ! no ! I jist can t go." 
 
 " Be calm, darling. You know I shall be hero on the 
 butte where we first met, and that every moment of my 
 life will have its thoughts of you." 
 
 " It war right here whar I stood when I first loved you 
 
460 
 
 here wbar I knowed as thar war better things in the 
 world nor what I knowed of afore, and it war you as larnt 
 em to me." 
 
 " Yes, dear Lai, it was here that you said t Good-by/ 
 and darted from the room before I could speak to you." 
 
 "And now I m goin agi n, and for two long, long 
 years ; but now I knows as you love me," she continued, 
 with more steadiness in her voice, "and that s a great 
 thing for me. Here s my book," taking, as she spoke, the 
 little vellum-bound volume from the bosom of her frock. 
 " Every night, afore I go to bed, I read in it, and then I 
 always think o you, and o that day. Oh, yes ! always o 
 you." 
 
 "God bless you, my darling, my prairie rose, and send 
 you back to me to be my own sweet wife, with your heart 
 as good and true as it is now ! " 
 
 "Don t you never think nothin bad o me," she ex 
 claimed, passionately. ( Thar ain t ary a thing in all the 
 world as could make me forgit you. Kiss me " turning 
 up her face, upon which smiles and tears appeared to be 
 struggling for the mastery. " Onst ag in. Good-by ! " and 
 then tearing herself from arms that seemed as though they 
 could never let her go, she rushed from the room. 
 
 He did not follow her. He stood for a moment with 
 bowed head and with his hands covering his face. Then 
 he went to the window and watched the carriage that bore 
 her away from him, while it grew fainter and fainter in the 
 distance, and finally faded out from his gaze on the long, 
 yellow road that lay like a huge snake on the prairie. 
 
WORKS OF FICTION. 
 
 THE GIANT S ROBE. By F. ANSTEY, author of "Vice Versa." From 
 
 the author - With numerous lllue - 
 
 For ingenuity of construction, sustained interest, and finished workman- 
 
 flction for many a lon * da ^ e * ual to The 
 
 i" . The p. ant 8 Robe . ( tn . e title being from a line in Macbeth ) is really ex 
 tent, and to us original in its motive and chief incident. 1 - Chicago Daily 
 
 " Mr. Anstey s new book is hardly less clever in plot than Vice Versa It 
 has not, to be sure, the simple expedient which proved the true stroke of genius 
 and at one blow made the plot and the book. As plot, that of l The Giant s 
 S^reJ^lfiS 8 ori inal ; but it ia ver y excellent, and well sustained/ - 
 
 ARIUS THE LIBYAN : An Idyl of the Primitive Church. A romance 
 cloth 6 $UO Part third aUd be - inuillg of tne fourtn centuries. 12mo, 
 
 " Portraying the life and character of the primitive Christians with great force 
 and vividness of imagination." Harper s Magazine. 
 
 " It is a story of the development of religious thought ; the conflict between 
 early Christianity and idolatry, the sharp struggles of doubt in minds that nmiin 
 fcejihe beauty but dreaded the leveling influence of the new creed The pasS 
 riiffihSSn 8 f h M C l la / r , m th feith in %yptian idols to that in the Christ is most 
 delightfully told, but the reader must not be defrauded of the enjoyment to be 
 found in following the story with no drawback of previous knowledge There 
 PO P^iWLW]* of the Em P eror Constantino, and the crowd of lesser 
 actors are all faithfully drawn. ^From the martyrdom of Theckla, just as life 
 opened most brightly, to the quiet passing of Arius Ions? vears affprwarrl thr> 
 picture is a noble one Nothing sweeter and purer in tone has been given for 
 long, and the most indifferent reader must feel the intense inward force which 
 is governed the anthnr and made in Arius a book of deep and - 
 
 " A work of great beauty and power, and with fascinating style and intimate 
 0K^ ge ry f the early centarieB of the Christian era."-?vSt ,Yorl 
 
 " The noble plan the grave importance of the questions that agitate its char 
 acters its religious interest to believer and skeptic, its historical learniii. and 
 thought its dramatic construction and force, its Beautiful style, combine to make 
 ton Tk>be a P Werftl1 and valuable Production, without a rival in S fleld."-3wJ 
 
 HOMESPUN STOKIES. By ASCOT R. HOFE, author of " Stories of Youn^ 
 
 Adventurers, 1 etc. With Illustrations. 16mo, cloth. $1.25. 
 These stories are homespun in the sense that the tellers thereof have taken 
 them from their own reminiscences of early life, without going further afield iu 
 search ot marvels and strange adventures. 
 
 BELINDA. By RHODA BBOUGHTON. 12mo, cloth. $1.00. 
 
 " ^ u11 of in terest, and there is an under-tone of pathos through its liveli 
 
 "Every character in the story of Belinda appeals to the reader as a living, 
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 girl in the red dress with a banjo possess individuality ; the very dogs are por 
 traits. The recital goes on with great force and distinctness, and with little or 
 no explanatory writing." Chicago Tribune. 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
WORKS OF FICTION. 
 
 HEART OF STEEL. A Novel. By CHRISTIAN REID. 16mo, cloth. $1.25. 
 
 " The best writer of fiction among American women." Louisville Courier- 
 Journal. 
 
 "Christian Reid always writes pleasantly; her style is fresh and easy." 
 Philadelphia Times. 
 
 VICE VERSA } or, A Lesson to Fathers. By F. ANSTEY. 16mo, cloth. 
 
 $1.00. 
 
 "If there ever was a book made up from beginning to end of laughter, yet 
 not a comic book, or a merry book, or a book of jokes, or a book of pictures, 
 or a jest-book, or a tomfool-book, but a perfectly sober and serious book in the 
 reading of which a sober man may laugh without shame from beginning to end, 
 it is the new book called Vice Vertsa; or, a Lesson to Fathers. 1 . . . We close 
 the book, recommending it very earnestly to all fathers, in the first instance, and 
 their sous, nephews, uncles, and male cousins next." Saturday lieview. 
 
 NORODOM, King of Cambodia. A Romance of the East. By FRANK Mc- 
 
 QLOIN. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 Readers who have a taate for romantic fiction with its strange adventures, 
 its heroic incidents, its vivid contrasts, and the brilliant fortunes that reward 
 its heroes, will find " Norodom " to their liking. It gives a striking picture of 
 life in Asia, and is full of strange matter. 
 
 RODMAN THE KEEPER: Southern Sketches. By CONFTANCE FENI- 
 MORE WOOLSON, author of "Anne," etc. Cheap popular edition. 16mo. 
 Paper, 50 cents. 
 
 " The reader of these sketches can not fail to discover for himself their in 
 tensely poetic quality. The characters sketched are strongly dramatic concep 
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 The pathos of the stories is wonderful. Miss Woolson s art is superb, aud she 
 is lovingly faithful to it." New York Evening Poftt. 
 
 THE ODDEST OF COURTSHIPS ; or, The Bloody Chasm. A Novel. 
 By J. W. DE FOREST, author of " The Wetherel Affair," " Overland," etc. 
 Cheap popular edition. IGmo. Paper, 50 cents. 
 " A remarkably well-written and extremely pleasing novel." Philadelphia 
 
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