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THE 
 
 BURSTING OF A BOOM 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERICK R. SANFORD. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 1889. 
 
Copyright, 1889, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 
 
Bancroft Library 
 6*t( 
 
 MAY 3 1 1918 
 
 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IT all came about by accident, while Warren has 
 always insisted that the fault, if fault there were, was 
 to be charged upon the weather. It was a most deplo 
 rable morning on which to make a journey, raining as 
 it can rain only in Southern California on those rare 
 occasions when, in the land of sunshine and flowers, 
 a storm does occur; then, in very truth, the rains 
 descend and the floods come. On an average of three 
 hundred and fifty days in the year Los Angeles is a 
 beautiful city : on the fifteen remaining days, when 
 it may be safely counted upon to rain, few will be 
 attracted by its charms ; while certainly its least 
 attractive part is the vicinity of the Southern Pacific 
 depot. 
 
 As Warren sprang out of the carriage upon the 
 depot platform and looked around upon the street, no 
 longer a street, but now resolved into an indescribable 
 chemical compound of earth held in solution by water, 
 he said to himself, " In California, most assuredly, it 
 never rains but it pours : it is a certainty that the 
 originator of that wise proverb was a native of the 
 Golden State." 
 
4 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Hurrying through the dripping mass of humanity 
 with which the platform was thronged ; dodging here 
 an umbrella, there deploying to make his way safely 
 around a lady who, with true feminine unconsciousness 
 of all the possible damage which she might inflict upon 
 the temper and the raiment of her fellow-mortals, was 
 vigorously shaking the water from her rubber cloak 
 preparatory to folding it, wearing all the time that 
 sweet air of unconscious innocence of wrong intention 
 which so completely disarms the irate males in her 
 vicinity, reducing" them to silent helplessness; dex 
 terously avoiding this extemporized shower, Warren 
 made his way to the baggage-room. Time was press 
 ing, moments were precious, for he had been late in 
 leaving his hotel ; but for once fortune favored him : 
 no one else was in the room, and right by the door was 
 his trunk with his initials M. H. W., N. Y. sten 
 cilled upon each end. 
 
 " Here, captain, check this to Ventura !" he called 
 out to the baggage-master. 
 
 " Ventura it is," that functionary responded, detach 
 ing from its strap as he spoke the brass tag with its 
 paper card, denoting the destination of the baggage, 
 which California roads employ. As Warren passed 
 out of the door he brushed past a young lady swathed 
 so completely in india-rubber that no part of her face 
 was visible ; and as he slowly made his way down the 
 platform, looking back at her, and wondering, after 
 the manner of young men, whether she was pretty or 
 plain, light or dark, he narrowly escaped being run 
 down by the heavily-loaded truck bearing his trunk 
 among many others to the train. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 5 
 
 Entering the smoker, Warren threw off his water 
 proof, folded it, placed it in the rack, removed his 
 overcoat, drew on a skull-cap, and with a cigar and a 
 novel proceeded to while away the seventy-odd miles 
 of distance and four hours of time lying between Los 
 Angeles and San Buenaventura. 
 
 I think it is Charles Lamb who says, "He who 
 doth not smoke hath suffered no great disappointment, 
 known no great sorrow, and hath lost the great con 
 solation in life." What man, young or old, does not 
 endorse this sentiment and bless the memory pf those 
 noble red men who first among mankind discovered 
 the manifold delights of tobacco ? Surely its uses and 
 its blessings must have been revealed to them in a 
 moment of inspiration; because it was to them, the 
 aborigines of a land whose vast territory could be 
 annihilated, and its inhabitants brought into close 
 sympathy with each other only by railroads, and were 
 destined to be railroad travellers as an inevitable conse 
 quence : to the aborigines of such a land was revealed 
 first among living men the delights of a weed which 
 can turn even the long and otherwise weary transcon 
 tinental journey into a constant revelation of progres 
 sive bliss. 
 
 Without tobacco what man could endure the three 
 thousand miles of physical discomfort involved in the 
 transit over the continent ? Without the solace of his 
 cigar what man would possess sufficient hardihood to 
 undertake those six weary days and miserable nights, 
 or the agonies only known to him who, by bitter ex 
 perience, has learned how leisurely the speed and how 
 wretched the coaches of the A. T. and S. F. E. K. Co. ? 
 
 1* 
 
Q THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Not even all the delights awaiting them in California 
 would entice the male portion of humanity across the 
 continent in the face of these actual hardships did they 
 not have this consoling weed to soften their sorrow and 
 while away their weary hours. Yet it can be done ! 
 It is done every day by the women ! I do not know 
 the secret of this phenomenon, unless it be owing to 
 their superior patience and bravery ; or unless it be 
 that caramels are to them what tobacco is to their hus 
 bands and brothers, a source of consolation and the 
 well-spring of physical endurance and of mental and 
 moral strength. 
 
 The ride from Los Angeles to San Buenaventura is 
 beautiful, while the whole country traversed is also 
 full of interest. Long reaches of fertile fields and 
 rich valleys sweeping down from the mountains to the 
 ocean call forth one's constant admiration. The train 
 rushes through the San Fernando tunnel, then on past 
 the Camulos ranch, overflowing with interest to all 
 California tourists ; for are not all California tourists 
 Ramonolaters ? And here Mrs. Jackson painted the 
 scenery and gathered the legends and myths whose 
 picturesque blending makes up the tale which calls 
 forth so much enthusiastic devotion towards this now 
 world-famous ranch. 
 
 But Warren was not a Ramonolater; therefore he 
 did not gaze spellbound upon either the whitened 
 adobe ranch-house embowered amid orange-trees, or 
 the great wooden crosses which crown the hill over 
 shadowing the track, "to tell all passers-by that good 
 Catholics live here ;" and the sole interest possessed by 
 the Camulos in his eyes lay in the fact that it was in 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 7 
 
 Ventura County, a fact which assured him that his 
 journey was gradually coming to its end. 
 
 On sped the train into the beautiful Santa Clara Val 
 ley of the South, the garden-spot of Southern Cali 
 fornia. Now the short winter's day was drawing to its 
 close ; nothing could be seen as the cars whirled along 
 save, now and then, a light, as the train shot by some 
 lonely ranch-house ; so, even had he desired other di 
 version, none remained for Warren save his book and 
 his cigar. At last the lights grew thicker : the train 
 was entering some large town ; above the roar of the 
 cars and the pelting of the rain-drops the moan of the 
 ocean could be heard as the surf rolled in to break 
 upon the beach. Slowly the train drew up before 
 a brilliantly-lighted station, and Warren's California 
 pilgrimage was at an end. 
 
 The brakeman thrust his head through the partially- 
 open door, calling out, " San Buenaventura !" and at 
 the discordant but welcome sound Warren slowly rose, 
 gathered together his luggage, rearrayed himself in 
 slouch hat and waterproof, and making his way 
 through the throng of rival hotel-runners, each shout 
 ing the name of his hospitable hostelry at the top of 
 lungs whose lusty strength proclaimed the wonders 
 wrought by this genial climate, and interrupting a 
 hackman in the middle of his chant, "Two bits to 
 any part of the city/ 7 he asked, "Do you know Mrs. 
 Elkins, of Poli Street?" 
 
 " You bet, captain," was the answer. 
 
 " Take me there," Warren demanded. 
 
 " All right, colonel ! Checks ?" 
 
 A ride at night through the streets of an unfamiliar 
 
8 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 town always seems almost interminable; therefore a 
 journey which seemed to Warren miles in length, 
 but which was in reality but little more than half a 
 mile, brought him to the house which was to be his 
 home for many months to come. 
 
 It was a large white house lying well back from the 
 street, with a well-kept lawn in front and around it ; 
 this lawn was filled with roses, now in full bloom : 
 here and there were orange- and lemon-trees, their 
 yellow fruit standing out in sharp contrast against the 
 background of green leaves, and' their blossoms filling 
 the air with a delicious fragrance, while two giant fan- 
 palms stood like exaggerated posts, one on either side 
 of the entrance. All this Warren learned, of course, 
 later on ; no one, however profound his interest, would 
 stop to pursue close and critical investigations into his 
 surroundings in a dark night and under the drenching 
 down-pour of a California winter rain. 
 
 His sensations had already informed him that the 
 house stood on a street which ran up the side of a steep 
 hill ; while he could not fail to observe that it was a 
 two-story edifice, and in this fact was an exception to 
 the prevailing style of architecture in Southern Cali 
 fornia. 
 
 Warren, though in the unamiable frame of mind 
 which is discernible even in the sweetest of dispositions 
 at the end of a long journey made under uncomfortable 
 circumstances, could not fail to be pleased with his 
 quarters. The room was large, with a deep bay-win 
 dow at the side opposite the bed, while two other win 
 dows, one on either side of the dressing-table, gave 
 promise of abundance of light and air. The gas, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 9 
 
 although it was turned low, still gave sufficient light 
 to enable him to see at a glance that the furniture was 
 of the kind most suitable to the country. The floor 
 was covered with matting ; the chairs and the lounge 
 were of wicker seated with cane, making them perfectly 
 adapted to a country where, month after month, the 
 sun rises to set again in a cloudless sky, while even the 
 lightest of summer showers never moistens the ground, 
 and therefore the most careful and painstaking house 
 keeping cannot altogether vanquish that foe most hated 
 in a housewife's soul, dust. 
 
 Having made his supper at Santa Paula the calls of 
 hunger did not compel Warren to defy the rain, there 
 fore, having paid and dismissed the driver, he at once 
 began unpacking and setting in order his household 
 gods. Unlocking his trunk, he threw back the lid,, 
 then instantly started back with an exclamation ex 
 pressive of dismay, and almost of horror. 
 
 There, spread before him, was a sight, beautiful, even 
 ravishing had it only been displayed in its proper place, 
 but which became an object of intensest aversion to him 
 as a moral young bachelor when found in his trunk 
 and his chamber, for there lay lovely dresses, neatly 
 folded and carefully packed, as their fair owner had 
 arranged them for her journey, dresses which gave 
 promise of most bewitching toilets, when worn by 
 their rightful owner, delicate lingerie, dainty bon 
 nets : in short, all the paraphernalia of a costly femi 
 nine wardrobe, this was the sight revealed to War 
 ren's horrified gaze when he threw back the lid of 
 what he had until now believed to be his trunk, 
 filling his soul with consternation while language con- 
 
10 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 tained no words capable of expressing his dismay. 
 Manifestly there must be a mistake ! Yet on the sur 
 face everything appeared to be all right. His trunk 
 had been new when he left New York ; he had pur 
 chased it expressly for this journey. The travel stains 
 and scars, won in many an honorable conflict with the 
 baggage-men, showed that this was all true of the cabi 
 net of horrors before him. There were initials on each 
 end corresponding exactly to those which he had had 
 stencilled on his, M..H. W., K Y. 
 
 (Oh ! why had not kind fate prompted either him 
 self or this young woman to order the name to be 
 painted in full once at least ?) 
 
 On the surface everything appeared to be all right : 
 in reality all was terribly wrong. 
 
 He saw it all now. When he went up-town on 
 reaching Los Angeles to spend the night and talk real 
 estate he ought not to have claimed his baggage and 
 left it in the care of the baggage-master unchecked. 
 He had done this same thing hundreds of times before, 
 but now it had happened once too often. Some young 
 woman had manifestly done likewise; some young 
 woman having the same initials as himself and also 
 owning as exact a duplicate of his trunk. So it came 
 about that they had made an exchange, and each was 
 the loser by it. These things were worse than useless 
 to him : he could not wear them ; he could not give 
 them away. He had no wife, no sister, not even a 
 sister-in-law upon whom he could bestow this un 
 lucky windfall; while, were he to attempt to offer 
 it, costly as the wardrobe was, to any young lady of 
 his acquaintance he dared not picture to frimself 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 1] 
 
 the indignant scorn with which such an offer would be 
 rejected. 
 
 Then, his heart was moved with compassion as he 
 pictured to himself the anguish with which his un 
 happy fellow-victim would look upon her new posses 
 sions. If he was overwhelmed, what must her suffer 
 ings be ? What sobs and exclamations indicative of 
 the intensest misery must burst from her fair lips ! 
 (For, of course she must be young and pretty.) 
 
 If these dainty and lovely things were worse than 
 useless to him, what could she do with the trousers and 
 coats and vests fated to meet her shocked and terrified 
 eyes when she opened the trunk which he had packed ; 
 and that meerschaum-pipe, that bottle of muscatel, that 
 other bottle of brandy carefully stored away in case 
 of need ? He closed the lid and turned away with a 
 groan of keenest suffering; the picture was too har 
 rowing. 
 
 What was to be done ? 
 
 California is a large State through which to search 
 for one young woman of whom nothing is known 
 beyond the single fact that on a given day in January, 
 1888, she was at the Southern Pacific station in Los 
 Angeles, and there made an exchange of trunks with 
 a young man ; and that her initials, like his, are M. 
 H. W. 
 
 She might even then be in Ventura ; she might be 
 in Santa Barbara; she might have gone on to San 
 Francisco ; she might be anywhere for all he knew. 
 Possibly she had taken the train to go back to New 
 York, though, considering the season of the year, this 
 was not at all probable. 
 
12 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 What was to be done ? He could not advertise. It 
 was not a matter that would bear too much ventila 
 tion. His soul writhed in anguish at the thought of 
 the snickering inquiries that would be made of him by 
 all his friends if this story should ever get back to 
 New York. 
 
 Then, what could be done? Manifestly nothing, 
 for the night at least, except to go to bed and make 
 the best of the matter. So to bed he went, to dream 
 about the problem. and wait to see what solution the 
 next day would offer. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 IT was late when Warren woke on the following 
 morning, his troubles not having weighed upon his 
 mind sufficiently to rob him of a sound and refreshing 
 sleep during the night. After dressing he went to the 
 bay-window, raised the shade, and looked out. An 
 exclamation of delight escaped him. " What a mag 
 nificent panorama !" he exclaimed. And truly the view 
 well deserved the name he gave it, for this is what he 
 saw. 
 
 The rain had ceased during the night, and the sun, 
 now two hours high, was shining in a sky perfectly 
 cloudless, and blue with that depth found nowhere 
 except in Italy, the Riviera, and Southern California. 
 
 The street upon which the house where he had taken 
 lodgings stood wound around the foot-hills nearly 
 half-way to their summit, and the whole city of Ven 
 tura lay spread out before him. The broad, straight 
 streets ran from the foot-hills down to the beach and 
 were lined on either side with trees, their rich green 
 foliage gently waving in the soft, refreshing breeze. 
 
 The houses, each with its lawn and garden filled 
 with roses, heliotrope, and geraniums, all in full bloom, 
 were shaded with orange-, fig-, and palm-trees ; while 
 many of them were almost buried under dense masses 
 of flowering vines. 
 
 In the midst of the city two gigantic date-palms 
 2 13 
 
14 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 lifted their venerable heads high above all else ; while 
 beyond lay the ocean, its waves sparkling in the sun 
 shine, the surf breaking on the shore with a musical 
 roar. 
 
 About twenty miles out in the ocean lay the two 
 islands of Anacapa and Santa Cruz, not seeming half 
 that distance in the clear atmosphere, which brought 
 out every formation of mountain and coast-line with 
 such minute distinctness. 
 
 At his feet the old mission of the Holy Cross reared 
 its massive yellow walls, ugly yet quaint and pictu 
 resque, though its effect was marred by the new shingled 
 roof with which, in the rage for modern improvements, 
 the parish authorities have replaced the old tiled roof 
 of Father Junipero Serra's times. 
 
 Beyond the old mission, and to the left, a long black 
 wharf ran far out into the ocean, at the side of which 
 lay a schooner discharging a cargo of lumber, while a 
 steamer was just making its way from it out into the 
 ocean, gracefully rolling to the motion of the waves, its 
 brass work gleaming in the sunlight like burnished 
 gold. 
 
 Going now to the west window, the sight which met 
 his gaze from there was fully as beautiful, and Warren 
 was almost tempted to pronounce it even more lovely 
 than the first. A bend in the coast once more brought 
 the ocean into full view. Back, miles from the city, 
 but looking almost within easy walking distance, lay 
 the Sierra Madre Mountains, bare, wrinkled, and old 
 looking, their summits crowned with snow. Between 
 the mountains and the city lay the foot-hills, rising in 
 higher and higher peaks as they neared the mountains, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 15 
 
 their sides green with vegetation and their tops crested 
 with groups of live-oaks. From the beach there ran a 
 broad, straight avenue lined on either side with pretty 
 cottage houses embowered in ornamental shrubbery, 
 holding its course straight on to the distant mountains 
 until, winding around among the hills, it became lost 
 to sight. 
 
 Beyond the avenue lay the Ventura River, glistening 
 in the sunlight like a silver thread as it hastened on 
 ward to mingle its waters with the ocean. On one of 
 the hills back of the city and immediately above the 
 house a Chinaman was ploughing with two white horses, 
 while the steep sides of all the neighboring hills were 
 already green with young vegetables and grain. Alto 
 gether the scene was like a glimpse into fairy-land to 
 one who, like Warren, had only a few days before been 
 among the snow-covered hills of the East; but even 
 fairy-land will not long charm the thoughts of a young 
 man blessed with good health and a strong appetite who 
 has yet to breakfast, and whose mind is preoccupied 
 with the attempt to solve a difficulty which, like that 
 in which Warren now found himself involved, was 
 more vexatious than serious. 
 
 During the ten minutes required to walk the short 
 distance lying between his lodgings and the Hotel 
 Anacapa, where he had arranged to board, Warren's 
 thoughts were busily occupied with the absurd predica 
 ment in which he found himself placed. What was to 
 be done ? 
 
 All through his breakfast he asked himself this same 
 question, but without finding himself any nearer to a 
 satisfactory answer. 
 
16 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " I wonder if Mitchell is here yet ?" he said to him 
 self, as he made his way into the hotel-office. " He is 
 due, and I sincerely hope that he has arrived. It will 
 do no harm to ask." 
 
 " Yes/' the clerk replied to whom Warren proposed 
 his question, Mr. Mitchell and his family had been 
 at the house since Christmas. They were all of them 
 in, or at least he thought so ; would he like to see them ? 
 If he would go into the parlor for a moment word 
 would be given them right away. 
 
 " I will thank you to take my card to Mr. Mitchell," 
 Warren replied. " I will call on the ladies some other 
 time." 
 
 Warren had hardly seated himself by the glowing 
 fire cheerily burning in the fireplace of the parlor of 
 the Anacapa before his friend was with him, overjoyed 
 at the arrival of an old and intimate acquaintance to be 
 a fellow-sojourner with himself and his family among 
 strangers and in a strange land. 
 
 "Well, Warren," Mitchell exclaimed, shaking him 
 heartily by the hand as he spoke, " I am right glad to 
 see you; I had almost begun to give you up and 
 think that you had changed your mind about coming 
 at all." 
 
 " Oh, no ; I did not come out as you did, merely 
 on a pleasure-trip, so I needed more time than you in 
 preparations, married man though you are," Warren 
 replied. 
 
 Mitchell looked doubtfully into his friend's face for 
 a moment, then replied by a question. 
 
 " You don't mean to tell me that you have caught 
 this real-estate fever ?" he asked. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 17 
 
 Warren laughed, though a little uneasily, and as 
 though he was not, after all, perfectly satisfied with 
 himself. 
 
 "Yes, Mitchell, I have determined to see if I can 
 manage the boom," he answered. 
 
 No two men could be more unlike than these friends. 
 "Warren was still on the sunny side of thirty, and in 
 person was slender, athletic, and above the medium 
 height. Mitchell, on the contrary, was much nearer 
 forty than thirty, and while he was not positively ugly, 
 he was very far from being a handsome man. He 
 labored under the threefold disadvantage of being too 
 stout for his height, too bald for his years, and too 
 near-sighted for his own comfort or that of his friends. 
 
 Warren was quick to learn and as quick to forget ; 
 he was always on the watch fc 1 * some new enterprise 
 and was constantly on the search for some new excite 
 ment, and it was these traits in his character which had 
 brought him away from New York in the height of 
 the season to become a speculator in Southern Cali 
 fornia. 
 
 Mitchell, on the other hand, was slow to learn, but 
 when he once had mastered an idea it became his prop 
 erty ; it was always at his command when he wanted 
 to use it, and his judgment was, from this fact, highly 
 valued by all who knew him. Warren, in short, was 
 " a good fellow," Mitchell was a valuable man. Un 
 like as they were these two men were the closest of 
 friends, each finding in the other points which sup 
 plied his own deficiencies. 
 
 Mitchell's face expressed the gravest disapproval 
 as he listened to Warren's announcement of this new 
 
 b 2* 
 
18 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 business project in which he was already embarked. 
 Wiping his glasses he put them on again, and sat 
 thoughtfully looking at his friend through them with 
 out speaking. 
 
 " What is it, Mitchell ?" Warren asked, shifting un 
 easily under his friend's scrutiny. "What are you 
 staring at ? Do you see some great change in me since 
 we last met, symptoms of early decline, or the 
 like?" 
 
 " No, not that. I was looking for wildness in the 
 eyes. I gathered from your conversation that you 
 were threatened with insanity ; it may be incipient im 
 becility, however," Mitchell answered. 
 
 "Come, be reasonable," Warren said, impatiently. 
 " You have always been preaching to me about wasting 
 my time and letting my abilities run to seed, and all 
 that ; and the very moment that I tell you that I have 
 come to California for the purpose of going to work, 
 you call me an idiot and a lunatic." 
 
 "Warren, as a truthful man, do you mean to say 
 that in turning speculator you are following my ad 
 vice ?" Mitchell asked, his tone almost severe. 
 
 " Not in the letter, perhaps, as you simply told me 
 to put out my shingle and go practising law, and did 
 not mention any other pursuit in connection with it ; but 
 as all the lawyers out here combine real-estate broker 
 age with the practice of their profession, you see that I 
 am not straying so very far from the straight and nar 
 row way marked out for me by your wisdom, after 
 all," Warren answered. 
 
 Mitchell shook his head. "Hardly," he said. 
 "This present real-estate craze is something like the 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. jg 
 
 gold excitement of '49, only it won't last quite as long. 
 Like that craze it is going to do a tremendous sight of 
 mischief, while it will do some good by turning at 
 tention to this country, whose advantages in soil and 
 climate are all that they are said to be, even in the 
 prospectus of the wildest speculator. Meanwhile, a 
 few gulls are going to be plucked, and I am sorry that 
 you are to be one of them ; however, it is too late to 
 talk of that now ; your arrangements are all made, of 
 course?'' 
 
 " Yes ; I entered into partnership before I left 
 home," Warren answered. 
 
 "Who with?" Mitchell asked. 
 
 " Glenn. I don't suppose you ever heard of him," 
 Warren answered. 
 
 " No ; I don't pay much attention to real estate, but 
 how did you arrange it?" 
 
 " Through a mutual friend who recommended us to 
 one another, and we arranged the partnership by cor 
 respondence," Warren explained. 
 
 " Well, I hope that you won't get fleeced too badly," 
 was the only answer he vouchsafed ; then abruptly 
 dropping the subject, he said, " Let me call the ladies." 
 
 "Not yet," Warren hastily returned. "To tell the 
 truth, I have begun my life out here with a very un 
 pleasant experience, and I want to talk it over with 
 you." 
 
 "All right; I am altogether at your service/' 
 Mitchell answered, again sitting down, wondering 
 what misfortune his friend's speculative mania could 
 have brought on him so early in his career. 
 
 Warren blushed, looked very foolish, then began 
 
20 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 with an air of desperation : " To tell the simple facts 
 of the case, and this is what I want to do, I have got 
 to put myself completely into your power. Now, 
 Mitchell, if I give you my confidence as fully as this, 
 I want you to promise not to betray me even to your 
 wife." 
 
 What had his friend been doing ? Had he already 
 swindled some one so outrageously before he had been 
 twenty-four hours in the business, or had even seen his 
 first sunset in Ventura, that he was involved in a seri 
 ous lawsuit so soon ? It was not at all like Warren : 
 he was a straightforward and honorable fellow, and it 
 did not seem possible that even his craze for speculation 
 could have so altogether transformed him. As these 
 thoughts flashed through Mitchell's mind he once 
 more took off his glasses, wiped them, put them on, 
 and stared hard at Warren, saying in a tone into which 
 he threw only half the astonishment he felt, " In the 
 name of goodness, what have you been up to ?" 
 
 " Nothing, Mitchell, nothing at all," Warren hastily 
 replied. " It was not my fault ; it was not anybody's 
 fault ; there is no blame anywhere. I am in a ridicu 
 lous scrape all the same, though, and if you give me 
 away to your wife I -know it will get out, and I shall 
 be a laughing-stock to the end of my days." And 
 again Warren shuddered as he thought of the anxious 
 inquiries concerning the state of his wardrobe with 
 which he would be greeted on his return to New York 
 by all his acquaintances in case Mitchell should con 
 sider the joke too good to keep ; while it required only 
 a slight exercise of the imagination on his part to pic 
 ture to himself the conscious yet amused glances which 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 21 
 
 his young lady friends would cast upon him ; for of 
 course through husbands and brothers the "joke" 
 would get to their knowledge, as such things always 
 do. 
 
 " I give you my word, Warren, that if you have 
 anything to tell me which ought to be kept, I will 
 treat it as a professional secret/ 7 Mitchell answered. 
 And drawing his chair close to that of his friend, so 
 that no one could overhear them in case a third party 
 should enter the parlor, Warren proceeded to unfold 
 his tale of woe. 
 
 At first a look of blank amazement overspread 
 Mitchell's face ; then his eyes twinkled merrily as he 
 listened, while his sides shook with suppressed laughter, 
 but not a sound escaped his lips. When Warren con 
 cluded his story he rose from his chair saying, " I will 
 be as silent as the grave, old fellow, you may depend 
 upon me. Not one word of this affair will I breathe 
 to a living soul. But let me call the ladies now." 
 
 " Wait ! You have not advised me what to do or 
 how to act," Warren protested. Mitchell merely 
 laughed. The absurdity of his friend's situation 
 seemed to impress him more forcibly than its un 
 pleasantness, and he remained most aggravatingly un 
 sympathetic. 
 
 " Oh, your case is by no means desperate. If worst 
 comes to worst you can buy yourself another outfit, 
 you know," Mitchell heartlessly answered. 
 
 Warren began to be very angry with his friend ; he 
 had never known him to be so cold-blooded and in 
 different before ; it was not like his usual self at all, 
 and he could not understand his manner. 
 
22 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 "That has nothing to do with the case at all/' 
 Warren answered, showing his vexation both in voice 
 and manner. " What I want to know is, what am I 
 to do with those confounded traps up in my room ? I 
 can't let them be seen." 
 
 Again Mitchell laughed. "Oh, I am not ready 
 with my advice on that score yet/' he answered. " Just 
 be patient and I will help you out of the scrape in 
 some way, trust me for that. Brit I am going to call 
 the ladies. You have never met my wife's sister, I 
 believe ?" 
 
 " No ; I have always been deprived of that pleasure 
 by some adverse fate. Is she with you now ?" 
 
 "Yes. We left her to visit a friend of hers in Los 
 Angeles and she came on to join us last evening. You 
 and she both chose a fine day for travelling. And, by 
 the way, you came up on the same train, so you must 
 have seen each other." 
 
 "That does not follow, for I rode the entire dis 
 tance in the smoker; but I wish I had known she 
 was on the train." 
 
 "Under those circumstances you probably did not 
 see her, for she seldom travels in that car ; but excuse 
 me for a moment," Mitchell rejoined. After an ab 
 sence of ten minutes he returned accompanied by a 
 very pretty girl, whose dark eyes, at once soft and 
 brilliant, were the certain indications of an amiable 
 disposition, keen wit, and high spirits. 
 
 " My wife is not in, so you will have to excuse her ; 
 I have brought her sister, however. Miss Wade, my 
 friend Mr. Warren," he said, introducing them. 
 
 As they bowed in acknowledgment he maliciously 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 23 
 
 added, " I find that each one of you rejoices in the pos 
 session of initials to which the other can also establish a 
 claim, while each of you is made unhappy by a wind 
 fall as unwelcome as it is useless to you ; now, I have 
 promised not to say a word about this business, and I 
 would die before I would break faith with either one 
 of you, so not a single syllable shall escape my lips 
 about it, you may trust me implicitly on that score, 
 but I will just leave you to arrange matters to suit 
 yourselves. May you be prosperous and happy !" And 
 with these words he left the room chuckling audibly, 
 while Warren and Miss Wade stood looking at each 
 other in embarrassed silence. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 years ago, when making a pedestrian tour, I 
 came to a river of considerable width and decidedly 
 deep which it was necessary for me to cross. There 
 was no bridge, I could not swim, while it would have 
 been very inconvenient for me to adopt that method 
 of transit even had I understood the science (so I 
 must call it, I suppose, now that it is dignified by 
 "professors"). The only means of crossing open to 
 me, so far as I could see, was a huge tree which had 
 fallen across the stream and whose top was apparently 
 firmly held by two trees standing side by side upon 
 the opposite bank, between which it had lodged in 
 falling. In this I had found, as I supposed, a secure 
 bridge ready at my need. But alas for human calcula 
 tions ! Thinking only of a possible danger more or 
 less remote, I neglected to attend to the actual perils 
 close At hand. The fallen tree was anchored to the 
 bank on which I was standing only by the frailest of 
 roots, and it needed nothing but my added weight to 
 plunge both my bridge and -myself into the water, 
 from which I struggled out a miserable wretch ; wet 
 and muddy as to my person, wrathful and unhappy 
 as to my mind. 
 
 Now Warren, when he found himself confronted by 
 
 Miss Wade, and plunged by Mitchell into the worst 
 
 aspect of those very difficulties out of which he was 
 
 trusting to this friend to deliver him; when he saw 
 
 24 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 25 
 
 that he was ruthlessly abandoned to extricate himself 
 from this plight as best he could, felt very much as I 
 did when I found myself betrayed by my tree many 
 years ago. Morally he was very much in the same 
 plight in which I then found myself physically, he 
 was almost helpless, miserable, and abject. 
 
 Miss Wade stood before him without a word, her 
 face burning with confusion ; while Warren, in his turn, 
 for the first time in his life, found himself alone in the 
 company of a pretty and interesting young lady to 
 whom he had not a single word to say. All this time, 
 however, that he stood in speechless embarrassment 
 before his charming companion, he felt a strong inward 
 conviction that when he once more found himself alone 
 with Mitchell he would be at no loss for words, but 
 would be able to express himself freely and forcibly in 
 regard to his friend's behavior on this occasion. 
 
 Deep as was his sympathy for himself in this em 
 barrassing situation, Warren's compassion for Miss 
 Wade was even more profound, and he felt a sincere 
 anxiety to lessen her confusion and relieve her unhap- 
 piness ; so, gathering together as many of his faculties 
 as surprise and embarrassment had left under his imme 
 diate control, he said, 
 
 " I am most happy to meet you, Miss Wade. In 
 deed, I have so often heard your name mentioned by 
 your sister and Mr. Mitchell that I already look upon 
 you almost as an old acquaintance, though I wish that 
 my friend had arranged for our first meeting under 
 circumstances which would have made the pleasure 
 attended by no sense of pain." 
 
 " I sympathize with you cordially in that sentiment, 
 
26 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Mr. Warren/ 7 Miss Wade answered, with a light in her 
 eyes which gave promise that Mr. Mitchell would find 
 his "joke 77 bringing upon his head the full weight of 
 her displeasure. " I think that my brother-in-law has 
 shown himself less than friendly to you and certainly 
 less than kind to me." 
 
 Warren placed a chair for her, and as she seated her 
 self he went to the fireplace, and resting one foot on 
 the fender he hesitated a moment, as though in doubt as 
 to what he should say next. The simple truth is, that 
 never in his life had he been so thoroughly uncom 
 fortable ; while never before, since the boyish and 
 awkward days of his dancing-school miseries, had the 
 society of an attractive and handsome young lady 
 possessed the power of making him thoroughly and 
 unspeakably wretched. 
 
 " Of course I understand what Mitchell intended," 
 he said after a moment's silence ; " as my intimate friend 
 of many years' standing and your brother-in-law, he 
 took the advantage of the close relations existing be 
 tween himself and each one of us to derive amuse 
 ment for himself at our expense, without stopping to 
 consider that you and I are perfect strangers to one 
 another." 
 
 " There you are naming the very point he should not 
 have forgotten, Mr. Warren," Miss Wade answered, 
 her strong indignation against her brother-in-law ap 
 pearing in the tones of her voice. 
 
 " Very true ; and I shall make every effort to con 
 vince him of the fact," Warren replied. 
 
 Again there was silence. Evidently nothing was to 
 be gained by longer postponing the evil day. It was 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 27 
 
 just as evident that Miss Wade could not first broach 
 the matter which must be discussed between them. As 
 that which must be done had best be done quickly, 
 Warren at once plunged into the very midst of the 
 subject. 
 
 "Miss Wade," he said, "it seems that you and I 
 bear the same initials. While I feel honored by the 
 fact, it has its inconvenient as well as to me, that is 
 pleasing features ; and it has placed us at the present 
 moment in very embarrassing relations to one another. 
 I am, as of course you are aware, possessed of property 
 belonging to you, while you have accidentally obtained 
 my belongings. On -my return to my room I will at 
 once restore your property to you, and will, at your con 
 venience, relieve you of what must have been to you 
 an annoying and distressing charge. And permit me, 
 Miss Wade, to most sincerely express my regret for the 
 distress that my mistake has caused you, and I hope 
 you will pardon the blunder." 
 
 Miss Wade blushed crimson. Without raising her 
 eyes, she replied, "I thank you, Mr. Warren. The 
 adventure must have been as annoying to you as to me, 
 and in committing the mistake I do not doubt that we 
 are equally responsible, while neither one of us is in the 
 least to blame." 
 
 Warren bowed. " It is good of you to say so," he 
 answered ; then at once abruptly, changing a subject 
 painful to both, he went on : " In California the one 
 absorbing topic of conversation is the country and its 
 wonderful climate ; that is, among the men at least. I 
 gather from what Mitchell says that you have been 
 here long enough now to be no longer reckoned among 
 
28 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 the new-comers, so perhaps this topic no longer pos 
 sesses interest to you." 
 
 Mollie began to feel more at her ease now that that 
 wretched business was disposed of, so she laughed as 
 she answered, " I have been in the State almost three 
 months now. Were I intending to make it my home 
 here that would give me the right to call myself an 
 old Californian, would it not?" 
 
 Warren laughed in his turn as he replied, " That is 
 the law, I believe. But custom also prescribes that a 
 good Californian should stand loyally by his section : 
 he must never by any chance admit that he can 
 possibly be ignorant upon any topic concerning the 
 country, its interests or its possibilities : he must always 
 proclaim to the world- the richness of the soil, the 
 inexhaustible mineral resources, and the glories of the 
 climate in his section ; he must carefully keep back 
 any possible disadvantages that may exist, however 
 slight ; and last, but by no means least, if a new-comer, 
 he must evade the question as to how long he has been 
 here, all these are the qualities of a good Californian, 
 and I am already making them my own." 
 
 For the first time during their interview Miss Wade 
 lifted her eyes to his face ; now, meeting his with a 
 swift glance, half of inquiry, half of amusement, she 
 answered, " You seem to understand the customs of 
 the people here thoroughly. You have been more 
 profoundly observant of their character and prejudices 
 in your residence of twenty-four hours than I in my 
 three months' sojourn. Do you intend to make Ven 
 tura your home ?" 
 
 " I have not decided ; indeed, my answer to that 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 29 
 
 question will altogether depend upon circumstances, 
 and that I may fairly discuss that topic with you I 
 must begin by making a confession and admitting that 
 I have been an alarmingly idle man/' Warren re 
 plied. 
 
 " The old, old story of great gifts and rich endow 
 ments allowed to run to waste : is that your meaning ?" 
 she asked, again glancing at him swiftly. 
 
 Again Warren laughed, but this time a trifle un 
 easily, for he felt a painful suspicion that he was being 
 quizzed. 
 
 " I can hardly say that/ 7 he answered. " But I do 
 mean that, since stern necessity did not spur me on 
 and compel me to work, I have fallen into the long 
 procession of do-nothings. However, here I am in 
 California, and, strangest of all, filled with a strong 
 desire to become industrious, and actually embarked in 
 business. So I suppose this will be my home, if I 
 succeed. It is a change from New York and my life 
 there, is it not ?" 
 
 " A decided change. What has worked so great a 
 miracle ?" she said, answering his question by another. 
 
 "Oh, that great worker of all modem miracles, 
 California and the interest it is exciting in the East. 
 You are an Easterner ; is not my explanation complete?" 
 
 " It is perfect !" she answered, clasping her hands in 
 pretended enthusiasm. "I cannot imagine any less 
 powerful agent changing a New York society man into 
 a Western pioneer. But frankly, I do not wonder at 
 your coming, neither shall I wonder if you stay. One 
 hears so much about the wonders of Southern Cali 
 fornia in these days that one wishes to see her marvels 
 
 3* 
 
30 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 for one's self. Then, when one gets here, there is such 
 a fascination about the scenery, the climate, and the 
 free and joyous out-door life, that one wishes to stay. 
 The glamour of the tropics is over it all." 
 
 Decidedly he did like the girl. Although their in 
 troduction had been so very much out of the common at 
 the first that it had taken all possibility of pleasure 
 out of their meeting, he now felt thoroughly convinced 
 that her acquaintance was well worth all the distress 
 their first meeting had cost him. She was a very 
 bright girl ; she was thoroughly independent ; and as 
 he expressed it in his conscious masculine superiority, 
 " she had ideas." 
 
 At that moment the door opened and Mrs. Mitchell 
 hurried into the parlor. A fresh, breezy little woman 
 with a bright and pleasant face; no one, from her 
 manner, would have thought that at that very moment 
 Mitchell was sitting up-stairs in his room thinking 
 with hardened impenitence upon a severe lecture from 
 her lips concerning his shameless and unfeeling con 
 duct towards these two young people who, above all 
 others in the world, had the greatest claims upon his 
 consideration. Greeting "Warren with the cordial free 
 dom of an old friend she said, " At last you have come, 
 and you cannot imagine how glad we are to see you, 
 or how much good it will do us to have you here. 
 And to think that you are actually going to stay ! I 
 am glad that you and Mollie have at last become ac 
 quainted ; and of course, like all the other lotos-eaters, 
 you are thinking and talking of nothing but California 
 and its wonders." 
 
 Mollie and Warren glanced at one another, again 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 31 
 
 their eyes met for an instant, and both laughed as he 
 answered, " I plead guilty ; but let it be my all-suffi 
 cient excuse that I have found this the one theme not 
 only in the State but among all the travellers coming 
 to it." 
 
 "Yes," Miss Wade interposed, "as Effie says, we 
 Americans are now seeing the old Homeric myth illus 
 trated in real life. We are all of us either lotos- 
 eaters, or else we are hungering for an opportunity to 
 taste the fated leaf." 
 
 Warren rose from his chair, and going to the window 
 looked out over the picture displayed before him, say 
 ing, " Is not this enough to make one forget home, and 
 country, and his father's house ? It is like living in an 
 atmosphere of poetry. But you must visit me in my 
 domicile, for I think my outlook surpasses even this, 
 for it takes in the mountains as well as the city, and 
 the ocean." 
 
 " Where are you residing ?" Mrs. Mitchell asked. 
 
 " On Poli Street, with Mrs. Elkins. I wish you to 
 know her, for she interested me immediately on meeting 
 her. I know I shall find her a study in human nature, 
 what is technically called a character, you know." 
 
 "Why, Mr. Warren, you are planning for a busy 
 life, are you not ? combining the pursuit of moral anat 
 omy with dealings in real estate. From what I had 
 seen of Californians I had formed the idea that the law 
 of their life was to combine the least possible amount 
 of business with the greatest possible amount of pleas 
 ure ; but you seem to be reversing this law, unless, 
 perhaps, scientific research be recreation to you !" 
 Miss Wade exclaimed. 
 
32 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 "Warren glanced at her keenly with a renewal of the 
 uneasy feeling that he was being quizzed. He wished 
 that he knew whether the girl were laughing at him or 
 not, though he strongly suspected that she was; his 
 suspicions were immediately strengthened by his de 
 tecting the glance which her sister cast at her, half 
 amused, half reproachful, as she said, in answer to 
 Warren's remark, 
 
 "What did you mean by calling your landlady a 
 character, Mr. Warren? I hope, for your own peace 
 of mind, that you are not lodging with one of those 
 horrible specimens of eccentricity and disagreeableness 
 who usually receive that title." 
 
 " Oh, no, not quite so bad as that ; she is a Califor 
 nia Yankee/ 7 he answered, drawing on his gloves as 
 he spoke. 
 
 " You must be more explicit," she said ; " that leaves 
 us in even deeper darkness than before. What is a 
 California Yankee?" 
 
 " I cannot say that I am ready with an exact defini 
 tion, though the idea is clear to my own mind," War 
 ren answered. " My landlady will have to serve as an 
 illustration, therefore. She is a native daughter of the 
 Golden West, but she possesses the true Yankee physi 
 ognomy. She is very tall, but thin and active; and 
 even with my short acquaintance I can see that she 
 suffers under a continual apprehension that some one 
 is anxious to infringe upon her rights and sacred pre 
 rogatives ; all of these traits are characteristic of the 
 Yankee. So, you see, although I am a stranger in a 
 strange land, being by birth a Yankee myself, I find 
 that she makes me feel quite at home." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 33 
 
 " "We will come and see for ourselves, Mr. Warren. 
 Must you go ? Do come and see us every day/' Mrs. 
 Mitchell entreated. 
 
 " We shall meet at the table every day, for this is to 
 be my boarding-place," Warren answered. "And as 
 for further visiting, well, as Miss Wade says, I am to 
 be a busy man ; but where is Mitchell ?" 
 
 "You will find him lip-stairs," Mrs. Mitchell 
 answered. 
 
 Taking leave of the ladies, Warren went to his 
 friend's room for the purpose of pouring forth upon 
 his too jovial head the full contents of the vials of his 
 wrath. He found upon analyzing his feelings that his 
 anger was by no means as fierce as it had been : his 
 fury had been greatly appeased by his pleasant visit, 
 and Miss Wade's acquaintance was certainly well 
 worth whatever annoyance he had experienced in its 
 making. Yes, she certainly was a very pretty girl and 
 he liked her very much : he hoped that she liked him. 
 
 " What do you think of our friend, Mollie ?" Mrs. 
 Mitchell asked after he was gone. 
 
 "Why, to tell the truth, I had not thought about 
 him at all. Is it necessary that I should ?" she an 
 swered, indifferently. 
 
 Her. sister was inclined to be vexed with her for 
 turning her words in this way. 
 
 " What a girl you are, Mollie !" she answered. " You 
 know perfectly well what I mean. I hope that, as we 
 like him so much, you will be good friends with him 
 also." 
 
 "Oh, so far as that is concerned, I do not dislike 
 him at all. He is well enough in his way, like every 
 
34 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 other commonplace young man of the period/' Mol- 
 lie answered, still supremely indifferent, and apparently 
 a trifle bored by the subject under discussion. 
 
 "It was a perfect shame of John Addison to treat 
 you two as he did," Mrs. Mitchell went on, now becom 
 ing vehement in language and gesture as she touched 
 upon the injury done to her sister and her friend. 
 
 Miss Wade blushed, but answered very quietly, 
 " Of course it was painfully embarrassing to us both ; 
 but Mr. Warren was not at all to blame, and he be 
 haved very handsomely. As far as any friendship 
 between us is concerned, that will altogether depend 
 upon his merits, and the peculiar circumstances of our 
 meeting will not affect that in the least." 
 
 "Certainly not," Mrs. Mitchell assented, although 
 she knew perfectly well that her sister was not at all 
 like other women if these did not influence her mind 
 against the man. Then she resumed the subject, an 
 swering her sister's criticism of Warren, " As for Mr. 
 Warren being simply a young man of the period, he 
 certainly is not that. I admit that he has never done 
 anything in his profession, because he has not felt the 
 necessity ; but if circumstances were to call out what is 
 in him, you would certainly find him more than an 
 average young man, and the simple fact that . he has 
 come out here for the purpose of going to work shows 
 you that he does amount to something, does it not ?" 
 
 " I don't call his enterprise work, Erne," Miss Wade 
 answered, with a contemptuous curl of the lip. "It 
 looks to me very much like gambling; simply a 
 scheme devised by a rich young man to increase his 
 fortune without doing anything to earn it." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 35 
 
 "Are you sure you are not prejudiced, Mollie?" 
 Mrs. Mitchell asked, wishing to awaken her sister to a 
 realization of the injustice she was doing Warren by 
 the sweeping accusation she had brought against the 
 young man and his motives, but too wise to deepen her 
 antagonism by discussing the point. 
 
 " Prejudiced ?" Miss Wade replied, as though sur 
 prised beyond expression at the very suspicion of such 
 a thing. " Certainly, I am not prejudiced in the least. 
 Why should I be ? I see no reason for prejudice on 
 my part, since I know so very little about the man ; 
 and I can find no sufficient reason why I should have 
 any opinion about him either good or bad. Or, for 
 that matter, why I should feel any interest in him now 
 that I have recovered my property," she added, with a 
 laugh. 
 
 It would do no good to press the argument any fur 
 ther ; this was a matter which time, and time alone, 
 could deal with, provided it ever were successfully 
 dealt with. Mrs. Mitchell saw this, and wisely dis 
 missed the whole subject, simply saying in reply, 
 " Very well, Mollie, we will leave it that way, then." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IT was late in the evening before Warren returned 
 to his lodgings. As the night was perfect, the moon 
 being at the full, and not a cloud even so large as a 
 man's hand was visible in the heavens, he had inten 
 tionally taken the longest route to his room for the 
 sake of walking along the beach and watching the 
 ocean by moonlight. His way home led him through 
 the Plaza, which was a good-sized plot of ground origi 
 nally intended for a public park, but as it still remained 
 unimproved it was never used, and very seldom was 
 even crossed except as a short cut between the intersect 
 ing streets. 
 
 Warren was sauntering along enjoying the pleasant 
 evening and inhaling the soft air, fragrant with the 
 odor of roses and orange-blossoms, when the sound of 
 voices made him aware that he was never less alone 
 than when alone ; though in this instance, at least, he 
 was compelled to interpret the words in an entirely 
 different sense from that in which the great (and one 
 must also fear, conceited) originator of the saying in 
 tended. 
 
 Looking across the Plaza in the direction of the 
 voices, Warren saw a young man and woman seated 
 upon the trunk of a eucalyptus-tree which had been 
 felled in order to make way for further improvements ; 
 and so deeply were they interested in one another that 
 they were altogether oblivious of all the world beside. 
 36 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 37 
 
 In the young man Warren at once recognized no less a 
 personage than the son of his landlady, Jake Elkins by 
 name ; an ungainly, overgrown, good-natured fellow of 
 twenty-two years or thereabouts ; while the girl's soft 
 voice and peculiar accent proved her to be a native 
 daughter of the soil, either of Mexican or Spanish- 
 American blood. 
 
 A more hopeless hero for a romance than our friend 
 Jake Elkins it would be difficult to imagine. By all 
 the laws of romantic art, a hero, to be interesting, 
 should be as graceful as Apollo, while he should also 
 be possessed of dove-like, melting eyes. Now our friend 
 Jake had neither of these attributes. If he could be 
 fittingly compared to any of the classic heathen deities, 
 the most partial of his friends would have been com- 
 pelled to admit that he had far more of Silenus than of 
 Apollo in his physical appearance. Let it be a suffi 
 cient description of his person to say that he was 
 twenty-two years of age, and that he weighed two hun 
 dred pounds ; while as for his eyes, they were certainly 
 not dove-like, and they had never learned the art of 
 melting. 
 
 Yet this unheroic hero was endowed with one heroic 
 attribute at least, for it was clear to the most unsympa 
 thetic observer that he was most devotedly in love. A 
 single glance in the direction of the young couple was 
 sufficient to reveal this fact to Warren; and as he 
 walked along, this love-scene in real life called to his 
 mind a love-scene he had just been reading of in one 
 of the last novels written by the " Prophetess of Pas 
 sion," and that so forcibly that he burst into a laugh. 
 
 There, the fair young authoress describes her hero as 
 4 
 
38 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 flinging himself upon his knees before the heroine and 
 pressing " his lips now on one foot, now on the other ; 
 then, kneeling up, he kissed her dress, her knees, her 
 waist, her arms," and last of all, their lips " clung into 
 a kiss." 
 
 " Could Jake's two hundred pounds of humanity be 
 successfully cast at the feet of his Iberian divinity ?" 
 Warren asked of himself, as he sauntered up the steep 
 street towards his lodgings, idly switching the heads 
 from the wild-flowers with his cane as he slowly 
 walked along. Again he laughed to himself as he 
 pictured Jake's ungainly form "kneeling up" before 
 his pretty Spanish sweetheart ; not that he knew 
 what " kneeling up" might be, or how it was done ; 
 but whatever it was, it could not very well fail of 
 being something peculiarly interesting in the present 
 instance. 
 
 The next morning, on his way down to his office, he 
 met the actor in last night's love-scene also going out ; 
 and, having already become fast friends, he greeted him 
 with, " By the way, Jake, have you no front gate 
 handy about here ?" 
 
 Jake looked at him with a puzzled expression in his 
 honest eyes as he answered, 
 
 " We took ours down when the street was graded. 
 Why ? d'ye think the place 'd look better if 'twas put 
 back?" 
 
 "Oh, that is not what I was thinking of, Jake," 
 Warren answered. " My interest in that useful article 
 lies deeper than any question of mere appearances. I 
 was thinking, as I saw you last night in the Plaza, that 
 a front gate in a private door yard would be far more 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 39 
 
 aesthetic as well as far more secure from the intrusions 
 of heartless listeners than a eucalyptus log in the public 
 park of a city ; that's all." 
 
 Jake blushed, looked uncomfortable, and seemed 
 more unheroic than ever in his confusion. At last, 
 with an air of desperate determination, as though 
 he felt obliged to say something but did not exactly 
 know what would best meet the circumstances of the 
 case, he asked, " Did you see us, Mr. Warren ?" 
 
 "See you?" Warren answered, as though aston 
 ished at the question. "Why, my dear Jake, you 
 did not suppose, did you, that your good angel was 
 going to strike every passer-by with temporary blind 
 ness in order that you and your fair maid might do 
 your courting in the Plaza unobserved by those whom 
 business or other necessity might call that way ?" 
 
 " Why, no," Jake said, kicking the ground with his 
 right foot and burying his hands deep in his trousers- 
 pockets. "I didn't count on nothin' except that no 
 body 7 d cut across there last night. It's the last place 
 in town folks ever go to." 
 
 " True, it is not, just at present, an especially attrac 
 tive place," Warren answered. "Still, it is public 
 property; and, consequently, it is not just the place 
 in which to do your courting, as even your confiding 
 nature must see, Jake, after a little reflection. Will 
 not papa furnish lights and a parlor? If not, I 
 fall back on my original suggestion ; and, as your 
 friend, I strongly advise a front gate. Not that I ever 
 tried one myself; but it is so cordially endorsed by 
 popular testimony that I feel very confident that that 
 which receives such hearty commendation from all 
 
40 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 quarters must possess peculiar merits. Don't you think 
 so, Jake?" 
 
 Jake looked up as Warren addressed this last ques 
 tion to him, then looked down again, still kicking the 
 ground, as he answered, " Seems like you're pokin' fun 
 at me, Mr. Warren." 
 
 " Perish the thought I" Warren answered, lighting 
 a cigar as he spoke. "I like you, Jake, and I am 
 simply acting as a friend and giving you friendly 
 advice. Whatever other ill-considered thing you may 
 do, don't, for heaven's sake, intrude your love-affairs on 
 the public gaze. They ought to be kept strictly pri 
 vate ; and the public is sure to be unsympathetic, and 
 also feels painfully in the way when brought into the 
 presence of two lovers, as I was last night. That is 
 what I mean, Jake, and I never was more in earnest in 
 my life. Have a cigar ?" 
 
 Jake accepted the proffered treat, but did not feel it 
 at all necessary to thank the giver, and said, " Goin' 
 down street, Mr. Warren ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I'll just walk down with you ; and I don't mind 
 if I tell you about it." 
 
 When he began this conversation Warren had not 
 intended to become the repository of Jake's love-secrets ; 
 but, as he had told him, he had merely intended to give 
 him a hint that, if he were in the habit of choosing 
 the Plaza for his courting, he was doing it a little too 
 publicly. As he had said, though, he liked the young 
 fellow; and when Jake offered him his confidence, 
 Warren accepted it with the frankness which was a 
 part of his nature. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 41 
 
 "Just as you choose, Jake/ 7 he answered; "I'll 
 keep faith with you, though I cannot promise to act as 
 a counsellor. I fear I should not make a good one 
 were I to try to act the part, as I have had no experi 
 ence in such matters, and I don't think my advice 
 would be worth much were I to give it." 
 
 " I ain't just askin' for advice, Mr. Warren," Jake 
 said, in response to this caution. " I don't see no way 
 you could help me if you was to try. Seein' 's you 
 know so much, though, I'd like you to know the rest ; 
 so I'll tell you if you don't mind listenin'." 
 
 "Not the least in the world, Jake, if you don't 
 mind telling. And if you should see any way in 
 which I can help you, command me," Warren an 
 swered, knocking the ashes from his cigar. 
 
 " I will that !" Jake answered, gratefully. " You 
 bet I'll remember. Now, you see the business 's this 
 way. She is Camilla Carballo." (Jake did not con 
 sider it necessary to further define the young lady than 
 by the feminine pronoun.) " Her father's a rich old 
 Spaniard here in town, and they've lived here forever, 
 I reckon. They don't like me because I'm a Yankee ; 
 my mother won't let me speak of her 'cause she ain't." 
 
 " In your case, the course of true love is dammed by 
 a double difficulty, isn't it ?" Warren interjected. 
 
 " You bet !" Jake answered. 
 
 " And the cruelty of your respective parents is the 
 cause of your wandering about and taking refuge in 
 public parks and highways and in dens and caves of 
 the earth, instead of doing your courting in the less 
 romantic but far more comfortable parlor of papa's 
 mansion ?" Warren again remarked. 
 
 4* 
 
42 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " You bet !" Jake again assented. " If I was to go 
 there, old Carballo would fire me out of the house and 
 set the dog on me." 
 
 " H m !" commented Warren. " The parental oppo 
 sition could not well be more forcibly expressed.'' 
 
 " He'll never give in about me ; and the old lady '11 
 never give in about Camilla; so what is a fellow to 
 do?" Jake disconsolately asked, his mental anguish 
 apparent in every tone of his voice. 
 
 There is no form which human unhappiness can as 
 sume which receives so little sympathy as that which 
 results from disappointed love ; and, as Warren looked 
 at Jake's miserable countenance, he repressed with diffi 
 culty a strong desire to laugh, while he saw that his 
 companion was suffering real anguish, absurd as the 
 great hulking fellow looked while mourning over his 
 blighted affections. Jake was devotedly in love ; that 
 fact was perfectly clear; and, as Warren looked at 
 him, he thought how unjust is the popular sentiment 
 which ridicules such sorrows, as though there were 
 some excellent joke in a true and pure affection, and 
 its disappointment were, therefore, something to be 
 laughed at; while, were the sufferer laid up with a 
 broken leg, the compassion of these same laughers 
 would be outspoken and sincere, though Jake's suffer 
 ings would be no more real in the latter case than 
 they now were ; while it was very possible, if not even 
 probable, that they would not do him, in the long run, 
 so much actual injury as w r ould his present disappoint 
 ment. Was Warren himself feeling the tender influ 
 ence of this sacred passion ? and was this making him 
 more just and generous towards its victims ? He did 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 43 
 
 not know himself ; and as he did not care to know, he 
 would not examine his feelings in order to ascertain 
 what they were. 
 
 " Well, Jake, I am certainly sorry for you," he said, 
 after a few moments of silence on both sides. " Will 
 the girl stand by you, do you think ?" 
 
 " She'll never marry anybody else !" Jake answered, 
 confidently and proudly. 
 
 "You, I take it, will be true to her?" Warren then 
 asked. 
 
 " You bet ! I'll never look at any other girl," he 
 answered, almost angry at the supposition of possible 
 falseness on his side. 
 
 Positively, he did look almost heroic in his indig 
 nant repudiation of even the thought of treachery to 
 the girl he loved. 
 
 " Well, Jake," Warren answered, " as I told you, I 
 don't consider myself competent to advise in affairs 
 of the heart, having had no experience in such things 
 myself. But, so far as I can see, there is nothing for 
 you to do but simply to wait. Your mother has noth 
 ing against the young lady except the fact that she is 
 Spanish, has she ?" 
 
 " That's all. Says she ain't goin' to have no dirty 
 Greaser callin' her mother. Camilla ain't no Greaser ; 
 her family is pure Castilian," Jake answered, indig 
 nantly. 
 
 " Now, coming to the young lady's family," Warren 
 went on, quietly waiving all those nice distinctions of 
 nationality which were brought up by his companion's 
 protest. " Have they any objection to you ? anything 
 in yourself as a man, I mean, of course ?" 
 
44 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " Well I'm a heretic, you know," Jake admitted. 
 
 " The whole trouble, then, so far as I can see, grows 
 out of race jealousy and religious prejudice," said 
 Warren. 
 
 " I reckon you've hit it," was Jake's answer. 
 
 "Then, in my judgment, all you can do is to be 
 patient and wait," said Warren, sagely delivering his 
 opinion. " You are both of you young, and it will not 
 hurt you to wait two or three years yet. I know it 
 will be unpleasant, but it will not hurt you in the least 
 in the end. Just keep up a good heart, and be true 
 to each other, while you must not forget to be also true 
 to yourselves ; meanwhile, let things take their course 
 and don't force matters. I think the religious diffi 
 culty can be overcome ; while the race prejudice seems 
 to me too foolish to be any real obstacle to your happi 
 ness. These unreasonable prejudices always grow out 
 of ignorance ; and they always disappear when people 
 come to know each other better, and from that simple 
 fact get to liking each other better. So just be patient 
 and wait ; and meanwhile remember that I am your 
 friend, and will prove it in any way that I can. Don't 
 be afraid to call upon me at any time. Here is my 
 office, so good-morning." 
 
 "Good-by, Mr. Warren. I'm obliged to you," 
 Jake answered, as he went on down the street to the 
 beach with a happier face and a lighter heart than he 
 had carried before for many a day. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE days passed rapidly into weeks, and March had 
 come, carpeting the hills with brilliant and beautiful 
 wild-flowers. It was just the weather for an excursion, 
 and so it would remain for weeks now : too early for 
 the dust which would come with the long rainless and 
 cloudless summer ; too late to be embarrassed by the 
 mountain torrents, swollen by the winter's rains ; while 
 the wild-flowers, brought out by these showers, now 
 almost ended for the year, were fast coming to their 
 fullest beauty. 
 
 Warren was a firm believer in the joys of a picnic ; 
 but in making this admission you must remember that 
 picnics are capable of almost as widely different classi 
 fications as are the races of mankind. There is, cer 
 tainly, very little joy to be found in the average Eastern 
 picnic as it is generally devised and managed. No one 
 likes to be intimately associated for an indefinite num 
 ber of hours either with the man who has injured him 
 in his business prospects, or and this is even worse 
 to be thrown into constant and close contact with the 
 woman who has crushed his dearest and proudest hopes, 
 and be compelled to smile sweetly and converse amia 
 bly the while with either of these, whether it be his 
 worst or his dearest foe, under penalty of being looked 
 upon by every one in the party as an uncomfortable 
 person, one who always makes it a point to be glum 
 and sulky where all beside are agreeable and happy. 
 
 45 
 
46 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Nor is the outcome much more pleasant, even when 
 the company is most congenial, for the hitherto gay 
 party to find itself overtaken by a sudden and unex 
 pected shower, with the result that its members are 
 sent home dripping : the ladies cross over their ruined 
 bonnets and dresses; the gentlemen swearing softly 
 to themselves at being deluded into taking part in so 
 imbecile and comfortless an expedition. 
 
 But in California, during the proper season, a picnic 
 is an altogether different affair. To begin with, you 
 know that it will not rain. Then, you know that it 
 will be neither too hot for comfort nor too chilly for 
 health, while the scenery will be grandly beautiful ; 
 and last of all, if you make any effort to do so, every 
 element of discomfort can be eliminated so far as it is 
 either possible or best to abolish discomfort from our 
 mundane existence. The sum of the matter is, there 
 fore, that every candid person who has made the ex 
 periment must admit that it is impossible to spend a 
 season in California without becoming as ardent an ad 
 mirer of picnics and as enthusiastic an excursionist as 
 was our friend Warren. 
 
 He was late that morning at breakfast ; and as he 
 entered the dining-room of the Anacapa, he saw that he 
 had the field entirely to himself. Seating himself at 
 the table, he asked the waiter how long it had been 
 since the Mitchells were at breakfast. 
 
 "It must have been half an hour ago since they 
 were down," that dignitary replied. 
 
 " I wish, after giving my order, you would go to the 
 office and see if they have gone out ; and if they have 
 not, tell them that I want to see them and will be up 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 47 
 
 shortly," Warren said, looking over the bill of fare as 
 he spoke. 
 
 " Very well, sir/' the waiter answered, then disap 
 peared to give the order ; and, coming back in an in 
 stant, he made his way to the office to fulfil the rest of 
 his commission, his zeal being inspired by his hopes of 
 a fee : hopes which he felt certain were not doomed to 
 disappointment. He returned almost immediately with 
 the message that Mr. Mitchell and all the family were 
 in, and would be happy to see him at his convenience. 
 
 Warren thanked him, at the same time rejoicing his 
 heart with a fee which surpassed his wildest expecta 
 tions, and he departed to bring on Warren's order, the 
 devoted adherent of his benefactor forever. 
 
 After finishing his breakfast Warren went at once to 
 the room of his friends, and proceeded to unfold his 
 idea to them. Much to his disgust they received it 
 very coldly indeed, while Mrs. Mitchell was especially 
 firm in her opposition. 
 
 " Perhaps it is owing to my ignorance of this 
 country and its customs," she objected. "I admit 
 that I have not taken the same pains to inform myself 
 that you have, Mr. Warren ; but really, early March 
 does not seem to me to be the proper time for a 
 picnic." 
 
 " Prejudice, simple prejudice !" Warren answered, 
 laughing at her arguments against his great idea. " I 
 fear that you are a good deal of a tenderfoot even yet, 
 or you would recognize the undeniable fact that here 
 the names of the months are used only as a commer 
 cial convenience, and as a concession to conventional 
 usage. As for meaning, in this favored land they 
 
48 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 possess none at all. Have you consulted your ther 
 mometer faithfully while you have been here ?" 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell was by no means convinced ; she 
 did not, however, attempt to answer his argument, 
 but contented herself by replying to his question with 
 a simple " No." 
 
 "I thought not," Warren triumphantly answered. 
 " Your ignorance betrays itself. There is not a single 
 day in which the mercury does not register seventy 
 and above; and except for the remote possibility of 
 a shower it is perfect picnic weather ; and this is a 
 chance you are never free from in your beloved East. 
 As far as not being warm enough is concerned, one 
 could go off on such an excursion here in the middle 
 of January. Try again, Mrs. Mitchell." 
 
 " Oh, you need not exult so soon," that lady imme 
 diately answered ; " I am not nearly at the end of my list 
 of objections yet. In the next place, I think it will 
 be very damp under the trees, and we shall all take 
 cold eating our lunch there ; and I also think it will 
 be a terrible nuisance to provide and carry provisions ; 
 and I think " 
 
 " Hold, hold, enough of these sad plaints !" Warren 
 exclaimed, cutting short her objections. "I foresaw 
 all these difficulties and have carefully provided 
 against them. Now listen to me, ' Friends one and 
 all :' 7 do not wish to carry provisions ; and for the 
 world I would not risk the health of that delicate 
 husband of yours, Mrs. Mitchell, whose sylph-like 
 form proclaims him to be already a creature belonging 
 more to the next world than to this." 
 
 " Gently, Matt, gently ; don't grow personal, or I 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 49 
 
 shall do you an injury. This too solid flesh is not a 
 light matter, and I cannot permit it to be made the 
 subject of merriment," Mitchell said, with a sadly in 
 jured air. 
 
 Without attempting further sarcasm Warren again 
 resumed the defence of his project. "Very well," 
 he said. " To go into the merits of the case at once, 
 what I propose is that we all go to the Ojai. You 
 have none of you been there ; I have. Take my word 
 for it, if you go home without seeing the valley you 
 will lose a visit to one of the most beautiful and de 
 lightful places in the whole world. We will simply 
 go for pleasure, and I mean by that, go in light march 
 ing order. We will take no provisions, but ride up to 
 the valley ; take supper at the Oak Glen Cottages ; 
 sleep there, and ride back after breakfast in the morn 
 ing. How does that strike you for a picnic ct, la mode f 
 What do you say, Miss Wade ?" turning to this young 
 lady, who had up to this time taken no part in the 
 discussion. 
 
 Mollie laid aside the pretty nothings with which she 
 had been killing time, under the delusion she shared 
 in common with other ladies that doing this was to 
 " work ;" and while folding them preparatory to pmV 
 ting them into her basket, she said, in answer to the 
 question Warren had addressed to her, " I don't think 
 you have planned a picnic, Mr. Warren ; but I do 
 think you have proposed a very delightful excursion, 
 so I vote that we go." 
 
 " Before I commit myself either for or against," said 
 Mitchell, "I want the slight shade of ignorance dis 
 sipated which is still obscuring my usually clear per- 
 c d 5 
 
50 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 ceptions. I think you said something about riding, 
 Warren. Do you mean that we shall be conveyed by 
 horses altogether disconnected from vehicles ?" 
 
 " That was my meaning," Warren answered. 
 
 "Calmly, soberly, and while in full possession of 
 all your faculties you made that suggestion ?" Mitchell 
 demanded. 
 
 " To the best of my knowledge and belief I laid the 
 proposition before you during a lucid interval ; how 
 ever, it may be that you are better calculated to decide 
 that point than I," was Warren's reply. 
 
 Mitchell rose from his chair, and standing before 
 Warren so that his ample proportions could not fail to 
 make their full impression upon his friend, he said, 
 "Do I strike you as a man intended by nature to 
 appear before the world in the character of an eques 
 trian ?" 
 
 " You make altogether too much of your size, Mitch 
 ell," Warren answered, impatiently. "Other stout 
 men ride, and why should not you ? I don't see any 
 objection on that score." 
 
 " I do," Mitchell answered, emphatically. " Never 
 will I place myself on a horse's back, to become an object 
 of scoffing to men and of pity to angels. If I go, I 
 must be dispensed from that part of the programme." 
 
 "I see another, and a very important objection which 
 I think it very strange all the rest of you have for 
 gotten. What is to become of our boy, and your little 
 namesake, Mr. Warren?" Mrs. Mitchell inquired, her 
 manner showing very clearly that she regarded this as 
 a difficulty which must be fairly overcome, and would 
 admit of no compromise. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 51 
 
 "Can't you leave him here?" Warren indiscreetly 
 suggested. 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell gave a little cry of indignant dismay, 
 while both her sister and husband burst into a hearty 
 laugh at her consternation over Warren's proposal and 
 his manifest chagrin at the manner in which it had 
 been received. 
 
 " If that is not, for all the world, just like a man !" 
 she exclaimed. "The idea of leaving a baby only 
 two years old in a hotel, among strangers, while his 
 mother goes off on an excursion ! Of course that is 
 altogether out of the question. I am surprised at you, 
 Mr. Warren !" 
 
 Warren struggled out of the depths of the humilia 
 tion into which he had been plunged sufficiently to 
 attempt a defence, and explain the suggestion which 
 the horrified manner of the child's mother too plainly 
 showed she looked upon as stupid if not altogether 
 heartless. So, to show the absence of any cruel inten 
 tion on his part, he said, " Why, Mrs. Mitchell, the 
 child will not be alone among strangers ; his nurse 
 will be with him, and we shall not be gone two days." 
 
 "That does not alter the case in the least. Nothing 
 would justify me in going off on such an excursion 
 and leaving my child to the care of a servant among 
 strangers," Mrs. Mitchell answered, with unbending 
 severity. 
 
 " Don't say another word, Mr. Warren," Mollie in 
 terposed, laughing heartily at her sister's indignation 
 and Warren's air of mingled surprise and humility; 
 for even now he could see nothing so very outrageous 
 in his solution of the difficulty. " If you try to make 
 
52 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 any further explanations or suggestions I can see that 
 you will ruin yourself irretrievably with Effie. I see 
 no way out of this difficulty, which is really no diffi 
 culty, but to let John Addison and Effie go in a 
 carriage with the boy, while the rest of us ride; or 
 else, just let the whole matter drop and stay at home. 
 Now, which had we better do ?" 
 
 Warren certainly was not going to abandon the 
 enterprise if this outcome could possibly be avoided. 
 The prospect of a long ride to the Ojai and back in 
 Mollie's company was altogether too delightful to be 
 lightly abandoned. As his eyes met hers, soft, liquid, 
 and melting, his heart gave a throb of exquisite hap 
 piness : it was a delight to him merely to be in her 
 presence; to know that she was near him; to look 
 upon her and adore her, even though she knew noth 
 ing of his adoration. 
 
 " Let it be as you wish," he answered. " I do not 
 see why the trip cannot be arranged as Miss Wade has 
 proposed. You can take the boy and go in a carriage ; 
 andj if you and they wish, the Rector and his wife can 
 go in the same carriage, while the rest of us can ride." 
 
 " Now you once more hold your former high place 
 in my esteem, and I think Effie is also less inclined to 
 regard you as a monster," Mitchell replied. 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell relented at once, and said in answer to 
 her husband's reference to her, 
 
 "Yes; although the offence was a terrible one, I 
 attribute it to ignorance and so forgive it. I suppose, 
 by your suggesting that the Rector and his wife go with 
 us, you have the party in mind ?" 
 
 "Yes," Warren answered. "We do not want a 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 53 
 
 large party. I thought that beside ourselves we would 
 simply ask my partner and Miss Wade's hotel friend, 
 Miss Lake ; these, with the Hector and his wife, will 
 make the party large enough, will it not ?" 
 
 The Rector and his wife were a young couple from 
 Boston, newly married, who had recently come to the 
 parish, and had been in the city but a few weeks over 
 a year. 
 
 Mitchell thought the party sufficiently large, and ex 
 pressed himself delighted with the clerical addition to 
 their number. 
 
 " The Rector and his wife by all means !" he ex 
 claimed. " While the presence of two Bostonians will 
 lend culture to the company, perhaps their goodness 
 will act as a counterpoise to the depravity the presence 
 of two California real-estate dealers will certainly intro 
 duce. Now we must decide when we are to go." 
 
 "How will the day after to-morrow suit you?" 
 Warren asked, wholly ignoring his friend's comments. 
 
 " All times are alike to us idle tourists, you know," 
 Mitchell answered. "You and your partner are the 
 only men of business to be present ; the Rector is the 
 only man of affairs. If he, Miss Lake, and you two 
 men of business find that time agreeable to you, it will 
 be perfectly convenient to us ; will it not, ladies ?" he 
 asked, turning to his wife and her sister for the expres 
 sion of their opinion. 
 
 They assented ; and thereupon Warren remarked, 
 " As for the Rector, I have already seen him and asked 
 if he could go, and on that day, and he has agreed. I 
 will speak to Miss Lake as I go out ; if she happens to 
 be engaged for that day, we can change the time to meet 
 
54 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 her convenience, though I apprehend no danger of 
 postponement on that score, for she is as idle a tourist 
 as yourselves. As for Glenn and myself, our time is 
 not very valuable just at present." 
 
 This remark caused Mitchell to look profoundly 
 interested at once. "Is business dull?" he asked. 
 
 " A little slack just at present ; but then one never has 
 time to work very hard in this country ; pleasure before 
 business, you know," Warren answered, trying to evade 
 a direct answer. 
 
 But Mitchell was too deeply interested in the issue 
 of his friend's business enterprise to be put off by any 
 thing less than a direct and positive refusal on Warren's 
 part to answer any questions ; and this he felt certain 
 that he, knowing and respecting his motives in inquiring 
 into the success of this new business venture, would not 
 make. 
 
 " You are not doing as well as you expected, I take 
 it ?" he next asked, putting a direct question this time. 
 
 Warren hesitated a moment as though doubtful 
 whether to answer or not, then as if deciding to give 
 his confidence to his friend, replied, " I did not come 
 this morning to talk business ; I shall, however, have 
 something to talk over with you in a few days, after 
 we get things a little more into shape. Just now we are 
 a little dull, but very soon now we shall have some 
 thing on foot that will make things lively ; and even 
 so hardened a sceptic as you will think it worth taking 
 hold of, I feel very sure." 
 
 ' ' Ah, T see," Mitchell replied, meditatively. " Speak 
 ing in the language of the country, you are getting up 
 a boom." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 55 
 
 " That's it. You've put the whole matter into a nut 
 shell/' Warren answered, while the ladies sat listening 
 with interest, for the subject now being discussed was 
 one entirely new to them, while it was one which was 
 continually mentioned in all the papers, and which 
 formed so absorbing a topic of conversation that no one 
 could be long in Southern California without becoming 
 profoundly interested in it. 
 
 Mitchell looked very serious. " You are in it ?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Oh, four of us have formed a company," Warren 
 replied. 
 
 Mitchell shook his head, his manner plainly show 
 ing that he doubted the success of the enterprise, while 
 he further asked, " How much do you expect to make?" 
 
 Warren had risen to take his leave, having now com 
 pleted the arrangements for his excursion, which had 
 been the object of his call ; but seeing the doubts enter 
 tained by Mitchell of the successful issue of the scheme 
 upon which he had embarked, he replaced his hat upon 
 the table and again sat down, in order to remove all 
 sceptical ' notions from the mind of his friend as to the 
 brilliant issue awaiting his project, and to defend his 
 own reputation for business sagacity. 
 
 " I say once more, that I did not come here this 
 morning to talk business," he replied ; " but I will ex 
 plain what I have already said by telling you that we 
 have taken up a tract of land near this city which we 
 are now laying out into a town site ; we are building a 
 reservoir; we shall also make further improvements, 
 and then we shall put it on the market." 
 
 Mitchell looked at him with a countenance expres- 
 
56 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 sive of the deepest compassion. "Warren," he said, 
 very gravely, " have you been drawn into this enter 
 prise very deeply ?" 
 
 Warren was both surprised and piqued by his friend's 
 serious manner. Although he knew that Mitchell was 
 altogether out of sympathy with the prevailing land- 
 craze, he also knew that he was a firm believer in 
 the future of the country, and he had hoped that, on 
 general principles, he would at least endorse and sup 
 port an enterprise which was undertaken fully as much 
 to develop the country as to enrich its projectors; 
 Vexed at the manner in which Mitchell persisted in 
 looking at the project, he made no answer, and Mitchell 
 went on : "I am not asking this out of curiosity, but 
 as an old friend. I hope you are not very deeply in 
 terested in this matter." 
 
 "You need not be at all alarmed; Jam not. I have 
 such perfect confidence in the result that I have in 
 vested the greater part of what I am worth," Warren 
 answered. 
 
 Mitchell sank back with a sigh of despair. " I wish 
 you had talked with me before you became interested 
 in this wild scheme. But it is too late to say anything 
 about that now," he said. 
 
 Warren took umbrage at once. As a business man, 
 'as a dealer in real estate who was supposed to know 
 the demands of the market and whose business it was 
 to anticipate these demands in order that he might 
 supply them, he was not disposed to tolerate any croak- 
 ings from a cold-blooded and unsympathetic critic like 
 his friend ; least of all was he disposed to permit his 
 sagacity to be attacked in the presence of the ladies, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 57 
 
 so he answered almost savagely, " See here, Mitchell, I 
 ought to have known better than to mention any such 
 scheme for the development of the country to any 
 beastly Silurian like yourself. Of course you would 
 cry it down ; it's like you and your kind to oppose 
 any step that tends towards progress that we may try 
 to make. You come out here; you get all the ad 
 vantages of this wonderful climate; you bring your 
 invalids here and get them cured ; you eat our fruits, 
 and enjoy our grand scenery, and lead a simply 
 ideal life, revelling in the very poetry of existence so 
 long as you choose to remain; but all this time you 
 keep in mind the fact that you haven't come to stay. 
 You remember very vividly that all your interests are 
 back East ; and you are afraid that the truth about 
 this country will get out and hurt your interests as an 
 Eastern man ; so you don't see, and won't admit facts 
 as they are ; not you ! oh, no ! You cry the country 
 down because you are afraid the facts will become 
 known; and you say that our development, unprece 
 dented in the history of the world, is all boom, and 
 that it is beginning to collapse already. Oh, I know 
 the whole story you tell ; but I think it mighty un 
 friendly of you to wet blanket me in this manner. 77 
 
 This outburst of virtuous indignation was very fine, 
 and part of it was almost eloquent. It would, how 
 ever, have made a deeper impression upon Mitchell 
 had Warren been longer than three months in Califor 
 nia, and had he not already repeatedly read something 
 of the kind in all the papers issued in Southern Cali 
 fornia, so that he knew the sad plaint by heart himself. 
 As it was, Warren's impassioned appeal simply dis- 
 
58 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 gusted him ; and as he paused in his torrent of indig 
 nant remonstrance, Mitchell said, " While you are getting 
 your breath, kindly listen to what I have to say. Have 
 I ever misrepresented this country in any way, or tried 
 to detract from any of its charms in the least ? No, 
 don't quibble," he said, as Warren tried to talk around 
 this question. "Give me an honest answer to an 
 honest question. Have I ever, in any way, said less 
 than the truth about this country or its advantages ? 77 
 
 " No/ 7 Warren reluctantly admitted, " I cannot say 
 that you yourself have done so ; I was speaking of your 
 kind." 
 
 "Never mind my kind/ 7 Mitchell rejoined. "I 
 want to be egotistical and talk about myself. I have 
 broken the point off your argument ; now we will pro 
 ceed to examine the stump. I believe you say that I 
 accuse you of ' booming / as I understand that classic 
 phrase, it means creating a market for property in ex 
 cess of the needs of the country, does it not ?" 
 
 " I believe so/ 7 Warren replied, feeling very cross at 
 being made to appear foolish before the lady of his 
 fond devotion ; and as he realized that his want of con 
 trol over his own temper had drawn Mitchell into this 
 discussion, his anger began to burn hotly against his 
 friend. Of course this was altogether wrong ; but, after 
 all, it was human nature. 
 
 "Well/ 7 Mitchell went on in that calmly logical 
 way which is so convincing but so exasperating, 
 "you are, as I understand your explanation of your 
 idea, creating a suburban town which is to possess 
 all, perhaps more than all, the attractions to be found 
 in any one of the finest suburbs of New York City. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 59 
 
 Now, how many inhabitants has Ventura ? Three or 
 four thousand, has it not ?" 
 
 " About that, I believe/' Warren replied ; his three 
 months' residence in the country having made him so 
 good a Californian that he failed to say about what, 
 leaving you to take the larger figures if you chose to 
 do so. 
 
 "Very well," Mitchell went on in the same calm, 
 convincing tones, and now prepared to drive his argu 
 ment so effectually home that it would carry convic 
 tion even to so prejudiced and interested a listener as 
 Warren. " New York has considerably more than a 
 million inhabitants, all crowded together on a little 
 island, and this great population must, of course, over 
 flow in one direction or another ; that is why all its de 
 sirable suburbs succeed. In a town of three or four 
 thousand people, and which has unlimited capacity for 
 extending its suburbs in any direction except, of course, 
 into the ocean, I see no reason for the existence of a 
 suburban town to catch the overflow of population ; at 
 least not until it equals New York in population. And 
 I don't expect that even you and your company expect 
 that to come about in less than ten years, do you ? There 
 you have the reasons why I say your project cannot suc 
 ceed. And there, again, you have the reasons why I 
 say that you are trying to create a demand in the 
 market which does not exist in order to supply it with 
 an article no one needs ; or, once more speaking in the 
 vernacular, you are ( booming.' 77 
 
 Warren hastily sprang to his feet and caught up his 
 hat. He was angry with himself for the outburst 
 which had led to this discussion ; angry with Mitchell 
 
60 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 for taking advantage of it to show the rashness of in 
 vesting so heavily in an enterprise which was at least of 
 doubtful success ; while his anger was increased by the 
 fact that he could not answer one of these arguments. 
 
 "There is no use of our pursuing this discussion, 
 Mitchell/ 7 he answered hotly, endeavoring to control 
 his temper, but with only partial success. "I will 
 only say this in reply to you : ' he laughs best who 
 laughs last/ and in less than a twelvemonth I shall 
 take out at least ten times the money I put into this 
 enterprise, and it is not at all unlikely that I shall 
 make fifteen times my original investment. By that 
 time you will be despising yourself because you were 
 too big a coward to make a dollar, even when the 
 opportunity jumps at you and begs to be taken up. 
 Good-morning. Good-morning, ladies." And, bowing 
 to Mrs. Mitchell and her sister, he left the room. 
 
 Mitchell looked after him in silence as he closed the 
 door ; then, as he resumed the reading of the morning 
 paper which he had laid aside as Warren entered the 
 room, he said, wiping his glasses as he spoke, " Girls, 
 you have often heard of the California land-craze; 
 you see it in its most malignant form in that young 
 man who has just left the room. Shun the disease, 
 shun it with the utmost care. It spares neither sex 
 nor condition, while it hardly spares any age ; indeed, 
 none are free from the infection save infants and 
 tender youth. Like intemperance and the opium- 
 habit, it carries wretchedness, poverty, and disaster into 
 many a home, and, saddest of all, I fear that its dire 
 work is only just begun. As for that young man, our 
 friend Warren, he is already past cure." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. Q\ 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell raised her eyes from the sewing on 
 which she was employed, her alarm visible in every 
 feature. "Oh, John Addison," she cried, "do be 
 serious just one moment, and tell me, you don't really 
 think he will be ruined?" 
 
 "Answering both questions at once, I do/ 7 Mitchell 
 replied. " As for being serious, I was never more in 
 earnest in my life than I am at this present moment. I 
 don't like his partner ; he is a pleasant and plausible 
 man, altogether too plausible, and he looks like a sharp. 
 Then, I have seen something of the crowd his business 
 compels him to go in with ; I don't like them at all. 
 My opinion is that they have got hold of him for a 
 green Easterner, a t tenderfoot' as the phrase is, and 
 they won't let him go until they have cleaned him out." 
 
 " Oh," Mrs. Mitchell exclaimed, with a sigh, " what 
 a dreadful pity ! Can't you do something to help him ?" 
 
 "What can he do, Erne?" Mollie, who until now 
 had sat silently but intently listening to all that had 
 been said, calmly asked. " You heard John Addison 
 trying to advise Mr. Warren, and you saw how angry 
 he became at any interference, and how he went off in 
 a huff. If he will not take a friend's advice how can 
 any friend help him ?" 
 
 "That's the point exactly, Mollie," Mitchell an 
 swered, resuming his paper. "Nothing can be done. 
 It's the old Scotch proverb fulfilled before our eyes : 
 ' If wilfu' will to water, wilfu' maun drench.' " 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE fifth of March was a perfect day ; the sun rose 
 clear and warm, not a particle of mist was in the 
 atmosphere, while the day itself was as mild as a day 
 in an Eastern June. 
 
 By ten o'clock a merry party was gathered under the 
 broad porch of the Anacapa waiting for the horses to 
 be brought round; while a two-horse carriage stood 
 ready for Mitchell to display his skill as a driver. 
 
 " Good-by, Erne ; I hope no calamity will befall you," 
 Mollie called out to her sister, as Mitchell assisted her 
 into the carriage. She herself was still standing in the 
 door-way of the hotel buttoning the wrist of her long 
 riding-glove. 
 
 " I hope that my life will be spared to me ; but I 
 confess that I have my fears. The memory of my last 
 ride with John Addison, and how he upset me and 
 hurt my shoulder, still lingers in my mind, calling 
 up awful forebodings as to my fate and the disasters 
 about to befall our heir before we are once more safely 
 back in our rooms," Mrs. Mitchell answered, as she 
 seated herself in the carriage and drew the duster 
 about her. 
 
 " If that is his style of driving I think we had better 
 take the lower road ; if we go by that, we shall have to 
 cross the creek about fourteen times, and possibly he 
 might upset you in that. The water will break the 
 force of your fall less violently and far more agreeably 
 62 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 63 
 
 than the hard ground," said Warren, who was standing 
 by Mollie's horse waiting to assist her to mount. 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell received this pleasant suggestion with 
 a cry of dismay. "I'll never consent to go by that 
 awful road, and if you are thinking of it, I insist upon 
 getting out of this carriage and going back to my room 
 this very moment. If we should try to go by that 
 road we would never get there alive; John Addison 
 would have us and himself drowned before we had 
 crossed the creek half of those fourteen times," she pro 
 tested, pathetically. Then, as another fear suggested 
 itself to her mind, she asked, trembling with apprehen 
 sion while she spoke, " Isn't the water awfully high ?" 
 
 " It is fairly well up," Warren answered, maliciously. 
 He was still sore over his last interview with Mitchell ; 
 and he was well enough acquainted with feminine 
 nature, at least in so far as it was displayed in his 
 friend's wife, to know that if he could thoroughly 
 awaken her fears before the trip was fairly begun, she 
 would hold her apprehensions prominently before her 
 husband not only during the ride to the valley, but she 
 would also retain enough of them to render him thor 
 oughly miserable during the return journey as well. 
 This fact brought him a feeling of intense satisfaction ; 
 andj seeing how well he had succeeded in arousing her 
 apprehensions of the dangers lying before her, he tried 
 to still further add to them, saying, " Indeed, the last 
 time I was up that way I found my road cut by a very 
 respectable stream ; but that is all the better for you, 
 because in case you should really be upset, the deeper 
 the water and the swifter the current the less will be 
 your danger of striking the rocks in your fall." 
 
(J4 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell positively refused to view the matter 
 in any such comforting light, and would neither be 
 calmed nor comforted until her husband, thinking that 
 the matter had already gone too far for his comfort, 
 interposed. " Don't be a goose, Erne," he said. " We 
 never entertained the notion of going by the lower road 
 in the first place ; and whichever road we do take, I 
 will engage to take you up and bring you back safely. 
 The dangers you will be called upon to encounter are 
 by no means so great as our friend represents. I see 
 through his game, and you ought to. He wants to 
 frighten you, and make you a lively companion for me." 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell glanced reproachfully at Warren, who 
 laughed, raised his hat, and said, " All ready ? Drive 
 on, and we will overtake you by the time you have 
 reached the avenue." 
 
 By this time Mollie had joined him. In her dark 
 riding-habit and tall hat she looked simply bewitching, 
 as Warren mentally told himself more than once. Her 
 soft dark eyes were shining with anticipated pleasure, 
 while her red lips, just parted, showed the small, white, 
 even teeth. Warren lifted her into her saddle, and 
 taking his place beside her, Glenn and Miss Lake now 
 declaring themselves ready, the party galloped after the 
 carriage. 
 
 For the first few miles little was said between the 
 riders. Although riding certainly is an exhilarating 
 and most delightful exercise, it is by no means condu 
 cive to sociability ; while a young man in love can find 
 no more exasperating position in which to make the 
 effort to win the affections of the lady of his choice than 
 that which he is forced to occupy during a horseback- 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 65 
 
 ride. Warren was now a sufficiently accomplished 
 equestrian to understand all this ; and for some miles 
 conversation was not attempted beyond now and then 
 a few words in reference to the scenery or the route 
 they should follow. Delightful as is the ride to the 
 Ojai under any circumstances, it gained charms far 
 beyond any that Warren had dreamed it could possess 
 from the perfect happiness he felt in the society of his 
 companion. As for Mollie, it would have been difficult 
 for her to define the sentiments which she entertained 
 towards her companion. While she enjoyed his society, 
 yet he awakened in her a strong antagonism, which, 
 perhaps, gave to the man and his opinions an interest 
 she would not otherwise have felt either in reference to 
 Warren himself, his theories, or his conduct. After 
 crossing the creek and riding on at a rapid pace for two 
 or three miles, they drew up under the shade of a grove 
 of live-oaks to rest their horses and enjoy the scenery ; 
 while they also waited for their companions, whom they 
 had left at some distance behind them. 
 
 " How I wish I had my sketch-book with me I" said 
 Mollie. "I would like to preserve this beautiful place 
 in some more permanent form than my memory; I 
 would like it to refer to myself after I return home, 
 while it is also well worth showing to one's friends." 
 
 " While I do not in the least doubt your skill with 
 the pencil, Miss Wade, do you think you could do 
 justice to the scene?" Warren asked. 
 
 "Thank you for your implied confidence in my 
 skill, and permit me to congratulate you upon your 
 dexterity in the use of language. No one else among 
 all my acquaintances could so delicately and ingeniously 
 
 e G* 
 
QQ THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 have retracted in the last half of a sentence what he had 
 been saying in the first half as have you only now/ 7 
 Mollie answered, pretending to feel bitterly aggrieved. 
 
 Warren raised his hat, saying, " Permit me to most 
 humbly beg your pardon for my stupidity. I am 
 crushed into the earth by the weight of your displeas 
 ure ; I certainly did not mean to retract anything that 
 I had said." 
 
 "Perhaps you will explain your meaning, and in 
 that way permit me to judge your intentions," she re 
 plied, without changing from her first injured manner 
 in the least. 
 
 "What would I not do to be restored to your favor?" 
 Warren answered, his eyes expressing the earnestness 
 that he dared not permit his words to convey. 
 
 In an instant Mollie was on her guard. " Mr. War 
 ren cannot be charged with over-modesty. Why does 
 he think that he can be restored to that which, possibly, 
 he never possessed? But I am waiting for the ex 
 planation," she replied. 
 
 The words were spoken in the same light and playful 
 manner in which their sparring was habitually con 
 ducted ; but there was a look in her dark eyes as they 
 met his own which warned Warren that she, like him 
 self, had thrown into her words a meaning she wished 
 him to understand; while he also perceived that if 
 their comradeship were to continue that he must act, 
 for the future, upon this warning she had given him 
 in all his conduct towards her. 
 
 Warren flushed and bit his lip. He was hurt more 
 deeply than he would acknowledge even to himself. 
 Still, though it was clear from her words that he had 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 67 
 
 not as yet gained her affections, nor even her liking 
 beyond an indifferent esteem, which permitted her to 
 accept him as an agreeable escort now and then, he 
 would not as yet despair of what might be. Concealing 
 the pain her words had given him as best he might, 
 he answered in a tone as careless as her own, 
 
 " I merely intended to intimate to Miss Wade that 
 she could hardly hope to do justice to the rich coloring 
 of the scenery before us in the colorless reproduction 
 of a pencil sketch." 
 
 Mollie glanced keenly at him for an instant ; then, 
 seeing that he fully understood her meaning, wishing 
 to place her companion once more at his ease in her 
 society, she dropped her air of pretended indignation, 
 and, as though there had been nothing more in their 
 words than appeared on the surface, she looked long 
 and earnestly at the picture spread before her. 
 
 The road wound around the mountains; and just 
 beyond where they had reined in their horses, though 
 concealed from their sight by a turn, it dipped slightly 
 in its descent to the valley below, accomplished by an 
 easy and pleasant grade. On one side of them the 
 mountains rose precipitous and almost awful in their 
 majesty ; their wrinkled faces now smiling with the 
 verdure brought out by the winter's rains. A meadow 
 lay gently sloping up to their sheer ascent, dotted with 
 live-oaks, from whose branches hung long festoons of 
 lace-like Spanish moss ; while it was carpeted with 
 bright flowers of all colors, ranging from a dainty and 
 delicate blue to the gorgeous yellow of the California 
 poppy. 
 
 On their left was a sheer descent of hundreds of feet 
 
68 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 down to the valley below. Through this valley there 
 ran a narrow and shallow river looking like a silver 
 thread in the distance, its banks lined with a green 
 fringe of willows. At their feet, and on into the re 
 moter distance, lay the fertile ranches of prosperous 
 farmers, their green fields looking like huge checker 
 boards as they extended far up the hills, whose precipi 
 tous walls framed the picture beyond ; while over all 
 was spread the rich deep-blue canopy of the California 
 sky. 
 
 Mollie drew a deep breath expressive of her admira 
 tion of the scene before her as she said, speaking as 
 much to herself as to her companion, " No ; it would 
 be almost sacrilege to desecrate this beautiful picture 
 with my crude scrawling. Even the most skilful of 
 artists would fail to do full justice to its beauty." 
 
 "May I hope, then, that I am justified in your 
 opinion ?" Warren asked, wishing to keep up for the 
 present the badinage in which they had been indulging. 
 
 " Fully." 
 
 "And forgiven?" 
 
 " Fully. But what is coming now ?" she asked, as 
 the soft tinkling of bells came to their ears, still faint 
 in the distance, but gradually coming nearer. 
 
 "No demon of the mountains or the forests. So 
 much the reverse, that you ought to be familiar with 
 the sight by this; it is even so commonplace and 
 homely a thing as a load of wood. Come, let us make 
 room, then wait and see if my prophecy is not ful 
 filled," Warren answered. 
 
 They reined their horses to the side of the road 
 farthest from the precipice, then faced them about, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. $9 
 
 waiting. Again Mollie's eyes wandered to the green 
 fields dotting the distant hill-sides miles away, although 
 every feature of the landscape came out with perfect 
 distinctness in the clear atmosphere. 
 
 "What grain is that growing in those fields on the 
 hills over there, Mr. Warren ?" she asked. 
 
 "Faith, I can't tell you. You could not ask a 
 worse authority than myself as to agricultural matters," 
 he answered, flecking with his riding-whip an acorn 
 from the oak overhanging him as he spoke. " If you 
 were to ask me its value as acreage property you would 
 be within my province, and I would give you an an 
 swer in which you would always find my appraisement 
 varying in an ascending or descending scale as you 
 appeared in the character of purchaser or seller. As 
 for what the land produces, there my opinion is worth 
 less. But here comes an authority ; let us consult him." 
 
 As he spoke the tinkling, which had been continu 
 ally growing nearer, now sounded close at hand, and 
 around the turn came eight horses, harnessed two and 
 two, drawing, as Warren had prophesied, a huge load 
 of wood piled in three wagons, which were fastened 
 one behind another. The bells were upon the collar 
 of the leader ; the driver rode one of the horses next 
 the wagon. When the team had come abreast of them, 
 Warren hailed the driver and put Mollie's question, 
 
 " I say, friend, can you tell us what grain is growing 
 in those fields off on yonder hills ?" 
 
 The driver reined in his horses, ready to stop for a 
 friendly chat, and answered, "I can that, colonel. 
 That's a mighty fine ranch over there. Yer kin raise 
 anything under the sun and moon over there. See them 
 
70 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 white spots off on the hill over thataway, lookin' like 
 a graveyard ? Them's hives. That's a bee-ranch ; and 
 there's a right smart o' bees over thar, yieldin' a right 
 smart o' honey too. They gave suthin' over a ton last 
 year. Then, off on the hill that away,that green field's 
 barley. Then, off thataway, that smaller field's spuds." 
 
 Mollie looked sadly perplexed as this unfamiliar 
 name was spoken, thinking at first that she had mis 
 understood. Glancing from Warren's amused face to 
 the bland and serious countenance of the driver, she 
 said, " I beg your pardon ; but I don't think I under 
 stood that last name." 
 
 " I say, them's spuds," he explained, as he discharged 
 a huge quid of tobacco preparatory to refreshing him 
 self with a fresh chew. 
 
 Mollie's face became almost pathetic in her per 
 plexity. 
 
 " I I fear I don't quite know what that is. Does 
 it grow out of California ?" she asked. 
 
 " It grows the world over, Miss Wade," Warren an 
 swered, laughing heartily at her puzzled expression. 
 " One does not often hear the word in household life, 
 even in this part of the world, where I believe it is 
 alone indigenous. But ' spud' is the commercial name 
 in California for the potato." 
 
 " O-h-h !" said Mollie, prolonging the interjection ; 
 and, touching her horse with her whip, she dashed down 
 the road unceremoniously, and was around the turn 
 and out of sight in an instant. Bidding the friendly 
 driver "good-morning," Warren galloped after her, 
 and soon overtook her indeed he found her waiting 
 for him in an oak grove at the foot of the hill. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 7} 
 
 Checking his horse at her side, Warren asked her, as 
 soon as laughter would permit him to speak, "Why 
 did you take your departure so very unceremoniously, 
 Miss Wade?" 
 
 " I hope you did not think that I was running away 
 from you, Mr. Warren/ 7 Mollie answered. " I assure 
 you that I had no such intention. But while I am 
 willing to do almost anything for your sake, I cannot 
 I cannot, even to enjoy the delights of your society, re 
 main in the presence of a man so wholly lost to the better 
 instincts of human nature that he can call that useful 
 article, the potato, by such a horrible name as i spud.' ? > 
 
 Warren placed his hand upon his heart and bowed 
 low in his saddle. "For myself, thanks awfully. 
 For your explanation, it is sufficient, and I share in 
 your sentiments fully. Yes, in every particular," he 
 added, hastily forestalling the question he saw her 
 about to put. " I altogether agree with you as to the 
 charms of my society, while I share your feelings of 
 horror as to the name of the vegetable we have just 
 heard. But look," he said, pointing up the hill. " There 
 come our dilatory companions ; shall we wait, or ride 
 on before them ?" 
 
 " Let us wait," she requested, anxious to avoid any 
 further attempt at love-making. 
 
 Warren, of course, assented ; so, waiting until the rest 
 of the party were close upon them, they then turned 
 their horses and rode on, still keeping sufficiently in 
 advance to be by themselves. 
 
 "Mr. Glenn does not seem to be an accomplished 
 horseman," Mollie remarked, glancing back towards the 
 other pair of equestrians in the party as she spoke. 
 
72 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " No," Warren answered, also looking back to observe 
 them. " He seems to be almost as much of a tyro as 
 Miss Lake. In her case her want of skill is pardon 
 able, for she is an Eastern girl. In his case there is no 
 excuse, for he has been out here for years, and every 
 Californian rides." 
 
 "As they have safely come so far on their journey, I 
 suppose we need not feel anxious about them ?" Mollie 
 laughingly asked. 
 
 " Not at all. Their riding is safe even if it is not 
 beautiful," Warren answered, in the same spirit as that 
 in which the question had been asked. 
 
 " Be careful of your criticisms, sir ; I am an Eastern 
 girl as well as Miss Lake," Mollie severely returned. 
 
 " But you know how to ride," Warren protested. 
 
 "Oh, yes," she answered, "I have always known 
 how to ride. I have spent half my life at least in 
 the country and so among horses, and I cannot remem 
 ber a time when I did not know how to ride. But 
 most of our Eastern girls are not so fortunate as to 
 enjoy such opportunities for learning the art of riding 
 as have always been mine. But how far are we from 
 our destination ?" 
 
 " A little more than two miles. Are you tired ?" 
 
 " Tired ? No indeed ! I could ride forever in this 
 delightful air and warm sunlight." 
 
 A brisk ride of a few minutes over a road as hard 
 and even as a floor and the party were in the street of 
 a quiet village nestling between two spurs of the Sierra 
 Madre Mountains, the high peaks towering up towards 
 the blue heavens on either side. The street was shaded 
 by huge live-oaks, while green fields lay on either hand. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 73 
 
 " What a lovely place I" Mollie exclaimed, her eyes 
 sparkling with delight and admiration. 
 
 " Is it not ?" Warren asked in reply. " To my mind 
 this is the veritable Happy Valley. It is rightly 
 named Ojai, is it not ?" 
 
 " I am afraid I am not qualified to pronounce judg 
 ment on that point/' Mollie answered. "I did not 
 know, until this moment, that the word possessed any 
 meaning." 
 
 " The natives tell us that it does," Warren returned. 
 "Tradition says that it is an Indian word meaning 
 ' Eagle's Nest ;' and, to my mind, no more beautiful or 
 appropriate name could have been given to this lovely 
 valley than that by which its savage possessors first 
 called it." 
 
 " It does perfectly describe it," Mollie answered. " It 
 does resemble a huge nest held in the arms of the 
 mountains." 
 
 " There is our destination," said Warren, pointing as 
 he spoke towards a group of pretty cottages whose 
 white sides gleamed out in pleasant contrast to the 
 green of the oak-trees beneath which they nestled. " It 
 is a unique way of building a hotel, is it not?" he 
 added. "This grouping together a little village of 
 neat cottages. But I like the idea ; it harmonizes so 
 perfectly with this delicious climate and romantic 
 country." 
 
 " Yes," Mollie answered, " and the name is appro 
 priate and self-suggestive in this instance also. As 
 one looks at these great trees gracefully draped in 
 moss, which shade the buildings, the name ( Oak Glen' 
 comes to one's lips almost of itself." 
 D 7 
 
74 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 t 
 Assisting her to dismount, they stood waiting upon 
 
 :he veranda of the principal cottage until the rest of 
 the party came up; then Warren said, as the others 
 dismounted and came up to where he and Mollie stood 
 waiting, 
 
 "Now what is the verdict? Shall we have dinner 
 now, or shall we wait and rest ? Don't all speak at 
 once, please. Mrs. Conyngham, what do you say?" 
 turning to the Kector's wife, whom Mitchell had that 
 moment handed from the carriage. 
 
 " I am not at all tired, while I am very hungry," 
 that lady replied. 
 
 "I think we all share the same sentiments," said 
 Mrs. Mitchell. "A grace of fifteen minutes will be 
 sufficient for us to repair the damages incurred during 
 our journey." 
 
 The merry party was soon gathered around the table 
 in the pleasant dining-room of the Oak Glen cottages. 
 
 " I rejoice to see that you have safely encountered 
 the manifold dangers of field, forest, mountain, and 
 flood," Warren said, addressing Mrs. Mitchell in a 
 manner as serious, and conveying as much congratu 
 lation, as though she had safely come through the most 
 deadly perils. 
 
 " You may laugh at me all you choose, Mr. Warren, 
 but I assure you it is no small tax on one's nerves to 
 ford streams, and ride up mountains and through 
 passes, behind two spirited horses which are managed 
 by an unskilful driver," she answered, severely. 
 
 " Only hear that now !" her husband interposed, 
 twisting his face into what he intended should repre 
 sent the keenest mental anguish. " And that from my 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 75 
 
 own wife ! You would think that the horses had been 
 managing me, instead of I them. But the proverb is 
 true, and I see it substantiated in my own family every 
 day : no man is great to the members of his own house 
 hold. I must remember that I do not suifer this misery 
 alone." 
 
 "You did very well indeed this time, John Addi- 
 son," his wife answered, in a tone at once conciliatory 
 and patronizing. " You did not commit one reckless 
 act, and you were not very awkward. But you cannot 
 expect me to place implicit confidence in your driving 
 after you have once upset me." 
 
 " That was more than three years ago, and I hear of 
 it every day of my life ; and I suppose that I shall 
 until my life is ended," said Mitchell, laying down his 
 knife and fork and looking around upon the members 
 of the party, every feature of his countenance making 
 a pathetic appeal for their sympathy. 
 
 " I think it very likely that he may have upset you 
 purposely, to give you reason for the want of confi 
 dence in his skill which you were expressing at that 
 very time," said the Rector, addressing Mrs. Mitchell. 
 
 " Thank you, thank you, Mr. Conyngham," Mitchell 
 answered, his manner expressing the consolation these 
 words afforded him. "That is a suggestion I shall 
 always highly value. My dear, will you kindly bear 
 in mind after this, that I capsized you through skilful 
 driving, and not out of awkwardness ? and tremble in 
 silence for the future lest a worse fate befall you." 
 
 " Warren ! do take your fingers out of your mouth !" 
 Mrs. MitchelFs voice rang out sharply above the 
 merry conversation of the little party. The whole 
 
76 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 company started in surprise, the mild-mannered little 
 Rector dropping his eye-glasses into his plate in his 
 consternation, while Mr. Glenn turned and stared at 
 his partner, wondering if his hostess had taken sudden 
 leave of her senses that she should think he could be 
 guilty of such a breach of good manners. For a mo 
 ment all eyes were fixed upon Warren, who was quietly 
 eating his soup when Mrs. Mitchell spoke. He started 
 so suddenly at her sharp voice that he dropped his 
 spoon to the floor in his confusion ; then, turning several 
 colors at once, he stooped to pick it up. 
 
 As soon as the words had left her lips Mrs. Mitchell 
 remembered how they must sound to her companions, 
 and covering her face with her hands she cried, 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Warren, forgive me ! I spoke to my son, 
 not to you. But I cannot say any more ; words will 
 not help matters at all." 
 
 Warren glanced across the table at Mollie ; and, as 
 their eyes met, she burst into a merry laugh, in which 
 he joined, amused at the absurdity of the situation in 
 spite of his sudden start and confusion. 
 
 " I cannot say that I should heartily enjoy such an 
 occurrence at a state dinner-party ; but in an informal 
 gathering where we are all so well acquainted I think 
 I shall survive it ; only please don't repeat the experi 
 ment too often," Warren said in answer to Mrs. 
 Mitchell's explanation. 
 
 " My dear, your power over me is forever broken," 
 Mitchell gravely remarked to his wife. " Never in my 
 worst moments did I make such a break as that. I 
 shall, hereafter, use this little affair as a counter-irri 
 tant." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 77 
 
 His wife looked up at him beseechingly, but made 
 no answer. 
 
 After dinner the party broke up ; the men going off 
 for a walk, and to enjoy their cigars : all, that is, save 
 Mr. Conyngham, who, as he did not smoke, remained 
 with the ladies to escort them around the village. 
 After supper Warren invited Mollie to accompany him 
 in a moonlight ramble. 
 
 She threw a lace wrap mantilla-wise about her head 
 and shoulders, and they strolled together through the 
 quiet village street. 
 
 "I am more than grateful to you for suggesting 
 this excursion, Mr. Warren. But for you I should 
 never have come here ; and I should have gone home 
 without visiting one of the prettiest places in the coun 
 try/' she said, looking up into the brilliant starlit sky 
 as she spoke. 
 
 " I fear that Mitchell would never have undertaken 
 the journey without the strong persuasion we employed. 
 There are disadvantages as well as advantages attaching 
 to his size, are there not ?" Warren answered. 
 
 Mollie laughed as she replied, 
 
 "In his profession he is industry personified; but 
 he does bitterly hate anything like physical exertion." 
 
 " Now, my own case is just the reverse," said War 
 ren. " I never yet shrank from any amount of fatigue 
 which was undergone in the pursuit of pleasure ; while 
 the very thought of work would invariably do me up 
 completely. I did not know that I could work six 
 months ago. Were you ever in Italy ?" 
 
 Mollie looked at him, surprised at his abrupt change 
 
 of subject 
 
 7* 
 
78 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " No. Why ?" she answered. 
 
 " The question was not prompted by any profound 
 ideas struggling for expression ; I hope you do not 
 think it, for if so you are doomed to disappointment. 
 I was merely thinking, when I spoke, of what we so 
 continually hear and read about, the beautiful Italian 
 skies ; and I was wondering if they could surpass the 
 skies of California," Warren replied. 
 
 " I cannot picture to myself a sky more lovely than 
 this," she said in her soft, musical voice, again looking 
 up with dreamy eyes to the brilliant stars. "Its 
 warmth and brightness are the very pledge of health 
 and life." 
 
 Warren looked at the fair face, so sweet and pure in 
 expression, and never more fair than now, bathed in 
 the soft moonlight. 
 
 " Yes," he answered, " it is a feeble illustration of 
 what a pure love can make the life of man. It trans 
 forms and beautifies him ; and its magical influence 
 makes him as unlike what he once was as this for 
 tunate country, blessed by its genial atmosphere, is 
 unlike the frozen East." 
 
 Mollie looked quickly at him, half startled, half 
 amused ; then she dropped her eyes as she answered, 
 " I did not know that you were a poet, Mr. Warren." 
 
 "Nor am I, unless being inspired by one's own 
 experience be to possess poetic gifts," he replied, look 
 ing at her so significantly that she could neither evade 
 nor ignore his meaning. 
 
 " I am not an unbeliever in the power of love," she 
 answered, her lips trembling as she spoke. "How 
 can I be, when I daily see so many lives made happy 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 79 
 
 by it? But, after all, I think that friendship is to 
 many a safer and a better guide through life. Love, 
 sometimes, is only a bitter-sweet; friendship has all 
 the sweet, and none of the bitter ; all of the sweetness 
 that can ever exist in love comes from the element of 
 friendship which must always enter into it. So, in 
 friendship, one has all the gain with no possibility of 
 the loss love must sooner or later bring to those who 
 accept it." 
 
 Warren listened to her words sick at heart. He un 
 derstood her delicate reproof of his attempted courtship 
 now as thoroughly as he had done in the morning. 
 He had intended to test her; he wished, so far as 
 might be possible, to make sure of her sentiments to 
 wards himself before risking his present, possibly his 
 future, hopes upon the chances of an open declaration. 
 She had understood his purpose; and, unwilling to 
 give him needless pain; unwilling to end the good- 
 fellowship existing between them ; wishing to spare 
 him the mortification of appearing before his friends, 
 her sister and brother, in the guise of a rejected lover, 
 which the termination of their companionship would 
 reveal even though the secret were preserved by them, 
 she at once seized upon the opportunity that his words 
 afforded her of delicately warning him that she was 
 in earnest in desiring him to look upon her as a 
 friend, and to attempt to gain no closer intimacy. 
 
 "Friendship," said Warren, bitterly, unable to 
 wholly conceal how deeply he was hurt. " Yes, when 
 this is offered one who wishes more, it is like the offer 
 we are told of, where one offers a stone to him who 
 asks for bread." 
 
80 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Mollie returned no answer, but silently walked at his 
 side, still looking down upon the ground. Warren's 
 arm trembled under the light touch of her little hand 
 resting upon it; and, after a moment's silence, she 
 raised her eyes to his, saying, 
 
 " Come, it is late ; we ought to return to the cottage." 
 
 "Without making any reply he turned back with her. 
 Silently they walked to the cottage side by side, and 
 simply bidding one another " good-ni'ght," they parted 
 until the morning. 
 
 Until the morning ! To Warren it seemed as 
 though death itself could not have parted them more 
 widely, more cruelly, than those few words spoken 
 during that short walk. They would meet, it was 
 true, when the sun brought in another day; but for 
 him the meeting would have more of pain than of 
 pleasure. The stronger grew the hunger of his longing, 
 the farther some unseen, intangible, perverse influence 
 was drawing them apart. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHEN Warren returned to Ventura he found that, 
 in addition to his own sorrows, he was likewise fated 
 to aid others in bearing their griefs. 
 
 The Elkins household was in confusion. There was 
 nothing at all worthy of especial note in this fact when 
 it was considered by itself; for it was seldom, very 
 seldom, that tranquillity reigned over this domestic 
 realm with peaceful and undisputed sway. 
 
 Warren had accurately described his landlady when 
 he called her a "California Yankee." Mrs. Elkins 
 was fifty, and perhaps a little past this age. She was 
 tall, and as straight as that mathematically accurate 
 tree, so wearisome and exasperating in its correct pro 
 portions, the Norfolk Island pine, a specimen of which 
 adorned her own gardens ; while she was almost as 
 slender, and almost as unbending in her nature. Her 
 features were sharp ; her eyes were shrewd and piercing ; 
 her lips were thin and closely shut. 
 
 She had never known an hour's sickness in her life, 
 and was unrelenting in her contempt for those less 
 favored than herself in this respect. In her disposition 
 she was what the natives call " a hustler." She had no 
 idea of the meaning of tranquillity herself, and she 
 permitted no one else to enjoy it, so far as her power 
 extended to end its dominion. Although, at her hus 
 band's death, he had left her almost wealthy, she had 
 never permitted this fact to soften her life in the least ; 
 
 81 
 
82 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 but she worked as hard, lived as frugally, and saved as 
 carefully as in the days of poverty which she had 
 known in her early married life. Although she was a 
 woman of strong affections, and was devotedly attached 
 both to her husband and her son, it would have seemed 
 to her the merest weakness to manifest any outward signs 
 of affection ; and while inwardly she had adored her hus 
 band and mourned his loss every hour of her life, and 
 little less than idolized her son, outwardly she was as 
 hard as iron, sarcastic and fault-finding, and was as 
 consistently merciless to him as to herself. Industrious 
 to a fault, from early morning until far into the even 
 ing she was overburdened with work ; and, although 
 she was up before the sun, like the English statesman 
 immortalized by his over-activity, she " seemed to lose 
 an hour out of the beginning of eatfh day, and lived in 
 a whirl, vainly trying to catch up." 
 
 Knowing as well as he did by this time the char 
 acter of his landlady, it would have caused Warren the 
 greatest surprise to find the house in anything less than 
 a turmoil ; but he at once saw that the present tempest 
 was of extraordinary severity, and that it had its 
 origin in causes of greater consequence than those 
 which usually prevailed. 
 
 "Well, well, Mrs. Elkins, what is the matter? 
 Jake, are you in disgrace again?" he asked, as he 
 came into the dining-room, where Jake was sitting 
 the picture of despair, while his mother was whirling 
 about, a perfect cyclone of combined wrath and industry, 
 trying to sweep and to scold at the same time. 
 
 "Yes, it is Jake," she cried, angrily flourishing 
 her broom. "I have as good a mind to break this 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 83 
 
 over his head as ever I had to do anything in my 
 life." 
 
 " What has he been up to now ? Put down your 
 broom and let me hear about this fresh calamity/' said 
 Warren, seating himself on the lounge as he spoke, and 
 laying his hat and overcoat by his side. 
 
 " You may try to laugh it off, Mr. Warren," Mrs. 
 Elkins answered, with fire in her eyes, "but it's no 
 laughing matter, I assure you. Here's Jake, spite of 
 all I could say or do, 'd keep hanging around a nasty 
 Greaser girl; and last night that old Greaser, her 
 father, drove him off, like he'd been a dog. That was 
 bad enough, even if a white man 'd done it. But that 
 my son a decent boy, and the son of a respectable 
 man should be hounded round by a dirty, low-lived 
 Greaser : it's more than flesh and blood can stand." 
 And Mrs. Elkins began sweeping furiously, in the vain 
 attempt to work off her wrath. 
 
 "See here, mother," Jake said, firmly, and looking 
 more manly than Warren had ever seen him appear 
 before. " Don't talk like that about Camilla : it seems 
 like I can't stand it to hear you. You may say what 
 you like about me, and I don't mind how much you 
 cuss the old man, but you mustn't run down Camilla. 
 She ain't no Greaser, and you know it. She's a nice 
 girl, and you know that too. I ain't goin' to hear 
 nobody say no bad things about her, not even you." 
 
 " Are you going to turn against your own mother, 
 Jake ?" Mrs. Elkins asked, with her tears lying veiy 
 near the surface. 
 
 " No ! I ain't goin' to turn against nobody. I know 
 what I owe you ; I know what I owe her ; and you 
 
84 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 ought to know what you owe the girl I'm goin' to 
 marry. All I ask is that you'll treat her and speak 
 of her as you ought," Jake answered. 
 
 As soon as she heard this challenge to her hitherto 
 unresisted authority the tears were all gone and the 
 fire once more blazed in Mrs. Elkins's eyes. "You 
 marry her, indeed ! I think I see you doing it !" she 
 exclaimed, with the bitterest scorn in her voice. " Be 
 fore you can marry her you've got to get her out of 
 that house first, and into this house over me next ; and 
 what I want to know is, how you're going to work to 
 do it?" And once more the broom was called into 
 active service. 
 
 Warren was anxious to get at the merits of the case 
 and cure the difficulty, if there were any cure for it ; 
 but to do this he must first stop Mrs. Elkins's flow of 
 bitter words, which would not be possible while the 
 irritating cause continued in her presence. Her power 
 of caustic eloquence was, unfortunately, almost un- 
 liniited, and she always gave full play to her feelings. 
 Nothing remained, therefore, but to get Jake by him 
 self and learn the whole story, and then see what could 
 be done for him. 
 
 He was the more anxious to do this because he 
 saw that, underneath the lad's uncouth exterior, there 
 was a fund of good principle and a wealth of good 
 material which only needed to be brought to the sur 
 face to make of him a manly and a valuable man. 
 Unfortunately, he had never had any proper home- 
 training, and he was in great danger of becoming 
 utterly idle and shiftless for that reason ; but, with a 
 motive before him, and with a fair chance in his start 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 35 
 
 in life, he was equally likely to come out all right. 
 The motive, Warren felt sure, now existed in Jake's 
 true affection for his Spanish girl ; the chance he was 
 anxious to make for him, and he thought that he would 
 soon have an opportunity of doing this ; therefore he 
 was anxious to keep good his present influence over 
 him. So, rising from his chair, he said, 
 
 " Jake, I have a little work I would like you to do 
 for me this morning ; come down to the office." 
 
 Jake rose listlessly from his chair, as though life 
 possessed no further charms for him and it made no 
 manner of difference where he went or what he did. 
 
 " Now, Jake," his mother exclaimed, " don't you go 
 where you hain't no business to be, and get in trouble 
 and bring worse disgrace on us than you have already." 
 
 " Don't worry Jake or fret yourself, Mrs. Elkins," 
 Warren answered. " I will see that he is all right ; I 
 shall not lead him very far astray." 
 
 "Oh, I know he's all right so long as he stays with 
 you, but he won't keep with you all the time ; then, 
 when he gets off by himself, there's no telling where 
 he'll be or what he'll do." And with this parting 
 shaft she banged the dining-room door after them as 
 they passed out into the hall and then to the street. 
 
 Jake's was not a strong character, certainly. He 
 was not manly ; he was not self-assertive ; while he 
 was altogether too ready to submit his judgment to 
 the opinion of others, and to yield himself to another's 
 guidance, with the inevitable result that he was uni 
 versally regarded by all who knew him best as a great, 
 good-natured, lubberly fellow who did not amount to 
 very much and never would. 
 
 8 
 
86 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Warren, however, looked beneath the surface. He 
 perfectly understood the fact that it would require 
 more moral strength than usually falls to the lot of 
 man to stand against Mrs. Elkins's masterful nature ; 
 while, for a son trained from his earliest years to hear 
 and obey, this would be little less than impossible. It 
 had become a second nature to Jake to yield to his 
 mother's will and implicitly obey her wishes, and this 
 he would continue to do so long as he continued to live 
 with her and remain dependent upon her. That there 
 was good stuff in the young fellow Warren was cer 
 tain ; and all that was wanted to bring him out, and 
 transform him from an overgrown boy into a man, was 
 to get him released from his mother's overwhelming 
 influence. 
 
 " I have my carriage all ready for us, you see. I 
 am going out into the country a short distance to look 
 at some property, and I want you to go with me," 
 Warren said, as they reached the sidewalk. 
 
 " All right, sir ; I don't know of anything to pre 
 vent ; seems like I'd as lief do that as anything else," 
 Jake answered, as he climbed into the carriage. 
 
 As Warren took the reins into his hands he said, 
 " Now, Jake, you don't seem very chipper this morn 
 ing. I want you to tell me all about your trouble ; 
 and remember that I meant what I said when I told 
 you that I stood ready to help you in any possible 
 way." 
 
 "Thank you, sir," Jake answered, despondently. 
 " I don't think you can do much for me. I think of 
 goin' East, though. If you know anybody back there 
 who'll give me a job I'll be glad of that." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 87 
 
 "Going East!" Warren exclaimed, in surprise. 
 "What on earth is taking you East?" 
 
 " You see it's this way," Jake answered, resolved to 
 make a clean breast of the matter, sure, at least, of 
 obtaining sympathy, even if Warren should prove to 
 be unable to render more substantial aid. " Last night 
 I met Camilla at the house of a friend of hers, and 
 when she was ready to go home, of course I went 
 home with her." 
 
 " Of course," Warren answered ; " and I suppose it 
 is equally of course that you went to that friend's house 
 without the slightest notion that the young lady would 
 be there. These chance meetings are always purely 
 accidental." 
 
 Jake grinned feebly, but made no other answer; 
 then resumed once more the thread of his story of 
 painful adventure. 
 
 "After we got to her house we stood in the yard 
 talkin', when out come the old man, madder 'n a 
 hatter, and sent her in. Then he took me by the 
 collar and told me that he'd known what was goin' on 
 a good while, and had been layin' for me. He was 
 goin' to put an end to this now, and if I ever dared 
 come hangin' round there again he'd shoot me ; then 
 he run me oif the place. I could 'a' busted him easy 
 as nothin'," Jake added, clinching his huge fist as he 
 spoke, " and I come mighty near doin' it once ; but I 
 remembered he was Camilla's father and an old man, 
 and so I didn't. Now that darned brother of hers '11 
 go and tell about it all over town, and it seems like I 
 couldn't stand it, so I guess I'll go East." 
 
 Warren felt his respect profoundly increased for the 
 
88 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 young giant at his side, who had submitted to indignity 
 rather than put forth his strength against an old man, 
 and the father of the girl he loved, even though he 
 knew at the time that he was subjecting himself to the 
 charge of cowardice and want of spirit, and exposing 
 himself to the ridicule of his friends. 
 
 "You did right, Jake, very right," Warren said, 
 cordially commending his conduct. " You have shown 
 yourself a brave man. It would have been no act of 
 valor on your part to use your strength against an old 
 man, while it was a brave thing in you to keep your 
 temper and restrain yourself under strong provocation. 
 It is always cowardly to do wrong, and it is brave to 
 do right ; while it is the braver thing to do the harder 
 you find it to do." 
 
 Jake looked comforted. " I was kind of afraid to 
 tell you, because I thought you'd think I sneaked off 
 like a whipped cur," he answered. 
 
 " Not a bit of it," Warren cordially replied. 
 
 Oftentimes the least promising scions, by virtue of 
 careful pruning and cultivation, become the finest and 
 most profitable trees in the orchard. Perhaps this 
 tribulation through which Jake was now passing was 
 the very pruning process necessary to bring out the 
 best that was in him. Warren felt convinced of this 
 in his own mind, and he resolved that it should be 
 through his counsel, advice, and assistance that his 
 faculties were put forth in the right direction. The 
 feeling that he was being of real use to some one, and 
 that he was doing something to promote the fortunes 
 of another, was a novel sensation to Warren, whose 
 career had been, up to this time, the idle routine of 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. $9 
 
 pleasure characteristic of the young man of wealth. 
 He found it a pleasant experience, however, and the 
 role of "My Lord Bountiful" was 'one he thoroughly 
 enjoyed, not only because it ministered to his self- 
 importance, but also because it strengthened his self- 
 respect. The idle life he had hitherto lived had not 
 been chosen of deliberate intention. Like other men, 
 he had accepted the career which had been opened 
 before him by circumstances and the accident of birth 
 as the one which he ought to accept without question. 
 He had floated with the tide, not because this course best 
 pleased him, but because he knew of nothing else to 
 do. The pleasure to be derived from lending a help 
 ing hand to one who needed his aid came to him like 
 a revelation, and, as he always entered into everything 
 that he attempted with all his heart and soul, he de 
 termined to do everything in his power to assist his 
 protege in the advancement of his fortunes, while he was 
 equally desirous of obtaining all the pleasure possible 
 for himself in doing it. 
 
 "You say you are going East, Jake. Have you 
 made up your mind where you want to go ?" Warren 
 asked, flicking a fly, which was displaying remarkable 
 adhesive qualities, from his horse with the lash of his 
 whip as he spoke. The spirited animal, accepting this 
 as a hint that those behind him were anxious that he 
 should do better in his time, jumped violently ; then, 
 setting back his ears, whirled over the road at almost 
 double his former speed. 
 
 " Careful, Mr. Warren ; this ain't no horse to 
 monkey with, and this ain't just the place to show 
 tricks in drivin'. There's a turn in the road ahead of 
 
 8* 
 
90 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 us, and I'd rather take time goin' down into the 
 valley/ 7 Jake remonstrated. Then he added, in answer 
 to the question Warren had put to him, 
 
 " No, I hain't no choice where I go ; I don't know 
 nobody out of Californy, so it can't make no manner 
 of odds to me where I fetch up. All I want is to get 
 out of this ; and I was thinking of Denver, or perhaps 
 Salt Lake." 
 
 Warren had not, as yet, become altogether accus 
 tomed to the Californian's habit of speaking of every 
 thing on the other side of the Sierra Nevadas as 
 " East ;" therefore, as he still regarded these two cities, 
 like every other Easterner, as being in the remote West 
 and located on the very confines of civilization, Jake's 
 locating them in the "East" seemed to him delight 
 fully absurd, and he laughed heartily ; then, observing 
 Jake's look of hurt surprise at a merriment which 
 seemed to him altogether uncalled for, Warren con 
 trolled his amusement and answered, 
 
 " I'll tell you frankly what I think, Jake : my opin 
 ion is that you had better stay right here. You have 
 not given up your young lady because of last night's 
 misfortunes, have you ?" 
 
 "What do you take me for, Mr. Warren?" Jake 
 indignantly answered. " She ain't to blame for what 
 happened. Of course I sha'n't give her up. I'm goin' 
 to stick to her through thick and thin, and she's goin' 
 to stick to me." 
 
 " Then what do you want to go away for ?" Warren 
 urged. 
 
 Jake looked steadily at the horse's tail, as though 
 the caudal appendage of the animal before him had 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 91 
 
 suddenly developed some new and hitherto undiscovered 
 interest for him. 
 
 "Well," he answered, " I thought it would be pleasant 
 to get away from home for a while and see the world." 
 
 Warren looked his companion fully in the face as he 
 said, 
 
 " To tell the truth and shame the party whom truth 
 is popularly supposed to put to the blush, you want to 
 get away so as to dodge the talk. Isn't that about 
 plumb centre of the target ?" 
 
 Jake fidgeted a little, then answered, desperately, 
 
 " You've hit it, Mr. Warren." 
 
 " Now, Jake," Warren went on, in the friendly, per 
 suasive tone which never failed to carry conviction to 
 the soul of an unwilling investor, and which invariably 
 brought him up to the purchasing-point, " Now, Jake, 
 you don't want to spoil the whole business by flinching 
 at the last moment. I advise you to stay here and go 
 to work. It won't be fair to Miss Carballo to go away 
 and leave her to face the talk alone, in case there is any, 
 which is by no means an established fact, and it won't 
 be fair to yourself. You know the old saying about the 
 unfailing tribulation which belongs to every love-affair ; 
 and you can't expect to be an exception to the general 
 rule. There are by far more hopeless cases than yours." 
 
 This last Warren said in a sad tone, as he thought 
 of his own difficulties. 
 
 " What kind of work had I better do ?" Jake asked. 
 
 "I will find something for you, if you will only 
 agree to do it," Warren answered. 
 
 " I certainly will," Jake replied, with a ready acqui 
 escence which Warren had by no means expected. 
 
92 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 "That, I think, is your best plan/ 7 Warren con 
 tinued. " If you can make a home for yourself and 
 wife, that will put an end to all the present trouble. 
 You are of age, and so is the young lady. There may 
 be opposition on the part of your respective families, 
 indeed, we know that there will be, but time will 
 settle all that ; so, if you will do as I say, your case is 
 very far from hopeless." 
 
 " I'll stay here and work like like a man," Jake 
 answered, speaking more cheerfully than he had done 
 before during the ride. 
 
 They had now reached the property Warren had 
 come to inspect. It was late in the evening before they 
 turned towards home ; and after arriving in Ventura, 
 as they parted at the stable, Jake to go home, Warren 
 to go to the hotel for his supper, he sadly thought upon 
 his protege's courtship, and contrasted it with his own. 
 In Jake's case, a happy issue seemed almost certain to 
 come about sooner or later ; for himself, he dared not 
 hope for such a result. Opposition from without was 
 not the most fatal enemy to happiness, even though 
 this was manifested by the parents of those chiefly con 
 cerned. With him, the contest was against the young 
 lady's own indifference to himself. Were Mollie even 
 averse to him, he would regard his prospects as being 
 far more hopeful, for even this would show that she 
 did sometimes think of him, at least often enough to 
 discover reasons for disliking him. But as she could 
 not be brought to think of him at all, there was clearly 
 nothing before him but a life-long heart-hunger, des 
 tined never to be appeased. 
 
CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 " THIS letter is from Torn." The information was 
 given by Mrs. Mitchell, who was seated in the large 
 bay-window which formed the corner of her gitting- 
 room ; a pleasant seat, and one which not only gave 
 her the full enjoyment of both mountain and ocean 
 scenery, but also commanded a prospect far up and 
 down the main street of the town, permitting her to 
 observe all that was going on, while it also afforded 
 her the privilege, so dear to the feminine heart, of 
 seeing how the female portion of humanity which 
 thronged the sidewalk below was attired ; of comment 
 ing on the taste, or want of it, which was there dis 
 played ; and of remarking to whomsoever might, at the 
 time, be in her company, that one of the passers-by was 
 becomingly arrayed, while the taste of another was 
 wretchedly bad : " She simply has no idea at all how 
 to dress, my dear ; only look ! her clothes couldn't look 
 worse if they had been thrown at her." But Mrs. 
 Mitchell's thoughts were otherwise occupied this after 
 noon, for the Eastern mail had just come in, and she 
 had been made happy with a large packet of letters 
 from home. Tom, in whose epistle she was now 
 deeply absorbed, was her brother, many years older 
 than herself, a prosperous business man, and happy in 
 the possession of a large family, a proportionately 
 larger fortune ; and happiest of all, the politicians 
 would have told him, by his residence in that great 
 
 93 
 
94 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 State among whose citizens he had the honor of being 
 enrolled, Ohio. 
 
 "This letter is from Tom/ 7 Mrs. Mitchell again 
 remarked, without raising her eyes from its pages. 
 
 " Ah !" Mitchell, replied, without raising his eyes 
 from the important business letter he was engaged in 
 writing, in answer to one he had just received, and 
 with his mind so wholly occupied with the work in 
 hand that he had not heard a word of what his wife 
 had been saying. 
 
 " Yes/ 7 she answered, reading from the letter in her 
 hand ; " he says that his oldest girl has been very sick 
 indeed." 
 
 Mitchell's thoughts were far away ; indeed, they were 
 at that moment on the Atlantic coast with the trouble 
 some client whose letter he was then answering. Al 
 though he had heard nothing, like a dutiful husband 
 he felt called upon to make some kind of an answer ; 
 so, without raising his eyes, or suspending the rapid 
 scratching of his pen for a moment, he replied at 
 random, 
 
 " That's good, I am sure." 
 
 " Good !" Mrs. Mitchell indignantly exclaimed, look 
 ing up from her letter with a glance of withering scorn. 
 " Would you think it ' good ' if our little Warren were 
 to almost die of pneumonia ? You have not been 
 paying the slightest attention to me, and you have not 
 heard a single word of what I have been saying." 
 
 "My dear," Mitchell replied, with his customary 
 serenity of manner, "consider me humbled to the 
 earth by your scorn, but let justice be tempered with 
 mercy, and remember that I have a very important 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 95 
 
 business matter in hand; and, being only a man, I 
 have not your feminine capacity for doing several 
 things at once and doing them all equally well." 
 
 Mrs. Mitehell laughed, but her retort was checked 
 by the entrance of Mollie, who, at this moment, came 
 into the room dressed in her riding-habit, but looking 
 tired and very much out of temper. Laying her hat 
 on the table, she dropped upon the lounge with a 
 profound sigh, and began to draw off her gloves. 
 
 "Did you and Mr. Warren have a pleasant ride, 
 dear ?" asked Mrs. Mitchell, at the same time handing 
 to her sister the letter she had already read. 
 
 " Oh, yes, the ride was pleasant enough, I suppose," 
 she answered, indifferently. 
 
 " What is the matter, then ? You look thoroughly 
 out of sorts," Mrs. Mitchell persisted. 
 
 " I am ; I feel literally and completely exhausted by 
 the mechanical pursuits in which I have been engaged," 
 Mollie replied, leaning back on the lounge and clasping 
 her hands behind her head. 
 
 "Mechanical pursuits?" repeated Mrs. Mitchell, 
 throwing several interrogation points into her tone and 
 looking completely mystified; while Mitchell, who 
 had not followed the conversation, but had overheard 
 the last remark, held his pen suspended in the air on 
 its way to the inkstand, looking at her in surprise. 
 
 " Yes," she answered ; "so I think I may call it, 
 since I have been busy for two mortal hours rigging a 
 guy." 
 
 " See here, Mollie," Mitchell interposed, deeply of 
 fended at Mollie' s slighting reference to her late escort ; 
 and, throwing down his pen as he spoke, he rose from 
 
96 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 his chair, his voice and manner expressive of more 
 anger than he usually permitted himself to display, 
 and which he himself afterwards said he thought " un 
 becoming in a man of his weight in the community/ 7 
 " see here, Mollie, I cannot permit you to use such 
 language in reference to any gentleman whom I admit 
 into intimacy with myself and family, and whom you 
 receive as an escort yourself. How do you justify any 
 such epithet as applied to Mr. Warren ? You know 
 yourself that he is an accomplished gentleman." 
 
 " As far as clothing is concerned, and when manners 
 are also taken into account, I admit he is a gentleman. 
 But, apart from these, I find very little in the young 
 man to challenge admiration," Mollie replied, not in 
 the least dismayed by her brother-in-law's indignation. 
 
 " I would not admit the fact, Miss Wade ; the con 
 fession speaks very little for your good sense or your 
 character. Do principles have no weight in your esti 
 mation of a man ? or have you not brains enough to 
 appreciate education when you meet it?" 
 
 Mollie still remained uncrushed, and answered with 
 that same air of utter weariness with which she had 
 entered the room, 
 
 "To use your own words, which you are so very 
 fond of repeating, 'a man's merits depend more 
 upon the use which he makes of his acquirements than 
 upon what he possesses ;' and as, so far as I can see, 
 Mr. Warren makes no use of his education and very 
 little of his principles, on the basis of your own wise 
 maxim, he might almost as well be without them." 
 
 This was even worse than calling him a mental and 
 moral guy; and, as her charges were altogether un- 
 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 97 
 
 founded, and as Warren was no more deserving of the 
 bad opinion she now expressed of him than he was of 
 her scorn, Mitchell determined to adopt a course which, 
 as it happened, was the only wise one for him to pur 
 sue, that of making her define her accusations and 
 defend her charges. In this way, and in this way 
 only, would it be possible to bring her to reason and 
 make her retract her words. 
 
 " You have made a very sweeping statement, young 
 lady/ 7 he answered, sternly, to her last caustic speech. 
 " Now you must maintain your position by giving me 
 positive proof of the truth of your words, or else I shall 
 insist upon your apologizing for such language. What 
 do you mean by charging my friend with want of prin 
 ciple? You must remember that such a charge re 
 flects upon me as well as upon him, and it amounts to 
 accusing me of admitting a scoundrel into intimacy 
 with my family." 
 
 This was severe upon Mollie, for she had not had 
 any definite idea of her own meaning when she spoke, 
 and had merely uttered the words in a pique growing 
 out of a momentary misunderstanding with Warren, 
 without thinking how her words would sound to others, 
 while they conveyed no real meaning to her own mind. 
 She was, however, too thoroughly a woman to be left 
 without a reply ; so she answered, with the same indif 
 ferent tone and manner in which she had spoken ever 
 since she entered the room, 
 
 " You read in my words a meaning that I certainly 
 
 had no intention of conveying. All I meant was, that 
 
 it certainly takes no great amount of education to delude 
 
 poor unsophisticated Easterners into speculating in real 
 
 E g 9 
 
98 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 estate ; and after sitting so long as I have beneath the 
 droppings of your wisdom, I have had it strongly im 
 pressed upon my mind that this is not a calling calcu 
 lated to produce the highest mental or moral growth." 
 
 In spite of his anger, Mitchell could hardly keep 
 himself from smiling at the girl's determination to 
 defend herself by quoting words she had heard him 
 speak from time to time in reference to the prevailing 
 rage for speculation; while he felt his indignation 
 gradually disappear as it became clear to him that her 
 severe words were really without meaning, and were 
 promoted by no deeper feeling than a passing pettish- 
 ness growing out of some recent disagreement with his 
 friend. He abated nothing from the severity of his 
 manner, however, and answered, as gravely as before, 
 
 " Mollie, my only regret that Mr. Warren is engaged 
 in his present calling is based upon the fact that I fear 
 he may do himself a serious injury ; I know him well 
 enough to be sure that he will not, intentionally, injure 
 others. He will do his best to make every Easterner 
 realize a handsome return from his investments ; and 
 remember that a man can be just as honest in real- 
 estate operations as in any other calling. I also think 
 that it would be well for you to remember that words 
 are dangerous things, and that you should use them 
 with corresponding carefulness. And I must say, 
 Mollie, that if you dislike Mr. Warren so cordially, 
 it is in very bad taste for you to be so much in his 
 company." 
 
 "Who says that I dislike him? I am very sure 
 that I never said so," Mollie answered, with true 
 feminine inconsequence, rising from her seat as she 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 99 
 
 spoke, and gathering together her belongings, together 
 with the letter which her sister had given her, prepara 
 tory to going to her own room. 
 
 Mitchell seated himself at the table again with a 
 sigh, and took up his pen with an air of utter hope 
 lessness. 
 
 " Well, Mollie," he said, " being a woman, you are, 
 of course, incorrigible ; and, like every other woman, 
 you can reason only in a circle. I judged of your 
 sentiments towards Warren merely from your own 
 words, and they certainly indicated that you felt 
 anything rather than friendly towards him." 
 
 Mollie went to the door, partly opened it, then stood 
 hesitating a moment with her hand upon the knob 
 before she answered, 
 
 " To be sure we are friends, and I suppose that is 
 the reason we don't like each other any better. We 
 are bidden to love our enemies, you know, but nothing 
 is said about friends; and I am afraid that I am not 
 a good enough Christian to think very highly of my 
 friends, even if it were commanded ; they let me know 
 them altogether too well for that." 
 
 As she closed the door, after delivering this parting 
 speech, Mrs. Mitchell, who had been silently listening 
 to the conversation, looked up with a glance of shrewd 
 intelligence and said, 
 
 " John Addison, if that is not for all the world like 
 a man I" 
 
 "What peculiarly masculine proclivity have you 
 recently added to the already long list of discoveries 
 which has rewarded your painstaking researches into 
 my character ?" Mitchell asked in reply to his wife's 
 
100 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 exclamation, dipping his pen into the ink as he spoke, 
 and preparing to once more resume his interrupted 
 letter. Without directly replying to this question, 
 Mrs. Mitchell came over to where he was sitting, and, 
 seating herself by his side, laid her hand upon his, 
 with a gesture half caressing and half coaxing, while 
 she looked up into his face with an expression in her 
 eyes that he by no means understood. 
 
 " Well, my dear, what is it ? Why does black care 
 sit like a brooding shadow upon your usually smiling 
 face?" he asked. 
 
 " John," she began, very seriously, " John, answer 
 me truly. Would you be very sorry if Mr. Warren 
 and our Mollie were to become fond of one another ?" 
 
 Mitchell once more laid down his pen, wondering 
 in his soul when this letter would ever be finished; 
 and, leaning back in his chair, he took his wife's hand 
 affectionately in his own and, patting it caressingly, 
 replied, 
 
 " Why, no, certainly not ! She could not have a 
 better husband than he would make her ; while as for 
 Mollie, a man might go the world over without finding 
 so nice a girl as she, now that you are out of the case. 
 But what put that idea into your head ? I see no signs 
 of an ardent and increasing affection between them." 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell shook her pretty head with impressive 
 seriousness and demurely answered, 
 
 " No, John, I did not suppose that you would have 
 noticed anything ; you are only a man, you know. To 
 a woman's keen perceptions the signs are very clear 
 indeed ; and now I want you to understand me, John," 
 she added, with playful severity : " I am no match- 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 1Q1 
 
 maker, and for all the world I would not make or mar 
 in the matter, yet I would not be sorry to see it come 
 about, and I asked your views in reference to the situ 
 ation because you are doing everything in your power 
 to break up any liking for the man that Mollie may 
 already have growing in her heart." 
 
 This last she said while tapping his hand with her 
 fingers to give emphasis to her words. Mitchell was 
 completely taken aback by this charge; he could 
 hardly have been more overcome had his wife deliber 
 ately charged him with being the chief promoter of the 
 Sharon case, or laid to his account almost any other 
 affair, past or present, of which he knew nothing and in 
 which he felt very little interest. 
 
 " Why, goodness gracious, Effie !" he exclaimed. 
 "What do you mean? This affair is none of my 
 business, and I hope you don't mean to accuse me of 
 meddling in love-matters. What have I done ?" 
 
 His wife laughed merrily at his consternation and 
 disgust, and at once proceeded to enlighten him as to 
 his sins, though at first rather vaguely, saying, 
 
 " I can think of very little that is stupid that you 
 have not done, while you seem to have a perverse 
 inspiration which prompts you to keep on in your 
 ridiculous proceedings." 
 
 Mitchell's round, good-natured face now became 
 overcast with a very serious expression. 
 
 " Please explain yourself, Effie, and let me definitely 
 know my sins/ 7 he replied. 
 
 His wife at once complied with his request and pro 
 ceeded to unfold before him the long catalogue of his 
 oifendings. 
 
 9* 
 
102 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 "To begin at the beginning/ 7 she said, "you know 
 that Mollie and Mr. Warren first met under very embar 
 rassing and, to her, distressing circumstances. You, in 
 your idiotic love of a i joke/ were the one who brought 
 about this painful situation by needlessly bringing them 
 face to face, and then, as I have always thought, very 
 meanly leaving them to extricate themselves as best 
 they could from the difficulties in which that unhappy 
 exchange of trunks had placed them. Of course the 
 whole situation was absurd, but you made it painful, 
 which it had no need to have been. While Mollie is 
 sufficiently fair-minded not to let all this prejudice 
 her against the man, she would have to be either more 
 or less than human if it did not create in her mind an 
 antagonism towards him ; and this you have all along 
 taken the utmost pains to increase by doing as you 
 have done to-day, for instance, I mean, by arguing 
 with her about every little pettish speech to which she 
 gives utterance, which really means nothing at all, and is 
 prompted by nothing deeper than mere girlish pique." 
 
 Mitchell sat fairly aghast and wholly defenceless as 
 his wife poured the overwhelming volume of these 
 charges upon him. 
 
 " Do you mean, Effie, that I ought to permit her to 
 make any absurd accusations against Warren the whim 
 of the moment may dictate, and do nothing to make her 
 see her injustice ?" he asked, after a moment's silence 
 necessary for collecting the ideas Effie had put to utter 
 rout. 
 
 "I mean that I look deeper than you, my dear," 
 she replied, " and I see underneath this manner which is 
 so distressing to you a growing liking for Mr. Warren 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 1Q3 
 
 and for his society. She herself is half conscious of this, 
 and the old antagonism, which is your own work, 
 remember, causes her to criticise him and find fault 
 with his doings. Now, Mr. Warren is no nearer per 
 fect than any other man, and is, consequently, open to 
 criticism. If you say nothing and pay no attention to 
 her little bitter speeches beyond laughingly checking 
 her when she is unreasonable, the matter will take care 
 of itself. But if you make a serious thing of it, you 
 will waken all the antagonism she has ever felt into 
 opposition to yourself and hostility to him, and she will 
 end in simply hating the man. 7 ' 
 
 Mitchell did not know what answer to make to this. 
 He was not versed either in the history of love or in 
 the laws by which it works ; neither did he understand 
 the principles which underlie that most mysterious of 
 all things, the workings of a woman's mind ; so he sat 
 listening to his wife with a feeling of utter helplessness, 
 which manifested itself in his inconsequent answer, 
 
 " I am no match-maker, Effie ; that is not a man's 
 business. I prefer not to interfere." 
 
 Again Mrs. Mitchell's laugh rang out merrily. 
 "That is exactly what I have been asking all this 
 time/' she answered. " I don't want you to interfere ; 
 and what I am asking is, that you will simply let the 
 child alone. Don't magnify every little manifestation 
 of pique into a serious matter ; be patient even if she 
 is foolish and unjust; remember that she is really 
 vexed with herself, not with him ; and, while she is 
 seemingly blaming Mr. "Warren, the truth is that she 
 is scolding herself for liking the very man whom she 
 thinks herself almost in honor bound to dislike." 
 
104 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Mitchell was about to reply, but his answer was cut 
 short by a knock at the door; and, rising from her 
 seat, Mrs. Mitchell opened it to usher in the person 
 under discussion. He greeted them with a cordial 
 " Good-evening, friends," as he entered the room, at 
 the same time placing on the table a large package 
 which he had been carrying. 
 
 Mitchell thought within himself, as he welcomed 
 his friend, that, however troubled the course of love 
 might be in his case, he certainly gave no external 
 evidence of distress, but carried every outward indi 
 cation of being a prosperous and happy man to whom 
 the world was giving all that he could reasonably ask. 
 But this was the masculine and unreflecting manner of 
 looking at the case. Had he spoken of his thoughts 
 to his wife, or had he even taken counsel of his own 
 pride, either one of these monitors would have told 
 him that, of all disappointments, this was the very 
 one which must be carefully concealed from the world. 
 However confiding a man may be by nature, however 
 freely he may display his sorrows before his sympa 
 thetic friends, he cannot go about like the Mater Dolo- 
 rosa in the religious pictures, with his transfixed heart 
 held prominently before the gaze of all beholders ; but, 
 however cruel his pain may be, with Spartan courage 
 he must conceal his sufferings behind a smiling counte 
 nance. 
 
 "Good-evening," Mitchell replied, returning his 
 friend's greeting. "You fulfil the old proverb, for 
 we were discussing you just as you came in." 
 
 "Indeed," Warren answered, seating himself and 
 beginning to undo the package as it lay on the table 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 1Q5 
 
 before him. " In what way have I verified the wisdom 
 of our ancestors, by the rustling of wings, or by the 
 display of a cloven hoof?" 
 
 " We regard you as possessing wings, of course, Mr. 
 Warren ; it is needless to ask us our opinion of you/' 
 Mrs. Mitchell replied. 
 
 " Thanks, awfully !" Warren answered. " Consider 
 me with my hand upon my heart bowing low before 
 you in graceful acknowledgment of your pretty speech. 
 My hands are too full of these documents, however, to 
 permit my making any physical response." 
 
 " What have you got there ?" Mitchell asked, rising 
 and coming to Warren's side in order to see for himself. 
 
 " I have come to explain that very point," Warren 
 answered. " These are the bills advertising our great 
 Oakdale land sale which comes off next Monday. You 
 have, none of you, ever seen a true California ' boom ;' 
 and although I know, of course, that you will not in 
 vest, yet I want you all to go, for such a sale as this 
 will be is one of the sights of the age." 
 
 " Ah !" Mitchell observed, as he read over the pros 
 pectus Warren gave to him, " this is the culmination 
 of the scheme that you were mentioning to me some 
 few weeks back, is it not ?" 
 
 " Yes," Warren replied. " Things are now ripe for 
 a ' boom, 7 and we are going to have a big one." 
 
 " You go the full figure, I see." 
 
 " Yes ; extra trains, free lunch, brass band, and all," 
 Warren answered, laughing. 
 
 "We must certainly go, John Addison," Mrs. 
 Mitchell interposed. " It is unlike anything that we 
 ever have at home, and if we do not see it we shall 
 
106 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 lose one of the most interesting sights our country can 
 show us." 
 
 "No tourist has fulfilled the true purpose of his 
 pilgrimage unless he has taken in a 'boom' auction 
 sale ; and it not infrequently happens that he is taken 
 in at one. Of course we must go ; but we must care 
 fully guard against the last terrible possibility," Mitchell 
 answered. " What's your hurry ? Sit down/' he added, 
 as Warren, having again tied up his package, rose from 
 his chair and prepared to go. 
 
 " I can't stay ; I have a good deal to accomplish 
 between now and Monday," Warren replied. 
 
 " Sit down, Mr. Warren ; it certainly -will not take 
 you long to stop just a minute," Mrs. Mitchell urged. 
 
 " Thank you ; but I must not remain even that brief 
 length of time. I have to see that these bills gain an 
 extended circulation. I will call again, though, before 
 Monday," Warren answered, and, bidding his friends 
 good-by, he took his leave. 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THE Monday made memorable in the history of 
 Ventura City and County by being the day of the great 
 Oakdale land sale dawned fair and clear. It is hardly 
 necessary to say this, for weather never enters into the 
 calculations of a Californian. The rains were now over 
 until the following winter ; there was no fear of either 
 clouds or showers to mar the pleasure and ruin the 
 temper and the clothing of the participants in any out 
 door enterprise. Fog, however, was a possibility, 
 though the probabilities were that, should any appear, 
 it would all blow away before mid-day. But even 
 this slight annoyance was wanting, and the day dawned 
 with nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of possible 
 purchasers, or to ruffle their tempers. If climate and 
 weather combined could make the Oakdale "boom" 
 a success, nature certainly was smiling upon it, and the 
 great land sale, so far as she could further its interests, 
 would long be remembered as among the greatest and 
 most brilliant successes of that land of great enterprises 
 successfully projected, Southern California. 
 
 From early dawn the streets of Ventura had been 
 thronged. Horsemen in picturesque variety of costume 
 and mounted on every description of the genus horse, 
 from the sober and sedate animal born of many gener 
 ations of careful and trusty family servants to the fiery- 
 eyed, half-wild bronco, were galloping to the scene of 
 the sale. The sidewalks were thronged with pedes- 
 
 107 
 
108 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 trians drawn from all sorts and conditions of men : 
 swarthy Mexicans and fair Anglo-Saxons ; sunburned 
 ranchmen and well-kept, carefully-dressed tourists; 
 here and there a face darker than the others told the 
 spectator that its possessor was one of the very few now 
 to be found endowed with a strain of the old Indian 
 blood ; while mingled with the rest could be seen the 
 bland, smiling, but withal shrewd face of John China 
 man, watching with keenest interest these latest pro 
 ceedings of the " Mellican man." 
 
 About half-past eight o'clock the sound of music 
 was heard far down the street, sounding loud and clear 
 above the hum of voices and the sound of the city 
 streets. A brass band, seated in a band-wagon which 
 was decorated with flags and covered with bills and 
 flyers advertising the sale, drove slowly through the 
 streets on its way to the scene of the auction, followed 
 by a long procession of carriages which continually 
 received new accessions. 
 
 The crowd thronging the street and sidewalks now 
 began to lessen rapidly, as the throngs made their way 
 in 'buses, express-wagons, or on foot towards the 
 station, where a special train was waiting to take all 
 comers to the now vacant tract, soon (if the visions of 
 the projectors of the scheme became realized) to be 
 covered with the beautiful villas, elegant homes, the 
 substantial business houses, not to mention the grand 
 churches and unrivalled school buildings of that pros 
 perous, growing, and beautiful city, Oakdale, which, 
 although it was counted as a suburb of San Buenaven 
 tura, was destined to become a rival to the metropolis 
 of the Santa Clara Valley of the South herself; while 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 1Q9 
 
 in beauty, in healthfulness of location, for picturesque- 
 ness of scenery, for softness and evenness of climate, 
 she would be equalled by few and surpassed by none 
 of the cities of the known world. 
 
 So the projectors of this grand enterprise talked ; so 
 their advertisements read ; so some of them honestly 
 believed. 
 
 The climate of Southern California is unsurpassed 
 by any in the world, while that of the two sister 
 counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara has been pro 
 nounced by competent authorities, whose judgment 
 may be received with implicit confidence, to be, in 
 many ways, even superior to that of the world-famed 
 Riviera. Since this southern country had, as was 
 universally conceded, a brilliant future before it, why 
 should not this new city of Oakdale, in a very few 
 years, rival either Nice or Mentone ? 
 
 It never dawned upon even the shrewdest, keenest, 
 and most far-sighted of these speculators, in the excite 
 ment of his real-estate frenzy, to stop long enough to 
 ascertain if there was any reason that a city should 
 grow up where they had located this new town site ; it 
 had never dawned upon the sharpest of them all to 
 look deep enough into the matter to see that the in 
 terests of commerce and the trend of population gave 
 every reason why a town should not grow up there, at 
 least for many long years to come. 
 
 The shrill whistle of an incoming train told the 
 listening crowds that the " Special" from San Francisco 
 and Los Angeles had now arrived, thronged with pas 
 sengers who had taken advantage of the less than half 
 rates offered them to come down for an excursion and 
 
 10 
 
HO THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 see the sights, while the Oakdale speculators, who had 
 chartered the train, devoutly hoped that they would all 
 invest. 
 
 As the train whistled into the station, Warren 
 crossed Main Street towards the corner of Palm, mak 
 ing his way to the Anacapa. He found Mollie in the 
 ladies' waiting-room endeavoring to read the morning 
 paper, but too profoundly interested in the crowds 
 coming and going through the street to maintain any 
 sustained interest either in the "local" or the "tele 
 graphic" columns. She rose as Warren entered the 
 door of the hotel, and, laying aside her paper, stood 
 waiting for him, welcoming him as he came towards 
 her with a cordial and friendly smile. 
 
 " We must be on our way at once, Miss Wade ; 
 the sale begins at ten o'clock, and it is already past 
 nine/ 7 Warren said, as he waited to escort her to her 
 horse. 
 
 " I have been ready for some time. I am not the 
 delinquent ; and for once in your life you cannot say, 
 ' These women ! they are forever behind time !' I have 
 been waiting for you ever since Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell 
 went to the train, and that is a good half-hour," Mollie 
 answered, as he assisted her to mount. 
 
 " I acquit you of all blame ; I am the culprit, but I 
 assure you that I am an innocent one. Those maps 
 must be got off, and I had it to do. As I was going 
 to ride and could not take them, I had to carry them 
 to the train, find a trustworthy messenger, and despatch 
 them by him, and all this took time and delayed me," 
 Warren answered, taking his place at her side. 
 
 Side by side they went down the street on a smart 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 trot, not breaking their pace as they went up a short 
 rise, then out into the open country. 
 
 " Do you know," Mollie said, as they lessened their 
 speed sufficiently to make conversation possible, " do 
 you know that in many ways you remind me of my 
 brother Tom ?" 
 
 "As the gentleman you have named is so near a 
 kinsman of your own, I should, other things permit 
 ting me, take this speech as conveying the highest 
 compliment you could pay me. But, judging from 
 the tone of your voice and the expression of your face, 
 I feel a haunting dread that you do not mean it as such, 
 and I am burdened with a distressing apprehension that 
 he is far from an amiable person/ 7 Warren replied. 
 
 " Oh, you are altogether wrong," Mollie hastily re 
 joined. " Tom is one of the best and loveliest men 
 that ever lived ; but he is always making appoint 
 ments at which he is invariably late, and then he is in 
 a terrible hurry to make up the lost time." 
 
 " Your experience leads you to think that this is the 
 most strongly-marked trait in my character ?" Warren 
 asked. 
 
 "I would not say that, but I think it is a very 
 striking trait ; I cannot remember that you were ever 
 yet on time at any appointment you have made with 
 me," she replied. 
 
 " This is a very serious charge, Miss Mollie," Warren 
 answered, pretending to look very grave. " I am sorry, 
 deeply and truly sorry, for the inconvenience I have 
 caused you by always being a little behind time, and 
 then hurrying you in order to make amends for my 
 own unpunctuality." 
 
112 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " Oh, I did not say that, either," Mollie answered, 
 blushing slightly at his wilful misinterpretation of her 
 words. " I did not say at all that you resemble my 
 brother in that ; on the contrary, you always seem to 
 have time enough and to spare, no matter how late 
 you may be. Until this morning I never knew you 
 to say that you could be a loser on account of lost 
 time." 
 
 " I act on a principle laid down by my old rector at 
 home," Warren replied, as he reined his horse closer to 
 that of his companion. " I remember on one occasion, 
 while he was waiting for the arrival of certain parties 
 who were to meet him at an appointment to which I 
 had accompanied him, after a half-hour had passed by, 
 and still there were no signs of their coming, he turned 
 to me, saying, ' I have made one serious mistake in my 
 life by always being punctual. The amount of time I 
 have thrown away during my lifetime by always 
 making it a point to be punctual myself is simply ap 
 palling. Had I my life to live over again, this is the 
 first of my great mistakes that I would rectify.' ' 
 
 Mollie laughed heartily at this frank confession of 
 delinquency as a moral principle. 
 
 " So you are trying to avoid the good rector's fatal 
 error ?" she asked. 
 
 " That is my idea," Warren answered. 
 
 " Do you think it a good business maxim ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; just think of the facts for a minute. 
 By being from five to ten minutes late every day I 
 save, taking the lowest estimate for a basis of calcula 
 tion, at least half an hour every week. Now take that 
 saving for fifty-two weeks, even if we reckon my time 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. H3 
 
 as worth no more than a day laborer's, you see I male 
 a handsome percentage for myself every year, and one 
 well worth looking after." 
 
 Again Mollie's merry laugh rang out, the sweetest 
 of music to Warren's ear. 
 
 " That way of looking upon unpunctuality and re 
 ducing it to an exact science is novel to me, I confess/ 7 
 she replied. " I will recommend it to Tom, and per 
 haps he will be wise enough to profit by your sugges 
 tion and turn what I have always before looked upon 
 as a serious vice into one of the brightest of virtues." 
 
 They had now come to a point where the road turned 
 off, winding back among the hills into a quiet sheltered 
 nook formed by a bend in the mountain range. On 
 one side lay the ocean, its waters sparkling like crystals 
 in the sunlight ; on the other were the hills, stretching 
 away to the Sierra Madre Mountains, whose peaks 
 towered up against the blue line of the sky in the 
 remoter distance. Towards this pretty nook the vast 
 concourse of people, coming by different roads, was 
 gathering as a common centre, while distant scarcely 
 more than a quarter of a mile below stood the train 
 from Ventura and the " Special," each discharging its 
 passengers, who were wending their way up the slope 
 to this same point. 
 
 " There is our destination," said Warren. " Let us 
 tie our horses here and wait for Mitchell and your 
 sister ; they will be up here in a few moments now." 
 
 Dismounting himself and assisting Mollie to alight, 
 he fastened their horses to a live-oak, while they mean 
 time stood waiting for their friends to join them, silently 
 drinking in the beautiful scenery the while. Mollie 
 h 10* 
 
114 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 found enough to interest her, for the scene was a novel 
 one to her Eastern ideas. 
 
 The Oakdale tract, comprising several hundred acres, 
 had been surveyed and laid out into streets and avenues 
 crossing each other at right angles, and dividing the 
 town site into blocks of equal size, while each block, 
 in its turn, had been subdivided into lots. At the 
 intersection of these streets were posts bearing the 
 name of each intersecting street, while smaller posts, 
 each bearing a letter and a number, marked the 
 boundary of each lot. 
 
 Near the centre of the town site was a large depres 
 sion of nearly an acre in extent, called in the Cali 
 fornia terminology a "dry lake." This, during the 
 rains, received the drainage of the surrounding hills 
 and was filled with water, but during the long rainless 
 summer it was wholly dry. Already the water was 
 almost gone from it, and its bed was fast becoming 
 transformed into a marshy pool overgrown with rushes 
 and rank grass. 
 
 Beyond this dry lake rose a low round hill, stand 
 ing isolated and alone between the lake-bed and the 
 foot-hills, its summit crowned with a thick growth of 
 oaks, while the whole town site was laid out in a dense 
 grove of oak-trees which had only been partially 
 cleared away, and which covered the sides of the hills 
 and the cosey nook nestling between them, making the 
 name Oakdale at once appropriate and suggestive. 
 
 In the centre of the town site and on the margin of 
 the dry lake a stand had been erected covered with a 
 canopy of red-white-and-blue cloth, and decorated with 
 flags ; while its framework was wholly concealed with 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. H5 
 
 bunting. On this stand was a table the top of which 
 was covered with maps ; behind it the auctioneer was 
 sitting, while back of him benches were placed, on 
 which the band was seated vigorously playing patriotic 
 airs. 
 
 Underneath the oak-trees, and at some distance from 
 the band, were tables laden with meats and fruits, the 
 lunch provided by the Oakdale company for all who 
 attended the sale. 
 
 Mollie was profoundly interested, almost absorbed, 
 by the lively picture presented in this, to her, unusual 
 sight. Every class of men and women was repre 
 sented, from the keen-eyed, sharp-faced speculator, 
 watching for a good investment, to the tourists, at 
 tracted by the novelty of the scene. Here, the repre 
 sentative of some rival land company, with sneering 
 face, was walking arm in arm with some would-be 
 investor, to whom he was pointing out industriously the 
 wild folly of trying to plant a town in such a location, 
 and proving to him that in its very arrangements the 
 evidence of bad faith on the part of its projectors could 
 be clearly seen by any one who would only take the 
 trouble to look carefully into the matter. There, the 
 inevitable tramp was sitting under the trees near the 
 tables, hungrily waiting for the call to lunch, and per 
 fectly willing to take his land wherever he might find 
 it, and his climate by the wholesale under porches and 
 sheds, and in open box-cars; while walking around 
 under the trees were many young couples with no 
 thought at all beyond a holiday passed in the society 
 of one another. 
 
 " What do you think of the scene ?" Warren asked, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 studying intently the varying expressions passing over 
 Mollie's bright face. 
 
 "It is profoundly interesting," she answered. "It 
 is a scene of even absorbing interest to me, for I have 
 never seen anything at all like it before. It seems to 
 me, though, to be more like a public celebration than 
 like an auction sale." 
 
 Warren smiled as he answered, 
 
 " I never thought of that before, and I don't know 
 but that is the way in which we ought to regard the 
 sale. A land auction means the building up of this 
 finest section of the country, does it not? so, by a 
 happy inspiration, we have introduced the band and the 
 free lunch, and have by an opportune blunder brought 
 in features which have a propriety in themselves." 
 
 " Yes," Mollie returned, in the quaint tone peculiar 
 to her, which always amused Warren while it also 
 produced in him the uneasy feeling that he was being 
 laughed at; "the California land sales combine the 
 essential elements of a picnic, Thanksgiving, and the 
 Fourth of July." 
 
 " They are something after that order," he answered, 
 and then added, " Here come our friends ! Let us go 
 and meet them, and then I will explain a few of the 
 ideas of our company before the sale begins." 
 
 " Gracious, I'm dead beat out ! Why did you not 
 put your town a little nearer to the railroad, or else 
 bring the railroad a trifle nearer to your town?" 
 Mitchell gasped, as he came puffing up the slope and 
 threw himself down under the shade of the nearest oak. 
 
 " If you will observe, you will see that the road up 
 which you have just come is a broad avenue, running 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. H7 
 
 through the town from the railroad station on its south 
 side to its northern limit ; this avenue will be bordered 
 with palms and magnolias, and a cable road will run 
 through it," Warren answered. 
 
 " Well," Mitchell retorted, " it's ten thousand pities 
 that the cable road was not built before the boom struck 
 you. I never was so blown in my life." 
 
 " Everything in due season. Are you too tired to 
 listen to our plans ? I have ten minutes in which to 
 explain our ideas to you before the sale is called," 
 Warren answered. 
 
 " Go on ; I'm all ears," was Mitchell's reply. 
 
 " Yes, that's a family characteristic, I believe," 
 Warren answered ; then, without waiting for his friend 
 to recover sufficient breath to return a Roland for his 
 Oliver, he began his explanations. 
 
 " You notice the dry lake and the little round hill 
 just beyond it? We propose to reserve these with 
 sufficient land around them to make a handsome park. 
 The hill we shall clear off and build a reservoir upon 
 its summit, bringing the water from some streams a 
 number of miles back in the mountains. Then we 
 shall terrace the side of the hill towards the lake, and 
 coat these terraces with bituminous rock ; then we shall 
 turn the water down this terraced fall into the lake, 
 keeping it always full and also making a picturesque 
 cascade. We shall stock the lake with fish, and we shall 
 also import swans and put them upon it. The hill 
 itself will also be handsomely laid out, while we pro 
 pose to place around the reservoir some specimens of as 
 handsome statuary as can be found anywhere in the 
 State. The streets around the park, or circles, as you 
 
118 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 will notice that we call them, are to be reserved for 
 residences which are not to cost less than a certain 
 specified sum." 
 
 " That's a grand idea, and it will make one of the 
 finest towns to be found anywhere in the world, if you 
 can carry the scheme through ; but have you counted 
 the cost?" Mitchell replied. 
 
 Warren cast upon his sceptical friend a glance of the 
 intensest disgust as he answered, 
 
 "Of course we have. I can assure you, for your 
 comfort, that we shall have more than enough money 
 to successfully complete all that we have planned after 
 this sale is over and our ideas have become widely and 
 thoroughly known." 
 
 Further conversation, either in the way of explana 
 tion or of discussion, was now prevented by the auc 
 tioneer, who glanced at his watch, rose from his chair, 
 and, pounding with his mallet on the table before him, 
 began his opening address in the following words : 
 
 " Ladies and gents, it gives me the greatest pleasure 
 to see so goodly an attendance at this sale, and I am 
 especially pleased to learn that so many of you are 
 strangers. 
 
 "California is, at last, becoming known. People 
 are at last waking up to the fact that there is a part 
 of these great United States where snow never is seen, 
 off the tops of the highest mountains ; where frost is 
 unknown; where the tenderest flowers are always in 
 blossom in the open air, and where strawberries ripen 
 in the gardens twelve months in every year. The 
 Easterners are now just beginning to realize all this, 
 and to find out that by coming here they can get away 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 from their snow-drifts and blizzards, and find a spot 
 where they can, for once in their lives, get thoroughly 
 thawed out. Farmers, also, are finding out that instead 
 of working in a barren rock-patch from four o'clock 
 in the morning until sunset, then lighting up their 
 lanterns to go out and finish their day's work by 
 lamp-light, and working like this from youth to hoary 
 age in order to get enough together to die in the poor- 
 house, they are beginning to wake up to the fact that 
 they can come here and find rich soil, take life easy, 
 and let kind Mother Nature do their farming, while 
 they get rich in the operation. 
 
 " Now, it is this general waking up to the fact that 
 a new Garden of Eden exists right here, in Southern 
 California, that makes such projects as this sale of to 
 day necessary. It has taken the East a long time to 
 wake up. Their long, hard winters make them sleepy, 
 just as it does their bears and their woodchucks ; but 
 now that they have begun to open their eyes, they are 
 coming out here with a rush, and they pick up our 
 new towns faster than we can lay them out. 
 
 " And of all the new towns that it has ever been my 
 happy fortune to place before the public, it has never 
 been my lot to offer any in so fine a location, with so 
 equable a climate, and with so well-projected a survey, 
 as you now see in this lovely nook which I am offer 
 ing to you this morning, known as the new city of 
 Oakdale." 
 
 He then proceeded to describe the ideas of the com 
 pany as Warren had already explained them to his 
 friends, and then closed his harangue by stating the 
 terms of the sale, which were the customary one-third 
 
120 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 cash before sunset, one-third in nine months, and the 
 balance in one year, at ten per cent. 
 
 Maps were then distributed to all who were present 
 at the sale, showing the town site with its division into 
 streets and town lots ; and as each block on the map 
 was lettered, while each lot was numbered, correspond 
 ing to the letters and numbers on the posts, a glance at 
 the map gave each person an accurate idea of the plan 
 of the projected town, making it possible for those 
 desiring to purchase to choose with perfect accuracy 
 the sites and locations which seemed to them the most 
 eligible ; while to further aid investors in reaching a 
 decision as to where they would prefer to place their 
 investments, a man bearing a flag upon a pole went 
 from street to street, stationing himself upon each lot 
 as it was put up for sale, making it possible for the 
 bidders to see exactly how it lay in its exposure, the 
 scenery it commanded in its outlook, and also and 
 this is an important item in estimating the value of 
 land where the difference between sunlight and shade 
 is so strongly marked as it is in the semi-tropical cli 
 mate of Southern California whether or not it was so 
 situated that it would receive a fair amount of sunshine. 
 
 The preliminaries being now all arranged, the auc 
 tioneer issued a command to the standard-bearer of the 
 sale, who forthwith moved off in obedience to orders, 
 and placed himself on the lot to be first offered to 
 bidders. 
 
 The auctioneer at once called for bids, crying at the 
 top of very powerful lungs, 
 
 " Now, ladies and gentlemen, I offer to you, as you 
 see, Lot No. 1, in Block A, of the town of Oakdale, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 county of Ventura, State of California. This is only 
 another way of telling you that I am offering you a lot 
 in a town situated in the finest county of the West and 
 the grandest State in the Union. Where can you find 
 such another climate as we are blessed with in all the 
 world ? Where can you show me so fertile a soil as 
 that of this Santa Clara Valley of the South? You 
 have all of you been spending the winter in California, 
 and you know for yourselves that I am telling you the 
 plain, unvarnished truth, and that I don't say anything 
 but hard, solid facts. In all the world you can't find 
 such another country as this. No colds, no coughs, no 
 consumption, no hay-fevers, no catarrhs, no malaria. 
 Why, bless you, these facts do all the talking for them- 
 selves ; I don't need to say anything, and I ain't a-going 
 to. Now, I stand here offering you all a chance to own 
 a home in this vale of Paradise, where you can sling 
 a hammock under your own vine and fig-tree, and 
 swing in its easy embrace all the year round ; while 
 you can gaze off over the limpid waters of the Pacific, 
 sparkling like diamonds in the sunlight, your brows 
 fanned the while by the soft ocean-breezes, or kissed 
 by the gentle zephyrs from the mountains, whose sweet 
 breath comes to you laden with the perfume of myriads 
 of flowers. 
 
 " Now think this over, and tell me, in your bids, 
 what you offer for this first lot ever put on sale in this 
 new town, which I predict will, inside of ten years, 
 rival Nice or Mentone in the Old World ; tell me what 
 this prospect of peace, health, wealth, and happiness is 
 worth to you." 
 
 The auctioneer paused to catch his breath and waited 
 
 F 11 
 
122 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 for the first bid, eagerly scanning the faces before him, 
 his own countenance alert with shrewd humor. 
 
 The agent of the rival company was standing directly 
 in front of him, his face twisted into an expression of 
 the deepest scorn, both for the auctioneer's eloquence, 
 for the town site, and for the whole proceedings. 
 
 The bid was not forthcoming, and the auctioneer 
 again found it necessary to add an incentive to the zeal 
 of those before him. 
 
 "What am I offered for this lot, located, as your 
 own eyes tell you, on the Pacific Circle, right across 
 Pacific Avenue, the main avenue where the cable cars 
 will run, and facing the Park ? No house can ever be 
 put up in front of you ; your outlook will always be 
 upon one of the prettiest parks any city in the country 
 can boast of; while over and above all this, you have 
 an unobstructed view out over the ocean. Now, what 
 do you offer me for this lot, one hundred by two 
 hundred and fifty feet, remember?" 
 
 " Two dollars and six bits !" The bid was made by 
 the agent of the rival company, and he threw into the 
 tones in which he made it all the bitterness of his soul. 
 Every one in his vicinity turned and looked at him in 
 blank amazement; while those who were out of his 
 immediate neighborhood stood on tiptoe, craning their 
 necks in order to see who it was who had made so un 
 precedented a bid. 
 
 The auctioneer at first started back in surprise ; 
 then, thinking that he might have misunderstood the 
 offer, he said, " I beg your pardon, sir ; what was your 
 bid?" 
 
 "I said two dollars and six bits, and I stand by it. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 123 
 
 As an investment the lot is worthless ; but I think the 
 wood on it may be worth the money/' snarled the rival 
 of the Oakdale Land and Water Company. 
 
 Glenn, who, like Chaucer's Reeve, was a "slender, 
 choleric man," started forward, burning with fury, in 
 tending to inflict some serious bodily injury upon this 
 base-spirited emissary who had come up, like Satan in 
 the mediaeval legends, from some dry and desert spot 
 to work mischief in this fair garden of beauty. War 
 ren was, fortunately, standing close beside him, and, 
 placing his hand upon his partner's arm, he urged him 
 to be silent and control himself, for the auctioneer was 
 a man whom they could safely trust to bring ridicule 
 upon the enemy ; and this was the only weapon with 
 which they could hope to defeat him and save them 
 selves from the ruinous loss which now threatened 
 them. 
 
 Glenn clinched his fists and stood stamping his foot 
 in impotent fury. If this malicious bid should create 
 suspicion of bad faith on the part of the company and 
 stampede the possible purchasers, all the expenses 
 which the company had incurred up to this time would 
 prove money thrown away, while the expenses of to 
 day's sale would also be additional loss^ Disaster stared 
 them, one and all, in the face ; but a fist-fight would 
 not mend matters in the least. Glenn himself saw 
 that there was nothing for it but patience ; so, with 
 grated teeth ai*d clinched fists, he stood glaring with 
 angry eyes upon the calm, sneering face of his rival. 
 
 A California land auctioneer is a man of ready wit 
 and brazen assurance, while he is also fertile in expe 
 dients ; it is at any time hard to catch him unprepared 
 
124 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 with an answer, and this man was worthy of all War 
 ren's confidence in him. Seeing the state of the case 
 at a glance; and seeing, also, from the countenances 
 before him that all his eloquence, past as well as to 
 come, was hopelessly thrown away if he could not 
 create a diversion in his own favor, he replied, without 
 an instant's hesitation, 
 
 " Thank you, thank you, sir ! Ladies and gentlemen, 
 you see standing here before you a poor, forlorn, 
 broken-winded, shattered wreck from Kansas. I can 
 tell that he comes here from Kansas by his thin, gaunt 
 form, his haggard features, and his pinched nose. 
 Half starved from living on a soil that can produce 
 nothing better than rattlesnakes, his health broken 
 down by blizzards, and his bank account busted by 
 bad crops in the off years and grasshoppers in the on 
 ones, he has wandered over here to buy a home and 
 mend his fortunes. He says that he's only got two 
 dollars and six bits left, all that his folly in not coming 
 to California in the first place has spared him out of a 
 handsome fortune. He offers it all all he has got in 
 the world for a home in Southern California. Don't 
 outbid him ! Don't, I beg of you, ladies and gentle 
 men ! And I declare this lot sold, as an act of charity, 
 to our bankrupt, broken-winded, deplorable friend 
 from Kansas, and take my word for it, sir, you won't 
 have to wait long for mended fortunes. What name, 
 please?" 
 
 The listeners roared, even the irate Glenn suffered 
 his features to relax into a frosty smile, while the dis 
 concerted emissary of a subtile foe slunk back out of 
 sight, lost himself in the crowd, and was seen no more. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 125 
 
 " Ah !" the auctioneer exclaimed, " our deplorable 
 friend tells me that on searching his pockets he cannot 
 make good his bid and he asks the privilege of forfeit 
 ing his purchase. So I declare that sale off, and again 
 call for your bids. 
 
 " What am I offered for this lot, big enough for you 
 to put a mansion on it, and then have grounds enough 
 left for a stable in the rear and handsome lawns? 
 What am I offered ? Start it, some one !" 
 
 After some spirited bidding the lot was knocked 
 down for five hundred dollars, and the standard-bearer 
 was sent to a lot on the slope of the hills, on the other 
 side of the auctioneer's stand. 
 
 Again he called for bids. 
 
 " Here you have a lot, not quite so large as the last, 
 but a good-sized lot, though, one hundred by one hun 
 dred and sixty feet, on the corner of Santa Clara and 
 Ramona Streets, southern exposure, and having the 
 glare of the sun tempered by pepper- and erysipelas- 
 trees already set out by the company. What am I 
 offered?" 
 
 It is to be supposed that by the last-named botanical 
 marvel he referred to some small eucalyptus-trees 
 which the company had recently planted; but as he 
 did not further explain his meaning, no one ever cer 
 tainly knew. 
 
 This lot started very well, one hundred and seventy- 
 five dollars were immediately offered. This was at once 
 raised to one hundred and eighty dollars by another bid 
 der ; who, in his turn, was also outbid by five dollars. 
 
 The auctioneer was delighted. "That's it, gentle 
 men," he cried, striking his hands together. "Now 
 
 11* 
 
126 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 youVe got hold of the idea of how these sales ought 
 to be conducted. It's going to just boom here by and 
 by. Eighty-five eighty-five eighty-five eighty- 
 five I'm offered. Ninety will you make it ? 
 Eighty-five eighty-five eighty-five who'll go 
 the ninety ?" 
 
 Looking at a group of men standing in front of him 
 and a little apart by themselves, busily talking together, 
 he called out, " Here, you fellows over there, don't talk 
 to one another ; talk to me. Just tip me a wink ; I can 
 hear that ten blocks off. Eighty-five eighty-five 
 eighty-five. Ninety will you have it ? Thank 
 you," in reply to a bid to that amount. 
 
 " Now, see here ! Here you stand like a group of 
 graven images, and you are letting lots be bid off 
 for one hundred and ninety dollars that you'll pay one 
 thousand dollars for, and think that you've got 'em 
 cheap at that figure, in six months from now, after the 
 station is built and the population comes streaming in 
 here in great volumes, like the falls of the Yosemite 
 when the snow is melting on the mountains. 
 
 " Going at ninety at ninety at ninety at ninety 
 at ninety. Ninety-five will you make it ? 
 I'm looking right straight at you fellows over there, 
 and some of you are going to get killed when this 
 bargain goes off and hits you." 
 
 After some further spirited bidding, which, however, 
 did not get out of small figures, the lot was knocked 
 down to a graceful, handsomely-dressed woman for 
 three hundred and thirty-five dollars, a woman who, 
 already possessed of wealth and of high social standing, 
 like many another of the fair sex in California, was 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 127 
 
 afflicted with the land-craze in as acute a form as any 
 real-estate agent in the country. 
 
 The man with the flag was now sent to wave his 
 standard in a street a little to one side of what was 
 marked on the map as intended to be the business 
 section of the town, and the auctioneer began his ad 
 dress by an explanation, which he made in the following 
 words : 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, I am now offering you a 
 lot which I do not think is a very desirable one. The 
 Oakdale Company proposes to put up on the lot right 
 across the street from this, which they have reserved, 
 a school-house to cost thirty-five thousand dollars. 
 Although the lot is only three and a half blocks from 
 Pacific Avenue and the cable road, this lot is too near 
 the school-house for me, and I wouldn't have it. I'm 
 an old bachelor, though, so I suppose you ladies think 
 my opinion ain't worth much, and I suppose you're 
 right ; and you married men who have walked the 
 floor night after night with crying babies also look at 
 the matter in a different light from what I do; so, 
 what'll you give me to start this lot right across the 
 street from the new thirty-five-thousand-dollar-school- 
 house ? You start it at some figure : you young man 
 with a straw hat and blond moustache, I mean. Give 
 us a bid, won't you ?" 
 
 The designated individual blushed modestly, looked 
 sheepish, and offered seventy-five dollars. 
 
 " I am offered seventy-five dollars for a lot seventy- 
 five by one hundred ! One dollar a front foot I am 
 offered for this lot !" the auctioneer cried, throwing 
 the deepest scorn into his tones. 
 
128 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 "That young man is also a bachelor, that's very 
 evident. Will some married man raise ?" 
 
 After a pause, and a moment of deep silence : " Will 
 anybody raise him ?" 
 
 Another pause ; still silence reigned. 
 
 " Isn't there even one married man in all this crowd ?" 
 
 Another pause, during which the modest young bidder 
 drew back in the hope of concealing his burning blushes 
 in the crowd. The auctioneer leaned over, scanning the 
 faces before him, and cried, 
 
 " Isn't there a married woman here to raise that bid ?" 
 
 Again he paused, then cried, with a face expressing 
 the intensest anxiety, 
 
 " Haven't we got a parson here who will marry off 
 some of these people so that we can find somebody to 
 sell this lot opposite the school-house to ?" 
 
 A snicker went the rounds of the crowd, and a voice 
 from the outskirts offered one hundred dollars for the lot. 
 
 " Ah !" the auctioneer exclaimed, heaving a sigh of 
 profound relief, while his face showed that once more 
 life possessed charms for him. " The fire has broken 
 out in another part of the city ; now you'll see business 
 done ! One hundred dollars I am offered for this lot 
 in the fashionable quarter of this city ; one hundred 
 and one, will you make it? Why, bless your dear 
 hearts and stupid heads, this land is rising in value 
 every minute while you stand there cogitating whether 
 or not you dare invest. Don't stand staring one an 
 other in the face ! Walk right up here and make your 
 offers like little gentlemen ! The ladies, too, bless your 
 pretty faces ! We want you all here. We want you 
 for citizens. One hundred I am offered for this choice 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 129 
 
 lot. Will any one give me one hundred and ten? 
 No ? Say nine, then. 
 
 " No ? Well, we'll call it eight. 
 
 " No ? Then say seven. 
 
 "No? Well, we'll jump down to three. Who'll 
 give me three ? 
 
 "No one? Well, one, then. Will that bring you 
 to time ? What's the matter with this town, anyway ?" 
 
 He now stopped in his flow of talk, and, looking 
 round upon the faces before him, he broke out in a 
 voice trembling with emotion, and speaking in tones 
 which told the assembled listeners that the tears lay 
 very near the surface : 
 
 " Can't I get one bid ? Not even one ? Isn't there 
 a single man or woman in all this throng who will give 
 me one dollar, just one little dollar, when it will save 
 the homestead, the dear old homestead, where the date- 
 and the fan-palms wave their graceful foliage in the 
 perfumed breezes ; where the roses blossom all the year 
 in the open air ; where we have played together in 
 childhood's happy hours through the long sunny days, 
 and been so happy, oh, so happy ! Can it be that I 
 am offered not one paltry dollar, when it will save the 
 dear old homestead ?" 
 
 Then, suddenly changing from the pathetic, he began, 
 in mildly persuasive tones, to argue the point. 
 
 " Why, friends," he said, "just think of the fabu 
 lous prices these lots, now going begging, are going to 
 bring inside of five no, inside of three years. You 
 don't seem to realize how Jonah's gourd grows out 
 here. What was Pasadena ten years ago? Where 
 were Riverside and Orange then ? 
 
130 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " I am coming closer home, and ask you about how 
 much Ventura, over there, amounted to only ten years 
 ago? 
 
 " So I could stand here all day and tell you about 
 big cities and thriving towns here in Southern Cali 
 fornia, that eight and ten years ago men would hardly 
 take a lot in as a gift. Now you can't touch one in 
 any of them unless you cover it all over with coined 
 gold, and fresh from the mint at that. 
 
 "Why", bless your innocent hearts, what are you 
 afraid of here ? Anything is perfectly safe in South 
 ern California. We are selling lots to-day for hun 
 dreds that you'll have to give thousands for inside of 
 a twelvemonth, if you let them fall into the hands of 
 speculators." 
 
 Just whose hands they were in now he did not see 
 fit to explain. 
 
 After some urging the lot was finally sold ; and, as 
 it was now noon, the sale was adjourned until two. 
 o'clock, and the company was invited to lunch. 
 
 The band struck up a waltz, and the whole thronging 
 attendance investors, speculators, and spectators 
 made their way to the tables, where a bountiful lunch 
 was provided at the expense of the Oakdale Company, 
 and of which all were welcome to eat as freely and as 
 much as they chose. 
 
 Warren lunched in company with his friends, and 
 as he helped Miss Wade and her sister he asked, 
 
 " How do you like it as far as you've got ?" 
 
 " It is as good as a play ; I never saw a more amus 
 ing creature than that auctioneer. What a Koko he 
 would have made !" Mollie exclaimed, laughing heartily 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 131 
 
 at the recollection of his droll expressions and queer 
 grimaces. 
 
 "Yes," Mitchell dryly remarked, "when this little 
 bubble has burst the world will be the gainer ; that is, 
 if he will only go on to the metropolitan stage." 
 
 Warren looked deeply injured. 
 
 " What do you mean by that, Mitchell ?" he asked, 
 almost angrily. "Did you not hear what he said 
 about towns that ten years ago were, some of them, 
 not in existence, and that now are large, thriving, 
 growing cities ?" 
 
 "Certainly," Mitchell answered, not in the least 
 overcome by this argument. "He might have said, 
 though he did not, that ten years ago Los Angeles did 
 not amount to much, while to-day it is a great city 
 whose brilliant future I dare not attempt to predict." 
 
 " Then what is the matter with Oakdale ?" Warren 
 asked, indignantly. 
 
 " Simply this, my friend, that cities are very much 
 like men. Some are born great, others achieve great 
 ness, while still others have greatness thrust upon 
 them. In any and all of these cases there must be a 
 certain degree of fitness enabling them to endure this 
 greatness; while in none of them can greatness be 
 manufactured and the town then be thrust into it ; and 
 this, it strikes me, is the very thing you are trying 
 to do." 
 
 " I don't see what has come to yon, Mitchell," War 
 ren answered, rather crossly, crumbling his bread 
 nervously as he spoke. 
 
 "What I wish had come to you," he answered, 
 "a rational and common-sense way of looking at 
 
132 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 things. It would have been dollars and cents in your 
 pocket had you been inoculated with this worldly 
 wisdom before you embarked in this scheme." 
 
 Then, interrupting Warren, who was about to return 
 a sharp answer, he added, 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Warren, but hear me out. 
 You will notice that in every one of these towns which 
 have suddenly come up from little or nothing into 
 flourishing places, there is a reason for this marvellous 
 development. There is either a wonderfully rich soil, 
 or there is a great fruit or wine industry to support the 
 place, or, as in Los Angeles and San Diego, they are 
 commercial centres ; or else, like Ventura, they possess 
 a productive soil themselves, with a fertile country back 
 of them whose products they handle and ship. The 
 reason for growth is there, you see ; they are none of 
 them, strictly speaking, boom towns. While the scenery, 
 climate, and so on are there too, yet these are thrown 
 in gratis, no extra charge. I don't want to throw cold 
 water on your scheme, but it seems to me to be one of 
 those enterprises which are founded on nothing but 
 scenery and climate, so common out here, which already 
 have brought reproach on the country, and which are, 
 from their very beginning, destined to come to naught." 
 
 "Thank you, Mitchell, thank you," Warren an 
 swered, hotly, highly indignant with his plainly-speak 
 ing friend. " If Job had three such comforters as you, 
 he should have been canonized by the church centuries 
 ago. Human sanctity can know no higher perfection 
 than that patience and forbearance which prevented his 
 falling upon them and strangling them to the last man." 
 
 " I beg pardon if I have hurt you ; I only want you 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 133 
 
 to know how I look at the matter ; and I think that 
 this is the light in which any disinterested and cool- 
 headed person would view it," Mitchell replied. 
 
 Further discussion was prevented by the resumption 
 of the sale. All through the afternoon the bidding went 
 on ; and, under the graphic word-painting of the auc 
 tioneer, where now were only open lots, oak-trees, and 
 sage-brush, fancy could picture massive business blocks, 
 with the elegant homes and picturesque villas of wealthy 
 merchants, shaded by palms, magnolias, and fig-trees. 
 
 The bidding was more brisk and spirited than in the 
 morning ; and at the close of the sale Warren triumph 
 antly announced that over forty-five thousand dollars' 
 worth of lots had been sold. 
 
 " Your auctioneer understood his business and did 
 his best to serve your interests ; he has fairly earned his 
 percentage," Mitchell answered. 
 
 " Yes ; but what more nearly concerns you is the 
 fact that you had best make haste to the train, or you 
 will earn the privilege of standing up all the way back 
 to town," Warren replied. 
 
 But for all the apparently handsome success which 
 the sale had achieved, something was manifestly wrong, 
 for Warren had hardly finished speaking before Glenn 
 came up with an anxious look on his face, took Warren 
 by the arm, and whispered in his ear. 
 
 "I cannot do it, I have a friend with me. It is 
 out of the question, and you must wait till to-morrow," 
 Warren emphatically replied, his voice and manner 
 betraying the utmost annoyance and vexation. 
 
 " To-morrow will not do ; you must stay," Glenn 
 answered, in a tone as positive as Warren's had been. 
 
 12 
 
134 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Mollie quickly saw that she was concerned in this 
 debate, and coming forward, she said, 
 
 " Mr. Glenn, if you wish to detain Mr. Warren for 
 business purposes, I can return on the train with my 
 brother and sister if you will see that my horse is safely 
 taken back to town." 
 
 "Thank you, Miss Wade," Glenn repliejl. "It is 
 of great importance that Mr. Warren should remain to 
 a meeting of the stockholders of the company ; and, as 
 for your horse, my little niece will take it back safely. 
 She is a great horsewoman, so you need feel no fear in 
 trusting her ; and, being a child, a habit is not neces 
 sary. She will think the ride a great treat." 
 
 " This is outrageous," Warren said, under his breath, 
 to his companion, as Glenn hurried away. "I fear 
 that you will never accept me as an escort again." 
 
 Mollie laughed merrily at his annoyance at the un 
 expected disarrangement of his plans, and answered, 
 
 "Be a hero, Mr. Warren, and do not let trifles so 
 seriously vex you. Of course I should have been glad 
 of the ride back, and I should have also enjoyed your 
 companionship ; but for this once I shall survive the 
 loss of both. You are not in the least responsible for 
 this turn of affairs, and I hope you do not think I re 
 gard you so. I thank you for giving me a very 
 pleasant day, and at any time when you are ready for 
 another excursion, I shall be most happy to go with 
 you. Good-night !" And taking her brother's arm 
 she tripped away to the train, leaving Warren standing 
 and looking after her, and thinking that night had 
 fallen over the scene two full hours before its time. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 SOMETHING, it was clearly to be seen by the most 
 superficial observer, was altogether wrong. What this 
 " something" was could not so easily be ascertained, for 
 the sales had certainly been good ; the bidding had been 
 fairly spirited ; but for all this, after the adjournment 
 of their informal meeting, not a member of the Oak- 
 dale Company left the grounds with a countenance ex 
 pressive of the satisfaction which every one of them 
 ought to have felt at the termination of so successful a 
 sale. 
 
 Whether this arose from the fact that these enter 
 prising speculators were anxious to control the entire 
 planet upon which they dwelt and would be satisfied 
 with nothing less, or whether there was some mystery 
 behind the whole affair at present known only to the 
 stockholders, no one could say, for those in the secret 
 carefully kept their own counsel. 
 
 " Be at the office at nine to-morrow, promptly," said 
 Glenn, the president of the company, as he climbed into 
 his carriage. 
 
 " I will," Warren answered. 
 
 "Every one of us must be on hand; this matter 
 cannot wait." With these words Glenn drove off 
 home, the others scattered, and the impromptu meeting 
 of the Oakdale Company stood adjourned. 
 
 Warren mounted his horse and rode thoughtfully 
 and sadly towards Ventura. The journey home was 
 
 135 
 
136 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 by no means as pleasant to him as the ride of the 
 morning had been, and he found the companionship 
 of his thoughts by no means as pleasant as the society 
 of his pretty friend had proved a few brief hours be 
 fore. His horse was a good one, but so slowly did he 
 ride that the sun had long gone down and twilight had 
 come on before he had reached the narrow pass which 
 marked the half-way point between the Oakdale tract 
 and town. 
 
 As he had been' almost the last to leave the grounds 
 and, intent upon his own thoughts, had ridden very 
 slowly, the other attendants at the sale stockholders, 
 speculators, and spectators had gone through the pass 
 long before he reached it. 
 
 It was a beautiful and romantic spot by daylight ; 
 but it was dark, gloomy, and (except to a skilful driver) 
 dangerous after nightfall. On one side the hills tow 
 ered up over the road, their precipitous sides covered 
 with a thick growth of oak. On the other a sheer 
 descent of hundreds of feet led down into a cafion, 
 narrow and crooked, opening off a broad valley through 
 which a clear stream wound its way down to the ocean. 
 This canon in former days, when the valley had been a 
 famous range for cattle, had been used as a corral into 
 which cattle were driven for branding, for herding, and 
 for selecting stock for the markets. The old corral was 
 now, however, in no way useful or interesting except 
 for the old associations and weird traditions connected 
 with it. 
 
 A cowboy, so it was said, had long ago been mur 
 dered in it by a treacherous companion ; and he was 
 popularly supposed to have the poor taste to still linger 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 137 
 
 around the scene of his former labors and final suffer 
 ings. On moonlight nights he had often been seen to 
 ride a ghostly horse in pursuit of ghostly cattle, swing 
 ing a ghostly lasso around his head as he drove his 
 spectral charge into the old corral. 
 
 Warren, however, being in perfect health and pos 
 sessed of a good digestion, was distressed by no fears 
 of being granted a glimpse at this vision of the super 
 natural ; but the sight which was revealed to him as he 
 approached that part of the pass overhanging the old 
 corral was little less of a shock to him than that he 
 would have received had he actually seen the spectre 
 horseman "rounding up" his immaterial herds hun 
 dreds of feet below. 
 
 On the road just above the old corral two men were 
 engaged in a contest of life and death ; while their 
 horses, left to their own devices, were silently browsing 
 by the road and calmly indifferent to the enmity of 
 their masters, which could evidently end only with the 
 life of one, while perhaps it would cost the lives of both. 
 
 Firmly clasped in an embrace of mortal hatred, they 
 were swaying back and forth, now in the middle of the 
 road, now almost on the edge of the cafioii. Both were 
 powerful men, both manifested a spirit of terrible de 
 termination, and every inch of ground was fought with 
 a desperate strength and courage which showed that the 
 battle would end with only one of them standing upon 
 the road, though Warren feared that neither would 
 survive the quarrel. 
 
 Now they were on the very edge of the precipice, and 
 one of the antagonists, slighter and more athletic in his 
 build, had almost forced his foe over the brink. With 
 
 12* 
 
138 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 feet firmly braced, he struggled to detach his adversary's 
 hands from their firm clasp about his waist, then force 
 him on the few inches necessary to hurl him to his 
 death. But the brief pause necessary to accomplish 
 this cost him all the advantage that he had gained. 
 Back, inch by inch, he was forced from the edge of the 
 precipice ; and still struggling to unclasp the clinging 
 arms wound around him, the more athletic of the two 
 again forced his enemy on to the edge of the chasm, 
 forcing him once more, inch by inch, on to his death. 
 
 With an exclamation of horror, Warren put spurs 
 to his horse and dashed up to the spot, calling out to 
 the wrestlers as he flew over the ground. The road 
 was very narrow at this point, and as he reached the 
 place the fight was once more going on upon the very 
 edge of the precipice, while both the participators were 
 in imminent danger of going over its edge in each 
 other's deadly embrace. 
 
 Warren sprang from his horse upon reaching them, 
 and, catching each by the collar, he tore them from 
 one another, saying, 
 
 " Gently, gently, let us have no more of this ! Good 
 heavens, Jake, is this you ? Will you have the kind 
 ness to tell me what this exhibition of Greece-Roman 
 wrestling means ?" he added, as he recognized his friend 
 in one of the combatants. 
 
 Still holding each by the collar he looked from one 
 to the other, while his captives, gasping for breath from 
 the violence of their late exertions, stood perfectly quiet 
 and made no resistance to his interference, looking him 
 calmly in the face. 
 
 By the dim light of the early evening he did not 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 139 
 
 recognize in Jake's antagonist any one whom he had 
 ever seen before. Leaning forward and peering into 
 his face, he found that the man was an entire stranger, 
 though his dark complexion told Warren that he was 
 of Spanish or Mexican descent. 
 
 " Could you not have found some more secure place 
 for your gymnastic entertainments, some spot, for in 
 stance, where your diversions would not be so likely to 
 become varied by exhibitions of your skill in ground 
 and lofty tumbling ?" Warren again asked, after looking 
 at his prisoners a moment in silence. 
 
 The Mexican was the first to recover his breath, and, 
 throwing off Warren's detaining grasp, he stepped back, 
 saying, in perfect English, though with a strong foreign 
 accent, 
 
 "The sefior chooses to be witty, but I assure him 
 that nothing could be in more deadly earnest than the 
 contest upon which he happened so inopportunely." 
 
 " I beg leave to differ with you as to that point/' 
 Warren answered, releasing Jake as he spoke, but 
 carefully keeping Mmself between them. "It seems 
 to me that my arrival was most fortunate, for it has 
 very clearly prevented the commission of a crime, 
 while it has not improbably prevented the destruction 
 of you both. May I trouble you for an explanation ?" 
 
 The Mexican shrugged his shoulders, but made no 
 other reply, though his manner clearly intimated that 
 he continued to look upon Warren's interference as an 
 unwarrantable intrusion into matters that did not in 
 the least concern him. Jake, however, although he 
 was still sadly out of breath, attempted to give Warren 
 an understanding of the situation, and replied, 
 
140 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " I give you my word for it, Mr. Warren, this row 
 ain't none of my doin's. Carballo would have it, 
 though, and of course I started in to take good care 
 of number one." 
 
 The name enlightened Warren at once. The fight 
 was clearly connected with Jake's love-affair, and this 
 young Spaniard (as he proved to be), the young lady's 
 brother, had evidently made up his mind to free his 
 sister from the attentions of a lover who was so unac 
 ceptable to the family, even if it were necessary to 
 terminate the engagement by putting an end to his 
 life. Turning to the young Spaniard, on hearing this 
 answer, Warren asked, 
 
 " Are you the Senor Carballo ?" 
 
 " That is my name," he answered, very coolly, brush 
 ing the dust from his clothes as he spoke. 
 
 "Did this disgraceful affair originate with you?" 
 Warren sternly demanded. 
 
 " That is a matter of opinion altogether. You can 
 only arrive at a just conclusion as to the merits of the 
 case by reasoning from cause to effect," Carballo an 
 swered, as coolly as before. 
 
 Warren was exasperated by his calm insolence, and 
 angrily replied, 
 
 " Come, sir, you will gain nothing by this evasion. 
 I have witnessed an attempt at crime on your part, 
 remember; and it would be well for you to bear in 
 mind that the authorities of the county would call your 
 crime by a very ugly name. If you can give me any 
 reason why I should not lodge an information against 
 you with them, now is your time." 
 
 " I have nothing to say to you, sefior. If the au- 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 141 
 
 thorities have any questions to ask of me they will 
 always know where to find me, and I will recognize 
 their right to inquire," Carballo answered, seizing his 
 horse's bridle and preparing to mount. 
 
 Evidently he was a cool hand, a very cool hand, 
 indeed, and one who was not to be easily frightened. 
 So Warren decided within himself, but he determined to 
 make one more effort towards bringing him to reason 
 before he let him go, and called out to him saying, 
 
 " Stop a moment, senor ! It may be that I under 
 stand more of this matter than you suspect. I have no 
 desire to drag a young lady's name into unpleasant 
 publicity ; but before I can consent to drop this matter 
 I must have your promise to attempt no further unlaw 
 ful violence." 
 
 Carballo stood silent for a moment, his graceful and 
 powerful form dimly outlined in the growing darkness 
 against the background of his horse. Then he an 
 swered, with bitter sarcasm in his voice, 
 
 "When you wish to clear your house of vermin, 
 do you first go to the courts and secure their license ?" 
 
 On hearing himself alluded to in such uncompli 
 mentary language, Jake gave vent to a half-stifled 
 oath and sprang forward to take vengeance of his pro 
 spective brother-in-law. 
 
 Warren at once seized him and drew him back, say 
 ing, 
 
 "Jake, behave yourself!" Then, turning to Car 
 ballo, he said, 
 
 " My friend, in all civilized communities there is a 
 peculiar disposition, to you I suppose wholly unac 
 countable, which is strongly in favor of protecting 
 
142 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 human life. I would invite your attention to the fact 
 that this is now a civilized section ; the laws now have 
 a force out here, and the sentiment of the people en 
 dorses this love of law and order. If anything hap 
 pens to my young friend here, you will, after this 
 evening's demonstration, be held accountable ; and I 
 greatly fear that the results to you will be a throat- 
 trouble of short but violent nature, whose termination 
 will certainly prove fatal." 
 
 Carballo sprang into the saddle, and, bowing low in 
 mock courtesy, said, in reply, 
 
 "I thank you, senor, for your deep interest in my 
 welfare. I have been charmed by your eloquence and 
 entertained by your wit. I now commend your inter 
 esting friend to your protection ; believe me, he will 
 need all your care. Buenos noches" And, raising his 
 hat, he rode away. 
 
 "That is a cool fellow and no mistake," Warren 
 said, looking after Carballo as he vanished in the dark 
 ness. Then turning to his companion, he said, 
 
 " Well, Jake, I think it would be as well for us to 
 follow the example of our late entertaining friend and 
 decamp. I suppose, as I hinted to Carballo, a certain 
 fair maiden was the remote cause of the gymnastic 
 exercises I beheld as I came up ?" 
 
 " Yes," Jake answered, as they mounted. " He was 
 waitin' for me in the pass here; and as I came up he 
 called to me and asked me to dismount, as he wanted 
 to talk to me. I did so, and we got into hot words ; 
 then he took hold of me, and we went at it hot and 
 heavy." 
 
 " He certainly meant to release his sister from her 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 143 
 
 engagement, didn't he?" Warren asked, laughing as 
 he spoke. 
 
 "I rather think that his family were just as likely 
 to go into mourning on his account," Jake answered, 
 grimly. 
 
 " In that case he would have gained his purpose just 
 the same, for the fair senorita could hardly have mar 
 ried the man who killed her brother," Warren replied. 
 
 " It would have been all right if I had ; he pitched 
 into me, I didn't go for him," Jake argued. 
 
 " True enough ; but then the principle holds good, 
 and would have prevented such a marriage just the 
 same ; however, all's well that ends well. I am glad 
 that I came up in time ; only, I beg of you, don't get 
 into any more such scrapes if you can help it," Warren 
 answered. 
 
 " How can I help it if he comes along and hunts 
 me up in order to pitch into me ? You wouldn't have 
 me stand still and let him cut my throat, would you ?" 
 Jake protested. 
 
 "Hardly," Warren returned. "I cordially com 
 mend all the efforts you put forth in the way of self- 
 defence. All I meant was, to caution you against put 
 ting yourself in his way, or doing anything to provoke 
 trouble. Meanwhile, I shall see the young man again 
 and take measures to effectually curb his warlike 
 propensities for the future." 
 
 " I am glad that you came up as you did, Mr. War 
 ren," said Jake. "But I shall put an end to this 
 whole business for good and all." 
 
 " What are you going to do ?" Warren asked, anx 
 iously. 
 
144 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " I don't know just yet," Jake replied, " but I shall 
 do something right away." 
 
 " Don't follow the example of our friend and be 
 violent," Warren cautioned. 
 
 Jake laughed and answered, 
 
 " I am not a Spaniard ; you need not fear that I 
 shall try to exterminate the family, and I sha'n't stand 
 any nonsense from them, either. I'll let you know in 
 a few days what I'm up to." 
 
 " All right, only don't be rash," Warren cautioned 
 again. 
 
 Having by this time reached the city, they rode to 
 the stable and there parted, Jake to go home, Warren 
 to go to the hotel, get his supper, and then spend the 
 small portion of the evening still remaining to him in 
 the society of his friends. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 WARBEN did not sleep well that night, either owing 
 to his business troubles or to the excitement of his ad 
 venture in the pass ; and the pleasant evening he had 
 passed in Mollie's society did not serve to overcome 
 the restlessness which one or the other of these causes, 
 or perhaps the combined influence of both, had exer 
 cised over his spirits. Weary in body and mind, but 
 wholly unable to sleep, he tossed uneasily on his pillow 
 through the entire night, anxiously watching for the 
 first break of day, which he welcomed with the joy 
 only those can feel who have, like him, been unwilling 
 watchers through a long and weary night. The first 
 pale gray of the morning twilight called Warren from 
 his bed ; and after first trying to read, then making an 
 equally futile attempt at letter- writing, he threw aside 
 pen and paper with an exclamation of impatience. 
 
 " It's of no use," he said, angry with himself, and 
 tearing up his epistolary failure as he spoke. "No 
 tea-drinking old maid was ever more nervous and 
 altogether unstrung than I am at this present moment. 
 What has come over me anyway ? This Oakdale busi 
 ness ? That little fiasco in the pass on the way home ? 
 It does not seem as though it could be either of these ; 
 for any man who is a man at all ought to be able to 
 bear trouble or excitement without turning womanish, 
 and I do not seem to be so much worried as altogether 
 unstrung. 7 ' 
 
 Q k 13 145 
 
146 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Going to the window, he looked out over the glorious 
 sunshine which was now painting mountains and coast 
 line, islands and ocean with the rich orange and gold 
 of early day ; and, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the 
 morning air, filled with the cool invigorating perfume 
 of the sea, he took up his hat and cane, saying, 
 
 " I believe I will try a walk. I am no great wor 
 shipper of Aurora, but if the goddess of the dawn ever 
 did cure an attack of the ' blues/ she certainly ought 
 to be able to do something for me, aided, as she is, by 
 such grand scenery and refreshing breezes, while I am 
 a fit subject for her kindly attentions. One thing, 
 though, is a fact : a long walk will at least serve 
 to take up the time between now and the breakfast 
 hour." 
 
 For the first time in his life Warren went out to 
 make trial of the fresh air and bright sunshine of early 
 day as a remedy for unstrung nerves ; and being deter 
 mined to make thorough work of it, he aimed for the 
 steepest and highest of the foot-hills, intending to 
 climb to its summit for his morning walk. He had 
 not gone more than two blocks along Poli Street in this 
 direction when his attention was attracted by a young 
 lady sauntering along only a little distance before him, 
 with the easy bearing of one whose sole errand was 
 the enjoyment of a pleasant walk with happy thoughts 
 and good health for her company. 
 
 Warren felt certain that he recognized the mountain 
 dress and modish hat, so becoming to the trim figure 
 and pretty face which had already played such sad 
 havoc with his heart. But could it be that Miss 
 Wade, whom he knew to be a " society girl/' could it 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 147 
 
 be that she was out of her bed and walking in the 
 open air at so very unfashionable an hour ? 
 
 He hastened his steps in order to make sure. Yes, 
 it certainly was she ; he could not be mistaken. The 
 bearing, the poise of the pretty head, the graceful 
 gliding motion ; he could not be mistaken ; no other 
 girl of his acquaintance knew how to walk. 
 
 In a few moments he was close behind her, almost 
 at her side. Yes, he was right, as he had all along 
 known that he must be ; and she, hearing his steps, 
 turned her head to see who was following her with 
 such a very evident desire to overtake her. 
 
 Mollie's countenance expressed her surprise at seeing 
 him, and, bidding him a laughing good-morning, she 
 waited the second necessary to permit him to join her. 
 
 " This is an unexpected pleasure, Mr. Warren," she 
 cried, throwing a strong emphasis upon the monosyl 
 labic verb. " What fascination is at work sufficiently 
 powerful to draw you from your bed at this early hour, 
 when you are usually taking your beauty sleep ?" 
 
 "I am the one to express surprise, Miss Wade," 
 Warren answered. " Who would ever dream of find 
 ing a fashionable young lady forsaking her bed to 
 enjoy a constitutional at sunrise? Is this a regular 
 practice with you?" 
 
 " It is," Mollie replied. " But permit me to caution 
 you, Mr. Warren, not to indulge yourself with any 
 railing against ' fashionable young ladies' in my pres 
 ence. I know very well that I am possessed of an 
 exceptionally sweet temper and an almost perfect dis 
 position ; but even these perfections are not proof 
 against that most absurd of all absurdities, the foolish 
 
148 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM, 
 
 cry against ' fashionable girls. 7 Please tell me what 
 you mean when you define the term." 
 
 Warren had not been expecting to be taken up in 
 this way and so suddenly brought to book ; for a 
 moment he looked puzzled, and then hesitatingly 
 answered, 
 
 " Why I I should say that a fashionable girl is 
 one who gives up her time and her thoughts altogether 
 to society." 
 
 " Oh, should you ?" was Mollie's scornful reply. 
 " Do you know any such girl, Mr. Warren ? I con 
 fess that there are none of that description in the circle 
 of my acquaintance. Indeed, I cannot imagine such 
 a girl. One whose whole life was passed in gayety, 
 with no home life, no religious life, no life of any kind 
 outside of this one whirl of amusement, would be a 
 strange creature, would she not ?" 
 
 " Of course I did not intend that you should place 
 a strictly literal interpretation upon my words," War 
 ren replied. "Of course a girl must possess some 
 kind of domestic instincts, more or less perfectly de 
 veloped, however ill-defined her moral and religious 
 ideas may be. What I meant by my definition was, 
 that my idea of a fashionable girl is, one who makes her 
 social success the chief end and aim of her existence." 
 
 "I perfectly understood your meaning, Mr. War 
 ren," Mollie answered ; " and I intended to show you 
 that your definition would not bear inspection even a 
 moment." 
 
 "Where is its flaw?" Warren asked, disposed to 
 feel hurt at her criticism. 
 
 " It is fatally defective in its every word, as I will 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 149 
 
 show you in just one moment/' Mollie replied, as she 
 stooped over a bed of California poppies to add their 
 yellow glory to the bouquet of wild-flowers she was 
 carrying in her hand. " There," she said, rising with 
 her new treasures ; " is not that lovely ? Lupines ; wild 
 onions, though I think it is a shame to call such a 
 pretty blue flower by such a horrible name ; Mari- 
 posas, they are rightly named, though, with the but 
 terfly beauty of their painted petals ; and now I have 
 these rich yellow poppies to set it all off as it should 
 be. The fields have given me a more beautiful bou 
 quet than I could have found outside of a conservatory 
 at home. Did you ever see anything more lovely in 
 your life ?" she asked, standing before her companion 
 and holding up her flowers for his approval. 
 
 " I never saw anything that I thought one-half so 
 beautiful," Warren returned, somewhat dishonestly, it 
 must be confessed, looking not at the flowers but at the 
 face uplifted to his own. 
 
 It was a face well worth looking upon : the pure, 
 clear complexion glowing with health ; the bright, 
 dark eyes sparkling with happiness and animation ; 
 the red, dewy lips parted just enough to show the 
 pearly teeth beneath, all combined to form a lovely 
 picture, and Warren can almost be pardoned his wicked 
 evasion of her question. She caught his meaning in 
 stantly and dropped her eyes, flushing slightly as she 
 answered his apparent instead of his real meaning, 
 saying, 
 
 " Yes, I think that I have almost a genius for 
 arranging flowers. But I must not forget my duty of 
 remorselessly tearing in pieces your definition, which 
 
 13* 
 
150 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 my soul abhors. Your majesty has graciously deigned 
 to admit that your ' fashionable girP must give some 
 little of her time and thoughts to something besides 
 her social life; but still she is too frivolous. Now, 
 your definition fails to define in this : how is one to 
 know whether a girl is ' fashionable' or not ? Are we, 
 who wish to escape this dreadful condemnation, to 
 dress ourselves like guys, and behave ourselves alto 
 gether in defiance of social laws ?" 
 
 " Why, certainly not !" Warren answered, shocked 
 at the very idea. 
 
 " Then, what are we to do ?" Mollie insisted. " If 
 we girls are all alike to dress and do as social laws 
 direct, who of us can touch this awful pitch, 'fashion,' 
 without being defiled ? And you have just called me a 
 ( fashionable girP too." 
 
 This last she said in a tone expressive of the deepest 
 reproach. Warren felt that Mollie was almost unjust 
 in pressing so closely a speech that had been inadver 
 tent on his part, and which he had not intended should 
 possess any great amount of significance ; while he cer 
 tainly had not intended her to understand that he re 
 garded her as in the slightest degree frivolous, or that 
 he thought any one could so regard her, and he at once 
 hastened to reply : 
 
 " Oh, Miss Mollie, I assure you that I did not use 
 the phrase in its conventional and uncomplimentary 
 sense ; quite the contrary, in fact." 
 
 Mollie laughed heartily at his distressed countenance, 
 and answered, 
 
 " Thank you very much for your graceful compli 
 ment. But seriously, Mr. Warren, I do object very 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 strongly to that ridiculous phrase, ' fashionable girl.' 
 We are all of us fashionable girls/ 7 she went on, with 
 a look of intense earnestness in her bright, pretty face ; 
 " that is, all of us are who are good for anything. 
 Society and the ideas that other people entertain have 
 rights which we are bound to respect, and they make 
 certain righteous demands upon us which we are bound 
 to meet and honor ; and those of us who defy these 
 demands are just as selfish in one way as those are in 
 another way who live only to themselves." 
 
 " That is true," Warren answered ; " and the young 
 ladies I intended to describe by the phrase in using which 
 I was so unhappy as to provoke your indignation are 
 the large class of girls who have no thoughts above 
 nice and becoming gowns and the pretty graces by 
 which they hope to shine as bright particular stars in 
 the fashionable world." 
 
 Mollie glanced quickly at her companion with a 
 very serious look in her dark eyes ; and, giving an 
 emphatic shake of her graceful head, she answered, 
 
 " I cannot permit that censure to pass unchallenged 
 either. You have no right to say of any girl that she 
 has no thought beyond social success. Now, I am no 
 better (and I hope I am no worse) than other girls of 
 my set ; but in our parish at home we girls have a 
 guild, every member of which is one of those dreadful 
 creatures you have just been condemning, a ' fashion 
 able girl/ Besides other religious duties, we pledge 
 ourselves to give one-tenth of our income for pious 
 purposes, while over and above this we give as we are 
 able to the support of the parish. We also teach in a 
 mission Sunday-school, while we also do district visit- 
 
152 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 ing under the direction of the Sisters. The world 
 knows nothing of all this, though. We cannot go 
 around telling every one what we do ; it would be im 
 modest and irreligious ; then, it is just no one's busi 
 ness but our own and our rector's. So, I have no 
 doubt that you, and every one else who knows nothing 
 about us and our motives, set down every individual 
 member of this guild as a girl wholly given over to the 
 pomps and vanities of this sinful world, and as being 
 possessed of a mind incapable of rising above follies 
 and fripperies. And why, pray? Just because she 
 tries to fulfil her duties to society when she is in society 
 just as loyally as she does every other duty, and to this 
 end makes herself just as bright and attractive as she 
 can. But, Mr. Warren," she added, mischievously, 
 "it is worthy of remark that, like every other con- 
 temner of the i fashionable girl/ at every ball and 
 reception given this season, where there were two girls 
 present who were, physically, equally attractive, you 
 have always inconsistently chosen as your partner the 
 better dressed, better mannered, and therefore more 
 ' fashionable 7 of the two." 
 
 Warren laughed heartily at her vigorous defence of 
 a much-maligned class of the fair sex. 
 
 "I acknowledge myself defeated," he said, "and 
 I confess that you have given me many new ideas and 
 a new insight into feminine character and motives; 
 while I must also admit that I am no match for you 
 in debate. You should have studied law, Miss Mollie ; 
 you are far better qualified for the profession than I." 
 
 " Oh, no," she replied ; " I claim no skill in argu 
 ment at all. But, as you have just admitted, you saw 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 153 
 
 that you were in the wrong, and were too fair to try to 
 make the worse appear the better reason." 
 
 "Oh, thank you/' said Warren. "All the bitter 
 ness is taken from my defeat, because I am overcome 
 by an antagonist so fair, so valiant, and so generous in 
 victory. But have you not forgotten to tell me if you 
 are always so early a riser ?" 
 
 " I think not. I am certain that I did assure you 
 of the fact that it is my custom to rise with the sun 
 and refresh myself with a brisk walk on every pleasant 
 day." 
 
 " Of course, like all such frightfully energetic people, 
 you are in pursuit of health ?" Warren said, interroga 
 tively. 
 
 " Oh, certainly ; I am seeking neither wisdom nor 
 riches, having already all I desire of either, and cer 
 tainly all that I can make a good use of; but health 
 is the one thing with which no one can be overblessed," 
 Mollie answered. 
 
 "What do you do to dispose of days which you 
 lengthen so unconscionably?" Warren asked, as they 
 turned to retrace their steps to the hotel. 
 
 "I find enough to keep me busy," she replied. 
 "First, I always go back with a ravenous appetite, 
 and eat a hearty breakfast. You cannot imagine how 
 thankful I have always been that, since the steward 
 placed you at our table, you were not an early riser. 
 I should certainly have shocked you beyond description 
 with my appetite at breakfast ; while I feel a humili 
 ating consciousness that my prowess has dismayed you 
 sufficiently as it is. After breakfast there are always 
 letters to be written, errands to be done, either for my- 
 
154 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 self or for Effie ; and then, when all else fails, there is 
 the never-failing feminine resource, fancy work, at 
 hand to occupy spare moments that need to be sup 
 plied with duties, while you have no need to ask how 
 many hours a week I consume in riding. No, Mr. 
 Warren ; I see the question in your face, and I will 
 forestall it. I do not perpetrate any of those grotesque 
 horrors which young ladies now burlesque art by call 
 ing ' paintings. 7 As for the amateurish scrawls which 
 I call drawings, the less said about them the better I 
 shall feel, especially after what you said about them, 
 you know, on our ride to the Ojai," she added, with a 
 teasing glance into his face. Then she continued, 
 
 " I simply detest sewing, and I do not do any when 
 I can avoid it. But here we are ; and, while I have 
 enjoyed my walk, I think that I ought to extend you 
 my heartiest sympathy at having been inflicted with my 
 company during yours, for I have talked, to be sure. 
 I have just so much to say every morning, and you 
 have been compelled to pay the penalty of meeting me 
 before I had exhausted my powers upon Effie and John 
 Addison." 
 
 Warren did not tell her, what would have been the 
 truth, that he loved above all things else to hear her 
 voice, or say that it was, to him, the sweetest music in 
 the world, simply because he did not dare to do so ; 
 while fortune still further favored him this morning 
 by permitting him to enjoy a t&te-ci-tete breakfast with 
 her, neither Mitchell nor his wife coming down while 
 they were at the table. 
 
 " Mr. Warren," Mollie said, as they seated themselves, 
 " I want to tell you that you are deserving of great 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 155 
 
 credit for what you did on your way home from the 
 sale last evening." 
 
 Warren's pulse beat more quickly than usual ; for 
 never, since their acquaintance began, had she spoken 
 to him in so cordial a tone. 
 
 " Don't overrate a trifling act such as that ; where 
 there is no possible danger there can be no heroism 
 displayed. Whatever might have happened to Elkins 
 had I not come upon the field as I did, my interposi 
 tion did not imperil my existence in the least," Warren 
 answered. 
 
 "You have been a true friend to that young man 
 ever since you have known him, and a valuable friend 
 as well," she added. 
 
 " Why, I did not suppose that you knew anything 
 of my relations to him," Warren answered, surprised 
 at her information concerning himself and his doings, 
 but happy because she did know and appreciate it. 
 
 "John Addison has told me all about it," she re 
 plied. " If you want to keep your proceedings secret, 
 never let him find out anything. I fear he is a terrible 
 gossip." 
 
 " Don't let him persuade you into believing that I 
 am a philanthropist, Miss Wade. I am by no means 
 given to going around the world seeking out whom I 
 may aid," Warren said, as he glanced at his watch and 
 then rose from the table, finding that it was now time 
 for him to be on the way to his office. 
 
 Mollie laughed as she answered, 
 
 "That is not always the truest philanthropy, Mr. 
 Warren. Was it not Sir John Suckling who said of 
 love, 'It is of the nature of a burning-glass, which, 
 
156 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 kept still in one place, fireth ; changed often, it doeth 
 nothing' ? And something of the same sort is true of 
 our love to our fellows which makes us ready to help 
 them ; we have to keep our kindly interest fixed in one 
 place and make that the scene of our activity, and help 
 those who need help as they come into it ; for if we try 
 to spread our sympathetic feelings over the whole world, 
 our good deeds are very likely to begin and end in 
 nothing but feeling ; and it strikes me that you are 
 trying to act according to this good rule." 
 
 " I have certainly done nothing as yet deserving of 
 praise or even of notice," Warren answered, as he bade 
 her good-morning. Although he so strongly disavowed 
 the performance of any meritorious action, he was made 
 very happy, all the same, by the commendation she had 
 given him. He felt that he must certainly be more 
 worthy in her sight than he had once been, for never 
 before had she been so cordial with him as she had 
 shown herself this morning. 
 
 A sudden change from day to night, from midsum 
 mer to midwinter, is never pleasant, but just such a 
 change it seemed to Warren that he was making as he 
 left Mollie to walk down to his office for the purpose 
 of attending a business meeting which, as he had been 
 forewarned, was called to discuss nothing less than loss, 
 while it was quite possible that it might have to deal 
 with disaster. 
 
 The four stockholders of the Oakdale company were 
 present, Glenn, Warren, a New York man named, or 
 misnamed, West, while the last member of the corpo 
 ration hailed from San Francisco ; and considering the 
 shearing process to which he was destined to be sub- 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 157 
 
 jected, he rejoiced in the highly appropriate name of 
 Lamb. Glenn, as president and manager of the com 
 pany, opened the proceedings by saying, 
 
 " I am sorry to be obliged to tell you that our sale 
 of yesterday was a flat failure, and we shall have to do 
 something take some positive action at once, or this 
 company will certainly go to the wall." 
 
 " I thought that the lots went off nicely, and that 
 we were making a pretty good thing out of it. For 
 the life of me I can't see where you figure in the loss 
 and how you bring us into such a desperate situation," 
 Warren replied. 
 
 Glenn looked compassionately upon his partner, as 
 upon one altogether too guileless to fathom the plots 
 and counterplots of the business world, and then 
 answered, 
 
 " We shall never see any money for a good share of 
 those lots. They were bid off by agents I had em 
 ployed to keep up the prices and prevent the whole 
 sale from falling flat." 
 
 Warren flushed hotly at this frank confession of a 
 double game, his ideas of integrity and his partner's 
 theories of business enterprise by no means coinciding. 
 The other stockholders also seemed to view the trans 
 action from Warren's stand-point, and appeared a trifle 
 uneasy. Glenn saw the sensation his open avowal had 
 created, and, turning to Warren, he said, 
 
 " See here, my friend, for a man of your years, and 
 for one who has so good a legal education, I never in 
 all my life set eyes on one with such crude ideas of 
 business and so full of finicky notions as you are. 
 If you are going to make a success in this live part 
 
 14 
 
158 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 of the world, you've got to get rid of your nonsense 
 and get a little go into you." 
 
 " It may be that this affair strikes Mr. Warren and 
 myself in the same light," Mr. West remarked. 
 
 " I hope that your ideas of go didn't prompt you to 
 put up a stool-pigeon game at this sale," Mr. Lamb 
 interposed. 
 
 Glenn glanced angrily from one to the other of the 
 speakers, his small sharp eyes glistening like needles as 
 he answered, 
 
 " Everything connected with the sale was perfectly 
 open and above-board. But I kept my eyes open, 
 gentlemen. I knew that there was going to be a snap 
 game sprung on us from some quarter or other. I had 
 got wind of that scheme (no matter how) which was 
 being put up to cry down our property and represent 
 us as acting in bad faith ; so, when that white-livered 
 hound got up and bayed at us, if I hadn't been all 
 primed and loaded and ready for him, we'd have had 
 to come sneaking back home like a lot of whipped 
 young ones, snivelling along with our fingers in our 
 mouths. We wouldn't have sold a lot, gentlemen, if 
 it hadn't been for me. Not a single, blessed lot !" 
 
 " I should judge from what you say that the fellow 
 threw cold water on us pretty effectually for all your 
 sharpness," said Mr. Lamb. 
 
 " Kather !" Glenn angrily replied. " We shall have 
 small money coming in. When we balance our accounts 
 you'll find that most of the lots were bid back to the 
 company ; and they wouldn't have sold as well as they 
 did if I hadn't fixed things beforehand, and if we hadn't 
 been lucky enough to get a bang-up auctioneer as well." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 159 
 
 " I can't understand why it is that we are meeting so 
 much opposition/' said Mr. West, anxiously. "We 
 are not opposing any one on our side, and why should 
 other companies try to cut our throats ?" 
 
 " It's rivalry ! it's just the narrow-minded, short 
 sighted, pig-headedness of some dealers right here in 
 this town !" Glenn roared, fairly beside himself with 
 anger, and banging his fist on the table before him in 
 his fury as he spoke. "These stupid fools are afraid 
 that everything that don't come directly into town is 
 going to hurt the town. They haven't got brains 
 enough to see that what builds up the county can't 
 help building up the town. And now I've got a 
 blister ready which I want to show you, then I shall 
 proceed to put it on." 
 
 With these words he unrolled a closely- written man 
 uscript and read as follows : 
 
 " The Oakdale Land and Water Company, To all 
 barking curs, snarling jackals, and sneaking coyotes 
 who are laboring for its demise in order to devour its 
 remains, greeting : 
 
 " From the time that the Oakdale Land and Water 
 Company was first organized up to the present day 
 there has been a confederacy composed of a number of 
 leering, lying, sneaking individuals, who have done 
 everything in their power to crush the enterprise. 
 They not only try to depreciate the property by insinu 
 ations, they even deliberately lie. Every few weeks 
 some fiendish, malevolent scoundrel will bark at the 
 company, and all the mongrel curs of low degree will 
 join in the yelping, discordant chorus. 
 
 " Instead of admitting facts, that Oakdale is a part 
 
160 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 of this wonderful county ; that it possesses advantages 
 in some respects unsurpassed by any other section of 
 the State, or even of this grand globe, illuminated 
 by the golden ball of the great orb of day, these vin 
 dictive, splenetic individuals will lie about it so that 
 the uninformed would think that the wilds of Sahara 
 were a fertile oasis compared with it. 
 
 "Or, if the location be admitted to be good, the 
 honesty of the company is assailed. The company 
 don't mean what it says. It is organized for no pur 
 pose but just to shear innocent lambs. It is incompe 
 tent to meet its obligations. It has always been insol 
 vent, and the fools who have bought property from it 
 will lose every cent they have invested. Lying asser 
 tions are these, all of them ; but it is a sad fact that a 
 lie will travel leagues while truth is putting on its 
 boots. 
 
 " We defy any man to come out into the broad light 
 of day, so that we can see him and know him, and 
 dare to say that the Oakdale Company has not met 
 every obligation it has ever assumed, and we guarantee 
 to cram his infamous lie down his scurrilous throat. 
 
 " When has the Oakdale Company wronged a man 
 of a dollar ? When has it failed to meet, and promptly, 
 every obligation ? Let the Solomon who knows come 
 out from his hypocritical concealment and speak, that 
 we may know him. 
 
 " Let him be manly f 
 
 " Let him throw" off his contemptible, cowardly, 
 stab-in-the-back demeanor and be an open enemy ; 
 then we will respect him. But an assassin, a cow 
 ardly, cringing cur, we detest. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 161 
 
 "The Oakdale Land and Water Company will in 
 the future, as in the past, pay every dollar that it owes, 
 and faithfully meet every agreement. It has developed 
 a splendid property. It has secured railroad facilities 
 through which the back country can find an easy and 
 profitable market for- its abounding harvests. The 
 depot will be built at once and a post-office will shortly 
 be established, while the silurians will be quietly re 
 stored to their ancient geological formations to wait for 
 the next scheme for advancing the prosperity of the 
 country to call forth their croaks. 
 
 " To these slanderous fossils, whose chief occupation 
 it is to wear smooth the seat of their pants by physical 
 inaction ; to these specimens of a low order of animal 
 life who would rather a whole train of progress would 
 run over them than strain their incomplete organism 
 by getting out of the way ; to these inhuman specimens 
 of crude creation which ages of evolution cannot raise 
 to the dignity of the baboon we direct these remarks. 
 If any have doubts as to their identity, we let them 
 know that we can establish it, and we withhold their 
 names now not through consideration for them, but out 
 of respect for ourselves. 
 
 " Some of them call themselves business men ; 
 though what business they ever transact, unless they 
 call slander and backbiting a legitimate occupation, we 
 have never been able to learn. 
 
 "We regret that such cannibalistic character-eaters 
 and lying detractors can exist in this glorious State ; 
 and above all do we regret the presence of such reptiles 
 in that unequalled, beautiful, and progressive part of it 
 lying south of Point Conception." 
 l 14* 
 
162 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Glenn laid down his manuscript and looked around 
 upon his hearers with the self-satisfied manner of a 
 man whose pent-up feelings have found a safety-valve 
 just in time to prevent an explosion dangerous alike 
 to himself and to all his associates. 
 
 " There," he said, tilting back in his chair ; " that 
 will touch up somebody right smart. The blister will 
 fit on just where it belongs. Now, the question for us 
 to decide is, where shall we insert it ?" 
 
 "I think the best and most fitting place to insert 
 that production is the stove," Mr. West quietly sug 
 gested, as he cut the end from a cigar and slowly pro 
 ceeded to light it. Lamb said nothing, but nodded his 
 approval of his colleague's suggestion. 
 
 Once more the darkness of a coming storm began to 
 gather upon Glenn's brow. He glared upon the pre 
 sumptuous speaker for a moment in threatening silence, 
 transfixing him with an awful look, intended to strike 
 terror into his soul, but which West's calm and un 
 troubled demeanor proclaimed to have altogether failed 
 in its intention ; then he said, in a voice trembling with 
 ill-suppressed fury, 
 
 "Well, sir, what fault have you to find with this 
 letter ? I called you here for suggestions, and if you 
 have any to make I shall be happy to hear them." 
 
 " I meant no offence, Mr. Glenn," West replied. 
 " But that letter doesn't strike me as at all a dignified 
 production, and it reads as though it had been written 
 in anger. If it is published it will turn the laugh on 
 us by showing every one that, for all our grand splurge, 
 we got wretchedly left at the sale ; and it will increase 
 whatever distrust there may be felt towards us by the 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 163 
 
 anger it shows. Those on the winning side never lose 
 their temper ; so, if we use printer's ink at all, I would 
 advise that we publish a calm, temperate statement 
 of facts, and invite any one who wishes to do so to 
 investigate our financial condition and inspect our 
 books." 
 
 " Never !" Glenn roared, once more pounding the 
 table with his fist. "While I am president of this 
 company it shall never be investigated by a lot of 
 sneaking and lying silurians." 
 
 " I think myself that will be the easiest way out of 
 the hole we are in, Glenn; it will show our good 
 faith," Warren interposed, trying to soothe his irate 
 partner into a better and more reasonable temper. 
 
 Glenn was now almost beside himself with anger. 
 
 " I will permit nothing of the kind !" he howled, 
 jumping out of his chair and kicking it into a corner, 
 then turning around to glare at his companions. 
 
 " Oh, that I have lived to see the day that I should 
 have to do business in company with a pack of moss- 
 backed antediluvians ! You business men ! You a 
 lawyer, Warren ! There isn't one of you that has the 
 faintest idea how to do business. You are a pack of 
 mealy-mouthed milksops; you are a lot of half- 
 weaned tenderfeet ; and if we go to the wall, you have 
 sent us there, and you'll have no one but yourselves to 
 blame." 
 
 With these words he picked up his hat, crushed it 
 down on his head, and rushed out of the office to walk 
 off his wrath on the street. 
 
 For a few moments the remaining supporters of the 
 unfortunate Oakdale enterprise sat looking upon one 
 
164 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 another in silence ; then Mr. Lamb arose, and, picking 
 up his hat, said, 
 
 " Well, I shall have just about time to walk down 
 to the wharf and catch the boat for Frisco. I guess 
 I'll go that way, it's cheaper ; and, from the ideas I 
 gather from this meeting in regard to our affairs, I 
 should say that we shall all of us need to be careful 
 of our money. Have you any positive knowledge as 
 to how we stand, Mr. Warren ?" 
 
 Warren shook his head dubiously as he answered, 
 
 " No, Mr. Lamb, I have not the shadow of an idea. 
 Glenn is the treasurer of the company, as well as its 
 president and manager, and he has never submitted to 
 me any statement of its affairs or invited me to go over 
 the books. You are as well informed as to its condition 
 as I am." 
 
 " I should think that the sale was a perfect fizzle, 
 everything considered, and that we are in danger of 
 going to everlasting smash," Mr. West remarked. 
 
 " I think nothing will save us but a heavy assess 
 ment," Warren replied. 
 
 " I, for one, will never consent to that !" was West's 
 emphatic answer to this hint. 
 
 " For another, I will never put one cent more into 
 this scheme than I have already invested in it," said 
 Mr. Lamb, in his turn ; and, bidding them good-day, 
 he left the office and wended his way to the wharf. 
 
 " As the meeting is evidently adjourned, I may as 
 well be going, for there is nothing that you and I can 
 do," said Mr. West. 
 
 " Nothing except possess our souls in patience," was 
 Warren's reply. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 165 
 
 " Do you know, Mr. Warren," West remarked, as he 
 stood in the door of the office before going out, " when 
 I get back to New York I shall serve the same end to 
 all Eastern speculators in California real estate that the 
 drunkard is said to have been used for by old-fashioned 
 temperance lecturers ; that js, as a horrible example. 
 Like many another spring lamb, I got excited over the 
 boom and came out here to gather wool ; but I'm sorry 
 to say that I shall go back home shorn mighty close ; 
 most mighty close," he added, sadly shaking his head. 
 
 Warren laughed dubiously and answered, 
 
 " I am even worse off than that. I am shorn, then 
 plucked perfectly smooth, and I fear that I am in 
 danger of losing the hide as well." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it, very sorry," Mr. West re 
 plied. "The truth is, that we ought not to have 
 picked up this Oakdale business at all. The boom 
 had burst before ever we touched this matter ; blown 
 higher than a kite, in fact. Now, as the result of our 
 fooling with it, we find ourselves lifted with it and 
 filled chock-full of splinters." Then, dropping his 
 voice and looking cautiously around, he asked, 
 
 " Do you suppose Glenn knew all along how things 
 would go ?" 
 
 " No ; Glenn is honest according to his light," War 
 ren answered. " I will answer for his intentions. He 
 is enthusiastic by nature, and he has, before this, made 
 so much money out of this land-craze that he thought 
 it must last forever. As for us, we were green enough 
 to let him talk us out of our seven senses." 
 
 "Do you think that the boom will ever pick up 
 again ?" West asked, looking very blue. 
 
166 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " That is simply a matter of opinion. If you ask one 
 man, he will tell you ' yes/ If you ask another, he will 
 give you just as positive a ' no. 7 The truth is, nobody 
 knows anything about it, and we must wait and see." 
 
 " I am afraid we are stuck," West remarked, as he 
 nodded his adieu and left the office. 
 
 " Fm afraid we are," Warren assented, with a thor 
 oughly dejected air as he seated himself at his desk. 
 Just then, seeing Mitchell pass the door, he went out 
 and called him in. 
 
 " Mitchell," he said, as his friend took the seat to 
 which Warren motioned him, " when will you be ready 
 to go on that fishing-trip you promised me ?" 
 
 " You won't let me off, then ?" 
 
 " Not a bit of it." 
 
 " Then set your own time. If I must be martyred, 
 I will not name the day for my own execution. I 
 draw the line at that," Mitchell replied, with voice 
 and manner expressive of the profoundest resignation. 
 
 " What do you say to Monday ? Can you be ready ?" 
 Warren asked. 
 
 " Having no preparations to make, I should think 
 that it would be possible for me to meet that date," 
 Mitchell said. 
 
 " All right ; Monday it is, then," was Warren's reply. 
 
 Mitchell, who had been studying his friend's face care 
 fully during the foregoing conversation, now asked, 
 
 "What is the matter, Warren, if it is not prying 
 into your affairs to inquire? You look positively 
 azure. Has the boom burst ?" 
 
 " That is just it, Mitchell ; and it has carried me 
 aloft in its wake," Warren answered. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 167 
 
 Mitchell's face betokened the sympathy the extent 
 of his friend's calamity demanded as he next ob 
 served, 
 
 " I don't want to follow the example of Job's im 
 mortal friends and say, ( I told you so/ but I am more 
 deeply sorry than I can say to find my worst fears 
 verified. For once you see a prophet who is pro.- 
 foundly grieved at the truthfulness of his predictions. 
 Still, I thought the lots sold well." 
 
 " Stool-pigeons, Mitchell ; though I give you my 
 word that I never dreamed it until this morning," 
 Warren answered, shortly. 
 
 " A-h-h ! Paper ^ales, gotten up by our friend 
 Glenn," Mitchell observed. 
 
 Warren nodded assent, then said, 
 
 "We shall either have to raise a round sum by 
 assessment and try to hold over until better times, or 
 else take as much of the tract as we actually own and 
 sow it with barley. As for the rest, if we take this 
 course, since it has never been deeded to us, but we 
 hold it on contract, as we say out here, there is noth- 
 ,ing for it but to let the real owners from whom we 
 nominally bought it take the property again." 
 
 "Follow the last course; the barley and the for 
 feit by all means ; it will be simply throwing good 
 money after bad to embark anything more in so wild 
 a scheme," was Mitchell's emphatic reply. 
 
 " I am of your mind," Warren answered. " Well, 
 I'll go out and interview our guide ; make whatever 
 arrangements are necessary for Monday ; and then we 
 will see how trout-fishing in the Matilija will act as a 
 counter-irritant for a bursted boom." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " OH, that this too, too solid flesh would melt instead 
 of turning into a wretched semi-fluid condition and 
 remaining in this nasty sticky state, to my great per 
 sonal discomfort ; or, would that I had the wings of 
 an eagle, a dove's would hardly answer my purpose. 
 Were this last ' oh 7 granted, the first would not need to 
 be ; and the problem of locomotion would, for me, be 
 forever solved." 
 
 As Mitchell uttered this pitiful wail he threw him 
 self upon the ground gasping for breath and bathed in 
 perspiration, fanning himself with his hat the while as 
 vigorously as the feeble energies still remaining in him 
 would permit. 
 
 " What ails you, Mitchell ? Of all the comrades for 
 roughing it, you are the worst !" Warren answered, 
 half laughing, but altogether impatient, as he stood 
 looking down upon his demoralized friend. 
 
 " What ails me ? Well, now, that is a question ! 
 If you ever attain to my pounds and ounces you will 
 thoroughly appreciate the fact that the problem of 
 rapid, easy, and safe transit is as serious a considera 
 tion with overgrown individuals as it is with over 
 grown cities. But I hope so awful a judgment will 
 never fall upon you." And Mitchell shook his head 
 feebly, with an air of exaggerated solemnity, as he 
 half sat, half lay, under the shade of the great oak 
 where he had first thrown himself. 
 168 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 1(J9 
 
 " If you knew that you were going to get done up 
 at nothing you ought not to have come. I dare say I 
 could have found some one else," Warren answered, 
 crossly. 
 
 " My boy, free your mind to me to the utmost. I 
 know that tribulation ruffles the temper ; and I came 
 along with you partly in a spirit of self-sacrificing 
 friendship : to act as a kind of moral buffer for you to 
 run up against and save you from injury ; while I also 
 will be candid and admit that I did come, in part, on 
 selfish grounds, and was in so far influenced by a re 
 gard for my own pleasure. For I do enjoy an outing ; 
 my heart is still light, even if my body is no longer 
 so," Mitchell replied, assuming his most benignant and 
 paternal manner as he spoke. 
 
 Warren gave a grunt expressive of his vexation at 
 the fantastic manner Mitchell had assumed as an offset 
 to his own ill temper ; but he made no other answer, 
 his attention being occupied with the wagon which 
 had now come up, laden with provisions and the 
 camping outfit, the horses being driven by the guide. 
 
 For an outing in the Matilija Canon a guide is by 
 no manner of means a necessity. But for two men 
 who know nothing of cooking ; and who, further 
 more, wish to know nothing either of this or of any 
 other household care, it is pleasant to have some one 
 along to do the disagreeable work, which is just as in 
 evitable in camp life as in home life ; while, as neither 
 Mitchell nor Warren were skilled disciples of Izaak 
 Walton, they also felt the need of having some one in 
 the party who would know where to look for the fish, 
 and who would also be able to get them out of the water 
 H 15 
 
170 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 and into the frying-pan when once the spots where 
 they were to be looked for had been found. 
 
 The man they had finally pitched upon was an old 
 frontiersman who, in his eventful life, had followed 
 almost every known calling except those belonging to 
 civilization. In his early years he had been a hunter, 
 trapper, and guide. From these callings he had drifted 
 into mining during the days of the gold-craze. Now, 
 in his old age, he lived in a little hut in the outskirts 
 'of Ventura, and pretended to cultivate a few acres of 
 land which he had been fortunate enough to buy for a 
 few hundred dollars in the days before the " boom," 
 and, consequently, before land had reached its present 
 inflated valuation. On the strength of his dignity as 
 a land-owner he now claimed the title of rancher for 
 himself. When all the points in his favor and dis 
 favor had been duly weighed, he was found to be one 
 of those good-natured, thriftless, indolent men who are 
 well known " characters" wherever they live, and who 
 are liked without being respected. In a New England 
 village he would have been a local celebrity, the hanger- 
 on at the grocery, and a recipient of the town's charity. 
 In the genial climate and with the productive soil of 
 California, his land, even under his unskilful and 
 thriftless cultivation, produced enough to keep him in 
 comfort; while his earnings as the general factotum 
 and guide to fishing, camping, and hunting parties 
 gave him a revenue over and above that which he 
 derived from his landed property. 
 
 For such expeditions James True was always in de 
 mand, his fund of anecdotes making him an entertain 
 ing companion around the camp-fire of an evening; 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 171 
 
 while no one in the State knew so well as he where 
 was the best place to go at different seasons of the year ; 
 what one would get if he did go ; and a point, after 
 all, as important as either of the others if, after the 
 places had been shown him, one had not the skill to 
 find and get the game, Jim could do it for him, while 
 he was perfectly willing to give his employer all the 
 credit. Partly owing to his inexhaustible fund of 
 anecdote, which never lost anything in his telling for 
 want of brilliant coloring ; partly because his name sug 
 gested the sobriquet by which Bret Harte designated 
 his most famous character, he was universally known 
 and spoken of for miles around as " Truthful James." 
 
 It was by his advice that Warren and Mitchell had 
 pitched upon this especial point in the beautiful Matilija 
 as their camping-ground, and the event showed that 
 Jim fully deserved his reputation for good taste and 
 sound judgment in such matters. The canon, never 
 wide, had here, owing to a bend in the mountains 
 which walled it in, widened a little beyond its usual 
 narrow limits ; through the centre of the cafion a creek 
 ran which was now a mere rill ; though when it was 
 swollen by the winter rains it filled the narrow valley 
 with a mad torrent. 
 
 The crescent-shaped bend where their tent was to be 
 pitched was floored with firm, soft sand, forming a camp 
 ing-site at once clean and pleasant ; while they were 
 also favored with the snade of an oak which would, as 
 Mitchell said, be their dining-room and parlor, while 
 the tents would furnish sleeping apartments for all 
 three of them. No provision for rainy weather was 
 needed, and this fact makes camp-life a joy in Cali- 
 
172 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 fornia ; since here one can camp out for months at a 
 time in the mountains and cafions with no fear that 
 happiness will be turned into mourning by drenching 
 storms of rain and wind. 
 
 To their left a tiny cascade poured over the towering 
 cliff, broken into spray before it reached the bottom 
 of the abyss into which its mimic torrent was poured. 
 Above, on either side, the mountains reared their crests ; 
 each bush, each leaf, even, on their summits being 
 distinctly denned against the blue sky-line in the clear 
 atmosphere. 
 
 "Come, Mitchell, aren't you going to help us set 
 things to rights ? You'll have time enough for study 
 ing scenery before we break camp/' Warren said, as 
 his friend still lay motionless in the shade. 
 
 Without moving in the least; without taking his 
 eyes from the grandly beautiful scenery by which he 
 was surrounded, Mitchell answered, 
 
 "Warren, you are but a carnally-minded creature 
 after all ; you have no soulfulness in your soul, or you 
 would never come thrusting pots and pans, groceries 
 and bedding, between my eyes and this sublime sight. 
 Then, you -must remember that I am still out of breath, 
 while I am also sadly weary. No, I am not going to 
 help you in the least. I shall leave all such grossly 
 material thoughts and tasks to less sensitively devel 
 oped minds and less perfectly developed bodies like 
 yours and Jim's." 
 
 Once more Warren growled an answer, for truth 
 compels us to admit that his losses, both present and 
 impending, had made him irritable; but Jim now 
 interposed, saying, 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 173 
 
 "Oh, never mind, jedge. Let the pursy gent lie 
 still. Jest help me put up the tent, 'n' then you 
 needn't bother no more. Nothin' like bein' used ter 
 sich work ter shake it off fast." 
 
 This proposition was veiy acceptable to Warren ; so, 
 after getting the tent pitched, he left Jim to arrange 
 the rest of the camp equipage according to his own 
 ideas and by his own unaided efforts, unless Mitchell 
 should sufficiently recuperate in his body and relent in 
 his mind as to assist him in the work, which was not at 
 all likely ; while he sauntered away to try his luck in 
 fishing, and see if he could be fortunate enough to 
 delude some unhappy trout from the brook with his 
 new rod and patent fly. 
 
 After an absence of something more than two hours 
 Warren returned tired and hungry, to find the arrange 
 ments for their open-air housekeeping completed and 
 an excellent supper in process of preparation under 
 Jim's skilful management. 
 
 Taking off his basket, he laid it on one side, making 
 no reference either to his good or ill success, Mitchell 
 and Jim both watching his movements; the former 
 with an expression on his full and rosy face almost 
 childlike in its innocence ; the latter with a meaning 
 smile. Nothing was said about the results of this 
 initiatory fishing expedition, however, and during 
 supper the conversation turned upon entirely different 
 topics. At last, after supper had been despatched 
 and the dishes cleared away, Mitchell remarked, cast 
 ing an anxious eye towards Warren's basket as he 
 spoke, 
 
 " I say, old man, I think you have left that basket 
 15* 
 
174 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 altogether too near the fire. Those fish will all be 
 spoiled before morning." 
 
 Warren laughed and replied, 
 
 " They'll keep ; don't you worry on that score. The 
 fish I catch always have that peculiar quality of being as 
 good six months after as they are the day I catch them." 
 
 "Fish is dod-gasted queer things, anyhow," Jim 
 interposed in a meditative tone, now primed and 
 loaded, and anxious to launch out into one of his 
 veracious anecdotes, as they sat around the camp-fire 
 smoking, in the deepening darkness of the evening. 
 " Leastways some fish is most mighty queer critters," 
 he added, in a tone of the profoundest conviction as to 
 the truth of the statements lying back of these words, 
 and which had impelled him to speak them. 
 
 " Are the fish of this portion of the world peculiar 
 in their habits above all others? If so, post me, 
 please, and I will hope for better luck next time I 
 go after them," Warren said, lighting a cigar; and, 
 leaning back against the oak-tree, he composed himself 
 into an easy attitude for listening to the forthcoming tale. 
 
 Jim took his pipe from his mouth for the purpose 
 of overwhelming a " swift," as he designated the lizard 
 which had indiscreetly ventured within range of his aim, 
 which had been made fatally accurate by years of long 
 and painstaking practice. The unhappy reptile lay 
 perfectly still for a moment, apparently stunned by 
 the magnitude of the calamity that had overtaken it ; 
 then it scuttled away to the brook in order to repair 
 damages, if this were possible. 
 
 After watching the struggle and flight of his victim 
 in profound and thoughtful silence, Jim again placed 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 175 
 
 the stem of his pipe between his lips, drew a few vig 
 orous puffs to make sure that it was well lighted, then 
 launched forth in the attempt to prove to his auditors 
 that his reputation for veracity rested upon good and 
 sufficient grounds. 
 
 "I waVt speakin' of no fish hereabouts," he an 
 swered. " I was talkin' 'bout them air flyin'-fish ; 
 bat-fish we usety call ? em back in Kansas." 
 
 Warren and Mitchell both roared. " Flying-fish in 
 Kansas !" Mitchell repeated, as soon as he could regain 
 his vocal powers, which had been, for a time, suspended 
 through laughter. " You have succeeded in discovering 
 an entirely new denizen of the prairies, and one hitherto 
 unknown to fame." 
 
 " This is a very interesting fact, Jim, and one that 
 ought to be communicated to the world, and not to us 
 alone. If you will give me the county and town in 
 this wonderful State honored by their miraculous pres 
 ence, I will communicate it to the faculty of natural 
 history at Yale, and you will become immortal, Jim," 
 Warren added. 
 
 "'Tain't no miracle, jedge," Jim answered, giving 
 Warren the title his legal profession conferred upon 
 him in the popular estimation. "It's all nateral 
 'nough. I can't tell you no town they wuz ever in, 
 fer fish don't take ter towns; they do hev schools, 
 though." 
 
 "Yes, the scholastic habits of fish are proverbial, 
 I believe; but drive on with your story," Warren 
 replied. 
 
 " Wai, 'twuz this way," Jim answered, pressing the 
 tobacco into his pipe with his finger as he spoke. 
 
176 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " I'd bin gittin' hard run fur a right smart spell, V 
 fust I knowed I wuz dead broke 'n' nothin' in my line 
 ter do. 'Twuz down in Kansas, Seward County, 'n' 
 all I could find in my line wuz cattle ranching so I 
 hired out on a ranch as a bull-whacker. Wai, the 
 ranch wuz down on the Cimarron River, putty nigh the 
 State line, clus ter the Injun Territory. Feed wuz plenty 
 that year ; so the cattle wuz doin' well V lookin' prime, 
 'n' the boss wuz countin' on big money ; but nobody 
 need count on jLothin' in that durn kentry. 
 
 " 'Bout midsummer thar came a big drove o' grass 
 hoppers, 'n' then we knowed twuz all day with us. Ye 
 never seen sech a sight in yer life. All day, from day 
 break till sunset, they come, pourin' over the kentry in 
 great swarms. All day long 'twuz like the cloudiest 
 kind o' cloudy weather, with the air full o' snow-flakes 
 bigger 'n yer thumb, if ye can picter ter yerself sech a 
 thing. We had ter keep lights burnin' in the house 
 all day ter see anything ; 'n' as fur goin' out, nobody 
 couldn't 'thout an umbrel 'n' gum boots, the air wuz 
 that thick with hoppers, 'n' they wuz piled up on the 
 ground knee-deep on the level." 
 
 "It was a kind of a grasshopper-storm, I should 
 say," Mitchell suggested. 
 
 " Didn't you need rubber coats when you went out, 
 as well as boots and umbrellas ?" Warren asked. 
 
 " I don't ask ye ter b'leve me," Jim answered in an 
 injured tone. " I wouldn't swaller no sech darn yarn 
 myself 'f I hadn't seen it ; but the toughest part of all 
 is comin' now." 
 
 "All right, go on; let us see how much you can 
 give us without choking us," Warren said. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 177 
 
 " Wai," Jim resumed, picking up the broken thread 
 of his narrative, " o' course all the cattle died ; they 
 starved ter death, for everything was eaten bare, grass, 
 leaves, V even the bark o' the trees. 'Twuz awful 
 t' hear 'em bellerin' 'n' moanin' as they floundered 
 round in the dark through the hoppers, tryin' ter find 
 suthin' they could eat ; but they wa'n't nothin' left. 
 
 " The ole man sez at first we'd got ter butcher 'n' 
 pack the meat t' market somehow ; but bless yer, who 
 could git round with hoppers knee-deep on the ground 
 'n' gittin' deeper all the time, 'n' the air full, thicker 
 'n snow ? V the ole man hisself seen that V knocked 
 under. 
 
 " 'Bout the ninth day, jest for a change, it began ter 
 blow from the south towards evenin', 'n' the hoppers 
 began ter drift, V by mornin' the house wuz putty 
 nigh buried. Then we just felt blue, 'n' don't ye forgit 
 it ; it seemed like we wuz shet in. ter starve. But 
 while the wind wuz blowin' 'n' the hoppers driftin', 
 afore the howl of the wind 'n' the whir o' the hoppers 
 we could hear a queer rushin' noise, nothin' like what 
 any o' us had ever heard afore. None on us could 
 make out what it wuz, 'n' o' course we couldn't see, 
 with the house buried under hoppers. 
 
 " Bimeby it seemed like the wind died out, 'n' the 
 hoppers began ter make less noise, like they'd gone on, 
 ye know; but this queer rushin' noise kep' up 'n' 
 growed louder as the other sounds died out 'n' gin it 
 full swing. The next day at sun up they wa'n't a hopper 
 ter be seen ; thar the house stood in a clear perary what 
 looked 's if it hed been swep' by fire, 'twuz so bare o' 
 grass ; but nary hopper. 'Stead o' them thar wuz the 
 
178 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 darndest sight enny man ever set eyes on, V one that 
 jest knocked every man-jack o' us inter a heap. 
 
 "The ground wuz kivered 'ith fish, bat-fish, 
 millions on 'em, great big fellers longer 'n yer arm. It 
 seems they'd scented these hoppers as they flew over 
 the Cimarron; V these flyin'-fish is mighty fond o' 
 hoppers, but they can't fly ag'in' the wind. Wai, arter 
 the hoppers 'd crossed the river, it seems it began 
 ter blow t'other way, V that wuz what kep' the hoppers 
 with us so long, 'n' flying-fish, or bat-fish, we called 'em, 
 couldn't git out o' the river. But when the gale from 
 the south blowed so hard that it drifted the hoppers, 
 that wuz jest what the fish wanted ; V then the hull 
 school tuk wing V flew in, V et up every last hopper 
 on 'em. Thar they lay, stuffed so chock-full 't they 
 couldn't move, lyin' round on the ground, all but three 
 or four, what wuz roostih' on the wreck of a tree the 
 hoppers 'd et most ter a stump." 
 
 Jim paused in his narrative and gazed meditatively 
 into the fire, puffing vigorously at his pipe in the mean 
 time. 
 
 " Well, what became of the fish ?" Warren asked. 
 
 " We wanted ter let 'em go, seein' the scrape they'd 
 got us out of; but the ole man wuz a ungrateful old 
 cuss, 'n' he said no ! his cattle wuz all dead ; 'n' he 
 wuz ruined if he couldn't realize off them fish ; 'n' if 
 we wanted him ter stump up ter us when pay-day 
 came, we'd got ter go in 'n' ketch them fish 'n' butcher 
 'em ; so we did. Came mighty tough, though. Some 
 on 'em we sent fresh ter Topeka ; the rest on 'em we 
 pickled 'n' sent all over the kentry. Bales on 'em went 
 East; 'n' I shouldn't wonder ef you gents had seen 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 179 
 
 some of 'em 'n' like 'nough eat 'em : ' Cimarron Salt 
 Fish 7 they wuz marked, called arter the river they 
 came from, ye know.' 7 
 
 " No, I never happened to see any of that brand/' 
 Warren answered. 
 
 Mitchell had said nothing, but sat calmly listening, 
 his countenance expressing the most implicit confidence 
 in the story. Now he spoke, saying, 
 
 "How did that little speculation in fish turn out, 
 Jim?" 
 
 " Prime !" that veracious worthy at once replied. 
 " The boss owned up that he'd done better 'n he'd 'a' 
 done on the beef. We all reckoned 't he made about 
 four times what the beef 'd 'a' brought him." 
 
 " On what grounds did you base your suspicions to 
 that effect?" Mitchell asked, with an appearance of 
 deeply increasing interest. 
 
 " Wai, thar wuz sech a right smart o' fish ; 'n' thar 
 ain't no good fish in Kansas, while some folks over 
 here in Californy don't keer much fur the fish they hev 
 here. These fish wuz prime ; I never seen none better, 
 'n' I've seen mighty good fish in my day ; so he got 
 his own price, 'n' coined money." 
 
 " Warren," Mitchell said, speaking with an air of 
 profound conviction as to the truth of his own words, 
 " Warren, here is our chance. We'll petition the Legis 
 lature, buy the right to all the flying-fish in Kansas 
 waters, and get up a great flying-fish trust. There's 
 millions in it, in the language of the immortal Sellers." 
 
 " No use," Jim answered, gravely. " That dodge 
 won't work. They hain't a bat-fish been seen in 
 Kansas sence. We all thought that every last fish on 
 
180 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 'em come out after the hoppers, V that we wiped 'em 
 all out ; finished up the breed, yer know." 
 
 " Too bad !" "Warren answered, laughing heartily, 
 and putting his hand in his pocket as he spoke in 
 order to take out his watch and look at the time. 
 " You ought to have sent me after them with a hook 
 and line ; that would have preserved at least a few of 
 such a valuable and interesting branch of the fish 
 family as a wonder in the world." 
 
 Warren's fingers no sooner reached his watch-pocket 
 than the smile faded from his face and was replaced by 
 a look of grave anxiety. He felt in his other pocket, 
 in all his pockets, but without success ; the watch was 
 certainly gone. This was a loss severely felt by War 
 ren, both because the watch was a valuable one, and 
 also from the associations connected with it. He rose 
 to his feet and stood silent, searching his pockets in that 
 anxious, aimless way which is so prominent a charac 
 teristic of perplexed masculine nature, as though it 
 might, perchance, have been overlooked, and a more 
 careful search of the pockets would reveal the hidden 
 treasure lurking in some corner hitherto forgotten. 
 The darkness concealed his anxious search from his 
 companions; but Warren soon revealed his loss to 
 them, and at the same time invoked their sympathy 
 and aid, saying, 
 
 " Mitchell, Jim, I have lost my watch ! Have either 
 of you seen anything of it?" 
 
 " No ; have you ?" Mitchell exclaimed, rising to his 
 feet with an agility not to be expected in a man of his 
 weight. " You must have dropped it from your pocket 
 while you were out fishing." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 " True enough ! What an ass I was to wear a fob 
 up here among these bushes !" Warren answered, angry 
 at himself for his carelessness, his hands still buried in 
 the pockets of his trousers and turning over their con 
 tents in an aimless way. 
 
 " We must start out on a hunt for it. Come on, take 
 the lead and show us where you went. Jump up, Jim ; 
 your experience is invaluable," said Mitchell. 
 
 That worthy, still quietly seated on the ground, was 
 not in the least disturbed by the loss which so pro 
 foundly agitated the other members of the party ; and 
 so far was he from showing any interest in their dis 
 tress, even, that he had once more filled his pipe and 
 was occupied in turning over the ashes of the fire, 
 which was now burned out, in search of a live ember 
 to give him a light without unnecessarily consuming 
 his substance by employing a match. 
 
 He was too old and experienced an adventurer to 
 waste any thoughts or expend any regrets over losses 
 which are clearly beyond repair, however great they 
 may be ; while that philosophy which enables us to en 
 dure with unflinching fortitude the disasters of others 
 caused him now to present an unruffled exterior to the 
 present calamity, and one which seemed to Warren and 
 Mitchell, in their distress, the perfection of stoicism. 
 
 On being directly addressed, he looked up, replying, 
 
 "'Tain't no manner o' use, gents. They ain't no 
 sense at all in packin' a lantern around among them 
 bushes to-night. Huntin' for a needle in a hay-mow 
 'd be fun 'long-side o' huntin' for a watch in that chap 
 arral by candle-light. Jest keep quiet 'til mornin' ; then 
 we'll stand some show o' findin' it." 
 
 16 
 
182 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 It was Warren's watch that was lost, not Jim's, and 
 he could hardly be expected to view the matter in the 
 calmly philosophic light in which it presented itself to 
 the experienced eye of the old frontiersman. He posi 
 tively refused to postpone the search until morning, a 
 refusal in which he was supported by Mitchell, while 
 both insisted that Jim should aid them in the search. 
 At last he grumblingly assented ; the lantern was 
 lighted, and, Jim taking the lead and "packing" the 
 light, as he expressed it, they took the route over 
 which Warren had passed in his fishing excursion of 
 the afternoon, as nearly as he could point it out, search 
 ing the thick chaparral on either side of the trail as 
 they advanced. 
 
 The night was clear and bright, and the moon, just 
 beginning to rise into view above the mountains, was 
 riding in pure, cold beauty through the cloudless sky. 
 On each side of the narrow valley (or canon, as it is 
 commonly called) the perpendicular mountains towered, 
 crowned with here and there an oak-tree, and clothed in 
 sage-brush, their wrinkled faces forming weird, fantastic 
 pictures in the moonlight. 
 
 Their path lay through the thick, tall chaparral by 
 the side of the stream which wound its way down 
 through the canon ; now boiling and rushing over its 
 rocky bed ; now plunging over some boulder in a 
 mimic water-fall ; now madly striking a huge crag, 
 against which it raged and foamed as though, made 
 furious with anger at finding its course opposed, it 
 were striving to overwhelm the barrier raised against 
 it; then, wearied as well as angered by its fruitless 
 efforts, without staying in its wild haste, it turned 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 183 
 
 sharply to the other side of the canon, to immediately 
 return to its former course when once the crag had been 
 passed. Now calmly and quietly it deepened into 
 broad pools, in whose clear, unrippled surface the 
 moon and stars were mirrored so distinctly that fancy 
 could almost dream that in this wild place the extreme 
 limits of the earth were reached ; and now the vast ex 
 panse of space lay spread out before human eyes and 
 extended above, below, around them, reaching on into 
 infinity. 
 
 Amid scenes of such sublimity and grandeur they 
 pursued their search, and as they paused to rest for a 
 moment beside a pool, Mitchell, as he gazed down into 
 its quiet depths, gave expression to thoughts much like 
 these, saying that it seemed to him almost irreverent 
 and wholly trivial to be searching for a lost watch 
 while you were gazing off into eternity. 
 
 As the lost watch was not his property, the weight 
 of the misfortune did not, of course, rest as heavily 
 upon him as it did upon its actual owner ; and Warren 
 at once emphatically dissented from any such view of 
 the case, saying that, as it was his watch that was lost, 
 he should certainly not suspend the search for senti 
 mental reasons, and that he furthermore proposed to 
 keep it up just as long as there remained the remotest 
 possibility of finding it. 
 
 About midnight, however, the search was suspended, 
 and very suddenly at that, for no less a reason than 
 the rebellion of Jim, who flatly and firmly refused to 
 go any farther or spend any more time in the quest 
 that night. He was willing to go on with the search 
 in the morning and hunt until the watch was found, 
 
184 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 or until it was clear that it could never be found ; but, 
 for his part, he was through for that night, and remained 
 inflexible in his resolution to go back and " turn in." 
 
 Nothing was left for Mitchell and Warren, therefore, 
 but to do the same ; and as they retraced their steps 
 Warren anxiously asked him what he thought of the 
 chances of finding the missing property. 
 
 " Bless yer heart, thar ain't no manner o' doubt but 
 what ye' 11 find it. I never knowed it fail but what 
 sech things always turned up sooner or later ; V it's 
 mostly sooner," Jim answered. 
 
 " Then you have known watches to be lost before ?" 
 Warren again asked, determined to press his questions 
 until he found some tangible reasons for hope in his 
 own case. 
 
 "Lots on 'em," the truthful guide answered; and 
 now, another veracious reminiscence coming into his 
 mind, he went on, 
 
 " Why, only last year I went out with a party back 
 into the mountains yonder. 'Twuz miles 'n' miles 
 from any suttlemint, 'n' we had ter pack everything 
 over on mules; 'n' when we'd loaded them with all 
 they could carry we had ter pack the rest ourselves. 
 Talk about tired ; wal, ruther ! When we reached the 
 place whar we wuz ter camp every dad-binged mother's 
 son of us wuz dead beat out, mules 'n' men, with 
 trampin' 'n' scramblin' through the passes, 'n' packin' 
 grub, 'n' guns, 'n' blankets; so, 'thout stoppin' for 
 supper nor nothin' else, we jest unloaded the mules 'n' 
 then lay right down 'n' went ter sleep. 
 
 " In the mornin' I wuz waked up by an everlastin' 
 row. Thar wuz a watch missin'. The chap as lost it 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 135 
 
 wuz a Boston feller ; a little, finicky, fussy cuss, 'n' he 
 wuz in a terrible takin'. The watch wuz really vallyble, 
 like yourn, sir ; 'n' he sot no end o' store by it 'cause 
 'twuz costly, V 'cause 'twuz handed down to him from 
 way back ; wot ye calls a airloom, I b'lieve. Then, he 
 said it kep' time like the sun, V he'd had it put all in 
 fine shape. Now, he said, if he ever found it 'twould 
 be all out o' kilter, V thar wuz no end of a row. 
 
 " Wai, all hands started in for a hunt ; 'n' at last, 
 down by a crik we'd crossed the day afore, thar it 
 lay, jest the tip o' the stem in the water, the part ye 
 winds it up by, ye know, 'n' nothin' hurt a bit. I 
 picked it up 'n' handed it to the feller as owned it ; 
 'n' he took it, solemn-like, 'n' looked at it. 'Twuz 
 goin' all right, 'n' it 'd kep' time all right. He tried 
 ter wind it, 'n' 'twuz all wound up tight as it 'd go. 
 
 " They wuz all puzzled 'bout this ; couldn't see inter 
 it no way 'til I showed 'em how it lay when I found 
 it; then 'twuz all clear. Ye see, jest the tip o' the 
 stem lay in the water ; 'n' it lay right with the cur 
 rent; 'n', as the water is powerful swift up in the 
 mountains, it 'd kep' the watch wound up; jest as 
 fast as it run down the current wound it up ag'in. 
 So thar it lay all right ; no time lost ; nothin' out o' 
 kilter. Wa'n't that Boston chap tickled, though? 
 Oh, no, I reckon not !" 
 
 The truthful chronicler of his own adventures now 
 became silent, and nothing was said for some moments, 
 as they picked their way back along the bank of the 
 creek. At last Mitchell called out, 
 
 "Jim, are you sure that watch was not a Water- 
 bury?" 
 
186 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 The guide cast a disgusted glance over his shoulder ; 
 but, as the sceptic was bringing up the rear of the pro 
 cession, he failed to see it in the dim light of the night, so 
 it failed to impress him. Jim thereupon answered, 
 
 " Didn't I tell yer this wuz all back in the moun 
 tains?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "We wa'n't out o' Californy." 
 
 " I understand ; but what of that ?" 
 
 " It's clear ye don't know nothin' about Californy," 
 Jim returned, his voice expressing the deepest com 
 passion for such dense and unenlightened ignorance. 
 
 " Not very much ; why ?" was Mitchell's reply. 
 
 " Why ? Bless yer stup'd noddle, thar ain't water 
 enough in all Californy, if the rivers wuz all turned 
 inter one, ter keep one o' them blamed Waterburys 
 wound up two hours," Jim replied. 
 
 Mitchell laughed, but being worn out by his day's 
 exertions, he was too tired to keep up the conversation, 
 so he said no more ; while Warren, for his part, was 
 too thoroughly dispirited to feel any interest in 
 Truthful Jim or his adventures, so the rest of the jour 
 ney back to camp was accomplished in silence. 
 
 With the first break of day Warren resumed his 
 search, leaving his companions still sleeping soundly. 
 At last, far from the camp, and, fortunately for him, 
 far from any of the numerous other parties camping in 
 one part or another of the canon, Warren found his 
 lost watch, hanging from a bush, suspended by the fob. 
 
 With an exclamation of delight he recovered his 
 property and hastily made his way back, to find 
 Mitchell lazily swinging in a hammock reading, while 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 187 
 
 he waited for the breakfast which Jim was busily en 
 gaged in preparing. 
 
 He was the first to observe Warren's return, and 
 called out to him, 
 
 "What luck?" 
 
 Warren triumphantly held up his watch for a reply, 
 then said, 
 
 " But as I found it hanging on a bush, I was not as 
 lucky as Jim's Boston friend, for my watch has run 
 down. I was in hopes that some twig would brush 
 against the stem enough to keep it wound up, part way 
 at least ; but as I had no such luck, will you give me 
 the time, Mitchell ?" 
 
 Mitchell complied with the request, while Jim, cut 
 ting off a long piece of raw hide, said, as he handed it 
 to Warren, " Here, take off that bit o' fancy tomfoolery, 
 hitch this on, 'n' put it round yer neck. Then ye' 11 
 have suthin' on as won't break nor cut easy ; then yer 
 watch '11 be safe." 
 
 Warren complied with this advice, and then sat down 
 to breakfast with a lighter heart than he had carried 
 before for several days. The clear mountain air, the 
 constant exercise, together with change of occupation 
 and of scene, all combined to divert his mind from his 
 business troubles, while Mitchell, who was always a 
 genial companion, now made especial exertions to en 
 tertain his friend and keep him from brooding over his 
 losses. Warren, to his own surprise, found that he 
 was continually becoming more cheerful, while the 
 future, even if it were destined to be one of, to him, 
 comparative poverty, did not seem to him so altogether 
 hopeless as before. 
 
188 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 So two weeks passed pleasantly away, when one 
 morning, to the profound astonishment of all but Jim, 
 who was never surprised at whatever might happen, 
 who should march into the camp but Jake Elkins 
 accompanied by a pretty buxom girl, with dark skin 
 and melting black eyes, who leaned affectionately upon 
 his arm, looking up into his face with glances of lov 
 ing confidence and pride, while he completely paralyzed 
 both Warren and Mitchell, who were already suffi 
 ciently overcome with amazement at this sudden appa 
 rition, by introducing his companion as Mrs. Elkins, 
 n&e Senorita Camilla Carballo ! 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 YES, Jake was actually married. The " settlement" 
 of his difficulties at which he had vaguely hinted some 
 weeks before was not, as Warren had then feared, the 
 wreaking of summary vengeance upon the Carballos, 
 to be accomplished by perpetrating some act of violence 
 upon the person of one of the male members of the 
 family ; but he had had in mind all along the inten 
 tion of solving the problem by the short and easy 
 method of binding Camilla to himself in the silken 
 bonds of matrimony, and leaving their respective 
 parents to overcome their opposition at such a time 
 and through such influences as circumstances should 
 provide. 
 
 It was not, however, so easy a matter as Jake had 
 hoped to bring Camilla to view the situation from his 
 stand-point. She was a good girl and a dutiful 
 daughter, and she could not easily be convinced that 
 the mere fact of her being of age released her from the 
 duty of implicit obedience to her father's commands. 
 
 Jake had labored industriously to show her that she 
 was not at all obeying the spirit of the divine com 
 mandment, nor even the letter of it so perfectly as she 
 supposed; for her father had forbidden her to meet 
 him or even speak to him at all ; yet they were con 
 tinually meeting in defiance of this prohibition ; and if 
 she were prepared to disobey in this one point, she 
 would be no more guilty in taking the last step and 
 
 189 
 
190 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 becoming his wife, while they would be much happier 
 than they now were or ever could be while the present 
 uncomfortable state of aifairs continued. 
 
 With true feminine want of logic, Camilla failed to 
 be convinced by Jake's reasoning, and could not be 
 made to assent to his views. She was willing to re 
 main his fianc&e an indefinite length of time in spite 
 of her father's opposition, but she was not ready to 
 become his wife under the same conditions. But the 
 revolution in her feelings which all her lover's elo 
 quence failed to accomplish was, at last, worked by 
 her own affections. She loved Jake with all the pas 
 sionate ardor of her hot Southern nature ; and when, 
 his patience at last being worn out, he assured her that 
 he would no longer consent to occupy a position at once 
 mortifying to himself and absurd in the sight of others ; 
 and when, his indignation provoking him into becom 
 ing sarcastic, he prophesied that so dutiful a daughter 
 ought to find her days long in the land, and bade her 
 a final good-by, then it was that the tide of her affec 
 tions swept away all the marks which had hitherto de 
 fined for her the path of her duty, and she declared 
 herself ready to accompany him to the padre at any 
 time that he would set. 
 
 Of all the influences which govern our nature, there 
 is none so almost magical in its power as that of pure 
 and ardent love. It works a transformation in char 
 acter so thorough that, after it has exercised its influ 
 ence, one cannot tell with any certainty from what the 
 man now is what he has been heretofore. 
 
 While it is perfectly true that love never makes the 
 awkward graceful, nor the clumsy fawn-like, neither 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 191 
 
 has it ever been able to endow the ugly with radiant 
 beauty, yet it does bestow a certain dignity upon the 
 man who yields himself to its influence that he did not 
 have before. In his desire to appear attractive in the 
 sight of the woman who is, to him, the best and fairest 
 in all the world, he is stimulated to endeavor to bring 
 to the surface all that there is in himself; and so, under 
 the influence of love, the timid become high-spirited, 
 the weak grow strong, and out of elements which, but 
 for this best and noblest of passions, would have lain 
 dormant forever in the nature of many a man, he 
 develops a new and superior character. 
 
 So the Jake who came into the presence of Warren 
 that bright spring morning was a finer-looking and a 
 better man in every way than the one whom he had 
 last seen a few weeks before. But the having attained 
 his object and become possessed of his prize did not, as 
 Jake now found to his surprise and sorrow, bring all 
 his troubles to an end ; on the contrary, they were now 
 only well begun, and had he ever heard the words of 
 the old Latin poet " The rose often lies nearest to the 
 nettles" he would have set down their author as the 
 wisest of men, one whose incisive genius fell little 
 short of inspiration, in fact; for no sooner had he 
 transplanted the fair flower he had so long coveted to 
 adorn and beautify his own home, than he found that, 
 by doing this, he had caused the nettles and thorns 
 which had hitherto surrounded her, to his vexation, to 
 spring up into a fuller and more dangerous activity, 
 and one which threatened to make his bridal couch a 
 bed of thistles. 
 
 But laying aside Ovid's figure and stating the facts 
 
192 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 in plain, unmetaphorical language, Jake had counted 
 upon his mother's countenance and support when once 
 he was actually married, and if he possessed this he 
 felt that he could afford to face and defy the opposition 
 of Camilla's family. But he soon found that the solid 
 rock upon which he had hoped to stand was only the 
 veriest sand. No sooner had he introduced his bride 
 to her new mother than this lady gave them to under 
 stand, in the unadorned but forcible language upon 
 which she prided herself, that, "having brought up 
 one family, she did not propose to bring up another ; 
 and as he had been smart enough to get a wife, he 
 ought to be smart enough to take care of her." 
 
 In short, our poor friend's sorrows were only just 
 beginning ; and with his bride's family for his mortal 
 enemies, and his own mother a broken reed on whom 
 he could lean only to be pierced, he felt himself friend 
 less at a time when he most needed friends. In this 
 way it came about that his bridal trip resolved itself 
 into a journey to the camp of Warren for the purpose 
 of seeking his countenance and support. 
 
 Warren heard his tale of woe without comment. 
 When the narrative was finished he said, 
 
 " Well, Jake, I suppose you see no solution for your 
 present difficulties ?" 
 
 Jake shook his head dolefully. If he could find one, 
 he would not now be putting himself into the hands of 
 his friend, a thing most repugnant to his newly-awak 
 ened manhood, and which made his pride give him 
 many a painful twinge lest, for all her affection for 
 him, his helplessness should lower him in the eyes of 
 his bride. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 193 
 
 Warren understood his feelings and sympathized 
 with them. While Jake had, certainly, been unwise 
 in taking to himself a wife when he was not able to 
 provide for himself alone, and then relying upon an 
 other to support her, it was too late now to remind 
 him of the fact, so he answered cheerfully, 
 
 " Don't be down-hearted, Jake ; there never was a 
 plight so bad that it could not be improved ; and now 
 that you think you are in the lowest depths is, I take 
 it, a sure sign that your affairs will take a turn for 
 the better right away. Now take my advice : go down 
 to the hotel below, give yourself no thought of your 
 troubles, but be happy yourself and give your atten 
 tion to making your wife happy. Neither of you will 
 ever be married but this once, at least I hope not, 
 so devote yourself to the honeymoon, and make it as 
 sweet and as brilliant as possible. Meanwhile, I will 
 go down to Ventura and look out for your affairs, and 
 I give you my word that before I come back I will 
 have things arranged in such a shape that you will be 
 better off than you ever were before, and can go back 
 to a home and a business of your own." 
 
 After some further conversation, Jake and his bride 
 returned to take rooms in the hotel for their honey 
 moon, happy and contented in spirit, and feeling that 
 they had not done such a rash and foolish thing after 
 all, and leaving Warren to begin his preparations for a 
 journey back to town. 
 
 " Mitchell," he remarked, stropping his razor as he 
 spoke, " does it not seem as though my life was guided 
 by an evil fatality? Here I am now, simply over 
 whelmed with troubles of my own, when at the very 
 i n 17 
 
194 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 height of my anxiety here comes this boy and adds 
 his share to the general store of misery which I am 
 to look after." 
 
 " I don't see any fatality in the matter, my friend/ 7 
 Mitchell replied. " People have an ingenious way of 
 manufacturing trouble for themselves, and then throw 
 ing all the responsibility upon Providence. Or else 
 and I don't know as these grumblers are much more 
 profane than the others they deny the beneficence of 
 Providence altogether, and swear that they are under 
 a curse. This world and its affairs are, according to 
 them, altogether out of joint ; everybody and every 
 thing is governed by a relentless and cruel fate ; misery 
 and wretchedness only are allotted to mankind, with, 
 perhaps, the exception of a few favored ones ; and this 
 all goes to show, beyond the possibility of question, 
 that there is no good and merciful Providence over 
 ruling the affairs of men." 
 
 " You attribute all human misfortunes to man's own 
 short-sightedness or his own folly, then?" Warren 
 asked. 
 
 "Don't you?" Mitchell returned, answering War 
 ren's question by putting another in his turn. Then 
 he went on before his friend could reply : 
 
 " I don't want to be guilty of following an I-told- 
 you-so line of argument, but I know of no better illus 
 tration of the point under discussion than one which is 
 given me by a certain young friend of my own. This 
 young man came here from the East very recently, 
 wiser than any or all of his friends ; he invested pretty 
 much all that he is worth in a visionary scheme ; and 
 about the same time he began to play the uncle to a 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 195 
 
 certain young Californian who, having never been 
 brought up to take care of himself, has seen fit to 
 unite his own want of fortune with the equal poverty 
 of a young woman, and then comes to my friend to 
 help him out. 
 
 " Now, had this friend of mine, who shall be name 
 less, been worldly-wise and kept his money in his own 
 hands ; and had he been comfortably selfish, and re 
 fused to trouble his head with any one's matters except 
 his own, he would not be mourning to-day because his 
 doll is stuffed with sawdust, and bemoaning fate for 
 what is, after all, the outcome of his own doings." 
 
 Warren laughed at this graphic review of his recent 
 career, and said, 
 
 " I shall not contradict you, and I do not feel in the 
 mood for pursuing the argument. But, after all, I do 
 not regret anything I have done, the Oakdale invest 
 ment alone excepted. Jake is a good fellow and well 
 worth all the trouble he makes me ; I feel confident 
 that there is good stuff in him, and that he will do well 
 if he can only have half a chance." 
 
 " Yes, I like his looks, and I hope you can unearth 
 something for him," Mitchell replied. 
 
 " Do you know," Warren resumed, " I find that his 
 troubles are proving an excellent counterpoise to my 
 own calamities. I think it must be that there is a spice 
 of the savage in us all ; for, as Lucretius found such 
 solid satisfaction in standing on the shore and watching 
 a ship founder out on the sea, because the wretchedness 
 of the unfortunate sailors contrasted so comfortably 
 with his own security, I find that I am beginning to 
 feel quite cheerful since Jake has interviewed me; 
 
196 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 though I hope that the feeling grows out of the nobler 
 sentiment of liking the young man and wishing to help 
 him, rather than out of the heathenish satisfaction one 
 finds in seeing somebody worse oif than himself." 
 
 " Who dare vouch for his own motives ?" Mitchell 
 replied. " Cheer up, my friend, so far as this case is 
 concerned, for I am certain that in this instance at 
 least the nobler motive prevails with you. I feel confi 
 dent of this for two reasons : First, I draw my firm 
 conviction of this from grounds derived from a long 
 and careful contemplation of your character ; secondly, 
 because I am far from certain that the young fellow is 
 worse oif than yourself. You are sure to find some 
 means of helping him out of his scrape ; and i if siller 
 '11 dae it/ as the Scotchman said, you may draw on me 
 for any reasonable amount ; I'll commit the decision as 
 to what a reasonable amount is to your judgment and 
 also to your conscience. In your own case, however, 
 the ditch into which the ass has plunged headforemost 
 is so exceedingly deep and wide, I doubt if you will 
 find any one daring enough to stretch out a helping 
 hand." 
 
 " I thank you, Mitchell, both for your generosity to 
 Jake and your highly complimentary reference to my 
 self," Warren answered. 
 
 All preparations being now made, Warren took his 
 departure from the camp and set out upon his philan 
 thropic errand, leaving Mitchell, as he expressed it, to 
 keep Jim in good nature and the house in good order 
 until he could return. 
 
 As he could not arrive in Ventura before nightfall, 
 his peace-making errands were, perforce, deferred until 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 197 
 
 the next day ; and as he regarded Mrs. Elkins as the 
 more difficult as well as the more uncomfortable to 
 manage of the two parties whom he had come to visit, 
 he did not wish to call upon her until he had learned 
 how his mission would be received by Carballo, when 
 he would be able to meet her with some preconceived 
 plan of action in his mind, and have the strategic 
 advantage altogether with himself. As it would serve 
 no good end to meet her at all until he did so for the 
 purpose of definitely discussing Jake's prospects and 
 ascertaining positively what she would, or would not, 
 do for him, instead of going to his rooms at her house, 
 he went at once to the H6tel Anacapa on reaching 
 town. 
 
 The next morning, without incurring any unneces 
 sary loss of time, Warren went out to do the work and 
 (if such a thing were possible of accomplishment) to 
 earn for himself the blessing of the peace-maker. 
 
 It was a task for which he had no relish, and in the 
 performance of which he was well aware there would 
 be no pleasure. He thoroughly appreciated its deli 
 cacy, and, fully realizing the truth of the proverb, " it 
 is seldom safe to instruct even our friends," he foresaw 
 the difficulty of avoiding the giving of offence when he 
 attempted to advise the proud old Spaniard as to the 
 conduct he ought to pursue towards the daughter who 
 had so bitterly displeased him in her choice of a 
 husband. 
 
 If, however, it were possible to bring about a recon 
 ciliation, Warren was peculiarly well fitted for effecting 
 it. He was a genial and whole-souled young man, 
 pleasant in his manners, and he knew, no one better, 
 
 17* 
 
198 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 how to ply his arguments in a pleasant way which 
 would, at the same time, cause them to carry conviction 
 to the mind of the listener from the address with which 
 they were put. 
 
 Laying aside all thought of his distaste for the task, 
 he dismounted before Carballo's gate to make his first 
 essay in behalf of his friend. 
 
 The place was on the outskirts of the rural city, and 
 the house was a quaint combination of the past and 
 the present, in perfect harmony with the character of 
 its inhabitants. The main portion of the building was 
 adobe, the thick walls having been surfaced and painted 
 white ; the old tiled roof of ancient days had, however, 
 disappeared, giving place to modern shingles ; and 
 although this innovation had caused the house to lose 
 in its romantic effect, the loss was more than compen 
 sated in the estimation of its denizens by the added 
 comfort the change had brought to them. 
 
 The needs of the family had long outgrown the pro 
 portions of the original edifice, so wings had been 
 added from time to time; these additions had, how 
 ever, been built of wood, and, like the main building, 
 had been painted white; and the general result had 
 been a long, low, rambling structure, part adobe, part 
 wood, quaint in its appearance, and pleasing from its 
 very quaintness. 
 
 The house was shaded by a huge fig-tree, while at 
 one side an almond was waving its feathery leaves in 
 the soft and fragrant breeze. The yard was filled with 
 roses and other flowering shrubs, while the porch was 
 buried beneath a huge passion-vine. Back of the house 
 was a thrifty walnut-orchard, while the whole appear- 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 199 
 
 ance of the place showed that it was the home of one 
 fairly prosperous, if not possessed of absolute wealth. 
 
 Warren knocked at the door, which was immedi 
 ately opened by an elderly man, who bade him enter 
 with the polite courtesy inherited from his Spanish 
 ancestors, and cherished with the proud tenacity of de 
 votion with which the Spanish-Americans of pure blood 
 and good birth cling to all the traditions and customs 
 of their old Castilian home. 
 
 " Seflor Carballo, I believe ?" said Warren, entering 
 the house in response to the invitation. 
 
 " The same,' 7 was the reply. 
 
 " My name is Warren, and I will say at once that 
 no one knows better than myself the delicacy of the 
 business upon which I have called." 
 
 The old gentleman bowed, but made no other re 
 sponse, although the serious expression that his counte 
 nance assumed upon hearing this showed his visitor* 
 that he at least suspected the causes which had brought 
 about the doubtful pleasure of this call. Warren, 
 seeing that he was compelled to assume the initiative, 
 plunged at once into the midst of the matter, saying, 
 
 " There is a young man in this place for whom I 
 entertain very friendly feelings, and it is with the 
 deepest regret that I learn that he has behaved in a 
 very unhandsome manner towards you." 
 
 The best of men are weak. Their greatest strength 
 is only profound weakness, after all ; and fond as we 
 are of Warren, and as much as we admire him in the 
 main, we cannot altogether acquit him of the charge of 
 slight duplicity in the present instance. His previous 
 conversations with Jake, and the advice he had then 
 
200 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 given him, could have only one tendency, and that 
 was to bring about this very method of procedure 
 which his protege had at last adopted, and which he 
 was now describing as unhandsome behavior. In his 
 heart he was at this very moment approving of what 
 Jake had done, in so far as the act itself was con 
 cerned, and he charged him in his own mind with 
 nothing worse than precipitancy in marrying the girl 
 before he was so situated that he could take care of 
 her himself. Yet there he sat, calmly talking to 
 Jake's father-in-law about the young man's unhand 
 some behavior, when he had only done what Warren 
 himself would have done under similar circumstances, 
 and as he had already as good as advised him to do. 
 
 Warren certainly was not ingenuous in this, and we 
 can only pardon him when we remember how often 
 we all of us fail in this same respect ; when we also 
 take into consideration what an unendurable place this 
 world would be were we all of us at all times perfectly 
 frank and outspoken, and when we reflect upon the 
 ruinous havoc it would work in our manners and 
 morals did we all of us say, on all occasions, without 
 any manner of disguise whatever, exactly what we 
 think, and try to show, without any attempt at soften 
 ing the truth, exactly what we believe. 
 
 The old Spaniard's face darkened and became almost 
 savage in its expression as he replied, 
 
 " Ah, you mean young Elkins ; he is a villain ! he 
 is an unmitigated scoundrel, whom I would rejoice to 
 sweep from off the face of the earth as a reptile who 
 denies it by his presence. If you call him a friend, I 
 fear that your friends are not always well chosen, senor." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 201 
 
 Warren paid no attention to this severe snub, but 
 answered in his pleasantest tone and manner : 
 
 " I regret most deeply the pain his indiscretion has 
 caused you ; and I assure you that you have my deepest 
 sympathy in this great sorrow. My acquaintance with 
 him is, of course, of the briefest, and consequently my 
 knowledge of his character is only superficial. The 
 language you have used in reference to him seems to 
 me intended to warn me that there is something in his 
 past life of which I am still in ignorance that is not 
 altogether to his credit. I should be most grateful to 
 you if you would admit me into your confidence so far 
 as to justify your bad opinion of the young man to 
 me ; for, of course, I should be most unwilling to be 
 friend any one who is thoroughly unworthy or who 
 has shown himself a villain. I, on my part, will be 
 equally open with you, and will admit that I had 
 formed the best opinion of the young fellow's character 
 and principles." 
 
 With these words Warren leaned over towards his 
 host, the expression on his face being that of one who 
 was expecting to listen to a tale of the most harrowing 
 enormities which would fall little, if at all, short of 
 proving actual crimes, and who was prepared to sift to 
 the bottom with a calm and judicial mind all the 
 evidence, pro and con, now to be laid before him. 
 
 Seflor Carballo was evidently staggered for a mo 
 ment. This method of approaching the subject was 
 altogether unfamiliar to him, and it was foreign to the 
 fiery temper and hot prejudices of his ardent and 
 impetuous race. He hesitated for an instant, and 
 then, without directly answering Warren's question, 
 
202 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 he proceeded to deal with the case from his own 
 stand-point. 
 
 " Is not his treatment of me, sefior, the conduct of a 
 villain?" he sternly demanded. "Has he not crept 
 into this family nest like a slimy, poisonous serpent, 
 and stolen from it the fairest of the brood ? I have 
 nothing further to say ; and it seems very clear to me 
 that there is no room here for more words." 
 
 " Ah, senor," Warren answered, his voice pathetic 
 with a sympathy that was not now assumed, for no 
 one could see the old man's evident suffering without 
 feeling deeply for him, "ah, senor, I understand 
 something of your feelings, and believe me when I 
 tell you that I sympathize deeply with you. But 
 there is another side to this, as to all other questions ; 
 and bear with me when I say that perhaps I, being 
 altogether a disinterested party, can here see the truth 
 more clearly than yourself. For you know that where 
 we are ourselves deeply interested, we always feel keenly, 
 and so are not prepared to see anything except as our 
 own feelings and prejudices color it." 
 
 " Say nothing to me about that wretch, senor, I will 
 hear nothing of him," Carballo angrily interposed. 
 
 Warren at once made haste to calm his anger by 
 replying, 
 
 " You mistake my meaning, for I did not intend to 
 present his case, but that of your daughter. She is a 
 lovely girl, whom I both know and admire, and I can 
 readily believe that she merits the graceful name you 
 have given her in calling her the fairest of the home 
 brood. 
 
 " Now, you must remember, sefior, that she has met 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 203 
 
 a young man of good family, fair present prospects, 
 and who is also, as you admit, beyond reproach in his 
 character. These two young people became devotedly 
 in love with one another ; and where there is perfect 
 love between two young people, with no objection 
 which can reasonably be raised against either one of 
 them, and, moreover, when the young man can offer 
 the lady of his choice a life of comfort, and even the 
 enjoyment of wealth, is their marriage a wrong ?" 
 
 " It is, by the saints ! for I forbade my daughter 
 even to think of him," Carballo replied, fury in his 
 tone and on his face. 
 
 Jake's father-in-law was unreasonable, beyond any 
 question, and it was a sore trial to Warren's patience 
 to deal with him ; but nothing would be gained were 
 he also to lose temper, while any betrayal of ruffled 
 spirits on his part would only increase the anger of his 
 hot-tempered companion and spoil everything. So, 
 restraining his impatience by an effort, Warren once 
 more applied himself to the task before him, saying, 
 
 " So many years have not as yet rolled over your 
 own head that you should have altogether forgotten 
 the days of your courtship." (The old man was seventy 
 if he w r as a day.) 
 
 " When people are in love they cannot keep their 
 thoughts under control, and they cannot think and feel 
 as their parents command. You should make allow 
 ance accordingly, sefior." 
 
 His host was softened towards him slightly by the 
 reference to his youthful appearance ; and, smiling a 
 very little, he abruptly asked, 
 
 " Are you a married man ?" 
 
204 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 "JSTo," Warren replied. 
 
 "But you must be ' engaged/ then, as you Americans 
 say ?" Carballo insisted. 
 
 Warren blushed slightly as he answered, "No, I 
 am not even ( engaged/" at the same time hoping 
 that the old gentleman would press his inquiries no 
 further. 
 
 This mercy was shown him, Carballo merely saying, 
 in reply to Warren's last answer, 
 
 "Pardon me, but I thought so ardent and so elo 
 quent an advocate of the ' tender passion' I believe 
 that is your American phrase, is it not ? must have 
 had an experience in it himself, and would at least 
 prove to be a lover. Go on, you interest me." 
 
 Warren winced at this home thrust, but returned no 
 answer; he blushed deeply, however, as he resumed 
 his argument, saying, 
 
 " You must remember, sefior, that your daughter's 
 happiness depends upon your action. Had she, in the 
 first place, listened to you and dismissed her lover, 
 this would have affected her whole future. If you now 
 persist in refusing to receive her into favor again, you 
 cause her a life-long unhappiness. Had she married 
 unworthily, the whole affair would, of course, wear a 
 different aspect and my arguments would be worthless ; 
 but since you yourself admit that your daughter's hus 
 band is a worthy young man, and that your objection 
 to him rests only upon the simple fact that you per 
 sonally dislike him, can you hope to confidently face 
 your Maker at the last day, and say that you have 
 faithfully fulfilled your duties as a parent, if you per 
 sist in your present mind ?" 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 205 
 
 Like all high-caste Spaniards, Carballo was pro 
 foundly influenced by his religious instincts, and this 
 appeal to conscience and religion accomplished more 
 for Warren in effecting the reconciliation he was en 
 deavoring to bring about than had been done by all 
 the arguments he had hitherto employed ; and seeing 
 by the changing expression on the old gentleman's face 
 the weight his last words had carried with them, he at 
 once pressed his point warmly. 
 
 " I am not alone in my opinion, sefior," he resumed. 
 " Had not the padre looked upon the case in the same 
 light in which I view it, do you think that he would 
 have married them without your consent ?" 
 
 " Ah, he was too hasty, he was too hasty. In that 
 he did me great wrong," Carballo answered, rising and 
 walking up and down the room. Then, stopping in 
 front of Warren, he said, 
 
 " You would have me take in these two young fools 
 and support them, I doubt not. My fascinating son- 
 in-law has no means of his own ; and you would have 
 me care for them and their children, if they have them, 
 until the course of nature causes him to inherit his 
 mother's fortune. I have stated your idea, have I not ?" 
 
 Carballo's tone was bitter enough, certainly, and his 
 manner was far removed from Warren's idea of a pro 
 pitiated bearing ; but he felt that the old man had 
 sufficient cause to feel aggrieved, and it was only nat 
 ural that some of his anger should fall upon a visitor 
 who confessed that he was a friend and partisan of the 
 young runaways, and who acknowledged that he had 
 called for no other purpose than to espouse their cause 
 and plead for their forgiveness. 
 
 18 
 
206 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Then, a sense of personal responsibility for Jake's 
 conduct made him feel as though he were to a certain 
 extent an abettor of his wrong-doing ; and that what 
 ever annoyance he was now experiencing descended 
 upon a head not altogether free from guilt as a well- 
 merited punishment. So, without answering either the 
 spirit or the word of Carballo's question, he proceeded 
 to frankly explain his ideas as to the future of the 
 young couple. 
 
 " No," he began, " I do not think that either you or 
 any one else should support them. Jake should be able 
 to care for his own wife and family, if he have one, 
 and you will find that he will do so. There is a nice 
 ranch down by the Santa Clara River, the Potter 
 place, you know it. His mother will give this to him 
 as a wedding-present ; so you need feel no anxiety as 
 to his future. If this is all that is causing you uneasi 
 ness, you may lay aside both your anger and your 
 alarm." 
 
 Carballo turned suddenly towards his guest with a 
 gesture of amazement and incredulity upon hearing 
 these words. 
 
 " You say that this young man's mother will give 
 him the Potter place?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 " Pardon me, sefior, but she has not the reputation 
 for so great generosity. Will you tell me your grounds 
 for this belief?" 
 
 This Warren by no means felt ready to do. In fact, 
 as his assertion was based upon his own powers of per 
 suasion and influence with the lady, he felt that it 
 would be altogether premature to make any further 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 207 
 
 revelations. But in case he should fail in this quarter, 
 as he was prepared to make good his words at his own 
 expense together with the offer Mitchell had made him 
 in Jake's behalf, he did not recede a particle from the 
 position he had taken. 
 
 " Pardon me, sefior, but I am not at liberty to say 
 more at present," he replied. "But believe me, I 
 know what I say when I assure you that inside of 
 forty-eight hours from now the deeds will be drawn 
 and recorded, unless you interfere to prevent it ; and 
 it would give me great pleasure to take back to the 
 bride the message of her father's affection and forgive 
 ness as well as the title to her new home." 
 
 The old gentleman paced back and forth through the 
 room for several moments, wrapped in the deepest 
 thought. At last he once more stopped before Warren, 
 and, looking sharply in his face, he said, 
 
 "If your words are made good, and I find that 
 Elkins does become the owner of this ranch, my 
 daughter and her husband shall be welcome to my 
 house. You may assure her of this, but be sure that 
 you remember the terms. As for him, I do not 
 promise him the love of a father, but he will be cour 
 teously received whenever he may choose to come." 
 
 Warren rose, and after assuring the old man of the 
 pleasure it would be to him to carry to his daughter 
 this pledge of reconciliation, he took his leave. 
 
 " Well, I have gotten so much off my hands," he 
 said to himself as he mounted his horse. "Now for 
 Mother Elkins, and I hardly know whether to think 
 that the worst or the easiest part of this business is now 
 before me." 
 
208 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 He found that estimable lady, as usual, overwhelmed 
 with cares and driven almost to her death by the 
 work which, for some reason, never was accomplished, 
 and which every one except herself well knew never 
 would be. 
 
 " Bless me, Mr. Warren, where did you drop from ? 
 I didn't expect to see you again for six weeks at least," 
 she exclaimed, as he entered the house. Seating him 
 self on the lounge he pointed to a chair, saying, 
 
 " Sit down, Mother Elkins, I want to talk to you." 
 
 " Mother Elkins, indeed ! What do you mean by 
 talking to me in that style ?" she exclaimed, complying 
 with his request at the same time. 
 
 " I mean that you'll have to adopt me in the place 
 of that scapegrace boy of your own. And, by the way, 
 speaking of him, I saw him and his bride yesterday. 
 What a right pretty girl she is, isn't she ? I wish I 
 could have got in ahead of him. Do you know her 
 well?" 
 
 The flax was now all in a flame. 
 
 " Know her ! I should say I did ! The brazen little 
 baggage ! I wish I could give her the trouncing she 
 deserves." 
 
 This was what Warren had expected ; and, to tell 
 the truth, he had intended to bring about this, or some 
 similar outbreak. Now he determined to make short 
 work of the business and he went to the pith of the 
 matter at once. 
 
 "See here, Mrs. Elkins," he said, very quietly but 
 none the less emphatically. "I know you, and for 
 that reason I know that your bark is a good deal 
 worse than your bite. As for Jake's marriage, the 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 209 
 
 thing is done now and over with ; so it is in very bad 
 taste for you to make all this fuss about it ; and the 
 sooner you realize that your scolding won't affect 
 matters the least in the world, the happier you will be. 
 Now, keep your temper while I tell you just what I 
 think. 
 
 "My candid opinion now, and so it has been all 
 along, is that you and Carballo have been very foolish 
 about this love-affair. You can't keep up race preju 
 dices in this country ; our institutions and customs all 
 prevent it. You are both of you Americans, and the 
 fact that your great-grandfather came from England 
 and his from Spain don't make either one of you the 
 less American, and the younger generation will find 
 this out even if you are too obstinate to do so. Now, 
 all you can do is to make the best of this fact ; and I 
 am going right on from this text to give you a little 
 more plain talk which it won't do you the least good 
 in the world to get cross over. 
 
 " You haven't done right by the boy ; you haven't 
 brought him up properly ; you should have had him 
 earn his own living, and you should have taught him 
 to be a man, and like other men to become manly. I 
 have felt this strongly ever since I first knew him, 
 and I have been all along trying to find an opening 
 for him, which I should have done before this had I 
 not had bad luck myself. But that is neither here nor 
 there : if you had only done your duty by him he 
 would have turned out a fine, manly young fellow, in 
 stead of growing up the great hobbledehoy he is." 
 
 Mrs. Elkins did not heed his warning, and, use or 
 no use, she became very angry with him. No mother 
 o 18* 
 
210 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 relishes being told that she has failed to do her duty 
 by her children. Neither, even though she is angry 
 with them herself, does she enjoy hearing other people 
 criticise them or call them names ; while it is especially 
 galling to the mother of an only son, whom she de 
 votedly loves and of whom she is excessively proud, 
 to hear him designated by so uncomplimentary an 
 epithet as hobbledehoy. Mrs. El kins accordingly 
 waxed exceeding wroth at Warren's language and 
 proceeded to unbosom herself at once. 
 
 " Upon my word, Mr. Warren, you are extremely 
 polite this morning," she exclaimed, hotly. "And I 
 never in my life saw an old bachelor, or an old maid 
 either, for that matter, who didn't have the whole 
 science of bringing up other people's children at their 
 tongue's end. I'm sure it's a thousand pities that 
 you are not married, and I hope you will be before 
 long, and that you will have a dozen children, too, 
 whom you can hold up as models for the world to 
 profit by. It will be a misfortune beyond repair if 
 such an example of paternal wisdom as you give 
 promise of becoming is lost to the world." 
 
 Warren laughed heartily at this outburst of temper. 
 He had been hoping that he might succeed in bringing 
 down her wrath upon his own head, as being the surest 
 means of dispelling the cloud of disfavor at present 
 overshadowing Jake and his bride. Having gained his 
 point in this respect, he now lost no time in bringing 
 matters to a crisis. 
 
 " Gently, gently," he answered. " I told you in the 
 first place that there was no manner of use in your 
 losing your temper with me, and you forget my warn- 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 211 
 
 ing as soon as I have given it. Now let us discuss 
 this business in a reasonable way and like reasonable 
 beings. I have just come from Carballo's." 
 
 "You have, have you? Well, what does the old 
 Greaser say for himself?" she asked, spitefully. 
 
 " Now don't let your angry passions rise again, and, 
 above all things, don't call names ; that is shockingly 
 weak," Warren answered, with aggravating calmness. 
 " I found him a very estimable, a very polite, and, I 
 can truthfully add, a very polished gentleman. As for 
 what he said, he was angry about the elopement, of 
 course ; but I found him amenable to reason, and he 
 promised me that he would forgive the young run 
 aways, and that he would take Jake into favor. He 
 would not promise to love him as a son all at once, 
 neither was I able to induce him to consent to bestow 
 upon him the affection of a brother, even, as yet ; but 
 we must not expect too much at first ; it will all come 
 right in time." 
 
 Mrs. Elkins looked very much surprised at this 
 news, and it must be confessed that she did not seem 
 to be altogether rejoiced at hearing it. Her own oppo 
 sition to the match had been provoked in the first place 
 by the hostility of Carballo, and it had by this time 
 become almost a point of conscience with her to regard 
 the family as " foreigners," and to look upon them as 
 being, for that reason, altogether beneath contempt; 
 and now to be told that everything was smooth in this 
 quarter, and that she alone was playing the part of the 
 cruel parent, was certainly a heavy blow ; for no one 
 enjoys finding a cherished grievance demolished so 
 effectually and so altogether without warning. 
 
212 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 She returned no answer, however, but only replied 
 by a grunt which she meant to be expressive of the 
 deepest indignation and contempt. 
 
 " To equal his good-natured complacency, I made a 
 promise in your name," Warren added. 
 
 " Oh, you did, did you ? I'm sure I ought to be 
 much obliged for your though tfulness ; but I ain't, all 
 the same. What promise did you so kindly make in 
 my name ?" 
 
 " I promised, in the first place, that you would be 
 as considerate to the young people as he had shown 
 himself. Then, in the second place, as I saw that the 
 old gentleman seemed very anxious about the support 
 of these two young people, I told him that you would 
 see that they were made able to take care of them 
 selves, and that you would give Jake as his own 
 property that fine ranch known as the Potter place," 
 Warren answered, in his blandest tone and most in 
 sinuating manner. 
 
 It was well for him that he did not hold his land 
 lady or her tongue in the least fear, for her anger now 
 blazed forth and burned hotly against him. 
 
 " Well, I'm sure !" she exclaimed, fairly gasping for 
 breath in her surprise and anger. " Of all the cool 
 assurance I ever knew, and you less than six months 
 ago a perfect stranger ! I have as good a mind as ever 
 I had to do anything to turn you out of my house on 
 to the sidewalk and throw your traps after you, and 
 never let you darken my doors again. The idea of 
 your daring to promise away thousands of dollars in 
 that style right out of my pocket ! Did any one ever 
 hear of such brazen assurance ! Of course you are not 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 213 
 
 crazy enough to expect me to make such a promise 
 good?' 7 
 
 " Eight thousand dollars is what I pledged you for/ 7 
 Warren replied, as sweetly as before, not in the least 
 moved by her anger. " I happen to know the price to 
 a cent, as the property is in our hands for sale. As to 
 making my words good, that is for you to decide ; I 
 can't answer that question for you. It is only right, 
 fair, and just to Jake that he should have a start in 
 life and be given a fair chance for making his own 
 way in the world. As you can well afford to do this 
 for him, I had no scruples about making a promise in 
 your name that you would deal justly by your own 
 son. If, however, you do not feel disposed to act in 
 this manner towards him, Jake shall not suffer in any 
 case; for my friend Mr. Mitchell has promised me 
 that he will join me in purchasing the place for him, 
 and we will let him pay us back by instalments as he 
 is able. You see that we believe in him, even if you 
 don't/ 7 he added, as he rose to go. 
 
 " Don't fly off in that style/ 7 she . answered ; " sit 
 down and give a body a chance to think, can 7 t 
 you?' 7 
 
 Warren laughed as he complied with her request, not 
 forgetting to remind her that she was the one who had 
 done all the flying. 
 
 "Well," she said, after some further discussion, 
 during w^hich she had been driven from one defence to 
 another, all of which she had adopted so as not to 
 appear to yield too readily, "you and that Mr. 
 Mitchell, there, have got me into a corner, and you 
 knew all along that you could do anything you chose 
 
214 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 with me; for of course I cannot have folks saying 
 that I was so stingy that I let strangers take care 
 of my son rather than do it myself. Go down to 
 your office and draw up the deeds, and I will give 
 you a check for the money when you bring them up 
 to me." 
 
 Warren thanked her in the name of Jake and his 
 bride, congratulated her upon the possession of so 
 pretty and lovable a daughter, and left her restored 
 to good nature, while he went down to his office with 
 the comfortable feeling that he had performed a good 
 deed in a very good manner. 
 
 He pictured to himself the delight with which his 
 proteges would receive the news that peace was at last 
 established between the two families now so closely and 
 intimately connected. He could already, in imagina 
 tion, see Camilla's bright eyes sparkle with increased 
 brilliancy at the news that now she was the mistress 
 of a pretty home of her own. But it is, for some wise 
 reason, ordained that no one shall know a long con 
 tinuance of untroubled happiness in this world, and 
 Warren's pleasant emotions were, on this occasion, ex 
 ceedingly short-lived. Perhaps it might have been so 
 ordered to prevent the growth of self-satisfaction in his 
 spirit ; perhaps it was for some other reason ; but be 
 this as it may, his comfortable feelings lasted only the 
 few moments required to ride from Mrs. Elkins's house 
 to his office, where he found Glenn, who greeted him 
 with, 
 
 " Glad to see you, Warren ; I was just going to send 
 up after you. It's lucky you are down. Come in 
 here." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 215 
 
 Together they disappeared within the mysterious 
 precincts of their private office, from which Warren 
 emerged in half an hour with a very anxious face, for 
 the purpose of writing a note which he forthwith for 
 warded to Mitchell, informing him that he was de 
 tained by business and could not return to camp in 
 less than a fortnight at the shortest limit. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 THE change in Warren's plans brought about by 
 the imperious demands of business produced a general 
 readjustment of existing arrangements in our little 
 circle of friends. 
 
 The note which he despatched to Mitchell, inform 
 ing him of the inevitable postponement of his return 
 for a fortnight at least, was received by that worthy 
 individual in his characteristic manner. The rule by 
 which he guided his life was, to permit nothing to 
 ever disturb him in the least; and acting always in 
 strict accordance with this rule, he would permit noth 
 ing less than a cataclysm in his domestic affairs, or an 
 entire revolution in mundane matters, at least in so far 
 as the last of these affected him, to either hasten his 
 goings or delay his comings one hour from the time he 
 had originally planned. 
 
 When Warren's note reached him he was not dis 
 turbed in any way, not even put out; but, calmly 
 sitting down, he wrote at once to his wife, requesting 
 that she and Mollie join him in the Matilija. He told 
 them that the baby need be no impediment, for the 
 nurse could come with them; and then if, on trial, 
 camping with a baby should prove to have drawbacks 
 too great to be overcome, the hotel was not a great dis 
 tance from them, and they could transfer their head 
 quarters to that. As for himself, he said that he had 
 no intention at all of returning under the six weeks for 
 216 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 217 
 
 which he had originally set out ; but he found it far 
 from pleasant up there in the canon all alone, and he 
 besought them to have mercy on him in his present 
 widowed and orphaned condition, and to come to his 
 relief. 
 
 At the same time that he sent this letter to his wife 
 he despatched Jim to provide another tent and camping 
 outfit for the ladies, in order that they might find 
 everything ready for them on their arrival. 
 
 This characteristic letter was received with great 
 merriment by Mrs. Mitchell and her sister, but they 
 consented at once to meet the wishes of its writer. 
 Mollie decided that it would be " great fun," and pre 
 tended to feel very much aggrieved because they had 
 not been included in the party in the first place, and 
 were now made welcome only as a last resort. Mrs. 
 Mitchell by no means looked upon the expedition 
 with such favor. She had been long enough now in 
 California to know that, being summer, as there would 
 be no rain, there could be no exposure ; still, with a 
 child to care for, she preferred more elaborate house 
 keeping arrangements than would be possible for her 
 with two tents and an oak-tree for her domicile. She 
 yielded her own wishes, however, to those of her hus 
 band and her sister, simply saying that as she con 
 sented to the plan to please them, they must share with 
 her the care of the child and all the trouble that he 
 might cause. 
 
 The first week passed merrily and pleasantly away. 
 
 Early in the second week a letter came from Warren, 
 
 which Jim handed to Mitchell while they were still 
 
 seated at dinner, in which he told his friend the news 
 
 K 19 
 
218 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 of himself and his affairs up to date, and informing 
 him that he should return the next day. He took 
 pains, however, to assure them that his advent need 
 cause no disturbance in the little family party which 
 had so happily gathered under the oak since his de 
 parture, as he, for his part, would be most heartily 
 glad to welcome the ladies, and pledging his honor as 
 a bachelor that he would bear without a murmur any 
 disturbance that his namesake might create. 
 
 But in spite of all his efforts to appear cheerful, it 
 was far from reading like a happy letter. It is hard 
 for a man, after witnessing the downfall of his fortunes, 
 to be possessed of high spirits, or to put his thoughts 
 on paper in such a way that his correspondent will be 
 induced to believe that he has written in a joyous 
 mood. The attempt is as natural, and it results in as 
 close an imitation of reality, as the cheerfulness which 
 the Roman emperors and their estimable modern imi 
 tators, the French revolutionists, compelled the families 
 of their victims to assume as good citizens, because 
 their domestic bereavement had resulted in the welfare 
 of the state. Mitchell read his letter to the end with a 
 countenance unusually sober. After finishing it he 
 looked up, still holding it open before him, saying, 
 
 " Girls, this is from Warren. He will be with us 
 to-morrow." 
 
 Mollie looked down at her plate and said nothing. 
 Mrs. Mitchell, however, answered at once, and rather 
 sharply, " We have received decidedly short notice, for 
 of course he will want us and the child away." 
 
 "Not at all. He could hardly ask that, knowing 
 that I sent for you after he had abandoned me ; and he 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 219 
 
 tells me to urge you to stay in case you should express 
 any intention of leaving. I know that he is sincere in 
 this, for the tone of the poor fellow's letter shows very 
 plainly that he is in need of the sympathy of cheerful 
 and congenial friends." 
 
 Mollie was still silent, but she looked up quickly at 
 'this, her features showing how profoundly interested 
 she was in the conversation, while they also told that 
 she was disposed to be one of the sympathetic friends 
 of whom her brother-in-law had said his friend was now 
 so sorely in need ; and again her sister was the only one 
 who made reply, and this time, noticing her husband's 
 serious expression, she became impressed by the fact 
 that something more than usually serious must be the 
 matter ; and, in expectation of hearing bad news, she 
 asked, anxiously, 
 
 " What does he say ? I hope there is nothing wrong 
 with him." 
 
 " I am sorry to say that things are altogether wrong 
 with him ; and although nothing has happened beyond 
 what I have been expecting all along, yet I feel just as 
 sorry for him now that the blow has actually fallen as 
 though it had been wholly unexpected. That Oakdale 
 business has fallen flat at last ; and although he doesn't 
 say much about it, it is what he fails to say that im 
 presses me." 
 
 The Oakdale boom had burst; such was the un 
 happy truth. And, as you have undoubtedly sus 
 pected all along, this unfortunate failure of the Oak- 
 dale Land and Water Company was the business 
 which had detained Warren so long in town busily 
 engaged in the attempt to save as much as possible of 
 
220 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 the money embarked in this rash and unfortunate 
 speculation. 
 
 The a boom" was dead throughout the whole of 
 Southern California, and it was already in its death- 
 throes when the scheme was first floated, had its pro 
 jectors only known it ; or, rather, had they only been 
 frank enough with themselves and others to recognize 
 the fact and admit it. With the collapse of this specu 
 lative mania, which passed away as suddenly as it had 
 come, all call for such property as the Oakdale Com 
 pany placed on the market (which was at the best 
 nothing but lots in a mushroom town, where no one 
 wanted to build, and which were bought with no idea 
 of building on them on the part of the purchasers) had 
 also passed away. There was no present market ; there 
 was no prospect of selling more lots than had already 
 been disposed of either in the near or remote future. 
 Whether there would ever again be an opportunity of 
 disposing of this property was more than any man 
 could tell. 
 
 Meanwhile, it was a tremendous expense to the little 
 company to hold the tract, for it had been bought by 
 them during the wildest days of the great land-craze 
 at the high figures which all real estate then reached, 
 and at which they were held for a short period. Only 
 a portion of the tract had been wholly paid for, the 
 remainder being bought on credit in the hope that 
 speedy sales of town lots at " boom" prices would en 
 able them to pay all indebtedness on the land, together 
 with the expense of its improvement, and at the same 
 time leave them a handsome profit. 
 
 This hope the failure of the Great Oakdale Land 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 221 
 
 Sale had proved to be fallacious. The expiration of 
 the time for meeting the last payment, coming so soon 
 after this disastrous auction, brought the company face 
 to face with the problem, What is now to be done ? 
 Shall the company fail to meet this payment, forfeit 
 the portion of the tract held on contract, sacrificing the 
 payments already made as well as the money expended 
 in improvements, or, would it be wiser for them to raise 
 the money needed to complete the payment and hold the 
 entire tract ? 
 
 In one way or another these questions must be 
 answered, and at once. Glenn was anxious that the 
 company should adopt some plan for raising the round 
 sum still needed for completing the payment, and that 
 the tract should be held for the brighter times which 
 he prophesied would shortly dawn for them. His 
 partners were also anxious to retain the property, 
 if it were possible, for no one likes to sacrifice his 
 money and see it go from him bringing no return ; 
 while the worst sensation of all is the chilling knowl 
 edge that he has deliberately thrown away some thou 
 sands of dollars. But the raising of the necessary 
 amount was in itself a difficulty which gave promise, 
 from the first suggestion of the idea, of being insuperable. 
 
 Two courses were possible of adoption, and only two. 
 The one was, to increase the company by taking in new 
 stockholders ; the other was, to assess the present stock 
 holders an amount sufficient to clear off all indebtedness 
 on the property, together with the interest, which had 
 now become due. 
 
 The first of these plans was at once dismissed, for no 
 one could be found who would embark his money in a 
 
222 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 scheme which was universally considered a losing in 
 vestment. The second was impracticable, for all the 
 stockholders, with the single exception of Glenn, who 
 had no money to invest, positively refused to risk 
 another dollar in the enterprise. Much as they re 
 gretted losing their money, they all agreed that it was 
 better to let go what was already at stake than to 
 increase losses which were already heavy ; while 
 Warren declared that, for his part, as he had already 
 brought himself to the verge of ruin, he did not pro 
 pose to go on and complete the destruction of his 
 fortunes by stripping himself of the little he now had 
 left. 
 
 It was at the close of this meeting, which had finally 
 decided the fate of the Oakdale Company, and whose 
 action had conclusively determined that Oakdale, not 
 withstanding the brilliant future which the gifted auc 
 tioneer from Los Angeles had predicted for it, was 
 never to be numbered among the actually existing 
 towns of California, that Warren wrote to Mitchell to 
 inform him of the downfall of this great air-castle, 
 whose collapse, with the various causes which finally 
 compassed its destruction, Mitchell explained to the 
 ladies at even greater length than they have been 
 inflicted upon the reader. 
 
 "I hope this failure has not ruined him," Mrs. 
 Mitchell remarked, after the usual feminine inquiries 
 as to the reason why all these different steps and various 
 transactions were necessary had been made and answered 
 to her satisfaction. 
 
 " That depends altogether upon what you mean by 
 ' ruined/ " Mitchell answered. " He won't have to 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 223 
 
 go out and work by the day exactly, but he has been 
 hit pretty hard for all that." 
 
 " What a silly thing it was for him to go in with 
 that dreadful Glenn !" she answered, in a meditative 
 tone ; then, drawing a sigh of satisfaction, as the com 
 fortable thought crossed her mind that she was blessed 
 with a husband too wise to ever be led into that most 
 unsubstantial and unsatisfactory of all the departments 
 of architecture known as the building of castles in 
 Spain (though I could never see why they were so 
 called; for surely those feudal structures would be 
 quite as profitable an investment in that country as in 
 any other), she added, 
 
 " HOAV thankful I am, John, that you did not let 
 Mr. Warren influence you into investing in this 
 company !" 
 
 " Humph ! I haven't quite taken leave of my senses ; 
 and if he had been anything better than an unmitigated 
 ass, he would have kept out of any such speculation as 
 that himself," Mitchell answered, contemptuously. 
 
 Mollie now spoke for the first time since Warren's 
 affairs had been mentioned ; taking fire at her brother- 
 in-law's contemptuous allusion to his friend, she an 
 swered, severely, 
 
 " I don't think that was at all nice of you, John 
 Addison. I think it very bad taste in you to sit here 
 and call your friend harsh names behind his back. I 
 remember when you reproved me not so very long ago 
 for speaking ill of him ; and I am sure I never called 
 him a fool. I would think I hurt myself more than 
 any one else if I were to call my worst enemy that ; 
 and I certainly would scorn to say such things of a 
 
224 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 friend," throwing an emphasis expressive of the deepest 
 of righteous indignation upon the last words. 
 
 Mitchell gave a long whistle indicative of extreme 
 surprise upon receiving this rebuke from so wholly 
 unexpected a source. 
 
 " Crushed again/ 7 he answered, with an assumption 
 of extreme contrition. " What has converted you all 
 of a sudden into so warm a partisan and advocate of 
 our speculative friend ?" 
 
 "I am neither a partisan nor an advocate of Mr. 
 Warren, or of any one else, for that matter, and I don't 
 like you to call me so even in jest," she replied ; " but 
 when I see so plainly as I did a moment ago that you 
 are both unjust and unkind I shall certainly be a true 
 enough friend to you to tell you of it ; and I am sure 
 that you would not wish me to be selfish enough to 
 keep silence while you abuse your friends." 
 
 In common with the rest of his sex, Mitchell looked 
 upon the female portion of his family as fair game on 
 which to perpetrate his practical jokes and vent his 
 witticisms ; and it was his especial delight to involve 
 either his wife or Mollie in a discussion, and then, 
 after reducing them to silence by his sophistries, laugh 
 at their indignant perplexity over the arguments by 
 which they had been worsted, and which they knew 
 were altogether unfair even though they were unable 
 to point out the dishonest reasoning and the defective 
 links in the chain of evidence which had overcome 
 them when he challenged them to do so. With this 
 end now in view, Mitchell at once answered Mollie 
 with an air of alert and active interest, as though her 
 words had brought up a matter of vital importance. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 225 
 
 "Wait a minute, my dear, I'm afraid I did not 
 quite catch your meaning there. I understood you to 
 say that unselfishness caused you to interfere when you 
 heard me speaking unhandsomely of Warren behind 
 his back. Now, what I fail to see is this : what has 
 either selfishness or unselfishness to do with the matter 
 any way ?" 
 
 "Now, John Addison, you can't draw me into an 
 argument this evening, so you might just as well give 
 up the attempt now as later," Mollie answered, with 
 a pretty impatience which made her even more charm 
 ing than ever. 
 
 "I don't wish to draw you into any argument, 
 Mollie ; but answer me, please. I am simply crushed 
 under the burden of my own stupidity, and surely you 
 will not be so cruel as to leave me in this miserable 
 plight," Mitchell replied, in plaintive tones. 
 
 " I understand you perfectly, sir, and I have noth 
 ing to say." 
 
 " Oh, come now, Mollie, that's weak ; that's just a 
 mere crawl," Mitchell scornfully exclaimed, trying to 
 gain his point by provoking her through exasperation 
 into the very discussion she was so evidently trying to 
 avoid. Mollie saw through his scheme at once ; and 
 she now showed the weakness with which he had 
 charged her by permitting her annoyance to so far get 
 the control of her feelings that she did answer his 
 taunt, and so acted in exact compliance with his 
 wishes. 
 
 "I will answer your question, but I want you to 
 thoroughly understand that I will not get into any 
 discussion with you," she replied, trying to convince 
 P 
 
226 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 herself that she had not been badgered by him even 
 into partial submission. 
 
 "That is all I have been asking for, my dear; a 
 candid answer to an honest question is the only unful 
 filled desire of my heart to-night. I have no more 
 wish for a discussion than yourself/ 7 Mitchell returned, 
 with brazen insincerity, inwardly chuckling over his 
 success in managing his womankind, as he spoke. 
 
 "Very well, then/' said Mollie. "What I meant 
 was simply this : while I denied that I was a partisan 
 in the present instance, I should still very much regret 
 finding myself so constituted mentally and morally that 
 I could never feel a profound, even an absorbing, interest 
 in any person or any thing, except that person or object 
 was associated in some way with my personal advantage." 
 
 "I see," Mitchell answered. "You mean that a 
 person must possess a certain amount of unselfishness 
 in order to make a good partisan." 
 
 " You agree with me, do you not ?" she asked, re 
 plying to his implied question by directly proposing 
 one herself. Then, as he returned no answer, she re 
 sumed her explanation of her idea, saying, 
 
 " As I look at the subject, it seems to me that it is 
 only the selfish, the cold-blooded, who never heartily 
 f take sides/ as the boys say, and who quietly weigh all 
 the chances before they speak or act, in order to see 
 just what and how much individual advantage they 
 will gain by joining a cause or supporting a person. 
 But I have answered your question, and in doing this 
 I have done all that I promised to do ; so good-night. 
 Good-night, Erne." And with these words she retired 
 to her tent. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 227 
 
 Mitchell was not anxious to detain her, for the con 
 versation, in more ways than one, had taken a turn he 
 had not expected ; while, in the insight it had given 
 him into her mind, it had shown him feelings existing 
 there he had by no means expected to learn that she 
 entertained. All this required meditation, so he said 
 nothing in reply to her last words, merely returning 
 her " good-night ;" and after she had disappeared 
 within the tent he remained for some moments silently 
 weighing all that she had said since the conversation 
 first began, in all the bearings of her words. At last 
 he said, thoughtfully, addressing his wife, 
 
 " It seems to me, Effie, that I can see the outward 
 and visible signs of a great inward change of feeling 
 towards a certain young man of our acquaintance 
 working in your sister ; though perhaps the change has 
 already been wrought in her." 
 
 " That is nothing new, dear ; for you must remember 
 that I prepared you for this shock some time ago." 
 
 " Well, hardly prepared me, for I did not more than 
 half believe that you were right. But trust a woman 
 for reading such signs correctly ; you will detect them 
 and note their meaning as soon, and even sooner, than 
 our truthful friend yonder would discern an antelope's 
 track," Mitchell answered, nodding towards Jim, who 
 sat a little apart by himself placidly smoking his pipe. 
 
 " John," said his wife, laying her hand on his arm 
 as she spoke, " John, I beg of you, don't say or do 
 anything absurd to influence her feelings." 
 
 Mitchell patted the slender fingers affectionately as 
 he gave her the desired promise. 
 
 " I know what you mean, my dear," he said : " no 
 
228 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 painful allusions to wardrobes are to be admitted ; no 
 reference to raiment is permissible. Be calm, my dear, 
 be calm ; no such words shall pass my lips. Even 
 should we fall to discussing natural history, and should 
 I find it necessary to speak of the elephant, even wild 
 horses shall not drag from me the faintest or most 
 distant allusion to his trunk." 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell laughed, and, rising to follow her 
 sister into their tent, she answered, 
 
 " I am very glad to hear you say so ; but as we are 
 none of us enthusiasts on the subject of natural history, 
 and so long as we remain in camp we shall be out of 
 the circus belt, I think a slight effort at self-control 
 will be sufficient to keep you out of mischief." 
 
 Mitchell and his wife were altogether right in their 
 suspicions. Mollie's feelings towards Warren, as her 
 acquaintance with him advanced, and her knowledge 
 of his character and of the man himself became more 
 thorough, had undergone a complete change ; though 
 it would be more accurate to say that her sentiments 
 had not so much changed as developed from a crude, 
 undefinable condition, and had now passed into such 
 a state that she herself could understand them and 
 explain them. 
 
 From the first they two had been good friends. Not 
 withstanding the peculiar circumstances which had, for 
 a time, opposed the formation of any friendship, and, by 
 creating a feeling of embarrassed self-consciousness, at 
 least on her side, had prevented a perfect understanding 
 between them, she had always liked the man, and little 
 by little she began to confess to herself that she did 
 find a real pleasure in his companionship; while as 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 229 
 
 for Warren, he was never so happy as when in her 
 society. 
 
 Now, she had begun to understand her own mind, 
 and to know that this liking was something more than 
 a mere feeling of good-fellowship ; and she would have 
 learned this truth long before she did awaken to it had 
 not that pique to which her sister so often referred, 
 arising from their first uncomfortable meeting, made 
 her unwilling to give more than the merest courtesies 
 of an acquaintance to one who had, however uninten 
 tionally on his own part, placed her in so disagreeable 
 and ridiculous a situation. 
 
 Now, however, she felt within her heart a truth 
 which she could not confess even to herself until its 
 confession had been asked ; although she was obliged 
 to admit that, should Warren try once again to win 
 this confession from her, she would meet him differ 
 ently from what she had done before. Then she found 
 herself wondering would he ever try to win her again ? 
 But this thought caused her very little anxiety, for she 
 felt certain that he would ; and then she grew happy 
 over the thought how, when the morrow had brought 
 him, she would tell him how truly sorry she had been 
 ever since she had heard of his terrible misfortune, and 
 
 then But here she blushed, and refused to dream 
 
 any further as yet, even in her own heart. 
 
 She had come now to recognize the truth that their 
 natures were perfectly adapted, the one to the other ; 
 he being strong, yet impulsive, while she was calm, yet 
 fully as strong in her character, and at the same time 
 gentle, sweet, and true. 
 
 Each gave to the other exactly those qualities which 
 20 
 
230 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 that other needed ; and the blending of their lives 
 would be that uniting of sympathy to sympathy which 
 makes two natures, each one in its support of the other, 
 so wholly one that each recognizes its own imperfections 
 when it exists apart from the other ; while in the other 
 each finds the most perfect happiness, the sweetest peace 
 that earth can know ; a blending of two natures which 
 makes marriage a sacrament, a sacred mystery, prophetic 
 of the perfect peace and happiness of heaven. Jl 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 IT was with a sore and heavy heart that Warren 
 mounted his horse to rejoin his friend and resume his 
 camp-life. The day was perfect in its every feature, 
 perfect with all the beauty of a California morning. 
 The air was sweet and filled with a balmy and refresh 
 ing warmth, while a soft, mellow haze clothed the distant 
 mountain-peaks in a golden mantle. 
 
 Warren's mind was, however, occupied with thoughts 
 which shut out all realization of the beauties which sur 
 rounded him. While the loss of his property was, of 
 course, a serious blow, still, to so proud-spirited and 
 ambitious a man as he the disappointment of his hopes 
 was far more severely felt than the financial loss, heavy 
 as it was. 
 
 He had confidently expected to see a large and pros 
 perous town grow up on the Oakdale tract within the 
 next two years, or three at the outside, which would 
 ultimately develop into a thriving city. Not the least 
 brilliant feature in this dream had been the hope of one 
 day finding himself recorded in the annals of a great 
 State as one of those far-seeing and public-spirited men 
 whose almost prophetic prevision into the future of this 
 fairest spot in all the nation had led them to give to the 
 commonwealth the most beautiful of its garden cities. 
 
 But in the very hour when he was most fondly 
 dreaming of success, in that same hour the spires and 
 domes, the mansions and cottages of this fair city of 
 
 231 
 
232 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 his visions vanished from before his eyes ; and he woke 
 from his day-dream to see himself, like Alnaschar in 
 the Arabian tale, gazing upon nothing but the pitiful 
 relics of a shattered fortune. 
 
 The transformation in his own condition was no less 
 complete and no less mortifying than it had been in 
 the case of the visionary brother of the Oriental 
 barber, with whom he could not help contrasting 
 himself in his own mind. Instead of finding himself 
 foremost in the front rank of the leaders of nineteenth- 
 century development and American civilization, he was 
 so veiy far from becoming a great leader of progress, to 
 whom the founding of a city was no more of an achieve 
 ment than the establishment of a successful business is 
 to ordinary men, that he found himself suddenly thrust 
 down from the high pedestal on which he had placed 
 himself to hold a place below the lowest of the hum 
 drum and unenterprising men upon whom he had 
 hitherto looked down with pitying contempt; and 
 bitterest of all, in this humble estate he knew that 
 he was considered by others not a wreck of fallen 
 greatness, but only a broken speculator, a very com 
 monplace and green young man, who had come from 
 the East to " astonish the natives," but had only suc 
 ceeded in being relieved of the bulk of his fortune by 
 the first shrewd and plausible operator who wished to 
 take him in hand to pluck. 
 
 ' Being so much less than a hero in his own eyes, how 
 must he now appear, after all his boasting, in Mollie's 
 sight? And, of all the world, she was, to his mind, 
 the fairest and the sweetest, the one with whom he 
 most ardently longed to find favor. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 233 
 
 "When his prospects had been the brightest and his 
 hopes the highest, he had never been able to win from 
 her more than a cordial friendship. Now that he was 
 nothing more nor less than a " boomer," even in his 
 own estimation ; now that the most partial of his 
 friends would be compelled to speak of him as a 
 speculator who had been beaten at his own game, and 
 had come out of it a bankrupt and almost financially 
 ruined, he could hope for nothing else from her than a 
 pity almost worse for him to endure than her outspoken 
 contempt. 
 
 He knew that he was going back to the camp almost 
 for the single purpose of meeting her. He called him 
 self a fool for his pains, and he told himself time and 
 again as he rode along that if he were possessed of the 
 smallest atom of sense he would turn back, write a 
 note of excuse, and bid them all good-by, then pack 
 up and be gone where he would never see her again, 
 long before they could return. But all the while he 
 was giving himself this excellent counsel he kept 
 straight on in his course, and he knew that he could 
 not follow out his own advice, however hard he were 
 to try. 
 
 Warren had not yet learned that an ardent and devoted 
 love such as that he gave to Mollie a love which at 
 once combined the poetry of passion with the sincerity 
 of truth could not fail to awaken the interest of the 
 woman upon whom he lavished all the wealth of his 
 affection. And though she might, for reasons of her 
 own, withhold her love from him while his course was 
 one of unclouded prosperity, yet when a great calamity 
 overtook him her womanly nature would be so far from 
 
234 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 prompting her to manifest the cold sympathy of which 
 Warren stood in fear, that his misfortunes would be the 
 very thing wanting to induce her to give him the love he 
 was striving to win, because she would know that this 
 was all that she could do, while it would also be the 
 best that she could do, to aid him in his conflict against 
 trouble, and assist him in turning defeat into victory. 
 
 This was a truth that Warren had as yet to discover ; 
 and herein he was more fortunate than many men, for 
 some men never have an opportunity of learning it, 
 either because they are personally unworthy, or because 
 they are unwise in their choice of the one upon whom 
 they have bestowed their own aifections. 
 
 A close concentration of our thoughts upon any one 
 subject, whether the engrossing theme be pleasurable or 
 painful, is a wonderful assistance to the flight of time, 
 causing the minutes to roll on into hours, and the hours 
 to fly by almost unperceived, and Warren now looked 
 about him to find that his journey was almost two- 
 thirds done. He had now come to the place where the 
 road divided ; the old road, long since abandoned for 
 public use, and given over to chance passengers in the 
 shape of tourists or hunters, here turned off to follow 
 beside the channel of the twisting and winding creek, 
 and skirting the spur of the mountain over which the 
 new road, now invariably used, had been made. As 
 he reached this point Warren reined in his horse, think 
 ing for the last time that, as a sensible man, he ought to 
 turn back and save himself from the humiliation that 
 he knew awaited him if he followed his journey to its 
 end ; for the last time he made a strong effort to sum 
 mon the resolution necessary to enable him to retrace 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 235 
 
 his steps, but he could not. Either fate had some 
 better thing in store for" him, or else he had not yet 
 suffered deeply enough to altogether satisfy the perverse 
 fortunes ruling his destinies ; so, with a sigh of pity 
 for himself, and of compassion on his own weakness, 
 he rode forward ; though, to put off the hour which he 
 felt could bring him nothing except evil, but yet which 
 he had not sufficient force of character to altogether 
 avoid, he turned off to take the old disused lower road 
 as being the longer. 
 
 It was now almost noon ; the mountains by which 
 he was surrounded shut off the sea-breeze which, in 
 places nearer the coast, cooled and tempered the air 
 during the hottest days of summer. The fierce semi- 
 tropical sun was beating down upon him from a cloud 
 less sky with strong, burning rays. The haze had deep 
 ened on the mountains, as though nature, pitying their 
 old and wrinkled features, had drawn a veil to soften 
 their outlines in the eyes of human beholders. The 
 intense stillness of this wilderness, at other times ro 
 mantic, was now almost oppressive to Warren in his 
 misery and loneliness. Not a sound broke the silence 
 of the canon except the occasional chirp of a cricket, 
 the hum of a bee flitting from wild-flower to wild- 
 flower, or the murmur of the brook at his feet. As 
 he crossed the creek and rode out at the foot of the 
 mountain to the place where the old road which he 
 had been following met the new road as it descended 
 the mountain spur, he was startled by the report of a 
 gun far up the hill followed immediately by the cry 
 of a woman, whose voice showed that she was either 
 seriously hurt or else was in an agony of fear. 
 
236 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 Warren stopped his horse to look up the steep grade, 
 fearful lest some accident had occurred in this lonely 
 spot ; and, as if he were not yet miserable enough, to 
 add to his wretchedness, he was about to become bur 
 dened with the responsibility of caring for a woman 
 seriously wounded, and miles from any possibility of 
 medical aid. 
 
 In a second, however, the current of his apprehen 
 sions became changed but not lessened, for a horse now 
 came into sight plunging down the steep and narrow 
 grade in all the blind frenzy of brute terror. His rider 
 was a woman, and Warren's apprehensions became 
 changed to the keenest anguish when he recognized the 
 woman to be Mollie. 
 
 The road had been cut out of the side of the moun 
 tain, and while it was well kept and was in perfect 
 repair, making it safe for a skilful driver, it was by no 
 means the place in which a tyro ought to make experi 
 ments in feats of horsemanship, and it was a place of 
 deadly peril in the event of a runaway. The road-bed 
 was narrow, with the mountain wall on one side and 
 on the other the sheer descent down, down hundreds 
 of feet to the floor of the valley beneath. Should horse 
 and rider plunge into that awful abyss they would 
 both be dead before reaching the bottom, while Mollie 
 would be torn and mangled beyond all possibility of 
 recognition on the trees and bushes covering the moun 
 tain side like a chevaux-de-frise of nature's planting. 
 
 Warren saw the peril of the whole situation at the 
 first glance, and, springing from his horse, he ordered 
 him to stand, knowing that the well-trained brute 
 would obey the command, however long his master 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 237 
 
 might be absent ; then he hastened up the steep road, 
 intending either to rescue Mollie from her peril or to 
 share her fate. 
 
 On he ran, at the same time being careful to avoid 
 any sudden motion or any gesture of limbs or body 
 that would add to the frenzy of her fear-maddened 
 horse. So long as the animal kept to the smooth and 
 carefully-tended road all was well ; it was only a 
 stumble, or some sudden apparition before him which 
 might cause him to swerve to the right and plunge 
 over the precipice, that Warren feared. 
 
 Since her first terrified scream Mollie had remained 
 perfectly silent, and, so far as Warren could judge, she 
 had recovered her calmness. She sat firmly in her 
 saddle, holding her horse in with a strong, steady 
 grasp, at the same time talking to him in gentle, sooth 
 ing tones ; but he had been too thoroughly maddened 
 by fright to yield readily to his rider's influence, and 
 he rushed wildly on down the steep descent. On, on 
 he rushed, drawing rapidly nearer to Warren with 
 every bound, and he in his turn ran with swift but 
 cautious steps to meet the horse. As they came face to 
 face, Warren stepped quickly to the very edge of the 
 precipice, seized the horse by the bridle, and, throwing 
 all his strength into his grasp, tried by a quick motion 
 to back him against the mountain wall and hold him 
 there until he could once more be brought under con 
 trol. 
 
 One minute of quick resolution and awful action ; 
 one minute, seemingly endless in its duration. Above, 
 the blue sky smiling in semi-tropical depth of color 
 and richness of beauty ; before them the mountain 
 
238 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 wall, draped in vines of variegated foliage, and thickly 
 set with trees on whose branches the birds twittered as 
 they perked their heads and looked down in curious 
 wonder at the scene of human suffering and possible 
 death beneath ; below, the yawning depths, through 
 which coursed the brook, smiling in the sunlight and 
 singing merrily as it hastened on to join its waters 
 with the ocean. 
 
 "With the curious inconsequence which forms a part 
 of human nature in times of deadly peril, Warren 
 noted every detail of scenery and of event about him. 
 It seemed as though the very music of the creek came 
 up from the deep valley and reached his ears ; while, 
 by a quick side-glance, as he seized the rein of M ollie's 
 horse when it dashed by him, he saw for the instant 
 his own horse quietly grazing by the roadside below, 
 careless of his master's fate. 
 
 Every trivial detail was borne in upon Warren's 
 mind for an instant ; then, a strange humming filled 
 his ears almost deafening him; the very air seemed 
 filled with wild, staring eyes and open, frothing 
 mouths ; earth and sky faded from before his sight ; 
 the firm ground slipped from under his feet; he felt 
 himself hang in mid-air an instant ; now he was fall 
 ing down, down ; once more a foot strikes, now rests 
 upon firm earth, noAV both feet stand secure, and all is 
 over. 
 
 How it was done, just what was done in those few 
 terrible seconds, neither Warren nor Mollie ever knew. 
 After one awful instant which seemed an eternity, and 
 during which he had passed through all the bitterness 
 of death, Warren found himself standing once more in 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 239 
 
 safety upon the mountain road, and firmly holding the 
 horse, now subdued and trembling in every nerve, 
 himself covered with sweat and dust, hatless, with torn 
 clothes, bruised and bleeding. Seeing that the horse 
 was once more quiet, he lifted Mollie, pale and, now 
 that all danger was past, ready to faint, from her 
 saddle ; then, clasping her to his breast, he kissed her 
 lips again and again, crying, 
 
 "Oh, Mollie, my darling, my own sweet love, you 
 are safe, you are safe ! How thankful I am that I was 
 brought here just in time !" 
 
 Mollie was so far from being outraged or even 
 offended at this very unceremonious and unconven 
 tional treatment that she seemed to like it. She lay on 
 his breast, clinging to him with a contented, happy, 
 and restful feeling. It seemed to her, for the moment, 
 that she belonged there, and while she remained there 
 that she would be secure from every danger ; so she 
 held up her soft, sweet lips to his caresses, and returned 
 them with the rapture which belongs to the first true 
 love. For one moment of perfect happiness they gave 
 themselves each to the other, and in that moment their 
 souls were united for time and eternity ; then Mollie 
 remembered that this would never do on the high 
 road. What if the quail-hunter whose gun had caused 
 the mischief should happen along ? So she released her 
 self from his embrace with a gentle motion, saying, 
 
 " I am so glad and grateful, dear love, that you came 
 to my rescue, and no one else. But you are hurt ?" 
 
 Warren looked down at his demoralized clothes and 
 cut hands, as he laughingly answered, 
 
 " I am bruised a little ; personally I have met with 
 
240 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 no more serious injury than that ; as for my clothing, 
 that is past repair, while my hat is gayly riding the 
 waves of the creek on its way to the broad Pacific. 
 You will have to ride back under the escort of one 
 who, were an escutcheon given him, would be hailed 
 as the Knight of the Deplorable Figure. Shall you be 
 too much ashamed of my hatless and tattered plight to 
 permit me to constitute myself as your guardian for 
 the rest of the way ?" 
 
 "Shall I, indeed?" Mollie answered, indignant at 
 the bare thought. " I hope I am not quite a wretch. I 
 think that you are the best and the bravest of men, and 
 you never looked so lovely to me as you do at this 
 moment. Every bruise and every hurt you have re 
 ceived in my service, and each one is a claim on my 
 love. Come, now, let us go down to the brook and let 
 me see how badly you have been hurt for me, you 
 poor, brave, noble darling." 
 
 In vain Warren protested that he was not hurt in 
 the least, and that he had never felt so well in his life 
 as he did at that moment ; Mollie would not be pacified 
 until she had satisfied herself by a personal examina 
 tion of his injuries ; so together they walked down the 
 road to the brook, Warren leading Mollie's horse and 
 she walking by his side ; and there, seated on a stone, 
 she leaned over him washing the dust and blood from 
 his hurts, while she kissed and petted him to his heart's 
 content and praised him as the bravest of men, honestly 
 believing and what girl who had just been, like her, 
 rescued from a great danger by her own lover would 
 not have believed the same ? that he had performed a 
 deed of unheard-of valor. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 241 
 
 The day was the same in every way as it had been 
 when Warren left Ventura, while it was only a few 
 hours older, but the whole world had been changed for 
 him in the events that had transpired in those few seconds 
 on the mountain ; such wonders can the briefest lapse 
 of time work in all the rest of our existence. Then, 
 Warren saw nothing before him but humiliation and a 
 life-long struggle with a poverty of his own creation ; 
 now, although his fortunes had not mended in the 
 least, the world looked bright, happy, and well worth 
 the struggle it demands of every one who would live 
 in it. The future seemed bright and promising now, 
 and as for the poverty, it did not seem so very grind 
 ing or bitter after all, since Mollie had agreed to face 
 it with him. Such a worker of miracles is a happy 
 love. 
 
 Mollie soon found that her lover's words were true, 
 and that, beyond a few bruises and slight cuts which 
 needed no more careful medical treatment than court- 
 plaster would supply, he had received no bodily injury 
 at all. As she sat bathing these trifling hurts, she told 
 him how she had happened to be at that place at all, 
 and how the adventure had come about. 
 
 She began her story by mercilessly insisting upon one 
 point, without paying the slightest attention to Warren's 
 feelings, although she knew how fatal her words would 
 be to the thoughts he was entertaining, and this was, 
 that she had come out with no thought or intention of 
 meeting him. She had been attracted by the beauty 
 of the early morning, and by this alone, and having 
 become, through her California residence, an accom 
 plished horsewoman, as well as an enthusiastic lover 
 L q 21 
 
242 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 of the exercise, she had gone out for the sake of the 
 ride. It had proved pleasant, even beyond her expec 
 tations, and, charmed by the delicious air and exquisite 
 scenery which no amount of familiarity can ever rob 
 of its charms, she had prolonged her ride to the village 
 of NordhofF. Just as she had reached the top of the 
 mountain on her return, a quail-hunter had startled her 
 horse and herself by the unexpected discharge of his 
 gun ; " and," she added, with a pretty air of happy 
 embarrassment, " you know the rest." 
 
 Warren made her an answer for the exact expression 
 of which no language, so far as I know, has as yet 
 added any adequate word to its vocabulary. Then, 
 glancing up the mountain road, where a pedestrian 
 figure could now be discerned in the distance coming 
 down towards the spot where they were seated, he 
 said, 
 
 " Yes, and lest that man yonder should prove to be 
 our quail-shooter coming to find out what mischief he 
 has done, let us get on the road before he comes up to 
 us to bore us with his excuses and apologies ; and, 
 perhaps, to suspect the happiness he has accidentally 
 brought about." 
 
 Mollie blushed and gave a ready assent, and they 
 were soon mounted and on the way once more. 
 
 The ride back was the happiest of the many they 
 had taken in each other's company. The conversation 
 was, however, nothing to which we would care to listen. 
 Since the creation of man love-making has always been 
 the same ; it is an art whose principles and laws never 
 vary, and the topics of conversation never change, 
 while lovers themselves have never lost the happy 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 243 
 
 faculty of making the people who are unfortunate 
 enough to be brought into their company feel alto 
 gether uncomfortable and in the way. So we will 
 spare ourselves the discomfort and our young friends 
 the embarrassment of bearing them company on that 
 ride, only saying in reference to it that, although 
 courting on horseback does certainly possess marked 
 disadvantages, on this occasion it held sufficient attrac 
 tions to cause our young friends to strike a very moder 
 ate gait, taken, as I suspect, to prolong their ride to the 
 utmost ; although they deny this, and explain the length 
 of time consumed in riding up the canon to the badness 
 of the road. However this may be, the fact remains 
 that in making this trip theirs is the longest time on 
 record, for it was late in the afternoon when they rode 
 into camp, and were happy enough to find Mitchell and 
 his wife alone, Jim being out catching trout for their 
 breakfast. 
 
 Erne gave a little cry of alarm and dismay as she 
 looked at Warren and saw the plight in which he had 
 returned, while Mitchell made no attempt to conceal 
 his astonishment at his friend's demoralized condition. 
 " Well, my deplorable friend, does the bursting of a 
 boom in Southern California always shatter those within 
 its range in this effective way ?" he asked as soon as he 
 recovered from his surprise sufficiently to be able to 
 speak. 
 
 Warren assisted his companion to alight, then an 
 swered, 
 
 " Like everything else in this wonderful country, a 
 boom assumes colossal proportions ; and consequently, 
 when it goes off the splinters fly vigorously, filling the 
 
244 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 victims to such an extent that any one of them could 
 pose as a model for Saint Sebastian, only that I know 
 of none who have his look of calm resignation and quiet 
 unconcern. In looking upon me, you see them all." 
 
 At this point Mollie interposed. " John," she said, 
 " you must not say one word about Mr. Warren's ap 
 pearance, for he has been hurt in protecting me. My 
 horse took fright when I was riding down the moun 
 tain, and right in its steepest part. Mr. Warren came 
 by the old road, and just at the right moment. He 
 saw it all, jumped off his own horse, ran to meet mine 
 and stopped him at the risk of his own life. It was the 
 bravest thing I ever knew. He saved my life and 
 
 and " She stopped, partly because her voice was 
 
 too full of the tears awakened by her conflicting emo 
 tions to permit any more lengthened explanation, partly 
 because she did not know just what to say next. War 
 ren took her hand, while Mitchell and his wife ex 
 changed glances, grasping the whole situation at once. 
 
 " And you are going to give it to him as a reward for 
 services rendered," he said, completing Mollie's sentence 
 for her and glancing significantly at her hand as he spoke. 
 "Well, a fair exchange, you know the old saying, 
 Warren. I congratulate you with all my heart ; you 
 have got a gem of a girl there, the best one in all the 
 world, now that Effie has been submitted to cancellation. 
 I am glad to welcome you as a brother; and I haven't 
 wished you happiness, and am not going to, because there 
 is no manner of doubt on that point. I've been in the 
 family years enough to know what kind of women they 
 are, and to speak with authority on that point. If you 
 are not happy it will be all your own fault, my boy." 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 245 
 
 He shook his friend heartily by the hand, kissed his 
 sister-in-law, and walked away, blowing his nose vigor 
 ously and grumbling something about so much strong 
 sunlight being bad for catarrh. 
 
 Effie also went up to Warren to congratulate him, 
 saying, 
 
 " I have always liked you, Mr. Warren, and I am 
 glad to know that Mollie is going to marry a brave 
 man as well as a good one. I shall love you as I do 
 my own brother ; and saying that, I can say no more." 
 
 Warren thanked the pretty little woman, and at once 
 availed himself of a brother's privilege, which she 
 gracefully, conceded, Mitchell looking on from one side 
 and raising no objection. 
 
 They then seated themselves at the supper Effie had 
 been preparing just as Jim arrived with a huge catch 
 of trout. That experienced worthy, suspecting how 
 matters stood, proceeded at once to extract the truth by 
 a few skilfully-put questions. 
 
 " Wai," he remarked, " I didn't contract to take in 
 no huntin' in this trip, V I see 'tain't necessary. The 
 jedge kin git 'long without me thar ; 'n' he's done a 
 right smart o' business at it, bringin' home the finest 
 deer I've seen this season." 
 
 "Hold on, Jim," Warren answered, sternly. "No 
 more of that if you ever want to see Ventura again. 
 They often kill men out here for less than that." 
 
 "Oh, by the way, jedge," Jim went on, "that re 
 minds me. 'Twuz jest two years ago to-day. I 
 wuz out with a party over back o' Pine Mountain 
 
 yonder " 
 
 " Oh, shut up, Jim !" Mitchell exclaimed, breaking 
 21* 
 
246 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 him off short in the beginning of his authentic anec 
 dote. "We can't stand any more of your lies, or 
 certainly not to-night." 
 
 Jim rose with an injured manner, saying, in a tone 
 indicative of the profoundest grief at this unjust and 
 inconsiderate treatment, 
 
 " Lies ! I want yer all to know, ladies V gents 
 both, that I hain't never yet said one word as wuzn't 
 sollum gospel truth/' and he went away to smoke his 
 pipe in solemn meditation upon the possibilities of 
 human ingratitude. 
 
 As he was now disposed of, for the evening at least, 
 Mitchell turned to Warren and, assuming a manner of 
 solemn importance, said, 
 
 " Warren, as I am Mollie's nearest male relative, 
 I mean, of course, geographically speaking, before I 
 can bestow my final benediction upon your union I 
 must inquire into your affairs closely enough to be sure 
 that you can support a wife." 
 
 Warren laughed dubiously as he answered, "It is 
 only fair that I should answer that question, or any 
 other of a like nature that you may choose to put, 
 owing to recent events ; for these justify any doubts 
 that may exist as to my financial soundness; while 
 they are events which, whether they cast any shadows 
 before them or not, certainly leave a heavy enough one 
 behind." 
 
 Then he went on, speaking seriously and very sadly, 
 to give a full description of his affairs as they were left 
 by the failure of the Oakdale scheme, saying, 
 
 " There is no use in my denying that you have been 
 right and I have been wrong all along about this matter. 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 247 
 
 I have made an unmitigated ass of myself, and the pity 
 of it is that it cost me almost all I am worth to find out 
 how much of a donkey I am. I have crippled my 
 means for many years, certainly, and I fear for life, 
 for I have thrown away a little more than two-thirds 
 of my fortune in my wonderful speculations. As for 
 supporting Mollie as I could have done six months 
 ago, that is now altogether out of the question. I 
 cannot take her back to New York and keep up my 
 home there ; and, for the matter of that, I cannot live 
 there myself as a bachelor in the old way any longer." 
 
 "I feared that you were hard hit. What do you 
 propose, then ?" Mitchell asked, looking very sober over 
 this intelligence. 
 
 " I own a fine piece of ranch property here, just out 
 side of the city limits. It is a good property, well 
 stocked with fruit-trees and nuts, all in bearing con 
 dition. Fortunately for me, I bought it during one 
 of my few lucid intervals, so I paid cash for it and do 
 actually own it. I had thought that, if Mollie were 
 willing, I would rent my house in New York and, 
 after we are married, we would make this our home 
 and live on the ranch, while I can practise my profes 
 sion at the same time. From these different sources I 
 could keep the wolf from the door of a very pretty 
 home." 
 
 " You would continue to practise law in the new and 
 approved method you have lately adopted, I suppose ?" 
 Mitchell asked, taking out a cigar and offering one to 
 Warren as he spoke. 
 
 " Hardly," he replied, accepting the offer and taking 
 out his match-safe. " I have had enough of booming 
 
248 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 in my six months' experience of it to last me through 
 a very long life, should this be granted me. I am a 
 child who has once been burned, and I am anxious to 
 keep away from the fire for the rest of my life. With 
 what I have saved from the wreck you can see that I 
 would be wretchedly poor in New York ; but out here 
 we shall be rich, and we can enjoy all the luxuries that 
 any reasonable mortal ought to ask for." 
 
 " Well, I don't see but what the picture is a pleasant 
 one/ 7 Mitchell said, in a meditative tone, thoughtfully 
 studying the ash on his cigar at the same time. " What 
 do you think of it, Effie?" he asked, turning to his 
 wife. 
 
 " I see nothing against Mr. Warren's plan/' the sen 
 sible little woman at once replied, " while it seems to 
 me that everything commends it. But, after all, it is 
 not for us to decide in this matter ; the question is one 
 which Mollie must decide ; she is the one whose life is 
 interested. Can the recent city belle become trans 
 formed into a California matron and be happy in the 
 change ?" she asked, addressing her sister. 
 
 Mollie clasped her hands over her lover's arm, and 
 glancing up into his face with eyes expressing the 
 deepest love, she answered, 
 
 " I am willing to do whatever is right and for the 
 best, and I know that I shall be happy. Then, after 
 all, I prefer fruits and flowers to ice and snow; and 
 you know how happy I have been in the free life we 
 have been living all these months, and ask no better 
 fate than to continue it. I have eaten the lotus and I 
 have forgotten my old home. Yes, I can say that I 
 am glad that it is best for us to live here.' 1 
 
THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 249 
 
 "That settles it," Mitchell answered, emphatically. 
 " And as you say, Warren, although you would be a 
 poor man in the East, you will be a rich one out here ; 
 while, by doing as you propose, and by sticking closely 
 to legitimate business, you will stand a good chance to 
 recuperate your fortunes. But let me give you one 
 word of caution that may help you in your domestic 
 management: I think it would be by far the better 
 plan for you to leave the buying of your wife's ward 
 robe wholly in her hands. But if you should ever 
 feel inclined to exercise your own taste in selecting her 
 apparel, I beg of you, for goodness' sake, don't pro 
 vide for her as you did once upon a time." 
 
 Mollie blushed and looked unutterably wretched. 
 
 " John !" his wife exclaimed, looking sternly upon 
 him; and the one word emphasized by her glance 
 conveyed volumes of meaning. 
 
 Warren rose and stood over him threateningly. 
 
 " Mitchell," he said, " if ever you mention that cir 
 cumstance again, I shall inflict upon you grievous 
 bodily injuries ; and I promise you that they shall be 
 severe, for I shall cover your whole person with bruises." 
 
 " I am crushed again. Personal attire no longer has 
 any place in my knowledge, and even the very names 
 by which the articles are designated are, from hence 
 forth, expunged from my vocabulary. I will promise 
 to go to bed at once, also, if you'll forgive me." 
 
 " We will be most happy to excuse you, John, and I 
 think you had better go," Mollie replied, severely. 
 
 Left to themselves the lovers sat until late in the 
 night telling one another those incidents which are 
 drawn from the inexhaustible fund of themes always 
 
250 THE BURSTING OF A BOOM. 
 
 at the command of two people in love. As they parted 
 for the night Mollie shyly whispered, 
 
 " I am afraid, dear, that I have given you something 
 you do not much care for and did not want, after all." 
 
 " What is that ?" Warren asked, greatly surprised. 
 
 "Myself," she answered, looking down upon the 
 ground, and prettier than ever in the clear light of the 
 full moon. " Do you know, you have never once asked 
 for me, or even said that you wanted me to be your 
 wife ? It would be dreadful if I had been mistaken 
 all along ; and how am I to know that I have not ?" 
 
 You know full well the answer that he made her. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, 
 Philadelphia.