tmtbart> SUbrarp bition 
 
 THE WRITINGS OF 
 BRET HARTE 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTIONS, GLOSSARY, AND 
 INDEXES 
 
 ILL USTRA TED B Y PHO TOGRA VURES 
 VOLUME V 
 
Don Jost Sepulvida and Bucking Bob 
 
STANDARD LIBKAKTEBITIOK 
 
 *;&.- 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 
$ of California ana tlje ^frontier 
 
 MARUJA 
 
 AND OTHER TALES 
 
 BY 
 
 BRET HARTE 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
Copyright, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, 
 BY BRET HARTE. 
 
 Copyright, 1896, 
 Br HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO, 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
PS 
 
 /M3 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MARUJA 1 
 
 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 140 
 
 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 250 
 
 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 342 
 
 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 365 
 
 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 397 
 
 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 452 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FAQB 
 
 DON JOSE" SEPULVIDA AND "BUCKING BOB" 
 
 (see page 460) Frontispiece Frederic Remington 
 
 VIGNETTE ON ENGRAVED TITLE-PAGE (see page 
 
 452) B. West Clinedinst 
 
 SHE HALTED A FEW PACES OFF B. West Clinedinst . 8 
 
 ISN'T THAT THING AN EAGLE Eric Pape .... 222 
 
 Go SLOW, OLD MAN ; GO SLOW Otto H. Backer . . 328 
 
 SUTHIN' INTERESTIN' Guy Hose 416 
 
MARUJA AND OTHER TALES 
 
 MAEUJA 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 MORNING was breaking on the highroad to San Jose*. 
 The long lines of dusty, level track were beginning to ex- 
 tend their vanishing point in the growing light ; on either 
 side the awakening fields of wheat and oats were stretching 
 out and broadening to the sky. In the east and south the 
 stars were receding before the coming day ; in the west 
 a few still glimmered, caught among the bosky hills of 
 the canada del Raimundo, where night seemed to linger. 
 Thither some obscure, low-flying birds were slowly winging ; 
 thither a gray coyote, overtaken by the morning, was awk- 
 wardly limping. And thither a tramping wayfarer turned, 
 ploughing through the dust of the highway still unslaked 
 by the dewless night, to climb the fence and likewise seek 
 the distant cover. 
 
 For some moments man and beast kept an equal pace 
 and gait with a strange similarity of appearance and expres- 
 sion ; the coyote bearing that resemblance to his more civil- 
 ized and harmless congener, the dog, which the tramp bore 
 to the ordinary pedestrians, but both exhibiting the same 
 characteristics of lazy vagabondage and semi-lawlessness ; 
 the coyote's slouching amble and uneasy stealthiness being 
 
2 MARUJA 
 
 repeated in the tramp's shuffling step and sidelong glances. 
 Both were young, and physically vigorous, but both dis- 
 played the same vacillating and awkward disinclination to 
 direct effort. They continued thus half a mile apart un- 
 conscious of each other, until the superior faculties of the 
 brute warned him of the contiguity of aggressive civiliza- 
 tion, and he cantered off suddenly to the right, fully five 
 minutes before the barking of dogs caused the man to make 
 a detour to the left to avoid entrance upon a cultivated 
 domain that lay before him. 
 
 The trail he took led to one of the scant watercourses 
 that issued, half spent, from the Canada, to fade out utterly 
 on the hot June plain. It was thickly bordered with wil- 
 lows and alders, that made an arbored and feasible path 
 through the dense woods and undergrowth. He continued 
 along it as if aimlessly ; stopping from time to time to look 
 at different objects in a dull mechanical fashion, as if rather 
 to prolong his useless hours, than from any curious instinct, 
 and to occasionally dip in the unfrequent pools of water 
 the few crusts of bread he had taken from his pocket. 
 Even this appeared to be suggested more by coincidence of 
 material in the bread and water, than from the promptings 
 of hunger. At last he reached a cuplike hollow in the 
 hills lined with wild clover and thick with resinous odors. 
 Here he crept under a manzanita bush and disposed himself 
 to sleep. The act showed he was already familiar with the 
 local habits of his class, who used the unfailing dry starlit 
 nights for their wanderings, and spent the hours of glaring 
 sunshine asleep or resting in some wayside shadow. 
 
 Meanwhile the light quickened, and gradually disclosed 
 the form and outline of the adjacent domain. An avenue 
 cut through a parklike wood, carefully cleared of the un- 
 dergrowth of gigantic ferns peculiar to the locality, led to 
 the entrance of the Canada. Here began a vast terrace of 
 lawn, broken up by enormous bouquets of flower-beds be- 
 
MARUJA 3 
 
 wildering in color and profusion, from which again rose the 
 flowering vines and trailing shrubs that hid pillars, veranda, 
 and even the long fagade of a great and dominant mansion. 
 But the delicacy of floral outlines running to the capitals 
 of columns and at times mounting to the pediment of the 
 roof, the opulence of flashing color or the massing of trop- 
 ical foliage, could not deprive it of the imperious dignity 
 of size and space. Much of this was due to the fact that 
 the original casa an adobe house of no mean pretensions, 
 dating back to the early Spanish occupation had been 
 kept intact, sheathed in a shell of dark red wood, and still 
 retaining its patio, or inner courtyard, surrounded by low 
 galleries, while additions, greater in extent than the main 
 building, had been erected not as wings and projections, 
 but massed upon it on either side, changing its rigid square 
 outlines to a vague parallelogram. While the patio retained 
 the Spanish conception of al-fresco seclusion, a vast colon- 
 nade of veranda on the southern side was a concession to 
 American taste, and its breadth gave that depth of shadow 
 to the inner rooms which had been lost in the thinner shell 
 of the new erection. Its cloistered gloom was lightened 
 by the fires of cardinal flowers dropping from the roof, by 
 the yellow sunshine of the jessamine creeping up the col- 
 umns, by billows of heliotropes breaking over its base as a 
 purple sea. Nowhere else did the opulence of this climate 
 of blossoms show itself as vividly. Even the Castilian 
 roses, that grew as vines along the east front, the fuchsias, 
 that attained the dignity of trees, in the patio, or the four 
 or five monster passion-vines that bestarred the low western 
 wall, and told over and over again their mystic story, paled 
 before the sensuous glory of the south veranda. 
 
 As the sun arose, that part of the quiet house first 
 touched by its light seemed to waken. A few lounging 
 peons and servants made their appearance at the entrance 
 of the patio, occasionally reinforced by an earlier life from 
 
4 MAEUJA 
 
 the gardens and stables. But the south fagade of the 
 building had not apparently gone to bed at all : lights 
 were still burning dimly in the large ballroom ; a tray 
 with glasses stood upon the veranda near one of the open 
 French windows, and further on, a half-shut yellow fan 
 lay like a fallen leaf. The sound of carriage-wheels on the 
 gravel terrace brought w T ith it voices and laughter and the 
 swiftly passing vision of a char-k-bancs filled with muffled 
 figures bending low to avoid the direct advances of the sun. 
 
 As the carriage rolled away, four men lounged out of 
 a window on the veranda, shading their eyes against the 
 level beams. One was still in evening dress, and one 
 in the uniform of a captain of artillery ; the others had 
 already changed their gala attire, the elder of the party 
 having assumed those extravagant tweeds which the tour- 
 ist from Great Britain usually offers as a gentle concession 
 to inferior yet more florid civilization. Nevertheless, he 
 beamed back heartily on the sun, and remarked, in a plea- 
 sant Scotch accent, that : Did they know it was very ex- 
 traordinary how clear the morning was, so free from clouds 
 and mist and fog ? The young man in evening dress flu- 
 ently agreed to the facts, and suggested, in idiomatic French- 
 English, that one comprehended that the bed was an insult 
 to one's higher nature and an ingratitude to their gracious 
 hostess, who had spread out this lovely garden and walks 
 for their pleasure ; that nothing was more beautiful than 
 the dew sparkling on the rose, or the matin song of the 
 little birds. 
 
 The other young man here felt called upon to point out 
 the fact that there was no dew in California, and that the 
 birds did not sing in that part of the country. The for- 
 eign young gentleman received this statement with pain 
 and astonishment as to the fact, with passionate remorse as 
 to his own ignorance. But still, as it was a charming day, 
 would not his gallant friend, the Captain here, accept the 
 
MARUJA 5 
 
 challenge of the brave Englishman, and " walk him " for 
 the glory of his flag and a thousand pounds ? 
 
 The gallant Captain, unfortunately, believed that if he 
 walked out in his uniform he would suffer some delay from 
 being interrogated by wayfarers as to the locality of the 
 circus he would be pleasantly supposed to represent, even 
 if he escaped being shot as a rare California bird by the for- 
 eign sporting contingent. In these circumstances, he would 
 simply lounge around the house until his carriage was ready. 
 
 Much as it pained him to withdraw from such amusing 
 companions, the foreign young gentleman here felt that he, 
 too, would retire for the present to change his garments, 
 and glided back through the window at the same moment 
 that the young officer carelessly stepped from the veranda 
 and lounged towards the shrubbery. 
 
 " They 've been watching each other for the last hour. 
 I wonder what 's up ? " said the young man who remained. 
 
 The remark, without being confidential, was so clearly the 
 first sentence of natural conversation, that the Scotchman, 
 although relieved, said, " Eh, man ? " a little cautiously. 
 
 " It 's as clear as this sunshine that Captain Carroll and 
 Gamier are each particularly anxious to know what the 
 other is doing or intends to do this morning." 
 
 " Why did they separate, then ? " asked the other. 
 
 " That 's a mere blind. Gamier 's looking through his 
 window at Carroll, and Carroll is aware of it.' 7 
 
 " Eh ! " said the Scotchman, with good-humored curi- 
 osity. " Is it a quarrel ? Nothing serious, I hope. No 
 revolvers and bowie-knives, man, before breakfast, eh ? " 
 
 " No," laughed the younger man. " No ! To do 
 Maruja justice, she generally makes a fellow too preposter- 
 ous to fight. I see you don't understand. You 're a 
 stranger ; I 'm an old habitue of the house let me explain. 
 Both of these men are in love with Maruja ; or, worse than 
 that, they firmly believe her to be in love with them." 
 
6 MAKUJA 
 
 " But Miss Maruja is the eldest daughter of our hostess, 
 is she not ? " said the Scotchman j " and I understood from 
 one of the young ladies that the Captain had come down 
 from the Fort particularly to pay court to Miss Amita, the 
 beauty." 
 
 " Possibly. But that would n't prevent Maruja from 
 flirting with him." 
 
 " Eh ! but are you not mistaken, Mr. Raymond ? Cer- 
 tainly a more quiet, modest, and demure young lassie I 
 never met." 
 
 " That 's because she sat out two waltzes with you, and 
 let you do the talking, while she simply listened." 
 
 The elder man's fresh color for an instant heightened, 
 but he recovered himself with a good-humored laugh. 
 " Likely likely. She 's a capital good listener." 
 
 " You 're not the first man that found her eloquent. 
 Stanton, your banking friend, who never talks of anything 
 but mines and stocks, says she 's the only woman who has 
 any conversation ; and we can all swear that she never 
 said two words to him the whole time she sat next to him 
 at dinner. But she looked at him as if she had. Why, 
 man, woman, and child all give her credit for any grace 
 that pleases themselves. And why ? Because she 's clever 
 enough not to practice any one of them as graces. I 
 don't know the girl that claims less and gets more. For 
 instance, you don't call her pretty ? " 
 
 " Wait a bit. Ye '11 not get on so fast, my young friend ; 
 I 'm not prepared to say that she 's not," returned the 
 Scotchman, with good-humored yet serious caution. 
 
 " But you would have been prepared yesterday, and 
 have said it. She can produce the effect of the prettiest 
 girl here, and without challenging comparison. Nobody 
 thinks of her everybody experiences her." 
 
 " You 're an enthusiast, Mr. Eaymond. As an habitue 
 of the house, of course, you " 
 
MAKUJA 7 
 
 " Oh, my time came with the rest," laughed the young 
 man, with unaffected frankness. "It's about two years 
 ago now." 
 
 " I see you were not a marrying man." 
 
 " Pardon me it was because I was." 
 
 The Scotchman looked at him curiously. 
 
 " Maruja is an heiress. I am a mining engineer." 
 
 "But, my dear fellow, I thought that in your country " 
 
 " In my country, yes. But we are standing on a bit of 
 old Spain. This land was given to Dona Maria SaltonstalPs 
 ancestors by Charles V. Look around you. This veranda, 
 this larger shell of the ancient casa, is the work of the old 
 Salem whaling captain that she married, and is all that is 
 American here. But the heart of the house, as well as the 
 life that circles around the old patio, is Spanish. The 
 Dona's family, the Estudillos and Guitierrez, always looked 
 down upon this alliance with the Yankee captain, though it 
 brought improvement to the land, and increased its value 
 forty-fold, and since his. death ever opposed any further 
 foreign intervention. Not that that would weigh much with 
 Maruja if she took a fancy to any one ; Spanish as she is 
 throughout, in thought and grace and feature, there is enough 
 of the old Salem witches' blood in her to defy law and 
 authority in following an unhallowed worship. There are 
 no sons ; she is the sole heiress of the house and estate 
 though, according to the native custom, her sisters will be 
 separately portioned from the other property, which is very 
 large." 
 
 " Then the Captain might still make a pretty penny on 
 Amita," said the Scotchman. 
 
 " If he did not risk and lose it all on Maruja. There is 
 enough of the old Spanish jealousy in the blood to make 
 even the gentle Amita never forgive his momentary defec- 
 tion." 
 
 Something in his manner made the Scotchman think that 
 
8 MARUJA 
 
 Raymond spoke from baleful experience. How else could 
 this attractive young fellow, educated abroad and a rising 
 man in his profession, have failed to profit by his contiguity 
 to such advantages, and the fact of his being an evident 
 favorite ? 
 
 " But with this opposition on the part of the relatives to 
 any further alliances with your countrymen, why does our 
 hostess expose her daughters to their fascinating influence ? " 
 said the elder man, glancing at his companion. " The girls 
 seem to have the usual American freedom." 
 
 " Perhaps they are therefore the less likely to give it up 
 to the first man who asks them. But the Spanish duenna 
 still survives in the family the more awful because 
 invisible. It 's a mysterious fact that as soon as a fellow 
 becomes particularly attached to any one except Maruja 
 he receives some intimation from Pereo." 
 
 " What ! the butler ? That Indian-looking fellow ? A 
 servant ? " 
 
 "Pardon me the major-domo. The old confidential 
 servitor who stands in loco parentis. No one knows what 
 he says. If the victim appeals to the mistress, she is indis- 
 posed ; you know she has such bad health. If in his mad- 
 ness he makes a confidante of Maruja, that finishes him." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "Why, he ends by transferring his young affections to 
 her with the usual result." 
 
 " Then you don't think our friend the Captain has had 
 this confidential butler ask his intentions yet ? " 
 
 " I don't think it will be necessary," said the other dryly. 
 
 " Umph ! Meantime, the Captain has just vanished 
 through yon shrubbery. I suppose that 's the end of the 
 mysterious espionage you have discovered. No ! De'il take 
 it ! but there 7 s that Frenchman popping out of the myrtle 
 bush. How did the fellow get there ? And, bless me ! 
 here 's our lassie, too ! " 
 
She halted a few paces off 
 
MARUJA 9 
 
 " Yes ! " said Eaymond in a changed voice, " it 's 
 Mamja ! " 
 
 She had approached so noiselessly along the bank that 
 bordered the veranda, gliding from pillar to pillar as she 
 paused before each to search for some particular flower, that 
 both men felt an uneasy consciousness. But she betrayed 
 no indication of their presence by look or gesture. So 
 absorbed and abstracted she seemed that, by a common 
 instinct, they both drew nearer the window, and silently 
 waited for her to pass or recognize them. 
 
 She halted a few paces off to fasten a flower in her girdle. 
 A small youthful figure, in a pale yellow dress, lacking even 
 the maturity of womanly outline. The full oval of her 
 face, the straight line of her back, a slight boyishness in the 
 contour of her hips, the infantine smallness of her sandaled 
 feet and narrow hands, were all suggestive of fresh, inno- 
 cent, amiable youth and nothing more. 
 
 Forgetting himself, the elder man mischievously crushed 
 his companion against the wall in mock virtuous indigna- 
 tion. " Eh, sir," he whispered, with an accent that broad- 
 ened with his feelings. "Eh, but look at the puir wee 
 lassie ! Will ye no be ashamed o' yerself for putting the 
 tricks of a Circe on sic a honest gentle bairn ? Why, man, 
 you '11 be seein' the sign of a limb of Satan in a bit thing 
 with the mother's milk not yet out of her ! She a flirt, 
 speerin' at men, with that modest downcast air ? I 'm 
 ashamed of ye, Mister Eaymond. She 's only thinking of 
 her breakfast, puir thing, and not of yon callant. Another 
 sacrilegious word and I '11 expose you to her. Have ye no 
 pity on youth and innocence ? " 
 
 " Let me up," groaned Eaymond feebly, " and I '11 tell 
 you how old she is. Hush she ? s looking." 
 
 The two men straightened themselves. She had, indeed, 
 lifted her eyes towards the window. They were beautiful 
 eyes, and charged with something more than their own 
 
10 MARUJA 
 
 beauty. With a deep brunette setting even to the darkened 
 cornea, the pupils were blue as the sky above them. But 
 they were lit with another intelligence. The soul of the 
 Salem whaler looked out of the passion-darkened orbits of 
 the mother, and was resistless. 
 
 She smiled recognition of the two men with sedate girl- 
 ishness and a foreign inclination of the head over the 
 flowers she was holding. Her straight, curveless mouth 
 became suddenly charming with the parting of her lips over 
 her white teeth, and left the impress of the smile in a light- 
 ing of the whole face even after it had passed. Then she 
 moved away. At the same moment Gamier approached 
 her. 
 
 " Come away, man, and have our walk/ 7 said the Scotch- 
 man, seizing Raymond's arm. " We '11 not spoil that fel- 
 low's sport." 
 
 " No ; but she will, I fear. Look, Mr. Buchanan, if she 
 has n't given him her flowers to carry to the house while 
 she waits here for the Captain ! " 
 
 " Come away, scoffer ! " said Buchanan good humoredly, 
 locking his arm in the young man's and dragging him from 
 the veranda towards the avenue, " and keep your observa- 
 tions for breakfast." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 IN the mean time, the young officer, who had disappeared 
 in the shrubbery, whether he had or had not been a specta- 
 tor of the scene, exhibited some signs of agitation. He 
 walked rapidly on, occasionally switching the air with a 
 wand of willow, from which he had impatiently plucked 
 the leaves, through an alley of ceanothus, until he reached 
 a little thicket of evergreens, which seemed to oppose his 
 further progress. Turning to one side, however, he quickly 
 found an entrance to a labyrinthine walk, which led him at 
 last to an open space and a rustic summer-house that stood 
 beneath a gnarled and venerable pear-tree. The summer- 
 house was a quaint stockade of dark madrono boughs 
 thatched with redwood bark, strongly suggestive of deeper 
 woodland shadow. But in strange contrast, the floor, table^ 
 and benches were thickly strewn with faded rose leaves, 
 scattered as if in some riotous play of children. Captain 
 Carroll brushed them aside hurriedly with his impatient 
 foot, glanced around hastily, then threw himself on the 
 rustic bench at full length, and twisted his mustache be- 
 tween his nervous fingers. Then he rose as suddenly, with 
 a few white petals impaled on his gilded spurs, and stepped 
 quickly into the open sunlight. 
 
 He must have been mistaken ! Everything was quiet 
 around him, the far-off sound of wheels in the avenue came 
 faintly, but nothing more. 
 
 His eye fell upon the pear-tree, and even in his preoccu- 
 pation he was struck with the signs of its extraordinary 
 age. Twisted out of all proportion, and knotted with ex- 
 
12 MARUJA 
 
 crescences, it was supported by iron bands and heavy stakes, 
 as if to prop up its senile decay. He tried to interest him- 
 self in the various initials and symbols deeply carved in 
 bark, now swollen and half obliterated. As he turned 
 back to the summer-house, he for the first time noticed that 
 the ground rose behind it into a long undulation, on the 
 crest of which the same singular profusion of rose leaves 
 was scattered. It struck him as being strangely like a 
 gigantic grave, and that the same idea had occurred to the 
 fantastic dispenser of the withered flowers. He was still 
 looking at it, when a rustle in the undergrowth made his 
 heart beat expectantly. A slinking gray shadow crossed 
 the undulation and disappeared in the thicket. It was a 
 coyote. At any other time the extraordinary appearance 
 of this vivid impersonation of the wilderness, so near a 
 centre of human civilization and habitation, would have 
 filled him with wonder. But he had room for only a single 
 thought now. Would she come ? 
 
 Five minutes passed. He no longer waited in the sum- 
 mer-house, but paced impatiently before the entrance to 
 the labyrinth. Another five minutes. He was deceived, 
 undoubtedly. She and her sisters were probably waiting 
 for him and laughing at him on the lawn. He ground his 
 heel into the clover, and threw his switch into the thicket. 
 Yet he would give her one only one moment more. 
 
 ' Captain Carroll ! " 
 
 The voice had been and was to him the sweetest in the 
 world ; but even a stranger could not have resisted the 
 spell of its musical inflection. He turned quickly. She 
 was advancing towards him from the summer-house. 
 
 " Did you think I was coming that way where every- 
 body could follow me ? " she laughed softly. " No ; I 
 came through the thicket over there," indicating the direc- 
 tion with her flexible shoulder, " and nearly lost my slip- 
 per and my eyes look ! She threw back the insepara- 
 
MAKUJA 13 
 
 ble lace shawl from her blonde head, and showed a spray 
 of myrtle clinging like a broken wreath to her forehead. 
 The young officer remained gazing at her silently. 
 
 " I like to hear you speak my name/ 7 he said, with a 
 slight hesitation in his breath. " Say it again." 
 
 " Car-roll, Car-roll, Car-roll," she murmured gently to her- 
 self two or three times, as if enjoying her own native trilling 
 of the r's. " It 's a pretty name. It sounds like a song. 
 Don Carroll, eh ! El Capitan Don Carroll." 
 
 " But my first name is Henry," he said faintly. 
 
 " 'Enry that 's not so good. Don Enrico will do. But 
 El Capitan Carroll is best of all. I must have it always : 
 El Capitan Carroll ! " 
 
 " Always ? " He colored like a boy. 
 
 " Why not ? " He was confusedly trying to look through 
 her brown lashes ; she was parrying him with the steel of 
 her father's glance. " Come ! Well ! Captain Carroll ! 
 It was not to tell me your name that I knew already was 
 pretty Car-roll ! " she murmured again, caressing him with 
 her lashes ; "it was not for this that you asked me to meet 
 you face to face in this cold " she made a movement 
 of drawing her lace over her shoulders " cold daylight. 
 That belonged to the lights and the dance and the music of last 
 night. It is not for this you expect me to leave my guests, 
 to run away from Monsieur Gamier, who pays compliments, 
 but whose name is not pretty from Mr. Raymond, who 
 talks of me when he can't talk to me. They will say This 
 Captain Carroll could say all that before them." 
 
 " But if they knew," said the young officer, drawing closer 
 to her with a paling face but brightening eyes, " if they 
 knew I had anything else to say, Miss Saltonstall some- 
 thing pardon me did I hurt your hand ? something 
 for her alone is there one of them that would have the 
 right to object ? Do not think me foolish, Miss Saltonstall 
 but I beg I implore you to tell me before I say more." 
 
14 MARUJA 
 
 tf Who would have a right ? " said Maruja, withdrawing 
 her hand but not her dangerous eyes. " Who would dare 
 forbid you talking to me of my sister ? I have told you 
 that Amita is free as we all are." 
 
 Captain Carroll fell back a few steps and gazed at her with 
 a troubled face. " Is it possible that you have misunderstood, 
 Miss Saltonstall ? " he faltered. " Do you still think it is 
 Amita that I " He stopped, and added passionately, " Do 
 you remember what I told you ? have you forgotten last 
 night ? 
 
 " Last night was last night ! " said Maruja, slightly 
 lifting her shoulders. " One makes love at night one 
 marries in daylight. In the music, in the flowers, in the 
 moonlight, one says everything ; in the morning one has 
 breakfast when one is not asked to have councils of war 
 with captains and commandantes. You would speak of my 
 sister, Captain Car-roll go on. Dona Amita Carroll sounds 
 very, very pretty. I shall not object." She held out both 
 her hands to him, threw her head back, and smiled. 
 
 He seized her hands passionately. " No, no ! you shall 
 hear me you shall understand me. I love you, Maruja 
 you, and you alone. God knows I would not help it if 
 I could. Hear me. I will be calm. No one can hear us 
 where we stand. I am not mad. I am not a traitor ! I 
 frankly admired your sister. I came here to see her. Be- 
 yond that, I swear to you, I am guiltless to her to you. 
 Even she knows no more of me than that. I saw you, Ma- 
 ruja. From that moment I have thought of nothing 
 dreamed of nothing else." 
 
 "That is three, four, five days and one afternoon ago! 
 You see I remember. And now you want what ? " 
 
 " To let me love you, and you only. To let me be with 
 you. To let me win you in time, as you should be won. 
 I am not mad, though I am desperate. I know what is due 
 to your station and mine even while I dare to say I love 
 you. Let me hope, Maruja, I only ask to hope." 
 
MARUJA 15 
 
 She looked at him until she had absorbed all the burn- 
 ing fever of his eyes, until her ears tingled with his passion- 
 ate voice, and then she shook her head. 
 
 " It cannot be, Carroll no ! never ! " 
 
 He drew himself up under the blow with such simple and 
 manly dignity that her eyes dropped for the moment. 
 " There is another, then ? " he said sadly. 
 
 " There is no one I care for better than you. No ! Do 
 not be foolish. Let me go. I tell you that because you 
 can be nothing to me you understand, to me. To my 
 sister Amita, yes." 
 
 The young soldier raised his head coldly. " I have 
 pressed you hard, Miss Saltonstall too hard, I know, for a 
 man who has already had his answer ; but I did not deserve 
 this. Good-by." 
 
 " Stop/' she said gently. " I meant not to hurt you, 
 Captain Carroll. If I had, it is not thus I would have 
 done. I need not have met you here. Would you have 
 loved me the less if I had avoided this meeting ? " 
 
 He could not reply. In the depths of his miserable 
 heart, he knew that he would have loved her the same. 
 
 "Come," she said, laying her hand softly on his arm, 
 " do not be angry with me for putting you back only five 
 days to where you were when you first entered our house. 
 Five days is not much of happiness or sorrow to forget, is it, 
 Carroll Captain Carroll ? " Her voice died away in a 
 faint sigh. " Do not be angry with me, if knowing you 
 could be nothing more I wanted you to love my sister, 
 and my sister to love you. We should have been good 
 friends such good friends." 
 
 " Why do you say, ' Knowing it could be nothing 
 more ' ? " said Carroll, grasping her hand suddenly. " In 
 the name of Heaven, tell me what you mean ! " 
 
 " I mean I cannot marry unless I marry one of my 
 mother's race. That is my mother's wish, and the will 
 
16 MAKUJA 
 
 of her relations. You are an American, not of Spanish 
 blood." 
 
 " But surely this is not your determination ? " 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. " What would you ? It 
 is the determination of my people." 
 
 " But knowing this " he stopped ; the quick blood 
 rose to his face. 
 
 " Go on, Captain Carroll. You would say, Knowing this, 
 why did I not warn you ? "Why did I not say to you 
 when we first met, ' You have come to address my sister ; 
 do not fall in love with me I cannot marry a foreigner. 7 9i 
 
 " You are cruel, Maruja. But, if that is all, surely this 
 prejudice can be removed ? Why, ypur mother married a 
 foreigner an American." 
 
 "Perhaps that is why," said the girl quietly. She 
 cast down her long lashes, and with the point of her satin 
 slipper smoothed out the soft leaves of the clover at her 
 feet. " Listen ; shall I tell you the story of our house ? 
 Stop ! some one is coming. Don't move ; remain as you 
 are. If you care for me, Carroll, collect yourself, and 
 don't let that man think he has found us ridiculous." Her 
 voice changed from its tone of slight caressing pleading to 
 one of suppressed pride. " He will not laugh much, Cap- 
 tain Carroll ; truly, no." 
 
 The figure of Gamier, bright, self-possessed, courteous, 
 appeared at the opening of the labyrinth. Too well-bred 
 to suggest, even in complimentary raillery, a possible senti- 
 mental situation, his politeness went further. It was so 
 kind in them to guide an awkward stranger by their voices 
 to the places where he could not stupidly intrude ! 
 
 " You are just in time to interrupt or to hear a story 
 that I have been threatening to tell," she said composedly ; 
 " an old Spanish legend of this house. You are in the 
 majority now, you two, and can stop me if you choose. 
 Thank you. I warn you it is stupid j it is n't new ; but 
 
MARUJA 17 
 
 it has the excuse of being suggested by this very spot." 
 She cast a quick look of subtle meaning at Carroll, and 
 throughout her recital appealed more directly to him, in a 
 manner delicately yet sufficiently marked to partly soothe 
 his troubled spirit. 
 
 " Far back, in the very old times, Caballeros," said 
 Maruja, standing by the table in mock solemnity, and rap- 
 ping upon it with her fan, " this place was the home of 
 the coyote. Big and little, father and mother, Senor and 
 Senora Coyotes, and the little muchacho coyotes had their 
 home in the dark canada, and came out over these fields, 
 yellow with wild oats and red with poppies, to seek their 
 prey. They were happy. For why ? They were the 
 first; they had no history, you comprehend, no tradition. 
 They married as they liked " (with a glance at Carroll), 
 " nobody objected ; they increased and multiplied. But 
 the plains were fertile ; the game was plentiful ; it was 
 not fit that it should be for the beasts alone. And so, in 
 the course of time, an Indian chief, a heathen, Koorotora, 
 built his wigwam here." 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Gamier in apparent distress, 
 " but I caught the gentleman's name imperfectly." 
 
 Fully aware that the questioner only wished to hear 
 again her musical enunciation of the consonants, she re- 
 peated " Koorotora," with an apologetic glance at Carroll, 
 and went on. " This gentleman had no history or tradi- 
 tion to bother him, either ; whatever Senor Coyote thought 
 of the matter, he contented himself with robbing Senor 
 Koorotora's wigwam when he could, and skulking around 
 the Indian's camp at night. The old chief prospered, and 
 made many journeys round the country, but always kept 
 his camp here. This lasted until the time when the holy 
 Fathers came from the South, and Portala, as you have all 
 read, uplifted the wooden Cross on the seacoast over there, 
 and left it for the heathens to wonder at. Koorotora saw 
 
i8 MARUJA 
 
 it on one of his journeys, and came back to the Canada 
 full of this wonder. Now, Koorotora had a wife." 
 
 "Ah, we shall commence now. We are at the begin- 
 ning. This is better than Senora Coyota," said Gamier 
 cheerfully. 
 
 " Naturally, she was anxious to see the wonderful object. 
 She saw it, and she saw the holy Fathers, and they con- 
 verted her against the superstitious heathenish wishes of 
 her husband. And more than that, they came here " 
 
 " And converted the land also ; is it not so ? It was a 
 lovely site for a mission/' interpolated Gamier politely. 
 
 " They built a mission and brought as many of Kooro- 
 tora' s people as they could into the sacred fold. They 
 brought them in in a queer fashion sometimes, it is said ; 
 dragoons from the Presidio, Captain Carroll, lassoing them 
 and bringing them in at the tails of their horses. All 
 except Koorotora. He defied them ; he cursed them and 
 his wife in his wicked heathenish fashion, and said that 
 they too should lose the mission through the treachery of 
 some woman, and that the coyote should yet prowl through 
 the ruined walls of the church. The holy Fathers pitied 
 the wicked man and built themselves a lovely garden. 
 Look at that pear-tree ! There is all that is left of it ! " 
 
 She turned with a mock heroic gesture, and pointed her 
 fan to the pear-tree. Gamier lifted his hands in equally 
 simulated wonder. A sudden recollection of the coyote of 
 the morning recurred to Carroll uneasily. " And the In- 
 dians," he said, with an effort to shake off the feeling; 
 " they, too, have vanished." 
 
 " All that remained of them is in yonder mound. It is 
 the grave of the chief and his people. He never lived to 
 see the fulfillment of his prophecy. For it was a year 
 after his death that our ancestor, Manuel Guitierrez, came 
 from old Spain to the Presidio with a grant of twenty 
 leagues to settle where he chose. Dona Maria Guitierrez 
 
MARUJA 19 
 
 took a fancy to the Canada. But it was a site already in 
 possession of the Holy Church. One night, through treach- 
 ery, it was said, the guards were withdrawn and the Indians 
 entered the mission, slaughtered the lay brethren, and drove 
 away the priests. The Commandant at the Presidio re- 
 took the place from the heathen, but on representation to 
 the Governor that it was indefensible for the peaceful 
 Fathers without a large military guard, the official ordered 
 the removal of the mission to Santa Cruz, and Don Manuel 
 settled his twenty leagues grant in the canada. Whether 
 he or Dona Maria had anything to do with the Indian up- 
 rising, no one knows ; but Father Pedro never forgave 
 them. He is said to have declared at the foot of the altar 
 that the curse of the Church was on the land, and that it 
 should always pass into the hands of the stranger." 
 
 " And that was long ago, and the property is still in the 
 family," said Carroll hurriedly, answering Maruja's eyes. 
 
 " In the last hundred years there have been no male 
 heirs," continued Maruja, still regarding Carroll. " When 
 my mother, who was the eldest daughter, married Don 
 Jose Saltonstall against the wishes of the family, it was 
 said that the curse would fall. Sure enough, Caballeros, it 
 was that year that the forged grants of Micheltorrena were 
 discovered ; and in our lawsuit your government, Captain, 
 handed over ten leagues of the llano land to the Dr. West, 
 our neighbor." 
 
 " Ah, the gray-headed gentleman who lunched here the 
 other day ? You are friends, then ? You bear no malice ? " 
 said Gamier. 
 
 " What would you ? " said Maruja, with a slight shrug 
 of her shoulders. " He paid his money to the forger. 
 Your corregidores upheld him, and said it was no forgery," 
 she continued, to Carroll. 
 
 In spite of the implied reproach, Carroll felt relieved. 
 He began to be impatient of Gamier' s presence, and longed 
 
20 MARUJA 
 
 to renew his suit. Perhaps his face showed something of 
 this, for Maruja added, with mock demureness, " It 's always 
 dreadful to be the eldest sister ; but think what it is to be 
 in the direct line of a curse ! Now, there 's Amita she 's 
 free to do as she likes, with no family responsibility ; while 
 poor me ! " She dropped her eyes, but not until they had 
 again sought and half reproved the brightening eyes of 
 Carroll. 
 
 " But/ 7 said Gamier, with a sudden change from his easy 
 security and courteous indifference to an almost harsh impa- 
 tience, "you do not mean to say, Mademoiselle, that you have 
 the least belief in this rubbish, this ridiculous canard ? " 
 
 Maruja's straight mouth quickly tightened over her 
 teeth. She shot a significant glance at Carroll, but in- 
 stantly resumed her former manner. 
 
 " It matters little what a foolish girl like myself believes. 
 The rest of the family, even the servants and children, all 
 believe it. It is a part of their religion. Look at these 
 flowers around the pear-tree, and scattered on that Indian 
 mound. They regularly find their way there on saints' 
 days and festas. They are not rubbish, Monsieur Gamier ; 
 they are propitiatory sacrifices. Pereo would believe that a 
 temblor would swallow up the casa if we should ever forego 
 these customary rites. Is it a mere absurdity that forced 
 my father to build these modern additions around the heart 
 of the old adobe house, leaving it untouched, so that the 
 curse might not be fulfilled even by implication ? " 
 
 She had assumed an air of such pretty earnestness and 
 passion ; her satin face was illuminated as by some softly 
 sensuous light within, more bewildering than mere color, 
 that Gamier, all devoted eyes and courteous blandishment, 
 broke out : " But this curse must fall harmlessly before the 
 incarnation of blessing ; Miss Saltonstall has no more to 
 fear than the angels. She is the one predestined through 
 her charm, through her goodness, to lift it forever." 
 
MARUJA 21 
 
 Carroll could not have helped echoing the aspirations of 
 his rival, had not the next words of his mistress thrilled 
 him with superstitious terror. 
 
 " A thousand thanks, Senor. Who knows ? But I 
 shall have warning when it falls. A day or two before 
 the awful invader arrives, a coyote suddenly appears in broad 
 daylight mysteriously, near the casa. This midnight ma- 
 rauder, now banished to the thickest canon, comes again to 
 prowl around the home of his ancestors. Caramba ! Senor 
 Captain, what are you staring at ? You frighten me ! 
 Stop it, I say ! " 
 
 She had turned upon him, stamping her little foot in 
 quite a frightened, childlike way. 
 
 "Nothing," laughed Carroll, the quick blood returning 
 to his cheek. " But you must not be angry with one for 
 being quite carried away with your dramatic intensity. By 
 Jove ! I thought I could see the whole thing while you 
 were speaking the old Indian, the priest, and the 
 coyote ! " His eyes sparkled. The wild thought had 
 occurred to him that perhaps, in spite of himself, he was 
 the young woman's predestined fate ; and in the very sel- 
 fishness of his passion he smiled at the mere material loss 
 of lands and prestige that would follow it. " Then the 
 coyote has always preceded some change in the family for- 
 tunes ? " he asked boldly. 
 
 " On my mother's wedding-day," said Maurja in a lower 
 voice, "after the party had come from church to supper in 
 the casa, my father asked, ' What dog is that under the 
 table ? ' When they lifted the cloth to look, a coyote 
 rushed from the very midst of the guests and dashed out 
 across the patio. No one knew how or when he entered." 
 
 " Heaven grant that we do not find he has eaten our 
 breakfast ! " said Gamier gayly, " for I judge it is waiting 
 us. I hear your sister's voice among the others crossing 
 the lawn. Shall we tear ourselves away from the tombs of 
 our ancestors, and join them ? " 
 
22 MARUJA 
 
 " Not as I am looking now, thank you," said Maruja, 
 throwing the lace over her head. " I shall not submit my- 
 self to a comparison of their fresher faces and toilets by you 
 two gentlemen. Go you both and join them. I shall wait 
 and say an Ave for the soul of Koorotora, and slip back 
 alone the way I came." 
 
 She had steadily evaded the pleading glance of Carroll, 
 and though her bright face and unblemished toilet showed 
 the inefficiency of her excuse, it was evident that her wish 
 to be alone was genuine and without coquetry. They could 
 only lift their hats and turn regretfully away. 
 
 As the red cap of the young officer disappeared amidst 
 the evergreen foliage, the young woman uttered a faint 
 sigh, which she repeated a moment after as a slight nervous 
 yawn. Then she opened and shut her fan once or twice, 
 striking the sticks against her little pale palm, and then, 
 gathering the lace under her oval chin with one hand, and 
 catching her fan and skirt with the other, bent her head 
 and dipped into the bushes. She came out on the other 
 side near a low fence, that separated the park from a narrow 
 lane which communicated with the highroad beyond. As 
 she neared the fence, a slinking figure limped along the 
 lane before her. It was the tramp of the early morning. 
 
 They raised their heads at the same moment and their eyes 
 met. The tramp, in that clearer light, showed a spare, but 
 bent figure, roughly clad in a miner's shirt and canvas 
 trousers, splashed and streaked with soil, and half hidden in 
 a ragged blue cast-off army overcoat lazily hanging from one 
 shoulder. His thin sunburnt face was not without a cer- 
 tain sullen, suspicious intelligence, and a look of half-sneer- 
 ing defiance. He stopped, as a startled, surly animal might 
 have stopped at some unusual object, but did not exhibit 
 any other discomposure. Maruja stopped at the same 
 moment on her side of the fence. 
 
 The tramp looked at her deliberately, and then slowly 
 
MARUJA 23 
 
 lowered his eyes. " I 'm looking for the San Jose road, 
 hereabouts. Ye don't happen to know it ? " he said, 
 addressing himself to the top of the fence. 
 
 It had been said that it was not Maruja's way to en- 
 counter man, woman, or child, old or young, without an 
 attempt at subjugation. Strong in her power and salient 
 with fascination, she leaned gently over the fence, and with 
 the fan raised to her delicate ear, made him repeat his ques- 
 tion under the soft fire of her fringed eyes. He did so, but 
 incompletely, and with querulous laziness. 
 
 "Lookin' for San Josd road hereabouts." 
 
 " The road to San Jose," said Maruja, with gentle slow- 
 ness, as if not unwilling to protract the conversation, " is 
 about two miles from here. It is the highroad to the left 
 fronting the plain. There is another way, if " 
 
 " Don't want it ! Mornin'." 
 
 He dropped his head suddenly forward, and limped away 
 in the sunlight. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 BREAKFAST, usually a movable feast at La Mision Per- 
 dida, had been prolonged until past midday ; the last of 
 the dance guests had flown, and the home party with the 
 exception of Captain Carroll, who had returned to duty at 
 his distant post were dispersing ; some as riding caval- 
 cades to neighboring points of interest ; some to visit certain 
 notable mansions which the wealth of a rapid civilization 
 had erected in that fertile valley. One of these in particu- 
 lar, the work of a breathless millionaire, was famous for the 
 spontaneity of its growth and the reckless extravagance of 
 its appointments. 
 
 " If you go to Aladdin's Palace," said Maruja, from the 
 top step of the south porch, to a wagonette of guests, 
 " after you ? ve seen the stables with mahogany fittings for 
 one hundred horses, ask Aladdin to show you the enchanted 
 chamber, inlaid with California woods and paved with gold 
 quartz." 
 
 " We would have a better chance if the Princess of China 
 would only go with us," pleaded Gamier gallantly. 
 
 " The Princess will stay at home with her mother, like a 
 good girl," returned Maruja demurely. 
 
 " A bad shot of Garnier's this time," whispered Kay- 
 mond to Buchanan, as the vehicle rolled away with them. 
 " The Princess is not likely to visit Aladdin again." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " The last time she was there, Aladdin was a little too 
 Persian in his extravagance ; offered her his house, stables, 
 and himself." 
 
MARUJA 25 
 
 " Not a bad catch ; why, he 's worth two millions, I hear." 
 
 " Yes ; but his wife is as extravagant as himself." 
 
 " His wife, eh ? Ah, are you serious ; or must you say 
 something derogatory of the lassie's admirers too ? " said 
 Buchanan, playfully threatening him with his cane. " An- 
 other word, and I '11 throw you from the wagon." 
 
 After their departure, the outer shell of the great house 
 fell into a profound silence, so hollow and deserted that one 
 might have thought the curse of Koorotora had already 
 descended upon it. Dead leaves of roses and fallen blossoms 
 from the long line of vine-wreathed columns lay thick on 
 the empty stretch of brown veranda, or rustled and crept 
 against the sides of the house, where the regular breath of 
 the afternoon " trades" began to arise. A few cardinal 
 flowers fell like drops of blood before the open windows of 
 the vacant ballroom, in which the step of a solitary servant 
 echoed faintly. It was Maruja's maid, bringing a note to 
 her young mistress, who, in a flounced morning dress, leaned 
 against the window. Maruja took it, glanced at it quietly, 
 folded it in a long fold, and put it openly in her belt. 
 Captain Carroll, from whom it came, might have carried one 
 of his dispatches as methodically. The waiting-woman 
 noticed the act, and was moved to suggest some more excit- 
 ing confidences. 
 
 " The Dona Maruja has, without doubt, noticed the bou- 
 quet on her dressing-room table from the Sefior Gamier ? " 
 
 The Dona Maruja had. The Dona Maruja had also learned 
 with pain that, bribed by Judas-like coin, Faquita had 
 betrayed the secrets of her wardrobe to the extent of 
 furnishing a ribbon from a certain yellow dress to the Senor 
 Buchanan to match with a Chinese fan. This was intoler- 
 able ! 
 
 Faquita writhed in remorse, and averred that through this 
 solitary act she had dishonored her family. 
 
 The Dona Maruja, however, since it was so, felt that the 
 
26 MARUJA 
 
 only thing left to do was to give her the polluted dress, and 
 trust that the Devil might not fly away with her. 
 
 Leaving the perfectly consoled Faquita, Maruja crossed 
 the large hall, and, opening a small door, entered a dark 
 passage through the thick adobe wall of the old casa, and 
 apparently left the present century behind her. A peaceful 
 atmosphere of the past surrounded her not only in the low 
 vaulted halls terminating in grilles or barred windows ; not 
 only in the square chambers whose dark, rich, but scanty 
 furniture was only a foil to the central elegance of the lace- 
 bordered bed and pillows ; but in a certain mysterious odor 
 of dried and desiccated religious respectability that penetrated 
 everywhere, and made the grateful twilight redolent of the 
 generations of forgotten Guitierrez who had quietly exhaled 
 in the old house. A mist as of incense and flowers that had 
 lost their first bloom veiled the vista of the long corridor, 
 and made the staring blue sky, seen through narrow windows 
 and loopholes, glitter like mirrors let into the walls. The 
 chamber assigned to the young ladies seemed half oratory 
 and half sleeping-room, with a strange mingling of the con- 
 vent in the bare white walls, hung only with crucifixes and 
 religious emblems, and of the seraglio in the glimpses of 
 lazy figures, reclining in the deshabille of short silken saya, 
 low camisa, and dropping slippers. In a broad angle of the 
 corridor giving upon the patio, its balustrade hung with 
 brightly colored serapes and shawls, surrounded by voluble 
 domestics and relations, the mistress of the casa half reclined 
 in a hammock and gave her noonday audience. 
 
 Maruja pushed her way through the clustered stools and 
 cushions to her mother's side, kissed her on the forehead, 
 and then lightly perched herself like a white dove on the 
 railing. Mrs. Saltonstall, a dark, corpulent woman, redeemed 
 only from coarseness by a certain softness of expression and 
 refinement of gesture, raised her heavy brown eyes to her 
 daughter's face. 
 
MARUJA 27 
 
 " You have not been to bed, Mara ? 
 
 "No, dear. Do I look it?" 
 
 " You must lie down presently. They tell me that Cap- 
 tain Carroll returned suddenly this morning." 
 
 " Do you care ? " 
 
 " Who knows ? Amita does not seem to fancy Jose, 
 Estdban, Jorge, or any of her cousins. She won't look at 
 Juan Estudillo. The Captain is not bad. He is of the 
 government. He is " 
 
 " Not more than ten leagues from here," said Maruja, 
 playing with the Captain's note in her belt. " You can 
 send for him, dear little mother. He will be glad." 
 
 " You will ever talk lightly like your father ! She 
 was not then grieved our Amita eh ? " 
 
 " She and Dorotea and the two Wilsons went off with 
 Raymond and your Scotch friend in the wagonette. She 
 did not cry to Raymond." 
 
 " Good," said Mrs. Saltonstall, leaning back in her ham- 
 mock. " Raymond is an old friend. You had better take 
 your siesta now, child, to be bright for dinner. I expect a 
 visitor this afternoon Dr. West." 
 
 " Again ! What will Pereo say, little mother ? " 
 
 " Pereo," said the widow, sitting up again in her ham- 
 mock, with impatience, "Pereo is becoming intolerable. 
 The man is as mad as Don Quixote ; it is impossible to 
 conceal his eccentric impertinence and interference from 
 strangers, who cannot understand his confidential position 
 in our house or his long service. There are no more 
 major-domos, child. The Vallejos, the Briones, the Castros, 
 do without them now. Dr. West says, wisely, they are 
 ridiculous survivals of the patriarchal system." 
 
 " And can be replaced by intelligent strangers," inter- 
 rupted Maruja demurely. 
 
 " The more easily if the patriarchal system has not been 
 able to preserve the respect due from children to parents. 
 
28 MARUJA 
 
 No, Maruja ! No ; I am offended. Do not touch me ! 
 And your hair is coming down, and your eyes have rings 
 like owls. You uphold this fanatical Pereo "because he 
 leaves you alone and stalks your poor sisters and their es- 
 corts like the Indian, whose blood is in his veins. The 
 saints only can tell if he did not disgust this Captain Car- 
 roll into flight. He believes himself the sole custodian of 
 the honor of our family that he has a sacred mission from 
 this Don Fulano of Koorotora to avert its fate. Without 
 doubt he keeps up his delusions with aguardiente, and 
 passes for a prophet among the silly peons and servants. 
 He frightens the children with his ridiculous stories and 
 teaches them to decorate that heathen mound as if it were a 
 shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows. He was almost rude to 
 Dr. West yesterday." 
 
 " But you have encouraged him in his confidential posi- 
 tion here," said Maruja. " You forget, my mother, how 
 you got him to ' duena ? Enriqueta with the Colonel Brown ; 
 how you let him frighten the young Englishman who was 
 too attentive to Dorotea ; how you set him even upon poor 
 Raymond, and failed so dismally that I had to take him 
 myself in hand." 
 
 " But if I choose to charge him with explanations that I 
 cannot make myself without derogating from the time- 
 honored hospitality of the casa, that is another thing. It 
 is not," said Dona Maria, with a certain massive dignity, 
 that, inconsistent as it was with the weakness of her argu- 
 ment, was not without impressiveness, "it is not yet, 
 Blessed Santa Maria, that we are obliged to take notice our- 
 self of the pretensions of every guest beneath our roof like 
 the match-making, daughter-selling English and Americans. 
 And then Pereo had tact and discrimination. Now he is 
 mad ! There are strangers and strangers. The whole 
 valley is full of them one can discriminate, since the old 
 families year by year are growing less." 
 
MARUJA 29 
 
 " Surely not," said Maruja innocently. " There is the 
 excellent Ramierrez, who has lately almost taken him a 
 wife from the singing-hall in San Francisco ; he may yet 
 be snatched from the fire. There is the youthful Jose 
 Castro, the sole padroiio of our national bull-fight at Soquel, 
 the famous horse-breaker, and the winner of I know not 
 how many races. And have we not Vincente Peralta, who 
 will run, it is said, for the American Congress. He can 
 read and write truly I have a letter from him here. 7 ' 
 She turned back the folded slip of Captain Carroll's note 
 and discovered another below. 
 
 Mrs. Saltonstall tapped her daughter's hand with her 
 fan. " You jest at them, yet you uphold Pereo ! Go, 
 now, and sleep yourself into a better frame of mind. Stop ! 
 I hear the Doctor's horse. Run and see that Pereo receives 
 him properly." 
 
 Maruja had barely entered the dark corridor when she 
 came upon the visitor, a gray, hard-featured man of 
 sixty, who had evidently entered without ceremony. 
 " I see you did not wait to be announced," she said 
 sweetly. " My mother will be flattered by your impa- 
 tience. You will find her in the patio." 
 
 "Pereo did not announce me, as he was probably still 
 under the effect of the aguardiente he swallowed yester- 
 day," said the Doctor dryly. " I met him outside the 
 tienda on the highway the other night, talking to a pair of 
 cut-throats that I would shoot on sight." 
 
 " The major-domo has many purchases to make, and 
 must meet a great many people," said Maruja. "What 
 would you ? We cannot select his acquaintances ; we can 
 hardly choose our own," she added sweetly. 
 
 The Doctor hesitated, as if to reply, and then, with a 
 grim " good-morning," passed on towards the patio. Ma- 
 ruja did not follow him. Her attention was suddenly 
 absorbed by a hitherto unnoticed motionless figure^ that 
 
80 MARUJA 
 
 seemed to be hiding in the shadow of an angle of the pas- 
 sage, as if waiting for her to pass. The keen eyes of the 
 daughter of Joseph Saltonstall were not deceived. She 
 walked directly towards the figure, and said sharply, 
 " Pereo ! " 
 
 The figure came hesitatingly forward into the light of 
 the grated window. It was that of an old man, still tall 
 and erect, though the hair had disappeared from his tem- 
 ples, and hung in two or three straight, long dark elf-locks 
 on his neck. His face, over which one of the bars threw 
 a sinister shadow, was the yellow of a dried tobacco-leaf, 
 and veined as strongly. His garb was a strange mingling 
 of the vaquero and the ecclesiastic velvet trousers, open 
 from the knee down, and fringed with bullion buttons ; a 
 broad red sash around his waist, partly hidden by a long, 
 straight chaqueta ; with a circular sacerdotal cape of black 
 broadcloth slipped over his head through a slitlike open- 
 ing braided with gold. His restless yellow eyes fell before 
 the young girl's ; and the stiff, varnished, hard-brimmed 
 sombrero he held in his wrinkled hands trembled. 
 
 " You are spying again, Pereo," said Maruja in another 
 dialect than the one she had used to her mother. " It is 
 unworthy of my father's trusted servant." 
 
 " It is that man that coyote, Dona Maruja, that is 
 unworthy of your father, of your mother, of you ! " he 
 gesticulated in a fierce whisper. " I, Pereo, do not spy. 
 I follow, follow the track of the prowling, stealing brute 
 until I run him down. Yes, it was J, Pereo, who warned 
 your father he would not be content with the half of the 
 land he stole ! It was I, Pereo, who warned your mother 
 that each time he trod the soil of La Mision Perdida he 
 measured the land he could take away ! " He stopped 
 pantingly, with the insane abstraction of a fixed idea glitter- 
 ing in his eyes. 
 
 " And it was you, Pereo," she said caressingly, laying 
 
MARUJA 31 
 
 her soft hand on his heaving breast, "you who carried me 
 in your arms when I was a child. It was you, Pereo, who 
 took me before you on your pinto horse to the- rodeo, when 
 no one knew it but ourselves, my Pereo, was it not ? " 
 He nodded his head violently. " It was you who showed 
 me the gallant caballeros, the Pachecos, the Castros, the 
 Alvarados, the Estudillos, the Peraltas, the Vallejos." 
 His head kept time with each name as the fire dimmed in 
 his wet eyes. " You made me promise I would not forget 
 them for the Americanos who were here. Good ! That 
 was years ago ! I am older now. I have seen many 
 Americans. Well, I am still free ! " 
 
 He caught her hand, and raised it to his lips with a ges- 
 ture almost devotional. His eyes softened ; as the exalta- 
 tion of passion passed, his voice dropped into the querulous- 
 ness of privileged age. " Ah, yes ! you, the first-born, 
 the heiress of a verity, yes ! You were ever a Guitierrez. 
 But the others ? Eh, where are they now ? And it was 
 always : ' Eh, Pereo, what shall we do to-day ? Pereo, good 
 Pereo, we are asked to ride here and there ; we are expected 
 to visit the new people in the valley what say you, 
 Pereo ? Who shall we dine to-day ? ' Or : ' Inquire me of 
 this or that strange caballero and if we may speak/ Ah, 
 it is but yesterday that Amita would say : ' Lend me thine 
 own horse, Pereo, that I may outstrip this swaggering 
 Americano that clings ever to my side,' ha ! ha ! Or the 
 grave Dorotea would whisper : l Convey to this Senor Pre- 
 sumptuous Pomposo that the daughters of Guitierrez do not 
 ride alone with strangers ! ' Or even the little Liseta would 
 say, he ! he ! ' Why does the stranger press my foot in his 
 great hand when he helps me into the saddle ? Tell him 
 that is not the way, Pereo.' Ha ! ha ! " He laughed 
 childishly, and stopped. " And why does Senorita Amita 
 now look complain that Pereo, old Pereo, comes be- 
 tween her and this Senor Raymond the maquinista ? Eh, 
 
82 MARUJA 
 
 and why does she, the lady mother, the Castellana, shut 
 Pereo from her councils ? " he went on, with rising excite- 
 ment. " What are these secret meetings, eh ? what these 
 appointments, alone with this Judas without the family 
 
 without me ! " 
 
 " Hearken, Pereo," said the young girl, again laying her 
 hand on the old man's shoulder ; " you have spoken truly 
 
 but you forget the years pass. These are no longer 
 strangers ; old friends have gone these have taken their 
 place. My father forgave the Doctor why cannot you ? 
 For the rest, believe in me me Maruja " she dra- 
 matically touched her heart over the international compli- 
 cations of the letters of Captain Carroll and Peralta. " I 
 will see that the family honor does not suffer. And now, 
 good Pereo, calm thyself. Not with aguardiente, but with 
 a bottle of old wine from the Mision refectory that I will 
 send to thee. It was given to me by thy friend, Padre 
 Miguel, and is from the old vines that were here. Courage, 
 Pereo ! And thou sayest that Amita complains that thou 
 comest between her and Raymond. So ! What matter ? 
 Let it cheer thy heart to know that I have summoned the 
 Peraltas, the Pachecos, .the Estudillos, all thy old friends, 
 to dine here to-day. Thou wilt hear the old names, even 
 if the faces are young to thee. Courage ! Do thy duty, 
 old friend ; let them see that the hospitality of La Mision 
 Perdida does not grow old, if its major-domo does. 
 Faquita will bring thee the wine. No ; not that way ; 
 thou needest not pass the patio, nor meet that man again. 
 Here, give me thy hand, I will lead thee. It trembles, 
 Pereo ! These are not the sinews that only two years ago 
 pulled down the bull at Soquel with thy single lasso ! 
 W r hy, look ! I can drag thee ; see ! " and with a light 
 laugh and a boyish gesture, she half pulled, half dragged 
 him along, until their voices were lost in the dark corridor. 
 
 Maruja kept her word. When the sun began to cast 
 
MARUJA 33 
 
 long shadows along the veranda, not only the outer shell of 
 La Mision Perdida, but the dark inner heart of the old casa, 
 stirred with awakened life. Single horsemen and carriages 
 began to arrive ; and mingled with the modern turnouts 
 of the home party and the neighboring Americans were a 
 few of the cumbrous vehicles and chariots of fifty years ago, 
 drawn by gayly trapped mules with bizarre postilions, and 
 occasionally an outrider. Dark faces looked from the bal- 
 cony of the patio, a light cloud of cigarette-smoke made the 
 dark corridors the more obscure, and mingled with the for- 
 gotten incense. Bare-headed pretty women, with roses 
 starring their dark hair, wandered with childish curiosity 
 along the broad veranda and in and out of the French 
 windows that opened upon the grand saloon. Scrupulously 
 shaved men with olive complexion, stout men with accu- 
 rately curving whiskers meeting at their dimpled chins, 
 lounged about with a certain unconscious dignity that made 
 them contentedly indifferent to any novelty of their sur- 
 roundings. For a while the two races kept mechanically 
 apart; but, through the tactful gallantry of Gamier, the 
 cynical familiarity of Raymond, and the impulsive reckless- 
 ness of Aladdin, who had forsaken his enchanted Palace on 
 the slightest of invitations, and returned with the party in 
 the hope of again seeing the Princess of China, an inter- 
 change of civilities, of gallantries, and even of confidences, at 
 last took place. Jovita Castro had heard (who had not ?) of 
 the wonders of Aladdin's Palace, and was it of actual truth 
 that the ladies had a bouquet and a fan to match their dress 
 presented to them every morning, and that the gentlemen had 
 a champagne cocktail sent to their rooms before breakfast ? 
 " Just you come, Miss, and bring your father and your 
 brothers, and stay a week and you '11 see," responded Alad- 
 din gallantly. "Hold on! What's your father's first 
 name ? I '11 send a team over there for you to-morrow." 
 " And is it true that you frightened the handsome Captain 
 
34 MARTJJA 
 
 Carroll away from Amita ? " said Dolores Briones, over the 
 edge of her fan to Eaymond. " Perfectly/ 7 said Raymond, 
 with ingenuous frankness. " I made it a matter of life or 
 death. He. was a soldier, and naturally preferred the for- 
 mer as giving him a better chance for promotion. " " Ah ! 
 we thought it was Maruja you liked best." " That was 
 two years ago," said Raymond gravely. " And you Amer- 
 icanos can change in that time ? " "I have just experi- 
 enced that it can be done in less," he responded, over the 
 fan, with bewildering significance. Nor were these confi- 
 dences confined to only one nationality. " I always thought 
 you Spanish gentlemen were very dark, and wore long 
 mustaches and a cloak," said pretty little Miss Walker, 
 gazing frankly into the smooth round face of the eldest 
 Pacheco " why, you are as fair as I am." a Eaf I tink 
 that, I am forever mizzarable," he replied, with grave mel- 
 ancholy. In the dead silence that followed he was enabled 
 to make his decorous point. " Because I shall not ezcape 
 ze fate of Narcissus." Mr. Buchanan, with the unre- 
 strained and irresponsible enjoyment of a traveler, entered 
 fully into the spirit of the scene. He even -found words of 
 praise for Aladdin, whose extravagance had at first seemed 
 to him almost impious. " Eh, but I 'm not prepared to say 
 he is a fool, either," he remarked to his friend, the San 
 Francisco banker. " Those who try to pick him up for 
 one," returned the banker, " will find themselves mistaken. 
 His is the prodigality that loosens others' purse-strings be- 
 sides his own. Everybody contents himself with criticis- 
 ing his way of spending money, but is ready to follow his 
 way of making it." 
 
 The dinner was more formal, and when the mistress of 
 the house, massive in black silk, velvet and gold embroi- 
 dery, moved like a pageant to the head of her table, where 
 she remained like a sacerdotal effigy, not even the presence 
 of the practical Scotchman at her side could remove the 
 
MARUJA 35 
 
 prevailing sense of restraint. For a while the conversation 
 of the relatives might have been brought with them in their 
 antique vehicles of fifty years ago, so faded, so worn, and 
 so springless it was. General Pico related the festivities 
 at Monterey, on the occasion of the visit of Sir George 
 Simpson early in the present century, of which he was an 
 eye-witness, with great precision of detail. Don Juan 
 Estudillo was comparatively frivolous, with anecdotes of 
 Louis Philippe, whom he had seen in Paris. Far-seeing 
 Pedro Guitierrez was gloomily impressed with a Mongolian 
 invasion of California by the Chinese, in which the prevail- 
 ing religion would be supplanted by heathen temples, and 
 polygamy engrafted on the Constitution. Everybody agreed, 
 however, that the vital question of the hour was the settle- 
 ment of land titles Americans who claimed under pre- 
 emption and the native holders of Spanish grants were 
 equally of the opinion. In the midst of this the musical 
 voice of Maruja was heard asking, " What is a tramp ? " 
 
 Raymond, on her right, was ready but not conclusive. 
 A. tramp, if he could sing, would be a troubadour ; if he 
 could pray, would be a pilgrim friar in either case a 
 natural object of womanly solicitude. But as he could do 
 neither, he was simply a curse. 
 
 " And you think that is not an object of womanly solici- 
 tude ? But that does not tell me what he is." 
 
 A dozen gentlemen, swept in the radius of those softly 
 inquiring eyes, here started to explain. From them it ap- 
 peared that there was no such thing in California as a tramp, 
 and there were also a dozen varieties of tramp in California. 
 
 " But is he always very uncivil ? " asked Maruja. 
 
 Again there were conflicting opinions. You might have to 
 shoot him on sight, and you might have him invariably run 
 from you. When the question was finally settled, Maruja 
 was found to have become absorbed in conversation with 
 some one else. 
 
36 MARUJA 
 
 Amita, a taller copy of Maruja, and more regularly beau- 
 tiful, had built up a little pile of bread crumbs between 
 herself and Raymond, and was listening to him with a cer- 
 tain shy, girlish interest that was as inconsistent with the 
 serene regularity of her face as Maruja's self-possessed, 
 subtle intelligence was incongruous with her youthful figure. 
 Raymond's voice, when he addressed Amita, was low and 
 earnest ; not from any significance of matter, but from its 
 frank confidential quality. 
 
 " They are discussing the new railroad project, and your 
 relations are all opposed to it ; to-morrow they will each 
 apply privately to Aladdin for the privilege of subscribing. 
 I have never seen a railroad," said Amita, slightly color- 
 ing ; " but you are an engineer, and I know they must be 
 something very clever." 
 
 Notwithstanding the coolness of the night, a full moon 
 drew the guests to the veranda, where coffee was served, 
 and where, mysteriously muffled in cloaks and shawls, the 
 party took upon itself the appearance of groups of dominoed 
 masqueraders, scattered along the veranda and on the broad 
 steps of the porch in gypsy-like encampments, from whose 
 cloaked shadow the moonlight occasionally glittered upon a 
 varnished boot or peeping satin slipper. Two or three of 
 these groups had resolved themselves into detached couples, 
 who wandered down the acacia walk to the sound of a harp 
 in the grand saloon or the occasional uplifting of a thin 
 Spanish tenor. Two of these couples were Maruja and 
 Gamier, followed by Amita and Raymond. 
 
 " You are restless to-night, Maruja," said Amita, shyly 
 endeavoring to make a show of keeping up with her sister's 
 boyish stride, in spite of Raymond's reluctance. " You are 
 paying for your wakefulness to-day." 
 
 The same idea passed through the minds of both men. 
 She was missing the excitement of Captain Carroll's pre- 
 sence. 
 
MARUJA 37 
 
 " The air is so refreshing away from the house," re- 
 sponded Maruja, with a bright energy that belied any sug- 
 gestion of fatigue or moral disquietude. " I 'm tired of 
 running against those turtle-doves in the walks and bushes. 
 Let us keep on to the lane. If you are tired, Mr. Ray- 
 mond will give you his arm." 
 
 They kept on, led by the indomitable little figure, who, 
 for once, did not seem to linger over the attentions, both 
 piquant and tender, with which Gamier improved his op- 
 portunity. Given a shadowy lane, a lovers' moon, a pair 
 of bright and not unkindly eyes, a charming and not distant 
 figure what more could he want ? Yet he wished she 
 had n't walked so fast. One might be vivacious, audacious, 
 brilliant, at an Indian trot ; but impassioned never ! 
 The pace increased; they were actually hurrying. More 
 than that, Maruja had struck into a little trot ; her lithe 
 body swaying from side to side, her little feet straight as 
 an arrow before her ; accompanying herself with a quaint 
 musical chant, which she obligingly explained had been 
 taught her as a child by Pereo. They stopped only at the 
 hedge, where she had that morning encountered the tramp. 
 
 There is little doubt that the rest of the party was dis- 
 concerted : Amita, whose figure was not adapted to this 
 Camilla-like exercise ; Raymond, who was annoyed at the 
 poor girl's discomfiture ; and Gamier, who had lost a golden 
 opportunity, with the faint suspicion of having looked ridic- 
 ulous. Only Maruja's eyes, or rather the eyes of her 
 lamented father, seemed to enjoy it. 
 
 " You are too effeminate," she said, leaning against the 
 fence, and shading her eyes with her fan, as she glanced 
 around in the staring moonlight. " Civilization has taken 
 away your legs. A man ought to be able to trust to his 
 feet all day, and to nothing else." 
 
 " In fact a tramp," suggested Raymond. 
 
 " Possibly. I think I should like to have been a gypsy, 
 
38 MARUJA 
 
 and to have wandered about, finding a new home every 
 night." 
 
 " And a change of linen on the early morning hedges," 
 said Raymond. " But do you think seriously that you and 
 your sister are suitably clad to commence to-night ? It is 
 bitterly cold," he added, turning up his collar. " Could 
 you begin by showing a pal the nearest haystack or hen- 
 roost ? " 
 
 " Sybarite ! " She cast a long look over the fields and 
 down the lane. Suddenly she started. " What is that ? " 
 
 She pointed to a tall erect figure slowly disappearing on 
 the other side of the hedge. 
 
 "It's Pereo, only Pereo. I knew him by his long 
 serape," said Gamier, who was nearest the hedge, compla- 
 cently. " But what is surprising, he was not there when 
 we came, nor did he come out of that open field. He must 
 have been walking behind us on the other side of the 
 hedge." 
 
 The eyes of the two girls sought each other simulta- 
 neously, but not without Raymond's observant glance. 
 Amita's brow darkened as she moved to her sister's side, 
 and took her arm with a confidential pressure that was 
 returned. The two men, with a vague consciousness of 
 some contretemps, dropped a pace behind, and began to 
 talk to each other, leaving the sisters to exchange a few 
 words in a low tone as they slowly returned to the house. 
 
 Meanwhile, Pereo' s tall figure had disappeared in the 
 shrubbery, to emerge again in the open area by the sum- 
 mer-house and the old pear-tree. The red sparks of two 
 or three cigarettes in the shadow of the summer-house, and 
 the crouching forms of two shawled women came forward 
 to greet him. 
 
 " And what hast thou heard, Pereo ? " said one of the 
 women. 
 
 " Nothing," said Pereo impatiently. " I told thee I 
 
MARUJA 39 
 
 would answer for this little primogenita with my life. She 
 is but leading this Frenchman a dance, as she has led the 
 others, and the Dofia Amita and her Raymond are but wax 
 in her hands. Besides, I have spoken with the little 7 Ruja 
 to-day, and spoke my mind, Pepita, and she says there is 
 nothing." 
 
 " And whilst thou wert speaking to her, my poor Pereo, 
 the devil of an American Doctor was speaking to her 
 mother, thy mistress our mistress, Pereo ! Wouldst 
 thou know what he said ? Oh, it was nothing." 
 
 " Now, the curse of Koorotora on thee, Pepita ! " said 
 Pereo excitedly. "Speak, fool, if thou knowest any- 
 thing ! " 
 
 " Of a verity, no. Let Faquita, then, speak : she heard 
 it." She reached out her hand, and dragged Maruja's maid, 
 not unwilling, before the old man. 
 
 " Good ! 'T is Faquita, daughter of Gomez, and a child 
 of the land. Speak, little one. What said this coyote to 
 the mother of thy mistress ? " 
 
 " Truly, good Pereo, it was but accident that befriended 
 me." 
 
 " Truly, for thy mistress's sake, I hoped it had been 
 more. But let that go. Come, what said he, child ? " 
 
 " I was hanging up a robe behind the curtain in the ora- 
 tory when Pepita ushered in the Americano. I had no 
 time to fly." 
 
 " Why shouldst thou fly from a dog like this ? " said 
 one of the cigarette-smokers who had drawn near. 
 
 " Peace ! " said the old man. 
 
 " When the Dona Maria joined him they spoke of affairs. 
 Yes, Pereo, she, thy mistress, spoke of affairs to this man 
 ay, as she might have talked to thee. And, could he 
 advise this ? and could he counsel that ? and should the 
 cattle be taken from the lower lands, and the fields turned 
 to grain ? and had he a purchaser for Los Osos ? " 
 
40 MARUJA 
 
 " Los Osos ! It is the boundary land the frontier 
 the line of the arroyo older than the Mision," muttered 
 Pereo. 
 
 " Ay, and he talked of the the I know not what it 
 is ! the r-r-rail-r-road." 
 
 " The railroad/' gasped the old man. " I will tell thee 
 what it is ! It is the cut of a burning knife through La 
 Mision Perdida as long as eternity, as dividing as death. 
 On either side of that gash life is blasted ; wherever that 
 cruel steel is laid the track of it is livid and barren ; it cuts 
 down all barriers ; leaps all boundaries, be they cafiada or 
 canon ; it is a torrent in the plain, a tornado in the forest j 
 its very pathway is destruction to whoso crosses it man or 
 beast ; it is the heathenish God of the Americanos ; they 
 build temples for it, and flock there and worship it whenever 
 it stops, breathing fire and flame like a very Moloch." 
 
 " Eh ! St. Anthony preserve us ! " said Faquita, shudder- 
 ing ; " and yet they spoke of it as ' shares ' and ' stocks/ and 
 said it would double the price of corn." 
 
 " Now, Judas pursue thee and thy railroad, Pereo," said 
 Pepita impatiently. " It is not such bagatela that Faquita 
 is here to relate. Go on, child, and tell all that happened." 
 
 " And then," continued Faquita, with a slight affectation 
 of maiden bashfulness, in the closer-drawing circle of cigar- 
 ettes, " and then they talked of other things and of them- 
 selves ; and, of a verity, this gray-bearded Doctor will play 
 the goat and utter gallant speeches, and speak of a lifelong 
 devotion and of the time he should have a right to pro- 
 tect " 
 
 " The right, girl ! Didst thou say the right ? No, thou 
 didst mistake. It was not that he meant ? " 
 
 " Thy life to a quarter peso that the little Faquita does 
 not mistake," said the evident satirist of the household. 
 " Trust to Gomez' muchacha to understand a proposal." 
 
 When the laugh was over, and the sparks of the cigarette, 
 
MARUJA 41 
 
 cleverly whipped out of the speaker's lips by Faquita's fan, 
 had disappeared in the darkness, she resumed, pettishly, " I 
 know not what you call it when he kissed her hand and held 
 it to his heart. " 
 
 " Judas ! " gasped Pereo. " But/' he added feverishly, 
 " she, the Dona Maria, thy mistress, she summoned thee at 
 once to call me to cast out this dust into the open air ; thou 
 didst fly to her assistance ? What ! thou sawest this, and 
 did nothing eh ? " He stopped, and tried to peer into the 
 girl's face. " No ! Ah, I see ; I am an old fool. Yes ; it 
 was Maruja's own mother that stood there. He ! he ! he ! " 
 he laughed piteously ; " and she smiled and smiled and broke 
 the coward's heart, as Maruja might. And when he was 
 gone, she bade thee bring her water to wash the filthy Judas 
 stain from her hand." 
 
 " Santa Ana ! " said Faquita, shrugging her shoulders. 
 "She did what the veriest muchacha would have done. 
 When he had gone, she sat down and cried." 
 
 The old man drew back a step, and steadied himself by 
 the table. Then, with a certain tremulous audacity, he 
 began : " So ! that is all you have to tell nothing ! Bah ! 
 A lazy slut sleeps at her duty, and dreams behind a curtain ! 
 Yes, dreams ! you understand dreams ! And for this 
 she leaves her occupations, and comes to gossip here ! 
 Come," he continued, steadily working himself into a passion, 
 " come, enough of this ! Get you gone ! you, and Pepita, 
 and Andreas, and Victor all of you back to your duty. 
 Away ! Am I not master here ? Off ! I say ! " 
 
 There was no mistaking the rising anger of his voice. 
 The cowed group rose in a frightened way and disappeared 
 one by one silently through the labyrinth. Pereo waited 
 until the last had vanished, and then, cramming his stiff 
 sombrero over his eyes with an ejaculation, brushed his way 
 through the shrubbery in the direction of the stables. 
 
 Later, when the full glory of the midnight moon had put 
 
42 MAEUJA 
 
 out every straggling light in the great house ; when the long 
 veranda slept in massive bars of shadow, and even the trade- 
 winds wece hushed to repose, Pereo silently issued from the 
 stable-yard in vaquero's dress, mounted and caparisoned. 
 Picking his way cautiously along the turf-bordered edge of 
 the gravel path, he noiselessly reached a gate that led to the 
 lane. Walking his spirited mustang with difficulty until 
 the house had at last disappeared in the intervening foliage, 
 he turned with an easy canter into a border bridle-path that 
 seemed to lead to the Canada. In a quarter of an hour he 
 had reached a low amphitheatre of meadows, shut in a half 
 circle of grassy treeless hills. 
 
 Here, putting spurs to his horse, he entered upon a 
 singular exercise. Twice he made a circuit of the meadow 
 at a wild gallop, with flying serape and loosened rein, and 
 twice returned. The third time his speed increased ; the 
 ground seemed to stream from under him ; in the distance 
 the limbs of his steed became invisible in their furious action, 
 and, lying low forward on his mustang's neck, man and horse 
 passed like an arrowy bolt around the circle. Then some- 
 thing like a light ring of smoke up-curved from the saddle 
 before him, and slowly uncoiling itself in mid air, dropped 
 gently to the ground as he passed. Again, and once again, 
 the shadowy coil sped upward and onward, slowly detaching 
 its snaky rings with a weird deliberation that was in strange 
 contrast to the impetuous onset of the rider, and yet seemed 
 a part of his fury. And then turning, Pere trotted gently 
 to the centre of the^ circle. 
 
 Here he divested himself of his serape, and, securing it in 
 a cylindrical roll, placed it upright on the ground and once 
 more sped away on his furious circuit. But this time he 
 wheeled suddenly before it was half completed and bore 
 down directly upon the unconscious object. Within a 
 hundred feet he swerved slightly ; the long detaching rings 
 again writhed in mid air and softly descended as he thun- 
 
MARUJA 43 
 
 dered past. But when he had reached the line of circuit 
 again, he turned and made directly for the road he had 
 entered. Fifty feet behind his horse's heels, at the end of 
 a shadowy cord, the luckless serape was dragging and bound- 
 ing after him ! 
 
 " The old man is quiet enough this morning/' said An- 
 dreas, as he groomed the sweat-dried skin of the mustang 
 the next day. "It is easy to see, friend Pinto, that he has 
 worked off his madness on thee." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE Rancho of San Antonio might have been a character- 
 istic asylum for its blessed patron, offering as it did a secure 
 retreat from temptations for the carnal eye, and affording 
 every facility for uninterrupted contemplation of the sky 
 above, unbroken by tree or elevation. Unlike La Mision 
 Perdida, of which it had been part, it was a level plain of 
 rich adobe, half the year presenting a billowy sea of tossing 
 verdure breaking on the far-off horizon line, half the year 
 presenting a dry and dusty shore, from which the vernal 
 sea had ebbed, to the low sky that seemed to mock it with 
 a visionary sea beyond. A row of rough, irregular, and 
 severely practical sheds and buildings housed the machinery 
 and the fifty or sixty men employed in the cultivation of 
 the soil, but neither residential mansion nor farmhouse 
 offered any nucleus of rural comfort or civilization in the 
 midst of this wild expanse of earth and sky. The simplest 
 adjuncts of country life were unknown ; milk and butter 
 were brought from the nearest town ; weekly supplies of 
 fresh meat and vegetables came from the same place ; in 
 the harvest season, the laborers and harvesters lodged and 
 boarded in the adjacent settlement and walked to their 
 work. No cultivated flower bloomed beside the unpainted 
 tenement, though the fields were starred in early spring with 
 poppies and daisies ; the humblest garden plant or herb had 
 no place in that prolific soil. The serried ranks of wheat 
 pressed closely round the straggling sheds and barns, and 
 hid the lower windows. But the sheds were fitted with 
 the latest agricultural machinery ; a telegraphic wire con 
 
MARUJA 45 
 
 nected the nearest town with an office in the wing of one 
 of the buildings, where Dr. West sat, and in the midst of 
 the wilderness severely checked his accounts with nature. 
 
 Whether this strict economy of domestic outlay arose 
 from an ostentatious contempt of country life and the lux- 
 urious habits of the former landholders, or whether it was 
 a purely business principle of Dr. West, did not appear. 
 Those who knew him best declared that it was both. 
 Certain it was that unqualified commercial success crowned 
 and dignified his method. A few survivors of the old 
 native families came to see his strange machinery, that did 
 the work of so many idle men and horses. It is said that 
 he offered to " run " the distant estate of Joaquin Padilla 
 from his little office amidst the grain of San Antonio. Some 
 shook their heads, and declared that he only sucked the 
 juices of the land for a few brief years to throw it away 
 again ; that in his fierce haste he skimmed the fatness of 
 ages of gentle cultivation on a soil that had been barely 
 tickled with native oaken ploughshares. 
 
 His own personal tastes and habits were as severe and 
 practical as his business : the little wing he inhabited con- 
 tained only his office, his living room or library, his bed- 
 room, and a bathroom. This last inconsistent luxury was 
 due to a certain catlike cleanliness which was part of his 
 nature. His iron-gray hair a novelty in this country of 
 young Americans was always scrupulously brushed, and 
 his linen spotless. A slightly professional and somewhat 
 old-fashioned respectability in his black clothes was also 
 characteristic. His one concession to the customs of his 
 neighbors was the possession of two or three of the half- 
 broken and spirited mustangs of the country, which he rode 
 with the fearlessness, if not the perfect security and ease, 
 of a native. Whether the subjection of this lawless and 
 powerful survival of a wild and unfettered nature around 
 him was part of his plan, or whether it was only a lingering 
 
46 MARU JA 
 
 trait of some younger prowess, no one knew ; but his grim 
 and decorous figure, contrasting with the picturesque and 
 flowing freedom of the horse he bestrode, was a frequent 
 spectacle in road and field. 
 
 It was the second day after his visit to La Mision Per- 
 dida. He was sitting by his desk, at sunset, in the faint 
 afterglow of the western sky, which flooded the floor through 
 the open door. He was writing, but presently lifted his 
 head, with an impatient air, and called out, " Harrison ! " 
 
 The shadow of Dr. West's foreman appeared at the door. 
 
 " Who 's that you 're talking to ? " 
 
 " Tramp, sir." 
 
 "Hire him, or send him about his business. Don't 
 stand gabbling there." 
 
 " That 's just it, sir. He won't hire for a week or a 
 day. He says he '11 do an odd job for his supper and a 
 shakedown, but no more." 
 
 "Pack him off! . . . Stay. . . . What 's he like ?" 
 
 " Like the rest of 'em, only a little lazier, I reckon." 
 
 " Umph ! Fetch him in." 
 
 The foreman disappeared, and returned with the tramp 
 already known to the reader. He was a little dirtier and 
 grimier than on the morning he had addressed Maruja at 
 La Mision Perdida ; but he wore the same air of sullen 
 indifference, occasionally broken by furtive observation. 
 His laziness or weariness if the term could describe 
 the lassitude of perfect physical condition, seemed to have 
 increased ; and he leaned against the door as the Doctor 
 regarded him with slow contempt. The silence continuing, 
 he deliberately allowed himself to slip down into a sitting 
 position in. the doorway, where he remained. 
 
 " You seem to have been born tired," said the Doctor 
 grimly. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " What have you got to say for yourself ? " 
 
MARUJA 47 
 
 " I told Aim," said the tramp, nodding his head towards 
 the foreman, " what 1 'd do for a supper and a bed. I 
 don't want anything but that." 
 
 " And if you don't get what you want on your own con- 
 ditions, what '11 you do ? " asked the Doctor dryly. 
 
 " Go." 
 
 " Where did you come from ? " 
 
 " States." 
 
 " Where are you going ? " 
 
 " On." 
 
 "Leave him to me," said Dr. West to his foreman. 
 The man smiled, and withdrew. 
 
 The Doctor bent his head again over his accounts. The 
 tramp, sitting in the doorway, reached out his hand, pulled 
 a young wheat-stalk that had sprung up near the doorstep, 
 and slowly nibbled it. He did not raise his eyes to the 
 Doctor, but sat, a familiar culprit awaiting sentence, with- 
 out fear, without hope, yet not without a certain philo- 
 sophical endurance of the situation. 
 
 " Go into that passage," said the Doctor, lifting his head 
 as he turned a page of his ledger, "and on the shelf you '11 
 find some clothing stores for the men. Pick out something 
 to fit you." 
 
 The tramp arose, moved towards the passage, and 
 stopped. " It 's for the job only, you understand ? " he 
 said. 
 
 " For the job," answered the Doctor. 
 
 The tramp returned in a few moments with overalls and 
 woolen shirt hanging on his arm and a pair of boots and 
 socks in his hand. The Doctor had put aside his pen. 
 " Now go into that room and change. Stop ! First wash 
 the dust from your feet in that bathroom." 
 
 The tramp obeyed, and entered the room. The Doctor 
 walked to the door, and looked out reflectively on the 
 paling sky. When he turned again he noticed that the 
 
48 MARUJA 
 
 'door of the bathroom was opened, and the tramp, who had 
 changed his clothes by the fading light, was drying his 
 feet. The Doctor approached, and stood for a moment 
 watching him. 
 
 " What >B the matter with your foot ? " l he asked, 
 after a pause. 
 
 " Born so." 
 
 The first and second toe were joined by a thin mem- 
 brane. 
 
 " Both alike ? " asked the Doctor. 
 
 " Yes," said the young man, exhibiting the other foot. 
 
 " What did you say your name was ? " 
 
 "I didn't say it. It's Henry Guest, same as my 
 father's." 
 
 "Where were you born ?" 
 
 " Dentville, Pike County, Missouri." 
 
 " What was your mother's name ? " 
 
 " Spalding, I reckon." 
 
 " Where are your parents now ? " 
 
 " Mother got divorced from father, and married again 
 down South, somewhere. Father left home twenty years 
 ago. He 's somewhere in California if he ain't dead." 
 
 " He is n't dead." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " Because I am Henry Guest, of Dentville, and " he 
 stopped, and shading his eyes with his hand as he deliber- 
 ately examined the tramp, added coldly " your father, 
 I reckon." 
 
 There was a slight pause. The young man put down 
 the boot he had taken up. " Then I am to stay here ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. Here my name is only West, and I 
 
 1 This apparent classical plagiarism is actually a fact of identification 
 on record in the California Law Reports. It is therefore unnecessary for 
 me to add that the attendant circumstances and characters are purely 
 fictitious. B.H, 
 
MARUJA 49 
 
 have no son. You '11 go on to San Jose*, and stay there 
 until I look into this thing. You have n't got any money, 
 of course ? " he asked, with a scarcely suppressed sneer. 
 
 " I 've got a little," returned the young man. 
 
 " How much ? " 
 
 The tramp put his hand into his hreast, and drew out a 
 piece of folded paper containing a single gold coin. 
 
 " Five dollars. I 've kept it a month ; it does n't cost 
 much to live as I do," he added dryly. 
 
 " There 's fifty more. Go to some hotel in San Jose, 
 and let me know where you are. You 've got to live, and 
 you don't want to work. Well, you don't seem to be a 
 fool ; so I need n't tell you that if you expect anything 
 from me, you must leave this matter in my hands. I have 
 chosen to acknowledge you to-day of my own free will ; 
 I can as easily denounce you as an impostor to-morrow, if 
 I choose. Have you told your story to any one in the 
 valley ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "See that you don't, then. Before you go, you must 
 answer me a few more questions." 
 
 He drew a chair to his table, and dipped a pen in the ink, 
 as if to take down the answers. The young man, finding 
 the only chair thus occupied, moved the Doctor's books 
 aside, and sat down on the table beside him. 
 
 The questions were repetitions of those already asked, 
 but more in detail, and thoroughly practical in their nature. 
 The answers were given straightforwardly and unconcern- 
 edly, as if the subject was not worth the trouble of inven- 
 tion or evasion. It was difficult to say whether questioner 
 or answerer took least pleasure in the interrogation, which 
 might have referred to the concerns of a third party. Both, 
 however, spoke disrespectfully of their common family, 
 with almost an approach to sympathetic interest. 
 
 "You might as well be going now," said the Doctor, 
 
50 MARUJA 
 
 finally rising. " You can stop at the fonda, about two 
 miles further on, and get your supper and bed, if you 
 like." 
 
 The young man slipped from the table, and lounged to 
 the door. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and 
 followed him. The young man, as if in unconscious imita- 
 tion, had put his hands in his pockets also, and looked at 
 him. 
 
 " I '11 hear from you, then, when you are in San Jose ? " 
 said Dr. West, looking past him into the grain, with a 
 slight approach to constraint in his indifference. 
 
 " Yes if that 's agreed upon," returned the young 
 man, pausing on the threshold. A faint sense of some 
 purely conventional responsibility in their position affected 
 them both. They would have shaken hands if either had 
 offered the initiative. A sullen consciousness of gratuitous 
 rectitude in the selfish mind of the father, an equally 
 sullen conviction of twenty years of wrong in the son, 
 withheld them both. Unpleasantly observant of each 
 other's awkwardness, they parted with a feeling of relief. 
 
 Dr. West closed the door, lit his lamp, and going to his 
 desk, folded the paper containing the memoranda he had 
 just written and placed it in his pocket. Then he sum- 
 moned his foreman. The man entered, and glanced around 
 the room as if expecting to see the Doctor's guest still 
 there. 
 
 " Tell one of the men to bring round t Buckeye.' " 
 
 The foreman hesitated. " Going to ride to-night, sir ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; I may go as far as Saltonstall's. If I do, 
 you need n't expect me back till morning." 
 
 " Buckeye 's mighty fresh to-night, boss. Kegularly 
 bucked his saddle clean off an hour ago, and there ain't a 
 man dare exercise him." 
 
 " I '11 bet he don't buck his saddle off with me on it," 
 said the Doctor grimly. " Bring him along." 
 
MARUJA 51 
 
 The man turned to go. " You found the tramp pow'ful 
 lazy, did n't ye ? " 
 
 " I found a heap more in him than in some that call 
 themselves smart," said Dr. West, unconsciously setting 
 up an irritable defense of the absent one. " Hurry up 
 that horse ! " 
 
 The foreman vanished. The Doctor put on a pair of 
 leather leggings, large silver spurs, and a broad soft- 
 brimmed hat, but made no other change in his usual half- 
 professional conventional garb. He then went to the 
 window and glanced in the direction of the highway. 
 Now that his son was gone, he. felt a faint regret that he 
 had not prolonged the interview. Certain peculiarities in 
 his manner, certain suggestions of expression in his face, 
 speech, and gesture, came back to him now with unsatisfied 
 curiosity. " No matter," he said to himself ; " he '11 turn 
 up soon again as soon as I want him, if not sooner. He 
 thinks he 's got a mighty soft thing here, and he is n't 
 going to let it go. And there 's that same d d sullen 
 dirty pride of his mother, for all he does n't cotton to her. 
 Wonder I did n't recognize it at first. And hoarding up 
 that five dollars ! That 's Jane's brat, all over ! And, of 
 course," he added bitterly, " nothing of me in him. No ; 
 nothing ! Well, well, what 's the difference ? " He turned 
 towards the door, with a certain sullen defiance in his face 
 so like the man he believed he did not resemble, that his 
 foreman, coming upon him suddenly, might have been 
 startled at the likeness. Fortunately, however, Harrison 
 was too much engrossed with the antics of the irrepressible 
 Buckeye, which the hostler had just brought to the door, to 
 notice anything else. The arrival of the horse changed the 
 Doctor's expression to one of more practical and significant 
 resistance. With the assistance of two men at the head of 
 the restive brute, he managed to vault into the saddle. A 
 few wild plunges only seemed to settle him the firmer in 
 
52 MARUJA 
 
 his seat each plunge leaving its record in a thin red line 
 on the animal's flanks, made by the cruel spurs of its rider. 
 Any lingering desire of following his son's footsteps was 
 quickly dissipated by Buckeye, who promptly bolted in the 
 opposite direction, and before Dr. West could gain active 
 control over him, they were half a mile on their way to 
 La Mision Perdida. 
 
 Dr. West did not regret it. Twenty years ago he had 
 voluntarily abandoned a legal union of mutual unfaithful- 
 ness and misconduct, and allowed his wife to get the divorce 
 he might have obtained for equal cause. He had aban- 
 doned to her the issue of that union an infant son. 
 Whatever he chose to do now was purely gratuitous ; the 
 only hold which this young stranger had on his respect was 
 that he also recognized that fact with a cold indifference 
 equal to his own. At present the half-savage brute he 
 bestrode occupied all his attention. Yet he could not help 
 feeling his advancing years tell upon him more heavily that 
 evening; fearless as he was, his strength was no longer 
 equal when measured with the untiring youthful malevo- 
 lence of his unbroken mustang. For a moment he dwelt 
 regretfully on the lazy half-developed sinews of his son ; 
 for a briefer instant there flashed across him the thought 
 that those sinews ought to replace his own ; ought to be his 
 to lean upon that thus, and thus only, could he achieve^ 
 the old miracle of restoring his lost youth by perpetuating 
 his own power in his own blood ; and he, whose profound 
 belief in personality had rejected all hereditary principle, 
 felt this with a sudden exquisite pain. But his horse, per- 
 haps recognizing a relaxing grip, took that opportunity to 
 (l buck." Curving his back like a cat, and throwing him- 
 self into the air with an unexpected bound, he came down 
 with four stiff, inflexible legs, and a shock that might have 
 burst the saddle-girths, had not the wily old man as quickly 
 brought the long rowels of his spurs together and fairly 
 
MARUJA 53 
 
 locked his heels under Buckeye's collapsing barrel. It was 
 the mustang's last rebellious struggle. The discomfited 
 brute gave in, and darted meekly and apologetically for- 
 ward, and, as it were, left all its rider's doubts and fears far 
 behind in the vanishing distance. 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 MEANWHILE, the subject of Dr. West's meditations was 
 slowly making his way along the highroad towards the 
 fonda. He walked more erect and with less of a shuffle in 
 his gait ; hut whether this was owing to his having cast 
 the old skin of garments adapted to his slouch, and because 
 he was more securely shod, or whether it was from the sud- 
 den straightening of some warped moral quality, it would 
 have been difficult to say. The expression of his face cer- 
 tainly gave no evidence of actual and prospective good for- 
 tune ; if anything, the lines of discontent around his brow 
 and mouth were more strongly drawn. Apparently, his 
 interview with his father had only the effect of reviving 
 and stirring into greater activity a certain dogged sentiment 
 that, through long years, had become languidly mechanical. 
 He was no longer a beaten animal, but one roused by a 
 chance success into a dangerous knowledge of his power. 
 In his honest workman's dress, he was infinitely more to be 
 feared than in his rags ; in the lifting of his downcast eye, 
 there was the revelation of a baleful intelligence. In his 
 changed condition, civilization only seemed to have armed 
 him against itself. 
 
 The fonda, a long low building, with a red-tiled roof 
 extending over a porch or whitewashed veranda, in which 
 drunken vaqueros had been known to occasionally disport 
 their mustangs, did not offer a very reputable appearance to 
 the eye of young Guest as he approached it in the gathering 
 shadows. One or two half-broken horses were securely 
 fastened to the stout cross-beams of some heavy posts driven 
 
MARUJA 55 
 
 in the roadway before it, and a primitive trough of roughly 
 excavated stone stood near it. Through a broken gate at the 
 side there was a glimpse of a grass-grown and deserted court- 
 yard piled with the disused packing-cases and barrels of the 
 tienda, or general country shop, which huddled under the 
 same roof at the other end of the building. The opened 
 door of the fonda showed a low-studded room fitted up 
 with a rude imitation of an American bar on one side, and 
 containing a few small tables, at which half a dozen men were 
 smoking, drinking, and playing cards. The faded pictorial 
 poster of the last bull-fight at Monterey and an American 
 " Sheriff's notice " were hung on the wall and in the door- 
 way. A thick yellow atmosphere of cigarette smoke, 
 through which the inmates appeared like brown shadows, 
 pervaded the room. 
 
 The young man hesitated before this pestilential interior, 
 and took a seat on a bench on the veranda. After a 
 moment's interval, the yellow landlord came to the door 
 with a look of inquiry, which Guest answered by a demand 
 for lodging and supper. When the landlord had vanished 
 again in the cigarette fog, the several other guests, one after 
 the other, appeared at the doorway, with their cigarettes in 
 their mouths and their cards still in their hands, and gazed 
 upon him. 
 
 There may have been some excuse for their curiosity. 
 As before hinted, Guest's appearance in his overalls and 
 woolen shirt was somewhat incongruous, and for some 
 inexplicable reason, the same face and figure which did not 
 look inconsistent in rags and extreme poverty now at once 
 suggested a higher social rank both of intellect and refine- 
 ment than his workman's dress indicated. This, added to 
 his surliness of manner and expression, strengthened a 
 growing suspicion in the mind of the party that he was a 
 fugitive from justice a forger, a derelict banker, or possi- 
 bly a murderer. It is only fair to say that the moral sense 
 
56 MARUJA 
 
 of the spectators was not shocked at the suspicion, and that 
 a more active sympathy was only withheld by his reticence. 
 An unfortunate incident seemed to complete the evidence 
 against him. In impatiently responding to the landlord's 
 curt demand for prepayment of his supper, he allowed three 
 or four pieces of gold to escape from his pocket on the ve- 
 randa. In the quick glances of the party, as he stooped to 
 pick them up, he read the danger of his carelessness. 
 
 His sullen self-possession did not seem to be shaken. 
 Calling to the keeper of the tienda, who had appeared at 
 his door in time to witness the Danae-like shower, he bade 
 him approach, in English. 
 
 " What sort of knives have you got ? " 
 
 " Knives, Senor ? " 
 
 "Yes; bowie-knives or dirks. Knives like that," he 
 said, making an imaginary downward stroke at the table 
 before him. 
 
 The shopkeeper entered the tienda, and presently reap- 
 peared with three or four dirks in red leather sheaths. 
 Guest selected the heaviest, and tried its point on the 
 table. 
 
 " How much ? " 
 
 " Tres pesos." 
 
 The young man threw him one of his gold pieces, and 
 slipped the knife and its sheath in his boot. When he had 
 received his change from the shopkeeper, he folded his 
 arms and leaned back against the wall in quiet indifference. 
 
 The simple act seemed to check aggressive, but not insin- 
 uating interference. In a few moments one of the men 
 appeared at the doorway. 
 
 " It is fine weather for ths road, little comrade ! " 
 
 Guest did not reply. 
 
 " Ah ! the night, it ess splendid," he repeated in broken 
 English, rubbing his hands, as if washing in the air. 
 
 Still no reply. 
 
MARUJA 57 
 
 " You shall come from Sank Hosay ? " 
 
 I shaVt." 
 
 The stranger muttered something in Spanish, but the 
 landlord, who reappeared to place Guest's supper on a table 
 on the veranda, here felt the obligation of interfering to 
 protect a customer apparently so aggressive and so opulent. 
 He pushed the inquisitor aside, with a few hasty words, 
 and after Guest had finished his meal, offered to show him 
 his room. It was a dark vaulted closet on the ground-floor, 
 gaining light from the stable-yard through a barred iron 
 grating. At the first glimpse it looked like a prison cell ; 
 looking more deliberately at the black tresseled bed, and 
 the votive images hanging on the wall, it might have been 
 a tomb. 
 
 " It is the best/ 7 said the landlord. " The Padre Vin- 
 cento will have none other on his journey." 
 
 " I suppose God protects him," said Guest ; " that door 
 don't." He pointed to the worm-eaten door, without bolt 
 or fastening. 
 
 " Ah, what matter ! Are we not all friends ? " 
 
 " Certainly," responded Guest, with his surliest manner, 
 as he returned to the veranda. Nevertheless, he resolved 
 not to occupy the cell of the reverend Padre ; not from any 
 personal fear of his disreputable neighbors, though he was 
 fully alive to their peculiarities, but from the nomadic in- 
 stinct which was still strong in his blood. He felt he 
 could not yet bear the confinement of a close room or the 
 propinquity of his fellow man. He would rest on the ve- 
 randa until the moon was fairly up, and then he would again 
 take to the road. 
 
 He was half reclining on the bench, with the slowly clos- 
 ing and opening lids of some tired but watchful animal, 
 when the sound of wheels, voices, and clatter of hoofs on 
 the highway arrested his attention, and he sat upright. 
 The moon was slowly lifting itself over the limitless stretch 
 
58 MARUJA 
 
 of grain-fields before him on the other side of the road, and 
 dazzling him with its level lustre. He could barely discern 
 a cavalcade of dark figures and a large vehicle rapidly 
 approaching, before it drew up tumultuously in front of the 
 fonda. It was a pleasure-party of ladies and gentlemen on 
 horseback and in a four-horsed char-a-bancs returning to La 
 Mision Perdida. Buchanan, Raymond, and Gamier were 
 there ; Amita and Dorotea in the body of the char-a-bancs, 
 and Maruja seated on the box. Much to his own astonish- 
 ment and that of some others of the party, Captain Carroll 
 was among the riders. Only Maruja and her mother knew 
 that he was recalled to refute a repetition of the gossip al- 
 ready circulated regarding his sudden withdrawal ; only 
 Maruja alone knew the subtle words which made that call 
 so potent yet so hopeless. 
 
 Maruja's quick eyes, observant of everything, even under 
 the double fire of Captain Carroll and Gamier, instantly 
 caught those of the erect figure on the bench in the veranda. 
 Surely that was the face of the tramp she had spoken to ! 
 and yet there was a change not only in the dress but in 
 the general resemblance. After the first glance, Guest with- 
 drew his eyes and gazed at the other figures in the char-a- 
 bancs without moving a muscle. 
 
 Maruja's whims and caprices were many and original ; 
 and when, after a sudden little cry and a declaration that 
 she could stand her cramped position no longer, she leaped 
 from the box into the road, no one was surprised. Gar- 
 nier and Captain Carroll quickly followed. 
 
 11 1 should like to look into the fonda while the horses 
 are being watered," she said laughingly, "just to see what 
 it is that attracts Pereo there so often." Before any one 
 could restrain this new caprice, she was already upon the 
 veranda. 
 
 To reach the open door, she had to pass so near Guest 
 that her soft white flounces brushed his knees, and the 
 
MARUJA 59 
 
 flowers in her girdle left their perfume in his face. But 
 he neither moved nor raised his eyes. When she had 
 passed, he rose quietly and stepped into the road. 
 
 On her nearer survey, Maruja was convinced it was the 
 same man. She remained for an instant, with a little hand 
 on the door-post. " What a horrid place, and what dread- 
 ful people ! " she said in audible English as she glanced 
 quickly after Guest. " Keally, Pereo ought to be warned 
 against keeping such company. Come, let us go." 
 
 She contrived to pass Guest again in regaining the car- 
 riage ; but in the few moments' further delay he walked 
 on down the road before them, and by the time they were 
 ready to start, he was slowly sauntering some hundred 
 yards ahead. They passed him at a rapid trot, but the 
 next moment the char-a-bancs was suddenly pulled up. 
 
 " My fan ! " cried Maruja. " Blessed Santa Maria ! 
 my fan ! " 
 
 A small black object, seen distinctly in the moonlight, 
 was lying on the road, directly in the track of the saunter- 
 ing stranger. Gamier attempted to alight ; Carroll reined 
 in his horse. 
 
 " Stop, all of you ! " said Maruja ; " that man will 
 bring it to me." 
 
 It seemed as if he would. He stopped and picked it up, 
 and approached the carriage. Maruja stood up in her seat, 
 with her veil thrown back, her graceful hand extended, her 
 eyes and mouth tremulous with an irresistible smile. The 
 stranger came nearer, singled out Captain Carroll, tossed the 
 fan to him with a slight nod, and passed on the other side. 
 
 "One moment," said Maruja, almost harshly, to the 
 driver. " One moment," she continued, drawing her purse 
 from her pocket brusquely. " Let me reward this civil 
 gentleman of the road ! Here, sir ; " but before she could 
 continue, Carroll wheeled to her side, and interposed. 
 " Pray collect yourself, Miss Saltonstall, " he said hur- 
 
60 MARUJA 
 
 riedly ; " you cannot tell who this man may be. He does 
 not seem to be one who would insult you, or whom you 
 would insult gratuitously." 
 
 " Give me the fan, Captain Carroll," she said, with a soft 
 and caressing smile. " Thank you." She took it, and 
 breaking it through the middle between her gloved hands, 
 tossed it into the highway. " You are right it smells of 
 the fonda and the road. Thank you, again. You are so 
 thoughtful for me, Captain Carroll," she murmured, raising 
 her eyes gently to his, and then suddenly withdrawing them 
 with a half sigh. "But I am keeping you all. Go on." 
 
 The carriage rolled away and Guest returned from the 
 hedge to the middle of the road. San Jose lay in the 
 opposite direction from the disappearing calvacade ; but on 
 leaving the fonda, he had determined to lead his inquisitors 
 astray by doubling and making a circuit of the hostelry 
 through the fields hidden in the tall grain. This he did, 
 securely passing them within sound of their voices, and was 
 soon well on his way again. He avoided the highway, and 
 striking a trail through the meadows, diverged to the right, 
 where the low towers and brown walls of a ruined mission 
 church rose above the plain. This would enable him to 
 escape any direct pursuit on the highroad, besides, from its 
 slight elevation, giving him a more extended view of the 
 plain. As he neared it, he was surprised to see that, 
 although it was partly dismantled, and the roof had fallen 
 in the central aisle, a part of it was still used as a chapel, 
 and a light was burning behind a narrow opening, partly 
 window and partly shrine. He was almost upon it, when 
 the figure of a man who had been kneeling beneath, with 
 his back towards him, rose, crossed himself devoutly, and 
 stood upright. Before he could turn, Guest disappeared 
 round the angle of the wall, and the tall erect figure of the 
 solitary worshiper passed on without heeding him. 
 
 But if Guest had been successful in evading the observa- 
 
MAEUJA 61 
 
 tion of the man he had come so suddenly upon, he was 
 utterly unconscious of another figure that had been track- 
 ing him for the last ten minutes through the tall grain, 
 and had even succeeded in gaining the shadow of the wall 
 behind him ; and it was this figure, and not his own, that 
 eventually attracted the attention of the tall stranger. The 
 pursuing figure was rapidly approaching the unconscious 
 Guest ; in another moment it would have been upon him, 
 when it was suddenly seized from behind by the tall devo- 
 tee. There was a momentary struggle, and then it freed 
 itself, with the exclamation, " Pereo ! " 
 
 " Yes Pereo ! " said the old man, panting from his 
 exertions. " And thou art Miguel. So thou wouldst mur- 
 der a man for a few pesos ! " he said, pointing to the knife 
 which the desperado had hurriedly hid in his jacket, " and 
 callest thyself a Calif ornian ! " 
 
 " 'T is only an Americano a runaway, with some ill- 
 gotten gold," said Miguel sullenly, yet with unmistakable 
 fear of the old man. " Besides, it was only to frighten 
 him, the braggart. But since thou fearest to touch a hair 
 of those interlopers " 
 
 " Fearest ! " said Pereo fiercely, clutching him by the 
 throat, and forcing him against the wall. " Fearest ! sayest 
 thou. I, Pereo, fear ? Dost thou think I would soil these 
 hands, that might strike a higher quarry, with blood of thy 
 game ? " 
 
 " Forgive me, padrono," gasped Miguel, now thoroughly 
 alarmed at the old man's awakened passion ; " pardon ; I 
 meant that, since thou knowest him " 
 
 " I know him ? " repeated Pereo scornfally, contemptu- 
 ously throwing Miguel aside, who at once took that oppor- 
 tunity to increase his distance from the old man's arm. " I 
 know him ? Thou shalt see. Come hither, child," he 
 called, beckoning to Guest. " Come hither, thou hast 
 nothing to fear now." 
 
62 MABUJA 
 
 Guest, who had been attracted by the sound of alterca- 
 tion behind him, but who was utterly unconscious of its 
 origin or his own relation to it, came forward impatiently. 
 As he did so, Miguel took to his heels. The act did not 
 tend to mollify Guest's surly suspicions, and pausing a 
 few feet from the old man, he roughly demanded his busi- 
 ness with him. 
 
 Pereo raised his head, with the dignity of years and 
 habits of command. The face of the young man confront- 
 ing him was clearly illuminated by the moonlight. Pereo's 
 eyes suddenly dilated, his mouth stiffened, he staggered 
 back against the wall. 
 
 " Who are you ? " he gasped in uncertain English. 
 
 Believing himself the subject of some drunkard's pastime, 
 Guest replied savagely, " One who has enough of this 
 d d nonsense, and will stand no more of it from any 
 one, young or old," and turned abruptly on his heel. 
 
 " Stay, one moment, Senor, for the love of God ! " 
 
 Some keen accent of agony in the old man's voice touched 
 even Guest's selfish nature. He halted. 
 
 " You are a stranger here ? " faltered Pereo. " Yes ? " 
 
 "lam." 
 
 " You do not live here ? you have no friends ? " 
 
 " I told you I am a stranger. I never was here before in 
 my life," said Guest impatiently. 
 
 " True ; I am a fool," said the old man, hurriedly, to him- 
 self. " I am mad mad ! It is not his voice. No ! It 
 is not his look, now that his face changes. I am crazy." 
 He stopped, and passed his trembling hands across his eyes. 
 "Pardon, Senor," he continued, recalling himself with a 
 humility that was almost ironical in its extravagance. 
 " Pardon, pardon ! Yet, perhaps it is not too much to have 
 wanted to know who was the man one has saved." 
 
 " Saved ! " repeated Guest, with incredulous contempt. 
 
 " Ay ! " said Pereo haughtily, drawing his figure erect ; 
 
MARUJA 63 
 
 " ay, saved ! Senor." He stopped and shrugged his shoul- 
 ders. "But let it pass I say let it pass. Take an old 
 man's advice, friend : show not your gold hereafter to 
 strangers lightly, no matter how lightly you have come by 
 it. Good-night ! " 
 
 Guest for a moment hesitated whether to resent the old 
 man's speech, or to let it pass as the incoherent fancy of a 
 brain maddened by drink. Then he ended the discussion 
 by turning his back abruptly and continuing his way to the 
 highroad. 
 
 " So ! " said Pereo, looking after him with abstracted 
 eyes, " so ! it was only a fancy. And yet even now, as 
 he turned away, I saw the same cold insolence in his eye. 
 Caramba ! Am I mad mad that I must keep forever 
 before my eyes, night and day, the image of that dog in 
 every outcast, every ruffian, every wayside bully that I 
 meet ? No, no, good Pereo ! Softly ! this is mere madness, 
 good Pereo," he murmured to himself ; " thou wilt have none 
 of it ; none, good Pereo. Come, come ! " He let his head 
 fall slowly forward on his breast, and in that action, seem- 
 ing to take up again the burden of a score more years upon 
 his shoulders, he moved slowly away. 
 
 When he entered the fonda half an hour later, the awe 
 in which he was held by the half-superstitious ruffians 
 appeared to have increased. Whatever story the fugitive 
 Miguel had told his companions regarding Pereo's protection 
 of the young stranger, it was certain that it had its full 
 effect. Obsequious to the last degree, the landlord was so 
 profoundly touched, when Pereo, not displeased with this 
 evidence of his power over his countrymen, condescendingly 
 offered to click glasses with him, that he endeavored to 
 placate him still further. 
 
 " It is a pity your worship was not here earlier," he be- 
 gan, with a significant glance at the others, " to have seen a 
 gallant young stranger that was here. A spice of wickedness 
 
64 MARUJA 
 
 about him, truly a kind of Don Caesar but bearing 
 himself like a very caballero always. It would have pleased 
 your worship, who likes not these canting Puritans such as 
 our neighbor yonder." 
 
 "Ah," said Pereo reflectively, warming under the potent 
 fires of flattery and aguardiente, " possibly I have seen him. 
 He was like " 
 
 " Like none of the dogs thou hast seen about San Antonio," 
 interrupted the landlord. " Scarcely did- he seem Ameri- 
 cano, though he spoke no Spanish." 
 
 The old man chuckled to himself viciously. "And thou, 
 thou old fool, Pereo, must needs see a likeness to thine 
 enemy in this poor runaway child this fugitive Don Juan ! 
 He ! he ! " Nevertheless, he still felt a vague terror of the 
 condition of mind which had produced this fancy, and drank 
 so deeply to dispel his nervousness that it was with difficulty 
 he could mount his horse again. The exaltation of liquor, 
 however, appeared only to intensify his characteristics : his 
 face became more lugubrious and melancholy ; his manner 
 more ceremonious and dignified ; and erect and stiff in his 
 saddle from the waist upwards, but leaning from side to side 
 with the motion of his horse, like the tall mast of some 
 laboring sloop, he " loped " away towards the House of the 
 Lost Mission. Once or twice he broke into sentimental 
 song. Strangely enough, his ditty was a popular Spanish 
 refrain of some matador's aristocratic inamorata : 
 
 Do you see my black eyes ? 
 I am Manuel's Duchess, 
 
 sang Pereo, with infinite gravity. His horse's hoofs 
 seemed to keep time with the refrain, and he occasionally 
 waved in the air the long leather thong of his bridle-rein. 
 
 It was quite late when he reached La Mision Perdida. 
 Turning into the little lane that led to the stable-yard, he 
 dismounted at a gate in the hedge which led to the sum- 
 mer-house of the old Mision garden, and throwing his 
 
MARUJA 65 
 
 reins on his mustang's neck, let the animal precede him to 
 the stables. The moon shone full on the inclosure as he 
 emerged from the labyrinth. With uncovered head he 
 approached the Indian mound, and sank on his knees be- 
 fore it. 
 
 The next moment he rose, with an exclamation of terror, 
 and his hat dropped from his trembling hand. Directly 
 before him, a small, gray, wolfish-looking animal had 
 stopped halfway down the mound on encountering his 
 motionless figure. Frightened by his outcry, and unable 
 to retreat, the shadowy depredator had fallen back on his 
 slinking haunches with a snarl, and bared teeth that glit- 
 tered in the moonlight. 
 
 In an instant the expression of terror on the old man's 
 ashen face turned into a fixed look of insane exaltation. 
 His white lips moved; he advanced a step further, and 
 held out both hands towards the crouching animal. 
 
 " So ! It is thou at last ! And comest thou here 
 thy tardy Pereo to chide ? Comest thou, too, to tell the 
 poor old man his heart is cold, his limbs are feeble, his 
 brain weak and dizzy ? that he is no longer fit to do thy 
 master's work ? Ay, gnash thy teeth at him ! Curse 
 him ! curse him in thy throat ! But listen ! listen, 
 good friend I will tell thee a secret ay, good gray 
 friar, a secret such a secret ! A plan, all mine fresh 
 from this old gray head ; ha ! ha ! all mine ! To be 
 wrought by these poor old arms ; ha ! ha ! All mine ! 
 Listen ! " 
 
 He stealthily made a step nearer the affrighted animal. 
 With a sudden sidelong snap, it swiftly bounded by his 
 side, and vanished in the thicket ; and Pereo, turning 
 wildly, with a moan sank down helplessly on the grave of 
 his forefathers. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 To the open chagrin of most of the gentlemen and the 
 unexpected relief of some of her own sex, Maruja, after an 
 evening of more than usual caprice and willfulness, retired 
 early to her chamber. Here she beguiled Enriquita, a 
 younger sister, to share her solitude for an hour, and with 
 a new and charming melancholy presented her with mature 
 counsel and some younger trinkets and adornments. 
 
 " Thou wilt find them but folly, 'Riquita ; but thou art 
 young, and wilt outgrow them as I have. I am sick of 
 the Indian beads, everybody wears them ; but they seem 
 to suit thy complexion. Thou art not yet quite old enough 
 for jewelry ; but take thy choice of these." " 'Ruja," 
 replied Enriquita eagerly, " surely thou wilt not give up 
 this necklace of carved amber, that was brought thee from 
 Manilla ? it becomes thee so ! Everybody says it. All 
 the caballeros, Raymond and Victor, swear that it sets off 
 thy beauty like nothing else." " When thou knowest 
 men better,' 7 responded Maruja in a deep voice, " thou 
 wilt care less for what they say, and despise what they do. 
 Besides, I wore it to-day and I hate it." " But what 
 fan wilt thou keep thyself ? The one of sandalwood 
 thou hadst to-day ? " continued Enriquita, timidly eying 
 the pretty things upon the table. " None," responded 
 Maruja didactically, " but the simplest, which I shall buy 
 myself. Truly, it is time to set one's self against this 
 extravagance. Girls think nothing of spending as much 
 upon a fan as would buy a horse and saddle for a poor 
 man." " But why so serious to-night, my sister ? " said 
 
MARUJA 67 
 
 the little Enriquita, her eyes filling with ready tears. " It 
 grieves me/ 7 responded Maruja promptly, "to find thee, 
 like the rest, giving thy soul up to the mere glitter of the 
 world. However, go, child, take the beads, but leave the 
 amber ; it would make thee yellower than thou art, which 
 the Blessed Virgin forbid ! Good-night ! " 
 
 She kissed her affectionately, and pushed her from the 
 room. Nevertheless, after a moment's survey of her lonely 
 chamber, she hastily slipped on a pale satin dressing-gown, 
 and darting across the passage, dashed into the bedroom of 
 the youngest Miss Wilson, haled that sentimental brunette 
 from her night toilet, dragged her into her own chamber, 
 and enwrapping her in a huge mantle of silk and gray fur, 
 fed her with chocolates and chestnuts, and reclining on her 
 sympathetic shoulder, continued her arraignment of the 
 world and its follies until nearly daybreak. 
 
 It was past noon when Maruja awoke, to find Faquita 
 standing by her bedside with ill-concealed impatience. 
 
 " I ventured to awaken the Dona Maruja," she said, with 
 vivacious alacrity, " for news ! Terrible news ! The 
 American, Dr. West, is found dead this morning in the San 
 Josd road ! " 
 
 " Dr. West dead ! " repeated Maruja thoughtfully, but 
 without emotion. 
 
 " Surely dead very dead. He was thrown from his 
 horse and dragged by the stirrups how far, the Blessed 
 Virgin only knows. But he is found dead this Dr. West 
 his foot in the broken stirrup, his hand holding a piece 
 of the bridle ! I thought I would waken the Dona Maruja, 
 that no one else should break it to the Dona Maria." 
 
 " That no one else should break it to my mother ? " 
 repeated Maruja coldly. " What mean you, girl ? " 
 
 " I mean that no stranger should tell her," stammered 
 Faquita, lowering her bold eyes. 
 
 " You mean," said Maruja slowly, " that no silly, star- 
 
68 MARUJA 
 
 ing, tongue-wagging gossip should dare to break upon the 
 morning devotions of the lady mother with open-mouthed 
 tales of horror ! You are wise, Faquita ! I will tell her 
 myself. Help me to dress." 
 
 But the news had already touched the outer shell of the 
 great house, and little groups of the visitors were discussing 
 it upon the veranda. For once, the idle badinage of a 
 pleasure-seeking existence was suspended ; stupid people 
 with facts came to the fore ; practical people with inquir- 
 ing minds became interesting ; servants were confidentially 
 appealed to ; the local expressman became a hero, and it 
 was even noticed that he was intelligent and good looking. 
 
 " What makes it more distressing," said Raymond, joining 
 one of the groups, " is, that it appears the Doctor visited 
 Mrs. Saltonstall last evening, and left the casa at eleven. 
 Sanchez, who was perhaps the last person who saw him 
 alive, says that he noticed his horse was very violent, and 
 the Doctor did not seem able to control him. The accident 
 probably happened half an hour later, as he was picked up 
 about three miles from here, and from appearances must 
 have been dragged, with his foot in the stirrup, fully half 
 a mile before the girth broke and freed the saddle and 
 stirrup together. The mustang, with nothing on but his 
 broken bridle, was found grazing at the rancho as early as 
 four o'clock, an hour before the body of his master was 
 discovered by the men sent from the rancho to look for 
 him." 
 
 " Eh, but the man must have been clean daft to have 
 trusted himself to one of those savage beasts of the coun- 
 try," said Mr. Buchanan. "And he was no so young 
 either about sixty, I should say. It didna look even 
 respectable, I remember, when we met him the other day, 
 careering over the country for all the world like one of 
 those crazy Mexicans. And yet he seemed steady and sen- 
 sible enough when he didna let his schemes of ' improve- 
 
MARUJA 69 
 
 merits' run away with him like yon furious beastie. Eh 
 well, puir man it was a sudden ending ! And his family 
 eh ? " 
 
 " I don't think he has one at least here/ 7 said R-ay- 
 mond. " You can't always tell in California. I believe 
 he was a widower." 
 
 " Ay, man, but the heirs ; there must be considerable 
 property ? " said Buchanan impatiently. 
 
 " Oh, the heirs. If he 's made no will, which does n't 
 look like so prudent and practical a man as he was the 
 heirs will probably crop up some day.' 7 
 
 " Probably ! crop up some day," repeated Buchanan 
 aghast. 
 
 " Yes. You must remember that we don't take heirs 
 quite as much into account as you do in the old country. 
 The loss of the man, and how to replace him, is much 
 more to us than the disposal of his property. Now, Dr. 
 West was a power far beyond his actual possessions and 
 we will know very soon how much those were dependent 
 upon him." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Buchanan anxiously. 
 
 " I mean that five minutes after the news of the Doctor's 
 death was confirmed, your friend Mr. Stanton sent a mes- 
 senger with a dispatch to the nearest telegraphic office, and 
 that he himself drove over to catch Aladdin before the 
 news could reach him." 
 
 Buchanan looked uneasy ; so did one or two of the 
 native Californians who composed the group, and who had 
 been listening attentively. " And where is this same tele- 
 graphic office ? " asked Buchanan cautiously. 
 
 " I '11 drive you over there presently," responded Ray- 
 mond grimly. " There '11 be nothing doing here to-day. As 
 Dr. West was a near neighbor of the family, his death sus- 
 pends our pleasure-seeking until after the funeral." 
 
 Mr. Buchanan moved away. Captain Carroll and Gar- 
 
70 MARUJA 
 
 nier drew nearer the speaker. " I trust it will not withdraw 
 from us the society of Miss Saltonstall," said Gamier 
 lightly "at least, that she will not be inconsolable." 
 
 " She did not seem to be particularly sympathetic with 
 Dr. West the other day/ 7 said Captain Carroll, coloring 
 slightly with the recollection of the morning in the sum- 
 mer-house, yet willing, in his hopeless passion, even to 
 share that recollection with his rival. " Did you not think 
 so, Monsieur Gamier ? " 
 
 " Very possibly ; and as Miss Saltonstall is quite artless 
 and childlike in the expression of her likes and dislikes," 
 said Raymond, with the faintest touch of irony, " you can 
 judge as well as I can.' 7 
 
 Gamier parried the thrust lightly. " You are no kinder 
 to our follies than you are to the grand passions of these 
 gentlemen. Confess, you frightened them horribly. You 
 are what is called a bear eh ? You depreciate in 
 the interests of business. 77 
 
 Raymond did not at first appear to notice the sarcasm. 
 " I only stated, 7 ' he said gravely, " that which these gen- 
 tlemen will find out for themselves before they are many 
 hours older. Dr. West was the brain of the country, as 
 Aladdin is its life-blood. It only remains to be seen how 
 far the loss of that brain affects the county. The Stock 
 Exchange market in San Francisco will indicate that to-day 
 in the shares of the San Antonio and Soquel Railroad and 
 the West Mills and Manufacturing Co. It is a matter that 
 may affect even our friends here. Whatever West's social 
 standing was in this house, lately he was in confidential 
 business relations with Mrs. Saltonstall.' 7 He raised his 
 eyes for the first time to Gamier as he added slowly, " It 
 is to be hoped that if our hostess has no social reasons to 
 deplore the loss of Dr. West, she at least will have no 
 other. 77 
 
 With a lover's instinct, conscious only of some annoy- 
 
MARUJA 71 
 
 ance to Maruja, in all this, Carroll anxiously looked for her 
 appearance among the others. He was doomed to disap- 
 pointment, however. His half-timid inquiries only resulted 
 in the information that Maruja was closeted with her 
 mother. The penetralia of the casa was only accessible to 
 the family ; yet as he wandered uneasily about, he could 
 not help passing once or twice before the quaint low arch- 
 way, with its grated door, that opened from the central 
 hall. His surprise may be imagined when he suddenly 
 heard his name uttered in a low voice ; and looking up, he 
 beheld the soft eyes of Maruja at the grating. 
 
 She held the door partly open with one little hand, and 
 made a sign for him to enter with the other. When he 
 had done so, she said, " Come with me," and preceded him 
 down the dim corridor. His heart beat thickly ; the in- 
 cense of this sacred inner life, with its faint suggestion of 
 dead rose leaves, filled him with a voluptuous languor ; his 
 breath was lost, as if a soft kiss had taken it away ; his 
 senses swam in the light mist that seemed to suffuse every- 
 thing. His step trembled as she suddenly turned aside, 
 and, opening a door, ushered him into a small vaulted 
 chamber. 
 
 In the first glance it seemed to be an oratory or chapel. 
 A large gold and ebony crucifix hung on the wall. There 
 was a priedieu of heavy dark mahogany in the centre of 
 the tiled floor ; there was a low ottoman or couch, covered 
 with a mantle of dark violet velvet, like a pall ; there were 
 two quaintly carved stiff chairs ; a religious, almost ascetic, 
 air pervaded the apartment ; but no dreamy Eastern seraglio 
 could have affected him with an intoxication so profoundly 
 and mysteriously sensuous. 
 
 Maruja pointed to a chair, and then, with a peculiarly 
 feminine movement, placed herself sideways upon the otto- 
 man, half reclining on her elbow on a high cushion, her 
 deep billowy flounces partly veiling the funereal velvet be- 
 
72 MARUJA 
 
 low. Her oval face was pale and melancholy, her eyes 
 moist as if with recent tears ; an expression as of troubled 
 passion lurked in their depths and in the corners of her 
 mouth. Scarcely knowing why, Carroll fancied that thus 
 she might appear if she were in love j and the daring 
 thought made him tremble. 
 
 " I wanted to speak with you alone," she said gently, 
 as if in explanation ; " but don't look at me so. I have 
 had a bad night, and now this calamity," she stopped, 
 and then added softly, " I want you to do a favor for 
 my mother ? " 
 
 Captain Carroll, with an effort, at last found his voice. 
 " But you are in trouble ; you are suffering. I had no idea 
 this unfortunate affair came so near to you." 
 
 " Nor did I," said Maruja, closing her fan with a slight 
 snap. "I knew nothing of it until my mother told me 
 this morning. To be frank with you, it now appears that 
 Dr. West was her most intimate business adviser. All her 
 affairs were in his hands. I cannot explain how, or why, 
 or when ; but it is so." 
 
 " And is that all ? " said Carroll, with boyish openness 
 of relief. " And you have no other sorrow ?" 
 
 In spite of herself, a tender smile, such as she might 
 have bestowed on an impulsive boy, broke on her lips. 
 " And is that not enough ? What would you ? No 
 sit where you are ! We are here to talk seriously. And 
 you do not ask what is this favor my mother wishes ? " 
 
 " No matter what it is, it shall be done," said Carroll 
 quickly. " I am your mother's slave if she will but let 
 me serve at your side. Only," he paused, " I wish it was 
 not business I know nothing of business." 
 
 " If it were only business, Captain Carroll," said Maruja 
 slowly, " I would have spoken to Raymond or the Senor 
 Buchanan ; if it were only confidence, Pereo, our major- 
 domo, would have dragged himself from his sick-bed this 
 
MARUJA 73 
 
 morning to do my mother's bidding. But it is more than 
 that it is the functions of a gentleman and my mother, 
 Captain Carroll, would like to say of a friend." 
 
 He seized her hand and covered it with kisses. She 
 withdrew it gently. 
 
 " What have I to do ? " he asked eagerly. 
 
 She drew a note from her belt. " It is very simple. 
 You must ride over to Aladdin with that note. You must 
 give it to him alone more than that, you must not let 
 any one who may be there think you are making any but a 
 social call. If he keeps you to dine you must stay 
 you will bring back anything he may give you, and deliver 
 it to me secretly for her." 
 
 "Is that all ? " asked Carroll, with a slight touch of dis- 
 appointment in his tone. 
 
 " No," said Maruja, rising impulsively. " No, Captain 
 Carroll it is not all ! And you shall know all, if only 
 to prove to you how we confide in you and to leave you 
 free, after you have heard it, to do as you please." She 
 stood before him, quite white, opening and shutting her fan 
 quickly, and tapping the tiled floor with her little foot. " I 
 have told you Dr. West was my mother's business adviser. 
 She looked upon him as more as a friend. Do you know 
 what a dangerous thing it is for a woman who has lost one 
 protector to begin to rely upon another ? Well, my mother 
 is not yet old. Dr. West appreciated her Dr. West did 
 not depreciate himself two things that go far with a 
 woman, Captain Carroll, and my mother is a woman." She 
 paused, and then, with a light toss of her fan, said : " Well, 
 to make an end, but for this excellent horse and this too 
 ambitious rider, one knows not how far the old story of my 
 mother's first choice would have been repeated, and the 
 curse of Koorotora again fallen on the land." 
 
 " And you tell me this you, Maruja you who 
 warned me against my hopeless passion for you ? " 
 
74 MARUJA 
 
 " Could I foresee this ? " ske said passionately ; " and 
 are you mad enough not to see that this very act would 
 have made your suit intolerable to my relations ? " 
 
 " Then you did think of my suit, Maruja ? " he said, 
 grasping her hand. 
 
 " Or any one's suit," she continued hurriedly, turning 
 away with a slight increase of color in her cheeks. After a 
 moment's pause, she added, in a gentler and half-reproachful 
 voice, " Do you think I have confided my mother's story 
 to you for this purpose only ? Is this the help you proffer ? " 
 
 " Forgive me, Maruja," said the young officer earnestly. 
 " I am selfish, I know for I love you. But you have 
 not told me yet how I could help your mother by delivering 
 this letter, which any one could do." 
 
 " Let me finish, then," said Maruja. " It is for you to 
 judge what may be done. Letters have passed between my 
 mother and Dr. West. My mother is imprudent ; I know 
 not what she may have written, or what she might not 
 write, in confidence. But you understand, they are not 
 letters to be made public nor to pass into any hands but 
 hers. They are not to be left to be bandied about by his 
 American friends ; to be commented upon by strangers ; to 
 reach the ears of the Guitierrez. They belong to that grave 
 which lies between the Past and my mother ; they must not 
 rise from it to haunt her." 
 
 " I understand," said the young officer quietly. " This 
 letter, then, is my authority to recover them ? " 
 
 "Partly, though it refers to other matters. This Mr. 
 Prince, whom you Americans call Aladdin, was a friend of 
 Dr. West ; they were associated in business, and he will 
 probably have access" to his papers. The rest we must 
 leave to you." 
 
 " I think you may," said Carroll simply. 
 
 Maruja stretched out her hand. The young man bent 
 over it respectfully and moved towards the door. 
 
MARUJA 75 
 
 She had expected him to make some protestation per- 
 haps even to claim some reward. But the instinct which 
 made him forbear even in thought to take advantage of the 
 duty laid upon him, which dominated even his miserable 
 passion for her, and made it subservient to his exaltation of 
 honor ; this epaulet of the officer, and blood of the gentle- 
 man, this simple possession of knighthood not laid on by 
 perfunctory steel, but springing from within all this, I 
 grieve to say, was partly unintelligible to Maruja, and not 
 entirely satisfactory. Since he had entered the room they 
 seemed to have changed their situations ; he was no longer 
 the pleading lover that trembled at her feet. For one base 
 moment she thought it was the result of his knowledge of 
 her mother's weakness ; but the next instant, meeting his 
 clear glance, she colored with shame. Yet she detained 
 him vaguely a moment before the grated door in the secure 
 shadow of the arch. He might have kissed her there ! 
 He did not. 
 
 In the gloomy stagnation of the great house, it was natu- 
 ral that he should escape from it for a while, and the 
 saddling of his horse for a solitary ride attracted no atten- 
 tion. But it might have been noticed that his manner had 
 lost much of that nervous susceptibility and anxiety which 
 indicates a lover ; and it was with a return of his profes- 
 sional coolness and precision that he rode out of the patio 
 as if on parade. Erect, observant, and self-possessed, he- 
 felt himself " on duty," and putting spurs to his horse, 
 cantered along the highroad, finding an inexpressible re- 
 lief in motion. He was doing something in the interest 
 of helplessness and of her. He had no doubt of his right 
 to interfere. He did not bother himself with the rights 
 of others. Like all self-contained men, he had no plan 
 of action, except what the occasion might suggest. 
 
 He was more than two miles from La Mision Perdida, 
 when his quick eye was attracted by a saddle-blanket lying 
 in the roadside ditch. A recollection of the calamity of the 
 
76 MARUJA 
 
 previous night made him rein in his horse and examine it. 
 It was without doubt the saddle-blanket of Dr. West's 
 horse, lost when the saddle came off, after the Doctor's 
 body had been dragged by the runaway beast. But a sec- 
 ond fact forced itself equally upon the young officer. It 
 was lying nearly a mile from the spot where the body had 
 been picked up. This certainly did not agree with the ac- 
 cepted theory that the accident had taken place further on, 
 and that the body had been dragged until the saddle came 
 off where it was found. His professional knowledge of 
 equitation and the technique of accoutrements exploded the 
 idea that the saddle could have slipped here, the saddle- 
 blanket fallen, and the horse have run nearly a mile ham- 
 pered by the saddle hanging under him. Consequently, the 
 saddle, blanket, and unfortunate rider must have been pre- 
 cipitated together, and at the same moment, on or near 
 this very spot. Captain Carroll was not a detective ; he 
 had no theory to establish, no motive to discover, only as 
 an officer, he would have simply rejected any excuse offered 
 on those terms by one of his troopers to account for a simi- 
 lar accident. He troubled himself with no further deduc- 
 tion. Without dismounting, he gave a closer attention to 
 the marks of struggling hoofs near the edge of the ditch, 
 which had not yet been obliterated by the daily travel. In 
 doing so, his horse's hoof struck a small object partly hid- 
 den in the thick dust of the highway. It seemed to be a 
 leather letter or memorandum case adapted for the breast 
 pocket. Carroll instantly dismounted and picked it up. 
 The name and address of Dr. West were legibly written on 
 the inside. It contained a few papers and notes, but no- 
 thing more. The possibility that it might disclose the let- 
 ters he was seeking was a hope quickly past. It was only 
 a corroborative fact that the accident had taken place on 
 the spot where he was standing. He was losing time ; he 
 hurriedly put the book in his pocket, and once more 
 spurred forward on his road. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE exterior of Aladdin's Palace, familiar as it already 
 was to Carroll, struck him that afternoon as looking more 
 than usually unreal, ephemeral, and unsubstantial. The 
 Moorish arches, of the thinnest white pine ; the arabesque 
 screens and lattices that looked as if made of pierced card- 
 board ; the golden minarets that seemed to be glued to the 
 shell-like towers, and the hollow battlements that visibly 
 warped and cracked in the fierce sunlight, all appeared 
 more than ever like a theatrical scene that might sink 
 through the ground, or vanish on either side to the sound 
 of the prompter's whistle. Recalling Raymond's cynical 
 insinuations, he could not help fancying that the house had 
 been built by a conscientious genie with a view to the pos- 
 sibility of the lamp and the ring passing, with other effects, 
 into the hands of the sheriff. 
 
 Nevertheless, the servant who took Captain Carroll's 
 horse summoned another domestic, who preceded him into 
 a small waiting-room off the gorgeous central hall, which 
 looked not unlike the private bar-room of a first-class hotel, 
 and presented him with a sherry cobbler. It was a pecu- 
 liarity of Aladdin's Palace that the host seldom did the 
 honors of his own house, but usually deputed the task to 
 some friend, and generally the last newcomer. Carroll was 
 consequently not surprised when he was presently joined 
 by an utter stranger, who again pressed upon him the 
 refreshment he had just declined. " You see," said the 
 transitory host, " 1 7 m a stranger myself here, and have n't 
 got the ways of the regular customers ; but call for anything 
 
78 MARUJA 
 
 you like, and I '11 see it got for you. Jim " (the actual 
 Christian name of Aladdin) " is headin' a party through the 
 stables. Would you like to join 'em they ain't more than 
 half through now or will you come right to the billiard- 
 room the latest thing out in stained glass and iron ez 
 pretty as fresh paint ? or will you meander along to the 
 bridal suite, and see the bamboo and silver dressing-room, 
 and the white satin and crystal bed that cost fifteen thousand 
 dollars as it stands. Or," he added confidentially, " would 
 you like to cut the whole cussed thing, and I '11 get out 
 Jim's 2.32 trotter and his spider-legged buggy, and we '11 
 take a spin over to the Springs afore dinner ? " It was, 
 however, more convenient to Carroll's purpose to conceal 
 his familiarity with the Aladdin treasures, and to politely 
 offer to follow his guide through the house. " I reckon 
 Jim's pretty busy just now," continued the stranger ; " what 
 with old Doc West going under so suddent, just ez he 'd got 
 things boomin' with that railroad and his manufactory com- 
 pany. The stocks went down to nothing this morning; 
 and 'twixt you and me, the boys say," he added, mysteri- 
 ously sinking his voice, " it was jest the tightest squeeze 
 there whether there wouldn't be a general burst-up all 
 round. But Jim was over at San Antonio afore the Doctor's 
 body was laid out ; just ran that telegraph himself for about 
 two hours ; had a meeting of trustees and directors afore the 
 Coroner came ; had the Doctor's books and papers brought 
 over here in a buggy, and another meeting before luncheon. 
 Why, by the time the other fellows began to drop in to 
 know if the Doctor was really dead, Jim Prince had dis- 
 counted the whole affair two years ahead. Why, bless you, 
 nearly everybody is in it. That Spanish woman over there, 
 with the pretty daughter that high-toned Greaser with 
 the big house you know who I mean "... 
 
 " I don't think I do," said Carroll coldly. " I know a 
 lady named Saltonstall, with several daughters." 
 
MARUJA 79 
 
 " That 's her ; thought 1 'd seen you there once. Well, 
 the Doctor 's got her into it, up to the eyes. I reckon she 's 
 mortgaged everything to him." 
 
 It required all Carroll's trained self-possession to prevent 
 his garrulous guide from reading his emotion in his face. 
 This, then, was the secret of Maruja's melancholy. Poor 
 child ! how bravely she had borne up under it ; and he, in 
 his utter selfishness, had never suspected it. Perhaps that 
 letter was her delicate way of breaking the news to him, for 
 he should certainly now hear it all from Aladdin's lips. 
 And this man, who evidently had succeeded to the control 
 of Dr. West's property, doubtless had possession of the 
 letters too ! Humph ! He shut his lips firmly together, 
 and strode along by the side of his innocent guide, erect and 
 defiant. 
 
 He did not have long to wait. The sound of voices, the 
 opening of doors, and the trampling of feet indicated that 
 the other party were being " shown over " that part of the 
 building Carroll and his companion were approaching. 
 
 " There 's Jim and his gang now," said his cicerone ; 
 " I '11 tell him you 're here, and step out of this show busi- 
 ness myself. So long! I reckon I'll see you at dinner." 
 At this moment Prince and a number of ladies and gentle- 
 men appeared at the further end of the hall ; his late guide 
 joined them, and apparently indicated Carroll's presence, as, 
 with a certain lounging, off-duty, officer-like way, the young 
 man sauntered on. 
 
 Aladdin, like others of his class, objected to the military, 
 theoretically and practically ; but he was not above recog- 
 nizing their social importance in a country of no society, 
 and of being fascinated by Carroll's quiet and secure self- 
 possession and self -contentment in a community of restless 
 ambition and aggressive assertion. He came forward to 
 welcome him cordially ; he introduced him with an air of 
 satisfaction ; he would have preferred if he had been in 
 
80 MARU^A 
 
 uniform, but he contented himself with the fact that Carroll, 
 like all men of disciplined limbs, carried himself equally 
 well in mufti. 
 
 " You have shown us everything," said Carroll, smiling, 
 " except the secret chamber where you keep the magic lamp 
 and ring. Are we not to see the spot where the incantation 
 that produces these marvels is held, even if we are forbidden 
 to witness the ceremony ? The ladies are dying to see your 
 sanctum your study your workshop where you really 
 live." 
 
 " You '11 find it a mere den, as plain as my bedroom," 
 said Prince, who prided himself on the Spartan simplicity 
 of his own habits, and was not averse to the exhibition. 
 "Come this way." He crossed the hall, and entered a 
 small, plainly furnished room, containing a table piled with 
 papers, some of which were dusty and worn-looking. Carroll 
 instantly conceived the idea that these were Dr. West's 
 property. He took his letter quietly from his pocket; and 
 when the attention of the others was diverted, laid it on the 
 table, with the remark, in an undertone, audible only to 
 Prince, " From Mrs. Saltonstall." 
 
 Aladdin had that sublime audacity which so often fills 
 the place of tact. Casting a rapid glance at Carroll, he 
 cried, " Hallo ! " and wheeling suddenly round on his 
 following guests, with a bewildering extravagance of play- 
 ful brusqueness, actually bundled them from the room. 
 " The incantation is on ! " he cried, waving his arms in 
 the air ; "the genie is at work. No admittance except on 
 business ! Follow Miss Wilson," he added, clapping both 
 hands on the shoulders of the prettiest and shyest young 
 lady of the party, with an irresistible paternal familiarity. 
 " She 's your hostess. I '11 honor her drafts to any 
 amount ; " and before they were aware of his purpose, or 
 that Carroll was no longer among them, Aladdin had closed 
 the door, that shut with a spring-lock, and was alone with 
 
MARUJA 81 
 
 the young man. He walked quickly to his desk, took up 
 the letter, and opened it. 
 
 His face of dominant, self-satisfied good humor became 
 set and stern. Without taking the least notice of Carroll, 
 he rose, and stepping to a telegraph instrument at a side 
 table, manipulated half a dozen ivory knobs with a sudden 
 energy. Then he returned to the table, and began hur- 
 riedly to glance over the memoranda and indorsements of 
 the files of papers piled upon it. Carroll's quick eye caught 
 sight of a small packet of letters in a writing of unmistaka- 
 ble feminine delicacy, and made certain they were the ones 
 he was in quest of. Without raising his eyes, Mr. Prince 
 asked, almost rudely : 
 
 " Who else has she told this to ? " 
 
 " If you refer to the contents of that letter, it was written 
 and handed to me about three hours ago. It has not been 
 out of my possession since then.' 1 
 
 " Humph ! Who 's at the casa ? There 's Buchanan, 
 and Raymond, and Victor Guitierrez, eh ? " 
 
 " I think I can say almost positively that Mrs. Saltonstall 
 has seen no one but her daughter since the news reached 
 her, if that is what you wish to know," said Carroll, still 
 following the particular package of letters with his eyes, as 
 Mr. Prince continued his examination. Prince stopped. 
 
 " Are you sure ? " 
 
 " Almost sure." 
 
 Prince rose, this time with a greater ease of manner, and 
 going to the table, ran his fingers over the knobs, as if me- 
 chanically. " One would like to know at once all there is 
 to know about a transaction that changes the front of four 
 millions of capital in about four hours, eh, Captain ? " he 
 said, for the first time really regarding his guest. " Just 
 four hours ago, in this very room, we found out that the 
 widow Saltonstall owed Dr. West about a million, tied up 
 in investments, and we calculated to pull her through with 
 
82 MARUJA 
 
 perhaps the loss of half. If she 's got this assignment of 
 the Doctor's property that she speaks of in her letter, as 
 collateral security, and it 's all regular, and she so to 
 speak steps into Dr. West's place, by G- d, sir, we owe 
 him about three millions, and we 've got to settle with her 
 and that's all about it. You've dropped a little bomb- 
 shell in here, Captain, and the splinters are flying around as 
 far as San Francisco, now. I confess it beats me regularly. 
 I always thought the old man was a little keen over there 
 at the casa but she was a woman, and he was a man for 
 all his sixty years, and that combination I never thought 
 of. I only wonder she had n't gobbled him up before." 
 
 Captain Carroll's face betrayed no trace of the bewilder- 
 ment and satisfaction at this news of which he had been 
 the unconscious bearer, nor of resentment at the coarseness 
 of its translation. 
 
 " There does not seem to be any memorandum of this 
 assignment," continued Prince, turning over the papers. 
 
 " Have you looked here ? " said Carroll, taking up the 
 packet of letters. 
 
 " No they seem to me some private letters she refers 
 to in this letter, and that she wants back again." 
 
 " Let us see," said Carroll, untying the packet. There 
 were three or four closely written notes in Spanish and 
 English. 
 
 " Love-letters, I reckon," said Prince " that ? s why 
 the old girl wants 'em back. She don't care to have the 
 wheedling that fetched the Doctor trotted out to the 
 public." 
 
 "Let us look more carefully," said Carroll pleasantly, 
 opening each letter before Prince, yet so skillfully as to 
 frustrate any attempt of the latter to read them. " There 
 does not seem to be any memorandum here. They are 
 evidently only private letters." 
 
 " Quite so," said Prince. 
 
MARUJA 83 
 
 Captain Carroll retied the packet and put it in his pocket. 
 " Then I '11 return them to her/' he said quietly. 
 
 " Hullo ! here I say/' said Prince, starting to his 
 feet. 
 
 " I said I would return them to her/' repeated Carroll 
 calmly. 
 
 " But I never gave them to you ! I never consented to 
 their withdrawal from the papers." 
 
 " I 'm sorry you did not," said Carroll coldly ; " it 
 would have been more polite." 
 
 " Polite ! D n it, sir ! I call this stealing." 
 
 " Stealing, Mr. Prince, is a word that might be used by 
 the person who claims these letters to describe the act of 
 any one who would keep them from her. It really cannot 
 apply to you or me." 
 
 " Once for all, do you refuse to return them to me ? " 
 said Prince, pale with anger. 
 
 " Decidedly." 
 
 " Very well, sir ! We shall see." He stepped to the 
 corner and rang a bell. " I have summoned my manager, 
 and will charge you with the theft in his presence." 
 
 "I think not." 
 
 " And why, sir ? " 
 
 "Because the presence of a third party would enable 
 me to throw this glove in your face, which, as a gentleman, 
 I could n't do without witnesses." Steps were heard along 
 the passage ; Prince was no coward in a certain way ; 
 neither was he a fool. He knew that Carroll would keep 
 his word ; he knew that he should have to fight him ; that, 
 whatever the issue of the duel was, the cause of the quarrel 
 would be known, and scarcely redound to his credit. At 
 present there were no witnesses to the offered insult, and 
 none would be wiser. The letters were not worth it. He 
 stepped to the door, opened it, said, "No matter," and 
 closed it again. 
 
84 MARUJA 
 
 He returned with an affectation of carelessness. " You 
 are right. I don't know that I 'm called upon to make a 
 scene here which the law can do for me as well elsewhere. 
 It will settle pretty quick whether you 've got the right to 
 those letters, and whether you 've taken the right way to 
 get them, sir." 
 
 " I have no desire to evade any responsibility in this mat 
 ter, legal or otherwise," said Carroll coldly, rising to his feet. 
 
 " Look here," said Prince suddenly, with a return of his 
 brusque frankness ; " you might have asked me for those 
 letters, you know." 
 
 " And you would n't have given them to me," said Car- 
 roll. 
 
 Prince laughed. " That 's so ! I say, Captain. Did 
 they teach you this sort of strategy at West Point ? " 
 
 " They taught me that I could neither receive nor give 
 an insult under a white flag," said Carroll pleasantly. 
 " And they allowed me to make exchanges under the same 
 rule. I picked up this pocket-book on the spot where the 
 accident occurred to Dr. West. It is evidently his. I 
 leave it with you, who are his executor." 
 
 The instinct of reticence before a man with whom he 
 could never be confidential kept him from alluding to his 
 other discovery. 
 
 Prince took the pocket-book, and opened it mechanically. 
 After a moment's scrutiny of the memoranda it contained, 
 his face assumed something of the same concentrated atten- 
 tion it wore at the beginning of the interview. Raising his 
 eyes suddenly to Carroll, he said quickly : 
 
 " You have examined it ? " 
 
 " Only so far as to see that it contained nothing of impor- 
 tance to the person I represent," returned Carroll simply. 
 
 The capitalist looked at the young officer's clear eyes. 
 Something of embarrassment came into his own as he turned 
 them away. 
 
MAECJJA 85 
 
 " Certainly. Only memoranda of the Doctor's business. 
 Quite important to us, you know. But nothing referring to 
 your principal." He laughed. "Thank you for the ex- 
 change. I say take a drink ! " 
 
 "Thank you no!" returned Carroll, going to the 
 door. 
 
 " Well, good-by." 
 
 He held out his hand. Carroll, with his clear eyes still 
 regarding him, passed quietly by the outstretched hand, 
 opened the door, bowed and made his exit. 
 
 A slight flush came into Prince's cheek. Then, as the 
 door closed, he burst into a half laugh. Had he been a 
 dramatic villain, he would have added to it several lines of 
 soliloquy, in which he would have rehearsed the fact that 
 the opportunity for revenge had " come at last ; " that the 
 " haughty victor who had just left with his ill-gotten spoil 
 had put into his hands the weapon of his friend's destruc- 
 tion ; " that the " hour had come ; " and possibly he might 
 have said, " Ha ! ha ! " But being a practical, good-na- 
 tured, selfish rascal, not much better or worse than his 
 neighbors, he sat himself down at his desk and began to 
 carefully consider how he could best make use of the mem- 
 oranda jotted down by Dr. West of the proofs of the ex- 
 istence of his son, and the consequent discovery of a legal 
 heir to his property 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHEN Faquita had made sure that her young mistress was 
 so securely closeted with Dona Maria that morning as to be 
 inaccessible to curious eyes and ears, she saw fit to bewail 
 to her fellow servants this further evidence of the decay of 
 the old feudal and patriarchal mutual family confidences. 
 " Time was, thou rememberest, Pepita, when an affair of 
 this kind was openly discussed at chocolate with everybody 
 present and before us all. When Joaquin Padilla was shot 
 at Monterey, it was the Dona herself who told us, who read 
 aloud the letters describing it and the bullet-holes in his 
 clothes, and made it quite a gala day and he was a first 
 cousin of Guitierrez. And now, when this American goat 
 of a doctor is kicked to death by a mule, the family must 
 shut themselves up, that never a question is asked or an- 
 swered." "Ay," responded Pepita; "and as regards that, 
 Sanchez there knows as much as they do, for it was he that 
 almost saw the whole affair." 
 
 " How ? sawest it ? " inquired Faquita eagerly. 
 
 " Why, was it not he that was bringing home Pereo, who 
 had been lying in one of his trances or visions blessed 
 St. Antonio preserve us ! " said Pepita, hastily crossing 
 herself " on Koorotora's grave, when the Doctor's mus- 
 tang charged down upon them like a wild bull, and the 
 Doctor's foot half out of the stirrups, and he not yet fast in 
 his seat ? And Pereo laughs a wild laugh and says : ' Watch 
 if the coyote does not drag yet at his mustang's heels ; ' and 
 Sanchez ran and watched the Doctor out of sight, careering 
 and galloping to his death ! ay, as Pereo prophesied. 
 
MARUJA 87 
 
 For it was only half an hour afterwards that Sanchez again 
 heard the tramp of his hoofs as if it were here and 
 knowing it two miles away thou understandest, he said to 
 himself { It is over.' ' 
 
 The two women shuddered and crossed themselves. 
 
 " And what says Pereo of the fulfillment of his pro- 
 phecy ? " asked Faquita, hugging herself in her shawl 
 with a certain titillating shrug of fascinating horror. 
 
 " It is even possible he understands it not. Thou know- 
 est how dazed and dumb he ever is after these visions 
 that he comes from them as one from the grave, remember- 
 ing nothing. He has lain like a log all the morning." 
 
 " Ay ; but this news should awaken him, if aught can. 
 He loved not this sneaking Doctor. Let us seek him ; 
 mayhap, Sanchez may be there. Come ! The mistress 
 lacks us not just now ; the guests are provided for. Come ! " 
 
 She led the way to the eastern angle of the casa com- 
 municating by a low corridor with the corral and stables. 
 This was the old " gate-keep " or quarters of the major- 
 domo, who, among his functions, was supposed to exercise 
 a supervision over the exits and entrances of the house. 
 A large steward's room or office, beyond it a room of gen- 
 eral assembly, half guard-room, half servants' hall, and 
 Pereo' s sleeping-room, constituted his domain. A few 
 peons were gathered in the hall near the open door of the 
 apartment where Pereo lay. 
 
 Stretched on a low pallet, his face yellow as wax, a light 
 burning under a crucifix near his head, and a spray of 
 blessed palm, popularly supposed to avert the attempts of 
 evil spirits to gain possession of his suspended faculties, 
 Pereo looked not unlike a corpse. Two muffled and 
 shawled domestics, who sat by his side, might have been 
 mourners, but for their voluble and incessant chattering. 
 
 " So thou art here, Faquita," said a stout virago. " It 
 is a wonder thou couldst spare time from prayers for the 
 
88 MARUJA 
 
 repose of the American Doctor's soul to look after the 
 health of thy superior, poor Pereo ! Is it, then, true that 
 Dona Maria said she would have naught more to do with 
 the drunken brute of her major-domo ? " 
 
 The awful fascination of Pereo's upturned face did not 
 prevent Faquita from tossing her head as she replied, 
 pertly, that she was not there to defend her mistress from 
 lazy gossip. " Nay, but what said she ? " asked the other 
 attendant. 
 
 " She said Ptreo was to want for nothing ; but at pre- 
 sent she could not see him." 
 
 A murmur of indignation and sympathy passed through 
 the company. It was followed by a long sigh from the 
 insensible man. "His lips move,' 7 said Faquita, still fas- 
 cinated by curiosity. " Hush ! he would speak." 
 
 " His lips move, but his soul is still asleep," said San- 
 chez oracularly. "Thus they have moved since early 
 morning, when I came to speak with him, and found him 
 lying here in a fit upon the floor. He was half dressed, 
 thou seest, as if he had risen to go forth, and had been 
 struck down so " 
 
 " Hush ! I tell thee he speaks," said Faquita. 
 
 The sick man was faintly articulating through a few 
 tiny bubbles that broke upon his rigid lips. " He 
 dared me ! He said I was old too old." 
 
 " Who dared thee ? Who said thou wast too old ? " 
 a,ked the eager Faquita, bending over him. 
 
 "He, Koorotora himself! in the shape of a coyote." 
 
 Faquita fell back with a little giggle, half of shame, 
 half of awe. 
 
 " It is ever thus," said Sanchez sententiously ; " it is 
 what he said last night, when I picked him up on the 
 mound. He will sleep now thou shalt see. He will 
 get no further than Koorotora and the coyote and then 
 he will sleep." 
 
MARUJA 89 
 
 And to the awe of the group, and the increased respect 
 for Sanchez's wisdom, Pereo seemed to fall again into a 
 lethargic slumber. It was late in the evening when he 
 appeared to regain perfect consciousness. "Ah what is 
 this ? " he said roughly, sitting up in bed, and eying the 
 watchers around him, some of whom had succumbed to 
 sleep, and others were engaged in playing cards. "Ca- 
 ramba ! are ye mad ? Thou, Sanchez, here ; who shouldst 
 be at thy work in the stables ! Thou, Pepita, is thy mis- 
 tress asleep or dead, that thou sittest here ? Blessed San 
 Antonio ! would ye drive me mad ? " He lifted his hand 
 to his head, with a dull movement of pain, and attempted 
 to rise from the bed. 
 
 " Softly, good Pereo ; lie still," said Sanchez, approach- 
 ing him. " Thou hast been ill so ill. These, thy 
 friends, have been waiting only for this moment to be 
 assured that thou art better. For this idleness there is no 
 blame truly none. The Dona Maria has said that thou 
 shouldst lack no care ; and, truly, since the terrible news 
 there has been little to do." 
 
 " The terrible news ? " repeated Pereo. 
 
 Sanchez cast a meaning glance upon the others, as if to 
 indicate this confirmation of his diagnosis. 
 
 " Ay, terrible news ! The Dr. West was found this 
 morning dead two miles from the casa." 
 
 " Dr. West dead ! " repeated Pereo slowly, as if endea- 
 voring to master the real meaning of the words. Then, seeing 
 the vacuity of his question reflected on the faces of those 
 around him, he added hurriedly, with a feeble smile, " O 
 
 ay dead ! Yes ! I remember. And he has been ill 
 
 very ill, eh ? " 
 
 " It was an accident. He was thrown from his horse, 
 and so killed," returned Sanchez gravely. 
 
 " Killed by his horse ! sayest thou ? " said Pereo, 
 with a sudden fixed look in his eye. 
 
90 MARUJA 
 
 " Ay, good Pereo. Dost thou not remember when the 
 mustang bolted with him down upon us in the lane, and 
 then thou didst say he would come to evil with the brute ? 
 He did blessed San Antonio ! within half an hour ! " 
 
 " How thou sawest it ? " 
 
 " Nay ; for the mustang was running away and I did not 
 follow. Bueno ! it happened all the same. The Alcalde, 
 Coroner, who knows all about it, has said so an hour ago. 
 Juan brought the news from the rancho where the inquest 
 was. There will be a funeral the day after to-morrow ! and 
 so it is that some of the family will go. Fancy, Pereo, a 
 Guitierrez at the funeral of the Americano Doctor ! Nay, I 
 doubt not that the Dona Maria will ask thee to say a prayer 
 over his bier." 
 
 " Peace, fool ! and speak not of thy lady mistress/' 
 thundered the old man, sitting upright. " Begone to the 
 stables. Dost thou hear me ? Go ! " 
 
 " Now, by the Mother of Miracles/ 7 said Sanchez, has- 
 tening from the room as the gaunt figure of the old man 
 rose, like a sheeted spectre, from the bed, " that was his 
 old self again ! Blessed San Antonio ! Pereo has recov- 
 ered/' 
 
 The next day he was at his usual duties, with perhaps a 
 slight increase of sternness in his manner. The fulfillment 
 of his prophecy related by Sanchez added to the supersti- 
 tious reputation in which he was held, although Faquita 
 voiced the opinions of a growing skeptical party in the 
 statement that it was easy to prophesy the Doctor's acci- 
 dent, with the spectacle of the horse actually running away 
 before the prophet's eyes. It was even said that Dona 
 Maria's aversion to Pereo since the accident arose from a 
 belief that some assistance might have been rendered by 
 him. But it was pointed out by Sanchez that Pereo had, 
 a few moments before, fallen under one of those singular, 
 epileptic-like strokes to which he was subject, and not only 
 
MARUJA 91 
 
 was unfit, but even required the entire care of Sanchez at 
 the time. He did not attend the funeral, nor did Mrs. 
 Saltonstall ; but the family was represented by Maruja and 
 Amita, accompanied by one or two dark-faced cousins, Cap- 
 tain Carroll, and Raymond. A number of friends and 
 business associates from the neighboring towns, Aladdin 
 and a party from his house, the farm laborers, and a crowd 
 of workingmen from his mills in the foot-hills, swelled the 
 assemblage that met in and around the rude agricultural 
 sheds and outhouses which formed the only pastoral habi- 
 tation of the E-ancho of San Antonio. It had been a char- 
 acteristic injunction of the deceased that he should be 
 buried in the midst of one of his most prolific grain-fields, 
 as a grim return to that nature he was impoverishing, with 
 neither mark nor monument to indicate the spot ; and that 
 even the temporary mound above him should, at the fitting 
 season of the year, be leveled with the rest of the field by 
 the obliterating ploughshares. A grave was accordingly dug 
 about a quarter of a mile from his office, amidst a " volun- 
 teer " crop so dense that the large space mown around the 
 narrow opening, to admit of the presence of the multitude, 
 seemed like a golden amphitheatre. 
 
 A distinguished clergyman from San Francisco officiated. 
 A man of tact and politic adaptation, he dwelt upon the 
 blameless life of the deceased, on his practical benefit for 
 civilization in the county, and even treated his grim Pan- 
 theism in the selection of his grave as a formal recognition 
 of the text, " dust to dust." He paid a not ungrateful 
 compliment to the business associates of the deceased, and, 
 without actually claiming in the usual terms "a continu- 
 ance of past favors " for their successors, managed to in- 
 terpolate so strong a recommendation of the late Doctor's 
 commercial projects as to elicit from Aladdin the expressive 
 commendation that his sermon was " as good as five per 
 cent, in the stock." 
 
92 MAEUJA 
 
 Maruja, who had been standing near the carriage, lan- 
 guidly silent and abstracted even under the tender atten- 
 tions of Carroll, suddenly felt the consciousness of another 
 pair of eyes fixed upon her. Looking up, she was surprised 
 to find herself regarded by the man she had twice met, once 
 as a tramp and once as a wayfarer at the fonda, who had 
 quietly joined a group not far from her. At once im- 
 pressed by the idea that this was the first time that he had 
 really looked at her, she felt a singular shyness creeping 
 over her, until, to her own astonishment and indignation, 
 she was obliged to lower her eyes before his gaze. In vain 
 she tried to lift them, with her old supreme power of fas- 
 cination. If she had ever blushed, she felt she would have 
 done so now. She knew that her face must betray her 
 consciousness ; and at last she Maruja, the self-poised 
 and all-sufficient goddess actually turned, in half-hysteri- 
 cal and girlish bashfulness, to Carroll for relief in an 
 affected and exaggerated absorption of his attentions. She 
 scarcely knew that the clergyman had finished speaking, 
 when Raymond approached them softly from behind. 
 " Pray don't believe,' 7 he said appealingly, " that all the 
 human virtues are about to be buried I should say sown 
 in that wheat-field. A few will still survive, and creep 
 about above the Doctor's grave. Listen to a story just 
 told me, and disbelieve if you dare in human grati- 
 tude. Do you see that picturesque young ruffian over 
 there ? " 
 
 Maruja did not lift her eyes. She felt herself breath- 
 lessly hanging on the speaker's next words. 
 
 tl Why, that 's the young man of the fonda, who picked 
 up your fan," said Carroll, " is n't it ? " 
 
 " Perhaps," said Maruja indifferently. She would have 
 given worlds to have been able to turn coldly and stare at 
 him at that moment with the others, but she dared not. 
 She contented herself with softly brushing some dust from 
 
MARUJA 93 
 
 Captain Carroll's arm with her fan, and a feminine sug- 
 gestion of tender care which thrilled that gentleman. 
 
 " Well," continued Raymond, " that Robert Macaire 
 over yonder came here some three or four days ago as a 
 tramp, in want of everything but honest labor. Our la- 
 mented friend consented to parley with him, which was 
 something remarkable in the Doctor ; still more remark- 
 able, he gave him a suit of clothes, and, it is said, some 
 money, and sent him on his way. Now, more remarkable 
 than all, our friend, on hearing of his benefactor's death, 
 actually tramps back here to attend his funeral. The Doc- 
 tor being dead, his executors not of a kind to emulate the 
 Doctor's spasmodic generosity, and there being no chance 
 of future favors, the act must be recorded as purely and 
 simply gratitude. By Jove ! I don't know but that he is 
 the only one here who can be called a real mourner. I 'm 
 here because your sister is here ; Carroll comes because 
 you do, and you come because your mother cannot." 
 
 " And who tells you these pretty stories ? " asked Ma- 
 ruja, with her face still turned towards Carroll. 
 
 " The foreman, Harrison, who, with an extensive practi- 
 cal experience of tramps, was struck with this exception to 
 the general rule." 
 
 " Poor man ; one ought to do something for him," said 
 Amita compassionately. 
 
 "What!" said Raymond, with affected terror, "and 
 spoil this perfect story ? Never ! If I should offer him 
 ten dollars, I 'd expect him to kick me ; if he took it, I 'd 
 expect to kick him." 
 
 " He is not so bad-looking, is he, Maruja ? " asked 
 Amita of her sister. But Maruja had already moved a few 
 paces off with Carroll, and seemed to be listening to him 
 only. Raymond smiled at the pretty perplexity of Amita's 
 eyebrows over this pronounced indiscretion. 
 
 " Don't mind them," he whispered ; " you really cannot 
 
94 MARUJA 
 
 expect to duena your elder sister. Tell me, would you 
 actually like me to see if I could assist the virtuous tramp ? 
 You have only to speak." But Amita's interest appeared 
 to be so completely appeased with Raymond's simple offer 
 that she only smiled, blushed, and said " No." 
 
 Maruja's quick ears had taken in every word of these 
 asides, and for an instant she hated her sister for her aim- 
 less decimation of Raymond's proposal. But becoming 
 conscious under her eyelids that the stranger was 
 moving away with the dispersing crowd, she rejoined 
 Amita with her usual manner. The others had reentered 
 the carriage, but Maruja took it into her head to proceed 
 on foot to the rude building whence the mourners had is- 
 sued. The foreman, Harrison, flushed and startled by this 
 apparition of inaccessible beauty at his threshold, came 
 eagerly forward. " I shall not trouble you now, Mr. Har- 
 r-r-rison," she said, with a polite exaggeration of the con- 
 sonants ; " but some day I shall ride over here, and ask you 
 to show me your wonderful machines." 
 
 She smiled, and turned back to seek her carriage. But 
 before she had gone many yards she found that she had 
 completely lost it in the intervening billows of grain. She 
 stopped, with an impatient little Spanish ejaculation. The 
 next moment the stalks of wheat parted before her and a 
 figure emerged. It was the stranger. 
 
 She fell back a step in utter helplessness. 
 
 He, on his side, retreated again into the wheat, holding 
 it back with extended arms to let her pass. As she moved 
 forward mechanically, without a word he moved backward, 
 making a path for her until she was able to discern the 
 coachman's whip above the bending heads of the grain just 
 beyond her. He stopped here and drew to one side, his 
 arms still extended, to give her free passage. She tried 
 to speak, but could only bow her head, and slipped by him 
 with a strange feeling suggested by his attitude that 
 
MARUJA 95 
 
 she was evading his embrace. But the next moment his 
 arms were lowered, the grain closed around him, and he 
 was lost to her view. She reached the carriage almost un- 
 perceived by the inmates, and pounced upon her sister with 
 a laugh. 
 
 " Blessed Virgin ! " said Amita, " where did you come 
 from ? " 
 
 " From there ! " said Maruja, with a slight nervous 
 shiver, pointing to the clustering grain. 
 
 " We were afraid you were lost." 
 
 " So was I," said Maruja, raising her pretty lashes 
 heavenwards, as she drew a shawl tightly round her shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 " Has anything happened ? You look strange," said 
 Carroll, drawing closer to her. 
 
 Her eyes were sparkling, but she was very pale. 
 
 " Nothing, nothing ! " she said hastily, glancing at the 
 grain again. 
 
 " If it were not that the haste would have been abso- 
 lutely indecent, I should say that the late Doctor had made 
 you a ghostly visit," said Raymond, looking at her curi- 
 ously. 
 
 " He would have been polite enough not to have com- 
 mented on my looks," said Maruja. " Am I really such a 
 fright ? " 
 
 Carroll thought he had never seen her so beautiful. Her 
 eyelids were quivering over their fires as if they had been 
 brushed by the passing wing of a strong passion. 
 
 " What are you thinking of ? " said Carroll, as they 
 drove on. 
 
 She was thinking that the stranger had looked at her 
 admiringly, and that his eyes were blue. But she looked 
 quietly into her lover's face, and said sweetly, "Nothing, 
 I fear, that would interest you ! " 
 
CHAPTEK IX 
 
 THE news of the assignment of Dr. West's property to 
 Mrs. Saltonstall was followed by the still more astonishing 
 discovery that the Doctor's will further bequeathed to her 
 his entire property, after payment of his debts and liabili- 
 ties. It was given in recognition of her talents and busi- 
 ness integrity during their late association, and as an 
 evidence of the confidence and " undying affection " of the 
 testator. Nevertheless, after the first surprise, the fact 
 was accepted by the community as both natural and proper 
 under that singular instinct of humanity which acquiesces 
 without scruple in the union of two large fortunes, but 
 sharply questions the conjunction of poverty and affluence, 
 and looks only for interested motives where there is dis- 
 parity of wealth. Had Mrs. Saltonstall been a poor widow 
 instead of a rich one ; had she been the Doctor's house- 
 keeper instead of his business friend, the bequest would 
 have been strongly criticised if not legally tested. But 
 this combination, which placed the entire valley of San 
 Antonio in the control of a single individual, appeared to 
 be perfectly legitimate. More than that, some vague rumor 
 of the Doctor's past and his early entanglements only seemed 
 to make this eminently practical disposition of his property 
 the more respectable, and condoned for any moral irregulari- 
 ties of his youth. 
 
 The effect upon the collateral branches of the Guitierrez 
 family and the servants and retainers was even more impres- 
 sive. For once, it seemed that the fortunes and traditions 
 of the family were changed ; the female Guitierrez, instead 
 
MAEUJA 97 
 
 of impoverishing the property, had augmented it ; the for- 
 eigner and intruder had been despoiled ; the fate of La 
 Mision Perdida had been changed ; the curse of Koorotora 
 had proved a blessing ; his prophet and descendant, Pereo, 
 the major-domo, moved in an atmosphere of superstitious 
 adulation and respect among the domestics and common 
 people. This recognition of his power he received at times 
 with a certain exaltation of grandiloquent pride beyond the 
 conception of any but a Spanish servant, and at times with 
 a certain dull, pained vacancy of perception and an expres- 
 sion of frightened bewilderment which also went far to 
 establish his reputation as an unconscious seer and thauma- 
 turgist. " Thou seest," said Sanchez to the partly skeptical 
 Faquita, " he does not know more than an infant what is 
 his power. That is the proof of it." The Dona Maria 
 alone did not participate in this appreciation of Pereo, and 
 when it was proposed that a feast or celebration of rejoicing 
 should be given under the old pear-tree by the Indian's 
 mound, her indignation was long remembered by those that 
 witnessed it. " It is not enough that we have been made 
 ridiculous in the past," she said to Maruja, " by the inter- 
 ference of this solemn fool, but that the memory of our 
 friend is to be insulted by his generosity being made into a 
 triumph of Pereo's idiotic ancestor. One would have 
 thought those coyotes and Koorotora's bones had been buried 
 with the cruel gossip of your relations " (it had been the 
 recent habit of Dona Maria to allude to " the family " as 
 being particularly related to Maruja alone) " over my 
 poor friend. Let him beware that his ancestor's mound is 
 not uprooted with the pear-tree, and his heathenish temple 
 destroyed. If, as the engineer says, a branch of the new 
 railroad can be established for La Mision Perdida, I agree 
 with him that it can better pass at that point with less 
 sacrifice to the domain. It is the one uncultivated part of 
 the park, and lies at the proper angle." 
 
98 MARUJA 
 
 " You surely would not consent to this, my mother ? " 
 said Maruja, with a sudden impression of a newly found 
 force in her mother's character. 
 
 " Why not, child ? " said the relict of Mr. Saltonstall 
 and the mourner of Dr. West coldly. " I admit it was 
 discreet of thee in old times to have thy sentimental pas- 
 sages there with caballeros who, like the guests of the hi- 
 dalgo that kept a skeleton at his feast, were reminded of 
 the mutability of their hopes by Koorotora's bones and the 
 legend. But with the explosion of this idea of a primal 
 curse, like Eve's, on the property," added the Dona Ma- 
 ria, with a slight bitterness, " thou mayst have thy citas 
 elsewhere. Thou canst scarcely keep this Captain Car- 
 roll any longer at a distance by rattling those bones of 
 Koorotora in his face. And of a truth, child, since the 
 affair of the letters, and his discreet and honorable conduct 
 since, I see not why thou shouldst. He has thy mother's 
 reputation in his hands." 
 
 " He is a gentleman, my mother," said Maruja quietly. 
 
 " And they are scarce, child, and should be rewarded 
 and preserved. That is what I meant, silly one ; this Cap- 
 tain is not rich but then, thou hast enough for both." 
 
 " But it was Amita that first brought him here," said 
 Maruja, looking down with an air of embarrassed thought- 
 fulness, which Dona Maria chose to instantly accept as 
 exaggerated coyness. 
 
 " Do not think to deceive me or thyself, child, with this 
 folly. Thou art old enough to know a man's mind, if not 
 thine own. Besides, I do not know that I shall object to 
 her liking for Raymond. He is very clever, and would be a 
 relief to some of thy relatives. He would be invaluable to 
 us in the emergencies that may grow out of these mechani- 
 cal affairs that I do not understand such as the mill and 
 the railroad." 
 
 " And you propose to take a few husbands as partners 
 
MARUJA 99 
 
 in the business ? " said Maruja, who had recovered her 
 spirits. " I warn you that Captain Carroll is as stupid as 
 a gentleman could be. I wonder that he has not blundered 
 in other things as badly as he has in preferring me to 
 Amita. He confided to me only last night, that he had 
 picked up a pocket-book belonging to the Doctor and given 
 it to Aladdin, without a witness or receipt, and evidently 
 of his own accord." 
 
 " A pocket-book of the Doctor's ? " repeated Dona Maria. 
 
 " Ay ; but it contained nothing of thine," said Maruja. 
 " The poor child had sense enough to think of that. But 
 I am in no hurry to ask your consent and your blessing yet, 
 little mother. I could even bear that Amita should pre- 
 cede me to the altar, if the exigencies of thy ' business ' 
 require it. It might also secure Captain Carroll for me. 
 Nay, look not at me in that cheapening, commercial way 
 with compound interest in thine eyes. I am not so poor 
 an investment, truly, of thy original capital." 
 
 " Thou art thy father's child," said her mother, suddenly 
 kissing her ; " and that is saying enough, the Blessed Vir- 
 gin knows. Go now," she continued, gently pushing her 
 from the room, " and send Amita hither." She watched 
 the disappearance of Maruja's slightly rebellious shoulders, 
 and added to herself, " And this is the child that Amita 
 really believes is pining with lovesickness for Carroll, so 
 that she can neither sleep nor eat. This is the girl that 
 Faquita would have me think hath no longer any heart in 
 her dress or in her finery ! Soul of Joseph Saltonstall ! " 
 ejaculated the widow, lifting her shoulders and her eyes 
 together, "thou hast much to account for." 
 
 Two weeks later she again astonished her daughter. 
 " Why 'dost thou not join the party that drives over to see 
 the wonders of Aladdin's Palace to-day ? It would seem 
 more proper that thou shouldst accompany thy guests than 
 Raymond and Amita." 
 
100 MARUJA 
 
 " I have never entered his doors since the day he was 
 disrespectful to my mother's daughter/ 7 said Maruja, in 
 surprise. 
 
 " Disrespectful ! " repeated Dona Maria impatiently. 
 " Thy father's daughter ought to know that such as he may 
 be ignorant and vulgar, but cannot be disrespectful to her. 
 And there are offenses, child, it is much more crushing to 
 forget than to remember. As long as he has not the pre- 
 sumption to apologize, I see no reason why thou mayst 
 not go. He has not been here since that affair of the let- 
 ters. I shall not permit him to be uncivil over that 
 dost thou understand ? He is of use to me in business. 
 Thou mayst take Carroll with thee j he will understand 
 that." 
 
 " But Carroll will not go," said Maruja. " He will not 
 say what passed between them, but I suspect they quar- 
 reled." 
 
 " All the better, then, that thou goest alone. He need 
 not be reminded of it. Fear not but that he will be only 
 too proud of thy visit to think of aught else." 
 
 Maruja, who seemed relieved at this prospect of being 
 unaccompanied by Captain Carroll, shrugged her shoulders 
 and assented. 
 
 When the party that afternoon drove into the courtyard 
 of Aladdin's Palace, the announcement that its hospitable 
 proprietor was absent, and would not return until dinner, 
 did not abate either their pleasure or their curiosity. As 
 already intimated to the reader, Mr. Prince's functions as 
 host were characteristically irregular ; and the servant's 
 suggestion, that Mr. Prince's private secretary would attend 
 to do the honors, created little interest, and was laughingly 
 waived by Maruja. " There really is not the slightest ne- 
 cessity to trouble the gentleman," she said politely. " I 
 know the house thoroughly, and I think I have shown it 
 once or twice before for your master. Indeed," she added, 
 
MARUJA 101 
 
 turning to her party, "I have been already complimented 
 on my skill as a cicerone." After a pause, she continued, 
 with a slight exaggeration of action and in her deepest con- 
 tralto, "Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, the hall and court in 
 which we are now standing is a perfect copy of the Court 
 of Lions at the Alhambra, and was finished in fourteen days 
 in white pine, gold, and plaster, at a cost of ten thousand 
 dollars. A photograph of the original structure hangs on 
 the wall ; you will observe, ladies and gentlemen, that the 
 reproduction is perfect. The Alhambra is in Granada, a 
 province of Spain, which is said in some respects to resem- 
 ble California, where you have probably observed the 
 Spanish language is still spoken by the old settlers. We 
 now cross the stable-yard on a bridge which is a facsimile 
 in appearance and dimensions of the Bridge of Sighs at 
 Venice, connecting the Doge's Palace with the State 
 Prison. Here, on the contrary, instead of being ushered 
 into a dreary dungeon, as in the great original, a fresh sur- 
 prise awaits us. Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to pre- 
 cede you for the surprise. We open a door thus and 
 presto ! " 
 
 She stopped, speechless, on the threshold ; the fan fell 
 from her gesticulating hand. 
 
 In the centre of a brilliantly lit conservatory, with golden 
 columns, a young man was standing. As her fan dropped 
 on the tessellated pavement, he came forward, picked it up, 
 and put it in her rigid and mechanical fingers. The party, 
 who had applauded her apparently artistic climax, laugh- 
 ingly pushed by her into the conservatory, without noticing 
 her agitation. 
 
 It was the same face and figure she remembered as last 
 standing before her, holding back the crowding grain in the 
 San Antonio field. But here he was appareled and ap- 
 pointed like a gentleman, and even seemed to be superior 
 to the garish glitter of his new surroundings. 
 
102 MARUJA 
 
 " I believe I have the pleasure of speaking to Miss Sal- 
 tonstall," he said, with the faintest suggestion of his for- 
 mer manner in his half-resentful sidelong glance. " I hear 
 that you offered to dispense with my services, but I knew 
 that Mr. Prince would scarcely be satisfied if I did not urge 
 it once more upon you in person. I am his private secre- 
 tary." 
 
 At the same moment, Amita and Raymond, attracted by 
 the conversation, turned towards him. Their recognition 
 of the man they had seen at Dr. West's was equally dis- 
 tinct. The silence became embarrassing. Two pretty girls 
 of the party pressed to Amita' s side, with half-audible 
 whispers. " What is it ? " " Who 's your handsome and 
 wicked-looking friend ? " " Is this the surprise ? " 
 
 At the sound of their voices, Maruja recovered herself 
 coldly. "Ladies," she said, with a slight wave of her fan, 
 " this is Mr. Prince's private secretary. I believe it is 
 hardly fair to take up his valuable time. Allow me to 
 thank you, sir, FOR PICKING UP MY FAN ! " 
 
 With a single subtle flash of the eye she swept by him, 
 taking her companions to the other end of the conservatory. 
 When she turned, he was gone. 
 
 " This was certainly an unexpected climax," said Ray- 
 mond mischievously. " Did you really arrange it before- 
 hand ? We leave a picturesque tramp at the edge of a 
 grave ; we pass over six weeks and a Bridge of Sighs, and 
 hey, presto ! we find a private secretary in a conservatory ! 
 This is quite the regular Aladdin business." 
 
 " You may laugh," said Maruja, who had recovered her 
 spirits, " but if you were really clever you 'd find out what 
 it all means. Don't you see that Amita is dying of curi- 
 osity ? " 
 
 " Let us fly at once and discover the secret, then," said 
 Raymond, slipping Amita's arm through his. "We will 
 consult the oracle in the stables. Come." 
 
MARUJA 103 
 
 The others followed, leaving Maruja for an instant alone. 
 She was about to rejoin them when she heard footsteps in 
 the passage they had just crossed, and then perceived that 
 the young stranger had merely withdrawn to allow the 
 party to precede him before he returned to the other build- 
 ing through the conservatory, which he was just entering. 
 In turning quickly to escape, the black lace of her over- 
 skirt caught in the spines of a snaky-looking cactus. She 
 stopped to disengage herself with feverish haste in vain. 
 She was about to sacrifice the delicate material, in her im- 
 patience, when the young man stepped quietly to her side. 
 
 " Allow me. Perhaps I have more patience, even if I 
 have less time/' he said, stooping down. Their ungloved 
 hands touched. Maruja stopped in her efforts and stood 
 up. He continued until he had freed the luckless flounce, 
 conscious of the soft fire of her eyes on his head and neck. 
 
 " There," he said, rising, and encountering her glance. 
 As she did not speak, he continued : " You are thinking, 
 Miss Saltonstall, that you have seen me before, are you 
 not ? Well you have ; I asked you the road to San Jose* 
 one morning when I was tramping by your hedge.' 7 
 
 " And as you probably were looking for something bet- 
 ter which you seem to have found you did n't care to 
 listen to my directions," said Maruja quickly. 
 
 " I found a man almost the only one who ever offeree! 
 me a gratuitous kindness at whose grave I afterwards 
 met you. I found another man who befriended me here 
 where I meet you again." 
 
 She was beginning to be hysterically nervous lest any 
 one should return and find them together. She was con- 
 scious of a tingling of vague shame. Yet she lingered. 
 The strange fascination of his half-savage melancholy, and 
 a reproachfulness that seemed to arraign her, with the rest 
 of the world, at the bar of his vague resentment, held the 
 delicate fibres of her sensitive being as cruelly and relent- 
 
104 MARUJA 
 
 lessly as the thorns of the cactus had gripped her silken 
 lace. Without knowing what she was saying, she stam- 
 mered that she " was glad he connected her with his bet- 
 ter fortune," and began to move away. He noticed it with 
 his sidelong lids, and added, with a slight bitterness : 
 
 " I don't think I should have intruded here again, but I 
 thought you had gone. But I I am afraid you have 
 not seen the last of me. It was the intention of my 
 employer, Mr. Prince, to introduce me to you and your 
 mother. I suppose he considers it part of my duties here. 
 I must warn you that, if you are here when he returns, he 
 will insist upon it, and upon your meeting me with these 
 ladies at dinner." 
 
 " Perhaps so he is my mother's friend," said Maruja ; 
 " but you have the advantage of us you can always take 
 to the road, you know." 
 
 The smile with which she had intended to accompany 
 this speech did not come as readily in execution as it had 
 in conception, and she would have given worlds to have 
 recalled her words. But he said, " That 's so " quietly, 
 and turned away, as if to give her an opportunity to escape. 
 She moved hesitatingly towards the passage and stopped. 
 The sound of the returning voices gave her a sudden 
 courage. 
 
 Mr." 
 
 " Guest," said the young man. 
 
 " If we do conclude to stay to dinner, as Mr. Prince has 
 said nothing of introducing you to my sister, you must let 
 me have that pleasure." 
 
 He lifted his eyes to hers with a sudden flush. But 
 she had fled. 
 
 She reached her party, displaying her torn flounce as the 
 cause of her delay, and there was a slight quickness in her 
 breathing and her speech which was attributed to the same 
 grave reason. " But, only listen," said Amita, " we ? ve 
 
MARUJA 105 
 
 got it all out of the butler and the grooms. It 's such a 
 romantic story ! " 
 
 " What is ? " said Maruja suddenly. 
 
 "Why, the private tramp' s." 
 
 " The peripatetic secretary ," suggested Raymond. 
 
 " Yes," continued Amita, " Mr. Prince was so struck 
 with his gratitude to the old Doctor that he hunted him 
 up in San Jose, and brought him here. Since then Prince 
 has been so interested in him it appears he was some- 
 body in the States, or has rich relations that he has 
 been telegraphing and making all sorts of inquiries about 
 him, and has even sent out his own lawyer to hunt up 
 everything about him. Are you listening ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " You seem abstracted." 
 
 "I am hungry." 
 
 " Why not dine here ; it 's an hour earlier than at home. 
 Aladdin would fall at your feet for the honor. Do ! " 
 
 Maruja looked at them with innocent vagueness, as if 
 the possibility were just beginning to dawn upon her. 
 
 " And Clara Wilson is just dying to see the mysterious 
 unknown again. Say yes, little Maruja." 
 
 Little Maruja glanced at them with a large maternal 
 compassion. " We shall see." 
 
 Mr. Prince, on his return an hour later, was unexpect- 
 edly delighted with Maruja's gracious acceptance of his 
 invitation to dinner. He was thoroughly sensible of the 
 significance which his neighbors had attached to the avoid- 
 ance by the Saltonstall heiress of his various parties and 
 gorgeous festivities ever since a certain act of indiscretion 
 now alleged to have been produced by the exaltation of 
 wine had placed him under ban. Whatever his feelings 
 were towards her mother, he could not fail to appreciate 
 fully this act of the daughter, which rehabilitated him. 
 It was with more than his usual extravagance shown 
 
106 MARUJA 
 
 even in a certain exaggeration of respect towards Maruja 
 that he welcomed the party, and made preparations for the 
 dinner. The telegraph and mounted messengers were put 
 into rapid requisition. The bridal suite was placed at the 
 disposal of the young ladies for a dressing-room. The at- 
 tendant genii surpassed themselves. The evening dresses 
 of Maruja, Amita, and the Misses Wilson, summoned by 
 electricity from La Mision Perdida, and dispatched by the 
 fleetest conveyances, were placed in the arms of their maids, 
 smothered with bouquets, an hour before dinner. An 
 operatic concert troupe, passing through the nearest town, 
 were diverted from their course by the slaves of the ring 
 to discourse hidden music in the music-room during dinner. 
 " Bite my finger, Sweetlips," said Miss Clara Wilson, who 
 had a neat taste for apt quotation, to Maruja, t( that I may 
 see if I am awake. It 's the Arabian Nights all over 
 again ! " 
 
 The dinner was a marvel, even in a land of gastronomic 
 marvels j the dessert a miracle of fruits, even in a climate 
 that bore the products of two zones. Maruja, from her seat 
 beside her satisfied host, looked across a bank of yellow 
 roses at her sister and Raymond, and was timidly conscious 
 of the eyes of young Guest, who was seated at the other 
 end of the table, between the two Misses Wilson. With a 
 strange haunting of his appearance on the day she first met 
 him, she stole glances of half-frightened curiosity at him 
 while he was eating, and was relieved to find that he used 
 his knife and fork like the others, and that his appetite was 
 far from voracious. It was his employer who was the first 
 to recall the experiences of his past life, with a certain 
 enthusiasm and the air of a host anxious to contribute to 
 the entertainment of his guests. " You 'd hardly believe, 
 Miss Saltonstall, that that young gentleman over there 
 walked across the continent and two thousand odd miles, 
 was n't it ? all alone, and with not much more in the 
 
MARUJA 107 
 
 way of traps than he 's got on now. Tell 'em, Harry, how 
 the Apaches nearly gobbled you up, and then let you go 
 because they thought you as good an Injun as any one of 
 them, and how you lived a week in the desert on two bis- 
 cuits as big as that.' 7 A chorus of entreaty and delighted 
 anticipation followed the suggestion. The old expression 
 of being at bay returned for an instant to Guest's face, but, 
 lifting his eyes, he caught a look of almost sympathetic 
 anxiety from Maruja's, who had not spoken. 
 
 " It became necessary for me, some time ago," said 
 Guest, half explanatorily, to Maruja, " to be rather explicit 
 in the details of my journey here, and I told Mr. Prince 
 some things which he seems to think interesting to others. 
 That is all. To save my life on one occasion, I was obliged 
 to show myself as good as an Indian, in his own way, and 
 I lived among them and traveled with them for two weeks. 
 I have been hungry, as I suppose others have on like occa- 
 sions, but nothing more." 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of his evident reticence, he was 
 obliged to give way to their entreaties, and with a certain 
 grim and uncompromising truthfulness of statement, re- 
 counted some episodes of his journey. It was none the less 
 thrilling that he did it reluctantly, and in much the same 
 manner as he had answered his father's questions, and as he 
 had probably responded to the later cross-examination of 
 Mr. Prince. He did not tell it emotionally, but rather 
 with the dogged air of one who had been subjected to a 
 personal grievance for which he neither asked nor expected 
 sympathy. When he did not raise his eyes to Maruja's, he 
 kept them fixed on his plate. 
 
 "Well," said Prince, when a long-drawn sigh of sus- 
 pended emotion among the guests testified to his powers as 
 a caterer to their amusement, {( what do you say to some 
 music with our coffee to follow the story ? " 
 
 " It 's more like a play," said Amita to Raymond. 
 
108 MARUJA 
 
 " What a pity Captain Carroll, who knows all about In- 
 dians, is n't here to have enjoyed it. But I suppose Maruja, 
 who has n't lost a word, will tell it to him. " 
 
 " I don't think she will," said Raymond dryly, glancing 
 at Maruja, who, lost in some intricate pattern of her Chinese 
 plate, was apparently unconscious that her host was waiting 
 her signal to withdraw. At last she raised her head, and 
 said, gently but audibly, to the waiting Prince : 
 
 "It is positively a newer pattern ; the old one had not 
 that delicate straw line in the arabesque. You must have 
 had it made for you." 
 
 " I did," said the gratified Prince, taking up the plate. 
 " What eyes you have, Miss Saltonstall. They see every- 
 thing." 
 
 " Except that I 'm keeping you all waiting," she re- 
 turned, with a smile, letting the eyes in question fall with 
 a half-parting salutation on Guest as she rose. It was the 
 first exchange of a common instinct between them, and 
 left them as conscious as if they had pressed hands. 
 
 The music gave an opportunity for some desultory conver- 
 sation, in which Mr. Prince and his young friend received 
 an invitation from Maruja to visit La Mision, and the party, 
 by common consent, turned into the conservatory, where 
 the genial host begged them each to select a flower from a 
 few especially rare exotics. When Maruja received hers, 
 she said, laughingly, to Prince, " Will you think me very 
 importunate if I ask for another ? " " Take what you like 
 you have only to name it," he replied gallantly. " But 
 that 's just what I can't do," responded the young girl, 
 " unless," she added, turning to Guest, " unless you can 
 assist me. It was the plant I was examining to-day." " I 
 think I can show it to you," said Guest, with a slight in- 
 crease of color, as he preceded her towards the memorable 
 cactus near the door, " but I doubt if it has any flower." 
 
 Nevertheless, it had. A bright red blossom like a spot 
 
MARUJA 109 
 
 of blood drawn by one of its thorns. He plucked it for 
 her, and she placed it in her belt. 
 
 " You are forgiving/ 7 he said admiringly. 
 
 " You ought to know that/' she returned, looking down. 
 
 J?_why?" 
 
 " You were rude to me twice." 
 
 " Twice ! " 
 
 " Yes once at the Mision of La Perdida ; once in the 
 road at San Antonio." 
 
 His eyes became downcast and gloomy. " At the Mision 
 that morning, I, a wretched outcast, only saw in you a 
 beautiful girl intent on overriding me with her merciless 
 beauty. At San Antonio I handed the fan I picked up to 
 the man whose eyes told me he loved you." 
 
 She started impatiently. " You might have been more 
 gallant, and found more difficulty in the selection," she 
 said pertly. " But since when have you gentlemen become 
 so observant and so punctilious ? Would you expect him 
 to be as considerate of others ? " 
 
 " I have few claims that any one seems bound to respect," 
 he returned brusquely. Then, in a softer voice, he added, 
 looking at her gently : 
 
 " You were in mourning when you came here this after- 
 noon, Miss Saltonstall." 
 
 " Was I ? It was for Dr. West my mother's friend." 
 
 " It was very becoming to you." 
 
 " You are complimenting me. But I warn you that 
 Captain Carroll said something better than that ; he said 
 mourning was not necessary for me. I had only to l put 
 my eyelashes at half-mast.' He is a soldier, you know." 
 
 " He seems to be as witty as he is fortunate," said 
 Guest bitterly. 
 
 " Do you think he is fortunate ? " said Marnja, raising 
 her eyes to his. There was so much in this apparently 
 simple question that Guest looked in her eyes for a sugges- 
 
110 MARUJA 
 
 tion. What he saw there for an instant made his heart 
 stop beating. She apparently did not know it, for she be- 
 gan to tremble too. 
 
 " Is he not ? " said Guest in a low voice. 
 
 " Do you think he ought to be ? " she found herself 
 whispering. 
 
 A sudden silence fell upon them. The voices of their 
 companions seemed very far in the distance ; the warm 
 breath of the flowers appeared to be drowning their senses ; 
 they tried to speak, but could not ; they were so near to 
 each other that the two long blades of a palm served to 
 hide them. In the midst of this profound silence a voice 
 that was like and yet unlike Maruja's said twice, " Go ! 
 go ! " but each time seemed hushed in the stifling silence. 
 The next moment the palms were pushed aside, the dark 
 figure of a young man slipped like some lithe animal through 
 the shrubbery, and Maruja found herself standing, pale and 
 rigid, in the middle of the walk, in the full glare of the 
 light, and looking down the corridor toward her approa.ch- 
 ing companions. She was furious and frightened ; she was 
 triumphant and trembling; without thought, sense, or 
 reason, she had been kissed by Henry Guest, and had 
 returned it. 
 
 The fleetest horses of Aladdin's stud that night could not 
 carry her far enough or fast enough to take her away from 
 that moment, that scene, and that sensation. Wise and 
 experienced, confident in her beauty, secure in her selfish- 
 ness, strong over others' weaknesses, weighing accurately 
 the deeds and words of men and women, recognizing all 
 there was in position and tradition, seeing with her father's 
 clear eyes the practical meaning of any divergence from 
 that conventionality which as a woman of the world she 
 valued, she returned again and again to the trembling joy 
 of that intoxicating moment. She thought of her mother 
 and sisters, of Raymond and Gamier, of Aladdin she 
 
MARUJA 111 
 
 even forced herself to think of Carroll only to shut her 
 eyes, with a faint smile, and dream again the brief but 
 thrilling dream of Guest that began and ended in their 
 joined and parted lips. Small wonder that, hidden and 
 silent in her enwrappings, as she lay back in the carriage, 
 with her pale face against the cold starry sky, two other 
 stars came out and glistened and trembled on her passion- 
 fringed lashes. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE rainy season had set in early. The last three weeks 
 of summer drought had drained the great valley of its life- 
 blood ; the dead stalks of grain rustled like dry bones over 
 Dr. West's grave. The desiccating wind and sun had wrought 
 some disenchanting cracks and fissures in Aladdin's Palace, 
 and otherwise disjoined it, so that it not only looked as if 
 it were ready to be packed away, but had become finally 
 untenable in the furious onset of the southwesterly rains. 
 The gorgeous furniture of the reception-rooms was wrapped 
 in mackintoshes, the conservatory was changed into an 
 aquarium, the Bridge of Sighs crossed an actual canal in 
 the stable-yard. Only the billiard-room and Mr. Prince's 
 bedroom and office remained intact, and in the latter, one 
 stormy afternoon, Mr. Prince himself sat busy over his 
 books and papers. His station-wagon, splashed and streaked 
 with mud, stood in the courtyard, just as it had been driven 
 from the station, and the smell of the smoke of newly lit 
 fires showed that the house had been opened only for this 
 hurried visit of its owner. 
 
 The tramping of horse hoofs in the courtyard was soon 
 followed by steps along the corridor, and the servant ushered 
 Captain Carroll into the presence of his master. The Cap- 
 tain did not remove his military overcoat, but remained 
 standing erect in the centre of the room, with his forage 
 cap in his hand. 
 
 " I could have given you a lift from the station," said 
 Prince, " if you had come that way. I 've only just got 
 in myself." 
 
MARUJA 113 
 
 " I preferred to ride," said Carroll dryly. 
 
 " Sit down by the fire," said Prince, motioning to a chair, 
 "and dry yourself." 
 
 " I must ask you first the purport of this interview," 
 said Carroll curtly, " before I prolong it further. You 
 have asked me to come here in reference to certain letters I 
 returned to their rightful owner some months ago. If you 
 seek to reclaim them again, or to refer to a subject which 
 must remain forgotten, I decline to proceed further." 
 
 " It does refer to the letters, and it rests with you 
 whether they shall be forgotten or not. It is not my fault 
 if the subject has been dropped. You must remember that 
 until yesterday you had been absent on a tour of inspection 
 and could not be applied to before." 
 
 Carroll cast a cold glance at Prince, and then threw him- 
 self into a chair, with his overcoat still on and his long 
 military boots crossed before the fire. Sitting there in pro- 
 file, Prince could not but notice that he looked older and 
 sterner than at their last interview, and his cheeks were 
 thinned as if by something more than active service. 
 
 " When you were here last summer," began Prince, lean- 
 ing forward over his desk, " you brought me a piece of 
 news that astounded me, as it did many others. It was 
 the assignment of Dr. West's property to Mrs. Saltonstall. 
 That was something there was no gainsaying ; it was a 
 purely business affair, and involved nobody's rights but the 
 assignor. But this was followed, a day or two after, by the 
 announcement of the Doctor's will, making the same lady 
 the absolute and sole inheritor of the same property. That 
 seemed all right too ; for there were, apparently, no legal 
 heirs. Since then, however, it has been discovered that 
 there is a legal heir none other than the Doctor's only 
 son. Now, as no allusion to the son's existence was made 
 in that will which was a great oversight of the Doctor's 
 it is a fiction of the law that such an omission is. an act 
 
114 MARUJA 
 
 of forgetfulness, and therefore leaves the son the same 
 rights as if there had been no will at all. In other words, 
 if the Docter had seen fit to throw his scapegrace son a 
 hundred dollar bill, it would have been legal evidence that 
 he remembered him. As he did not, it 's a fair legal pre- 
 sumption that he forgot him, or that the will is incom- 
 plete." 
 
 "This seems to be a question for Mrs. Saltonstall's 
 lawyers not for her friends," said Carroll coldly. 
 
 " Excuse me ; that remains for you to decide when 
 you hear all. You understand at present, then, that Dr. 
 West's property, both by assignment and will, was made 
 over, in the event of his death, not to his legal heirs, but 
 to a comparative stranger. It looked queer to a good 
 many people, but the only explanation was, that the Doc- 
 tor had fallen very much in love with the widow that 
 he would have probably married her had he lived." 
 
 With an unpleasant recollection that this was almost 
 exactly Maruja's explanation of her mother's relations to 
 Dr. West, Carroll returned impatiently, " If you mean 
 that their private relations may be made the subject of 
 legal discussion, in the event of litigation in regard to the 
 property, that again is a matter for Mrs. Saltonstall to de- 
 cide and not her friends. It is purely a matter of taste." 
 
 "It may be a matter of discretion, Captain Carroll." 
 
 " Of discretion ! " repeated Carroll superciliously. 
 
 " Well," said Prince, leaving his desk and coming to the 
 fireplace, with his hands in his pockets, " what would you 
 call it, if it could be found that Dr. West, on leaving Mrs. 
 Saltonstall's that night, did not meet with an accident, was 
 not thrown from his horse, but was coolly and deliberately 
 murdered ! " 
 
 Captain Carroll's swift recollection of the discovery he 
 himself had made in the road, and its inconsistency with 
 the accepted theory of the accident, unmistakably showed 
 
MARUJA 115 
 
 itself in his face. It was a moment before he recovered 
 himself. 
 
 " But even if it can be proved to have been a murder 
 and not an accident, what has that to do with Mrs. Salton- 
 stall or her claim to the property ? " 
 
 " Only that she was the one person directly benefited by 
 his death." 
 
 Captain Carroll looked at him steadily, and then rose to 
 his feet. " Do I understand that you have called me 
 here to listen to this infamous aspersion of a lady ? " 
 
 " I have called you here, Captain Carroll, to listen to 
 the arguments that may be used to set aside Dr. West's 
 will, and return the property to the legal heir. You are 
 to listen to them or not, as you choose ; but I warn you 
 that your opportunity to hear them in confidence and con- 
 vey them to your friend will end here. / have no opin- 
 ion in the case. / only tell you that it will be argued 
 that Dr. West was unduly influenced to make a will in 
 Mrs. SaltonstalFs favor ; that, after having done so, it will 
 be shown that, just before his death, he became aware of 
 the existence of his son and heir, and actually had an in- 
 terview with him; that he visited Mrs. Saltonstall that 
 evening, with the records of his son's identity and a memo- 
 randum of his interview in his pocket-book ; and that, an 
 hour after leaving the house, he was foully murdered. 
 That is the theory which Mrs. Saltonstall has to consider. 
 I told you I have no opinion. I only know that there 
 ire witnesses to the interview of the Doctor and his son ; 
 there is evidence of murder, and the murderer is suspected ; 
 there is the evidence of the pocket-book, with the memo- 
 randum picked up on the spot, which you handed me 
 yourself." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you will permit this pocket- 
 book, handed you in confidence, to be used for such an 
 infamous purpose ? " said Carroll. 
 
116 MARUJA 
 
 " I think you offered it to me in exchange for Dr. West's 
 letters to Mrs. Saltonstall," returned Prince dryly. " The 
 less said about that, the less is likely to be said about com- 
 promising letters written by the widow to the Doctor, which 
 she got you to recover letters which they may claim had 
 a bearing on the case, and even lured him to his fate." 
 
 For an instant Captain Carroll recoiled before the gulf 
 which seemed to open at the feet of the unhappy family. 
 For an instant a terrible doubt possessed him, and in that 
 doubt he found a new reason for a certain changed and 
 altered tone in Maruja's later correspondence with him, and 
 the vague hints she had thrown out of the impossibility of 
 their union. " I beg you will not press me to greater 
 candor," she had written, " and try to forget me before you 
 learn to hate me." For an instant he believed and even 
 took a miserable comfort in the belief that it was this 
 hideous secret, and not some coquettish caprice, to which she 
 vaguely alluded. But it was only for a moment ; the next 
 instant the monstrous doubt passed from the mind of the 
 simple gentleman, with only a slight flush of shame at his 
 momentary disloyalty. 
 
 Prince, however, had noticed it, not without a faint 
 sense of sympathy. " Look here ! " he said, with a certain 
 brusqueness, which in a man of his character was less 
 dangerous than his smoothness. "I know your feelings 
 to that family, at least to one of them, and if I ? ve been 
 playing it pretty rough on you, it 's only because you played 
 it rather rough on me the last time you were here. Let 's 
 understand each other. I '11 go so far as to say / don't 
 believe that Mrs. Saltonstall had anything to do with that 
 murder, but, as a business man, I 'm bound to say that these 
 circumstances and her own indiscretion are quite enough to 
 bring the biggest pressure down on her. I would n't want 
 any better * bear ' on the market value of her rights than 
 this. Take it at its best. Say that the Coroner's verdict 
 
MARUJA 117 
 
 is set aside, and a charge of murder against unknown parties 
 is made " 
 
 " One moment, Mr. Prince," said Carroll. " I shall be 
 one of the first to insist that this is done, and I have confi- 
 dence enough in Mrs. Saltonstall's honest friendship for the 
 Doctor to know that she will lose no time in pursuing his 
 murderers." 
 
 Prince looked at Carroll with a feeling of half envy and 
 half pity. " I think not," he said dryly ; " for all suspicion 
 points to one man as the perpetrator, and that man was Mrs. 
 SaltonstalPs confidential servant the major-domo, Pereo." 
 He waited for a moment for the effect of this announcement 
 on Carroll, and then went on : " You now understand that, 
 even if Mrs. Saltonstall is acquitted of any connivance with 
 or even knowledge of the deed, she will hardly enjoy the 
 prosecution of her confidential servant for murder." 
 
 " But how can this be prevented ? If, as you say, there 
 are actual proofs, why have they not been acted upon before ? 
 What can keep them from being acted upon now ? " 
 
 " The proofs have been collected by one man, have been 
 in possession of one man, and will only pass out of his 
 possession when it is for the benefit of the legal heir who 
 does not yet even know of their existence." 
 " And who is this one man ? " 
 "Myself." 
 
 " You ? You ? " said Carroll, advancing towards him. 
 " Then this is your work ! " 
 
 " Captain Carroll," said Prince, without moving, but 
 drawing his lips tightly together and putting his head on 
 one side, " I don't propose to have another scene like the 
 one we had at our last meeting. If you try on anything of 
 that kind, I shall put the whole matter into a lawyer's 
 hands. I don't say that you won't regret it ; I don't say 
 that / sha'n't be disappointed, too, for I have been managing 
 this thing purely as a matter of business, with a view to 
 
118 MARUJA 
 
 profiting by it. It so happens that we can both work to the 
 same end, even if our motives are not the same. I don't call 
 myself an officer and a gentleman, but I reckon I 've run this 
 affair about as delicately as the best of them, and with a 
 d d sight more horse sense. I want this thing hushed up 
 and compromised, to get some control of the property again, 
 and to prevent it depreciating, as it would, in litigation ; you 
 want it hushed up for the sake of the girl and your future 
 mother-in-law. I don't know anything about your laws of 
 honor, but I 've laid my cards on the table for you to see, 
 without asking what you 've got in your hand. You can 
 play the game or leave the board, as you choose." He 
 turned and walked to the window not without leaving on 
 Carroll's mind a certain sense of firmness, truthfulness, and 
 sincerity which commanded his respect. 
 
 " I withdraw any remark that might have seemed to 
 reflect on your business integrity, Mr. Prince," said Carroll 
 quietly. " I am willing to admit that you have managed 
 this thing better than I could, and if I join you in an act 
 to suppress these revelations, I have no right to judge of 
 your intentions. What do you propose to have me do ? " 
 
 " To state the whole case to Mrs. Saltonstall, and to ask 
 her to acknowledge the young man's legal claim without 
 litigation." 
 
 " But how do you know that she would not do this with- 
 out excuse me without intimidation ? " 
 
 " I only reckon that a woman clever enough to get hold 
 of a million, would be clever enough to keep it against 
 others." 
 
 " I hope to show you are mistaken. But where is this 
 heir ? " 
 
 "Here." 
 
 " Here ? " 
 
 " Yes. For the last six months he has been my private 
 secretary. I know what you are thinking of, Captain Car- 
 
MARUJA 119 
 
 roll. You would consider it indelicate eh ? Well, 
 that 's just where we differ. By this means I have kept 
 everything in my own hands prevented him from getting 
 into the hands of outsiders and I intend to dispose of 
 just as much of the facts to him as may be necessary for 
 him to prove his title. What bargain I make with him 
 is my affair." 
 
 " Does he suspect the murder ? " 
 
 " No. I did not think it necessary for his good or mine. 
 He can be an ugly devil if he likes, and although there 
 was n't much love lost between him and the old man, it 
 would n't pay to have any revenge mixed up with business. 
 He knows nothing of it. It was only by accident that, 
 looking after his movements while he was here, I ran across 
 the tracks of the murderer." 
 
 " But what has kept him from making known his claim 
 to the Saltonstalls ? Are you sure he has not ? " said Car- 
 roll, with a sudden thought that it might account for Ma- 
 ruja's strangeness. 
 
 " Positive. He 's too proud to make a claim unless he 
 could thoroughly prove it, and only a month ago he made 
 me promise to keep it dark. He 's too lazy to trouble him- 
 self about it much anyway as far as I can see. D d 
 if I don't think his being a tramp has made him lose his 
 taste for everything ! Don't worry yourself about him. 
 He is n't likely to make confidences with the Saltonstalls, 
 for he don't like 'em, and never went there but once. 
 Instinctively or not, the widow did n't cotton to him ; and 
 I fancy Miss Maruja has some old grudge against him for 
 that fan business on the road. She is n't a girl to forgive 
 or forget anything, as I happen to know," he added, with 
 an uneasy laugh. 
 
 Carroll was too preoccupied with the danger that seemed 
 to threaten his friends from this surly pretender to resent 
 Prince's tactless allusion. He was thinking of Maruja's 
 
120 MARUJA 
 
 ominous agitation at his presence at Dr. West's grave. 
 " Do they suspect him at all ? " he asked hurriedly. 
 
 " How should they ? He goes by the name of Guest 
 which was his father's real name until changed hy an act of 
 legislation when he first came here. Nobody remembers it. 
 We only found it out from his papers. It was quite legal, 
 as all his property was acquired under the name of West." 
 
 Carroll rose and buttoned his overcoat. " I presume you 
 are able to offer conclusive proofs of everything you have 
 asserted ? " 
 
 " Perfectly." 
 
 " I am going to the Mision Perdida now," said Captain 
 Carroll quietly. " To-morrow I will bring you the answer 
 Peace or War." He walked to the door, lifted his hand 
 to his cap, with a brief military salutation, and disappeared. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 As Captain Carroll urged his horse along the miry road 
 to La Mision Perdida, he was struck with certain changes 
 in the landscape before him other than those wrought hy 
 the winter rains. There were the usual deep gullies and 
 trenches, half filled with water, in the fields and along the 
 road, but there were ominous embankments and ridges of 
 freshly turned soil, and a scattered fringe of timbers follow- 
 ing a cruel, undeviating furrow on the broad grazing lands 
 of the Mision. But it was not until he had crossed the 
 arroyo that he felt the full extent of the late improvements. 
 A quick rumbling in the distance, a light flash of steam above 
 the willow copse, that drifted across the field on his right, 
 and he knew that the railroad was already in operation. 
 Captain Carroll reined in his frightened charger, and passed 
 his hand across his brow with a dazed sense of loss. He 
 had been gone only four months yet he already felt 
 strange and forgotten. 
 
 It was with a feeling of relief that he at last turned from 
 the highroad into the lane. Here everything was un- 
 changed, except that the ditches were more thickly strewn 
 with the sodden leaves of fringing oaks and sycamores. 
 Giving his horse to a servant in the courtyard, he did not 
 enter the patio, but, crossing the lawn, stepped upon the 
 long veranda. The rain was dripping from its eaves and 
 striking a minute spray from the vines that clung to its 
 columns ; his footfall awoke a hollow echo as he passed, as 
 if the outer shell of the house were deserted ; the formal 
 yews and hemlocks that in summer had relieved the daz- 
 
122 MARUJA 
 
 zling glare of six months' sunshine had now taken gloomy 
 possession of the garden, and the evening shadows, thick- 
 ened by rain, seemed to lie in wait at every corner. The 
 servant, who had, with old-fashioned courtesy, placed the 
 keys and the " disposition " of- that wing of the house at 
 his service, said that Dona Maria would wait upon him in 
 the salon before dinner. Knowing the difficulty of break- 
 ing the usual rigid etiquette, and trusting to the happy in- 
 tervention of Maruja, though here, again, custom debarred 
 him from asking for her, he allowed the servant to re- 
 move his wet overcoat, and followed him to the stately and 
 solemn chamber prepared for him. The silence and gloom 
 of the great house, so grateful and impressive in the ardent 
 summer, began to weigh upon him under this shadow of an 
 overcast sky. He walked to the window and gazed out on 
 the cloister-like veranda. A melancholy willow at an angle 
 of the stables seemed to be wringing its hands in the rising 
 wind. He turned for relief to the dim fire that nickered like 
 a votive taper in the vault-like hearth, and drew a chair 
 towards it. In spite of the impatience and preoccupation 
 of a lover, he found himself again and again recurring to the 
 story he had just heard, until the vengeful spirit of the 
 murdered Doctor seemed to darken and possess the house. 
 He was striving to shake off the feeling, when his atten- 
 tion was attracted to stealthy footsteps in the passage. 
 Could it be Maruja ? He rose to his feet, with his eye 
 upon the door. The footsteps ceased it remained closed. 
 But another door, which had escaped his attention in the 
 darkened corner, slowly swung on its hinges, and with a 
 stealthy step, Pereo, the major-domo, entered the room. 
 
 Courageous and self-possessed as Captain Carroll was by 
 nature and education, this malevolent vision, and incarna- 
 tion of the thought uppermost in his mind, turned him 
 cold. He had half drawn a derringer from his breast, when 
 his eye fell on the grizzled locks and wrinkled face of the 
 
MARUJA 123 
 
 old man, and his hand dropped to his side. But Pereo, 
 with the quick observation of insanity, had noticed the 
 weapon, and rubbed his hands together, with a malicious 
 laugh. 
 
 " Good ! good ! good ! " he whispered rapidly in a strange 
 bodiless voice; "'twill serve f 't will serve! And you 
 are a soldier too and know how to use it ! Good, it is a 
 Providence ! " He lifted his hollow eyes to heaven, and 
 then added, " Come ! come ! " 
 
 Carroll stepped towards him. He was alone and in the 
 presence of an undoubted madman one strong enough, in 
 spite of his years, to inflict a deadly injury, and one whom 
 he now began to realize might have done so once before. 
 Nevertheless, he laid his hand on the old man's arm, and 
 looking him calmly in the eye, said quietly, " Come ? 
 Where, Pereo ? I have only just arrived." 
 
 " I know it," whispered the old man, nodding his head 
 violently. " I was watching them, when you rode up. That 
 is why I lost the scent ; but together we can track them 
 still we can track them. Eh, Captain, eh ! Come ! 
 come ! " and he moved slowly backward, waving his hand 
 towards the door. 
 
 " Track whom, Pereo ? " said Carroll soothingly. 
 " Whom do you seek ? " 
 
 " Whom ? " said the old man, startled for a moment and 
 passing his hand over his wrinkled forehead. "Whom? 
 Eh ! Why, the Dona Maruja and the little black cat 
 her maid Faquita ! " 
 
 " Yes, but why seek them ? Why track them ? " 
 
 " Why ? " said the old man, with a sudden burst of im- 
 potent passion. " You ask me why ! Because they are 
 going to the rendezvous again. They are going to seek 
 him. Do you understand to seek him the Coyote ! " 
 
 Carroll smiled a faint smile of relief. "So the 
 Coyote ! " 
 
124 MARUJA 
 
 " Ay," said the old man in a confidential whisper ; " the 
 Coyote ! But not the big one you understand the 
 little one. The big one is dead dead dead ! But the 
 little one lives yet. You shall do for him what I, Pereo 
 listen " he glanced around the room furtively " what 
 I the good old Pereo, did for the big one ! Good, it is a 
 Providence. Come ! " 
 
 Of the terrible thoughts that crossed Carroll's mind at 
 this unexpected climax one alone was uppermost. The 
 trembling irresponsible wretch before him meditated some 
 deep crime and Maruja was in danger. He did not 
 allow himself to dwell upon any other suspicion suggested 
 by that speech ; he quickly conceived a plan of action. To 
 have rung the bell and given Pereo into the hands of the 
 servants would have only exposed to them the lunatic's 
 secret if he had any and he might either escape in his 
 fury or relapse into useless imbecility. To humor him and 
 follow him, and trust afterwards to his own quickness and 
 courage to avert any calamity, seemed to be the only plan. 
 Captain Carroll turned his clear glance on the restless eyes 
 of Pereo, and said, without emotion, " Let us go, then, and 
 quickly. You shall track them for me; but remember, 
 good Pereo, you must leave the rest to me." 
 
 In spite of himself, some accidental significance in this 
 ostentatious adjuration to lull Pereo's suspicions struck him 
 with pain. But the old man's eyes glittered with gratified 
 passion as he said, " Ay, good ! I will keep my word. 
 Thou shalt work thy will on the little one as I have said. 
 Truly it is a Providence ! Come ! " Seeing Captain Car- 
 roll glance round for his overcoat, he seized a poncho from 
 the wall, wrapped it round him, and grasped his hand. 
 Carroll, who would have evaded this semblance of disguise, 
 had no time to parley, and they turned together, through 
 the door by which Pereo had entered, into a long dark pas- 
 sage, which seemed to be made through the outer shell of 
 
MARUJA 125 
 
 the building that flanked the park. Following his guide in 
 the profound obscurity, perfectly conscious that any change 
 in his madness might be followed by a struggle in the dark, 
 where no help could reach them, they presently came to a 
 door that opened upon the fresh smell of rain and leaves. 
 They were standing at the bottom of a secluded alley, be- 
 tween two high hedges that hid it from the end of the 
 garden. Its grass-grown walk and untrimmed hedges showed 
 that it was seldom used. Carroll, still keeping close to 
 Pereo' s side, felt him suddenly stop and tremble. " Look ! " 
 he said, pointing to a shadowy figure some distance before 
 them ; " look, 'tis Maruja, and alone ! " 
 
 With a dexterous movement, Carroll managed to slip his 
 arm securely through the old man's, and even to throw him- 
 self before him, as if in his eagerness to discern the figure. 
 
 " 'T is Maruja and alone ! " said Pereo, trembling. 
 " Alone ! Eh ! And the Coyote is not here ! " He passed 
 his hand over his staring eyes. " So." Suddenly he 
 turned upon Carroll. " Ah, do you not see, it is a trick ! 
 The Coyote is escaping with Faquita ! Come ! Nay ; thou 
 wilt not ? Then will I ! " With an unexpected strength 
 born of his madness, he freed his arm from Carroll and 
 darted down the alley. The figure of Maruja, evidently 
 alarmed at his approach, glided into the hedge, as Pereo 
 passed swiftly by, intent only on his one wild fancy. 
 Without a further thought of his companion or even the 
 luckless Faquita, Carroll also plunged through the hedge, 
 to intercept Maruja. But by that time she was already 
 crossing the upper end of the lawn, hurrying towards the 
 entrance to the patio. Carroll did not hesitate to follow. 
 Keeping in view the lithe, dark, active little figure, now 
 hidden by an intervening cluster of bushes, now fading in 
 the gathering evening shadows, he nevertheless did not 
 succeed in gaining upon her until she had nearly reached 
 the patio. Here he lost ground, as, turning to the right, 
 
126 MAEUJA 
 
 instead of entering the courtyard, she kept her way toward 
 the stables. He was near enough, however, to speak. 
 " One moment, Miss Saltonstall," he said hurriedly ; " there 
 is no danger. I am alone. But I must speak with you." 
 
 The young girl seemed only to redouble her exertions. 
 At last she stopped before a narrow door hidden in the 
 wall, and fumbled in her pocket for a key. That moment 
 Carroll was upon her. 
 
 " Forgive me, Miss Saltonstall Maruja ; but you must 
 hear me ! You are safe, but I fear for your maid, 
 Faquita ! " 
 
 A little laugh followed his speech ; the door yielded and 
 opened to her vanishing figure. For an instant the lace 
 shawl muffling her face was lifted, as the door closed and 
 locked behind her. Carroll drew back in consternation, 
 It was the laughing eyes and saucy face of Faquita. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 WHEN Captain Carroll turned from the highroad into 
 the lane, an hour before, Maruja and Faquita had already 
 left the house by the same secret passage and garden-door 
 that opened afterwards upon himself and Pereo. The 
 young women had evidently changed dresses : Maruja was 
 wearing the costume of her maid ; Faquita was closely 
 veiled and habited like her mistress ; but it was character- 
 istic that, while Faquita appeared awkward and overdressed 
 in her borrowed plumes, Maruja's short saya and trim bod- 
 ice, with the striped shawl that hid her fair hair, looked 
 infinitely more coquettish and bewitching than on their 
 legitimate owner. 
 
 They passed hurriedly down the long alley, and at its 
 further end turned at right angles to a small gate half hid- 
 den in the shrubbery. It opened upon a venerable vine- 
 yard, that dated back to the occupation of the padres, but 
 was now given over to the chance cultivation of peons and 
 domestics. Its long, broken rows of low vines, knotted 
 and overgrown with age, reached to the thicketed hillside 
 of buckeye that marked the beginning of the Canada. 
 Here Maruja parted from her maid, and muffling the shawl 
 more closely round her head, hastily passed between the 
 vine rows to a ruined adobe building near the hillside. It 
 was originally part of the refectory of the old Mision, but 
 had been more recently used as a vinadero's cottage. As 
 she neared it, her steps grew slower, until, reaching its 
 door, she hesitated, with her hand timidly on the latch. 
 The next moment she opened it gently ; it was closed 
 
128 MARUJA 
 
 quickly behind her, and with a little stifled cry, she found 
 herself in the arms of Henry Guest. 
 
 It was only for an instant ; the pleading of her white 
 hands, disengaged from his neck, where at first they had 
 found themselves, and uplifted before her face, touched 
 him more than the petitioning eyes or the sweet voiceless 
 mouth, whose breath even was forgotten. Letting her sink 
 into the chair from which he had just risen, he drew back 
 a step, with his hands clasped before him, and his dark 
 half-savage eyes bent earnestly upon her. Well might he 
 have gazed. It was no longer the conscious beauty, proud 
 and regnant, seated before him ; but a timid, frightened 
 girl, struggling with her first deep passion. 
 
 All that was wise and gentle that she had intended to 
 say, all that her clear intellect and experience had taught 
 her, died upon her lips with that kiss. And all that she 
 could do of womanly dignity and high-bred decorum was to 
 tuck her small feet under her chair, in the desperate at- 
 tempt to lengthen her short skirt, and beg him not to look 
 at her. 
 
 " I have had to change dresses with Faquita, because we 
 were watched," she said, leaning forward in her chair and 
 drawing the striped shawl around her shoulders. " I have 
 had to steal out of my mother's house and through the 
 fields, as if I was a gypsy. If I only were a gypsy, Harry, 
 and not " 
 
 " And not the proudest heiress in the land," he inter- 
 rupted, with something of his old bitterness. " True, I 
 had forgot." 
 
 " But I never reminded you of it," she said, lifting her 
 eyes to his. "I did not remind you of it on that day 
 in in in the conservatory, nor at the time you first 
 spoke of of love to me nor from the time I first 
 consented to meet you here. It is you, Harry, who have 
 spoken of the difference of our condition, you who have 
 
MARUJA 129 
 
 talked of my wealth, my family, my position until I 
 would gladly have changed places with Faquita as I have 
 garments, if I had thought it would make you happier." 
 
 " Forgive me, darling ! " he said, dropping on one knee 
 before her and bending over the cold little hand he had 
 taken, until his dark head almost rested in her lap. " For- 
 give me ! You are too proud, Maruja, to admit, even to 
 yourself, that you have given your heart where your hand 
 and fortune could not follow. But others may not think 
 so. I am proud, too, and will not have it said that I have 
 won you before I was worthy of you." 
 
 " You have no right to be more proud than I, sir," she 
 said, rising to her feet, with a touch of her old supreme 
 assertion. " No don't, Harry please, Harry there ! " 
 Nevertheless, she succumbed ; and when she went on, it 
 was with her head resting on his shoulder. " It 's this 
 deceit and secrecy that is so shameful, Harry. I think I 
 could bear everything with you, if it were all known if 
 you came to woo me like like the others. Even if 
 they abused you if they spoke of your doubtful origin 
 of your poverty of your hardships ! When they aspersed 
 you, I could fight them ; when they spoke of your having 
 no father that you could claim, I could even lie for you, I 
 think, Harry, and say that you had ; if they spoke of your 
 poverty, I would speak of my wealth ; if they talked of 
 your hardships, I should only be proud of your endurance 
 if I could only keep the tears from my eyes ! " They 
 were there now. He kissed them away. 
 
 " But if they threatened you ? If they drove me from 
 the house ? " 
 
 "I should fly with you," she said, hiding her head in 
 his breast. 
 
 " What if I were to ask you to fly with me now ? " he 
 said gloomily. 
 
 " Now ! " she repeated, lifting her frightened eyes to his 
 
130 MARUJA 
 
 His face darkened, with its old look of savage resent- 
 ment. " Hear me, Maruja," he said, taking her hands 
 tightly in his own. " When I forgot myself when I 
 was mad that day in the conservatory, the only expiation 
 I could think of was to swear in my inmost soul that I 
 would never take advantage of your forgiveness, that I 
 would never tempt you to forget yourself, your friends, 
 your family, for me, an unknown outcast. When I found 
 you pitied me, and listened to my love I was too weak 
 to forego the one ray of sunshine in my wretched life 
 and thinking that I had a prospect before me in an idea I 
 promised to reveal to you later, I swore never to beguile 
 you or myself in that hope by any act that might bring 
 you to repent it or myself to dishonor. But I taxed 
 myself too much, Maruja. I have asked too much of you. 
 You are right, darling ; this secrecy this deceit is un- 
 worthy of us ! Every hour of it blest as it has been to 
 me every moment sweet as it is blackens the purity 
 of our only defense, makes you false and me a coward ! 
 It must end here to-day ! Maruja, darling, my precious 
 one ! God knows what may be the success of my plans. 
 We have but one chance now. I must leave here to-day, 
 never to return, or I must take you with me. Do not 
 start, Maruja but hear me out. Dare you risk all ? 
 Dare you fly with me now, to-night, to the old Padre at 
 the ruined Mision, and let him bind us in those bonds that 
 none dare break ? We can take Faquita with us it is 
 but a few miles and we can return and throw ourselves 
 at your mother's feet. She can only drive us forth together. 
 Or we can fly from this cursed wealth, and all the misery 
 it has entailed forever." 
 
 She raised her head, and with her two hands on his 
 shoulders, gazed at him with her father's searching eyes, 
 as if to read his very soul. 
 
 u Are you mad, Harry ! think what you propose ! Is 
 
MARUJA 131 
 
 this not tempting me ? Think again, dearest," she said, 
 half convulsively, seizing his arm when her grasp had 
 slipped from his shoulder. 
 
 There was a momentary silence as she stood with her 
 eyes fixed almost wildly on his set face. But a sudden 
 shock against the bolted door and an inarticulate outcry 
 startled them. With an instinctive movement, Guest 
 threw his arm round her. 
 
 " It ? s Pereo," she said in a hurried whisper, but once 
 more mistress of her strength and resolution. "He is 
 seeking you ! Fly at once. He is mad, Harry ; a raving 
 lunatic. He watched us the last time. He has tracked 
 us here. He suspects you. You must not meet him. 
 You can escape through the other door, that opens upon 
 the canada. If you love me fly ! " 
 
 " And leave you exposed to his fury are you mad ! 
 No. Fly yourself by the other door, lock it behind you, 
 and alarm the servants. I will open this door to him, 
 secure him here, and then be gone. Do not fear for me. 
 There is no danger and if I mistake not," he added, 
 with a strange significance, " he will hardly attack me ! " 
 
 " But he may have already alarmed the household. 
 Hark ! " 
 
 There was the noise of a struggle outside the door, and 
 then the voice of Captain Carroll, calm and collected, rose 
 clearly for an instant. " You are quite safe, Miss Salton- 
 stall. I think I have him secure, but perhaps you had 
 better not open the door until assistance comes." 
 
 They gazed at each other, without a word. A grim 
 challenge played on Guest's lips. Maruja lifted her little 
 hands deliberately, and clasped them round his defiant 
 neck. 
 
 " Listen, darling," she said softly and quietly, as if only 
 
 the security of silence and darkness encompassed them. 
 
 'You asked me just now if I would fly with you if I 
 
132 MARUJA 
 
 would marry you without the consent of my family 
 against the protest of my friends and at once ! I hesi- 
 tated, Harry, for I was frightened and foolish. But I say 
 to you now that I will marry you when and where you like 
 for I love you, Harry, and you alone." 
 
 " Then let us go at once," he said, passionately seiz- 
 ing her ; " we can reach the road by the Canada before 
 assistance comes before we are discovered. Come ! " 
 
 " And you will remember in the years to come, Harry," 
 she said, still composedly, and with her arms still around 
 his neck, " that I never loved any but you that I never 
 knew what love was before, and that since I have loved 
 you I have never thought of any other. Will you 
 not ? " 
 
 " I will and now " 
 
 " And now," she said, with a superb gesture towards the 
 barrier which separated them from Carroll, " OPEN THE 
 DOOR I " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WITH a swift glance of admiration at Maruja, Guest 
 flung open the door. The hastily summoned servants were 
 already bearing away the madman, exhausted by his efforts. 
 Captain Carroll alone remained there, erect and motionless, 
 before the threshold. 
 
 At a sign from Maruja, he entered the room. In the 
 flash of light made by the opening door, he had been per- 
 fectly conscious of her companion, but not a motion of his 
 eye or the movement of a muscle of his face betrayed it. 
 The trained discipline of his youth stood him in good ser- 
 vice, and for the moment left him master of the situation. 
 
 " I think no apology is needed for this intrusion," he 
 said, with cool composure. " Pereo seemed intent on mur- 
 dering somebody or something, and I followed him here. 
 I suppose I might have got him away more quietly, but I 
 was afraid you might have thoughtlessly opened the door." 
 He stopped, and added, " I see now how unfounded was the 
 supposition." 
 
 It was a fatal addition. In the next instant, the Maruja 
 who had been standing beside Guest, conscious-stricken and 
 remorseful in the presence of the man she had deceived, 
 and calmly awaiting her punishment, changed at this luck- 
 less exhibition of her own peculiar womanly weapons. The 
 old Maruja, supreme, ready, undaunted, and passionless, 
 returned to the fray. 
 
 " You were wrong, Captain," she said sweetly ; " fortu- 
 nately, Mr. Guest whom I see you have forgotten in your 
 absence was with me, and I think would have felt it his 
 
134 MAKUJA 
 
 duty to have protected me. But I thank you all the same, 
 and I think even Mr. Guest will not allow his envy of your 
 good fortune in coming so gallantly to my rescue to prevent 
 his appreciating its full value. I am only sorry that on 
 your return to La Mision Perdida you should have fallen 
 into the arms of a madman before extending your hands to 
 your friends." 
 
 Their eyes met. She saw that he hated her and felt 
 relieved. 
 
 " It may not have been so entirely unfortunate/ 7 he 
 said, with a coldness strongly in contrast with his gradually 
 blazing eyes, " for I was charged with a message to you, 
 in which this madman is supposed by some to play an 
 important part. 7 ' 
 
 " Is it a matter of business ? " said Maruja lightly, yet 
 with a sudden instinctive premonition of coming evil in the 
 relentless tones of his voice. 
 
 "It is business, Miss Saltonstall purely and simply 
 business/ 7 said Carroll dryly, " under whatever other name 
 it may have been since presented to you. 77 
 
 " Perhaps you have no objection to tell it before Mr. 
 Guest/ 7 said Maruja, with an inspiration of audacity ; "it 
 sounds so mysterious that it must be interesting. Otherwise, 
 Captain Carroll, who abhors business, would not have under- 
 taken it with more than his usual enthusiasm. 7 ' 
 
 "As the business does interest Mr. Guest, or Mr. West, 
 or whatever name he may have decided upon since I had 
 the pleasure of meeting him/ 7 said Carroll for the first 
 time striking fire from the eyes of his rival "I see no 
 reason why I should not, even at the risk of telling you 
 what you already know. Briefly, then, Mr. Prince charged 
 me to advise you and your mother to avoid litigation with 
 this gentleman, and admit his claim, as the son of Dr. 
 West, to his share of the property. 77 
 
 The utter consternation and bewilderment shown in the 
 
MARUJA 135 
 
 face of Maruja convinced Carroll of his fatal error. She 
 had received the addresses of this man without knowing 
 his real position ! The wild theory that had seemed to 
 justify his resentment that she had sold herself to Guest 
 to possess the property now recoiled upon him in its 
 utter baseness. She had loved Guest for himself alone ; by 
 this base revelation he had helped to throw her into his 
 arms. 
 
 But he did not even yet know Maruja. Turning to 
 Guest, with flashing eyes, she said, " Is it true are you 
 the son of Dr. West, and " she hesitated " kept out 
 of your inheritance by us ? " 
 
 " I am the son of Dr. West," he said earnestly, " though 
 I alone had the right to tell you that at the proper time 
 and occasion. Believe me that I have given no one the 
 right least of all any tool of Prince to trade upon it." 
 
 " Then," said Carroll fiercely, forgetting everything in 
 his anger, " perhaps you will disclaim before this young 
 lady the charge made by your employer that Pereo was 
 instigated to Dr. West's murder by her mother ? " 
 
 Again he had overshot the mark. The horror and indig- 
 nation depicted in Guest's face were too plainly visible to 
 Maruja, as well as himself, to permit a doubt that the idea 
 was as new as the accusation. Forgetting her bewilderment 
 at these revelations, her wounded pride, a torturing doubt 
 suggested by Guest's want of confidence in her indeed 
 everything but the outraged feelings of her lover, she flew 
 to his side. " Not a word," she said proudly, lifting her 
 little hand before his darkening face. " Do not insult me 
 by replying to such an accusation in my presence. Captain 
 Carroll," she continued, turning towards him, "I cannot 
 forget that you were introduced into my mother's house as 
 an officer and a gentleman. When you return to it as such, 
 and not as a man of business, you will be welcome. Until 
 then, farewell ! " 
 
136 MARUJA 
 
 She remained standing, erect and passionless, as Carroll, 
 with a cold salutation, stepped back and disappeared in 
 the darkness ; and then she turned, and with tottering 
 step and a little cry, fell upon Guest's breast. " O Harry 
 
 Harry ! why have you deceived me ! " 
 
 " I thought it for the best, darling," he said, lifting her 
 face to his. " You know now the prospect I spoke of 
 the hope that buoyed me up ! I wanted to win you my- 
 self alone, without appealing to your sense of justice or even 
 your sympathies ! I did win you. God knows, if I had 
 not, you would never have learned through me that a son of 
 Dr. West had ever lived. But that was not enough. When 
 I found that I could establish my right to my father's pro- 
 perty, I wanted you to marry me before you knew it ; so 
 that it never could be said that you were influenced by any- 
 thing but love for me. That was why I came here to-day. 
 That was why I pressed you to fly with me ! " 
 
 He ceased. She was fumbling with the buttons of his 
 waistcoat. " Harry," she said softly, " did you think of 
 the property when when you kissed me in the conser- 
 vatory ? " 
 
 " I thought of nothing but you" he answered tenderly. 
 
 Suddenly she started from his embrace. " But Pereo ! 
 
 Harry tell me quick no one nobody can think 
 that this poor demented old man could that Dr. West 
 was that it 's all a trick is n't it ? Harry speak ! " 
 
 He was silent for a moment, and then said gravely, 
 " There were strange men at the fonda that night, and 
 my father was supposed to carry money with him. My 
 own life was attempted at the Mision the same evening for 
 the sake of some paltry gold pieces that I had imprudently 
 shown. I was saved solely by the interference of one man. 
 That man was Pereo, your major-domo ! " 
 
 She seized his hand and raised it joyfully to her lips. 
 " Thank you for those words ! And you will come to him 
 
MARUJA 137 
 
 with me at once ; and he will recognize you ; and we will 
 laugh at those lies ; won't we, Harry ? " 
 
 He did not reply. Perhaps he was listening to a con- 
 fused sound of voices rapidly approaching the cottage. 
 Together they stepped out into the gathering night. A 
 number of figures were coming towards them, among them 
 Faquita, who ran a little ahead to meet her mistress. 
 
 " Oh, Dona Maruja, he has escaped ! " 
 
 " Who ? Not Pereo ! " 
 
 " Truly. And on his horse. It was saddled and "bridled 
 in the stable all day. One knew it not. He was walking 
 like a cat, when suddenly he parted the peons around him, 
 like grain before a mad bull and behold ! he was on the 
 pinto's back and away. And, alas ! there is no horse that 
 can keep up with the pinto. God grant he may not get in 
 the way of the r-r-railroad, that, in his very madness, he will 
 even despise." 
 
 " My own horse is in the thicket," whispered Guest, hur- 
 riedly, in Maruja's ear. " I have measured him with the 
 pinto before now. Give me your blessing, and I will bring 
 him back if he be alive." 
 
 She pressed his hand and said, " Go." Before the aston- 
 ished servants could identify the strange escort of their mis- 
 tress, he was gone. 
 
 It was already quite dark. To any but Guest, who had 
 made the topography of La Mision Perdida a practical study, 
 and who had known the habitual circuit of the major-domo 
 in his efforts to avoid him, the search would have been 
 hopeless. But rightly conjecturing that he would in his 
 demented condition follow the force of habit, he spurred his 
 horse along the highroad until he reached the lane leading 
 to the grassy amphitheatre already described, which was 
 once his favorite resort. Since then it had participated in 
 the terrible transformation already wrought in the valley by 
 the railroad. A deep cutting through one of the grassy 
 
138 MARUJA 
 
 hills had been made for the line that now crossed the lower 
 arc of the amphitheatre. 
 
 His conjecture was justified on entering it by the appear- 
 ance of a shadowy horseman in full career round the circle, 
 and he had no difficulty in recognizing Pereo. As there was 
 no other exit than the one by which he came, the other being 
 inaccessible by reason of the railroad track, he calmly 
 watched him twice make the circuit of the arena, ready to 
 ride towards him when he showed symptoms of slackening 
 his speed. 
 
 Suddenly he became aware of some strange exercise on the 
 part of the mysterious rider ; and as the latter swept by on 
 the nearer side of the circle, Guest saw that he was throw- 
 ing a lasso ! A horrible thought that he was witnessing an 
 insane rehearsal of the murder of his father flashed across 
 his mind. 
 
 A far-off whistle from the distant woods recalled him to 
 his calmer senses at the same moment that it seemed also to 
 check the evolutions of the furious rider. Guest felt confi- 
 dent that the wretched man could not escape him now. It 
 was the approaching train, whose appearance would undoubt- 
 edly frighten Pereo toward the entrance of the little valley 
 guarded by him. The hillside was already alive with the 
 clattering echoes of the oncoming monster, when, to his 
 horror, he saw the madman advancing rapidly towards the 
 cutting. He put spurs to his horse, and started in pursuit ; 
 but the train was already emerging from the narrow passage, 
 followed by the furious rider, who had wheeled abreast of 
 the engine, and was, for a moment or two, madly keeping 
 up with it. Guest shouted to him, but his voice was lost 
 in the roar of the rushing caravan. 
 
 Something seemed to fly from Pereo's hand. The next 
 moment the train had passed ; rider and horse, crushed and 
 battered out of all life, were rolling in the ditch, while the 
 murderer's empty saddle dangled at the end of a lasso, caught 
 
MARUJA 139 
 
 on the smoke-stack of one of the murdered man's avenging 
 improvements ! 
 
 The marriage of Maruja and the son of the late Dr. West 
 was received in the valley of San Antonio as one of the 
 most admirably conceived and skillfully matured plans of 
 that lamented genius. There were many who were ready to 
 state that the Doctor had confided it to them years before ; 
 and it was generally accepted that the widow Saltoristall had 
 been simply made a trustee for the benefit of the prospective 
 young couple. Only one person, perhaps, did not entirely 
 accept these views; it was Mr. James Prince otherwise 
 known as Aladdin. In later years, he is said to have stated 
 authoritatively " that the only combination in business that 
 was uncertain was man and woman." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FOB some moments profound silence and darkness had 
 accompanied a Sierran stagecoach towards the Summit. 
 The huge, dim bulk of the vehicle, swaying noiselessly on 
 its straps, glided onward and upward as if obeying some 
 mysterious impulse from behind, so faint and indefinite ap- 
 peared its relation to the viewless and silent horses ahead. 
 The shadowy trunks of tall trees that seemed to approach 
 the coach windows, look in, and then move hurriedly 
 away, were the only distinguishable objects. Yet even 
 these were so vague and unreal that they might have been 
 the mere phantoms of some dream of the half-sleeping pas- 
 sengers ; for the thickly strewn needles of the pine, that 
 choked the way and deadened all sound, yielded under the 
 silently crushing wheels a faint soporific odor that seemed 
 to benumb their senses, already slipping back into uncon- 
 sciousness during the long ascent. Suddenly the stage 
 stopped. 
 
 Three of the four passengers inside struggled at once 
 into upright wakefulness. The fourth passenger, John 
 Hale, had not been sleeping, and turned impatiently towards 
 the window. It seemed to him that two of the moving 
 trees had suddenly become motionless outside. One of 
 them moved again, and the door opened quickly but quietly, 
 as of itself. 
 
 " Git down," said a voice in the darkness. 
 
 All the passengers except Hale started. The man next 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 141 
 
 to him moved his right hand suddenly behind him, but as 
 quickly stopped. One of the motionless trees had appar- 
 ently closed upon the vehicle, and what had seemed to be a 
 bough projecting from it at right angles changed slowly 
 into the faintly shining double-barrels of a gun at the 
 window. 
 
 " Drop that ! " said the voice. 
 
 The man who had moved uttered a short laugh, and 
 returned his hand empty to his knees. The two others 
 perceptibly shrugged their shoulders as over a game that 
 was lost. The remaining passenger, John Hale, fearless 
 by nature, inexperienced by habit, awaking suddenly to the 
 truth, conceived a desperate resistance. But without his 
 making a gesture this was instinctively felt by the others ; 
 the muzzle of the gun turned spontaneously on him, and he 
 was vaguely conscious of a certain contempt and impatience 
 of him in his companions. 
 
 " Git down," repeated the voice imperatively. 
 
 The three passengers descended. Hale, furious, alert, 
 but helpless of any opportunity, followed. He was sur- 
 prised to find the stage-driver and express messenger stand- 
 ing beside him ; he had not heard them dismount. He 
 instinctively looked toward the horses. He could see 
 nothing. 
 
 " Hold up your hands ! " 
 
 One of the passengers had already lifted his, in a weary, 
 perfunctory way. The others did the same reluctantly and 
 awkwardly, but apparently more from the consciousness of 
 the ludicrousness of their attitude than from any sense of 
 danger. The rays of a bull's-eye lantern, deftly managed 
 by invisible hands, while it left the intruders in shadow, 
 completely illuminated the faces and figures of the passen- 
 gers. In spite of the majestic obscurity and silence of 
 surrounding nature, the group of humanity thus illuminated 
 was more farcical than dramatic. A scrap of newspaper, 
 
142 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 part of a sandwich, and an orange peel that had fallen from 
 the floor of the coach, brought into equal prominence by 
 the searching light, completed the absurdity. 
 
 " There 's a man here with a package of greenbacks," 
 said the voice, with an official coolness that lent a certain 
 suggestion of Custom House inspection to the transaction^ 
 " who is it ? " The passengers looked at each other, and 
 their glance finally settled on Hale. 
 
 "It 's not him," continued the voice, with a slight tinge 
 of contempt on the emphasis. " You '11 save time and 
 searching, gentlemen, if you '11 tote it out. If we 've got 
 to go through every one of you we '11 try to make it pay." 
 
 The significant threat was not unheeded. The passenger 
 who had first moved when the stage stopped put his hand 
 to his breast. 
 
 " T'other pocket first, if you please," said the voice. 
 
 The man laughed, drew a pistol from his hip pocket, and, 
 under the strong light of the lantern, laid it on a spot in 
 the road indicated by the voice. A thick envelope, taken 
 from his breast pocket, was laid beside it. " I told the 
 d d fools that gave it to me, instead of sending it by 
 express, it would be at their own risk," he said apologeti- 
 cally. 
 
 " As it 's going with the express now, it 's all the same," 
 said the inevitable humorist of the occasion, pointing to the 
 despoiled express treasure-box already in the road. 
 
 The intention and deliberation of the outrage was plain 
 enough to Hale's inexperience now. Yet he could not un- 
 derstand the cool acquiescence of his fellow passengers, and 
 was furious. His reflections were interrupted by a voice 
 which seemed to come from a greater distance. He fancied 
 it was even softer in tone, as if a certain austerity waa 
 relaxed. 
 
 " Step in as quick as you like, gentlemen. You ? ve five 
 minutes to wait, Bill." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 143 
 
 The passengers reentered the coach ; the driver and ex- 
 press messenger hurriedly climhed to their places. Hale 
 would have spoken, but an impatient gesture from his com- 
 panions stopped him. They were evidently listening for 
 something ; he listened too. 
 
 Yet the silence remained unbroken. It seemed incredi- 
 ble that there should be no indication near or far of that 
 forceful presence which a moment ago had been so domi- 
 nant. No rustle in the wayside " brush/ 7 nor echo from 
 the rocky canon below, betrayed a sound of their flight. A 
 faint breeze stirred the tall tips of the pines, a cone 
 dropped on the stage roof, one of the invisible horses that 
 seemed to be listening too moved slightly in his harness. 
 But this only appeared to accentuate the profound stillness. 
 The moments were growing interminable, when the voice, 
 so near as to startle Hale, broke once more from the sur- 
 rounding obscurity. 
 
 " Good-night ! " 
 
 It was the signal that they were free. The driver's whip 
 cracked like a pistol-shot, the horses sprang furiously for- 
 ward, the huge vehicle lurched ahead, and then bounded 
 violently after them. When Hale could make his voice 
 heard in the confusion a confusion which seemed greater 
 from the colorless intensity of their last few moments' ex- 
 perience he said hurriedly, " Then that fellow was there 
 all the time ? " 
 
 " I reckon," returned his companion, " he stopped five 
 minutes to cover the driver with his double-barrel, until 
 the two other men got off with the treasure." 
 
 " The two others ! " gasped Hale. " Then there were 
 only three men, and we six." 
 
 The man shrugged his shoulders. The passenger who 
 had given up the greenbacks drawled, with a slow, irritat- 
 ing tolerance, " I reckon you 're a stranger here ? " 
 
 " I am to this sort of thing, eertainly, though I live a 
 
144 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 dozen miles from here, at Eagle's Court," returned Hale 
 scornfully. 
 
 " Then you 're the chap that 's doin' that fancy ranchin* 
 over at Eagle's ? " continued the man lazily. 
 
 " Whatever I 'm doing at Eagle's Court, I 'm not 
 ashamed of it," said Hale tartly ; " and that 's more than I 
 can say of what I 've done or have n't done to-night. 
 I 've been one of six men overawed and robbed by three." 
 
 "As to the over-awin', ez you call it mebbe you 
 know more about it than us. As to the robbin' ez far as 
 I kin remember, you have n't onloaded much. Ef you 're 
 talkin' about what oughter been done, I '11 tell you what 
 could have happened. P'r'aps ye noticed that when he 
 pulled up I made a kind of grab for my wepping behind 
 me?" 
 
 "I did; and you weren't quick enough," said Hale 
 shortly. 
 
 " I was n't quick enough, and that saved you. For ef I 
 got that pistol out and in sight o' that man that held the 
 gun " 
 
 " Well," said Hale impatiently, " he 'd have hesitated." 
 
 " He M hev blown you with both barrels outer the win- 
 dow, and that before I 'd got a half-cock on my revolver." 
 
 " But that would have been only one man gone, and there 
 would have been five of you left," said Hale haughtily. 
 
 " That might have been, ef you 'd contracted to take the 
 hull charge of two handfuls of buckshot and slugs ; but ez 
 one eighth o' that amount would have done your business, 
 and yet left enough to have gone round, promiskiss, and 
 satisfied the other passengers, it would n't do to kalkilate 
 upon." 
 
 " But the express messenger and the driver were armed," 
 continued Hale. 
 
 "They were armed, but not fixed; that makes all the 
 difference." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 145 
 
 " I don't understand." 
 
 " I reckon you know what a duel is ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, the chances agin us was about the same as you 'd 
 have ef you was put up agin another chap who was allowed 
 to draw a bead on you, and the signal to fire was your 
 drawin' your weapon. You may be a stranger to this sort 
 o' thing, and pVaps you never fought a duel, but even 
 then you would n't go foolin' your life away on any such 
 chances." 
 
 Something in the man's manner, as in a certain sly 
 amusement the other passengers appeared to extract from 
 the conversation, impressed Hale, already beginning to be 
 conscious of the ludicrous insufficiency of his own grievance 
 beside that of his interlocutor. 
 
 " Then you mean to say this thing is inevitable," said he 
 bitterly, but less aggressively. 
 
 " Ez long ez they hunt you ; when you hunt them 
 you 've got the advantage, allus provided you know how to 
 get at them ez well as they know how to get at you. This 
 yer coach is bound to go regular, and on certain days. 
 They ain't. By the time the sheriff gets out his posse 
 they 've skedaddled, and the leader, like as not, is takin' his 
 quiet cocktail at the Bank Exchange, or mebbe losin' his 
 earnings to the sheriff over draw-poker, in Sacramento. 
 You see, you can't prove anything agin them unless you 
 take them 'on the fly.' It may be a part of Joaquim 
 Murietta's band, though I would n't swear to it." 
 
 " The leader might have been Gentleman George, from 
 up-country," interposed a passenger. " He seemed to throw 
 in a few fancy touches, particlerly in that ' Good-night.' 
 Sorter chucked a little sentiment in it. Did n't seem to be 
 the same thing ez ' Git, yer d d suckers ! ' on the other 
 line." 
 
 " Whoever he was, he knew the road and the men who 
 
146 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 traveled on it. Like ez not, he went over the line beside 
 the driver on the box on the down trip, and took stock of 
 everything. He even knew I had those greenbacks ; though 
 they were handed to me in the bank at Sacramento. He 
 must have been hangin' round there." 
 
 For some moments Hale remained silent. He was a 
 civic-bred man, with an intense love of law and order ; the 
 kind of man who is the first to take that law and order into 
 his own hands when he does not find it existing to please 
 him. He had a Bostonian's respect for respectability, tra- 
 dition, and propriety, but was willing to face irregularity 
 and impropriety to create order elsewhere. He was fond 
 of Nature with these limitations, never quite trusting her 
 unguided instincts, and finding her as an instructress greatly 
 inferior to Harvard University, though possibly not to Cor- 
 nell. With dauntless enterprise and energy he had built 
 and stocked a charming cottage farm in a nook in the 
 Sierras, whence he opposed, like the lesser Englishman that 
 he was, his own tastes to those of the alien West. In the 
 present instance he felt it incumbent upon him not only to 
 assert his principles, but to act upon them with his usual 
 energy. How far he was impelled by the half -contemptu- 
 ous passiveness of his companions it would be difficult to 
 say. 
 
 " What is to prevent the pursuit of them at once ? " he 
 asked suddenly. " We are a few miles from the station, 
 where horses can be procured. " 
 
 " Who 's to do it ? " replied the other lazily. " The 
 stage company will lodge the complaint with the authori- 
 ties, but it will take two days to get the county officers 
 out, and it 's nobody else's funeral." 
 
 " I will go for one," said Hale quietly. " I have a 
 horse waiting for me at the station, and can start at once." 
 
 There was an instant of silence. The stagecoach had 
 left the obscurity of the forest, and by the stronger light 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 147 
 
 Hale could perceive that his companion was examining him 
 with two colorless, lazy eyes. Presently he said, meeting 
 Hale's clear glance, but rather as if yielding to a careless 
 reflection : 
 
 " It might be done with four men. We oughter raise 
 one man at the station.' 7 He paused. "I don't know ez 
 I 'd mind taking a hand myself," he added, stretching out 
 his legs with a slight yawn. 
 
 " Ye can count me in, if you 're goin', Kernel. I reckon 
 I 'm talkin' to Kernel Clinch," said the passenger beside 
 Hale with sudden alacrity. " I 'm B-awlins, of 'Frisco. 
 Heerd of ye afore, Kernel, and kinder spotted you jist 
 now from your talk." 
 
 To Hale's surprise, the two men, after awkwardly and 
 perfunctorily grasping each other's hand, entered at once 
 into a languid conversation on the recent election at Fresno, 
 without the slightest further reference to the pursuit of the 
 robbers. It was not until the remaining and undenominated 
 passenger turned to Hale, and, regretting that he had im- 
 mediate business at the Summit, offered to accompany the 
 party if they would wait a couple of hours, that Colonel 
 Clinch briefly returned to the subject. 
 
 " Four men will do, and ez we '11 hev to take horses 
 from the station we '11 hev to take the fourth man from 
 there." 
 
 With these words he resumed his uninteresting conver- 
 sation with the equally uninterested Rawlins, and the 
 undenominated passenger subsided into an admiring and 
 dreamy contemplation of them both. With all his princi- 
 ple and really high-minded purpose, Hale could not help 
 feeling constrained and annoyed at the sudden subordinate 
 and auxiliary position to which he, the projector of the en- 
 terprise, had been reduced. It was true that he had never 
 offered himself as their leader ; it was true that the princi- 
 ple he wished to uphold and the effect he sought to obtain 
 
148 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 would be equally demonstrated under another ; it was true 
 that the execution of his own conception gravitated by 
 some occult impulse to the man who had not sought it, and 
 whom he had always regarded as an incapable. But all 
 this was so unlike precedent or tradition that, after the 
 fashion of conservative men, he was suspicious of it, and 
 only that his honor was now involved he would have with- 
 drawn from the enterprise. There was still a chance of 
 reasserting himself at the station, where he was known, 
 and where some authority might be deputed to him. 
 
 But even this prospect failed. The station, half stable, 
 contained only the landlord, who was also express agent, 
 and the new volunteer whom Clinch had suggested would 
 be found among the stable-men. The nearest justice of the 
 peace was ten miles away, and Hale had to abandon even 
 his hope of being sworn in as a deputy constable. This in- 
 troduction of a common and illiterate hostler into the party 
 on equal terms with himself did not add to his satisfaction, 
 and a remark from Eawlins seemed to complete his embar- 
 rassment. 
 
 " Ye had a mighty narrer escape down there just now," 
 said that gentleman confidentially, as Hale buckled his sad- 
 dle-girths. 
 
 " I thought, as we were not supposed to defend our- 
 selves, there was no danger/' said Hale scornfully. 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean them road agents. But him." 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Kernel Clinch. You jist ez good as allowed he had n't 
 any grit." 
 
 " Whatever I said, I suppose I am responsible for it," 
 answered Hale haughtily. 
 
 " That 's what gits me," was the imperturbable reply. 
 " He 's the best shot in Southern California, and hez let 
 daylight through a dozen chaps afore now for half what you 
 said." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 149 
 
 " Indeed ! " 
 
 " Howsummever," continued Kawlins philosophically, 
 " ez he 's concluded to go with ye instead of for ye, you 're 
 likely to hev your ideas on this matter carried out up to 
 the handle. He '11 make short work of it, you bet. Ef, 
 ez I suspect, the leader is an airy young feller from 'Frisco, 
 who hez took to the road lately, Clinch hez got a personal 
 grudge agin him from a quarrel over draw-poker." 
 
 This was the last blow to Hale's ideal crusade. Here 
 he was an honest, respectable citizen engaged as sim- 
 ple accessory to a lawless vendetta originating at a gam- 
 bling-table ! When the first shock was over that grim 
 philosophy which is the reaction of all imaginative and 
 sensitive natures came to his aid. He felt better ; oddly 
 enough he began to be conscious that he was thinking and 
 acting like his companions. With this feeling a vague 
 sympathy, before absent, faintly showed itself in their ac- 
 tions. The Sharpe's rifle put into his hands by the stable- 
 man was accompanied by a familiar word of suggestion as 
 to an equal, which he was ashamed to find flattered him. 
 He was able to continue the conversation with Eawlins 
 more coolly. 
 
 " Then you suspect who is the leader ? " 
 
 " Only on giniral principles. There was a finer touch, 
 so to speak, in this yer robbery that wasn't in the old- 
 fashioned style. Down in my country they hed crude 
 ideas about them things used to strip the passengers of 
 everything, includin' their clothes. They say that at the 
 station hotels, when the coach came in, the folks used to 
 stand round with blankets to wrap up the passengers so ez 
 not to skeer the wimen. Thar 's a story that the driver 
 and express manager drove up one day with only a copy of 
 the 'Alty Califofny' wrapped around 'em; but thin," 
 added Eawlins grimly, " there was folks ez said the hull 
 story was only an advertisement got up for the ' Alty.' " 
 
150 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 "Time's up." 
 
 " Are you ready, gentlemen ? " said Colonel Clinch. 
 
 Hale started. He had forgotten his wife and family at 
 Eagle's Court, ten miles away. They would he alarmed at 
 his absence, would perhaps hear some exaggerated version 
 of the stagecoach robbery, and fear the worst. 
 
 " Is there any way I could send a line to Eagle's Court 
 before daybreak ? " he asked eagerly. 
 
 The station was already drained of its spare men and 
 horses. The undenominated passenger stepped forward 
 and offered to take it himself when his business, which he 
 would dispatch as quickly as possible, was concluded. 
 
 " That ain't a bad idea," said Clinch reflectively, " for 
 ef yer hurry you '11 head 'em off in case they scent us, and 
 try to double-back on the North Ridge. They '11 fight 
 shy of the trail if they see anybody on it, and one man 's 
 as good as a dozen." 
 
 Hale could not help thinking that he might have been 
 that one man, and had his opportunity for independent 
 action but for his rash proposal, but it was too late to 
 withdraw now. He hastily scribbled a few lines to his 
 wife on a sheet of the station paper, handed it to the man, 
 and took his place in the little cavalcade as it filed silently 
 down the road. 
 
 They had ridden in silence for nearly an hour, and had 
 passed the scene of the robbery by a higher track. Morn- 
 ing had long ago advanced its colors on the cold white 
 peaks to their right, and was taking possession of the spur 
 where they rode. 
 
 " It looks like snow," said Eawlins quietly. 
 
 Hale turned towards him in astonishment. Nothing on 
 earth or sky looked less likely. It had been cold, but 
 that might have been only a current from the frozen peaks 
 beyond, reaching the lower valley. The ridge on which 
 they had halted was still thick with yellowish-green sum- 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 151 
 
 mer foliage, mingled with the darker evergreen of pine and 
 fir. Oven-like canons in the long flanks of the mountain 
 seemed still to glow with the heat of yesterday's noon ; the 
 breathless air yet trembled and quivered over stifling gorges 
 and passes in the granite rocks, while far at their feet sixty 
 miles of perpetual summer stretched away over the winding 
 American River, now and then lost in a gossamer haze. 
 It was scarcely ripe October where they stood ; they could 
 see the plenitude of August still lingering in the valleys. 
 
 " I 've seen Thomson's Pass choked up with fifteen feet 
 o' snow earlier than this," said Eawlins, answering Hale's 
 gaze ; u and last September the passengers sledded over the 
 road we came last night, and all the time Thomson, a mile 
 lower down over the ridge in the hollow, smoking his pipes 
 under roses in his piazzy ! Mountains is mighty uncertain ; 
 they make their own weather ez they want it. I reckon 
 you ain't wintered here yet ? " 
 
 Hale was obliged to admit that he had only taken Eagle's 
 Court in the early spring. 
 
 " Oh, you 're all right at Eagle's when you 're there ! 
 But it's like Thomson's it's the gettin' there that 
 Hallo! What's that?" 
 
 A shot, distant but distinct, had rung through the keen 
 air. It was followed by another so alike as to seem an echo. 
 
 " That 's over yon, on the North Ridge," said the hostler, 
 " about two miles as the crow flies and five by the trail. 
 Somebody 's shootin' b'ar." 
 
 " Not with a shot-gun," said Clinch, quickly wheeling his 
 horse with a gesture that electrified them. " It 's them, and 
 they 've doubled on us ! To the North Ridge, gentlemen, 
 and ride all you know ! " 
 
 It needed no second challenge to completely transform 
 that quiet cavalcade. The wild man-hunting instinct, 
 inseparable to most humanity, rose at their leader's look and 
 word. With an incoherent and unintelligible cry, giving 
 
152 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 voice to the chase like the commonest hound of their fields, 
 the order-loving Hale and the philosophical Eawlins wheeled 
 with the others, and in another instant the little band swept 
 out of sight in the forest. 
 
 An immense and immeasurable quiet succeeded. The 
 sunlight glistened silently on cliff and scar, the vast distance 
 below seemed to stretch out and broaden into repose. It 
 might have been fancy, but over the sharp line of the North 
 Eidge a light smoke lifted as of an escaping soul. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 EAGLE'S COURT, one of the highest canons of the Sierras, 
 was in reality a plateau of table-land, embayed like a green 
 lake in a semicircular sweep of granite, that, lifting itself 
 three thousand feet higher, became a foundation for the 
 eternal snows. The mountain genii of space and atmosphere 
 jealously guarded its seclusion and surrounded it with 
 illusions ; it never looked to be exactly what it was : the 
 traveler who saw it from the North Ridge apparently at 
 his feet in descending found himself separated from it by a 
 mile-long abyss and a rushing river ; those who sought it by 
 a seeming direct trail at the end of an hour lost sight of it 
 completely, or, abandoning the quest and retracing their 
 steps, suddenly came upon the gap through which it was 
 entered. That which from the Ridge appeared to be a copse 
 of bushes beside the tiny dwelling were trees three hundred 
 feet high ; the cultivated lawn before it, which might have 
 been covered by the traveler's handkerchief, was a field of 
 a thousand acres. 
 
 The house itself was a long, low, irregular structure, 
 chiefly of roof and veranda, picturesquely upheld by rustic 
 pillars of pine, with the bark still adhering, and covered with 
 vines and trailing roses. Yet it was evident that the cool- 
 ness produced by this vast extent of cover was more than 
 the architect, who had planned it under the influence of a 
 staring and bewildering sky, had trustfully conceived, for it 
 had to be mitigated by blazing fires in open hearths when 
 the thermometer marked a hundred degrees in the field 
 beyond. The dry, restless wind that continually rocked the 
 
154 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 tall masts of the pines with a sound like the distant sea, 
 while it stimulated outdoor physical exertion and defied 
 fatigue, left the sedentary dwellers in these altitudes chilled 
 in the shade they courted, or scorched them with heat when 
 they ventured to bask supinely in the sun. White muslin 
 curtains at the French windows, and rugs, skins, and heavy 
 furs dispersed in the interior, with certain other charming 
 but incongruous details of furniture, marked the inconsist- 
 encies of the climate. 
 
 There was a coquettish indication of this in the costume 
 of Miss Kate Scott as she stepped out on the veranda that 
 morning. A man's broad-brimmed Panama hat, partly un- 
 sexed by a twisted gayly colored scarf, but retaining enough 
 character to give piquancy to the pretty curves of the face 
 beneath, protected her from the sun ; a red flannel shirt 
 another spoil from the enemy and a thick jacket shielded 
 her from the austerities of the morning breeze. But the 
 next inconsistency was peculiarly her own. Miss Kate 
 always wore the freshest and lightest of white cambric 
 skirts, without the least reference to the temperature. To 
 the practical sanatory remonstrances of her brother-in-law, 
 and to the conventional criticism of her sister, she opposed 
 the same defense : " How else is one to tell when it is sum- 
 mer in this ridiculous climate ? And then, woolen is stuffy, 
 color draws the sun, and one at least knows when one is 
 clean or dirty." Artistically the result was far from un- 
 satisfactory. It was a pretty figure under the sombre pines, 
 against the gray granite and the steely sky, and seemed to 
 lend the yellowing fields from which the flowers had already 
 fled a floral relief of color. I do not think the few mascu- 
 line wayfarers of that locality objected to it ; indeed, some 
 had betrayed an indiscreet admiration, and had curiously 
 followed the invitation of Miss Kate's warmly colored figure 
 until they had encountered the invincible indifference of 
 Miss Kate's cold gray eyes. With these manifestations her 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 155 
 
 brother-in-law did not concern himself ; he had perfect con- 
 fidence in her unqualified disinterest in the neighboring 
 humanity, and permitted her to wander in her solitary pic- 
 turesqueness, or accompanied her when she rode in her dark 
 green habit, with equal freedom from anxiety. 
 
 For Miss Scott, although only twenty, had already sub- 
 jected most of her maidenly illusions to mature critical 
 analyses. She had voluntarily accompanied her sister and 
 mother to California, in the earnest hope that nature con- 
 tained something worth saying to her, and was disappointed 
 to find she had already discounted its value in the pages of 
 books. She hoped to find a vague freedom in this uncon- 
 ventional life thus opened to her, or rather to show others 
 that she knew how intelligently to appreciate it, but as yet 
 she was only able to express it in the one detail of dress 
 already alluded to. Some of the men, and nearly all the 
 women, she had met thus far, she was amazed to find, 
 valued the conventionalities she believed she despised, and 
 were voluntarily assuming the chains she thought she had 
 thrown off. Instead of learning anything from them, these 
 children of nature had bored her with eager questionings 
 regarding the civilization she had abandoned, or irritated 
 her with crude imitations of it for her benefit. " Fancy," 
 she had written to a friend in Boston, " my calling on Sue 
 Murphy, who remembered the Donner tragedy, and who 
 once shot a grizzly that was prowling round her cabin, and 
 think of her begging me to lend her my sack for a pattern, 
 and wanting to know if ' polonays ' were still worn." She 
 remembered more bitterly the romance that had tickled her 
 earlier fancy, told of two college friends of her brother-in- 
 law's who were living the " perfect life " in the mines, 
 laboring in the ditches with a copy of Homer in their 
 pockets, and writing letters of the purest philosophy under 
 the free air of the pines. How, coming unexpectedly on 
 them in their Arcadia, the party found them unpresentable 
 
156 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 through dirt, and thenceforth unknowable through domestic 
 complications that had filled their Arcadian cabin with half- 
 bred children. 
 
 Much of this disillusion she had kept within her own 
 heart, from a feeling of pride, or only lightly touched upon 
 it in her relations with her mother and sister. For Mrs. 
 Hale and Mrs. Scott had no idols to shatter, no enthusiasm 
 to subdue. Firmly and unalterably conscious of their own 
 superiority to the life they led and the community that sur- 
 rounded them, they accepted their duties cheerfully, and 
 performed them conscientiously. Those duties were loyalty 
 to Hale's interests and a vague missionary work among 
 the neighbors, which, like most missionary work, consisted 
 rather in making their own ideas understood than in under- 
 standing the ideas of their audience. Old Mrs. Scott's zeal 
 was partly religious, an inheritance from her Puritan an- 
 cestry ; Mrs. Hale's was the affability of a gentlewoman 
 and the obligation of her position. To this was added the 
 slight langour of the cultivated American wife, whose health 
 has been affected by the birth of her first child, and w^hose 
 views of marriage and maternity were slightly tinged with 
 gentle skepticism. She was sincerely attached to her hus- 
 band, " who dominated the household " like the rest of his 
 " women-folk/' with the faint consciousness of that division 
 of service which renders the position of the sultan of a 
 seraglio at once so prominent and so precarious. The atti- 
 tude of John Hale in his family circle was dominant be- 
 cause it had never been subjected to criticism or compari- 
 son ; and perilous for the same reason. 
 
 Mrs. Hale presently joined her sister in the veranda, and, 
 shading her eyes with a narrow white hand, glanced on the 
 prospect with a polite interest and ladylike urbanity. The 
 searching sun, which, as Miss Kate once intimated, was 
 "vulgarity itself," stared at her in return, but could not 
 call a blush to her somewhat sallow cheek. Neither could 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 157 
 
 it detract, however, from the delicate prettiness of her re- 
 fined face with its soft gray shadows, or the dark gentle 
 eyes, whose blue- veined lids were just then wrinkled into 
 coquettishly mischievous lines by the strong light. She 
 was taller and thinner than Kate, and had at times a certain 
 shy, coy sinuosity of movement which gave her a more 
 virginal suggestion than her unmarried sister. For Miss 
 Kate, from her earliest youth, had been distinguished by 
 that matronly sedateness of voice and step, and complete- 
 ness of figure, which indicates some members of the gal- 
 linaceous tribe from their callow infancy. 
 
 " I suppose John must have stopped at the Summit on 
 some business/ 7 said Mrs. Hale, " or he would have been 
 here already. It's scarcely worth while waiting for him, 
 unless you choose to ride over and meet him. You might 
 change your dress/' she continued, looking doubtfully at 
 Kate's costume. "Put on your riding-habit, and take 
 Manuel with you." 
 
 " And take the only man we have, and leave you alone ? " 
 returned Kate slowly. " No ! " 
 
 " There are the Chinese field-hands," said Mrs. Hale ; 
 " you must correct your ideas, and really allow them some 
 humanity, Kate. John says they have a very good com- 
 pulsory school system in their own country, and can read 
 and write." 
 
 " That would be of little use to you here alone if if " 
 Kate hesitated. 
 
 " If what ? " said Mrs. Hale, smiling. " Are you think- 
 ing of Manuel's dreadful story of the grizzly tracks across 
 the fields this morning ? I promise you that neither I, nor 
 mother, nor Minnie shall stir out of the house until you 
 return, if you wish it." 
 
 "I wasn't thinking of that," said Kate; "though I 
 don't believe the beating of a gong and the using of strong 
 language is the best way to frighten a grizzly from the 
 
158 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 house. .Besides, the Chinese are going down the river to- 
 day to a funeral, or a wedding, or a feast of stolen chickens 
 they 're all the same and won't be here." 
 
 "Then take Manuel," repeated Mrs. Hale. "We have 
 the Chinese servants and Indian Molly in the house to 
 protect us from Heaven knows what ! I have the greatest 
 confidence in Chy-Lee as a warrior, and in Chinese warfare 
 generally. One has only to hear him pipe in time of peace 
 to imagine what a terror he might become in war time. 
 Indeed, anything more deadly and soul-harrowing than that 
 love-song he sang for us last night I cannot conceive. But 
 really, Kate, I am not afraid to stay alone. You know 
 what John says : we ought to be always prepared for any- 
 thing that might happen." 
 
 " My dear Josie," returned Kate, putting her arm around 
 her sister's waist, " I am perfectly convinced that if three- 
 fingered Jack, or two-toed Bill, or even Joaquim Murietta 
 himself, should step, red-handed, on that veranda, you 
 would gently invite him to take a cup of tea, inquire about 
 the state of the road, and refrain delicately from any allu- 
 sions to the sheriff. But I sha'n't take Manuel from you. 
 I really cannot undertake to look after his morals at the 
 station, and keep him from drinking aguardiente with sus- 
 picious characters at the bar. It is true he ' kisses my 
 hand ' in his speech, even when it is thickest, and offers his 
 back to me for a horse-block, but I think I prefer the sober 
 and honest familiarity of even that Pike County land- 
 lord who is satisfied to say, ' Jump, girl, and I '11 ketch 
 ye ! "' 
 
 " I hope you did n't change your manner to either of 
 them for that," said Mrs. Hale, with a faint sigh. " John 
 wants to be good friends with them, and they are behaving 
 quite decently lately, considering that they can't speak a 
 grammatical sentence nor know the use of a fork." 
 
 "And now the man puts on gloves and a tall hat to 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 159 
 
 come here on Sundays, and the woman won't call until 
 you 've called first," retorted Kate ; " perhaps you call that 
 improvement. The fact is, Josephine," continued the young 
 girl, folding her arms demurely, " we might as well admit 
 it at once these people don't like us." 
 
 " That 's impossible ! " said Mrs. Hale, with sublime 
 simplicity. " You don't like them, you mean." 
 
 " I like them better than you do, Josie, and that 's the 
 reason why / feel it and you don't." She checked herself, 
 and after a pause resumed in a lighter tone : " No ; I 
 sha'n't go to the station ; I '11 commune with nature to-day, 
 and won't ' take any humanity in mine, thank you,' as Bill 
 the driver says. Adios." 
 
 " I wish Kate would not use that dreadful slang, even in 
 jest," said Mrs. Scott, in her rocking-chair at the French 
 window, when Josephine reentered the parlor as her sister 
 walked briskly away. " I am afraid she is being infected 
 by the people at the station. She ought to have a change." 
 
 " I was just thinking," said Josephine, looking abstract- 
 edly at her mother, " that I would try to get John to take 
 her to San Francisco this winter. The Careys are expected, 
 you know ; she might visit them." 
 
 " I 'm afraid, if she stays here much longer, she won't 
 care to see them at all. She seems to care for nothing now 
 that she ever liked before," returned the old lady omi- 
 nously. 
 
 Meantime the subject of these criticisms was carrying 
 away her own reflections tightly buttoned up in her short 
 jacket. She had driven back her dog Spot another one 
 of her disillusions, who, giving way to his lower nature, 
 had once killed a sheep as she did not wish her Jacques- 
 like contemplation of any wounded deer to be inconsistently 
 interrupted by a fresh outrage from her companion. The 
 air was really very chilly, and for the first time in her 
 mountain experience the direct rays of the sun seemed to 
 
160 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 be shorn of their power. This compelled her to walk more 
 briskly than she was conscious of, for in less than an hour 
 she came suddenly and breathlessly upon the mouth of the 
 canon, or natural gateway to Eagle's Court. 
 
 To her always a profound spectacle of mountain magnifi- 
 cence, it seemed to-day almost terrible in its cold, strong 
 grandeur. The narrowing pass was choked for a moment 
 between two gigantic buttresses of granite, approaching each 
 other so closely at their towering summits that trees grow- 
 ing in opposite clefts of the rock intermingled their branches 
 and pointed the soaring Gothic arch of a stupendous gate- 
 way. She raised her eyes with a quickly beating heart. 
 She knew that the interlacing trees above her were as large 
 as those she had just quitted ; she knew also that the point 
 where they met was only halfway up the cliff, for she had 
 once gazed down upon them, dwindled to shrubs from the 
 airy summit ; she knew that their shaken cones fell a thou- 
 sand feet perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from the 
 scarred walls they bombarded. She remembered that one 
 of these pines, dislodged from its high foundations, had once 
 dropped like a portcullis in the archway, blocking the pass, 
 and was only carried afterwards by assaults of steel and fire. 
 Bending her head mechanically, she ran swiftly through the 
 shadowy passage, and halted only at the beginning of the 
 ascent on the other side. 
 
 It was here that the actual position of the plateau, so in- 
 definite of approach, began to be realized. It now appeared 
 an independent elevation, surrounded on three sides by 
 gorges and watercourses, so narrow as to be overlooked from 
 the principal mountain range, with which it was connected 
 by a long canon that led to the Eidge. At the outlet of 
 this canon in bygone ages a mighty river it had the 
 appearance of having been slowly raised by the diluvium 
 of that river, and the ddbris washed down from above a 
 suggestion repeated in miniature by the artificial plateaus of 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 161 
 
 excavated soil raised before the mouths of mining tunnels in 
 the lower flanks of the mountain. It was the realization of a 
 fact often forgotten by the dwellers in Eagle's Court 
 that the valley below them, which was their connecting link 
 with the surrounding world, was only reached by ascending 
 the mountain, and the nearest road was over the higher 
 mountain ridge. Never before had this impressed itself so 
 strongly upon the young girl as when she turned that morn- 
 ing to look upon the plateau below her. It seemed to illus- 
 trate the conviction that had been slowly shaping itself out 
 of her reflections on the conversation of that morning. It 
 was possible that the perfect understanding of a higher life 
 was only reached from a height still greater, and that to 
 those halfway up the mountain the summit was never 
 as truthfully revealed as to the humbler dwellers in the 
 valley. 
 
 I do not know that these profound truths prevented her 
 from gathering some quaint ferns and berries, or from keep- 
 ing her calm gray eyes open to certain practical changes 
 that were taking place around her. She had noticed a 
 singular thickening in the atmosphere that seemed to pre- 
 vent the passage of the sun's rays, yet without diminishing 
 the transparent quality of the air. The distant snow-peaks 
 were as plainly seen, though they appeared as if in moon- 
 light. This seemed due to no cloud or mist, but rather to 
 a fading of the sun itself. The occasional flurry of wings 
 overhead, the whirring of larger birds in the cover, and a 
 frequent rustling in the undergrowth, as of the passage of 
 some stealthy animal, began equally to attract her attention. 
 It was so different from the habitual silence of these sedate 
 solitudes. Kate had no vague fear of wild beasts ; she 
 had been long enough a mountaineer to understand the 
 general immunity enjoyed by the unmolesting wayfarer, 
 and kept her way undismayed. She was descending an 
 abrupt trail when she was stopped by a sudden crash in 
 
162 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 the bushes. It seemed to come from the opposite incline, 
 directly in a line with her, and apparently on the very trail 
 that she was pursuing. The crash was then repeated again 
 and again lower down, as of a descending body. Expecting 
 the apparition of some fallen tree, or detached boulder 
 bursting through the thicket, in its way to the bottom of 
 the gulch, she waited. The foliage was suddenly brushed 
 aside, and a* large grizzly bear half rolled, half waddled, 
 into the trail on the opposite side of the hill. A few 
 moments more would have brought them face to face at the 
 foot of the gulch ; when she stopped there were not fifty 
 yards between them. 
 
 She did not scream ; she did not faint ; she was not 
 even frightened. There did not seem to be anything ter- 
 rifying in this huge, stupid beast, who, arrested by the 
 rustle of a stone displaced by her descending feet, rose 
 slowly on his haunches and gazed at her with small, won- 
 dering eyes. Nor did it seem strange to her, seeing that 
 he was in her way, to pick up a stone, throw it in his di- 
 rection, and say simply, " Sho ! get away ! " as she would 
 have done to an intruding cow. Nor did it seem odd that 
 he should actually " go away " as he did, scrambling back 
 into the bushes again, and disappearing like some grotesque 
 figure in a transformation scene. It was not until after he 
 had gone that she was taken with a slight nervousness and 
 giddiness, and retraced her steps somewhat hurriedly, shy- 
 ing a little at every rustle. in the thicket. By the time 
 she had reached the great gateway she was doubtful 
 whether to be pleased or frightened at the incident, but 
 she concluded to keep it to herself. 
 
 It was still intensely cold. The light of the midday 
 sun had decreased still more, and on reaching the plateau 
 again she saw that a dark cloud, hot unlike the precursor 
 of a thunder-storm, was brooding over the snowy peaks 
 beyond. In spite of the cold this singular suggestion of 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 163 
 
 summer phenomena was still borne out by the distant smil- 
 ing valley, and even in the soft grasses at her feet. It 
 seemed to her the crowning inconsistency of the climate, 
 and with a half-serious, half-playful protest on her lips she 
 hurried forward to seek the shelter of the house. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 To Kate's surprise, the lower part of the house was de- 
 serted, but there was an unusual activity on the floor above, 
 and the sound of heavy steps. There were alien marks 
 of dusty feet on the scrupulously clean passage, and on the 
 first step of the stairs a spot of blood. With a sudden 
 genuine alarm that drove her previous adventure from her 
 mind, she impatiently called her sister's name. There was 
 a hasty yet subdued rustle of skirts on the staircase, and 
 Mrs. Hale, with her finger on her lip, swept Kate uncere- 
 moniously into the sitting-room, closed the door, and leaned 
 back against it, with a faint smile. She had a crumpled 
 paper in her hand. 
 
 " Don't be alarmed, but read that first," she said, hand- 
 ing her sister the paper. " It was brought just now." 
 
 Kate instantly recognized her brother's distinct hand. 
 She read hurriedly, " The coach was robbed last night ; no- 
 body hurt. I 've lost nothing but a day's time, as this 
 business will keep me here until to-morrow, when Manuel 
 can join me with a fresh horse. No cause for alarm. As 
 the bearer goes out of his way to bring you this, see that he 
 wants for nothing." 
 
 " Well," said Kate expectantly. 
 
 " Well, the < bearer ' was fired upon by the robbers, who 
 were lurking on the Ridge. He was wounded in the leg. 
 Luckily he was picked up by his friend, who was coming to 
 meet him, and brought here as the nearest place. He 's 
 upstairs in the spare bed in the spare room, \vith his friend, 
 who won't leave his side. He won't even have mother in 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 165 
 
 the room. They 've stopped the bleeding with John's 
 ambulance things, and now, Kate, here 's a chance for you 
 to show the value of your education in the ambulance class. 
 The ball has got to be extracted. Here's your oppor- 
 tunity." 
 
 Kate looked at her sister curiously. There was a faint 
 pink flush on her pale cheeks, and her eyes were gently 
 sparkling. She had never seen her look so pretty before. 
 
 " Why not have sent Manuel for a doctor at once ? " 
 asked Kate. 
 
 " The nearest doctor is fifteen miles away, and Manuel is 
 nowhere to be found. Perhaps he 's gone to look after the 
 stock. There 's some talk of snow ; imagine the absurdity 
 of it ! " 
 
 " But who are they ? " 
 
 "They speak of themselves as t friends,' as if it were a 
 profession. The wounded one was a passenger, I suppose." 
 
 " But what are they like ? " continued Kate. " I sup- 
 pose they 're like them all." 
 
 Mrs. Hale shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " The wounded one, when he 's not fainting away, is 
 laughing. The other is a creature with a mustache, and 
 gloomy beyond expression." 
 
 " What are you going to do with them ? " said Kate. 
 
 "What should I do ? Even without John's letter I 
 could not refuse the shelter of my house to a wounded and 
 helpless man. I shall keep him, of course, until John comes. 
 Why, Kate, I really believe you are so prejudiced against 
 these people you 'd like to turn them out. But I forget ! 
 It 's because you like them so well. Well, you need not 
 fear to expose yourself to the fascinations of the wounded 
 Christy Minstrel I'm sure he 's that or to the unspeak- 
 able one, who is shyness itself, and would not dare to raise 
 his eyes to you." 
 
 There was a timid, hesitating step in the passage. It 
 
166 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 paused before the door, moved away, returned, and finally 
 asserted its intentions in the gentlest of taps. 
 
 "It's him; I'm sure of it," said Mrs. Hale, with a 
 suppressed smile. 
 
 Kate threw open the door smartly, to the extreme dis- 
 comfiture of a tall, dark figure that already had slunk away 
 from it. For all that, he was a good-looking enough fellow, 
 with a mustache as long and almost as flexible as a ringlet. 
 Kate could not help noticing also that his hand, which was 
 nervously pulling the mustache, was white and thin. 
 
 " Excuse me," he stammered, without raising his eyes, 
 " I was looking for for the old lady. I I beg your 
 pardon. I didn't know that you the young ladies 
 company were here. I intended I only wanted to say 
 that my friend " He stopped at the slight smile that 
 passed quickly over Mrs. Hale's mouth, and his pale face 
 reddened with an angry flush. 
 
 " I hope he is not worse," said Mrs. Hale, with more than 
 her usual languid gentleness. " My mother is not here 
 at present. Can I can we this is my sister do as 
 well?" 
 
 Without looking up he made a constrained recognition of 
 Kate's presence, that, embarrassed and curt as it was, had 
 none of the awkwardness of rusticity. 
 
 " Thank you ; you 're very kind. But my friend is a 
 little stronger, and if you can lend me an extra horse I '11 
 try to get him on the Summit to-night." 
 
 " But you surely will not take him away from us so 
 soon ? " said Mrs. Hale, with a languid look of alarm, in 
 which Kate, however, detected a certain real feeling. 
 " Wait at least until my husband returns to-morrow." 
 
 " He won't be here to-morrow," said the stranger hastily. 
 He stopped, and as quickly corrected himself. " That is, 
 his business is so very uncertain, my friend says." 
 
 Only Kate noticed the slip ; but she noticed also that her 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 167 
 
 sister was apparently unconscious of it. " You think," she 
 said, " that Mr. Hale may be delayed ? " 
 
 He turned upon her almost brusquely. " I mean that it 
 is already snowing up there ; " he pointed through the 
 window to the cloud Kate had noticed ; " if it 'comes down 
 lower in the pass the roads will be blocked up. That is 
 why it would be better for us to try and get on at once." 
 
 " But if Mr. Hale is likely to be stopped by snow, so are 
 you," said Mrs. Hale playfully ; " and you had better let 
 us try to make your friend comfortable here rather than 
 expose him to that uncertainty in his weak condition. We 
 will do our best for him. My sister is dying for an oppor- 
 tunity to show her skill in surgery," she continued, with 
 an unexpected mischievousness that only added to Kate's 
 surprised embarrassment. " Are n*t you, Kate ? " 
 
 Equivocal as the young girl knew her silence appeared, 
 she was unable to utter the simplest polite evasion. Some 
 unaccountable impulse kept her constrained and speechless. 
 The stranger did not, however, wait for her reply, but, cast- 
 ing a swift, hurried glance around the room, said, "It's 
 impossible ; we must go. In fact, I 've already taken the 
 liberty to order the horses round. They are at the door now. 
 You may be certain," he added, with quick earnestness, 
 suddenly lifting his dark eyes to Mrs. Hale, and as rapidly 
 withdrawing them, "that your horse will be returned at 
 once, and and we won't forget your kindness." He 
 stopped and turned towards the hall. "I I have brought 
 my friend downstairs. He wants to thank you before he 
 goes." 
 
 As he remained standing in the hall the two women 
 stepped to the door. To their surprise, half reclining on a 
 cane sofa was the wounded man, and what could be seen of 
 his slight figure was wrapped in a dark serape. His beard- 
 less face gave him a quaint boyishness quite inconsistent 
 with the mature lines of his temples and forehead. Pale, 
 
168 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 and in pain, as he evidently was, his blue eyes twinkled 
 with intense amusement. Not only did his manner offer a 
 marked contrast to the sombre uneasiness of his companion, 
 but he seemed to be the only one perfectly at his ease in 
 the group around him. 
 
 " It 's rather rough making you come out here to see 
 me off," he said, with a not unmusical laugh that was very 
 infectious, " but Ned there, who carried me downstairs, 
 wanted to tote me round the house in his arms like a baby 
 to say ta-ta to you all. Excuse my not rising, but I feel 
 as uncertain below as a mermaid, and as out of my ele- 
 ment," he added, with a mischievous glance at his friend. 
 "Ned concluded I must go on. But I must say good-by 
 to the old lady first. Ah ! here she is." 
 
 To Kate 's complete bewilderment, not only did the utter 
 familiarity of this speech pass unnoticed and unrebuked by 
 her sister, but actually her own mother advanced quickly 
 with every expression of lively sympathy, and with the 
 authority of her years and an almost maternal anxiety en- 
 deavored to dissuade the invalid from going. " This is not 
 my house," she said, looking at her daughter, " but if it 
 were I should not hear of your leaving, not only to-night, 
 but until you were out of danger. Josephine ! Kate ! 
 What are you thinking of to permit it ? Well, then, / 
 forbid it there ! " 
 
 Had they become suddenly insane, or were they be- 
 witched by this morose intruder and his insufferably fa- 
 miliar confidant ? The man was wounded, it was true; they 
 might have to put him up in common humanity ; but here 
 was her austere mother, who would n't come in the room 
 when Whiskey Dick called on business, actually pressing 
 both of the invalid's hands, while her sister, who never 
 extended a finger to the ordinary visiting humanity of the 
 neighborhood, looked on with evident complacency. 
 
 The wounded man suddenly raised Mrs. Scott's hand to 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 169 
 
 his lips, kissed it gently, and, with his smile quite vanished, 
 endeavored to rise to his feet. " It 's of no use we must 
 go. Give me your arm, Ned. Quick ! Are the horses 
 there ? " 
 
 " Dear me," said Mrs. Scott quickly, " I forgot to say 
 the horse cannot be found anywhere. Manuel must have 
 taken him this morning to look up the stock. But he will 
 be back to-night certainly, and if to-morrow " 
 
 The wounded man sank back to a sitting position. " Is 
 Manuel your man ? " he asked grimly. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 The two men exchanged glances. 
 
 " Marked on his left cheek and drinks a good deal ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Kate, finding her voice. " Why ? " 
 
 The amused look came back to the man's eyes. " That 
 kind of man is n't safe to wait for. We must take our 
 own horse, Ned. Are you ready ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 The wounded man again attempted to rise. He fell back, 
 but this time quite heavily. He had fainted. 
 
 Involuntarily and simultaneously the three women rushed 
 to his side. " He cannot go," said Kate suddenly. 
 
 " He will be better in a moment." 
 
 " But only for a moment. Will nothing induce you to 
 change your mind ? " 
 
 As if in reply a sudden gust of wind brought a volley of 
 rain against the window. 
 
 "That will," said the stranger bitterly. 
 
 " The rain ? " 
 
 " A mile from here it is snow ; and before we could 
 reach the Summit with these horses the road would be im- 
 passable." 
 
 He made a slight gesture to himself, as if accepting an in- 
 evitable defeat, and turned to his companion, who was slowly 
 reviving under the active ministration of the two women. 
 
170 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 The wounded man looked around with a weak smile. 
 " This is one way of going off," he said faintly, " but I 
 could do this sort of thing as well on the road." 
 
 " You can do nothing now," said his friend decidedly. 
 " Before we get to the Gate the road will be impassable for 
 our horses." 
 
 " For any horses ? " asked Kate. 
 
 " For any horses. For any man or beast I might say. 
 Where we cannot get out, no one can get in," he added, as 
 if answering her thoughts. " I am afraid that you won't 
 see your brother to-morrow morning. But I '11 reconnoitre 
 as soon as I can do so without torturing him," he said, 
 looking anxiously at the helpless man ; " he 's got about 
 his share of pain, I reckon, and the first thing is to get 
 him easier." It was the longest speech he had made to 
 her j it was the first time he had fairly looked her in the 
 face. His shy restlessness had suddenly given way to 
 dogged resignation, less abstracted, but scarcely more flat- 
 tering to his entertainers. Lifting his companion gently in 
 his arms, as if he had been a child, he reascended the stair- 
 case, Mrs. Scott and the hastily summoned Molly following 
 with overflowing solicitude. As soon as they were alone in 
 the parlor Mrs. Hale turned to her sister : " Only that our 
 guests seemed to be as anxious to go just now as you were 
 to pack them off, I should have been shocked at your in- 
 hospitality. What has come over you, Kate ? These are 
 the very people you have reproached me so often with not 
 being civil enough to." 
 
 " But who are they ? " 
 
 " How do I know ? There is your brother's letter." 
 
 She usually spoke of her husband as "John." This 
 slight shifting of relationship and responsibility to the 
 feminine mind was significant. Kate was a little frightened 
 and remorseful. 
 
 " I only meant you don't even know their names." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 171 
 
 " That was n't necessary for giving them a bed and band- 
 ages. Do you suppose the good Samaritan ever asked the 
 wounded Jew's name, and that the Levite did not excuse 
 himself because the thieves had taken the poor man's card- 
 case ? Do the directions, ' In case of accident,' in your 
 ambulance rules, read, ' First lay the sufferer on his back 
 and inquire his name and family connections ' ? Besides, 
 you can call one ' Ned ' and the other ' George,' if you 
 like." 
 
 " Oh, you know what I mean," said Kate irrelevantly. 
 " Which is George ? " 
 
 " George is the wounded man," said Mrs. Hale ; " not 
 the one who talked to you more than he did to any one 
 else. I suppose the poor man was frightened and read 
 dismissal in your eyes." 
 
 " I wish John were here." 
 
 " I don't think we have anything to fear in his absence 
 from men whose only wish is to get away from us. If it is 
 a question of propriety, my dear Kate, surely there is the 
 presence of mother to prevent any scandal although 
 really her own conduct with the wounded one is not above 
 suspicion," she added, with that novel mischievousness that 
 seemed a return of her lost girlhood. " We must try to 
 do the best we can with them and for them," she said 
 decidedly, "and meantime I'll see if I can't arrange John's 
 room for them." 
 
 "John's room?" 
 
 " Oh, mother is perfectly satisfied ; indeed, suggested it. 
 It 's larger and will hold two beds, for ' Ned,' the friend, 
 must attend to him at night. And, Kate, don't you think, 
 if you 're not going out again, you might change your cos- 
 tume ? It does very well while we are alone " 
 
 " Well," said Kate indignantly, " as I am not going into 
 his room " 
 
 " I 'm not so sure about that, if we can't get a regular 
 
172 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 doctor. But he is very restless, and wanders all over the 
 house like a timid and apologetic spaniel." 
 
 " Who ? 
 
 " Why ' Ned. 7 But I must go and look after the pa- 
 tient. I suppose they 've got him safe in his bed again," 
 and with a nod to her sister she tripped upstairs. 
 
 Uncomfortable and embarrassed, she knew not why, Kate 
 sought her mother. But that good lady was already in 
 attendance on the patient, and Kate hurried past that bale- 
 ful centre of attraction with a feeling of loneliness and 
 strangeness she had never experienced before. Entering 
 her own room she went to the window that first and 
 last refuge of the troubled mind and gazed out. Turn- 
 ing her eyes in the direction of her morning's walk, she 
 started back with a sense of being dazzled. She rubbed 
 first her eyes and then the rain-dimmed pane. It was no 
 illusion ! The whole landscape, so familiar to her, was 
 one vast field of dead, colorless white ! Trees, rocks, even 
 distance itself, had vanished in those few hours. An even, 
 shadowless, motionless white sea filled the horizon. On 
 either side a vast wall of snow seemed to shut out the 
 world like a shroud. Only the green plateau before her, 
 with its sloping meadows and fringe of pines and cotton- 
 wood, lay alone like a summer island in this frozen sea. 
 
 A sudden desire to view this phenomenon more closely, 
 and to learn for herself the limits of this new tethered life, 
 completely possessed her, and, accustomed to act upon her 
 independent impulses, she seized a hooded waterproof 
 cloak, and slipped out of the house unperceived. The rain 
 was falling steadily along the descending trail where she 
 walked, but beyond, scarcely a mile across the chasm, the 
 wintry distance began to confuse her brain with the inex- 
 tricable swarming of snow. Hurrying down with feverish 
 excitement, she at last came in sight of the arching granite 
 portals of their domain. But her first glance through the 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 173 
 
 gateway showed it closed as if with a white portcullis. Kate 
 remembered that the trail began to ascend beyond the arch, 
 and knew that what she saw was only the mountain side 
 she had partly climbed this morning. But the snow had 
 already crept down its flank, and the exit by trail was 
 practically closed. Breathlessly making her way back to 
 the highest part of the plateau the cliff behind the house 
 that here descended abruptly to the rain-dimmed valley 
 she gazed at the dizzy depths in vain for some undiscovered 
 or forgotten trail along its face. But a single glance con- 
 vinced her of its inaccessibility. The gateway was indeed 
 their only outlet to the plain below. She looked back at 
 the falling snow beyond, until she fancied she could see in 
 the crossing and recrossing lines the moving meshes of a 
 fateful web woven around them by viewless but inexorable 
 fingers. 
 
 Half frightened, she was turning away, when she per- 
 ceived, a few paces distant, the figure of the stranger, 
 " Ned," also apparently absorbed in the gloomy prospect. 
 He was wrapped in the clinging folds of a black serape 
 braided with silver ; the broad flap of a slouched hat 
 beaten back by the wind exposed the dark, glistening curls 
 on his white forehead. He was certainly very handsome 
 and picturesque, and that apparently without effort or con- 
 sciousness. Neither was there anything in his costume or 
 appearance inconsistent with his surroundings, or even with 
 what Kate could judge were his habits or position. Never- 
 theless, she instantly decided that he was too handsome and 
 too picturesque, without suspecting that her ideas of the 
 limits of masculine beauty were merely personal experi- 
 ence. 
 
 As he turned away from the cliff they were brought face 
 to face. " It does n't look very encouraging over there," 
 he said quietly, as if the inevitableness of the situation had 
 relieved him of his previous shyness and effort j " it 'a even 
 
174 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 worse than I expected. The snow must have begun there 
 last night, and it looks as if it meant to stay." He stopped 
 for a moment, and then, lifting his eyes to her, said, " I 
 suppose you know what this means ? " 
 
 " I don't understand you." 
 
 " I thought not. Well ! it means that you are abso- 
 lutely cut off here from any communication or intercourse 
 with any one outside of that canon. By this time the 
 snow is five feet deep over the only trail by which one 
 can pass in and out of that gateway. I am not alarming 
 you, I hope, for there is no real physical danger ; a place 
 like this ought to be well garrisoned, and certainly is self- 
 supporting so far as the mere necessities and even comforts 
 are concerned. You have wood, water, cattle, and game at 
 your command, but for two weeks at least you are com- 
 pletely isolated." 
 
 " For two weeks ! " said Kate, growing pale " and my 
 brother ! " 
 
 " He knows all by this time, and is probably as assured 
 as I am of the safety of his family." 
 
 " For two weeks ! " continued Kate ; " impossible ! You 
 don't know my brother ! He will find some way to get to 
 us." 
 
 " I hope so," returned the stranger gravely, " for what 
 is possible for him is possible for us." 
 
 " Then you are anxious to get away ? " Kate could not 
 help saying. 
 
 " Very." 
 
 The reply was not discourteous in manner, but was so 
 far from gallant that Kate felt a new and inconsistent re- 
 sentment. Before she could say anything he added, " And 
 I hope you will remember, whatever may happen, that I 
 did my best to avoid staying here longer than was necessary 
 to keep my friend from bleeding to death in the road." 
 
 " Certainly," said Kate ; then added awkwardly, " I 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 175 
 
 hope he '11 be better soon." She was silent, and then, 
 quickening her pace, said hurriedly, " I must tell my sis- 
 ter this dreadful news." 
 
 " I think she is prepared for it. If there is anything I 
 can do to help you I hope you will let me know. Perhaps 
 I may be of some service. I shall begin by exploring the 
 trails to-morrow, for the best service we can do you possi- 
 bly is to take ourselves off ; but I can carry a gun, and the 
 woods are full of game driven down from the mountains. 
 Let me show you something you may not have noticed." 
 He stopped, and pointed to a small knoll of sheltered 
 shrubbery and granite on the opposite mountain, which 
 still remained black against the surrounding snow. It 
 seemed to be thickly covered with moving objects. " They 
 are wild animals driven out of the snow," said the stranger. 
 " That larger one is a grizzly ; there is a panther, wolves, 
 wildcats, a fox, and some mountain goats." 
 
 " An ill-assorted party," said the young girl. 
 
 " 111 luck makes them companions. They are too fright- 
 ened to hurt one another now." 
 
 " But they will eat each other later on," said Kate, steal- 
 ing a glance at her companion. 
 
 He lifted his long lashes and met her eyes. " Not on 
 a haven of refuge." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 KATE found her sister, as the stranger had intimated, 
 fully prepared. A hasty inventory of provisions and means 
 of subsistence showed that they had ample resources for a 
 much longer isolation. 
 
 " They tell me it is by no means an uncommon case, 
 Kate ; somebody over at somebody's place was snowed in 
 for four weeks, and now it appears that even the Summit 
 House is not always accessible. John ought to have known 
 it when he bought the place ; in fact, I was ashamed to ad- 
 mit that he did not. But that is like John to prefer his 
 own theories to the experience of others. However, I don't 
 suppose we should even notice the privation except for the 
 mails. It will be a lesson to John, though. As Mr. Lee 
 says, he is on the outside, and can probably go wherever he 
 likes from the Summit except to come here." 
 
 "Mr. Lee ? " echoed Kate. 
 
 " Yes, the wounded one ; and the other's name is Ealk- 
 ner. I asked them in order that you might be properly 
 introduced. There were very respectable Falkners in 
 Charlestown, you remember ; I thought you might warm to 
 the name, and perhaps trace the connection, now that you 
 are such good friends. It 's providential they are here, as 
 we have n't got a horse or a man in the place since Manuel 
 disappeared, though Mr. Falkner says he can't be far away, 
 or they would have met him on the trail if he had gone 
 towards the Summit." 
 
 " Did they say anything more of Manuel ? " 
 
 " Nothing ; though I am inclined to agree with you that 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 177 
 
 he is n't trustworthy. But that again is the result of John's 
 idea of employing native skill at the expense of retaining 
 native habits. 77 
 
 The evening closed early, and with no diminution in the 
 falling rain and rising wind. Falkner kept his word, and 
 unostentatiously performed the outdoor work in the barn 
 and stables, assisted by the only Chinese servant remaining, 
 and under the advice and supervision of Kate. Although 
 he seemed to understand horses, she was surprised to find 
 that he betrayed a civic ignorance of the ordinary details of 
 the farm and rustic household. It was quite impossible 
 that she should retain her distrustful attitude, or he his re- 
 serve in their enforced companionship. They talked freely 
 of subjects suggested by the situation, Falkner exhibiting a 
 general knowledge and intuition of things without parade or 
 dogmatism. Doubtful of all versatility as Kate was, she 
 could not help admitting to herself that his truths were 
 none the less true for their quantity or that he got at them 
 without ostentatious processes. His talk certainly was more 
 picturesque than her brother's, and less subduing to her 
 faculties. John had always crushed her. 
 
 When they returned to the house he did not linger in the 
 parlor or sitting-room, but at once rejoined his friend. 
 When dinner was ready in the dining-room, a little more 
 deliberately arranged and ornamented than usual, the two 
 women were somewhat surprised to receive an excuse from 
 Falkner, begging them to allow him for the present to take 
 his meals with the patient, and thus save the necessity of 
 another attendant. 
 
 " It is all shyness, Kate," said Mrs. Hale confidently, 
 " and must not be permitted for a moment." 
 
 "I'm sure I should be quite willing to stay with the 
 poor boy myself," said Mrs. Scott simply, " and take Mr. 
 Falkner's place while he dines." 
 
 " You are too willing, mother," said Mrs. Hale pertly, 
 
178 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " and your ' poor boy,' as you call him, will never see 
 thirty-five again." 
 
 " He will never see any other birthday," retorted her 
 mother, " unless you keep him more quiet. He only talks 
 when you 're in the room." 
 
 " He wants some relief to his friend's long face and 
 mustaches that make him look prematurely in mourn- 
 ing," said Mrs. Hale, with a slight increase of animation. 
 " I don't propose to leave them too much together. After 
 dinner we '11 adjourn to their room and lighten it up a 
 little. You must come, Kate, to look at the patient, and 
 counteract the baleful effects of my frivolity." 
 
 Mrs. Hale's instincts were truer than her mother's ex- 
 perience ; not only that the wounded man's eyes became 
 brighter under the provocation of her presence, but it was 
 evident that his naturally exuberant spirits were a part of 
 his vital strength, and were absolutely essential to his 
 quick recovery. Encouraged by Falkner's grave and prac- 
 tical assistance, which she could not ignore, Kate ventured 
 to make an examination of Lee's wound. Even to her un- 
 practiced eye it was less serious than at first appeared. 
 The great loss of blood had been due to the laceration of 
 certain small vessels below the knee, but neither artery 
 nor bone was injured. A recurrence of the hemorrhage or 
 fever was the only thing to be feared, and these could be 
 averted by bandaging, repose, and simple nursing. 
 
 The unfailing good humor of the patient under this 
 manipulation, the quaint originality of his speech, the 
 freedom of his fancy, which was, however, always con- 
 trolled by a certain instinctive tact, began to affect Kate 
 nearly as it had the others. She found herself laughing 
 over the work she had undertaken in a pure sense of duty ; 
 she joined in the hilarity produced by Lee's affected terror 
 of her surgical mania, and offered to undo the bandages in 
 search of the thimble he declared she had left in the wound 
 with a view to further experiments. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 179 
 
 "You ought to broaden your practice," he suggested. 
 "A good deal might be made out of Ned and a piece of 
 soap left carelessly on the first step of the staircase, while 
 mountains of surgical opportunities lie in a humble orange 
 peel judiciously exposed. Only I warn you that you 
 would n't find him as docile as I am. Decoyed into a 
 snowdrift and frozen, you might get some valuable experi- 
 ences in resuscitation by thawing him." 
 
 " I fancied you had done that already, Kate," whispered 
 Mrs. Hale. 
 
 " Freezing is the new suggestion for painless surgery," 
 said Lee, coming to Kate's relief with ready tact, " only 
 the knowledge should be more generally spread. There 
 was a man up at Strawberry fell under a sledge-load of 
 wood in the snow. Stunned by the shock, he was slowly 
 freezing to death, when, with a tremendous effort, he suc- 
 ceeded in freeing himself all but his right leg, pinned down 
 by a small log. His axe happened to have fallen within 
 reach, and a few blows on the log freed him." 
 
 " And saved the poor fellow's life," said Mrs. Scott, 
 who was listening with sympathizing intensity. 
 
 " At the expense of his left leg, which he had unknow- 
 ingly cut off under the pleasing supposition that it was a 
 log," returned Lee demurely. 
 
 Nevertheless, in a few moments he managed to divert 
 the slightly shocked susceptibilities of the old lady with 
 some raillery of himself, and did not again interrupt the 
 even good-humored communion of the party. The rain 
 beating against the windows and the fire sparkling on the 
 hearth seemed to lend a charm to their peculiar isolation, 
 and it was not until Mrs. Scott rose with a warning that 
 they were trespassing upon the rest of their patient that 
 they discovered that the evening had slipped by unnoticed. 
 When the door at last closed on the bright, sympathetic 
 eyes of the two young women and the motherly benedic- 
 
180 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 tion of the elder, Falkner walked to the window, and re- 
 mained silent, looking into the darkness. Suddenly he 
 turned bitterly to his companion. 
 
 " This is just h 11, George." 
 
 George Lee, with a smile still on his boyish face, lazily 
 moved his head. 
 
 " I don't know ! If it was n't for the old woman, who is 
 the one solid chunk of absolute goodness here, expecting 
 nothing, wanting nothing, it would be good fun enough ! 
 These two women, cooped up in this house, wanted excite- 
 ment. They 've got it ! That man Hale wanted to show 
 off by going for us ; he 's had his chance, and will have it 
 again before I 've done with him. That d d fool of a 
 messenger wanted to go out of his way to exchange shots 
 with me ; I reckon he 's the most satisfied of the lot ! I 
 don't know why you should growl. You did your level 
 best to get away from here, and the result is, that little 
 Puritan is ready to worship you.' 7 
 
 " Yes but this playing it on them George 
 this " 
 
 " Who 's playing it ? Not you ; I see you 've given 
 away our names already." 
 
 " I couldn't lie, and they know nothing by that." 
 
 " Do you think they would be happier by knowing it ? 
 Do you think that soft little creature would be as happy as 
 she was to-night if she knew that her husband had been in- 
 directly the means of laying me by the heels here ? Where 
 is the swindle ? This hole in my leg ? If you had been 
 five minutes under that girl's d d sympathetic fingers 
 you 'd have thought it was genuine. Is it in our trying to 
 get away ? Do you call that ten-feet drift in the pass a 
 swindle ? Is it in the chance of Hale getting back while 
 we're here ? That's real enough, isn't it? I say, Ned, 
 did you ever give your unfettered intellect to the contem- 
 plation of that ? " 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 181 
 
 Falkner did not reply. There was an interval of silence, 
 but he could see from the movement of George's shoulders 
 that he was shaking with suppressed laughter. 
 
 "Fancy Mrs. Hale archly introducing her husband ! 
 My offering him a chair, but being all the time obliged to 
 cover him with a derringer under the bedclothes. Your 
 rushing in from your peaceful pastoral pursuits in the barn, 
 with a pitchfork in one hand and the girl in the other, and 
 dear old mammy sympathizing all round and trying to make 
 everything comfortable." 
 
 " I should not be alive to see it, George," said Falkner 
 gloomily. 
 
 " You 'd manage to pitchfork me and those two women 
 on Hale's horse and ride away ; that 's what you 'd do, or 
 I don't know you ! Look here, Ned," he added more seri- 
 ously, " the only swindling was our bringing that note here. 
 That was your idea. You thought it would remove sus- 
 picion, and as you believed I was bleeding to death you 
 played that game for all it was worth to save me. You 
 might have done what I asked you to do propped me up 
 in the bushes, and got away yourself. I was good for a 
 couple of shots yet, and after that what mattered ? That 
 night, the next day, the next time I take the road, or a 
 year hence ? It will come when it will come, all the 
 same ! " 
 
 He did not speak bitterly, nor relax his smile. Falk- 
 ner, without speaking, slid his hand along the coverlet. 
 Lee grasped it, and their hands remained clasped together 
 for a few moments in silence. 
 
 " How is this to end ? We cannot go on here in this 
 way," said Falkner suddenly. 
 
 " If we cannot get away it must go on. Look here, 
 Ned. I don't reckon to take anything out of this house 
 that I did n't bring in it, or is n't freely offered to me ; yet 
 I don't otherwise, you understand, intend making myself 
 
182 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 out a d d bit better than I am. That 's the only excuse 
 I have for not making myself out just what I am. I don't 
 know the fellow who 's obliged to tell every one the last 
 company he was in, or the last thing he did! Do you 
 suppose even these pretty little women tell us their whole 
 story ? Do you fancy that this St. John in the wilderness 
 is canonized in his family ? Perhaps, when I take the 
 liberty to intrude in his affairs, as he has in mine, he ? d see 
 he isn't. I don't blame you for being sensitive, Ned. 
 It 's natural. When a man lives outside the revised stat- 
 utes of his own State he is apt to be awfully fine on points 
 of etiquette in his own household. As for me, I find it 
 rather comfortable here. The beds of other people's mak- 
 ing strike me as being more satisfactory than my own. 
 Good-night." 
 
 In a few moments he was sleeping the peaceful sleep of 
 that youth which seemed to be his own dominant quality. 
 Falkner stood for a little space and watched him, following 
 the boyish lines of his cheek on the pillow, from the shadow 
 of the light brown lashes under his closed lids to the lifting 
 of his short upper lip over his white teeth, with his regular 
 respiration. Only a sharp accenting of the line of nostril 
 and jaw and a faint depression of the temple betrayed his 
 already tried manhood. 
 
 The house had long sunk to repose when Falkner returned 
 to the window, and remained looking out upon the storm. 
 Suddenly he extinguished the light, and passing quickly to 
 the bed laid his hand upon the sleeper. Lee opened his 
 eyes instantly. 
 
 " Are you awake ? " 
 
 " Perfectly." 
 
 " Somebody is trying to get into the house ! " 
 
 " Not him, eh ? " said Lee gayly. 
 
 "No; two men. Mexicans, I think. One looks like 
 Manuel." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 183 
 
 " Ah," said Lee, drawing himself up to a sitting posture. 
 
 " Well ? " 
 
 " Don't you see ? He believes the women are alone." 
 
 " The dog d d hound ! " 
 
 " Speak respectfully of one of my people, if you please, 
 and hand me my derringer. Light the candle again, and 
 open the door. Let them get in quietly. They '11 come 
 here first. It 's his room, you understand, and if there 's 
 any money it 's here. Anyway, they must pass here to get 
 to the women's rooms. Leave Manuel to me, and you take 
 care of the other." 
 
 "I see." 
 
 " Manuel knows the house, and will come first. When 
 he 's fairly in the room shut the door and go for the other. 
 But no noise. This is just one of the sw-eetest things out 
 if it 's done properly." 
 
 " But you, George ? " 
 
 " If I could n't manage that fellow without turning down 
 the bedclothes I 'd kick myself. Hush. Steady now." 
 
 He lay down and shut his eyes as if in natural repose. 
 Only his right hand, carelessly placed under his pillow, 
 closed on the handle of his pistol. Falkner quietly slipped 
 into the passage. The light of the candle faintly illuminated 
 the floor and opposite wall, but left it on either side in 
 pitchy obscurity. 
 
 For some moments the silence was broken only by the 
 sound of the rain without. The recumbent figure in bed 
 seemed to have actually succumbed to sleep. The multi- 
 tudinous small noises of a house in repose might have been 
 misinterpreted by ears less keen than the sleeper's; but 
 when the apparent creaking of a far-off shutter was followed 
 by the sliding apparition of a dark head of tangled hair at 
 the door, Lee had no$ been deceived, and was as prepared 
 as if he had seen it. Another step, and the figure entered 
 the room. The door closed instantly behind it. The sound 
 
184 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 of a heavy body struggling against the partition outside 
 followed, and then suddenly ceased. 
 
 The intruder turned, and violently grasped the handle of 
 the door, but recoiled at a quiet voice from the bed. 
 
 " Drop that, and come here." 
 
 He started back with an exclamation. The sleeper's 
 eyes were wide open ; the sleeper's extended arm and pis- 
 tol covered him. 
 
 " Silence ! or I '11 let that candle shine through you." 
 
 " Yes, captain ! " growled the astounded and frightened 
 half-breed. "I didn't know you were here." 
 
 Lee raised himself, and grasped the long whip in his 
 left hand and whirled it round his head. 
 
 " Will you dry up ? " 
 
 The man sank back against the wall in silent terror. 
 
 " Open that door now softly." 
 
 Manuel obeyed with trembling fingers. 
 
 " Ned," said Lee in a low voice, " bring him in here 
 quick." 
 
 There was a slight rustle, and Falkner appeared, back- 
 ing in another gasping figure, whose eyes were starting 
 under the strong grasp of the captor at his throat. 
 
 " Silence," said Lee, " all of you." 
 
 There was a breathless pause. The sound of a door 
 hesitatingly opened in the passage broke the stillness, fol- 
 lowed by the gentle voice of Mrs. Scott. 
 
 " Is anything the matter ? " 
 
 Lee made a slight gesture of warning to Falkner, of 
 menace to the others. " Everything 's the matter," he 
 called out cheerily. " Ned 's managed to half pull down 
 the house trying to get at something from my saddle-bags." 
 
 " I hope he has not hurt himself," broke in another voice 
 mischievously. 
 
 " Answer, you clumsy villain," whispered Lee, with 
 twinkling eyes. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 185 
 
 " I 'm all right, thank you/ 7 -responded Falkner, with 
 unaffected awkwardness. 
 
 There was a slight murmuring of voices, and then the 
 door was heard to close. Lee turned to Falkner. 
 
 "Disarm that hound and turn him loose outside, and 
 make no noise. And you, Manuel ! tell him what his and 
 your chances are if he shows his black face here again. " 
 
 Manuel cast a single, terrified, supplicating glance, more 
 suggestive than words, at his confederate, as Falkner shoved 
 him before him from the room. The next moment they 
 were silently descending the stairs. 
 
 " May I go too, captain ? " entreated Manuel. " I swear 
 to God " - 
 
 " Shut the door ! " The man obeyed. 
 
 " Now, then," said Lee, with a broad, gratified smile, 
 laying down his whip and pistol within reach, and com- 
 fortably settling the pillows behind his back, " we '11 have 
 a quiet confab. A sort of old-fashioned talk, eh ? You 're 
 not looking well, Manuel. You 're drinking too much 
 again. It spoils your complexion." 
 
 " Let me go, captain," pleaded the man, emboldened by 
 the good-humored voice, but not near enough to notice a 
 peculiar light in the speaker's eye. 
 
 "You've only just come, Manuel; and at considerable 
 trouble, too. Well, what have you got to say ? What 's 
 till this about ? What are you doing here ? " 
 
 The captured man shuffled his feet nervously, and only 
 uttered an uneasy laugh of coarse discomfiture. 
 
 " I see. You 're bashful. Well, I '11 help you along. 
 Come ! You knew that Hale was away and these women 
 were here without a man to help them. You thought 
 you 'd find some money here, and have your own way 
 generally, eh ? " 
 
 The tone of Lee's voice inspired him to confidence ; un- 
 fortunately, it inspired him with familiarity also. 
 
186 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " I reckoned I had the right to a little fun on my own 
 account, cap. I reckoned ez one gentleman in the profes- 
 sion would n't interfere with another gentleman's little 
 game," he continued coarsely. 
 
 " Stand up." 
 
 " Wot for ? " 
 
 Up, I say ! 
 
 Manuel stood up and glanced at him. 
 
 " Utter a cry that might frighten these women, and by 
 the living God they '11 rush in here only to find you lying 
 dead on the floor of the house you 'd have polluted." 
 
 He grasped the whip and laid the lash of it heavily twice 
 over the ruffian's shoulders. Writhing in suppressed agony, 
 the man fell imploringly on his knees. 
 
 " Now, listen ! " said Lee, softly twirling the whip in 
 the air. "I want to refresh your memory. Did you ever 
 learn, when you were with me before I was obliged to 
 kick you out of gentlemen's company to break into a 
 private house ? Answer ! " 
 
 " No," stammered the wretch. 
 
 " Did you ever learn to rob a woman, a child, or any but 
 a man, and that face to face ? " 
 
 " No," repeated Manuel. 
 
 " Did you ever learn from me to lay a finger upon a 
 woman, old or young, in anger or kindness ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then, my poor Manuel, it 's as I feared ; civilization 
 has ruined you. Farming and a simple, bucolic life have 
 perverted your morals. So you were running off with the 
 stock and that mustang, when you got stuck in the snow ; 
 and the luminous idea of this little game struck you ? Eh ? 
 That was another mistake, Manuel j I never allowed you to 
 think when you were with me." 
 
 " No, captain." 
 
 "Who's your friend?". 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 187 
 
 " A d d cowardly nigger from the Summit." 
 
 " I agree with you for once ; but he has n't had a very 
 brilliant example. Where 's he gone now ? " 
 
 " To h 11, for all I care ! " 
 
 " Then I want you to go with him. Listen. If there 's 
 a way out of the place, you know it or can find it. I give 
 you two days to do it you and he. At the end of that 
 time the order will be to shoot you on sight. Now take off 
 your boots." 
 
 The man's dark face visibly whitened, his teeth chattered 
 in superstitious terror. 
 
 " I 'm not going to shoot you now," said Lee, smiling, 
 " so you will have a chance to die with your boots on, 1 if 
 you are superstitious. I only want you to exchange them 
 for that pair of Hale's in the corner. The fact is I have 
 taken a fancy to yours. That fashion of wearing the stock- 
 ings outside strikes me as one of the neatest things out." 
 
 Manuel sullenly drew off his boots with their muffled 
 covering, and put on the ones designated. 
 
 " Now open the door." 
 
 He did so. Falkner was already waiting at the thresh- 
 old. " Turn Manuel loose with the other, Ned, but dis- 
 arm him first. They might quarrel. The habit of carry- 
 ing arms, Manuel," added Lee, as Falkner took a pistol 
 and bowie-knife from the half-breed, " is of itself provo- 
 cative of violence, and inconsistent with a bucolic and 
 pastoral life." 
 
 When Falkner returned he said hurriedly to his compan- 
 ion, " Do you think it wise, George, to let those hell-hounds 
 loose ? Good God ! I could scarcely let my grip of his 
 throat go, when I thought of what they were hunting." 
 
 (( My dear Ned," said Lee, luxuriously ensconcing him- 
 
 i"To die with one's boots on." A synonym for death by violence, 
 popular among Southwestern desperadoes, and the subject of superstitious 
 dread. 
 
188 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 self under the bedclothes again with a slight shiver of deli- 
 cious warmth, " I must warn you against allowing the nat- 
 ural pride of a higher walk to prejudice you against the 
 general level of our profession. Indeed, I was quite struck 
 with the justice of Manuel's protest that I was interfering 
 with certain rude processes of his own towards results aimed 
 at by others." 
 
 " George ! " interrupted Falkner, almost savagely. 
 
 " Well. I admit it 's getting rather late in the evening 
 for pure philosophical inquiry, and you are tired. Practi- 
 cally, then, it was wise to let them get away before they 
 discovered two things. One, our exact relations here with 
 these women ; and the other, how many of us were here. 
 At present they think we are three or four in possession 
 and with the consent of the women." 
 
 "The dogs!" 
 
 " They are paying us the highest compliment they can con- 
 ceive of by supposing us cleverer scoundrels than themselves. 
 You are very unjust, Ned." 
 
 " If they escape and tell their story ? " 
 
 " We shall have the rare pleasure of knowing we are bet- 
 ter than people believe us. And now put those boots away 
 somewhere where we can produce them if necessary, as evi- 
 dence of Manuel's evening call. At present we '11 keep the 
 thing quiet, and in the early morning you can find out where 
 they got in and remove any traces they have left. It is 
 no use to frighten the women. There 's no fear of their 
 returning." 
 
 " And if they get away ? " 
 
 " We can follow in their tracks." 
 
 " If Manuel gives the alarm ? " 
 
 " With his burglarious boots left behind in the house ? 
 Not much ! Good-night, Ned. Go to bed." 
 
 With these words Lee turned on his side and quietly re- 
 sumed his interrupted slumber. Falkner did not, however, 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 189 
 
 follow this sensible advice. When he was satisfied that 
 his friend was sleeping he opened the door softly and looked 
 out. He did not appear to be listening, for his eyes were 
 fixed upon a small pencil of light that stole across the passage 
 from the foot of Kate's door. He watched it until it sud- 
 denly disappeared, when, leaving the door partly open, he 
 threw himself on his couch without removing his clothes. 
 The slight movement awakened the sleeper, who was begin- 
 ning to feel the accession of fever. He moved restlessly. 
 
 " George," said Falkner softly. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Where was it we passed that old Mission Church on 
 the road one dark night, and saw the light burning before 
 the figure of the Virgin through the window ? " 
 
 There was a moment of crushing silence. " Does that 
 mean you 're wanting to light the candle again ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Then don't lie there inventing sacrilegious conundrums, 
 but go to sleep." 
 
 Nevertheless, in the morning his fever was slightly worse. 
 Mrs. Hale, offering her condolence, said, " I know that you 
 have not been resting well, for even after your friend met 
 with that mishap in the hall, I heard your voices, and Kate 
 says your door was open all night. You have a little fever 
 too, Mr. Falkner." 
 
 George looked curiously at Falkner's pale face it was 
 burning. 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE speed and fury with which Clinch's cavalcade swept 
 on in the direction of the mysterious shot left Hale no chance 
 for reflection. He was conscious of shouting incoherently 
 with the others, of urging his horse irresistibly forward, of 
 momentarily expecting to meet or overtake something, but 
 without any further thought. The figures of Clinch and 
 Eawlins immediately before him shut out the prospect of 
 the narrowing trail. Once only, taking advantage of a sud. 
 den halt that threw them confusedly together, he managed 
 to ask a question. 
 
 " Lost their track found it again ! " shouted the hostler, 
 as Clinch, with a cry like the baying of a hound, again 
 darted forward. Their horses were panting and trembling 
 under them, the ascent seemed to be growing steeper, a sin- 
 gular darkness, which even the density of the wood did not 
 sufficiently account for, surrounded them, but still their 
 leader madly urged them on. To Hale's returning senses 
 they did not seem in a condition to engage a single resolute 
 man, who might have ambushed in the woods or beaten them 
 in detail in the narrow gorge, but in another instant the 
 reason of their furious haste was manifest. Spurring his 
 horse ahead, Clinch dashed out into the open with a cheer- 
 ing shout a shout that as quickly changed to a yell of 
 imprecation. They were on the Eidge in a blinding snow- 
 storm ! The road had already vanished under their feet, 
 and with it the fresh trail they had so closely followed ! 
 They stood helplessly on the shore of a trackless white sea, 
 blank and spotless of any trace or sign of the fugitives. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 191 
 
 " 'Pears to me, boys," said the hostler, suddenly ranging 
 before them, " ef you 're not kalkilatin' on gittin' another 
 party to dig ye out, ye ? d better be huntin' fodder and cover 
 instead of road agents. 'Skuse me, gentlemen, but I 'm 
 responsible for the bosses, and this ain't no time for circus- 
 ridin'. We 're a matter o' six miles from the station in a 
 bee-line." 
 
 "Back to the trail, then," said Clinch, wheeling his 
 horse towards the road they had just quitted. 
 
 " 'Skuse me, Kernel," said the hostler, laying his hand on 
 Clinch's rein, " but that way only brings us back the road 
 we kem the stage road three miles further from home. 
 That three miles is on the divide, and by the time we get 
 there it will be snowed up worse nor this. The shortest 
 cut is along the Bidge. If we hump ourselves we ken 
 cross the divide afore the road is blocked. And that, 
 'skuse me, gentlemen, is my road." 
 
 There was no time for discussion. The road was already 
 palpably thickening under their feet. Hale's arm was 
 stiffened to his side by a wet, clinging snow-wreath. The 
 figures of the others were almost obliterated and shapeless. 
 It was not snowing it was snow-balling ! The huge 
 flakes, shaken like enormous feathers out of a vast blue- 
 black cloud, commingled and fell in sprays and patches. 
 
 All idea of their former pursuit T^as forgotten ; the blind 
 rage and enthusiasm that had possessed them was gone. 
 They dashed after their new leader with only an instinct 
 for shelter and succor. 
 
 They had not ridden long when fortunately, as it seemed 
 to Hale, the character of the storm changed. The snow no 
 longer fell in such large flakes, nor as heavily. A bitter 
 wind succeeded ; the soft snow began to stiffen and crackle 
 under the horses' hoofs ; they were no longer weighted and 
 encumbered by the drifts upon their bodies ; the smaller 
 flakes now rustled and rasped against them like sand, or 
 
192 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 bounded from them like hail. They seemed to be moving 
 more easily and rapidly, their spirits were rising with the 
 stimulus of cold and motion, when suddenly their leader 
 halted. 
 
 " It 's no use, boys. It can't be done ! This is no 
 blizzard, but a regular two days' snifter ! It 's no longer 
 meltin', but packin' and driftin' now. Even if we get over 
 the divide, we 're sure to be blocked up in the pass." 
 
 It was true ! To their bitter disappointment they could 
 now see that the snow had not really diminished in quan- 
 tity, but that the now finely powdered particles were 
 rapidly filling all inequalities of the surface, packing closely 
 against projections, and swirling in long furrows across the 
 levels. They looked with anxiety at their self-constituted 
 leader. 
 
 " We must make a break to get down in the woods again 
 before it 's too late," he said briefly. 
 
 But they had already drifted away from the fringe of 
 larches and dwarf pines that marked the sides of the Bidge, 
 and lower down merged into the dense forest that clothed 
 the flank of the mountain they had lately climbed, and it 
 was with the greatest difficulty that they again reached it, 
 only to find that at that point it was too precipitous for the 
 descent of their horses. Benumbed and speechless, they 
 continued to toil on, opposed to the full fury of the sting- 
 ing snow, and at times obliged to turn their horses to the 
 blast to keep from being blown over the Bidge. At the 
 end of half an hour the hostler dismounted, and, beckoning 
 to the others, took his horse by the bridle, and began the 
 descent. When it came to Hale's turn to dismount he 
 could not help at first recoiling from the prospect before 
 him. The trail if it could be so called was merely 
 the track or furrow of some fallen tree dragged, by accident 
 or design, diagonally across the sides of the mountain. At 
 times it appeared scarcely a foot in width ; at other times 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 193 
 
 a mere crumbling gully, or a narrow shelf made by the pro- 
 jections of dead boughs and collected ddbris. It seemed 
 perilous for a foot passenger, it appeared impossible for a 
 horse. Nevertheless, he had taken a step forward when 
 Clinch laid his hand on his arm. 
 
 " You '11 bring up the rear," he said not unkindly, " ez 
 you 're a stranger here. Wait until we sing out to you." 
 
 " But if I prefer to take the same risks as you all ? " 
 said Hale stiffly. 
 
 " You kin," said Clinch grimly. " But I reckoned, as 
 you were n't familiar with this sort o' thing, you would n't 
 keer, by any foolishness o' yours, to stampede the rocks 
 ahead of us, and break down the trail, or send down an 
 avalanche on top of us. But just ez you like." 
 
 " I will wait, then," said Hale hastily. 
 
 The rebuke, however, did him good service. It preoc- 
 cupied his mind, so that it remained unaffected by the 
 dizzy depths, and enabled him to abandon himself mechan- 
 ically to the sagacity of his horse, who was contented 
 simply to follow the hoof-prints of the preceding animal, 
 and in a few moments they reached the broader trail below 
 without a mishap. A discussion regarding their future 
 movements was already taking place. The impossibility of 
 regaining the station at the Summit was admitted ; the 
 way down the mountain to the next settlement was still 
 left to them, or the adjacent woods, if they wished for an 
 encampment. The hostler once more assumed authority. 
 
 " 'Skuse me, gentlemen, but them horses don't take no 
 pasear down the mountain to-night. The stage road ain't 
 a mile off, and I kalkilate to wait here till the up stage 
 comes. She 's bound to stop on account of the snow ; 
 and I 've done my dooty when I hand the horses over to 
 the driver." 
 
 " But if she hears of the block up yer, and waits at the 
 lower station ? " said Rawlins, 
 
194 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " Then I >ve done my dooty all the same. 'Skuse me, 
 gentlemen, but them ez hez their own horses kin do ez 
 they like.'' 
 
 As this clearly pointed to Hale, he briefly assured his com- 
 panions that he had no intention of deserting them. " If I 
 cannot reach Eagle's Court, I shall at least keep as near it 
 as possible. I suppose any messenger from my house to 
 the Summit will learn where I am and why I am delayed ? " 
 
 " Messenger from your house ! " gasped Rawlins. " Are 
 you crazy, stranger ? Only a bird would get outer Eagle's 
 now ; and it would hev to be an eagle at that ! Between 
 your house and the Summit the snow must be ten feet by 
 this time, to say nothing of the drift in the pass." 
 
 Hale felt it was the truth. At any other time he would 
 have worried over this unexpected situation, and utter vio- 
 lation of all his traditions. He was past that now, and 
 even felt a certain relief. He knew his family were safe ; 
 it was enough. That they were locked up securely, and 
 incapable of interfering with him, seemed to enhance his 
 new, half-conscious, half-shy enjoyment of an adventurous 
 existence. 
 
 The hostler, who had been apparently lost in contempla- 
 tion of the steep trail he had just descended, suddenly 
 clapped his hand to his leg with an ejaculation of gratified 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Waal, darn my skin ef that ain't Hennicker's l slide ' 
 all the time ! I heard it was somewhat about here." 
 
 Rawlins briefly explained to Hale that a slide was a rude 
 incline for the transit of heavy goods that could not be 
 carried down a trail. 
 
 " And Hennicker's," continued the man, " ain't more nor 
 a mile away. Ye might try Hennicker's at a push, eh ? " 
 
 By a common instinct the whole party looked dubiously 
 at Hale. " Who 's Hennicker ? " he felt compelled to ask. 
 
 The hostler hesitated, and glanced at the others to reply. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 195 
 
 " There are folks/' he said lazily, at last, " ez beleeves that 
 Hennicker ain't much better nor the crowd we 're hunting ; 
 but they don't say it to Hennicker. We need n't let on 
 what we're after." 
 
 " I for one," said Hale stoutly, " decidedly object to any 
 concealment of our purpose." 
 
 "It don't follow," said Rawlins carelessly, "that Hen- 
 nicker even knows of this yer robbery. It 's his gineral gait 
 we refer to. Ef yer think it more polite, and it makes it 
 more sociable to discuss this matter afore him, I 'm agreed." 
 
 " Hale means," said Clinch, " that it would n't be on the 
 square to take and make use of any points we might pick 
 up there agin the road agents." 
 
 " Certainly," said Hale. It was not at all what he had 
 meant, but he felt singularly relieved at the compromise. 
 
 " And ez I reckon Hennicker ain't such a fool ez not to 
 know who we are and what we 're out for," continued 
 Clinch, " I reckon there ain't any concealment." 
 
 " Then it 's Hennicker' s ? " said the hostler, with swift 
 deduction. 
 
 "Hennicker it is ! Lead on." 
 
 The hostler remounted his horse, and the others followed. 
 The trail presently turned into a broader track, that bore 
 some signs of approaching habitations, and at the end of five 
 minutes they came upon a clearing. It was part of one of 
 the fragmentary mountain terraces, and formed by itself a 
 vast niche, or bracketed shelf, in the hollow flank of the 
 mountain that, to Hale's first glance, bore a rude resemblance 
 to Eagle's Court. But there was neither meadow nor open 
 field , the few acres of ground had been wrested from the 
 forest by axe and fire, and unsightly stumps everywhere 
 marked the rude and difficult attempts at cultivation. Two 
 or three rough buildings of unplaned and unpainted boards, 
 connected by rambling sheds, stood in the centre of the 
 amphitheatre. Far from being protected by the encircling 
 
196 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 rampart, it seemed to be the selected arena for the combating 
 elements. A whirlwind from the outer abyss continually 
 filled this cave of ^Eolus with driving snow, which, however, 
 melted as it fell, or was quickly whirled away again. 
 
 A few dogs barked and ran out to meet the cavalcade, but 
 there was no other sign of any life disturbed or concerned 
 at their approach. 
 
 " I reckon Hennicker ain't home, or he 'd hev been on 
 the lookout afore this," said the hostler, dismounting and 
 rapping at the door. 
 
 After a silence, a female voice, unintelligible to the others, 
 apparently had some colloquy with the hostler, who returned 
 to the party. 
 
 " Must go in through the kitchin can't open the door 
 for the wind." 
 
 Leaving their horses in the shed, they entered the kitchen, 
 which communicated, and presently came upon a square room 
 filled with smoke from a fire of green pine logs. The doors 
 and windows were tightly fastened ; the only air came in 
 through the large-throated chimney in voluminous gusts, 
 which seemed to make the hollow shell of the apartment 
 swell and expand to the point of bursting. Despite the 
 stinging of the resinous smoke, the temperature was grateful 
 to the benumbed travelers. Several cushionless armchairs, 
 such as were used in bar-rooms, two tables, a sideboard, half 
 bar and half cupboard, and a rocking-chair comprised the 
 furniture, and a few bear and buffalo skins covered the floor. 
 Hale sank into one of the armchairs, and, with a lazy satis- 
 faction, partly born of his fatigue and partly from some 
 newly discovered appreciative faculty, gazed around the 
 room, and then at the mistress of the house, with whom the 
 others were talking. 
 
 She was tall, gaunt, and withered ; in spite of her evi- 
 dent years, her twisted hair was still dark and full, and her 
 eyes bright and piercing ; her complexion and teeth had 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 197 
 
 long since succumbed to the vitiating effects of frontier 
 cookery, and her lips were stained with the yellow juice of 
 a brier-wood pipe she held in her mouth. The hostler had 
 explained their intrusion, and veiled their character under 
 the vague epithet of a " hunting party," and was now 
 evidently describing them personally. In his new-found 
 philosophy the fact that the interest of his hostess seemed 
 to be excited only by the names of his companions, that he 
 himself was carelessly, and even deprecatingly, alluded to as 
 the " stranger from Eagle's " by the hostler, and completely 
 overlooked by the old woman, gave him no concern. 
 
 " You '11 have to talk to Zenobia yourself. Dod rot ef 
 I 'm gine to interfere. She knows Hennicker's ways, and 
 if she chooses to take in transients it ain't no funeral o' 
 mine. Zeenie ! You, Zeenie ! Look yer ! " 
 
 A tall, lazy-looking, handsome girl appeared on the thresh- 
 old of the next room, and with a hand on each door-post 
 slowly swung herself backwards and forwards, without en- 
 tering. " Well, maw ? " 
 
 The old woman briefly and unalluringly pictured the con- 
 dition of the travelers. 
 
 " Paw ain't here," began the girl doubtfully, " and 
 Howdy, Dick ! is that you ? " The interruption was 
 caused by her recognition of the hostler, and she lounged 
 into the room. In spite of a skimp, slatternly gown, whose 
 straight skirt clung to her lower limbs, there was a quaint, 
 nymph-like contour to her figure. Whether from languor, 
 ill health, or more probably from a morbid consciousness of 
 her own height, she moved with a slightly affected stoop 
 that had become a habit. It did not seem ungraceful to 
 Hale, already attracted by her delicate profile, her large 
 dark eyes, and a certain weird resemblance she had to some 
 half-domesticated dryad. 
 
 " That '11 do, maw," she said, dismissing her parent with 
 a nod. " I '11 talk to Dick." 
 
198 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 As the door closed on the old woman, Zenobia leaned 
 her hands on the back of a chair, and confronted the admir- 
 ing eyes of Dick with a goddess-like indifference. 
 
 " Now wot 's the use of your playin' this yer game on 
 me, Dick ? Wot 's the good of your ladlin' out that hog- 
 wash about huntin' ? Hunt in 1 ! I '11 tell yer the huntin' 
 you-uns hev been at ! You 've been huntin' George Lee 
 and his boys since an hour before sun-up. You 've been 
 followin' a blind trail up to the Ridge, until the snow got 
 up and hunted you right here ! You 've been whoopin' 
 and yellin' and circus-ridin' on the roads like ez yer wos 
 Comanches, and frightening all the women-folk within 
 miles that 's your huntin' ! You 've been climbin' down 
 paw's old slide at last, and makin' tracks for here to save 
 the skins of them condemned government horses of the 
 Kempany ! And that's your huntin' ! " 
 
 To Hale's surprise, a burst of laughter from the party 
 followed this speech. He tried to join in, but this ridicu- 
 lous summary of the result of his enthusiastic sense of duty 
 left him the only earnest believer mortified and em- 
 barrassed. Nor was he the less concerned as he found the 
 girl's dark eyes had rested once or twice upon him curiously. 
 
 Zenobia laughed too, and, lazily turning the chair around, 
 dropped into it. " And by this time George Lee 's loungin' 
 back in his chyar and smokin' his cigyar somewhar in Sac- 
 ramento," she added, stretching her feet out to the fire, 
 and suiting the action to the word with an imaginary cigar 
 between the long fingers of a thin and not over-clean hand. 
 
 ({ We cave, Zeenie ! " said Kawlins, when their hilarity 
 had subsided to a more subdued and scarcely less flattering 
 admiration of the unconcerned goddess before them. 
 " That 's about the size of it. You kin rake down the 
 pile. I forgot you 're an old friend of George's." 
 
 " He 's a white man ! " said the girl decidedly. 
 
 " Ye used to know him ? " continued Rawlins. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 199 
 
 " Once. Paw ain't in that line now/ 7 she said simply. 
 
 There was such a sublime unconsciousness of any moral 
 degradation involved in this allusion that even Hale ac- 
 cepted it without a shock. She rose presently, and, going 
 to the little sideboard, brought out a number of glasses ; 
 these she handed to each of the party, and then, producing 
 a demijohn of whiskey, slung it dexterously and gracefully 
 over her arm, so that it rested on her elbow like a cradle, 
 and, going to each one in succession, filled their glasses. 
 It obliged each one to rise to accept the libation, and as 
 Hale did so in his turn he met the dark eyes of the girl 
 full on his own. There was a pleased curiosity in her 
 glance that made this married man of thirty-five color as 
 awkwardly as a boy. 
 
 The tender of refreshment being understood as a tacit 
 recognition of their claims to a larger hospitality, all further 
 restraint was removed. Zenobia resumed her seat, and pla- 
 cing her elbow on the arm of her chair, and her small round 
 chin in her hand, looked thoughtfully in the fire. " When 
 I say George Lee 's a white man, it ain't because I know 
 him. It 's his general gait. Wot 's he ever done that 's 
 underhanded or mean ? Nothin' ! You can't show the 
 poor man he 's ever took a picayune from. When he 's 
 helped himself to a pile it 's been outer them banks or them 
 express companies, that think it mighty fine to bust up 
 themselves, and swindle the poor folks o' their last cent, 
 and nobody talks o j huntin' them ! And does he keep 
 their money ? No ; he passes it round among the boys 
 that help him, and they put it in circulation. He don't 
 keep it for himself ; he ain't got fine houses in 'Frisco ; he 
 don't keep fast horses for show. Like ez not the critter he 
 did that job with ef it was him none of you boys 
 would have rid ! And he takes all the risks himself j you 
 ken bet your life that every man with him was safe and 
 away afore he turned his back on you-uns." 
 
200 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " He certainly drops a little of his money at draw-poker, 
 Zeenie," said Clinch, laughing. "He lost five thousand 
 dollars to Sheriff Kelly last week." 
 
 " Well, I don't hear of the sheriff huntin' him to give it 
 back, nor do I reckon Kelly handed it over to the Express 
 it was taken from. I heard you won suthin' from him a 
 spell ago. I reckon you 've heen huntin' him to find out 
 whar you should return it." The laugh was clearly against 
 Clinch. He was about to make some rallying rejoinder 
 when the young girl suddenly interrupted him. "Ef 
 you 're wantin' to hunt somebody, why don't you take 
 higher game ? Thar 's that Jim Harkins : go for him, and 
 I '11 join you." 
 
 " Harkins ! " exclaimed Clinch and Hale simultaneously. 
 
 "Yes, Jim Harkins; do you know him?" she said, 
 glancing from the one to the other. 
 
 " One of my friends does," said Clinch, laughing ; " but 
 don't let that stop you." 
 
 " And you over there," continued Zenobia, bending 
 her head and eyes towards Hale. 
 
 " The fact is I believe he was my banker," said Hale, 
 with a smile. " I don't know him personally." 
 
 " Then you 'd better hunt him before he does you." 
 
 " What 's he done, Zeenie ? " asked Bawlins, keenly 
 enjoying the discomfiture of the others. 
 
 " What ? " She stopped, threw her long black braids 
 over her shoulder, clasped her knee with her hands, and 
 rocking backwards and forwards, sublimely unconscious of 
 the apparition of a slim ankle and half-dropped-off slipper 
 from under her shortened gown, continued, " It might n't 
 please him" she said slyly, nodding towards Hale. 
 
 "Pray don't mind me," said Hale, with unnecessary 
 eagerness. 
 
 "Well," said Zenobia, "I reckon you all know Ned 
 Falkner and the Excelsior Ditch ? " 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 201 
 
 " Yes, Falkner 's the superintendent of it," said Raw- 
 lins. " And a square man too. Thar ain't anything mean 
 about him." 
 
 " Shake," said Zenobia, extending her hand. Eawlins 
 shook the proffered hand with eager spontaneousness, and 
 the girl resumed : " He 's about ez good ez they make 'em 
 you bet. Well, you know Ned has put all his money, 
 and all his strength, and all his sabe, and " 
 
 " His good looks," added Clinch mischievously. 
 
 " Into that Ditch," continued Zenobia, ignoring the in- 
 terruption. " It 's his mother, it 's his sweetheart, it 's his 
 everything ! When other chaps of his age was cavortin' 
 round 'Frisco, and havin' high jinks, Ned was in his Ditch. 
 ' Wait till the Ditch is done/ he used to say. ' Wait till 
 she begins to boom, and then you just stand round.' Mor'n 
 that, he got all the boys to put in their last cent for 
 they loved Ned, and love him now, like ez ef he wos a 
 woman." 
 
 " That 's so," said Clinch and Eawlins simultaneously, 
 " and he 's worth it." 
 
 " Well," continued Zenobia, " the Ditch did n't boom ez 
 soon ez they kalkilated. And then the boys kept gettin' 
 poorer and poorer, and Ned he kept gettin' poorer and poorer 
 in everything but his hopefulness and grit. Then he looks 
 around for more capital. And about this time, that coyote 
 Harkins smelt suthin' nice up there, and he gits Ned to 
 give him control of it, and he '11 lend him his name and fix 
 up a company. Soon ez he gets control, the first thing he 
 does is to say that it wants half a million o' money to 
 make it pay, and levies an assessment of two hundred dol- 
 lars a share. That 's nothin' for them rich fellows to pay, 
 or pretend to pay, but for boys on grub wages it meant 
 only ruin. They could n't pay, and had to forfeit their 
 shares for next to nothing. And Ned made one more desper- 
 ate attempt to save them and himself by borrowing money 
 
202 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 on his shares ; when that hound Harkins got wind of it, 
 and let it be buzzed around that the Ditch is a failure, and 
 that he was goin' out of it ; that brought the shares down 
 to nothing. As Ned couldn't raise a dollar, the new com- 
 pany swooped down on his shares for the debts they had 
 put up, and left him and the boys to help themselves. Ned 
 could n't bear to face the boys that he 'd helped to ruin, 
 and put out, and ain't been heard from since. After Harkins 
 had got rid of Ned and the boys he manages to pay off that 
 wonderful debt, and sells out for a hundred thousand dol- 
 lars. That money Ned's money he sends to Sacra- 
 mento, for he don't dare to travel with it himself, and is 
 kalkilatin' to leave the kentry, for some of the boys allow 
 to kill him on sight. So ef you 're wantin' to hunt suthin', 
 thar 's yer chance, and you need n't go inter the snow to 
 do it." 
 
 " But surely the law can recover this money ? " said 
 Hale indignantly. " It is as infamous a robbery as " He 
 stopped as he caught Zenobia's eye. 
 
 " Ez last night's, you were goin' to say. I '11 call it 
 more. Them road agents don't pretend to be your friend 
 but take yer money and run their risks. For ez to the 
 law that can't help yer." 
 
 " It 's a skin game, and you might ez well expect to re- 
 cover a gambling debt from a short card sharp," explained 
 Clinch ; " Falkner oughter shot him on sight." 
 
 " Or the boys lynched him," suggested Kawlins. 
 
 " I think," said Hale, more reflectively, " that in the 
 absence of legal remedy a man of that kind should have 
 been forced under strong physical menace to give up his ill- 
 gotten gains. The money was the primary object, and if 
 that could be got without bloodshed which seems to me 
 a useless crime it would be quite as effective. Of course, 
 if there was resistance or retaliation, it might be necessary 
 to kill him." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 203 
 
 He had unconsciously fallen into his old didactic and 
 dogmatic habit of speech, and perhaps, under the spur of 
 Zenobia's eyes, he had given it some natural emphasis. A 
 dead silence followed, in which the others regarded him 
 with amused and gratified surprise, and it was broken only 
 by Zenobia rising and holding out her hand. " Shake ! " 
 
 Hale raised it gallantly, and pressed his lips on the one 
 spotless finger. 
 
 " That 's gospel truth. And you ain't the first white 
 man to say it." 
 
 " Indeed," laughed Hale. " Who was the other ? " 
 
 " George Lee ! " 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE laughter that followed was interrupted by a sudden 
 barking of the dogs in the outer clearing. Zenobia rose 
 lazily and strode to the window. It relieved Hale of cer- 
 tain embarrassing reflections suggested by her comment. 
 
 " Ef it ain't that God-forsaken fool Dick bringing up 
 passengers from the snow-bound up stage in the road ! I 
 reckon / 've got suthin' to say to that ! " But the later 
 appearance of the apologetic Dick, with the assurance that 
 the party carried a permission from her father, granted at 
 the lower station in view of such an emergency, checked 
 her active opposition. " That 's like paw," she solilo- 
 quized aggrievedly ; " shuttin' us up and settin' dogs on 
 everybody for a week, and then lettin' the whole stage ser- 
 vice pass through one door and out at another. Well, it 's 
 his house and his whiskey, and they kin take it, but they 
 don't get me to help 'em." 
 
 They certainly were not a prepossessing or good-natured 
 acquisition to the party. Apart from the natural antago- 
 nism which, on such occasions, those in possession always 
 feel towards the newcomer, they were strongly inclined to 
 resist the dissatisfied querulousness and aggressive attitude 
 of these fresh applicants for hospitality. The most offen- 
 sive one was a person who appeared to exercise some au- 
 thority over the others. He was loud, assuming, and 
 dressed with vulgar pretension. He quickly disposed him- 
 self in the chair vacated by Zenobia, and called for some 
 liquor. 
 
 " I reckon you '11 hev to help yourself," said Eawlins 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 205 
 
 dryly, as the summons met with no response. " There are 
 only two women in the house, and I reckon their hands are 
 full already." 
 
 " I call it d d uncivil treatment," said the man, raising 
 his voice ; " and Hennicker had better sing smaller if he 
 don't want his old den pulled down some day. He ain't 
 any better than men that hev been picked up afore now." 
 
 " You oughter told him that, and mebbe he 'd hev come 
 over with yer," returned Rawlins. " He 's a mild, soft, 
 easy-going man, is Hennicker ! Ain't he Colonel Clinch ? " 
 
 The casual mention of Clinch's name produced the effect 
 which the speaker probably intended. The stranger stared 
 at Clinch, who, apparently oblivious of the conversation, 
 was blinking his cold gray eyes at the fire. Dropping his 
 aggressive tone to mere querulousness, the man sought the 
 whiskey demijohn, and helped himself and his companions. 
 Fortified by liquor he returned to the fire. 
 
 " I reckon you 've heard about this yer robbery, Colonel," 
 he said, addressing Clinch, with an attempt at easy famil- 
 iarity. 
 
 Without raising his eyes from the fire, Clinch briefly 
 assented, " I reckon." 
 
 " I'm up yer, examining into it, for the Express." 
 
 " Lost much ? " asked Rawlins. 
 
 "Not so much ez they might hev. That fool Harkins 
 had a hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks sealed up 
 like an ordinary package of a thousand dollars, and gave it 
 to a friend, Bill Guthrie, in the bank to pick out some un- 
 likely chap among the passengers to take charge of it to 
 Reno. He would n't trust the Express. Ha ! ha ! " 
 
 The dead, oppressive silence that followed his empty 
 laughter made it seem almost artificial. Rawlins held his 
 breath, and looked at Clinch. Hale, with the instincts of 
 a refined, sensitive man, turned hot with the embarrassment 
 Clinch should have shown. For that gentleman, without 
 
206 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 lifting his eyes from the fire, and with no apparent change 
 in his demeanor, lazily asked : 
 
 " Ye did n't ketch the name o' that passenger ? " 
 
 " ^Naturally, no ! For when Guthrie hears what was 
 said agin him he wouldn't give his name until he heard 
 from him." 
 
 " And what was said agin him ? " asked Clinch mus- 
 ingly- 
 
 " What would he said agin a man that give up that sum 
 o' money, like a chaw of tobacco, for the asking ! Why, 
 there were but three men, as far ez we kin hear, that did 
 the job. And there were four passengers inside, armed, 
 and the driver and express messenger on the box. Six 
 were robbed by three ! they were a sweet-scented lot ! 
 Reckon they must hev felt mighty small, for I hear they 
 got up and skedaddled from the station under the pretext 
 of lookin' for the robbers." He laughed again, and the 
 laugh was noisily repeated by his five companions at the 
 other end of the room. 
 
 Hale, who had forgotten that the stranger was only 
 echoing a part of his own criticism of eight hours before, 
 was on the point of rising with burning cheeks and angry 
 indignation, when the lazily uplifted eye of Clinch caught 
 his, and absolutely held him down with its paralyzing and 
 deadly significance. Murder itself seemed to look from 
 those cruelly quiet and remorseless gray pupils. For a 
 moment he forgot his own rage in this glimpse of Clinch's 
 implacable resentment ; for a moment he felt a thrill of 
 pity for the wretch who had provoked it. He remained 
 motionless and fascinated in his chair as the lazy lids closed 
 like a sheath over Clinch's eyes again. E-awlins, who had 
 probably received the same glance of warning, remained 
 equally still. 
 
 " They have n't heard the last of it yet, you bet," con 
 tinued the infatuated stranger. " I 've got a little state- 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 207 
 
 ment here for the newspaper," he added, drawing some 
 papers from his pocket ; " suthin' I just run off in the 
 coach as I came along. I reckon it '11 show things up in 
 a new light. It 's time there should he some change. All 
 the cussiri' that 's heen usually done hez been hy the pas- 
 sengers agin the express and stage companies. I propose 
 that the Company should do a little cussin' themselves. 
 See ? PYaps you don't mind my readin' it to ye ? It 's 
 just spicy enough to suit them newspaper chaps." 
 
 " Go on," said Colonel Clinch quietly. 
 
 The man cleared his throat, with the preliminary pose 
 of authorship, and his five friends, to whom the composi- 
 tion was evidently not unfamiliar, assumed anticipatory 
 smiles. 
 
 " I call it e Prize Pusillanimous Passengers.' Sort of 
 runs easy off the tongue, you know. 
 
 " ' It now appears that the success of the late stage- 
 coach rohhery near the Summit was largely due to the 
 pusillanimity not to use a more serious word ' } He 
 stopped, and looked explanatorily towards Clinch : " Ye '11 
 see in a minit what I 'm gettin 7 at by that pusillanimity of 
 the passengers themselves. ' It now transpires that there 
 were only three robbers who attacked the coach, and that 
 although passengers, driver, and express messenger were 
 fully armed, and were double the number of their assail- 
 ants, not a shot was fired. We mean no reflections upon 
 the well-known courage of Yuba Bill, nor the experience 
 and coolness of Bracy Tibbetts, the courteous express mes- 
 senger, both of whom have since confessed to have been 
 more than astonished at the Christian and lamb-like sub- 
 mission of the insiders. Amusing stories of some laugh- 
 able yet sickening incidents of the occasion such as 
 grown men kneeling in the road, and offering to strip them- 
 selves completely, if their lives were only spared ; of one 
 of the passengers hiding under the seat, and only being 
 
208 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 dislodged by pulling his coat-tails ; of incredible sums 
 promised, and even offers of menial service, for the preser- 
 vation of their wretched carcases are received with the 
 greatest gusto; but we are in possession of facts which 
 may lead to more serious accusations. Although one of 
 the passengers is said to have lost a large sum of money 
 intrusted to him, while attempting with barefaced effront- 
 ery to establish a rival " carrying " business in one of the 
 Express Company's own coaches ' I call that a good 
 point." He interrupted himself to allow the unrestrained 
 applause of his own party. " Don't you ? " 
 
 " It 's just h 11," said Clinch musingly. 
 
 " ' Yet the affair,' " resumed the stranger, from his man- 
 uscript, " ( is locked up in great and suspicious mystery. 
 The presence of Jackson N. Stanner, Esq.' (that's me), 
 1 special detective agent to the Company, and his staff in 
 town, is a guaranty that the mystery will be thoroughly 
 probed.' Hed to put that in to please the Company," he 
 again deprecatingly explained. " ' We are indebted to this 
 gentleman for the facts.' " 
 
 " The pint you want to make in that article," said Clinch, 
 rising, but still directing his face and his conversation to 
 the fire, " ez far ez I ken see ez that no three men kin back 
 down six unless they be cowards, or are willing to be backed 
 down." 
 
 " That 's the point what I start from," rejoined Stanner, 
 " and work up. I leave it to you ef it ain't so." 
 
 " I can't say ez I agree with you," said the Colonel dryly. 
 He turned, and still without lifting his eyes walked towards 
 the door of the room which Zenobia had entered. The key 
 was on the inside, but Clinch gently opened the door, 
 removed the key, and closing the door again locked it from 
 his side. Hale and Rawlins felt their hearts beat quickly ; 
 the others followed Clinch's slow movements and downcast 
 mien with amused curiosity. After locking the other out- 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 209 
 
 let from the room, and putting the keys in his pocket, 
 Clinch returned to the fire. For the first time he lifted his 
 eyes ; the man nearest him shrank back in terror. 
 
 " I am the man," he said slowly, taking deliberate breath 
 between his sentences, " who gave up those greenbacks to 
 the robbers. I am one of the three passengers you have 
 lampooned in that paper, and these gentlemen beside me are 
 the other two." He stopped and looked around him. 
 " You don't believe that three men can back down six ! 
 Well, I '11 show you how it can be done. More than that, 
 I '11 show you how ONE man can do it ; for, by the living 
 G d, if you don't hand over that paper I '11 kill you where 
 you sit ! I '11 give you until I count ten ; if one of you 
 moves he and you are dead men but you first ! " 
 
 Before he had finished speaking Hale and Rawlins had 
 both risen, as if in concert, with their weapons drawn. 
 Hale could not tell how or why he had done so, but he was 
 equally conscious, without knowing why, of fixing his eye 
 on one of the other party, and that he should, in the event 
 of an affray, try to kill him. He did not attempt to 
 reason ; he only knew that he should do his best to kill 
 that man and perhaps others. 
 
 " One," said Clinch, lifting his derringer, " two 
 three " 
 
 "Look here, Colonel I swear I didn't know it was 
 you. Come d n it ! I say see here," stammered 
 Stanner, with white cheeks, not daring to glance for aid to 
 his stupefied party. 
 
 " Four five six " 
 
 " Wait ! Here ! " He produced the paper and threw it 
 on the floor. 
 
 " Pick it up and hand it to me. Seven eight " 
 
 Stanner hastily scrambled to his feet, picked up the 
 paper, and handed it to the Colonel. " I was only joking, 
 Colonel," he said, with a forced laugh. 
 
210 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " I 'm glad to hear it. But as this joke is in black and 
 white, you would n't mind saying so in the same fashion. 
 Take that pen and ink and write as I dictate. ' I certify 
 that I am satisfied that the above statement is a base 
 calumny against the characters of Blngwood Clinch, Robert 
 Rawlins, and John Hale, passengers, and 'that I do hereby 
 apologize to the same/ Sign it. That '11 do. Now let 
 the rest of your party sign as witnesses." 
 
 They complied without hesitation ; some, seizing the 
 opportunity of treating the affair as a joke, suggested a 
 drink. 
 
 " Excuse me," said Clinch quietly, " but ez this house 
 ain't big enough for me and that man, and ez I 've got busi- 
 ness at Wild Cat Station with this paper, I think I '11 go 
 without drinkin'." He took the keys from his pocket, un- 
 locked the doors, and taking up his overcoat and rifle turned 
 as if to go. 
 
 Eawlins rose to follow him ; Hale alone hesitated. The 
 rapid occurrences of the last half hour gave him no time 
 for reflection. But he was by no means satisfied of the 
 legality of the last act he had aided and abetted, although 
 he admitted its rude justice, and felt he would have done 
 so again. A fear of this, and an instinct that he might be 
 led into further complications if he continued to identify 
 himself with Clinch and Rawlins ; the fact that they had 
 professedly abandoned their quest, and that it was really 
 supplanted by the presence of an authorized party whom 
 they had already come in conflict with all this urged him 
 to remain behind. On the other hand, the apparent de- 
 sertion of his comrades at the last moment was opposed 
 both to his sense of honor and the liking he had taken to 
 them. But he reflected that he had already shown his ac- 
 tive partisanship, that he could be of little service to them 
 at Wild Cat Station, and would be only increasing the dis- 
 tance from his home j and above all, an impatient longing 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 211 
 
 for independent action finally decided him. "I think I 
 will stay here," he said to Clinch, "unless you want me." 
 
 Clinch cast a swift and meaning glance at the enemy, but 
 looked approval. "Keep your eyes skinned, and you're 
 good for a dozen of 'em," he said, sotto voce, and then 
 turned to Stanner. " I 'm going to take this paper to Wild 
 Cat. If you want to communicate with me hereafter, you 
 know where I am to be found, unless " he smiled grimly 
 " you 'd like to see me outside for a few minutes before 
 I go ? " 
 
 " It is a matter that concerns the Stage Company, not 
 me," said Stanner, with an attempt to appear at his ease. 
 
 Hale accompanied Clinch and Rawlins through the kitchen 
 to the stables. The hostler, Dick, had already returned to 
 the rescue of the snow-bound coach. 
 
 " I should n't like to leave many men alone with that 
 crowd," said Clinch, pressing Hale's hand ; "and I would n't 
 have allowed your staying behind ef I did n't know I could 
 bet my pile on you. Your offerin' to stay just puts a clean 
 finish on it. Look yer, Hale, I did n't cotton much to you 
 at first ; but ef you ever want a friend, call on Eingwood 
 Clinch." 
 
 " The same here, old man," said Rawlins, extending his 
 hand 'as he appeared from a hurried conference with the 
 old woman at the woodshed, " and trust to Zeenie to give 
 you a hint ef there 's anythin' underhanded goin' on. So 
 long." 
 
 Half inclined to resent this implied suggestion of protec- 
 tion, yet half pleased at the idea of a confidence with the 
 handsome girl he had seen, Hale returned to the room. A 
 whispered discussion among the party ceased on his enter- 
 ing, and an awkward silence followed, which Hale did not 
 attempt to break as he quietly took his seat again by the 
 fire. He was presently confronted by Stanner, who with 
 an affectation of easy familiarity crossed over to the hearth. 
 
212 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " The old Kernel 's d d peppery and high-toned when 
 he ? s got a little more than his reg'lar three fingers o' corn 
 juice, eh ? " 
 
 " I must beg you to understand distinctly, Mr. Stanner," 
 said Hale, with a return of his habitual precision of state- 
 ment, " that I regard any slighting allusion to the gentle- 
 man who has just left not only as in exceedingly bad taste 
 coming from you, but very offensive to myself. If you 
 mean to imply that he was under the influence of liquor, it 
 is my duty to undeceive you ; he was so perfectly in pos- 
 session of his faculties as to express not only his own but 
 my opinion of your conduct. You must also admit that he 
 was discriminating enough to show his objection to your 
 company by leaving it. I regret that circumstances do not 
 make it convenient for me to exercise that privilege ; but if 
 I am obliged to put up with your presence in this room, I 
 strongly insist that it is not made unendurable with the 
 addition of your conversation." 
 
 The effect of this deliberate and passionless declaration 
 was more discomposing to the party than Clinch's fury. 
 Utterly unaccustomed to the ideas and language suddenly 
 confronting them, they were unable to determine whether it 
 was the real expression of the speaker, or whether it was a 
 vague badinage or affectation to which any reply would in- 
 volve them in ridicule. In a country terrorized by practical 
 joking, they did not doubt that this was a new form of 
 hoaxing calculated to provoke some response that would 
 constitute them as victims. The immediate effect upon them 
 was that complete silence in regard to himself that Hale 
 desired. They drew together again and conversed in whis- 
 pers, while Hale,' with his eyes fixed on the fire, gave him- 
 self up to somewhat late and useless reflection. 
 
 He could scarcely realize his position. For however he 
 might look at it, within a space of twelve hours he had not 
 only changed some of his most cherished opinions, but he 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 213 
 
 had acted in accordance with that change in a way that 
 made it seem almost impossible for him ever to recant. In 
 the interests of law and order he had engaged in an unlaw- 
 ful and disorderly pursuit of criminals, and had actually 
 come in conflict not with the criminals, but with the only 
 party apparently authorized to pursue them. More than 
 that, he was finding himself committed to a certain sympa- 
 thy with the criminals. Twenty-four hours ago, if any one 
 had told him that he would have condoned an illegal act for 
 its abstract justice, or assisted to commit an illegal act for 
 the same purpose, he would have felt himself insulted. 
 That he knew he would not now feel it as an insult per- 
 plexed him still more. In these circumstances the fact that 
 he was separated from his family, and as it were from 
 all his past life and traditions, by a chance accident, did not 
 disturb him greatly ; indeed, he was for the first time a 
 little doubtful of their probable criticism on his inconsist- 
 ency, and was by no means in a hurry to subject himself 
 to it. 
 
 Lifting his eyes, he was suddenly aware that the door 
 leading to the kitchen was slowly opening. He had thought 
 he heard it creak once or twice during his deliberate reply 
 to Stanner. It was evidently moving now so as to attract 
 his attention, without disturbing the others. It presently 
 opened sufficiently wide to show the face of Zeenie, who, 
 with a gesture of caution towards his companions, beckoned 
 him to join her. He rose carelessly as if going out, and, 
 putting on his hat, entered the kitchen as the retreating 
 figure of the young girl glided lightly towards the stables. 
 She ascended a few open steps as if to a hay-loft, but stopped 
 before a low door. Pushing it open, she preceded him into 
 a small room, apparently under the roof, which scarcely 
 allowed her to stand upright. By the light of a stable 
 lantern hanging from a beam he saw that, though poorly 
 furnished, it bore some evidence of feminine taste and hab- 
 
214 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 itation. Motioning to the only chair, she seated herself 
 on the edge of the bed, with her hands clasping her knees in 
 her familiar attitude. Her face hore traces of recent agita- 
 tion, and her eyes were shining with tears. By the closer 
 light of the lantern he was surprised to find it was from 
 laughter. 
 
 " I reckoned you ? d be right lonely down there with 
 that Stanner crowd, particklerly after that little speech o' 
 yourn, so I sez to maw I 'd get you up yer for a spell. 
 Maw and I heerd you exhort 'em ! Maw allowed you 
 woz talkin' a furrin' tongue all along, but I sakes alive ! 
 I hed to hump myself to keep from bustin' into a yell 
 when yer jist drawed them Webster-unabridged sentences 
 on 'em." She stopped and rocked backwards and forwards 
 with a laugh that, subdued by the proximity of the roof 
 and the fear of being overheard, was by no means unmusi- 
 cal. "I'll tell ye whot got me, though! That part 
 commencing, ' Suckamstances over which I 've no con- 
 troul.' " 
 
 " Oh, come ! I did n't say that," interrupted Hale, 
 laughing. 
 
 " ' Don't make it convenient for me to exercise the priv- 
 ilege of kickin' yer out to that extent,' " she continued ; 
 " ' but if I cannot dispense with your room, the least I can 
 say is that it 's a d d sight better than your company ' 
 or suthin' like that ! And then the way you minded your 
 stops, and let your voice rise and fall just ez easy ez if you 
 wos a First Header in large type. Why, the Kernel was n't 
 nowhere. His cussin' did n't come within a mile o' yourn. 
 That Stanner jist turned yaller." 
 
 " I 'm afraid you are laughing at me," said Hale, not 
 knowing whether to be pleased or vexed at the girl's 
 amusement. 
 
 " I reckon I 'm the only one that dare do it, then," said 
 the girl simply. " The Kernel sez the way you turned 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 215 
 
 round after he 'd done his cussin', and said yer believed 
 you 'd stay and take the responsibility of the whole thing 
 and did in that kam, soft, did-anybody-speak-to-me 
 style was the neatest thing he 'd seen yet ! No ! Maw 
 says I ain't much on manners, but I know a man when I 
 see him." 
 
 For an instant Hale gave himself up to the delicious 
 flattery of unexpected, unintended, and apparently unin- 
 terested compliment. Becoming at last a little embarrassed 
 under the frank curiosity of the girl's dark eyes, he changed 
 the subject. 
 
 " Do you always come up here through the stables ? " he 
 asked, glancing round the room, which was evidently her 
 own. 
 
 " I reckon," she answered half abstractedly. " There ? s 
 a ladder down thar to maw's room " pointing to a trap- 
 door beside the broad chimney that served as a wall 
 " but it 's handier the other way, and nearer the bosses ef 
 you want to get away quick." 
 
 This palpable suggestion borne out by what he re- 
 membered of the other domestic details that the house 
 had been planned with reference to sudden foray or escape 
 reawakened his former uneasy reflections. Zeenie, who 
 had been watching his face, added, " It 's no slouch, when 
 b'ar or painters hang round nights and stampede the stock, 
 to be able to swing yourself on to a hoss whenever you 
 hear a row goin' on outside." 
 
 " Do you mean that you " 
 
 "Paw used, and I do now, sense I've come into the 
 room." She pointed to a nondescript garment, half cloak, 
 half habit, hanging on the wall. " I 've been outer bed 
 and on Pitchpine's back as far ez the trail five minutes 
 arter I heard the first bellow." 
 
 Hale regarded her with undisguised astonishment. There 
 was nothing at all Amazonian or horsey in her manners, 
 
216 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 nor was there even the robust physical contour that might 
 have been developed through such experiences. On the 
 contrary, she seemed to be lazily effeminate in body and 
 mind. Heedless of his critical survey of her, she beckoned 
 him to draw his chair nearer, and, looking into his eyes, 
 said : 
 
 " Whatever possessed you to take to huntin' men ? " 
 
 Hale was staggered by the question, but nevertheless 
 endeavored to explain. But he was surprised to find that 
 his explanation appeared stilted even to himself, and, he 
 could not doubt, was utterly incomprehensible to the girl. 
 She nodded her head, however, and continued : 
 
 " Then you haven't anythin' agin George ? " 
 
 " I don't know George," said Hale, smiling. " My pro- 
 ceeding was against the highwayman." 
 
 "Well, he was the highwayman." 
 
 " I mean, it was the principle I objected to a principle 
 that I consider highly dangerous." 
 
 " Well, he is the principal, for the others only helped, I 
 reckon," said Zeenie, with a sigh, " and I reckon he is 
 dangerous." 
 
 Hale saw it was useless to explain. The girl con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " What made you stay here instead of going on with the 
 Kernel ? There was suthin' else besides your wanting to 
 make that Stanner take water. What is it ? " 
 
 A light sense of the propinquity of beauty, of her con- 
 fidence, of their isolation, of the eloquence of her dark 
 eyes, at first tempted Hale to a reply of simple gallantry ; 
 a graver consideration of the same circumstances froze it 
 upon his lips. 
 
 " I don't know," he returned awkwardly. 
 
 " Well, I '11 tell you," she said. " You did n't cotton 
 to the Kernel and Rawlins much more than you did to 
 Stanner. They ain't your kind." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 217 
 
 In his embarrassment Hale blundered upon the thought 
 he had honorably avoided. 
 
 " Suppose/ 7 he said, with a constrained laugh, " I had 
 stayed to see you ? " 
 
 "I reckon / ain't your kind, neither," she replied 
 promptly. There was a momentary pause when she rose 
 and walked to the chimney. "It's very quiet down 
 there," she said, stooping and listening over the roughly 
 boarded floor that formed the ceiling of the room below. 
 " I wonder what 's going on ? " 
 
 In the belief that this was a delicate hint for his return 
 to the party he had left, Hale rose, but the girl passed 
 him hurriedly, and, opening the door, cast a quick glance 
 into the stable beyond. 
 
 " Just as I reckoned the horses are gone too. They 've 
 skedaddled," she said blankly. 
 
 Hale did not reply. In his embarrassment a moment 
 ago the idea of taking an equally sudden departure had 
 flashed upon him. Should he take this as a justification of 
 that impulse, or how ? He stood irresolutely gazing at the 
 girl, who turned and began to descend the stairs silently. 
 He followed. When they reached the lower room they 
 found it as they had expected deserted. 
 
 " I hope I did n't drive them away," said Hale, with an 
 uneasy look at the troubled face of the girl. " For I really 
 had an idea of going myself a moment ago." 
 
 She remained silent, gazing out of the window. Then, 
 turning with a slight shrug of her shoulders, said half 
 defiantly : " What 's the use now ? Oh, maw ! the Stanner 
 crowd has vamosed the ranch, and this yer stranger kalki- 
 lates to stay ! " 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 A WEEK had passed at Eagle's Court a week of mingled 
 clouds and sunshine by day, of rain over the green plateau 
 and snow on the mountain by night. Each morning had 
 brought its fresh greenness to the winter-girt domain, and a 
 fresh coat of dazzling white to the barrier that separated its 
 dwellers from the world beyond. There was little change 
 in the encompassing wall of their prison ; if anything, the 
 snowy circle round them seemed to have drawn its lines 
 nearer day by day. The immediate result of this restricted 
 limit had been to confine the range of cattle to the meadows 
 nearer the house, and at a safe distance from the fringe of 
 wilderness now invaded by the prowling tread of predatory 
 animals. 
 
 Nevertheless, the two figures lounging on the slope at 
 sunset gave very little indication of any serious quality in 
 the situation. Indeed, so far as appearances were con- 
 cerned, Kate, who was returning from an afternoon stroll 
 with Falkner, exhibited, with feminine inconsistency, a 
 decided return to the world of fashion and conventionality 
 apparently just as she was effectually excluded from it. 
 She had not only discarded her white dress as a concession 
 to the practical evidence of the surrounding winter, but she 
 had also brought out a feather hat and sable muff which 
 had once graced a fashionable suburb of Boston. Even 
 Falkner had exchanged his slouch hat and picturesque 
 serape for a beaver overcoat and fur cap of Hale's which 
 had been pressed upon him by Kate, under the excuse of 
 the exigencies of the season. Within a stone's throw of 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 219 
 
 the thicket, turbulent with the savage forces of nature, 
 they walked with the abstraction of people hearing only 
 their own voices ; in the face of the solemn peaks clothed 
 with white austerity they talked gravely of dress. 
 
 " I don't mean to say/ 7 said Kate demurely, " that you 're 
 to give up the serape entirely ; you can wear it on rainy 
 nights and when you ride over here from your friend's house 
 to spend the evening for the sake of old times," she added, 
 with an unconscious air of referring to an already antiquated 
 friendship ; " but you must admit it 's a little too gorgeous 
 and theatrical for the sunlight of day and the public high- 
 way." 
 
 " But why should that make it wrong, if the experience 
 of a people has shown it to be a garment best fitted for their 
 wants and requirements ? " said Falkner argumentatively. 
 
 "But you are not one of those people," said Kate, "and 
 that makes all the difference. You look differently and act 
 differently, so that there is something irreconcilable between 
 your clothes and you that makes you look odd." 
 
 " And to look odd, according to your civilized prejudices, 
 is to be wrong," said Falkner bitterly. 
 
 "It is to seem different from what one really is which 
 is wrong. Now, you are a mining superintendent, you tell 
 me. Then you don't want to look like a Spanish brigand, 
 as you do in that serape. I am sure if you had ridden up 
 to a stagecoach while I was in it, I 'd have handed you my 
 watch and purse without a word. There ! you are not 
 offended ? " she added, with a laugh, which did not, how- 
 ever, conceal a certain earnestness. " I suppose I ought to 
 have said I would have given it gladly to such a romantic 
 figure, and perhaps have got out and danced a saraband or 
 bolero with you if that is the thing to do nowadays. 
 Well ! " she said, after a dangerous pause, " consider that 
 I 've said it." 
 
 He had been walking a little before her, with his face 
 
220 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 turned towards the distant mountain. Suddenly he stopped 
 and faced her. " You would have given enough of your 
 time to the highwayman, Miss Scott, as would have enabled 
 you to identify him for the police and no more. Like 
 your brother, you would have been willing to sacrifice yourself 
 for the benefit of the laws of civilization and good order." 
 
 If a denial to this assertion could have been expressed 
 without the use of speech, it was certainly transparent in the 
 face and eyes of the young girl at that moment. If Falkner 
 had been less self-conscious he would have seen it plainly. 
 But Kate only buried her face in her lifted muff, slightly 
 raised her pretty shoulders, and, dropping her tremulous 
 eyelids, walked on. "It seems a pity," she said, after a 
 pause, " that we cannot preserve our own miserable existence 
 without taking something from others sometimes even a 
 life ! " He started. " And it 's horrid to have to remind 
 you that you have yet to kill something for the invalid's 
 supper," she continued. "I saw a hare in the field yonder." 
 
 " You mean that jackass-rabbit ? " he said abstractedly. 
 
 " What you please. It 's a pity you did n't take your 
 gun instead of your rifle." 
 
 " I brought the rifle for protection." 
 
 " And a shot-gun is only aggressive, I suppose ? " 
 
 Falkner looked at her for a moment, and then, as the 
 hare suddenly started across the open a hundred yards 
 away, brought the rifle to his shoulder. A long interval 
 as it seemed to Kate elapsed ; the animal appeared to be 
 already safely out of range, when the rifle suddenly cracked ; 
 the hare bounded in the air like a ball, and dropped motion- 
 less. The girl looked at the marksman in undisguised 
 admiration. " Is it quite dead ? " she said timidly. 
 
 " It never knew what struck it." 
 
 " It certainly looks less brutal than shooting it with a 
 shot-gun, as John does, and then not killing it outright," 
 said Kate. "I hate what is called sport and sportsmen, but 
 a rifle seems " 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 221 
 
 " What ? " said Falkner. 
 
 " More gentlemanly." 
 
 She had raised her pretty head in the air, and, with her 
 hand shading her eyes, was looking around the clear ether, 
 and said meditatively, " I wonder no matter." 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing." 
 
 " It is something," said Falkner, with an amused smile, 
 reloading his rifle. 
 
 " Well, you once promised me an eagle's feather for my 
 hat. Is n't that thing an eagle ? " 
 
 " I am afraid it is only a hawk." 
 
 " Well, that will do. Shoot that ! " 
 
 Her eyes were sparkling. Falkner withdrew his own 
 with a slight smile, and raised his rifle with provoking 
 deliberation. 
 
 " Are you quite sure it 's what you want ? " he asked 
 demurely. 
 
 Yes quick ! " 
 
 Nevertheless, it was some minutes before the rifle cracked 
 again. The wheeling bird suddenly struck the wind with 
 its wings aslant, and then fell like a plummet at a distance 
 which showed the difficulty of the feat. Falkner started 
 from her side before the bird reached the ground. He re- 
 turned to her after a lapse of a few moments, bearing a 
 trailing wing in his hand. " You shall make your choice," 
 he said gayly. 
 
 " Are you sure it was killed outright ? " 
 
 " Head shot off," said Falkner briefly. 
 
 "And besides, the fall would have killed it," said Kate 
 conclusively. " It 's lovely. I suppose they call you a 
 very good shot ? " 
 
 " They who ? " 
 
 " Oh ! the people you know your friends, and their 
 sisters." 
 
222 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " George shoots better than I do, and has had more expe- 
 rience. I 've seen him do that with a pistol. Of course 
 not such a long shot, but a more difficult one." 
 
 Kate did not reply, but her face showed a conviction 
 that as an artistic and gentlemanly performance it was 
 probably inferior to the one she had witnessed. Falkner, 
 who had picked up the hare also, again took his place by her 
 side, as they turned towards the house. 
 
 " Do you remember the day you came, when we were 
 walking here, you pointed out that rock on the mountain 
 where the poor animals had taken refuge from the snow ? " 
 said Kate suddenly. 
 
 " Yes," answered Falkner ; " they seem to have dimin- 
 ished. I am afraid you were right ; they have either eaten 
 each other or escaped. Let us hope the latter." 
 
 " I looked at them with a glass every day," said Kate, 
 " and they 've got down to only four. There ? s a bear and 
 that shabby, overgrown cat you call a California lion, and 
 a wolf, and a creature like a fox or a squirrel." 
 
 " It 's a pity they 're not all of a kind," said Falkner. 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " There J d be nothing to keep them from being comfort- 
 able together." 
 
 " On the contrary. / should think it would be simply 
 awful to be shut up entirely with one's own kind." 
 
 " Then you believe it is possible for them, with their 
 different natures and habits, to be happy together ? " said 
 Falkner, with sudden earnestness. 
 
 " I believe," said Kate hurriedly, " that the bear and 
 the lion find the fox and the wolf very amusing, and that 
 the fox and the wolf " 
 
 " Well ? " said Falkner, stopping short. 
 
 " Well, the fox and the wolf will carry away a much 
 better opinion of the lion and bear than they had before." 
 
 They had reached the house by this time, and for some 
 
Is tit that thing an eagle 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 223 
 
 occult reason Kate did not immediately enter the parlor, 
 where she had left her sister and the invalid, who had al- 
 ready been promoted to a sofa and a cushion by the win- 
 dow, but proceeded directly to her own room. As a 
 manoeuvre to avoid meeting Mrs. Hale, it was scarcely ne- 
 cessary, for that lady was already in advance of her on the 
 staircase, as if she had left the parlor a moment before they 
 entered the house. Falkner, too, would have preferred the 
 company of his own thoughts, but Lee, apparently the 
 only unpreoccupied, all-pervading, and boyishly alert spirit 
 in the party, hailed him from within, and obliged him to 
 present himself on the threshold of the parlor with the 
 hare and hawk's wing he was still carrying. Eying the 
 latter with affected concern, Lee said gravely : " Of course, 
 I can eat it, Ned, and I dare say it 's the best part of the 
 fowl, and the hare is n't more than enough for the women, 
 but I had no idea we were so reduced. Three hours and a 
 half gunning, and only one hare and a hawk's wing. It 's 
 terrible." 
 
 Perceiving that his friend was alone, Falkner dropped 
 his burden in the hall and strode rapidly to his side. 
 " Look here, George, we must, J must, leave this place at 
 once. It 's no use talking ; I can stand this sort of thing 
 no longer." 
 
 " Nor can I, with the door open. Shut it, and say what 
 you want quick, before Mrs. Hale comes back. Have you 
 found a trail ? " 
 
 " No, no ; that 's not what I mean." 
 
 " Well, it strikes me it ought to be, if you expect to get 
 away. Have you proposed to Beacon Street, and she 
 thinks it rather premature on a week's acquaintance ? " 
 
 "No; but"- 
 
 " But you will, you mean ? Don't, just yet." 
 
 " But I cannot live this perpetual lie." 
 
 " That depends. I don't know how you 're lying when 
 
224 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 I 'm not with you. If you're walking round with that 
 girl, singing hymns and talking of your class in Sunday- 
 school, or if you 're insinuating that you 're a millionaire, 
 and think of buying the place for a summer hotel, I should 
 say you 'd better quit that kind of lying. But, on the 
 other hand, I don't see the necessity of your dancing round 
 here with a shot-gun, and yelling for Harkins's blood, or 
 counting that package of greenbacks in the lap of Miss 
 Scott, to be truthful. It seems to me there ought to be 
 something between the two." 
 
 " But, George, don't you think you are on such good 
 terms with Mrs. Hale and her mother that you might 
 tell them the whole story ? That is, tell it in your own 
 way ; they will hear anything from you, and believe it." 
 
 " Thank you ; but suppose I don't believe in lying, 
 either ? " 
 
 " You know what I mean ! You have a way, d n it, 
 of making everything seem like a matter of course, and the 
 most natural thing going." 
 
 " Well, suppose I did. Are you prepared for the 
 worst ? " 
 
 Falkner was silent for a moment, and then replied, 
 " Yes, anything would be better than this suspense." 
 
 " I don't agree with you. Then you would be willing 
 to have them forgive us ? " 
 
 " I don't understand you." 
 
 " I mean that their forgiveness would be the worst thing 
 that could happen. Look here, Ned. Stop a moment ; 
 listen at that door. Mrs. Hale has the tread of an angel, 
 with the pervading capacity of a cat. Now listen ! / don't 
 pretend to be in love with anybody here, but if I were I 
 should hardly take advantage of a woman's helplessness and 
 solitude with a sensational story about myself. It 's not 
 giving her a fair show. You know she won't turn you out 
 of the house." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 225 
 
 " No," said Falkner, reddening ; " but I should expect to 
 go at once, and that would be my only excuse for telling her." 
 
 " Go ! where ? In your preoccupation with that girl 
 you have n't even found the trail by which Manuel escaped. 
 Do you intend to camp outside the house, and make eyes 
 at her when she comes to the window ? " 
 
 " Because you think nothing of flirting with Mrs. Hale," 
 said Falkner bitterly, " you care little " 
 
 " My dear Ned," said Lee, " the fact that Mrs. Hale 
 has a husband, and knows that she can't marry me, puts us 
 on equal terms. Nothing that she could learn about me 
 hereafter would make a flirtation with me any less wrong 
 than it would be now, or make her seem more a victim. 
 Can you say the same of yourself and that Puritan girl ? " 
 
 " But you did not advise me to keep aloof from her ; on 
 the contrary, you " 
 
 " I thought you might make the best of the situation, 
 and pay her some attention, because you could not go any 
 further." 
 
 " You thought I was utterly heartless and selfish 
 like" 
 
 "Ned!" 
 
 Falkner walked rapidly to the fireplace, and returned. 
 
 " Forgive me, George I 'm a fool and an ungrateful 
 one." 
 
 Lee did not reply at once, although he took and retained 
 the hand Falkner had impulsively extended. " Promise 
 me," he said slowly, after a pause, " that you will say no- 
 thing yet to either of these women. I ask it for your own 
 sake, and this girl's, not for mine. If, on the contrary, 
 you are tempted to do so from any Quixotic idea of honor, 
 remember that you will only precipitate something that will 
 oblige you, from that same sense of honor, to separate from 
 the girl forever." 
 
 " I don't understand." 
 
226 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " Enough ! " said he, with a quick return of his old 
 reckless gayety. " Shoot-Off-His-Mouth the Beardless 
 Boy Chief of the Sierras has spoken ! Let the Pale 
 Face with the black mustache ponder and beware how he 
 talks hereafter to the Eippling Cochituate Water ! Go ! " 
 
 Nevertheless, as soon as the door had closed upon Falk- 
 ner, Lee's smile vanished. With his colorless face turned 
 to the fading light at the window, the hollows in his tem- 
 ples and the lines in the corners of his eyes seemed to have 
 grown more profound. He remained motionless and ab- 
 sorbed in thought so deep that the light rustle of a skirt, 
 that would at other times have thrilled his sensitive ear, 
 passed unheeded. At last, throwing off his reverie with 
 the full and unrestrained sigh of a man who believes him- 
 self alone, he was startled by the soft laugh of Mrs. Hale, 
 who had entered the room unperceived. 
 
 " Dear me ! How portentous ! Eeally, I almost feel 
 as if I were interrupting a tete-a-tete between yourself and 
 some old flame. I have n't heard anything so old-fashioned 
 and conservative as that sigh since I have been in Califor- 
 nia. I thought you never had any Past out here ? " 
 
 Fortunately his face was between her and the light, and 
 the unmistakable expression of annoyance and impatience 
 which passed over it was spared her. There was, however, 
 still enough dissonance in his manner to affect her quick 
 feminine sense, and when she drew nearer to him it was 
 with a certain maiden-like timidity. 
 
 " You are not worse, Mr. Lee, I hope ? You have not 
 over-exerted yourself ? " 
 
 " There ? s little chance of that with one leg if not 
 in the grave at least mummified with bandages," he replied, 
 with a bitterness new to him. 
 
 " Shall I loosen them ? Perhaps they are too tight. 
 There is nothing so irritating to one as the sensation of 
 being tightly bound." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 227 
 
 The light touch of her hand upon the rug that covered 
 his knees, the thoughtful tenderness of the "blue-veined lids, 
 and the delicate atmosphere that seemed to surround her 
 like a perfume cleared his face of its shadow and Drought 
 back the reckless fire into his blue eyes. 
 
 " I suppose I 'm intolerant of all bonds/' he said, look- 
 ing at her intently, " in others as well as myself ! " 
 
 Whether or not she detected any double meaning in his 
 words, she was obliged to accept the challenge of his direct 
 gaze, and, raising her eyes to his, drew back a little from 
 him with a slight increase of color. " I was afraid you 
 had heard bad news just now." 
 
 " What would you call bad news ? " asked Lee, clasping 
 his hands behind his head, and leaning back on the sofa, 
 but without withdrawing his eyes from her face. 
 
 " Oh, any news that would interrupt your convalescence, 
 or break up our little family party," said Mrs. Hale. 
 " You have been getting on so well that really it would 
 seem cruel to have anything interfere with our life of for- 
 getting and being forgotten. But," she added, with appre- 
 hensive quickness, " has anything happened ? Is there 
 really any news from from the trails ? Yesterday Mr. 
 Falkner said the snow had recommenced in the pass. Has 
 he seen anything, noticed anything different ? " 
 
 She looked so very pretty, with the rare, genuine, and 
 youthful excitement that transfigured her wearied and 
 wearying regularity of feature, that Lee contented himself 
 with drinking in her prettiness as he would have inhaled 
 the perfume of some flower. 
 
 " Why do you look at me so, Mr. Lee ? " she asked, 
 with a slight smile. " I believe something has happened. 
 Mr. Falkner has brought you some intelligence." 
 
 " He has certainly found out something I did not fore- 
 see." 
 
 And that troubles you ? " 
 
228 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " It does." 
 
 " Is it a secret ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then I suppose you will tell it to me at dinner," she 
 said, with a little tone of relief. 
 
 " I am afraid, if I tell it at all, I must tell it now," he 
 said, glancing at the door. 
 
 " You must do as you think best," she said coldly, " as 
 it seems to be a secret, after all." She hesitated. "Kate 
 is dressing, and will not be down for some time." 
 
 " So much the better. For I >m afraid that Ned has 
 made a poor return to your hospitality by falling in love 
 with her." 
 
 " Impossible ! He has known her for scarcely a week." 
 
 " I am afraid we won't agree as to the length of time 
 necessary to appreciate and love a woman. I think it can 
 be done in seven days and four hours, the exact time we 
 have been here." 
 
 " Yes ; but as Kate was not in when you arrived, and 
 did not come until later, you must take off at least one 
 hour," said Mrs. Hale gayly. 
 
 " Ned can. / shall not abate a second." 
 
 " But are you not mistaken in his feelings ? " she con- 
 tinued hurriedly. " He certainly has not said anything to 
 her." 
 
 " That is his last hold on honor and reason. And to 
 preserve that little intact he wants to run away at once." 
 
 " But that would be very silly." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " he said, looking at her fixedly. 
 
 " Why not ? " she asked in her turn, but rather faintly. 
 
 " I '11 tell you why," he said, lowering his voice with a 
 certain intensity of passion unlike his usual boyish light- 
 heartedness. " Think of a man whose life has been one of 
 alternate hardness and aggression, of savage disappointment 
 and equally savage successes, who has known no other 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 229 
 
 relaxation than dissipation or extravagance ; a man to whom 
 the idea of the domestic hearth and family ties only meant 
 weakness, effeminacy, or worse ; who had looked for 
 loyalty and devotion only in the man who hattled for him 
 at his right hand in danger, or shared his privations and 
 sufferings. Think of such a man, and imagine that an acci- 
 dent has suddenly placed him in an atmosphere of purity, 
 gentleness, and peace, surrounded him hy the refinements 
 of a higher life than he had ever known, and that he found 
 himself as in a dream, on terms of equality with a pure 
 woman who had never known any other life, and yet would 
 understand and pity his. Imagine his loving her ! Imagine 
 that the first effect of that love was to show him his own 
 inferiority and the immeasurable gulf that lay between his 
 life and hers ! Would he not fly rather than brave the 
 disgrace of her awakening to the truth ? Would he not fly 
 rather than accept even the pity that might tempt her to a 
 sacrifice ? " 
 
 But is Mr. Falkner all that ? " 
 
 " Nothing of the kind, I assure you ! " said he demurely. 
 " But that 's the way a man in love feels." 
 
 " Really ! Mr. Falkner should get you to plead his 
 cause with Kate," said Mrs. Hale, with a faint laugh. 
 
 " I need all my persuasive powers in that way for my- 
 self," said Lee boldly. 
 
 Mrs. Hale rose. "I think I hear Kate coming," she 
 said. Nevertheless, she did not move away. " It is Kate 
 coming," she added hurriedly, stopping to pick up her 
 work-basket, which had slipped with Lee's hand from her 
 own. 
 
 It was Kate, who at once flew to her sister's assistance, 
 Lee deploring from the sofa his own utter inability to aid 
 her. " It 's all my fault, too," he said to Kate, but look- 
 ing at Mrs. Hale. " It seems I have a faculty for upsetting 
 existing arrangements without the power of improving 
 
230 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 them, or even putting them back in their places. What 
 shall I do ? I am willing to hold any number of skeins or 
 re-wind any quantity of spools. I am even willing to for- 
 give Ned for spending the whole day with you, and only 
 bringing me the wing of a hawk for supper." 
 
 " That was all my folly, Mr. Lee/ 7 said Kate, with swift 
 mendacity ; " he was all the time looking after something 
 for you, when I begged him to shoot a bird to get a feather 
 for my hat. And that wing is so pretty." 
 
 " It is a pity that mere beauty is not edible," said Lee 
 gravely, " and that if the worst comes to the worst here 
 you would probably prefer me to Ned and his mustaches, 
 merely because I 've been tied by the leg to this sofa and 
 slowly fattened like a Strasbourg goose." 
 
 Nevertheless, his badinage failed somehow to amuse Kate, 
 and she presently excused herself to rejoin her sister, who 
 had already slipped from the room. For the first time 
 during their enforced seclusion a sense of restraint and 
 uneasiness affected Mrs. Hale, her sister, and Falkner at 
 dinner. The latter addressed himself to Mrs. Scott, almost 
 entirely. Mrs. Hale was fain to bestow an exceptional and 
 marked tenderness on her little daughter Minnie, who, how- 
 ever, by some occult childish instinct, insisted upon sharing 
 it with Lee her great friend to Mrs. Hale's uneasy 
 consciousness. Nor was Lee slow to profit by the child's 
 suggestion, but responded with certain vicarious caresses 
 that increased the mother's embarrassment. That evening 
 they retired early, but in the intervals of a restless night 
 Kate was aware, from the sound of voices in the opposite 
 room, that the friends were equally wakeful. 
 
 A morning of bright sunshine and soft warm air did not, 
 however, bring any change to their new and constrained 
 relations. It only seemed to offer a reason for Falkner to 
 leave the house very early for his daily rounds, and gave 
 Lee that occasion for unaided exercise with an extempore 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 231 
 
 crutch on the veranda which allowed Mrs. Hale to pursue 
 her manifold duties without the necessity of keeping him 
 company. Kate also, as if to avoid an accidental meeting 
 with Falkner, had remained at home with her sister. With 
 one exception, they did not make their guests the subject of 
 their usual playful comments, nor, after the fashion of their 
 sex, quote their ideas and opinions. That exception was 
 made by Mrs. Hale. 
 
 " You have had no difference with Mr. Falkner ? " she 
 said carelessly. 
 
 "No," said Kate quickly. Why ? " 
 
 " I only thought he seemed rather put out at dinner last 
 night, and you did n't propose to go and meet him to-day." 
 
 " He must be bored with my company at times, I dare 
 say," said Kate, with an indifference quite inconsistent 
 with her rising color. " I should n't wonder if he was a 
 little vexed with Mr. Lee's chaffing him about his sport 
 yesterday, and probably intends to go further to-day, and 
 bring home larger game. I think Mr. Lee very amusing 
 always, but I sometimes fancy he lacks feeling." 
 
 " Feeling ! You don't know him, Kate," said Mrs. 
 Hale quickly. She stopped herself, but with a half-smiling 
 recollection in her dropped eyelids. 
 
 " Well, he does n't look very amiable now, stamping up 
 and down the veranda. Perhaps you 'd better go and soothe 
 him." 
 
 " I 'm really so busy just now," said Mrs. Hale, with 
 sudden and inconsequent energy ; " things have got dread- 
 fully behind in the last week. You had better go, Kate, 
 and make him sit down, or he '11 be overdoing it. These 
 men never know any medium in anything." 
 
 Contrary to Kate's expectation, Falkner returned earlier 
 than usual, and, taking the invalid's arm, supported him in 
 a more ambitious walk along the terrace before the house. 
 They were apparently absorbed in conversation, but the two 
 
232 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 women who observed them from the window could not help 
 noticing the almost feminine tenderness of Falkner's man- 
 ner towards his wounded friend, and the thoughtful tender- 
 ness of his ministering care. 
 
 " I- wonder," said Mrs. Hale, following them with softly 
 appreciative eyes, " if women are capable of as disinterested 
 friendship as men ? I never saw anything like the devo- 
 tion of these two creatures. Look ! if Mr. Falkner has n't 
 got his arm round Mr. Lee's waist, and Lee, with his own 
 arm over Falkner's neck, is looking up in his eyes. I de- 
 clare Kate, it almost seems an indiscretion to look at 
 them." 
 
 Kate, however, to Mrs. Hale's indignation, threw her 
 pretty head back and sniffed the air contemptuously. " I 
 really don't see anything but some absurd sentimentalism 
 of their own, or some mannish wickedness they 're concoct- 
 ing by themselves. I am by no means certain, Josephine, 
 that Lee's influence over that young man is the best thing 
 for him." 
 
 " On the contrary ! Lee's influence seems the only 
 thing that checks his waywardness," said Mrs. Hale quickly. 
 " I 'm sure, if any one makes sacrifices, it is Lee ; I should n't 
 wonder that even now he is making some concession to 
 Falkner, and all those caressing ways of your friend are for 
 a purpose. They 're not much different from us, dear." 
 
 " Well, / would n't stand there and let them see me 
 looking at them as if I could n't bear them out of my sight 
 for a moment," said Kate, whisking herself out of the 
 room. " They 're conceited enough, Heaven knows, al- 
 ready." 
 
 That evening, at dinner, however, the two men exhibited 
 no trace of the restraint or uneasiness of the previous day. 
 If they were less impulsive and exuberant, they were still 
 frank and interested, and if the term could be used in 
 connection with men apparently trained to neither self-con- 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 233 
 
 trol nor repose, there was a certain gentle dignity in their 
 manner which for the time had the effect of lifting them a 
 little above the social level of their entertainers. For even 
 with all their predisposition to the strangers, Kate and Mrs. 
 Hale had always retained a conscious attitude of gentle con- 
 descension and superiority towards them an attitude not 
 inconsistent with a stronger feeling, nor altogether unprovo- 
 cative of it ; yet this evening they found themselves im- 
 pressed with something more than an equality in the men 
 who had amused and interested them, and they were per- 
 haps a little more critical and doubtful of their own power. 
 Mrs. Hale's little girl, who had appreciated only the seri- 
 ousness of the situation, had made her own application of it. 
 " Are you dow'in' away from aunt Kate and mamma ? " 
 she asked in an interval of silence. 
 
 " How else can I get you the red snow we saw at sun- 
 set, the other day, on the peak yonder ? " said Lee gayly. 
 " I J ll have to get up some morning very early, and catch it 
 when it comes at sunrise." 
 
 "What is this wonderful snow, Minnie, that you are 
 tormenting Mr. Lee for ? " asked Mrs. Hale. 
 
 " Oh ! it 's a fairy snow that he told me all about ; it only 
 comes when the sun comes up and goes down, and if you 
 catch ever so little of it in your hand it makes all you fink 
 you want come true ! Would n't that be nice ? " But to 
 the child's astonishment her little circle of auditors, even 
 while assenting, sighed. 
 
 The red snow was there plain enough the next morning 
 before the valley was warm with light, and while Minnie, 
 her mother, and aunt Kate were still peacefully sleeping. 
 And Mr. Lee had kept his word, and was evidently seeking 
 it, for he and Falkner were already urging their horses 
 through the pass, with their faces towards and lit up by its 
 glow. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 KATE was stirring early, but not as early as her sister, who 
 met her on the threshold of her room. Her face was quite 
 pale, and she held a letter in her hand. " What does this 
 mean, Kate ? " 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Kate, her own color fad- 
 ing from her cheek. 
 
 " They are gone with their horses. Left before day, 
 and left this." 
 
 She handed Kate an open letter. The girl took it hur- 
 riedly, and read : 
 
 When you get this we shall be no more ; perhaps not even 
 as much. Ned found the trail yesterday, and we are taking 
 the first advantage of it before day. We dared not trust 
 ourselves to say " Good-by ! " last evening ; we were too 
 cowardly to face you this morning ; we must go as we came, 
 without warning, but not without regret. We leave a 
 package and a letter for your husband. It is not only our 
 poor return for your gentleness and hospitality, but, since it 
 was accidentally the means of giving us the pleasure of 
 your society, we beg you to keep it in safety until his re- 
 turn. We kiss your mother's hands. Ned wants to say 
 something more, but time presses, and I only allow him to 
 send his love to Minnie, and to tell her that he is trying to 
 find the red snow. 
 
 GEORGE LEE. 
 
 " But he is not fit to travel/ 7 said Mrs. Hale. " And 
 the trail it may not be passable." 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 235 
 
 " It was passable the day before yesterday/' said Kate 
 drearily, " for I discovered it, and went as far as the buck- 
 eyes." 
 
 " Then it was you who told them about it," said Mrs, 
 Hale reproachfully. 
 
 "No," said Kate indignantly. " Of course I didn't." 
 She stopped, and, reading the significance of her speech in 
 the glistening eyes of her sister, she blushed. Josephine 
 kissed her, and said : 
 
 "It was treating us like children, Kate, but we must 
 make them pay for it hereafter. For that package and letter 
 to John means something, and we shall probably see them 
 before long. I wonder what the letter is about, and what 
 is in the package ? " 
 
 " Probably one of Mr. Lee's jokes. He is quite capable 
 of turning the whole thing into ridicule. I dare say he 
 considers his visit here a prolonged jest." 
 
 " With his poor leg, Kate ? You are as unfair to him 
 as you were to Falkner when they first came." 
 
 Kate, however, kept her dark eyebrows knitted in a 
 piquant frown. 
 
 " To think of his intimating what he would allow Falkner 
 to say ! And yet you believe he has no evil influence over 
 the young man." 
 
 Mrs. Hale laughed. "Where are you going so fast, 
 Kate ? " she called mischievously, as the young lady flounced 
 out of the room. 
 
 " Where ? Why, to tidy John's room. He may be 
 coming at any moment now. Or do you want to do it 
 yourself ? " 
 
 "No, no," returned Mrs. Hale hurriedly; "you do it. 
 I '11 look in a little later on." 
 
 She turned away with a sigh. The sun was shining 
 brilliantly outside. Through the half-open blinds its long 
 shafts seemed to be searching the house for the lost guests, 
 
236 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 and making the hollow shell appear doubly empty. What 
 a contrast to the dear dark days of mysterious seclusion and 
 delicious security, lit by Lee's laughter and the sparkling 
 hearth, which had passed so quickly ! The forgotten outer 
 world seemed to have returned to the house through those 
 open windows and awakened its dwellers from a dream. 
 
 The morning seemed interminable, and it was past noon, 
 while they were deep in a sympathetic conference with Mrs. 
 Scott, who had drawn a pathetic word-picture of the two 
 friends perishing in the snow-drift, without flannels, brandy, 
 smelling-salts, or jelly, which they had forgotten, when they 
 were startled by the loud barking of Spot on the lawn 
 before the house. The women looked hurriedly at each 
 other. 
 
 " They have returned," said Mrs. Hale. 
 
 Kate ran to the window. A horseman was approaching 
 the house. A single glance showed her that it was neither 
 Falkner, Lee, nor Hale, but a stranger. 
 
 " Perhaps he brings some news of them," said Mrs. Scott 
 quickly. So complete had been their preoccupation with 
 the loss of their guests that they could not yet conceive of 
 anything that did not pertain to it. 
 
 The stranger, who was at once ushered into the parlor, 
 was evidently disconcerted by the presence of the three 
 women. 
 
 " I reckoned to see John Hale yer," he began awkwardly. 
 
 A slight look of disappointment passed over their faces. 
 " He has not yet returned," said Mrs. Hale briefly. 
 
 " Sho ! I wanter know. He 's hed time to do it, I 
 reckon," said the stranger. 
 
 " I suppose he has n't been able to get over from the 
 Summit," returned Mrs. Hale. " The trail is closed." 
 
 " It ain't now, for I kem over it this mornin' myself." 
 
 " You did n't meet any one ? " asked Mrs. Hale 
 timidly, with a glance at the others. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 237 
 
 " No." 
 
 A long silence ensued. The unfortunate visitor plainly 
 perceived an evident abatement of interest in himself, yet 
 he still struggled politely to say something. "Then I 
 reckon you know what kept Hale away ? " he said dubi- 
 ously. 
 
 " Oh, certainly the stage robbery." 
 
 " I wish I 'd known that," said the stranger reflectively, 
 " for I ez good ez rode over jist to tell it to ye. Ye see, 
 John Hale, he sent a note to ye 'splainin' matters by a 
 gentleman ; but the road agents tackled that man, and left 
 him for dead in the road." 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Hale impatiently. 
 
 " Luckily he did n't die, but kern to, and managed to 
 crawl inter the brush, whar I found him when I was 
 lookin' for stock, and brought him to my house " 
 
 " You found him ? Your house ? " interrupted Mrs. 
 Hale. 
 
 " Inter my house," continued the man doggedly. " I 'm 
 Thompson of Thompson's Pass over yon ; mebbe it ain't 
 much of a house ; but I brought him thar. Well, ez he 
 could n't find the note that Hale had guv him, and like ez 
 not the road agents had gone through him and got it, ez 
 soon ez the weather let up I made a break over yer to tell 
 
 ye." 
 
 " You say Mr. Lee came to your house," repeated Mrs. 
 Hale, " and is there now ? " 
 
 " Not much," said the man grimly ; " and I never said 
 Lee was thar. I mean that Bilson waz shot by Lee and 
 kern" 
 
 " Certainly, Josephine ! " said Kate, suddenly stepping 
 between her sister and Thompson, and turning upon her a 
 white face and eyes of silencing significance ; " certainly 
 don't you remember? that's the story we got from the 
 Chinaman, you know, only muddled. Go on, sir," she 
 
238 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 continued, turning to Thompson calmly ; " you say that 
 the man who brought the note from my brother was shot 
 by Lee ? " 
 
 " And another fellow they call Falkner. Yes, that 's 
 about the size of it." 
 
 " Thank you ; it 's nearly the same story that we heard. 
 But you have had a long ride, Mr. Thompson j let me offer 
 you a glass of whiskey in the dining-room. This way, 
 please." 
 
 The door closed upon them none too soon. For Mrs. 
 Hale already felt the room whirling around her, and sank 
 back into her chair with a hysterical laugh. Old Mrs. 
 Scott did not move from her seat, but, with her eyes fixed 
 on the door, impatiently waited Kate's return. Neither 
 spoke, but each felt that the young, untried girl was equal 
 to the emergency, and would get at the truth. 
 
 The sound of Thompson's feet in the hall and the clos- 
 ing of the front door was followed by Kate's reappearance. 
 Her face was still pale, but calm. 
 
 " Well ? " said the two women in a breath. 
 
 " Well," returned Kate slowly ; " Mr. Lee and Mr. 
 Falkner were undoubtedly the two men who took the 
 paper from John's messenger and brought it here." 
 
 " You are sure ? " said Mrs. Scott. 
 
 " There can be no mistake, mother." 
 
 (( Then," said Mrs. Scott, with triumphant feminine 
 logic, " I don't want anything more to satisfy me that they 
 are perfectly innocent ! " 
 
 More convincing than the most perfect masculine deduc- 
 tion, this single expression of their common nature sent a 
 thrill of sympathy and understanding through each. They 
 cried for a few moments on each other's shoulders. " To 
 think," said Mrs. Scott, " what that poor boy must have 
 suffered to have been obliged to do that to to 
 Bilson is n't that the creature's name ? I suppose we 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 239 
 
 ought to send over there and inquire after him, with some 
 chicken and jelly, Kate. It's only common humanity, 
 and we must be just, my dear; for even if he shot Mr. 
 Lee and provoked the poor boy to shoot him, he may 
 have thought it his duty. And then, it will avert suspi- 
 cions." 
 
 " To think," murmured Mrs. Hale, " what they must 
 have gone through while they were here momentarily 
 expecting John to come, and yet keeping up such a light 
 heart." 
 
 " I believe, if they had stayed longer, they would have 
 told us everything," said Mrs. Scott. 
 
 Both the younger women were silent. Kate was thinking 
 of Falkner's significant speech as they neared the house on 
 their last walk ; Josephine was recalling the remorseful 
 picture drawn by Lee, which she knew was his own portrait. 
 Suddenly she started. 
 
 " But John will be here soon ; what are we to tell him ? 
 And then that package and that letter." 
 
 " Don't be in a hurry to tell him anything at present, my 
 child," said Mrs. Scott gently. " It is unfortunate this 
 Mr. Thompson called here, but we are not obliged to under- 
 stand what he says now about John's message, or to connect 
 our visitors with his story. I 'm sure, Kate, I should have 
 treated them exactly as we did if they had come without 
 any message from John ; so I do not know why we should 
 lay any stress on that, or even speak of it. The simple fact 
 is that we have opened our house to the strangers in dis- 
 tress. Your husband," continued Mr. Hale's mother-in-law, 
 " does not require to know more. As to the letter and 
 package, we will keep that for further consideration. It 
 cannot be of much importance, or they would have spoken 
 of it before ; it is probably some trifling present as a return 
 for your hospitality. I should use no indecorous haste in 
 having it opened." 
 
240 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 The two women kissed Mrs. Scott with a feeling of re- 
 lief, and fell back into the monotony of their household 
 duties. It is to be feared, however, that the absence of 
 their outlawed guests was nearly as dangerous as their pre- 
 sence in the opportunity it afforded for uninterrupted and 
 imaginative reflection. Both Kate and Josephine were at 
 first shocked and wounded by the discovery of the real 
 character of the two men with whom they had associated so 
 familiarly, but it was no disparagement to their sense of 
 propriety to say that the shock did not last long, and was 
 accompanied with the fascination of danger. This was suc- 
 ceeded by a consciousness of the delicate flattery implied in 
 their indirect influence over the men who had undoubtedly 
 risked their lives for the sake of remaining with them. The 
 best woman is not above being touched by the effect of her 
 power over the worst man, and Kate at first allowed herself to 
 think of Falkner in that light. But if in her later reflections 
 he suffered as a heroic experience to be forgotten, he gained 
 something as an actual man to be remembered. Now that 
 the proposed rides from " his friend's house " were a part 
 of the illusion, would he ever dare to visit them again ? 
 Would she dare to see him ? She held her breath with a 
 sudden pain of parting that was new to her ; she tried to 
 think of something else, to pick up the scattered threads of 
 her life before that eventful day. But in vain ; that one 
 week had filled the place with implacable memories, or more 
 terrible, as it seemed to her and her sister, they had both 
 lost their feeble, alien hold upon Eagle's Court in the sudden 
 presence of the real genii of these solitudes, and henceforth 
 they alone would be strangers there. They scarcely dared 
 to confess it to each other, but this return to the dazzling 
 sunlight and cloudless skies of the past appeared to them to 
 be the one unreal experience ; they had never known the 
 true wild flavor of their home, except in that week of deli- 
 cious isolation. Without breathing it aloud, they longed 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 241 
 
 for some vague denouement to this experience that should 
 take them from Eagle's Court forever. 
 
 It was noon the next day when the little household be- 
 held the last shred of their illusion vanish like the melt- 
 ing snow in the strong sunlight of John Hale's return. 
 He was accompanied by Colonel Clinch and Bawlins, two 
 strangers to the women. Was it fancy, or the avenging 
 spirit of their absent companions ? but he too looked a 
 stranger, and as the little cavalcade wound its way up the 
 slope he appeared to sit his horse and wear his hat with 
 a certain slouch and absence of his usual restraint that 
 strangely shocked them. Even the old half-condescending, 
 half-punctilious gallantry of his greeting of his wife and 
 family was changed, as he introduced his companions with 
 a mingling of familiarity and shyness that was new to him. 
 Did Mrs. Hale regret it, or feel a sense of relief in the ab- 
 sence of his usual seignorial formality ? She only knew 
 that she was grateful for the presence of the strangers, 
 which for the moment postponed a matrimonial confidence 
 from which she shrunk. 
 
 " Proud to know you," said Colonel Clinch, with a sud- 
 den outbreak of the antique gallantry of some remote Hu- 
 guenot ancestor. "My friend, Judge Hale, must be a 
 regular Koman citizen to leave such a family and such 
 a house at the call of public duty. Eh, Rawlins ? " 
 
 " You bet," said Kawlins, looking from Kate to her sis- 
 ter in undisguised admiration. 
 
 " And I suppose the duty could not have been a very 
 pleasant one," said Mrs. Hale timidly, without looking at 
 her husband. 
 
 " Gad, madam, that 's just it," said the gallant Colonel, 
 seating himself with a comfortable air, and an easy, though 
 by no means disrespectful familiarity. "We went into 
 this fight a little more than a week ago. The only scrim- 
 mage we J ve had has been with the detectives that were on 
 
242 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 the robbers' track. Ha ! ha ! The best people we 've met 
 have been the friends of the men we were huntin', and 
 we 've generally come to the conclusion to vote the other 
 ticket ! Ez Judge Hale and me agreed ez we came along, 
 the two men ez we 'd most like to see just now and shake 
 hands with are George Lee and Ned Falkner." 
 
 " The two leaders of the party who robbed the coach," 
 explained Mr. Hale, with a slight return of his usual pre- 
 cision of statement. 
 
 The three women looked at each other with a blaze of 
 thanksgiving in their grateful eyes. Without comprehend- 
 ing all that Colonel Clinch had said, they understood enough 
 to know that their late guests were safe from the pursuit 
 of that party, and that their own conduct was spared criti- 
 cism. I hardly dare write it, but they instantly assumed 
 the appearance of aggrieved martyrs, and felt as if they 
 were ! 
 
 " Yes, ladies ! " continued the Colonel, inspired by the 
 bright eyes fixed upon him. " We have n't taken the read 
 ourselves yet, but pohn honor we would n't mind 
 doing it in a case like this." Then with the fluent, but 
 somewhat exaggerated phraseology of a man trained to 
 " stump " speaking, he gave an account of the robbery and 
 his own connection with it. He spoke of the swindling 
 and treachery which had undoubtedly provoked Falkner to 
 obtain restitution of his property by an overt act of violence 
 under the leadership of Lee. He added that he had learned 
 since at Wild Cat Station that Harkins had fled the coun- 
 try, that a suit had been commenced by the Excelsior 
 Ditch Company, and that all available property of Harkins 
 had been seized by the sheriff. 
 
 " Of course it can't be proved yet, but there 's no doubt 
 in my mind that Lee, who is an old friend of Ned Falk- 
 ner's, got up that job to help him, and that Ned 's off with 
 the money by this time and I 'm right glad of it. I 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 243 
 
 can't say ez we 've done much towards it, except to keep 
 tumbling in the way of that detective party of Stanner's, 
 and so throw them off the trail ha, ha ! The Judge 
 here, I reckon, has had his share of fun, for while he was 
 at Hennicker's trying to get some facts from Hennicker's 
 pretty daughter, Stanner tried to get up some sort of vigi- 
 lance committee of the stage passengers to burn down Hen- 
 nicker's ranch out of spite, but the Judge here stepped in 
 and stopped that." 
 
 " It was really a high-handed proceeding, Josephine, but 
 I managed to check it," said Hale, meeting somewhat con- 
 sciously the first direct look his wife had cast upon him, 
 and falling back for support on his old manner. " In its 
 way, I think it was worse than the robbery by Lee and 
 Falkner, for it was done in the name of law and order ; 
 while, as far as I can judge from the facts, the affair that 
 we were following up was simply a rude and irregular 
 restitution of property that had been morally stolen." 
 
 " I have no doubt you did quite right, though I don't 
 understand it," said Mrs. Hale languidly ; " but I trust 
 these gentlemen will stay to luncheon, and in the mean 
 time excuse us for running away, as we are short of ser- 
 vants, and Manuel seems to have followed the example of 
 the head of the house and left us, in pursuit of somebody 
 or something." 
 
 When the three women had gained the vantage-ground 
 of the drawing-room, Kate said earnestly, " As it 's all 
 right, had n't we better tell him now ? " 
 
 "Decidedly not, child," said Mrs. Scott imperatively. 
 " Do you suppose they are in a hurry to tell us their whole 
 story ? Who are those Hennicker people ? and they were 
 there a week ago ! " 
 
 " And did you notice John's hat when he came in, and 
 the vulgar familiarity of calling him ' Judge ' ? " said Mrs. 
 Hals. 
 
244 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 "Well, certainly anything like the familiarity of this 
 man Clinch / never saw/ 7 said Kate. " Contrast his man- 
 ner with Mr. Falkner's." 
 
 At luncheon the three suffering martyrs finally succeeded 
 in reducing Hale and his two friends to an attitude of 
 vague apology. But their triumph was short-lived. At 
 the end of the meal they were startled by the trampling of 
 hoofs without, followed by loud knocking. In another 
 moment the door was opened, and Mr. Stanner strode into 
 the room. Hale rose with a look of indignation. 
 
 " I thought, as Mr. Stanner understood that I had no 
 desire for his company elsewhere, he would hardly venture 
 to intrude upon me in my house, and certainly not 
 after - 
 
 " Ef you ? re alluding to the Vigilantes shakin' you and 
 Zeenie up at Hennicker's, you can't make me responsible 
 for that. I 'm here now on business you understand 
 reg'lar business. Ef you want to see the papers yer ken. 
 I suppose you know what a warrant is ? " 
 
 " I know what you are," said Hale hotly ; "and if you 
 don't leave my house " 
 
 " Steady, boys," interrupted Stanner, as his five hench- 
 men filed into the hall. " There J s no backin' down here, 
 Colonel Clinch, unless you and Hale kalkilate to back 
 down the State of Californy ! The matter stands like this. 
 There 's a half-breed Mexican, called Manuel, arrested over 
 at the Summit, who swears he saw George Lee and Edward 
 Falkner in this house the night after the robbery. He 
 says that they were makin' themselves at home here, as if 
 they were among friends, and considerin' the kind of help 
 we 've had from Mr. John Hale, it looks ez if it might be 
 true." 
 
 " It 's an infamous lie ! " said Hale. 
 
 " It may be true, John," said Mrs. Scott, suddenly step- 
 ping in front of her pale-cheeked daughters. " A wounded 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 245 
 
 man was brought here out of the storm by his friend, who 
 claimed the shelter of your roof. As your mother I should 
 have been unworthy to stay beneath it and have denied 
 that shelter or withheld it until I knew his name and what 
 he was. He stayed here until he could be removed. He 
 left a letter for you. It will probably tell you if he was 
 the man this person is seeking." 
 
 " Thank you, mother," said Hale, lifting her hand to his 
 lips quietly ; " and perhaps you will kindly tell these gen- 
 tlemen that, as your son does not care to know who or what 
 the stranger was, there is no necessity for opening the let- 
 ter, or keeping Mr. Stanner a moment longer." 
 
 "But you will oblige me, John, by opening it before 
 these gentlemen," said Mrs. Hale, recovering her voice and 
 color. "Please to follow me," she said, preceding them to 
 the staircase. 
 
 They entered Mr. Hale's room, now restored to its origi- 
 nal condition. On the table lay a letter and a small pack- 
 age. The eyes of Mr. Stanner, a little abashed by the 
 attitude of the two women, fastened upon it and glistened. 
 
 Josephine handed her husband the letter. He opened it 
 in breathless silence and read : 
 
 JOHN HALE, We owe you no return for voluntarily 
 making yourself a champion of justice and pursuing us, ex- 
 cept it was to offer you a fair field and no favor. We did n't 
 get that much from you, but accident brought us into your 
 house and into your family, where we did get it, and were 
 fairly vanquished. To the victors belong the spoils. We 
 leave the package of greenbacks which we took from Colonel 
 Clinch in the Sierra coach, but which was first stolen by 
 Harkins from forty-four shareholders of the Excelsior Ditch. 
 We have no right to say what you should do with it, but if 
 you are n't tired of following the same line of justice that 
 induced you to run after uSj you will try to restore it to its 
 rightful owners. 
 
246 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 We leave you another trifle as an evidence that our in- 
 trusion into your affairs was not without some service to 
 you, even if the service was as accidental as the intrusion. 
 You will find a pair of boots in the corner of your closet. 
 They were taken from the burglarious feet of Manuel, your 
 peon, who, believing the three ladies were alone and at his 
 mercy, entered your house with an accomplice at two o'clock 
 on the morning of the 21st, and was kicked out by 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 GEORGE LEE & EDWAKD FALKNER. 
 
 Hale's voice and color changed on reading this last para- 
 graph. He turned quickly towards his wife ; Kate flew 
 to the closet, where the muffled boots of Manuel confronted 
 them. " We never knew it. I always suspected some- 
 thing that night," said Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Scott in the 
 same breath. 
 
 " That 's all very well, and like George Lee's highfalu- 
 tin'," said Stanner, approaching the table, " but as long ez 
 the greenbacks are here he can make what capital he likes 
 outer Manuel. I'll trouble you to pass over that package." 
 
 " Excuse me," said Hale, " but I believe this is the pack- 
 age taken from Colonel Clinch. Is it not ? " he added, 
 appealing to the Colonel. 
 
 " It is," said Clinch. 
 
 "Then take it," said Hale, handing him the package. 
 " The first restitution is to you, but I believe you will fulfill 
 Lee's instructions as well as myself." 
 
 " But," said Stanner, furiously interposing, " I 've a war- 
 rant to seize that wherever found, and I dare you to disobey 
 the law." 
 
 " Mr. Stanner," said Clinch slowly, " there are ladies 
 present. If you insist upon having that package I must 
 ask them to withdraw, and I 'm afraid you '11 find me better 
 prepared to resist a second robbery than I was the first. 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 247 
 
 Your warrant, which was taken out by the Express Com- 
 pany, is supplanted by civil proceedings taken the day 
 before yesterday against the property of the fugitive swin- 
 dler Harkins ! You should have consulted the sheriff before 
 you came here." 
 
 Stanner saw his mistake. But in the faces of his grin- 
 ning followers he was obliged to keep up his bluster. 
 " You shall hear from me again, sir/' he said, turning on 
 his heel. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Clinch grimly, " but do I 
 understand that at last I am to have the honor " 
 
 " You shall hear from the Company's lawyers, sir," said 
 Stanner, turning red, and noisily leaving the room. 
 
 "And so, my dear ladies," said Colonel Clinch, "you 
 have spent a week with a highwayman. I say a highway- 
 man, for it would be hard to call my young friend Falkner 
 by that name for his first offense, committed under great 
 provocation, and undoubtedly instigated by Lee, who was 
 an old friend of his, and to whom he came, no doubt, in 
 desperation." 
 
 Kate stole a triumphant glance at her sister, who dropped 
 her lids over her glistening eyes. " And this Mr. Lee," 
 she continued more gently, " is he really a highwayman ? " 
 
 " George Lee," said Clinch, settling himself back orator- 
 ically in his chair, " my dear young lady, is a highwayman, 
 but not of the common sort. He is a gentleman born, 
 madam, comes from one of the oldest families of the East- 
 ern Shore of Maryland. He never mixes himself up with 
 anything but some of the biggest strikes, and he J s an 
 educated man. He is very popular with ladies and chil- 
 dren ; he was never known to do or say anything that could 
 bring a blush to the cheek of beauty or a tear to the eye of 
 innocence. I think I may say I 'm sure you found him so." 
 
 " I shall never believe him anything but a gentleman," 
 said Mrs. Scott firmly. 
 
248 SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 
 
 " If he has a defect, it is perhaps a too reckless indul- 
 gence in draw-poker," said the Colonel musingly ; " not 
 unbecoming a gentleman, understand me, Mrs. Scott, but 
 perhaps too reckless for his own good. George played a 
 grand game, a glittering game, but pardon me if I say an 
 uncertain game. I 've told him so ; it 's the only point on 
 which we ever differed." 
 
 " Then you know him ? " said Mrs. Hale, lifting her soft 
 eyes to the Colonel. 
 
 " I have that honor." 
 
 " Did his appearance, Josephine," broke in Hale, some- 
 what ostentatiously, " appear to er er correspond 
 with these qualities ? You know what I mean." 
 
 " He certainly seemed very simple and natural," said 
 Mrs. Hale, slightly drawing her pretty lips together. " He 
 did not wear his trousers rolled up over his boots in the 
 company of ladies, as you 're doing now, nor did he make 
 his first appearance in this house with such a hat as you 
 wore this morning, or I should not have admitted him." 
 
 There were a few moments of embarrassing silence. 
 
 "Do you intend to give that package to Mr. Falkner 
 yourself, Colonel ? " asked Mrs. Scott. 
 
 " I shall hand it over to the Excelsior Company," said 
 the Colonel, " but I shall inform Ned of what I have done." 
 
 " Then," said Mrs. Scott " will you kindly take a mes- 
 sage from us to him ? " 
 
 " If you wish it." 
 
 "You will be doing me a great favor, Colonel," said 
 Hale politely. 
 
 Whatever the message was, six months later it brought 
 Edward Falkner, the reestablished superintendent of the 
 Excelsior Ditch, to Eagle's Court. As he and Kate stood 
 again on the plateau, looking towards the distant slopes 
 once more green with verdure, Falkner said : 
 
SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S 249 
 
 " Everything here looks as it did the first day I saw it, 
 except your sister." 
 
 " The place does not agree with her/ 7 said Kate hur- 
 riedly. " That is why my brother thinks of leaving it be- 
 fore the winter sets in." 
 
 " It seems so sad," said Falkner, " for the last words 
 poor George said to me, as he left to join his cousin's corps 
 at Richmond, were : ' If I 'm not killed, Ned, I hope some 
 day to stand again beside Mrs. Hale, at the window in 
 Eagle's Court, and watch you and Kate coming home ! ' " 
 
A MILLIONAIKE OF KOUGH-AND-KEADY 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 THERE was no mistake this time : he had struck gold at 
 last! 
 
 It had lain there before him a moment ago a mis- 
 shapen piece of brown-stained quartz, interspersed with dull 
 yellow metal ; yielding enough to have allowed the points 
 of his pick to penetrate its honeycombed recesses, yet heavy 
 enough to drop from the point of his pick as he endeavored 
 to lift it from the red earth. 
 
 He was seeing all this plainly, although he found him- 
 self, he knew not why, at some distance from the scene of 
 his discovery, his heart foolishly beating, his breath impo- 
 tently hurried. Yet he was walking slowly and vaguely ; 
 conscious of stopping and staring at the landscape, which 
 no longer looked familiar to him. He was hoping for some 
 instinct or force of habit to recall him to himself ; yet when 
 he saw a neighbor at work in an adjacent claim, he hesi- 
 tated, and then turned his back upon him. Yet only a mo- 
 ment before he had thought of running to him, saying, 
 " By Jingo ! I 've struck it," or " D n it, old man, I ? ve 
 got it ; " but that moment had passed, and now it seemed to 
 him that he could scarce raise his voice, or, if he did, the 
 ejaculation would appear forced and artificial. Neither 
 could he go over to him coolly and tell his good fortune ; 
 and, partly from this strange shyness, and partly with 
 a hope that another survey of the treasure might restore 
 him to natural expression, he walked back to his tunnel. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 251 
 
 Yes ; it was there ! No mere " pocket " or " deposit," 
 but a part of the actual vein he had been so long seeking. 
 It was there, sure enough, lying beside the pick and the 
 ddbris of the " face " of the vein that he had exposed suffi- 
 ciently, after the first shock of discovery, to assure himself 
 of the fact and the permanence of his fortune. It was 
 there, and with it the refutation of his enemies' sneers, the 
 corroboration of his friends' belief, the practical demonstra- 
 tion of his own theories, the reward of his patient labors. 
 It was there, sure enough. But, somehow, he not only 
 failed to recall the first joy of discovery, but was conscious 
 of a vague sense of responsibility and unrest. It was, no 
 doubt, an enormous fortune to a man in his circumstances : 
 perhaps it meant a couple of hundred thousand dollars, or 
 more, judging from the value of the old Martin lead, which 
 was not as rich as this, but it required to be worked con- 
 stantly and judiciously. It was with a decided sense of 
 uneasiness that he again sought the open sunlight of the 
 hillside. His neighbor was still visible on the adjacent 
 claim ; but he had apparently stopped working, and was 
 contemplatively smoking a pipe under a large pine-tree. 
 For an instant he envied him his apparent contentment. 
 He had a sudden fierce and inexplicable desire to go over 
 to him and exasperate his easy poverty by a revelation of 
 his own new-found treasure. But even that sensation 
 quickly passed, and left him staring blankly at the land- 
 scape again. 
 
 As soon as he had made his discovery known, and settled 
 its value, he would send for his wife and her children in 
 the States. He would build a fine house on the opposite 
 hillside, if she would consent to it, unless she preferred, for 
 the children's sake, to live in San Francisco. A sense of a 
 loss of independence of a change of circumstances that 
 left him no longer his own master began to perplex him, 
 in the midst of his brightest projects. Certain other rela- 
 
252 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 tions with other members of his family, which had lapsed 
 by absence and insignificance, must now be taken up anew. 
 He must do something for his sister Jane, for his brother 
 William, for his wife's poor connections. It would be un- 
 fair to him to say that he contemplated those things with 
 any other instinct than that of generosity ; yet he was con- 
 scious of being already perplexed and puzzled. 
 
 Meantime, however, the neighbor had apparently finished 
 his pipe, and, knocking the ashes out of it, rose suddenly, 
 and ended any further uncertainty of their meeting by walk- 
 ing over directly towards him. The treasure-finder ad- 
 vanced a few steps on his side, and then stopped irreso- 
 lutely. 
 
 " Hollo, Slinn ! " said the neighbor confidently. 
 
 " Hollo, Masters," responded Slinn faintly. From the 
 sound of the two voices a stranger might have mistaken 
 their relative condition. " What in thunder are you moon- 
 ing about for ? What >s up ? " Then, catching sight of 
 Slinn's pale and anxious face, he added abruptly, " Are you 
 sick ? " 
 
 Slinn was on the point of telling him his good fortune, 
 but stopped. The unlucky question confirmed his con- 
 sciousness of his physical and mental disturbance, and he 
 dreaded the ready ridicule of his companion. He would 
 tell him later ; Masters need not know when he had made 
 the strike. Besides, in his present vagueness, he shrank 
 from the brusque, practical questioning that would be sure 
 to follow the revelation to a man of Masters' s tempera- 
 ment. 
 
 " I 'm a little giddy here," he answered, putting his hand 
 to his head, " and I thought I 'd knock off until I was bet- 
 ter." 
 
 Masters examined him with two very critical gray eyes. 
 " Tell ye what, old man ! if you don't quit this dog- 
 goned foolin' of yours in that God-forsaken tunnel you '11 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 253 
 
 get loony ! Times you get so tangled up in follerin' that 
 blind lead o j yours you ain't sensible ! " 
 
 Here was the opportunity to tell him all, and vindicate 
 the justice of his theories ! But he shrank from it again ; 
 and now, adding to the confusion, was a singular sense of 
 dread at the mental labor of explanation. He only smiled 
 painfully, and began to move away. " Look you ! " said 
 Masters peremptorily, "ye want about three fingers of 
 straight whiskey to set you right, and you 've got to take 
 it with me. D n it, man, it may be the last drink we 
 take together ! Don't look so skeered ! I mean I made 
 up my mind about ten minutes ago to cut the whole d d 
 thing, and light out for fresh diggings. I ? m sick of get- 
 ting only grub wages out o' this hill. So that 's what I 
 mean by saying it 's the last drink you and me '11 take to- 
 gether. You know my ways : sayin' and doin' with me 's 
 the same thing." 
 
 It was true. Slinn had often envied Masters's promptness 
 of decision and resolution. But he only looked at the grim 
 face of his interlocutor with a feeble sense of relief. He 
 was going. And he, Slinn, would not have to explain any- 
 thing ! 
 
 He murmured something about having to go over to the 
 settlement on business. He dreaded lest Masters should 
 insist upon going into the tunnel. 
 
 " I suppose you want to mail that letter," said Masters 
 dryly. " The mail don't go till to-morrow, so you 've got 
 time to finish it, and put it in an envelope." 
 
 Following the direction of Masters's eyes, Slinn looked 
 down and saw, to his utter surprise, that he was holding an 
 unfinished penciled note in his hand. How it came there, 
 when he had written it, he could not tell ; he dimly remem- 
 bered that one of his first impulses was to write to his wife, 
 but that he had already done so he had forgotten. He 
 hastily concealed the note in his breast-pocket, with a vacant 
 
254 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 smile. Masters eyed him half contemptuously, half com- 
 passionately. 
 
 " Don't forget yourself and drop it in some hollow tree 
 for a letter-box/ 7 he said. " Well so long ! since you 
 won't drink. Take care of yourself/' and, turning on his 
 heel, Masters walked away. 
 
 Slinn watched him as he crossed over to his abandoned 
 claim, saw him gather his few mining utensils, strap his 
 blanket over his back, lift his hat on his long-handled shovel 
 as a token of farewell, and then stride light-heartedly over 
 the ridge. 
 
 He was alone now with his secret and his treasure. The 
 only man in the world who knew of the exact position of 
 his tunnel had gone away forever. It was not likely that 
 this chance companion of a few weeks would ever remember 
 him or the locality again ; he would now leave his treasure 
 alone for even a day perhaps until he had thought out 
 some plan and sought out some friend in whom to confide. 
 His secluded life, the singular habits of concentration which 
 had at last proved so successful, had, at the same time, left 
 him few acquaintances and no associates. And in all his 
 well-laid plans and patiently digested theories for finding 
 the treasure, the means and methods of working it and 
 disposing of it had never entered. 
 
 And now, at the hour when he most needed his faculties, 
 what was the meaning of this strange benumbing of them ! 
 
 Patience ! He only wanted a little rest a little time 
 to recover himself. There was a large boulder under a tree 
 in the highway to the settlement a sheltered spot where 
 he had often waited for the coming of the stagecoach. He 
 would go there, and when he was sufficiently rested and 
 composed he would go on. 
 
 Nevertheless, on his way he diverged and turned into the 
 woods, for no other apparent purpose than to find a hollow 
 tree. " A hollow tree." Yes ! that was what Masters had 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 255 
 
 said ; he remembered it distinctly ; and something was to 
 be done there, but what it was, or why it should be done, 
 he could not tell. However, it was done, and very luckily, 
 for his limbs could scarcely support him further, and reach- 
 ing that boulder he dropped upon it like another stone. 
 
 And now, strange to say, the uneasiness and perplexity 
 which had possessed him ever since he had stood before his 
 revealed wealth dropped from him like a burden laid upon 
 the wayside. A measureless peace stole over him, in which 
 visions of his new-found fortune, no longer a trouble and 
 perplexity, but crowned with happiness and blessing to all 
 around him, assumed proportions far beyond his own weak, 
 selfish plans. In its even-handed benefaction, his wife and 
 children, his friends and relations, even his late poor 
 companion of the hillside, met and moved harmoniously 
 together ; in its far-reaching consequences there was only 
 the influence of good. It was not strange that this poor 
 finite mind should never have conceived the meaning of the 
 wealth extended to him ; or that conceiving it he should 
 faint and falter under the revelation. Enough that for a 
 few minutes he must have tasted a joy of perfect anticipation 
 that years of actual possession might never bring. 
 
 The sun seemed to go down in a rosy dream of his own 
 happiness, as he still sat there. Later, the shadows of the 
 trees thickened and surrounded him, and still later fell the 
 calm of a quiet evening sky with far-spaced passionless 
 stars, that seemed as little troubled by what they looked 
 upon as he was by the stealthy creeping life in the grasses 
 and underbrush at his feet. The dull patter of soft little 
 feet in the soft dust of the road, the gentle gleam of moist 
 and wondering little eyes on the branches and in the mossy 
 edges of the boulder, did not disturb him. He sat pa- 
 tiently through it all, as if he had not yet made up his 
 mind. 
 
 But when the stage came with the flashing sun the next 
 
256 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 morning, and the irresistible clamor of life and action, the 
 driver suddenly laid his four spirited horses on their 
 haunches before the quiet spot. The express messenger 
 clambered down from the box, and approached what 
 seemed to be a heap of cast-off clothes upon the boulder. 
 
 " He don't seem to be drunk," he said, in reply to a 
 querulous interrogation from the passengers. " I can't 
 make him out. His eyes are open, but he cannot speak or 
 move. Take a look at him, Doc." 
 
 A rough, unprofessional-looking man here descended 
 from the inside of the coach, and, carelessly thrusting 
 aside the other curious passengers, suddenly leant over the 
 heap of clothes in a professional attitude. 
 
 " He is dead," said one of the passengers. 
 
 The rough man let the passive head sink softly down 
 again. "No such luck for him," he said curtly, but not 
 unkindly. " It 's a stroke of paralysis and about as big 
 as they make 'em. It 's a toss-up if he ever speaks or 
 moves again as long as he lives." 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 WHEN Alvin Mulrady announced his intention of grow- 
 ing potatoes and garden " truck " on the green slopes of 
 Los Gatos, the mining community of that region, and the 
 adjacent hamlet of Rough-and-Ready, regarded it with 
 the contemptuous indifference usually shown by those ad- 
 venturers towards all bucolic pursuits. There was cer- 
 tainly no active objection to the occupation of two hillsides, 
 which gave so little promise to the prospector for gold that 
 it was currently reported that a single prospector, called 
 " Slinn," had once gone mad or imbecile through repeated 
 failures. The only opposition came, incongruously enough, 
 from the original pastoral owner of the soil, one Don 
 Ramon Alvarado, whose claim for seven leagues of hill 
 and valley, including the now prosperous towns of Rough- 
 and-Ready and Red Dog, was met with simple derision 
 from the squatters and miners. " Looks ez ef we woz 
 goin' to travel three thousand miles to open up his d d 
 old wilderness, and then pay for the increased valoo we 
 give it don't it ? Oh, yes, certainly ! " was their ironical 
 commentary. Mulrady might have been pardoned for 
 adopting this popular opinion ; but by an equally incon- 
 gruous sentiment, peculiar, however, to the man, he called 
 upon Don Ramon, and actually offered to purchase the 
 land, or " go shares " with him in the agricultural profits. 
 It was alleged that the don was so struck with this con- 
 cession tjiat he not only granted the land, but struck up a 
 quaint reserved friendship for the simple-minded agricul- 
 turist and his family. It is scarcely necessary to add that 
 
258 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 this intimacy was viewed by the miners with the contempt 
 that it deserved. They would have been more contemp- 
 tuous, however, had they known the opinion that Don 
 Ramon entertained of their particular vocation, and which 
 he early confided to Mulrady. 
 
 " They are savages, who expect to reap where they have 
 not sown ; to take out of the earth without returning 
 anything to it but their precious carcasses ; heathens, who 
 worship the mere stones they dig up." " And was there 
 no Spaniard who ever dug gold ? " asked Mulrady simply. 
 "Ah, there are Spaniards and Moors," responded Don 
 Eamon sententiously. " Gold has been dug, and by cabal- 
 leros ; but no good ever came of it. There were Alvara- 
 dos in Sonora, look you, who had mines of silver, and 
 worked them with peons and mules, and lost their money 
 a gold mine to work a silver one like gentlemen! 
 But this grubbing in the dirt with one's fingers, that a 
 little gold may stick to them, is not for caballeros. And 
 then, one says nothing of the curse." 
 
 " The curse ! " echoed Mary Mulrady, with youthful 
 feminine superstition. " What is that ? " 
 
 " You knew not, friend Mulrady, that when these lands 
 were given to my ancestors by Charles V., the Bishop of 
 Monterey laid a curse upon any who should desecrate them. 
 Good ! Let us see ! Of the three Americanos who founded 
 yonder town, one was shot, another died of a fever, 
 poisoned, you understand, by the soil, and the last got 
 himself crazy of aguardiente. Even the scientifico, 1 who 
 came here years ago and spied into the trees and the herbs 
 he was afterwards punished for his profanation, and died of 
 an accident in other lands. But," added Don Ramon, with 
 grave courtesy, " this touches not yourself. Through me, 
 you are of the soil." 
 
 1 Don Ramon probably alluded to the eminent naturalist Douglas, who 
 visited California before the gold excitement, and died of an accident in 
 the Sandwich Islands. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 259 
 
 Indeed, it would seem as if a secure if not a rapid pros- 
 perity was the result of Don Ramon's manorial patronage. 
 The potato patch and market garden flourished exceedingly ; 
 the rich soil responded with magnificent vagaries of growth ; 
 the even sunshine set the seasons at defiance with extraor- 
 dinary and premature crops. The salt pork and biscuit 
 consuming settlers did not allow their contempt of Mul- 
 rady's occupation to prevent their profiting by this opportu- 
 nity for changing their diet. The gold they had taken from 
 the soil presently began to flow into his pockets in exchange 
 for his more modest treasures. The little cabin, which 
 barely sheltered his family, a wife, son, and daughter, 
 was enlarged, extended, and refitted, but in turn abandoned 
 for a more pretentious house on the opposite hill. A white- 
 washed fence replaced the rudely split rails, which had kept 
 out the wilderness. By degrees, the first evidences of cul- 
 tivation the gashes of red soil, the piles of brush and 
 undergrowth, the bared boulders, and heaps of stone 
 melted away, and were lost under a carpet of lighter green, 
 which made an oasis in the tawny desert of wild oats on the 
 hillside. Water was the only free boon denied this Garden 
 of Eden; what was necessary for irrigation had to be 
 brought from a mining ditch at great expense, and was of 
 insufficient quantity. In this emergency Mulrady thought 
 of sinking an artesian well on the sunny slope beside his 
 house ; not, however, without serious consultation and much 
 objection from his Spanish patron. With great austerity 
 Don Ramon pointed out that trifling with the entrails of 
 the earth was not only an indignity to Nature almost equal 
 to shaft-sinking and tunneling, but was a disturbance of 
 vested interests. " I and my fathers San Diego rest 
 them ! " said Don Ramon, crossing himself " were con- 
 tent with wells and cisterns, filled by Heaven at its appointed 
 seasons ; the cattle, dumb brutes though they were, knew 
 where to find water when they wanted it. But thou sayest 
 
260 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 truly/' he added with a sigh, " that was before streams and 
 rain were choked with hellish engines, and poisoned with 
 their spume. Go on, friend Mulrady, dig and bore if thou 
 wilt, but in a seemly fashion, and not with impious earth- 
 quakes of devilish gunpowder." 
 
 With this concession Alvin Mulrady began to sink his 
 first artesian shaft. Being debarred the auxiliaries of steam 
 and gunpowder, the work went on slowly. The market 
 garden did not suffer meantime, as Mulrady had employed 
 two Chinamen to take charge of the ruder tillage, while 
 he superintended the engineering work of the well. This 
 trifling incident marked an epoch in the social condition -of 
 the family. Mrs. Mulrady at once assumed a conscious 
 importance among her neighbors. She spoke of her hus- 
 band's " men ; " she alluded to the well as " the works ; " 
 she checked the easy frontier familiarity of her customers 
 with pretty Mary Mulrady, her seventeen-year-old daughter. 
 Simple Alvin Mulrady looked with astonishment at this 
 sudden development of the germ planted in all feminine 
 nature to expand in the slightest sunshine of prosperity. 
 " Look yer, Malviny ; ain't ye rather puttin' on airs with 
 the boys that want to be civil to Mamie ? Like as not one 
 of 'em may be makin' up to her already." " You don't 
 mean to say, Alvin Mulrady," responded Mrs. Mulrady, with 
 sudden severity, " that you ever thought of givin' your 
 daughter to a common miner, or that I 'm goin' to allow 
 her to marry out of our own set ? " " Our own set ! " 
 echoed Mulrady feebly, blinking at her in astonishment, 
 and then glancing hurriedly across at his freckle-faced son 
 and the two Chinamen at work in the cabbages. u Oh, you 
 know what I mean," said Mrs. Mulrady sharply ; " the set 
 that we move in. The Alvarados and their friends ! 
 Does n't the old don come here every day, and ain't his son 
 the right age for Mamie ? And ain't they the real first 
 families here all the same as if they were noblemen ? 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 261 
 
 No, leave Mamie to me, and keep to your shaft ; there 
 never was a man yet had the least sabe about these things, 
 or knew what was due to his family." Like most of his 
 larger-minded, but feebler-equipped sex, Mulrady was too 
 glad to accept the truth of the latter proposition, which 
 left the meannesses of life to feminine manipulation, and 
 went off to his shaft on the hillside. But during that after- 
 noon he was perplexed and troubled. He was too loyal a 
 husband not to be pleased with this proof of an unexpected 
 and superior foresight in his wife, although he was, like all 
 husbands, a little startled by it. He tried to dismiss it 
 from his mind. But looking down from the hillside upon 
 his little venture, where gradual increase and prosperity 
 had not been beyond his faculties to control and understand, 
 he found himself haunted by the more ambitious projects 
 of his helpmate. From his own knowledge of men. he 
 doubted if Don Ramon, any more than himself, had ever 
 thought of the possibility of a matrimonial connection 
 between the families. He doubted if he would consent to 
 it. And unfortunately it was this very doubt that, touch- 
 ing his own pride as a self-made man, made him first seri- 
 ously consider his wife's proposition. He was as good as 
 Don Ramon, any day ! With this subtle feminine poison 
 instilled in his veins, carried completely away by the logic 
 of his wife's illogical premises, he almost hated his old 
 benefactor. He looked down upon the little Garden of 
 Eden, where his Eve had just tempted him with the fatal 
 fruit, and felt a curious consciousness that he was losing its 
 simple and innocent enjoyment forever. 
 
 Happily, about this time Don Ramon died. It is not 
 probable that he ever knew the amiable intentions of Mrs. 
 Mulrady in regard to his son, who now succeeded to the 
 paternal estate, sadly partitioned by relatives and lawsuits. 
 The feminine Mulradys attended the funeral, in expensive 
 mourning from Sacramento ; even the gentle Alvin was 
 
262 -A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 forced into ready-made broadcloth, which accented his good- 
 natured but unmistakably common presence. Mrs. Mul- 
 rady spoke openly of her " loss ; " declared that the old 
 families were dying out ; and impressed the wives of a few 
 new arrivals at Ked Dog with the belief that her own 
 family was contemporary with the Alvarados, and that her 
 husband's health was far from perfect. She extended a 
 motherly sympathy to the orphaned Don Caesar. Reserved, 
 like his father, in natural disposition, he was still more 
 gravely ceremonious from his loss ; and, perhaps from the 
 shyness of an evident partiality for Mamie Mulrady, he 
 rarely availed himself of her mother's sympathizing hospi- 
 tality. But he carried out the intentions of his father by 
 consenting to sell to Mulrady, for a small sum, the property 
 he had leased. The idea of purchasing had originated with 
 Mrs. Mulrady. 
 
 " It '11 be all in the family," had observed that astute 
 lady, " and it 's better for the looks of the things that we 
 should n't be his tenants." 
 
 It was only a few weeks later that she was startled by 
 hearing her husband's voice calling her from the hillside as 
 he rapidly approached the house. Mamie was in her room 
 putting on a new pink cotton gown, in honor of an expected 
 visit from young Don Caesar, and Mrs. Mulrady was tidy- 
 ing the house in view of the same event. Something in 
 the tone of her good man's voice, and the unusual circum- 
 stance of his return to the house before work was done, 
 caused her, however, to drop her dusting cloth, and run to 
 the kitchen door to meet him. She saw him running through 
 the rows of cabbages, his face shining with perspiration and 
 excitement, a light in his eyes which she had not seen for 
 years. She recalled, without sentiment, that he looked 
 like that when she had called him a poor farm hand of 
 her father's out of the brush heap at the back of their 
 former home, in Illinois, to learn the consent of her par- 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 263 
 
 ents. The recollection was the more embarrassing as he 
 threw his arms around her, and pressed a resounding kiss 
 upon her sallow cheek. 
 
 " Sakes alive, Mulrady ! " she said, exorcising the ghost 
 of a blush that had also been recalled from the past with 
 her housewife's apron, " what are you doin', and company 
 expected every minit ? " 
 
 " Malviny, 1 've struck it ; and struck it rich ! " 
 
 She disengaged herself from his arms, without excite- 
 ment, and looked at him with bright but shrewdly obser- 
 vant eyes. 
 
 " I 've struck it in the well the regular vein that the 
 boys have been looking fer. There 's a fortin' fer you and 
 Mamie thousands and tens of thousands ! " 
 
 " Wait a minit." 
 
 She left him quickly, and went to the foot of the stairs. 
 He could hear her wonderingly and distinctly. " Ye can 
 take off that new frock, Mamie," she called out. 
 
 There was a sound of undisguised expostulation from 
 Mamie. 
 
 " I 'm speaking," said Mrs. Mulrady emphatically. 
 
 The murmuring ceased. Mrs. Mulrady returned to her 
 husband. The interruption seemed to have taken off the 
 keen edge of his enjoyment. He at once abdicated his 
 momentary elevation as a discoverer, and waited for her to 
 speak. 
 
 " Ye have n't told any one yet ? " she asked. 
 
 " No. I was alone, down in the shaft. Ye see, Mal- 
 viny, I was n't expectin' of anything." He began, with an 
 attempt at fresh enjoyment, "I was just clearin' out, and 
 had n't reckoned on any thin'." 
 
 " You see, I was right when I advised your taking the 
 land," she said, without heeding him. 
 
 Mulrady's face fell. " I hope Don Caesar won't think " 
 he began hesitatingly. " I reckon, perhaps, I oughter 
 make some sorter compensation you know." 
 
264 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-EEADY 
 
 Stuff ! " said Mrs Mulrady decidedly. " Don't be a 
 fool. Any gold discovery, anyhow, would have heen yours 
 that 's the law. And you bought the land without any 
 restrictions. Besides, you never had any idea of this ! " 
 she stopped, and looked him suddenly in the face, " had 
 you ? " 
 
 Mulrady opened his honest, pale gray eyes widely. 
 
 " Why, Malviny ! You know I had n't. I could 
 swear ! " 
 
 " Don't swear, and don't let on to anybody but what you 
 did know it was there. Now, Alvin Mulrady, listen to 
 me." Her voice here took the strident form of action. 
 " Knock off work at the shaft, and send your man away at 
 once. Put on your things, catch the next stage to Sacra- 
 mento at four o'clock, and take Mamie with you." 
 
 " Mamie ! " echoed Mulrady feebly. 
 
 " You want to see Lawyer Cole and my brother Jim at 
 once," she went on, without heeding him, " and Mamie 
 wants change and some proper clothes. Leave the rest 
 to me and Abner. I '11 break it to Mamie, and get her 
 ready." 
 
 Mulrady passed his hands through his tangled hair, wet 
 with perspiration. He was proud of his wife's energy and 
 action ; he did not dream of opposing her, but somehow he 
 was disappointed. The charming glamour and joy of his 
 discovery had vanished before he could fairly dazzle her 
 with it ; or, rather, she was not dazzled with it at all. 
 It had become like business, and the expression " breaking 
 it " to Mamie jarred upon him. He would have preferred 
 to tell her himself ; to watch the color come into her deli- 
 cate oval face, to have seen her soft eyes light with an 
 innocent joy he had not seen in his wife's ; and he felt a 
 sinking conviction that his wife was the last one to awaken 
 it. 
 
 " You ain't got any time to lose," she said impatiently, 
 as he hesitated. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE 6F ROUGH-AND-READY 265 
 
 Perhaps it was her impatience that struck harshly upon 
 him ; perhaps, if she had not accepted her good fortune so 
 confidently, he would not have spoken what was in his mind 
 at the time ; but he said gravely, " Wait a minit, Malviny ; 
 I 've suthin' to tell you 'bout this find of mine that 's sin- 
 g'lar." 
 
 u Go on," she said quickly. 
 
 " Lyin' among the rotten quartz of the vein was a pick," 
 lie said constrainedly ; " and the face of the vein sorter 
 looked ez if it had been worked at. Follering the line out- 
 side to the base of the hill there was .signs of there having 
 been an old tunnel ; but it had fallen in, and was blocked 
 up." 
 
 " Well ? " said Mrs. Mulrady contemptuously. 
 
 " Well," returned her husband somewhat disconnectedly, 
 " it kinder looked as if some feller might have discovered 
 it before." 
 
 " And went away, and left it for others ! That 's likely, 
 ain't it ? " interrupted his wife, with ill-disguised intoler- 
 ance. " Everybody knows the hill was n't worth that for 
 piospectin' ; and it was abandoned when we came here. 
 It 's your property and you 've paid for it. Are you goin' 
 to wait to advertise for the owner, Alvin Mulrady, or are 
 you going to Sacramento at four o'clock to-day ? " 
 
 Mulrady started. He had never seriously believed in 
 the possibility of a previous discovery ; but his conscientious 
 nature had prompted him to give it a fair consideration. 
 She was probably right. What he might have thought had 
 she treated it with equal conscientiousness he did not con- 
 sider. " All right," he said simply. "I reckon we '11 go 
 at once." 
 
 "And when you talk to Lawyer Cole and Jim, keep 
 that silly stuff about the pick to yourself. There 's no use 
 of putting queer ideas into other people's heads because 
 you happen to have 'em yourself." 
 
266 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 When the hurried arrangements were at last completed, 
 and Mr. Mulrady and Mamie, accompanied by a taciturn 
 and discreet Chinaman, carrying their scant luggage, were on 
 their way to the highroad to meet the up stage, the father 
 gazed somewhat anxiously and wistfully into his daughter's 
 face. He had looked forward to those few moments to en- 
 joy the freshness and naivete of Mamie's youthful delight 
 and enthusiasm as a relief to his wife's practical, far-sighted 
 realism. There was a pretty pink suffusion in her delicate 
 cheek, the breathless happiness of a child in her half-opened 
 little mouth, and a beautiful absorption in her large gray 
 eyes that augured well for him. 
 
 " Well, Mamie, how do we like bein' an heiress ? How 
 do we like layin' over all the gals between this and 
 'Frisco ? " 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 She had not heard him. The tender beautiful eyes were 
 engaged in an anticipatory examination of the remembered 
 shelves in the Fancy Emporium at Sacramento ; in read- 
 ing the admiration of the clerks ; in glancing down a little 
 criticisingly at the broad cowhide brogues that strode at her 
 side ; in looking up the road for the stagecoach ; in regard- 
 ing the fit of her new gloves everywhere but in the loving 
 eyes of the man beside her. 
 
 He, however, repeated the question, touched with her 
 charming preoccupation, and passing his arm around her 
 little waist. 
 
 " I like it well enough, pa, you know," she said, slightly 
 disengaging his arm, but adding a perfunctory little squeeze 
 to his elbow to soften the separation. " I always had an 
 idea something would happen. I suppose I 'm looking 
 like a fright," she added ; " but ma made me hurry to get 
 away before Don Caesar came." 
 
 " And you did n't want to go without seeing him ? " he 
 added archly. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 267 
 
 " I did n't want him to see me in this frock," said 
 Mamie simply. " I reckon that 's why ma made me 
 change," she added, with a slight laugh. 
 
 " Well, I reckon you 're allus good enough for him in 
 any dress," said Mulrady, watching her attentively; "and 
 more than a match for him now" he added triumphantly. 
 
 " I don't know about that/' said Mamie. " He ? s heen 
 rich all the time, and his father and grandfather before him ; 
 while we've been poor and his tenants." 
 
 His face changed ; the look of bewilderment, with which 
 he had followed her words, gave way to one of pain, and 
 then of anger. " Did he get off such stuff as that ? " he 
 asked quickly. 
 
 " No. I 'd like to catch him at it," responded Mamie 
 promptly. " There 's better nor him to be had for the ask- 
 ing now." 
 
 They had walked on a few moments in aggrieved silence, 
 and the Chinaman might have imagined some misfortune 
 had just befallen them. But Mamie's teeth shone again 
 between her parted lips. " La, pa ! it ain't that ! He 
 cares everything for me, and I do for him ; and if ma had n't 
 got new ideas " She stopped suddenly. 
 
 " What new ideas ? " queried her father anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, nothing ! I wish, pa, you 'd put on your other 
 boots ! Everybody can see these are made for the farrows. 
 And you ain't a market gardener any more." 
 
 " What am I, then ? " asked Mulrady, with a half- 
 pleased, half-uneasy laugh. 
 
 " You 're a capitalist, I say ; but ma says a landed pro- 
 prietor." Nevertheless, the landed proprietor, when he 
 reached the boulder on the Ked Dog highway, sat down in 
 somewhat moody contemplation, with his head bowed over 
 the broad cowhide brogues, that seemed to have already 
 gathered enough of the soil to indicate his right to that 
 title. Mamie, who had recovered her spirits, but had not 
 
268 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 lost her preoccupation, wandered off by herself in the 
 meadow, or ascended the hillside, as her occasional impa- 
 tience at the delay of the coach, or the following of some 
 ambitious fancy, alternately prompted her. She was so 
 far away at one time that the stagecoach, which finally 
 drew up before Mulrady, was obliged to wait for her. 
 
 When she was deposited safely inside, and Mulrady had 
 climbed to the box beside the driver, the latter remarked 
 curtly : 
 
 " Ye gave me a right smart skeer, a minit ago, stranger." 
 
 "Ezhow?" 
 
 " Well, about three years ago, I was comin' down this 
 yer grade, at just this time, and sittin' right on that stone, 
 in just your attitude, was a man about your build and 
 years. I pulled up to let him in, when, darn my skin ! if 
 he ever moved, but sorter looked at me without speakin'. 
 I called to him, and he never answered, 'cept with that 
 idiotic stare. I then let him have my opinion of him, in 
 mighty strong English, and drove off, leavin' him there. 
 The next morning, when I came by on the up trip, darn 
 my skin ! if he was n't thar, but lyin' all of a heap on 
 the boulder. Jim drops down and picks him up. Dr. 
 Duchesne, ez was along, allowst it was a played-out pro- 
 spector, with a big case of paralysis, and we expressed him 
 through to the County Hospital, like so much dead freight. 
 I 've allus been kinder superstitious about passin' that rock, 
 and when I saw you jist now, sittin' thar, dazed like, with 
 your head down like the other chap, it rather threw me off 
 my centre." 
 
 In the inexplicable and half-superstitious uneasiness that 
 this coincidence awakened in Mulrady's unimaginative mind, 
 he was almost on the point of disclosing his good fortune 
 to the driver, in order to prove how preposterous was the 
 parallel, but checked himself in time. 
 
 " Did you find out who he was ? " broke in a rash pas- 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 269 
 
 senger. " Did you ever get over it ? " added another un- 
 fortunate. 
 
 With a pause of insulting scorn at the interruption, the 
 driver resumed, pointedly, to Mulrady : " The pint of the 
 whole thing was my cussin' a helpless man, ez could neither 
 cuss back nor shoot ; and then afterwards takin' you for his 
 ghost layin' for me to get even." He paused again, and 
 then added carelessly, " They say he never kein to enuff to 
 let on who he was or whar he kem from ; and he was 
 eventooally taken to a 'Sylum for Doddering Idjits and 
 Gin'ral and Permiskus Imbeciles at Sacramento. I 've 
 heerd it 's considered a first-class institooshun, not only for 
 them ez is paralyzed and can't talk, as for them ez is the 
 reverse and is too chipper. Now," he added, languidly 
 turning for the first time to his miserable questioners, " how 
 
CHAPTER H 
 
 WHEN the news of the discovery of gold in Mulrady's 
 shaft was finally made public, it created an excitement 
 hitherto unknown in the history of the country. Half of 
 Ked Dog and all Rough-and-Ready were emptied upon the 
 yellow hills surrounding Mulrady's, until their circling camp- 
 fires looked like a besieging army that had invested his 
 peaceful pastoral home, preparatory to carrying it by assault. 
 Unfortunately for them, they found the various points of 
 vantage already garrisoned with notices of " preemption " 
 for mining purposes in the name of the various members of 
 the Alvarado family. This stroke of business was due to 
 Mrs. Mulrady, as a means of mollifying the conscientious 
 scruples of her husband and of her placating the Alvarados, 
 in view of some remote contingency. It is but fair to say 
 that this degradation of his father's Castilian principles was 
 opposed by Don Caesar. " You need n't work them your- 
 self, but sell out to them that will ; it 's the only way to 
 keep the prospectors from taking it without paying for it at 
 all," argued Mrs. Mulrady. Don Caesar finally assented ; 
 perhaps less to the business arguments of Mulrady's wife 
 than to the simple suggestion of Mamie's mother. Enough 
 that he realized a sum in money for a few acres that ex- 
 ceeded the last ten years' income of Don E-amon's seven 
 
 Equally unprecedented and extravagant was the realiza- 
 tion of the discovery in Mulrady's shaft. It was alleged 
 that a company hastily formed in Sacramento paid him a 
 million of dollars down, leaving him still a controlling two- 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 271 
 
 thirds interest in the mine. With an obstinacy, however, 
 that amounted almost to a moral conviction, he refused to 
 include the house and potato-patch in the property. When 
 the company had yielded the point, he declined, with equal 
 tenacity, to part with it to outside speculators on even the 
 most extravagant offers. In vain Mrs. Mulrady protested ; 
 in vain she pointed out to him that the retention of the 
 evidence of his former humble occupation was a green blot 
 upon their social escutcheon. 
 
 " If you will keep the land, build on it, and root up the 
 garden." But Mulrady was adamant. 
 
 " It 's the only thing I ever made myself, and got out of 
 the soil with my own hands ; it 's the beginning of my for- 
 tune, and it may be the end of it. Mebbe I '11 be glad 
 enough to have it to come back to some day, and be thank- 
 ful for the square meal I can dig out of it." 
 
 By repeated pressure, however, Mulrady yielded the com- 
 promise that a portion of it should be made into a vineyard 
 and flower garden, and by a suitable coloring of ornament 
 and luxury obliterate its vulgar part. Less successful, 
 however, was that energetic woman in another effort to 
 mitigate the austerities of their earlier state. It occurred 
 to her to utilize the softer accents of Don Caesar in the 
 pronunciation of their family name, and privately had 
 " Mulrade " take the place of Mulrady on her visiting-card. 
 "It might be Spanish," she argued with her husband. 
 " Lawyer Cole says most American names are corrupted, and 
 how do you know that yours ain't ? " Mulrady, who would 
 not swear that his ancestors came from Ireland to the Caro- 
 linas in '98, was helpless to refute the assertion. But the 
 terrible* Nemesis of an un-Spanish, American provincial 
 speech avenged the orthographical outrage at once. When 
 Mrs. Mulrady began to be addressed orally, as well as by 
 letter, as " Mrs. Mulraid," and when simple amatory effusions 
 to her daughter rhymed with " lovely maid," she promptly 
 
272 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 restored the original vowel. But she fondly clung to the 
 Spanish courtesy which transformed her husband's baptismal 
 name, and usually spoke of him in his absence as " Don 
 Alvino." But in the presence of his short, square figure, 
 his orange tawny hair, his twinkling gray eyes, and 
 retrousse nose, even that dominant woman withheld his 
 title. It was currently reported at Bed Dog that a dis- 
 tinguished foreigner had one day approached Mulrady with 
 the formula, " I believe I have the honor of addressing Don 
 Alvino Mulrady ? " " You kin bet your boots, stranger, 
 that 's me," had returned that simple hidalgo. 
 
 Although Mrs. Mulrady would have preferred that 
 Mamie should remain at Sacramento until she should join 
 her, preparatory to a trip to " the States " and Europe, she 
 yielded to her daughter's desire to astonish Rough -and- 
 Ready, before she left, with her new wardrobe, and unfold 
 in the parent nest the delicate and painted wings with 
 which she was to fly from them forever. "I don't want 
 them to remember me afterwards in those spotted prints, 
 ma, and like as not say I never had a decent frock until I 
 went away." There was something so like the daughter of 
 her mother in this delicate foresight that the touched and 
 gratified parent kissed her, and assented. The result was 
 gratifying beyond her expectation. In that few weeks' 
 sojourn at Sacramento, the young girl seemed to have 
 adapted and assimilated herself to the latest modes of 
 fashion with even more than the usual American girl's 
 pliancy and taste. Equal to all emergencies of style and 
 material, she seemed to supply, from some hitherto un- 
 known quality she possessed, the grace and manner peculiar 
 to each. Untrammeled by tradition, education, or prece- 
 dent, she had the Western girl's confidence in all things 
 being possible, which made them so often probable. Mr. 
 Mulrady looked at his daughter with mingled sentiments 
 of pride and awe. Was it possible that this delicate crea- 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 273 
 
 ture, so superior to him that he seemed like a degenerate 
 scion of her remoter race, was his own flesh and blood ? 
 Was she the daughter of her mother, who even in her re- 
 membered youth was never equipped like this ? If the 
 thought brought no pleasure to his simple, loving nature, it 
 at least spared him the pain of what might have seemed 
 ingratitude in one more akin to himself. " The fact is, we 
 ain't quite up to her style," was his explanation and 
 apology. A vague belief that in another and a better 
 world than this he might approximate and understand this 
 perfection somewhat soothed and sustained him. 
 
 It was quite consistent, therefore, that the embroidered 
 cambric dress which Mamie Mulrady wore one summer 
 afternoon on the hillside at Los Gatos, while to the critical 
 feminine eye at once artistic and expensive, should not 
 seem incongruous to her surroundings or to herself in the 
 eyes of a general audience. It certainly did not seem so to 
 one pair of frank, humorous ones that glanced at her from 
 time to time, as their owner, a young fellow of five-and- 
 twenty, walked at her side. He was the new editor of the 
 " Rough-and-Ready Record," and, having been her fellow 
 passenger from Sacramento, had already once or twice 
 availed himself of her father's invitation to call upon them. 
 Mrs. Mulrady had not discouraged this mild flirtation. 
 Whether she wished to disconcert Don Caesar for some 
 occult purpose, or whether, like the rest of her sex, she had 
 an overweening confidence in the unheroic, unseductive, 
 and purely platonic character of masculine humor, did not 
 appear. 
 
 " When I say I 'm sorry you are going to leave us, Miss 
 Mulrady," said the young fellow lightly, " you will com- 
 prehend my unselfishness, since I frankly admit your depar- 
 ture would be a positive relief to me as an editor and a 
 man. The pressure in the Poet's Corner of the 'Record,' 
 since it was unmistakingly discovered that a person of your 
 
274 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 name might be induced to seek the ' glade ' and ' shade ' 
 without being ' afraid/ ' dismayed,' or ' betrayed/ has been 
 something enormous, and, unfortunately, I am debarred 
 from rejecting anything, on the just ground that I am my- 
 self an interested admirer." 
 
 " It is dreadful to be placarded around the country by 
 one's own full name, is n't it ? " said Mamie, without, how- 
 ever, expressing much horror in her face. 
 
 " They think it much more respectful than to call you 
 ' Mamie/ " he responded lightly ; " and many of your 
 admirers are middle-aged men, with a mediaeval style of 
 compliment. I've discovered that amatory versifying 
 was n't entirely a youthful passion. Colonel Cash is about 
 as fatal with a couplet as with a double-barreled gun, and 
 scatters as terribly. Judge Butts and Dr. Wilson have 
 both discerned the resemblance of your gifts to those of 
 Venus, and their own to Apollo. But don't undervalue 
 those tributes, Miss Mulrady," he added more seriously. 
 "You '11 have thousands of admirers where you are going ; 
 but you '11 be willing to admit in the end, I think, that 
 none were more honest and respectful than your subjects at 
 Eough-and-Keady and Eed Dog." He stopped, and added 
 in a graver tone, " Does Don Ca3sar write poetry ? " 
 
 " He has something better to do," said the young lady 
 pertly. 
 
 " I can easily imagine that," he returned mischievously ; 
 "it must be a pallid substitute for other opportunities." 
 
 " What did you come here for ? " she asked suddenly. 
 
 " To see you." 
 
 " Nonsense ! You know what I mean. Why did you 
 ever leave Sacramento to come here ? I should think it 
 would suit you so much better than this place." 
 
 " I suppose I was fired by your father's example, and 
 wished to find a gold mine." 
 
 " Men like you never do," she said simply. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 275 
 
 " Is that a compliment, Miss Mulrady ? " 
 
 " I don't know. But I think that you think that it is." 
 
 He gave her the pleased look of one who had unexpect- 
 edly found a sympathetic intelligence. "Do I ? This is 
 interesting. Let 7 s sit down." In their desultory ram- 
 bling they had reached, quite unconsciously, the large boul- 
 der at the roadside. Mamie hesitated a moment, looked up 
 and down the road, and then, with an already opulent in- 
 difference to the damaging of her spotless skirt, sat herself 
 upon it, with her furled parasol held by her two little 
 hands thrown over her half-drawn-up knee. The young 
 editor, half sitting, half leaning, against the stone, began to 
 draw figures in the sand with his cane. 
 
 " On the contrary, Miss Mulrady, I hope to make some 
 money here. You are leaving Rough-and-Ready because 
 you are rich. We are coming to it because we are poor." 
 
 " We ? " echoed Mamie lazily, looking up the road. 
 
 " Yes. My father and two sisters." 
 
 " I am sorry. I might have known them if I had n't 
 been going away." At the same moment, it flashed across 
 her mind that, if they were like the man before her, they 
 might prove disagreeably independent and critical. " Is 
 your father in business ? " she asked. 
 
 He shook his head. After a pause, he said, punctuating 
 his sentences with the point of his stick in the soft dust, 
 " He is paralyzed, and out of his mind, Miss Mulrady. I 
 came to California to seek him, as all news of him ceased 
 three years since ; and I found him only two weeks ago, 
 alone, friendless an unrecognized pauper in the county 
 hospital." 
 
 " Two weeks ago ? That was when I went to Sacra- 
 mento." 
 
 "Very probably." 
 
 " It must have been very shocking to you ? " 
 
 It was." 
 
276 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND READY 
 
 " I should think you 'd feel real bad ? " 
 
 " I do, at times." He smiled, and laid his stick on the 
 stone. " You now see, Miss Mulrady, how necessary to 
 me is this good fortune that you don't think me worthy of. 
 Meantime I must try to make a home for them at Rough- 
 and-Ready." 
 
 Miss Mulrady put down her knee and her parasol. " We 
 must n't stay here much longer, you know." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Wh}?-, the stagecoach comes by at about this time." 
 
 " And you think the passengers will observe us sitting 
 here?" 
 
 " Of course they will." 
 
 " Miss Mulrady, I implore you to stay." 
 
 He was leaning over her with such apparent earnestness 
 of voice and gesture that the color came into her cheek. 
 For a moment she scarcely dared to lift her conscious eyes 
 to his. When she did so, she suddenly glanced her own 
 aside with a flash of anger. He was laughing. 
 
 " If you have any pity for me, do not leave me now," he 
 repeated. " Stay a moment longer, and my fortune is 
 made. The passengers will report us all over Bed Dog as 
 engaged. I shall be supposed to be in your father's 
 secrets, and shall be sought after as a director of all the 
 new companies. The ' Record ' will double its circula- 
 tion ; poetry will drop out of its columns, advertising rush 
 to fill its place, and I shall receive five dollars a week 
 more salary, if not seven and a half. Never mind the con- 
 sequences to yourself at such a moment. I assure you there 
 will be none. You can deny it the next day J will 
 deny it nay, more, the ' Record ' itself will deny it in an 
 extra edition of one thousand copies, at ten cents each. 
 Linger a moment longer, Miss Mulrady. Fly, oh, fly not 
 yet. They 're coming hark ! ho ! By Jove, it 's only Don 
 Caesar J " 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 277 
 
 It was, indeed, only the young scion of the house of 
 Alvarado, blue-eyed, sallow-skinned, and high-shouldered, 
 coming towards them on a fiery, half-broken mustang, 
 whose very spontaneous lawlessness seemed to accentuate 
 and bring out the grave and decorous ease of his rider. 
 Even in his burlesque preoccupation the editor of the 
 " Record " did not withhold his admiration of this perfect 
 horsemanship. Mamie, who, in her wounded amour propre, 
 would like to have made much of it to annoy her companion, 
 was thus estopped any ostentatious compliment. 
 
 Don Csesar lifted his hat with sweet seriousness to the 
 lady, with grave courtesy to the gentleman. While the 
 lower half of this Centaur was apparently quivering with 
 fury, and stamping the ground in his evident desire to 
 charge upon the pair, the upper half, with natural dignity, 
 looked from the one to the other, as if to leave the privi- 
 lege of an explanation with them. But Mamie was too 
 wise, and her companion too indifferent, to offer one. A 
 slight shade passed over Don Caesar's face. To complicate 
 the situation at that moment, the expected stagecoach 
 came rattling by. With quick feminine intuition, Mamie 
 caught in the faces of the driver and the expressman, and 
 reflected in the mischievous eyes of her companion, a pecu- 
 liar interpretation of their meeting, that was not removed 
 by the whispered assurance of the editor that the passen- 
 gers were anxiously looking back " to see the shooting." 
 
 The young Spaniard, equally oblivious of humor or curi- 
 osity, remained impassive. 
 
 " You know Mr. Slinn, of the l Record/ " said Mamie, 
 " don't you ? " 
 
 Don Caesar had never before met the Senor Esslinn. 
 He was under the impression that it was a Senor Robinson 
 that was of the " Record." 
 
 "Oh I he was shot," said Slinn. "I'm taking his 
 place." 
 
278 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 " Bueno ! To be shot too ? I trust not." 
 
 Slinn looked quickly and sharply into Don Caesar's 
 grave face. He seemed to be incapable of any double 
 meaning. However, as he had no serious reason for awak- 
 ening Don Caesar's jealousy, and very little desire to be- 
 come an embarrassing third in this conversation, and possi- 
 bly a burden to the young lady, he proceeded to take his 
 leave of her. 
 
 From a sudden feminine revulsion of sympathy, or from 
 some unintelligible instinct of diplomacy, Mamie said, as 
 she extended her hand, " I hope you '11 find a home for 
 your family near here. Mamma wants pa to let our old 
 house. Perhaps it might suit you, if not too far from 
 your work. You might speak to ma about it." 
 
 " Thank you ; I will," responded the young man, press- 
 ing her hand with unaffected cordiality. 
 
 Don Caesar watched him until he had disappeared behind 
 the wayside buckeyes. 
 
 " He is a man of family this one your country- 
 man ? " 
 
 It seemed strange to her to have a mere acquaintance 
 spoken of as "her countryman" not the first time nor 
 the last time in her career. As there appeared no trace or 
 sign of jealousy in her questioner's manner, she answered 
 briefly but vaguely. 
 
 " Yes ; it 's a shocking story. His father disappeared 
 some years ago, and he has just found him a helpless 
 paralytic in the Sacramento Hospital. He '11 have to 
 support him and they're very poor." 
 
 " So, then, they are not independent of each other al- 
 ways these fathers and children of Americans ! " 
 
 " No," said Mamie shortly. Without knowing why, 
 she felt inclined to resent Don Caesar's manner. His seri- 
 ous gravity - gentle and high-bred as it was, undoubtedly 
 was somewhat trying to her at times, and seemed even 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 279 
 
 more so after Slinn's irreverent humor. She picked up her 
 parasol a little impatiently, as if to go. 
 
 But Don Caesar had already dismounted, and tied his 
 horse to a tree with a strong lariat that hung at his saddle- 
 bow. 
 
 11 Let us walk through the woods towards your home. 
 I can return alone for the horse when you shall dismiss 
 me." 
 
 They turned in among the pines that, overcrowding the 
 hollow, crept partly up the side of the hill of Mulrady's 
 shaft. A disused trail, almost hidden by the waxen-hued 
 yerba buena, led from the highway, and finally lost itself in 
 the undergrowth. It was a lovers' walk ; they were lovers, 
 evidently, and yet the man was too self-poised in his grav- 
 ity, the young woman too conscious and critical, to suggest 
 an absorbing or oblivious passion. 
 
 " I should not have made myself so obtrusive to-day be- 
 fore your friend," said Don Caesar, with proud humility, 
 " but I could not understand from your mother whether 
 you were alone or whether my company was desirable. It 
 is of this I have now to speak, Mamie. Lately your 
 mother has seemed strange to me ; avoiding any reference 
 to our affection ; treating it lightly, and even as to-day, I 
 fancy, putting obstacles in the way of our meeting alone. 
 She was disappointed at your return from Sacramento, where, 
 I have been told, she intended you to remain until you left 
 the country ; and since your return I have seen you but 
 twice. I may be wrong. Perhaps I do not comprehend 
 the American mother ; I have who knows ? perhaps 
 offended in some point of etiquette, omitted some ceremony 
 that was her due. But when you told me, Mamie, that 
 it was not necessary to speak to her first, that it was not 
 the American fashion " 
 
 Mamie started, and blushed slightly. 
 
 " Yes/' she said hurriedly, " certainly ; but ma has been 
 
280 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 quite queer of late, and she may think you know that 
 since since there has been so much property to dispose 
 of, she ought to have been consulted. " 
 
 " Then let us consult her at once, dear child ! And as 
 to the property, in Heaven's name, let her dispose of it as 
 she will. Saints forbid that an Alvarado should ever inter- 
 fere. And what is it to us, my little one ? Enough that 
 Dona Mameta Alvarado will never have less state than the 
 richest bride that ever came to Los Gatos." 
 
 Mamie had not forgotten that scarcely a month ago, even 
 had she loved the man before her no more than she did at 
 present, she would still have been thrilled with delight at 
 these words ! Even now she was moved conscious as 
 she had become that the " state " of a bride of the Alva- 
 rados was not all she had imagined, and that the bare adobe 
 court of Los Gatos was open to the sky and the free criti- 
 cism of Sacramento capitalists ! 
 
 " Yes, dear," she murmured, with a half-childlike plea- 
 sure, that lit up her face and eyes so innocently that it 
 stopped any minute investigation into its origin and real 
 meaning. " Yes, dear ; but we need not have a fuss made 
 about it at present, and perhaps put ma against us. She 
 would n't hear of our marrying now ; and she might forbid 
 our engagement." 
 
 " But you are going away." 
 
 " I should have to go to New York or Europe first, you 
 know," she answered naively, " even if it were all settled. 
 I should have to get things ! One could n't be decent 
 here." 
 
 With the recollection of the pink cotton gown, in which 
 she had first pledged her troth to him, before his eyes he 
 said, " But you are charming now. You cannot be more 
 so to me. If I am satisfied, little one, with you as you are, 
 let us go together, and then you can get dresses to please 
 others." 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 281 
 
 She had not expected this importunity. Really, if it 
 came to this, she might have engaged herself to some one 
 like Slinn ; he at least would have understood her. He 
 was much cleverer, and certainly more of a man of the 
 world. When Slinn had treated her like a child, it was 
 with the humorous tolerance of an admiring superior, and 
 not the didactic impulse of a guardian. She did not say 
 this, nor did her pretty eyes indicate it, as in the instance 
 of her brief anger with Slinn. She only said gently : 
 
 "I should have thought you, of all men, would have 
 been particular about your wife doing the proper thing. 
 But never mind! Don't let us talk any more about it. 
 Perhaps, as it seems such a great thing to you, and so 
 much trouble, there may be no necessity for it at all." 
 
 I do not think that the young lady deliberately planned 
 this charmingly illogical deduction from Don Caesar's speech, 
 or that she calculated its effect upon him ; but it was part 
 of her nature to say it, and profit by it. Under the unjust 
 lash of it his pride gave way. 
 
 " Ah, do you not see why I wish to go with you ? " he 
 said, with sudden and unexpected passion. " You are 
 beautiful ; you are good ; it has pleased Heaven to make 
 you rich also ; but you are a child in experience, and know 
 not your own heart. With your beauty, your goodness, 
 and your wealth, you will attract all to you as you do 
 here because you cannot help it. But you will be equally 
 helpless, little one, if they should attract you, and you had 
 no tie to fall back upon.' 7 
 
 It was an unfortunate speech. The words were Don 
 Csesar's ; but the thought she had heard before from her 
 mother, although the deduction had been of a very different 
 kind. Mamie followed the speaker with bright but visionary 
 eyes. There must be some truth in all this. Her mother 
 had said it; Mr. Slinn had laughingly admitted it. She 
 had a brilliant future before her ! Was she right in making 
 
282 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 it impossible by a rash and foolish tie ? He himself had 
 said she was inexperienced. She knew it ; and yet, what 
 was he doing now but taking advantage of that inexperience ? 
 If he really loved her, he would be willing to submit to the 
 test. She did not ask a similar one from him ; and was 
 willing, if she came out of it free, to marry him just the 
 same. There was something so noble in this thought that 
 she felt for a moment carried away by an impulse of com- 
 passionate unselfishness, and smiled tenderly as she looked 
 up in his face. 
 
 " Then you consent, Mamie ? " he said eagerly, passing 
 his arm around her waist. 
 
 "Not now, Csesar," she said, gently disengaging herself. 
 " I must think it over ; we are both too young to act upon 
 it rashly ; it would be unfair to you, who are so quiet and 
 hava seen so few girls I mean Americans to tie yourself 
 to the first one you have known. When I am gone you 
 will go more into the world. There are Mr. Slinn's two 
 sisters coming here, I should n't wonder if they were far 
 cleverer and talked far better than I do, and think how I 
 should feel if I knew that only a wretched pledge to me 
 kept you from loving them ! " She stopped, and cast down 
 her eyes. 
 
 It was her first attempt at coquetry ; for, in her usual 
 charming selfishness she was perfectly frank and open ; and 
 it might not have been her last, but she had gone too far at 
 first, and was not prepared for a recoil of her own argument. 
 
 "If you admit that it is possible that it is possible to 
 you ! " he said quickly. 
 
 She saw her mistake. " We may not have many oppor- 
 tunities to meet alone/ 7 she answered quietly ; " and I am 
 sure we would be happier when we meet not to accuse each 
 other of impossibilities. Let us rather see how we can 
 communicate together, if anything should prevent our meet- 
 ing. Remember, it was only by chance that you were able 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 283 
 
 to see me now. If ma has believed that she ought to have 
 been consulted, our meeting together in this secret way will 
 only make matters worse. She is even now wondering 
 where I am, and may be suspicious. I must go back at once. 
 At any moment some one may come here looking for me." 
 
 " But I have so much to say/ 7 he pleaded. " Our time 
 has been so short." 
 
 " You can write." 
 
 " But what will your mother think of that ? " he said in 
 grave astonishment. 
 
 She colored again as she returned quickly : " Of course, 
 you must not write to the house. You can leave a letter 
 somewhere for me say, somewhere about here. Stop!" 
 she added, with a sudden girlish gayety, t( see, here 's the 
 very place. Look there ! " 
 
 She pointed to the decayed trunk of a blasted sycamore, 
 a few feet from the trail. A cavity, breast high, half filled 
 with skeleton leaves and pine-nuts, showed that it had 
 formerly been a squirrel's hoard, but for some reason had 
 been deserted. 
 
 " Look ! it ? s a regular letter-box," she continued gayly, 
 rising on tiptoe to peep into its recesses. Don Caesar looked 
 at her admiringly ; it seemed like a return to their first 
 idyllic love-making in the old days, when she used to steal 
 out of the cabbage rows in her brown linen apron and sun- 
 bonnet to walk with him in the woods. He recalled the 
 fact to her with the fatality of a lover already seeking to 
 restore in past recollections something that was wanting in 
 the present. She received it with the impatience of youth, 
 to whom the present is all sufficient. 
 
 " I wonder how you could ever have cared for me in that 
 holland apron," she said, looking down upon her new dress. 
 
 " Shall I tell you why ? " he said fondly, passing his 
 arm around her waist, and drawing her pretty head nearer 
 his shoulder. 
 
284 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 " No not now ! " she said laughingly, but struggling 
 to free herself. " There 7 s not time. Write it, and put it 
 in the box. There," she added hastily, " listen ! what 's 
 that ? 
 
 " It 's only a squirrel," he whispered reassuringly in 
 her ear. 
 
 "No; it's somebody coming! I must go! Please! 
 Caesar, dear ! There, then " 
 
 She met his kiss halfway, released herself with a lithe 
 movement of her wrist and shoulder, and the next mo- 
 ment seemed to slip into the woods, and was gone. 
 
 Don Caesar listened with a sigh as the last rustling 
 ceased, cast a look at the decayed tree as if to fix it in his 
 memory, and then slowly retraced his steps towards his 
 tethered mustang. 
 
 He was right, however, in his surmise of the cause of 
 that interruption. A pair of bright eyes had been watch- 
 ing them from the bough of an adjacent tree. It was a 
 squirrel, who, having had serious and prior intentions of 
 making use of the cavity they had discovered, had only 
 withheld examination by an apparent courteous discretion 
 towards the intruding pair. Now that they were gone he 
 slipped down the tree and ran towards the decayed stump. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 APPARENTLY dissatisfied with the result of an investi- 
 gation, which proved that the cavity was unfit as a treasure 
 hoard for a discreet squirrel, whatever its value as a recep- 
 tacle for the love-tokens of incautious humanity, the little 
 animal at once set about to put things in order. He began 
 by whisking out an immense quantity of dead leaves, dis- 
 turbed a family of tree-spiders, dissipated a drove of patient 
 aphides browsing in the bark, as well as their attendant 
 dairymen, the ants, and otherwise ruled it with the high 
 hand of dispossession and a contemptuous opinion of the 
 previous incumbents. It must not be supposed, however, 
 that his proceedings were altogether free from contempo- 
 raneous criticism ; a venerable crow sitting on a branch 
 above him displayed great interest in his occupation, and, 
 hopping down a few moments afterwards, disposed of some 
 worm-eaten nuts, a few larvae, and an insect or two, with 
 languid dignity and without prejudice. Certain incum- 
 brances, however, still resisted the squirrel's general evic- 
 tion ; among them a folded square of paper with sharply 
 defined edges, that declined investigation, and, owing to a 
 nauseous smell of tobacco, escaped nibbling as it had appar- 
 ently escaped insect ravages. This, owing to its sharp 
 angles, which persisted in catching in the soft decaying 
 wood in his whirlwind of house-cleaning, he allowed to re- 
 main. Having thus, in a general way, prepared for the 
 coming winter, the self-satisfied little rodent dismissed the 
 subject from his active mind. 
 
 His rage and indignation a few days later may be readily 
 
286 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH- AND-READY 
 
 conceived, when he found, on returning to his new-made 
 home, another square of paper, folded like the first, but 
 much fresher and whiter, lying within the cavity, on top 
 of some moss which had evidently been placed there for 
 the purpose. This he felt was really more than he could 
 bear 5 but as it was smaller, with a few energetic kicks and 
 whisks of his tail he managed to finally dislodge it through 
 the opening, where it fell ignominiously to the earth. 
 The eager eyes of the ever attendant crow, however, in- 
 stantly detected it ; he flew to the ground, and, turning it 
 over, examined it gravely. It was certainly not edible, 
 but it was exceedingly rare, and, as an old collector of 
 curios, he felt he could not pass it by. He lifted it in his 
 beak, and, with a desperate struggle against the superin- 
 cumbent weight, regained the branch with his prize. Here, 
 by one of those delicious vagaries of animal nature, he ap- 
 parently at once discharged his mind of the whole affair, 
 became utterly oblivious of it, allowed it to drop without 
 the least concern, and eventually flew away with an ab- 
 stracted air, as if he had been another bird entirely. The 
 paper got into a manzanita bush, where it remained sus- 
 pended until the evening, when, being dislodged by a 
 passing wildcat on its way to Mulrady's hen-roost, it gave 
 that delicately sensitive marauder such a turn that she fled 
 into the adjacent county. 
 
 But the troubles of the squirrel were not yet over. On 
 the following day the young man who had accompanied the 
 young woman returned to the trunk, and the squirrel had 
 barely time to make his escape before the impatient visitor 
 approached the opening of the cavity, peered into it, and even 
 passed his hand through its recesses. The delight visible 
 upon his anxious and serious face at the disappearance of 
 the letter, and the apparent proof that it had been called 
 for, showed him to have been its original depositor, and 
 probably awakened a remorseful recollection in the dark 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 287 
 
 bosom of the omnipresent crow, who uttered a conscience- 
 stricken croak from the bough above him. But the young 
 man quickly disappeared again, and the squirrel was once 
 more left in undisputed possession. 
 
 A week passed. A weary, anxious interval to Don Caesar, 
 who had neither seen nor heard from Mamie since their last 
 meeting. Too conscious of his own self-respect to call at 
 the house after the equivocal conduct of Mrs. Mulrady, and 
 too proud to haunt the lanes and approaches in the hope of 
 meeting her daughter, like an ordinary lover, he hid his 
 gloomy thoughts in the monastic shadows of the courtyard 
 at Los Gatos, or found relief in furious riding at night and 
 early morning on the highway. Once or twice the up stage 
 had been overtaken and passed by a rushing figure as 
 shadowy as a phantom horseman, with only the star-like 
 point of a cigarette to indicate its humanity. It was in one 
 of these fierce recreations that he was obliged to stop in 
 early morning at the blacksmith's shop at Rough-and-Ready, 
 to have a loosened horseshoe replaced, and while waiting 
 picked up a newspaper. Don Caesar seldom read the papers ; 
 but noticing that this was the " Record," he glanced at its 
 columns. A familiar name suddenly flashed out of the dark 
 type like a spark from the anvil. With a brain and heart 
 that seemed to be beating in unison with the blacksmith's 
 sledge, he read as follows : 
 
 " Our distinguished fellow townsman, Alvin Mulrady, 
 Esq., left town day before yesterday to attend an important 
 meeting of directors of the Red Dog Ditch Company, in 
 San Francisco. Society will regret to hear that Mrs. Mul- 
 rady and her beautiful and accomplished daughter, who 
 were expecting to depart for Europe at the end of the 
 month, anticipated the event nearly a fortnight, by taking 
 this opportunity of accompanying Mr. Mulrady as far as 
 San Francisco, on their way to the East. Mrs. and Miss 
 Mulrady intend to visit London, Paris, and Berlin, and 
 
288 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 will be absent three years. It is possible that Mr. Mul- 
 rady may join them later at one or other of those capitals. 
 Considerable disappointment is felt that a more extended 
 leave-taking was not possible, and that, under the circum- 
 stances, no opportunity was offered for a ' send-off ' suitable 
 to the condition of the parties and the esteem in which they 
 are held in Rough-and-Ready." 
 
 The paper dropped from his hands. Gone ! and without 
 a word ! No, that was impossible ! There must be some 
 mistake ; she had written ; the letter had miscarried ; she 
 must have sent word to Los Gatos, and the stupid messen- 
 ger had blundered ; she had probably appointed another 
 meeting, or expected him to follow to San Francisco. " The 
 day before yesterday ! " It was the morning's paper she 
 had been gone scarcely two days it was not too late yet to 
 receive a delayed message by post, by some forgetful hand 
 by ah the tree ! 
 
 Of course it was in the tree, and he had not been there 
 for a week ! Why had he not thought of it before ? The 
 fault was his, not hers. Perhaps she had gone away, be- 
 lieving him faithless, or a country boor. 
 
 " In the name of the Devil, will you keep me here till 
 eternity ! " 
 
 The blacksmith stared at him. Don CaBsar suddenly 
 remembered that he was speaking, as he was thinking in 
 Spanish. 
 
 " Ten dollars, my friend, if you have done in five min- 
 utes ! " 
 
 The man laughed. " That 's good enough American," 
 he said, beginning to quicken his efforts. Don Csesar again 
 took up the paper. There was another paragraph that re- 
 called his last interview with Mamie : 
 
 " Mr. Harry Slinn, Jr., the editor of this paper, has just 
 moved into the pioneer house formerly occupied by Alvin 
 Mulrady, Esq., which has already become historic in the 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 289 
 
 annals of the county. Mr. Slinn brings with him his 
 father H. J. Slinn, Esq. and his two sisters. Mr. 
 Slinn, Sr., who has been suffering for many years from 
 complete paralysis, we understand is slowly improving ; 
 and it is by the advice of his physicians that he has chosen 
 the invigorating air of the foot-hills as a change to the 
 debilitating heat of Sacramento." 
 
 The affair had been quickly settled, certainly, reflected 
 Don Csesar, with a slight chill of jealousy, as he thought of 
 Mamie's interest in the young editor. But the next mo- 
 ment he dismissed it from his mind ; all except a dull con- 
 sciousness that, if she really loved him Don Caesar as 
 he loved her, she could not have assisted in throwing into 
 his society the two young sisters of the editor, whom she 
 expected might be so attractive. 
 
 Within the five minutes the horse was ready, and Don 
 Caesar in the saddle again. In less than half an hour he 
 was at the wayside boulder. Here he picketed his horse, 
 and took the narrow foot-trail through the hollow. It did 
 not take him long to reach their old trysting-place. With 
 a beating heart he approached the decaying trunk and looked 
 into the cavity. There was no letter there ! 
 
 A few blackened nuts and some of the dry moss he had 
 put there were lying on the ground at its roots. He could 
 not remember whether they were there when he had last 
 visited the spot. He began to grope in the cavity with 
 both hands. His fingers struck against the sharp angles of 
 a flat paper packet ; a thrill of joy ran through them and 
 stopped his beating heart ; he drew out the hidden object, 
 and was chilled with disappointment. 
 
 It was an ordinary-sized envelope of yellowish-brown 
 paper, bearing, besides the usual government stamp, the 
 official legend of an express company, and showing its age 
 as much by this record of a now obsolete carrying service as 
 by the discoloration of time and atmosphere. Its weight, 
 
290 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 which was heavier than that of an ordinary letter of the 
 same size and thickness, was evidently due to some loose 
 inclosures, that slightly rustled and could be felt by the 
 fingers, like minute pieces of metal or grains of gravel. It 
 was within Don Caesar's experience that gold specimens 
 were often sent in that manner. It was in a state of singu- 
 lar preservation, except the address, which, being written 
 in pencil, was scarcely discernible, and even when deciphered 
 appeared to be incoherent and unfinished. The unknown 
 correspondent had written " dear Mary," and then " Mrs. 
 Mary Slinn," with an unintelligible scrawl following for 
 the direction. If Don Caesar's mind had not been lately 
 preoccupied with the name of the editor, he would hardly 
 have guessed the superscription. 
 
 In his cruel disappointment and fully aroused indigna- 
 tion, he at once began to suspect a connection of circum- 
 stances which at any other moment he would have thought 
 purely accidental, or perhaps not have considered at all. 
 The cavity in the tree had evidently been used as a secret 
 receptacle for letters before; did Mamie know it at the 
 time, and how did she know it ? The apparent age of the 
 letter made it preposterous to suppose that it pointed to any 
 secret correspondence of hers with young Mr. Slinn ; and 
 the address was not in her handwriting. Was there any 
 secret previous intimacy between the families ? There was 
 but one way in which he could connect this letter with 
 Mamie's faithlessness. It was an infamous, a grotesquely 
 horrible idea, a thought which sprang as much from his in- 
 experience of the world and his habitual suspiciousness of 
 all humor as anything else ! It was that the letter was a 
 brutal joke of Slum's a joke perhaps concocted by Mamie 
 and himself a parting insult that should at the last 
 moment proclaim their treachery and his own credulity. 
 Doubtless it contained a declaration of their shame, and the 
 reason why she had fled from him without a word of expla- 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 291 
 
 nation. And the inclosure, of course, was some significant 
 and degrading illustration. Those Americans were full of 
 those low conceits ; it was their national vulgarity. 
 
 He held the letter in his angry hand. He could break 
 it open if he wished, and satisfy himself ; but it was not 
 addressed to him) and the instinct of honor, strong even 
 in his rage, was the instinct of an adversary as well. No ; 
 Slinn should open the letter before him. Slinn should 
 explain everything, and answer for it. If it was nothing 
 a mere accident it would lead to some general explana- 
 tion, and perhaps even news of Mamie. But he would 
 arraign Slinn, and at once. He put the letter in his pocket, 
 quickly retraced his steps to his horse, and, putting spurs 
 to the animal, followed the highroad to the gate of Mul- 
 rady's pioneer cabin. 
 
 He remembered it well enough. To a cultivated taste, 
 it was superior to the more pretentious " new house. 7 ' Dur- 
 ing the first year of Mulrady's tenancy, the plain square 
 log-cabin had received those additions and attractions which 
 only a tenant can conceive and actual experience suggest ; 
 and in this way the hideous right angles were broken with 
 sheds, " lean-to " extensions, until a certain picturesque- 
 ness was given to the irregularity of outline, and a home- 
 like security and companionship to the congregated buildings. 
 It typified the former life of the great capitalist, as the tall 
 new house illustrated the loneliness and isolation that 
 wealth had given him. But the real points of vantage 
 were the years of cultivation and habitation that had 
 warmed and enriched the soil, and evoked the climbing 
 vines and roses that already hid its unpainted boards, 
 rounded its hard outlines, and gave projection and shadow 
 from the pitiless glare of a summer's long sun, or broke the 
 steady beating of the winter rains. It was true that pea 
 and bean poles surrounded it on one side, and the only 
 access to the house was through the cabbage rows that once 
 
292 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 were the pride and sustenance of the Mulradys. It was 
 this fact, more than any other, that had impelled Mrs. Mul- 
 rady to abandon its site ; she did not like to read the his- 
 tory of their humble origin reflected in the faces of their 
 visitors as they entered. 
 
 Don Caesar tied his horse to the fence, and hurriedly ap- 
 proached the house. The door, however, hospitably opened 
 when he was a few paces from it, and when he reached the 
 threshold he found himself unexpectedly in the presence 
 of two pretty girls. They were evidently Slinn's sisters, 
 whom he had neither thought of nor included in the meet- 
 ing he had prepared. In spite of his preoccupation, he felt 
 himself suddenly embarrassed, not only by the actual dis- 
 tinction of their beauty, but by a kind of likeness that they 
 seemed to bear to Mamie. 
 
 " We saw you coming," said the elder unaffectedly. 
 " You are Don Caesar Alvarado. My brother has spoken 
 of you." 
 
 The words recalled Don Caesar to himself and a sense 
 of courtesy. He was not here to quarrel with these fair 
 strangers at their first meeting ; he must seek Slinn else- 
 where, and at another time. The frankness of his re- 
 ception and the allusion to their brother made it appear 
 impossible that they should be either a party to his disap- 
 pointment, or even aware of it. His excitement melted 
 away before a certain lazy ease which the consciousness of 
 their beauty seemed to give them. He was able to put 
 a few courteous inquiries, and, thanks to the paragraph in 
 the " Kecord," to congratulate them upon their father's 
 improvement. 
 
 " Oh, pa is a great deal better in his health, and has 
 picked up even in the last few days, so that he is able to 
 walk round with crutches," said the elder sister. " The 
 air here seems to invigorate him wonderfully." 
 
 "And you know, Esther," said the younger, "I think 
 
A MILLIONAIKE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 293 
 
 he begins to take more notice of things, especially when he 
 is out of doors. He looks around on the scenery, and his 
 eye brightens, as if he knew all about it ; and sometimes 
 he knits his brows, and looks down so, as if he was try- 
 ing to remember/' 
 
 " You know, I suppose," explained Esther, " that since 
 his seizure his memory has been a blank that is, three or 
 four years of his life seem to have been dropped out of his 
 recollection." 
 
 " It might be a mercy sometimes, senora," said Don 
 Caesar, with a grave sigh, as he looked at the delicate fea- 
 tures before him, which recalled the face of the absent 
 Mamie. 
 
 " That ? s not very complimentary," said the younger girl 
 laughingly ; " for pa did n't recognize us, and only remem- 
 bered us as little girls." 
 
 " Vashti ! " interrupted Esther rebukingly ; then, turn- 
 ing to Don Caesar, she added, " My sister, Vashti, means 
 that father remembers more what happened before he came 
 to California, when we were quite young, than he does 
 of the interval that elapsed. Dr. Duchesne says it 's a sin- 
 gular case. He thinks that, with his present progress, he 
 will recover the perfect use of his limbs ; though his mem- 
 ory may never come back again." 
 
 " Unless You forget what the doctor told us this 
 morning," interrupted Vashti again briskly. 
 
 "I was going to say it," said Esther a little curtly. 
 " Unless he has another stroke. Then he will either die or 
 recover his mind entirely." 
 
 Don Cassar glanced at the bright faces, a trifle heightened 
 in color by their eager recital and the slight rivalry of nar- 
 ration, and looked grave. He was a little shocked at a 
 certain lack of sympathy and tenderness towards their 
 unhappy parent. They seemed to him not only to have 
 caught that dry, curious toleration of helplessness which 
 
294 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 characterizes even relationship in its attendance upon chronic 
 suffering and weakness, but to have acquired an unconscious 
 habit of turning it to account. In his present sensitive 
 condition, he even fancied that they flirted mildly over their 
 parent's infirmity. 
 
 " My brother Harry has gone to Red Dog," continued 
 Esther ; " he '11 be right sorry to have missed you. Mrs. 
 Mulrady spoke to him about you ; you seem to have been 
 great friends. I s'pose you knew her daughter, Mamie ; I 
 hear she is very pretty." 
 
 Although Don Caesar was now satisfied that the Slinns 
 knew nothing of Mamie's singular behavior to him, he felt 
 embarrassed by this conversation. " Miss Mulrady is very 
 pretty," he said, with grave courtesy ; " it is a custom of her 
 race. She left suddenly," he added, with affected calmness. 
 
 "I reckon she did calculate to stay here longer so her 
 mother said ; but the whole thing was settled a week ago. 
 I know my brother was quite surprised to hear from Mr. 
 Mulrady that if we were going to decide about this house 
 we must do it at once ; he had an idea himself about moving 
 out of the big one into this when they left." 
 
 "Mamie Mulrady hadn't much to keep her here, consid- 
 erin' the money and the good looks she has, I reckon," said 
 Vashti. " She is n't the sort of girl to throw herself away 
 in the wilderness, when she can pick and choose elsewhere. 
 I only wonder she ever come back from Sacramento. They 
 talk about papa Mulrady having business at San Francisco, 
 and that hurrying them off! Depend upon it that 'business' 
 was Mamie herself. Her wish is gospel to them. If she 'd 
 wanted to stay and have a farewell party, old Mulrady's 
 business would have been nowhere." 
 
 " Ain't you a little rough on Mamie," said Esther, who 
 had been quietly watching the young man's face with her 
 large, languid eyes, " considering that we don't know her, 
 and have n't even the right of friends to criticise ? " 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 295 
 
 "I don't call it rough," returned Vashti frankly, "for 
 I 'd do the same if I were in her shoes and they 're f our- 
 and-a-halves, for Harry told me so. Give me her money 
 and her looks, and you would n't catch me hanging round 
 these diggings goin' to choir meetings Saturdays, church 
 Sundays, and buggy-riding once a month for society ! 
 No Mamie's head was level you bet ! " 
 
 Don Caesar rose hurriedly. They would present his 
 compliments to their father, and he would endeavor to find 
 their brother at Red Dog. He, alas ! had neither father, 
 mother, nor sister ; but if they would receive his aunt, the 
 Dona Inez Sepulvida, the next Sunday, when she came from 
 mass, she should be honored and he would be delighted. It 
 required all his self-possession to deliver himself of this 
 formal courtesy before he could take his leave, and on the 
 back of his mustang give way to the rage, disgust, and hatred 
 of everything connected with Mamie that filled his heart. 
 Conscious of his disturbance, but not entirely appreciating 
 their own share in it, the two girls somewhat wickedly pro- 
 longed the interview by following him into the garden. 
 
 "Well, if you must leave now/' said Esther at last, 
 languidly, "it ain't much out of your way to go down 
 through the garden and take a look at pa as you go. He 's 
 somewhere down there, near the woods, and we don't like 
 to leave him alone too long. You might pass the time of 
 day with him ; see if he 's right side up. Vashti and I have 
 got a heap of things to fix here yet ; but if anything 's wrong 
 with him, you can call us. So long." 
 
 Don CaBsar was about to excuse himself hurriedly ; but 
 that sudden and acute perception of all kindred sorrow, 
 which belongs to refined suffering, checked his speech. 
 The loneliness of the helpless old man in this atmosphere 
 of active and youthful selfishness touched him. He bowed 
 assent, and turned aside into one of the long perspectives of 
 bean-poles. The girls watched him until out of sight. 
 
296 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 "Well," said Vashti, "don't tell me. But if there 
 was n't something between him and that Mamie Mulrady, 
 I don't know a jilted man when I see him." 
 
 " Well, you need n't have let him see that you knew it, 
 so that any civility of ours would look as if we were ready 
 to take up with her leavings," responded Esther astutely, 
 as the girls reentered the house. 
 
 Meantime, the unconscious object of their criticism walked 
 sadly down the old market-garden, whose rude outlines and 
 homely details he once clothed with the poetry of a sensitive 
 man's first love. Well, it was a common cabbage field and 
 potato patch after all. In his disgust he felt conscious of even 
 the loss of that sense of patronage and superiority which 
 had invested his affection for a girl of meaner condition. 
 His self-respect was humiliated with his love. The soil 
 and dirt of those wretched cabbages had clung to him, but 
 not to her. It was she who had gone higher ; it \ws he 
 who was left in the vulgar ruins of his misplaced passion. 
 
 He reached the bottom of the garden without observing 
 any sign of the lonely invalid. He looked up and down 
 the cabbage rows, and through the long perspective of pea- 
 vines, without result. There was a newer trail leading 
 from a gap in the pines to the wooded hollow, which un- 
 doubtedly intersected the little path that he and Mamie 
 had once followed from the highroad. If the old man 
 had taken this trail he had possibly overtasked his strength, 
 and there was the more reason why he should continue his 
 search, and render any assistance if required. There was 
 another idea that occurred to him, which eventually decided 
 him to go on. It was that both these trails led to the de- 
 cayed sycamore stump, and that the older Slinn might have 
 something to do with the mysterious letter. Quickening 
 his steps through the field, he entered the hollow, and 
 reached the intersecting trail as he expected. To the right 
 it lost itself in the dense woods in the direction of the 
 
. A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 297 
 
 ominous stump ; to the left it descended in nearly a straight 
 line to the highway, now plainly visible, as was equally 
 the houlder on which he had last discovered Mamie sitting 
 with young Slinn. If he was not mistaken, there was a 
 figure sitting there now ; it was surely a man. And by 
 that half-bowed, helpless attitude, the object of his search ! 
 
 It did not take him long to descend the track to the 
 highway and approach the stranger. He was seated with 
 his hands upon his knee, gazing in a vague, absorbed fash- 
 ion upon the hillside, now crowned with the engine-house 
 and chimney that marked the site of Mulrady's shaft. He 
 started slightly, and looked up, as Don Ceesar paused before 
 him. The young man was surprised to see that the unfor- 
 tunate man was not as old as he had expected, and that his 
 expression was one of quiet and beatified contentment. 
 
 " Your daughters told me you were here," said Don 
 Csesar, with gentle respect. "I am Caesar Alvarado, your 
 not very far neighbor ; very happy to pay his respects to 
 you as he has to them." 
 
 "My daughters?" said the old man vaguely. "Oh 
 yes ! nice little girls. And my boy Harry. Did you see 
 Harry ? Fine little fellow, Harry." 
 
 " I am glad to hear that you are better," said Don 
 Csesar hastily, " and that the air of our country does you 
 no harm. God benefit you, senor," he added, with a pro- 
 foundly reverential gesture, dropping unconsciously into 
 the religious hat>it of his youth. " May He protect you, 
 and bring you back to health and happiness ! " 
 
 " Happiness ? " said Slinn amazedly. " I am happy 
 very happy ! I have everything I want : good air, good 
 food, good clothes, pretty little children, kind friends " 
 He smiled benignantly at Don Caesar. " God is very good 
 to me ! " 
 
 Indeed, he seemed very happy ; and his face, albeit 
 crowned with white hair, unmarked by care and any dis- 
 
298 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 turbing impression, had so much of satisfied youth in it 
 that the grave features of his questioner made him appear 
 the elder. Nevertheless, Don Csesar noticed that his eyes, 
 when withdrawn from him, sought the hillside with the 
 same visionary abstraction. 
 
 " It is a fine view, Senor Esslinn," said Don Csesar. 
 
 " It is a beautiful view, sir," said Slinn, turning his 
 happy eyes upon him for a moment, only to rest them 
 again on the green slope opposite. 
 
 " Beyond that hill which you are looking at not far, 
 Senor Esslinn I live. You shall come and see me 
 there you and your family." 
 
 " You you live there?" stammered the invalid, 
 with a troubled expression the first and only change to 
 the complete happiness that had hitherto suffused his 
 face. " You and your name is is Ma " 
 
 " Alvarado," said Don Csesar gently. " Caesar Alva- 
 rado." 
 
 " You said Masters," said the old man, with sudden 
 querulousness. 
 
 "No, good friend. I said Alvarado," returned Don 
 Csesar gravely. 
 
 " If you did n't say Masters, how could / say it ? I 
 don't know any Masters." 
 
 Don Csesar was silent. In another moment the happy 
 tranquillity returned to Slinn's face ; and Don Csesar con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " It is not a long walk over the hill, though it is far by 
 the road. When you are better you shall try it. Yonder 
 little trail leads to the top of the hill, and then " 
 
 He stopped, for the invalid's face had again assumed its 
 troubled expression. Partly to change his thoughts, and 
 partly for some inexplicable idea that had suddenly seized 
 him, Don Csesar continued : 
 
 " There is a strange old stump near the trail, and in it 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 299 
 
 a hole. In the hole I found this letter. " He stopped 
 again this time in alarm. Slinn had staggered to his 
 feet with ashen and distorted features, and was glancing at 
 the letter which Don Caesar had drawn from his pocket. 
 The muscles of his throat swelled as if he was swallowing ; 
 his lips moved, but no sound issued from them. At last, 
 with a convulsive effort, he regained a disjointed speech,, 
 in a voice scarcely audible. 
 
 " My letter ! my letter ! It 's mine ! Give it me ! It 's 
 my fortune all mine ! In the tunnel hill ! Masters 
 stole it stole my fortune ! Stole it all ! See, see ! " 
 
 He seized the letter from Don Caesar with trembling 
 hands, and tore it open forcibly : a few dull yellow grains 
 fell from it heavily, like shot, to the ground. 
 
 " See, it's true ! My letter! My gold ! My strike ! 
 My my my God ! " 
 
 A tremor passed over his face. The hand that held the 
 letter suddenly dropped sheer and heavy as the gold had 
 fallen. The whole side of his face and body nearest Don 
 Csesar seemed to drop and sink into itself as suddenly. At 
 the same moment, and without a word, he slipped through 
 Don Caesar's outstretched hands to the ground. Don 
 Csesar bent quickly over him, but not longer than to satisfy 
 himself that he lived and breathed, although helpless. He 
 then caught up the fallen letter, and, glancing over it with 
 flashing eyes, thrust it and the few specimens in his pocket. 
 He then sprang to his feet, so transformed with energy 
 and intelligence that he seemed to have added the lost 
 vitality of the man before him to his own. He glanced 
 quickly up and down the highway. Every moment to him 
 was precious now ; but he could not leave the stricken 
 man in the dust of the road ; nor could he carry him to 
 the house ; nor, having alarmed his daughters, could he 
 abandon his helplessness to their feeble arms. He remem- 
 bered that his horse was still tied to the garden fence. He 
 
300 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 would fetch it, and carry the unfortunate man across the 
 saddle to the gate. He lifted him with difficulty to the 
 boulder, and ran rapidly up the road in the direction of his 
 tethered steed. He had not proceeded far when he heard 
 the noise of wheels behind him. It was the up stage com- 
 ing furiously along. He would have called to the driver 
 for assistance, but even through that fast-sweeping cloud of 
 dust and motion he could see that the man was utterly 
 oblivious of anything but the speed of his rushing chariot, 
 and had even risen in his box to lash the infuriated and 
 frightened animals forward. 
 
 An hour later, when the coach drew up at the Ked Dog 
 Hotel, the driver descended from the box, white, but taci- 
 turn. When he had swallowed a glass of whiskey at a 
 single gulp, he turned to the astonished express agent, who 
 had followed him in. 
 
 " One of two things, Jim, hez got to happen," he said 
 huskily. " Either that there rock hez got to get off the 
 road, or / have. I ? ve seed him on it agin ! " 
 
CHAPTEK IV 
 
 No further particulars of the invalid's second attack were 
 known than those furnished by Don Caesar's brief statement, 
 that he had found him lying insensible on the boulder. 
 This seemed perfectly consistent with the theory of Dr. 
 Duchesne ; and as the young Spaniard left Los Gatos the 
 next day, he escaped not only the active report of the " Re- 
 cord," but the perusal of a grateful paragraph in the next 
 day's paper recording his prompt kindness and courtesy. 
 Dr. Duchesne's prognosis, however, seemed at fault; the 
 elder Slinn did not succumb to the second stroke, nor did 
 he recover his reason. He apparently only relapsed into 
 his former physical weakness, losing the little ground he 
 had gained during the last month, and exhibiting no change in 
 his mental condition, unless the fact that he remembered 
 nothing of his seizure and the presence of Don Caesar could 
 be considered as favorable. Dr. Duchesne's gravity seemed 
 to give that significance to this symptom, and his cross-ques- 
 tioning of the patient was characterized by more than his 
 usual curtness. 
 
 " You are sure you don't remember walking in the garden 
 before you were ill ? " he said. " Come, think again. You 
 must remember that." The old man's eyes wandered rest- 
 lessly around the room, but he answered by a negative shake 
 of his head. " And you don't remember sitting down on a 
 stone by the road ? " 
 
 The old man kept his eyes resolutely fixed on the bed- 
 clothes before him. " No ! " he said, with a certain sharp 
 decision that was new to him. 
 
302 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 The doctor's eye brightened. "All right, old man ; then 
 don't." 
 
 On his way out he took the eldest Miss Slinn aside. 
 " He '11 do," he said grimly : " he 's beginning to lie." 
 
 " Why, he only said he did n't remember," responded 
 Esther. 
 
 " That was because he did n't want to remember," said 
 the doctor authoritatively. " The brain is acting on some 
 impression that is either painful and unpleasant, or so vague 
 that he can't formulate it ; he is conscious of it, and won't 
 attempt it yet. It's a heap better than his old self-satisfied 
 incoherency." 
 
 A few days later, when the fact of Slum's identification 
 with the paralytic of three years ago by the stage-driver 
 became generally known, the doctor came in quite jubilant. 
 
 " It 7 s all plain now," he said decidedly. " That second 
 stroke was caused by the nervous shock of his coming sud- 
 denly upon the very spot where he had the first one. It 
 proved that his brain still retained old impressions, but as 
 this first act of his memory was a painful one, the strain 
 was too great. It was mighty unlucky ; but it was a 
 good sign." 
 
 " And you think, then " hesitated Harry Slinn. 
 
 " I think," said Dr. Duchesne, " that this activity still 
 exists, and the proof of it, as I said before, is that he is now 
 trying to forget it, and avoid thinking of it. You will find 
 that he will fight shy of any allusion to it, and will be 
 cunning enough to dodge it every time." 
 
 He certainly did. Whether the doctor's hypothesis was 
 fairly based or not, it was a fact that, when he was first 
 taken out to drive with his watchful physician, he appar- 
 ently took no notice of the boulder which still remained 
 on the roadside, thanks to the later practical explanation of 
 the stage-driver's vision and curtly refused to talk about 
 it. But, more significant to Duchesne, and perhaps more 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 303 
 
 perplexing, was a certain morose abstraction, which took 
 the place of his former vacuity of contentment, and an 
 intolerance of his attendants, which supplanted his old 
 habitual trustfulness to their care, that had been varied only 
 by the occasional querulousness of an invalid. His daughters 
 sometimes found him regarding them with an attention 
 little short of suspicion, and even his son detected a half- 
 suppressed aversion in his interviews with him. 
 
 Referring this among themselves to his unfortunate 
 malady, his children perhaps justified this estrangement 
 by paying very little attention to it. They were more 
 pleasantly occupied. The two girls succeeded to the posi- 
 tion held by Mamie Mulrady in the society of the neighbor- 
 hood, and divided the attentions of Rough-and-Ready. 
 The young editor of the " Record " had really achieved, 
 through his supposed intimacy with the Mulradys, the good 
 fortune he had jestingly prophesied. The disappearance of 
 Don Caesar was regarded as a virtual abandonment of the 
 field to his rival ; and the general opinion was that he was 
 engaged to the millionaire's daughter on a certain probation 
 of work and influence in his prospective father-in-law's 
 interests. He became successful in one or two speculations, 
 the magic of the lucky Mulrady's name befriending him. 
 In the superstition of the mining community, much of this 
 luck was due to his having secured the old cabin. 
 
 " To think," remarked one of the augurs of Red Dog, 
 French Pete, a polyglot jester,," that while every d d fool 
 went to taking up claims where the gold had already been 
 found, no one thought of stepping into the old man's old 
 choux in the cabbage garden ! " Any doubt, however, of 
 the alliance of the families was dissipated by the intimacy 
 that sprang up between the elder Slinn and the millioniare 
 after the latter' s return from San Francisco. 
 
 It began in a strange kind of pity for the physical weak- 
 ness of the man, which enlisted the sympathies of Mulrady, 
 
304 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 whose great strength had never been deteriorated by the 
 luxuries of wealth, and who was still able to set his work- 
 men an example of hard labor ; it was sustained by a sin- 
 gular and superstitious reverence for his mental condition, 
 which, to the paternal Mulrady, seemed to possess that 
 spiritual quality with which popular ignorance invests 
 demented people. 
 
 " Then you mean to say that during these three years 
 the vein o' your mind, so to speak, was a lost lead, and 
 sorter dropped out o' sight or follerin' ? " queried Mulrady, 
 with infinite seriousness. 
 
 "Yes," returned Slinn, with less impatience than he 
 usually showed to questions. 
 
 " And durin' that time, when you was dried up and 
 waitin' for rain, I reckon you kinder had visions ? " 
 
 A cloud passed over Slinn's face. 
 
 " Of course, of course ! " said Mulrady, a little frightened 
 at his tenacity in questioning the oracle. " Nat'rally, this 
 was private, and not to be talked about. I meant, you had 
 plenty of room for 'em without crowdin' ; you kin tell me 
 some day when you 're better, and kin sorter select what 's 
 points and what ain't." 
 
 " Perhaps I may some day," said the invalid gloomily, 
 glancing in the direction of his preoccupied daughters ; 
 " when we 're alone." 
 
 When his physical strength had improved, and his left 
 arm and side had regained a feeble but slowly gathering 
 vitality, Alvin Mulrady one day surprised the family by 
 bringing the convalescent a pile of letters and accounts, and 
 spreading them on a board before Slinn's invalid chair, with 
 the suggestion that he should look over, arrange, and docket 
 them. The idea seemed preposterous, until it was found 
 that the old man was actually able to perform this service, 
 and exhibited a degree of intellectual activity and capacity 
 for this kind of work that was unsuspected. Dr. Duchesne 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 305 
 
 was delighted, and divided with admiration between his 
 patient's progress and the millionaire's sagacity. " And 
 there are envious people," said the enthusiastic doctor, 
 " who believe that a man like him, who could conceive of 
 such a plan for occupying a weak intellect without taxing 
 its memory or judgment, is merely a lucky fool ! Look 
 here. Maybe it did n't require much brains to stumble on 
 a gold mine, and it is a gift of Providence. But in my 
 experience, Providence don't go round buyin' up d d fools, 
 or investin' in dead-beats." 
 
 When Mr. Slinn, finally, with the aid of crutches, was 
 able to hobble every day to the imposing counting-house 
 and office of Mr. Mulrady, which now occupied the lower 
 part of the new house, and contained some of its gorgeous 
 furniture, he was installed at a rosewood desk behind Mr. 
 Mulrady's chair, as his confidential clerk and private secre- 
 tary. The astonishment of Bed Dog and Rough-and- 
 Ready at this singular innovation knew no bounds ; but 
 the boldness and novelty of the idea carried everything be- 
 fore it. Judge Butts, the oracle of Rough-and-Ready, de- 
 livered its decision : " He 's got a man who 's physically 
 incapable of running off with his money, and has no mem- 
 ory to run off with his ideas. How could he do better ? " 
 Even his own son, Harry, coming upon his father thus in- 
 stalled, was for a moment struck with a certain filial respect, 
 and for a day or two patronized him. 
 
 In this capacity Slinn became the confidant, not only of 
 Mulrady's business secrets, but of his domestic affairs. He 
 knew that young Mulrady, from a freckle-faced, slow coun- 
 try boy, had developed into a freckle-faced fast city man, 
 with coarse habits of drink and gambling. It was through 
 the old man's hands that extravagant bills and shameful 
 claims passed on their way to be cashed by Mulrady ; it 
 was he that at last laid before the father one day his sig- 
 nature perfectly forged by the son. 
 
306 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 " Your eyes are not ez good ez mine, you know, Slinn," 
 said Mulrady gravely. " It 's all right. I sometimes make 
 my ?/'s like that. I 'd clean forgot to cash that check. 
 You must not think you 've got the monoply of dis- 
 remembering," he added, with a faint laugh. 
 
 Equally through Slinn's hands passed the record of the 
 lavish expenditure of Mrs. Mulrady and the fair Mamie, as 
 well as the chronicle of their movements and fashionable 
 triumphs. As Mulrady had already noticed that Slinn had 
 no confidence with his own family, he did not try to with- 
 hold from him these domestic details, possibly as an offset 
 to the dreary catalogue of his son's misdeeds, but more 
 often in the hope of gaining from the taciturn old man 
 some comment that might satisfy his innocent vanity as 
 father and husband, and perhaps dissipate some doubts that 
 were haunting him. 
 
 " Twelve hundred dollars looks to be a good figger for 
 a dress, ain't it ? But Malviny knows, I reckon, what 
 ought to be worn at the Tooilleries, and she don't want our 
 Mamie to take a back seat before them f urrin princesses and 
 gran' dukes. It 's a slap-up affair, I kalkilate. Let 's see. 
 I disremember whether it 's an emperor or a king that 's 
 rulin' over thar now. It must be suthin' first-class and 
 A 1, for Malviny ain't the woman to throw away twelve 
 hundred dollars on any of them small-potato despots ! She 
 says Mamie speaks French already like them French Petes. 
 I don't quite make out what she means here. She met 
 Don Caesar in Paris, and she says, ' I think Mamie is nearly 
 off with Don Cffisar, who has followed her here. I don't 
 care about her dropping him too suddenly ; the reason I '11 
 tell you hereafter. I think the man might be a dangerous 
 enemy.' Now, what do you make of this ? I allus 
 thought Mamie rather cottoned to him, and it was the old 
 woman who fought shy, thinkin' Mamie would do better. 
 Now, I am agreeable that my gal should marry any one she 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 307 
 
 likes, whether it 's a dock or a poor man, as long as he 's 
 on the square. I was ready to take Don Caesar ; but now 
 things seem to have shifted round. As to Don Caesar's 
 being a dangerous enemy if Mamie won't have him, that 's 
 a little too high and mighty for me, and I wonder the old 
 woman don't make him climb down. What do you 
 think ? " 
 
 "Who is Don Csesar?" asked Slinn. 
 
 "The man what picked you up that day. I mean," 
 continued Mulrady, seeing the marks of evident ignorance 
 on the old man's face, "I mean a sort of grave, genteel 
 chap, suthiii' between a parson and a circus-rider. You 
 might have seen him round the house talkin' to your 
 gals." 
 
 But Slinn's entire forgetfulness of Don Caesar was evi- 
 dently unfeigned. Whatever sudden accession of memory 
 he had at the time of his attack, the incident that caused 
 it had no part in his recollection. With the exception of 
 these rare intervals of domestic confidences with his crip- 
 pled private secretary, Mulrady gave himself up to money- 
 getting. Without any especial faculty for it an easy 
 prey often to unscrupulous financiers his unfailing luck, 
 however, carried him safely through, until his very mis- 
 takes seemed to be simply insignificant means to a large 
 significant end and a part of his original plan. He sank 
 another shaft, at a great expense, with a view to follow- 
 ing the lead he had formerly found, against the opinions 
 of the best mining engineers, and struck the artesian 
 spring he did not find at that time, with a volume of water 
 that enabled him not only to work his own mine, but to 
 furnish supplies to his less fortunate neighbors at a vast 
 profit. A league of tangled forest and canon behind 
 Rough-and-Ready, for which he had paid Don Ramon's 
 heirs an extravagant price in the presumption that it was 
 auriferous, furnished the most accessible timber to build 
 
308 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 the town, at prices which amply remunerated him. The 
 practical schemes of experienced men, the wildest visions 
 of daring dreams delayed or abortive for want of capital, 
 eventually fell into his hands. Men sneered at his 
 methods, but bought his shares. Some who affected to 
 regard him simply as a man of money were content to get 
 only his name to any enterprise. Courted by his superiors, 
 quoted by his equals, and admired by his inferiors, he bore 
 his elevation equally without ostentation or dignity. Bid- 
 den to banquets, and forced by his position as director or 
 president into the usual gastronomic feats of that civiliza- 
 tion and period, he partook of simple food, and continued 
 his old habit of taking a cup of coffee with milk and sugar, 
 at dinner. Without professing temperance, he drank spar- 
 ingly in a community where alcoholic stimulation was a 
 custom. With neither refinement nor an extended vocabu- 
 lary, he was seldom profane, and never indelicate. With 
 nothing of the Puritan in his manner or conversation, he 
 seemed to be as strange to the vices of civilization as he 
 was to its virtues. That such a man should offer little to 
 and receive little from the companionship of women of any 
 kind was a foregone conclusion. Without the dignity of 
 solitude, he was pathetically alone. 
 
 Meantime, the days passed ; the first six months of his 
 opulence were drawing to a close, ancl in that interval he 
 had more than doubled the amount of his discovered for- 
 tune. The rainy season set in early. Although it dissi- 
 pated the clouds of dust under which Nature and Art 
 seemed to be slowly disappearing, it brought little beauty 
 to the landscape at first, and only appeared to lay bare the 
 crudenesses of civilization. The unpainted wooden buildings 
 of Rough-and-Ready, soaked and dripping with rain, took 
 upon themselves a sleek and shining ugliness, as of sec- 
 ond-hand garments ; the absence of cornices or projections 
 to break the monotony of the long straight lines of down- 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 309 
 
 pour made the town appear as if it had been recently sub- 
 merged, every vestige of ornamentation swept away, and 
 only the bare outlines left. Mud was everywhere ; the 
 outer soil seemed to have risen and invaded the houses even 
 to their most secret recesses, as if outraged Nature was try- 
 ing to revenge herself. Mud was brought into the saloons and 
 bar-rooms and express offices on boots, on clothes, on bag- 
 gage, and sometimes appeared mysteriously in splashes of 
 red color on the walls, without visible conveyance. The 
 dust of six months, closely packed in cornice and carving, 
 yielded under the steady rain a thin yellow paint, that 
 dropped on wayfarers or unexpectedly oozed out of ceilings 
 and walls on the wretched inhabitants within. The out- 
 skirts of Kough-and-Ready and the dried hills round Los 
 Gatos did not appear to fare much better ; the new vegeta- 
 tion had not yet made much headway against the dead 
 grasses of the summer ; the pines in the hollow wept lugu- 
 briously into a small rivulet that had sprung suddenly into 
 life near the old trail ; everywhere was the sound of drop- 
 ping, splashing, gurgling, or rushing waters. 
 
 More hideous than ever, the new Mulrady house lifted 
 itself against the leaden sky, and stared with all its large- 
 framed, shutterless windows blankly on the prospect, until 
 they seemed to the wayfarer to become mere mirrors set in 
 the walls, reflecting only the watery landscape, and unable 
 to give the least indication of light or heat within. Never- 
 theless, there was a fire in Mulrady's private office that 
 December afternoon, of a smoky, intermittent variety, that 
 sufficed more to record the defects of hasty architecture 
 than to comfort the millionaire and his private secretary, 
 who had lingered after the early withdrawal of the clerks. 
 For the next day was Christmas, and, out of deference to 
 the near approach of this festivity, a half holiday had been 
 given to the employees. " They '11 want, some of them, to 
 spend their money before to-morrow j and others would 
 
310 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 like to be able to rise up comfortably drunk Christmas morn- 
 ing," the superintendent had suggested. Mr. Mulrady 
 had just signed a number of checks indicating his largess 
 to those devoted adherents with the same unostentatious, 
 undemonstrative, matter-of-fact manner that distinguished 
 his ordinary business. The men had received it with some- 
 thing of the same manner. A half -humorous " Thank you, 
 sir " as if to show that, with their patron, they tolerated 
 this deference to a popular custom, but were a little ashamed 
 of giving way to it expressed their gratitude and their 
 independence. 
 
 " I reckon that the old lady and Mamie are having a 
 high old time in some of them gilded pallises in St. Peters- 
 burg or Berlin about this time. Them diamonds that I or- 
 dered at Tiffany ought to have reached 'em about now, so 
 that Mamie could cut a swell at Christmas with her war- 
 paint. I suppose it 's the style to give presents in furrin 
 countries ez it is here, and I allowed to the old lady that 
 whatever she orders in that way she is to do in Californy 
 style no dollar-jewelry and galvanized- watches business. 
 If she wants to make a present to any of them nobles ez 
 has been purlite to her, it 's got to be something that 
 Rough-and-Ready ain't ashamed of. I showed you that 
 pin Mamie bought me in Paris, did n't I ? It 's just come 
 for my Christmas present. No ! I reckon I put it in the 
 safe, for them kind o' things don't suit my style : but 
 s'pose I orter sport it to-morrow. It was mighty thought- 
 ful in Mamie, and it must cost a lump ; it 's got no slouch 
 of a pearl in it. I wonder what Mamie gave for it ? " 
 
 " You can easily tell ; the bill is here. You paid it yes- 
 terday," said Slinn. There was no satire in the man's 
 voice, nor was there the least perception of irony in Mul- 
 rady's manner, as he returned quietly : 
 
 " That 's so ; it was suthin' like a thousand francs ; but 
 French money, when you pan it out as dollars and cents, 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 311 
 
 don't make so much, after all." There was a few moments' 
 silence, when he continued, in the same tone of voice : 
 " Talkin' o' them things, Slinn, I 've got suthin' for you." 
 He stopped suddenly. Ever watchful of any undue excite- 
 ment in the invalid, he had noticed a slight flush of disturb- 
 ance pass over his face, and continued carelessly, "But 
 we '11 talk it over to-morrow ; a day or two don't make 
 much difference to you and me in such things, you know. 
 P'r'aps I '11 drop in and see you. We '11 be shut up 
 here." 
 
 " Then you 're going out somewhere ? " asked Slinn 
 mechanically. 
 
 " No," said Mulrady hesitatingly. It had suddenly oc- 
 curred to him that he had nowhere to go, if he wanted to, 
 and he continued, half in explanation, " I ain't reckoned 
 much on Christmas myself. Abner 's at the Springs ; it 
 would n't pay him to come here for a day even if there 
 was anybody here he cared to see. I reckon I '11 hang 
 round the shanty, and look after things generally. I 
 have n't been over the house upstairs to put things to 
 rights since the folks left. But you needn't come here, 
 you know." 
 
 He helped the old man to rise, assisted him in putting 
 on his overcoat, and then handed him the cane which had 
 lately replaced his crutches. 
 
 " Good-by, old man ! You must n't trouble yourself to 
 say f Merry Christmas ' now, but wait until you see me 
 again. Take care of yourself." 
 
 He slapped him lightly on the shoulder, and went back 
 into his private office. He worked for some time at his 
 desk, and then laid his pen aside, put away his papers me- 
 thodically, placing a large envelope on his private secre- 
 tary's vacant table. He then opened the office door and 
 ascended the staircase. He stopped on the first landing to 
 listen to the sound of rain on the glass skylight, that 
 
312 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 seemed to echo through the empty hall like the gloomy roll 
 of a drum. It was evident that the searching water had 
 found out the secret sins of the house's construction, for 
 there were great fissures of discoloration in the white and 
 gold paper in the corners of the wall. There was a strange 
 odor of the dank forest in the mirrored drawing-room, as if 
 the rain had brought out the sap again from the unseasoned 
 timbers ; the blue and white satin furniture looked cold, 
 and the marble mantels and centre- tables had taken upon 
 themselves the clamminess of tombstones. Mr. Mulrady, 
 who had always retained his old farmer-like habit of taking 
 off his coat with his hat on entering his own house, and 
 appearing in his shirt-sleeves, to indicate domestic ease and 
 security, was obliged to replace it, on account of the chill. 
 He had never felt at home in this room. Its strangeness 
 had lately been heightened by Mrs. Mulrady's purchase of 
 a family portrait of some one she did n't know, but who, 
 she had alleged, resembled her " Uncle Bob," which hung 
 on the wall beside some paintings in massive frames. Mr. 
 Mulrady cast a hurried glance at the portrait that, on the 
 strength of a high coat-collar and high top curl, both 
 rolled with equal precision and singular sameness of color, 
 had always glared at Mulrady as if lie was the intruder, 
 and, passing through his wife's gorgeous bedroom, entered 
 the little dressing-room, where he still slept on the smallest 
 of cots, with hastily improvised surroundings, as if he was a 
 bailiff in " possession." He did n't linger here long, but, 
 taking a key from a drawer, continued up the staircase, to 
 the ominous funeral marches of the beating rain on the 
 skylight, and paused on the landing to glance into his son's 
 and daughter's bedrooms, duplicates of the bizarre extrava- 
 gance below. If he were seeking some characteristic traces 
 of his absent family, they certainly were not here in the 
 painted and still damp blazoning of their later successes. 
 He ascended another staircase, and, passing to the wing of 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 313 
 
 the house, paused before a small door, which was locked. 
 Already the ostentatious decorations of wall and passages 
 were left behind, and the plain lath-and-plaster partition of 
 the attic lay before him. He unlocked the door, and threw 
 it open. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE apartment he entered was really only a lumber- 
 room or loft over the wing of the house, which had been 
 left bare and unfinished, and which revealed in its meagre 
 skeleton of beams and joints the hollow sham of the whole 
 structure. But in more violent contrast to the fresher 
 glories of the other part of the house were its contents, 
 which were the heterogeneous collection of old furniture, 
 old luggage, and cast-off clothing, left over from the past 
 life in the old cabin. It was a much plainer record of the 
 simple beginnings of the family than Mrs. Mulrady cared 
 to have remain in evidence, and for that reason it had 
 been relegated to the hidden recesses of the new house, in 
 the hope that it might absorb or digest it. There were 
 old cribs, in which the infant limbs of Mamie and Abner 
 had been tucked up ; old looking-glasses, that had reflected 
 their shining, soapy faces, and Mamie's best chip Sunday 
 hat ; an old sewing-machine, that had been worn out in 
 active service ; old patchwork quilts ; an old accordion, to 
 whose long-drawn inspirations Mamie had sung hymns ; 
 old pictures, books, and old toys. There were one or two 
 old chromos, and, stuck in an old frame, a colored print 
 from the " Illustrated London News " of a Christmas 
 gathering in an old English country house. He stopped 
 and picked up this print, which he had often seen before, 
 gazing at it with a new and singular interest. He won- 
 dered if Mamie had seen anything of this kind in England, 
 and why could n't he have had something like it here, in 
 their own fine house, with themselves and a few friends ? 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 315 
 
 He remembered a past Christmas, when he had bought 
 Mamie that now headless doll with the few coins that were 
 left him after buying their frugal Christmas dinner. There 
 was an old spotted hobby-horse that another Christmas had 
 brought to Abner Abner, who would be driving a fast 
 trotter to-morrow at the Springs ! How everything had 
 changed ! How they all had got up in the world, and 
 how far beyond this kind of thing and yet yet it 
 would have been rather comfortable to have all been to- 
 gether again here. Would they have been more comfort- 
 able ? No ! Yet then he might have had something to 
 do, and been less lonely to-morrow. What of that ? He 
 had something to do : to look after this immense fortune. 
 What more could a man want, or should he want ? It 
 was rather mean in him, able to give his wife and children 
 everything they wanted, to be wanting anything more. 
 He laid down the print gently, after dusting its glass and 
 frame with his silk handkerchief, and slowly left the room. 
 The drum-beat of the rain followed him down the stair- 
 case, but he shut it out with his other thoughts, when he 
 again closed the door of his office. He sat diligently to 
 work by the declining winter light, until he was interrupted 
 by the entrance of his Chinese waiter to tell him that 
 supper which was the meal that Mulrady religiously ad- 
 hered to in place of the late dinner of civilization was 
 ready in the dining-room. Mulrady mechanically obeyed 
 the summons ; but on entering the room, the oasis of a few 
 plates in a desert of white table-cloth which awaited him 
 made him hesitate. In its best aspect, the high dark 
 Gothic mahogany ecclesiastical sideboard and chairs of this 
 room, which looked like the appointments of a mortuary 
 chapel, were not exhilarating ; and to-day, in the light of 
 the rain-filmed windows and the feeble rays of a lamp half 
 obscured by the dark, shining walls, it was most depress- 
 ing. 
 
316 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 " You kin take up supper into my office," said Mulrady, 
 with a sudden inspiration. " I '11 eat it there." 
 
 He ate it there, with his usual healthy appetite, which 
 did not require even the stimulation of company. He had 
 just finished, when his Irish cook the one female ser- 
 vant of the house came to ask permission to be absent 
 that evening and the next day. 
 
 " I suppose the likes of your honor won't be at home on 
 the Christmas Day ? And it 's me cousins from the old 
 counthry at Rough-and -Ready that are invitin' me." 
 
 " Why don't you ask them over here ? " said Mulrady, 
 with another vague inspiration. " I '11 stand treat." 
 
 "Lord preserve you for a jinerous gintleman ! But it 's 
 the likes of them and myself that would n't be at home 
 here on such a day." 
 
 There was so much truth in this that Mulrady checked 
 a sigh as he gave the required permission, without saying 
 that he had intended to remain. He could cook his own 
 breakfast : he had done it before ; and it would be some- 
 thing to occupy him. As to his dinner, perhaps he could 
 go to the hotel at Rough-and-Ready. He worked on until 
 the night had well advanced. Then, overcome with a cer- 
 tain restlessness that disturbed him, he was forced to put 
 his books and papers away. It had begun to blow in fitful 
 gusts, and occasionally the rain was driven softly across 
 the panes like the passing of childish fingers. This dis- 
 turbed him more than the monotony of silence, for he was 
 not a nervous man. He seldom read a book, and the 
 county paper furnished him only the financial and mercan- 
 tile news which was part of his business. He knew he 
 could not sleep if he went to bed. At last he rose, opened 
 the window, and looked out from pure idleness of occupa- 
 tion. A splash of wheels in the distant muddy road and 
 fragments of a drunken song showed signs of an early wan- 
 dering reveler. There were no lights to be seen at the 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 317 
 
 closed works ; a profound darkness encompassed the house, 
 as if the distant pines in the hollow had moved up and 
 round it. The silence was broken now only by the occa- 
 sional sighing of wind and rain. It was not an inviting 
 night for a perfunctory walk ; but an idea struck him 
 he would call upon the Slinns, and anticipate his next 
 day's visit ! They would probably have company, and be 
 glad to see him : he could tell the girls of Mamie and her 
 success. That he had not thought of this before was a 
 proof of his usual self-contained isolation ; that he thought 
 of it now was an equal proof that he was becoming at last 
 accessible to loneliness. He was angry with himself for 
 what seemed to him a selfish weakness. 
 
 He returned to his office, and, putting the envelope that 
 had been lying on Slinn's desk in his pocket, threw a serape 
 over his shoulders, and locked the front door of the house 
 behind him. It was well that the way was a familiar one 
 to him, and that his feet instinctively found the trail, for 
 the night was very dark. At times he was warned only 
 by the gurgling of water of little rivulets that descended 
 the hill and crossed his path. Without the slightest fear, 
 and with neither imagination nor sensitiveness, he recalled 
 how, the winter before, one of Don Caesar's vaqueros, cross- 
 ing this hill at night, had fallen down the chasm of a land- 
 slip caused by the rain, and was found the next morning 
 with his neck broken in the gully. Don Csesar had to take 
 care of the man's family. Suppose such an accident should 
 happen to him ? Well, he had made his will. His wife 
 and children would be provided for, and the work of the 
 mine would go on all the same ; he had arranged for that. 
 Would anybody miss him ? Would his wife, or his son, 
 or his daughter ? No. He felt such a sudden and over- 
 whelming conviction of the truth of this, that he stopped 
 as suddenly as if the chasm had opened before him. No ! 
 It was the truth, If he were to disappear forever in the 
 
318 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 darkness of the Christmas night, there was none to feel 
 his loss. His wife would take care of Mamie ; his son 
 would take care of himself, as he had before relieved of 
 even the scant paternal authority he rebelled against. A 
 more imaginative man than Mulrady would have combated 
 or have followed out this idea, and then dismissed it ; to 
 the millionaire's matter-of-fact mind it was a deduction 
 that, having once presented itself to his perception, was 
 already a recognized fact. For the first time in his life he 
 felt a sudden instinct of something like aversion towards 
 his family, a feeling that even his son's dissipation and 
 criminality had never provoked. He hurried on angrily 
 through the darkness. 
 
 It was very strange ; the old house should be almost 
 before him now, across the hollow, yet there were no indi- 
 cations of light ! It was not until he actually reached the 
 garden-fence, and the black bulk of shadow rose out against 
 the sky, that he saw a faint ray of light from one of the 
 lean-to windows. He went to the front door and knocked. 
 After waiting in vain for a reply, he knocked again. The 
 second knock proving equally futile, he tried the door ; it 
 was unlocked, and, pushing it open, he walked in. The 
 narrow passage was quite dark ; but from his knowledge of 
 the house he knew the " lean-to " was next to the kitchen, 
 and, passing through the dining-room into it, he opened 
 the door of the little room from which the light proceeded. 
 It came from a single candle on a small table ; and beside it, 
 with his eyes moodily fixed on the dying embers of the fire, 
 sat old Slinn. There was no other light nor another human 
 being in the whole house. 
 
 For the instant Mulrady, forgetting his own feelings in 
 the mute picture of the utter desolation of the helpless 
 man, remained speechless on the threshold. Then, recalling 
 himself, he stepped forward and laid his hand gayly on the 
 bowed shoulders. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 319 
 
 " Rouse up out o' this, old man ! Come ! this won't do. 
 Look ! I 've run over here in the rain, jist to have a socia- 
 ble time with you all." 
 
 " I knew it," said the old man, without looking up ; "I 
 knew you'd come." 
 
 " You knew I 'd come ? " echoed Mulrady, with an 
 uneasy return of the strange feeling of awe with which he 
 regarded Slinn's abstraction. 
 
 " Yes ; you were alone like myself all alone ! " 
 
 " Then, why in thunder did n't you open the door or sing 
 out just now ? " he said, with an affected brusquerie to 
 cover his uneasiness. " Where 's your daughters ? " 
 
 " Gone to Rough-and-Ready to a party." 
 
 " And your son ? " 
 
 " He never comes here when he can amuse himself else- 
 where." 
 
 " Your children might have stayed home on Christmas 
 Eve." 
 
 " So might yours." 
 
 He didn't say this impatiently, but with a certain ab- 
 stracted conviction far beyond any suggestion of its being a 
 retort. Mulrady did not appear to notice it. 
 
 " Well, I don't see why us old folks can't enjoy ourselves 
 without them," said Mulrady, with affected cheerfulness. 
 " Let 's have a good time, you and me. Let 's see you 
 have n't any one you can send to my house, hev you ? " 
 
 " They took the servant with them," said Slinn briefly. 
 " There is no one here." 
 
 " All right," said the millionaire briskly. " I '11 go my- 
 self. Do you think you could manage to light up a little 
 more, and build a fire in the kitchen while I 'm gone ? It 
 used to be mighty comfortable in the old times." 
 
 He helped the old man to rise from his chair, and seemed 
 to have infused into him some of his own energy. He then 
 added, " Now, don't you get yourself down again into that 
 
320 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 chair until I come back," and darted out into the night once 
 more. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour he returned with a bag on his 
 broad shoulders which one of his porters would have shrunk 
 from lifting, and laid it before the blazing hearth of the 
 now-lighted kitchen. " It 's something the old woman got 
 for her party, that didn't come off," he said apologetically. 
 "I reckon we can pick out enough for a spread. That 
 darned Chinaman would n't come with me," he added, with 
 a laugh, " because, he said, he 'd knocked off work ' allee 
 same, Mellican man ! ' Look here, Slinn," he said, with a 
 sudden decisiveness, " my pay-roll of the men around here 
 don't run short of a hundred and fifty dollars a day, and yet 
 I could n't get a hand to help me bring this truck over for 
 my Christmas dinner." 
 
 " Of course," said Slinn gloomily. 
 
 " Of course ; so it oughter be," returned Mulrady shortly. 
 " Why, it 's only their one day out of 364 ; and I can have 
 363 days off, as I am their boss. I don't mind a man's 
 being independent," he continued, taking off his coat and 
 beginning to unpack his sack a common " gunny bag " 
 used for potatoes. " We 're independent ourselves, ain't we, 
 Slinn ? " 
 
 His good spirits, which had been at first labored and 
 affected, had become natural. Slinn, looking at his brightened 
 eye and fresher color, could not help thinking he was more 
 like his own real self at this moment than in his counting- 
 house and offices with all his simplicity as a capitalist. 
 A less abstracted and more observant critic than Slinn would 
 have seen in this patient aptitude for real work, and the 
 recognition of the force of petty detail, the dominance of the 
 old market-gardener in his former humble, as well as his 
 later more ambitious successes. 
 
 " Heaven keep us from being dependent upon our chil- 
 dren ! " said Slinn darkly. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 321 
 
 " Let the young ones alone to-night ; we can get along 
 without them, as they can without us/' said Mulrady, with 
 a slight twinge as he thought of his reflections on the hill- 
 side. " But look here, there 's some champagne and them 
 sweet cordials that women like j there 's jellies and such like 
 stuff, about as good as they make 'em, I reckon ; and pre- 
 serves, and tongues, and spiced beef take your pick ! 
 Stop, let 's spread them out." He dragged the table to the 
 middle of the floor, and piled the provisions upon it. They 
 certainly were not deficient in quality or quantity. " Now, 
 Slinn, wade in." 
 
 " I don't feel hungry," said the invalid, who had lapsed 
 again into a chair before the fire. 
 
 " No more do I," said Mulrady ; " but I reckon it 's the 
 right thing to do about this time. Some folks think they 
 can't be happy without they 're getting outside o' suthin', 
 and my directors down at 'Frisco can't do any business 
 without a dinner. Take some champagne, to begin with." 
 
 He opened a bottle, and filled two tumblers. " It 's past 
 twelve o'clock, old man, so here 's a Merry Christmas to you, 
 and both of us ez is here. And here 's another to our 
 families ez is n't." 
 
 They both drank their wine stolidly. The rain beat 
 against the windows sharply, but without the hollow echoes 
 of the house on the hill. " I must write to the old woman 
 and Mamie, and say that you and me had a high old time 
 on Christmas Eve." 
 
 " By ourselves," added the invalid. 
 
 Mr. Mulrady coughed. " Nat' rally by ourselves. And 
 her provisions," he added, with a laugh. " We 're really 
 beholden to her for 'em. If she had n't thought of having 
 them " - 
 
 " For somebody else, you would n't have had them 
 would you ? " said Slinn slowly, gazing at the fire. 
 
 " No," said Mulrady dubiously. After a pause he began 
 
322 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 more vivaciously, and as if to shake off some disagreeable 
 thought that was impressing him. " But I must n't forget to 
 give you your Christmas, old man, and I 've got it right 
 here with me." He took the folded envelope from his 
 pocket, and, holding it in his hand with his elbow on the 
 table, continued : " I don't mind telling you what idea I had 
 in giving you what I 'm goin' to give you now. I 've been 
 thinking about it for a day or two. A man like you don't 
 want money you would n't spend it. A man like you 
 don't want stocks or fancy investments, for you could n't 
 look after them. A man like you don't want diamonds and 
 jewellery, nor a gold-headed cane, when it 's got to be used 
 as a crutch. No, sir. What you want is suthin' that won't 
 run away from you ; that is always there before you and 
 won't wear out, and will last after you 're gone. That 's 
 land ! And if it was n't that I have sworn never to sell or 
 give away this house and that garden, if it was n't that I 've 
 held out agin the old woman and Mamie on that point, you 
 should have this house and that garden. But, mebbe, for 
 the same reason that I 've told you, I want that land to 
 keep for myself. But I 've selected four acres of the hill 
 this side of my shaft, and here's the deed of it. As soon 
 as you 're ready, I '11 put you up a house as big as this 
 that shall be yours, with the land, as long as you live, old 
 man ; and after that your children's." 
 
 " No ; not theirs ! " broke in the old man passionately. 
 "Never!" 
 
 Mulrady recoiled for an instant in alarm at the sudden 
 and unexpected vehemence of his manner. " Go slow, old 
 man; go slow," he said soothingly. "Of course, you'll 
 do with your own as you like." Then, as if changing the 
 subject, he went on cheerfully : " Perhaps you '11 wonder 
 why I picked out that spot on the hillside. Well, first, 
 because I reserved it after my strike in case the lead should 
 run that way, but it did n't. Next, because when you first 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 323 
 
 came here you seemed to like the prospect. You used to 
 sit there looking at it, as if it reminded you of something. 
 You never said it did. They say you was sitting on that 
 boulder there when you had that last attack, you know ; 
 but," he added gently, " you 've forgotten all about it." 
 
 " I have forgotten nothing," said Slinn, rising, with a 
 choking voice. " I wish to God I had ; I wish to God I 
 could ! " 
 
 He was on his feet now, supporting himself by the table. 
 The subtle generous liquor he had drunk had evidently 
 shaken his self-control, and burst those voluntary bonds he 
 had put upon himself for the last six months ; the insidi- 
 ous stimulant had also put a strange vigor into his blood 
 and nerves. His face was flushed, but not distorted ; his 
 eyes were brilliant, but not fixed ; he looked as he might 
 have looked to Masters in his strength three years before 
 on that very hillside. 
 
 " Listen to me, Alvin Mulrady," he said, leaning over 
 him with burning eyes. " Listen, while I have brain to 
 think and strength to utter, why I have learnt to distrust, 
 fear, and hate them ! You think you know my story. 
 Well, hear the truth from me to-night, Alvin Mulrady, and 
 do not wonder if I have cause." 
 
 He stopped, and, with pathetic inefficiency, passed the 
 fingers and inward-turned thumb of his paralyzed hand 
 across his mouth, as if to calm himself. " Three years ago 
 I was a miner, but not a miner like you ! I had experience, 
 I had scientific knowledge, I had a theory, and the patience 
 and energy to carry it out. I selected a spot that had all 
 the indications, made a tunnel, and, without aid, counsel, or 
 assistance of any kind, worked it for six months, without 
 rest or cessation, and with scarcely food enough to sustain 
 jny body. Well, I made a strike ; not like you, Mulrady, 
 not a blunder of good luck, a fool's fortune there, I don't 
 blame you for it but in perfect demonstration of my 
 
324 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 theory, the reward of my labor. It was no pocket, but a 
 vein, a lead, that I had regularly hunted down and found 
 a fortune ! 
 
 " I never knew how hard I had worked until that morn- 
 ing ; I never knew what privations I had undergone until 
 that moment of my success, when I found I could scarcely 
 think or move ! I staggered out into the open air. The 
 only human soul near me was a disappointed prospector, a 
 man named Masters, who had a tunnel not far away. I 
 managed to conceal from him my good fortune and my 
 feeble state, for I was suspicious of him of any one; and 
 as he was going away that day I thought I could keep my 
 secret until he was gone. I was dizzy and confused, but I 
 remember that I managed to write a letter to my wife, tell- 
 ing her of my good fortune, and begging her to come to 
 me j and I remember that I saw Masters go. I don't re- 
 member anything else. They picked me up on the road, 
 near that boulder, as you know." 
 
 " I know," said Mulrady, with a swift recollection of the 
 stage-driver's account of his discovery. 
 
 " They say," continued Slinn tremblingly, " that I never 
 recovered my senses or consciousness for nearly three years ; 
 they say I lost my memory completely during my illness, 
 and that by God's mercy, while I lay in that hospital, I 
 knew no more than a babe ; they say, because I could not 
 speak or move, and only had my food as nature required it, 
 that I was an imbecile, and that I never really came to my 
 senses until after my son found me in the hospital. They 
 say that but I tell you to-night, Alvin Mulrady," he 
 said, raising his voice to a hoarse outcry, " I tell you that 
 it is a lie ! I came to my senses a week after I lay on that 
 hospital cot ; I kept my senses and memory ever after dur- 
 ing the three years that I was there, until Harry brought 
 his cold, hypocritical face to my bedside and recognized me. 
 Do you understand ? I, the possessor of millions, lay there 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 325 
 
 a pauper ! Deserted by wife and children a spectacle for 
 the curious, a sport for the doctors and I knew it ! I 
 heard them speculate on the cause of my helplessness. 
 I heard them talk of excesses and indulgences I, that 
 never knew wine or woman ! I heard a preacher speak 
 of the finger of God, and point to me. May God curse 
 him ! " 
 
 " Go slow, old man ; go slow," said Mulrady gently. 
 
 " I heard them speak of me as a friendless man, an out- 
 cast, a criminal, a being whom no one would claim. 
 They were right; no one claimed me. The friends of 
 others visited them ; relations came and took away their 
 kindred ; a few lucky ones got well ; a few, equally lucky, 
 died ! I alone lived on, uncared for, deserted. 
 
 " The first year," he went on more rapidly, " I prayed 
 for their coming. I looked for them every day. I never 
 lost hope. I said to myself, l She has not got my letter ; 
 but when the time passes she will be alarmed by my silence, 
 and then she will come or send some one to seek me.' A 
 young student got interested in my case, and, by studying 
 my eyes, thought that I was not entirely imbecile and un- 
 conscious. With the aid of an alphabet, he got me to spell 
 my name and town in Illinois, and promised by signs to 
 write to my family. But in an evil moment I told him of 
 my cursed fortune, and in that moment I saw that he 
 thought me a fool and an idiot. He went away, and I saw 
 him no more. Yet I still hoped. I dreamed of their joy 
 at finding me, and the reward that my wealth would give 
 them. Perhaps I was a little weak still, perhaps a little 
 flighty, too, at times; but I was quite happy that year, 
 even in my disappointment, for I still had hope ! " 
 
 He paused, and again composed his face with his paralyzed 
 hand; but his manner had become less excited, and his 
 voice was stronger. 
 
 ft A change must have come over me the second year, for 
 
326 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 I only dreaded their coming now and finding me so altered. 
 A horrible idea that they might, like the student, believe 
 me crazy if I spoke of my fortune made me pray to God 
 that they might not reach me until after I had regained my 
 health and strength and found my fortune. When the 
 third year found me still there I no longer prayed for 
 them I cursed them ! I swore to myself that they should 
 never enjoy my wealth ; but I wanted to live, and let them 
 know I had it. I found myself getting stronger ; but as 
 I had no money, no friends, and nowhere to go, I con- 
 cealed my real condition from the doctors, except to give 
 them my name, and to try to get some little work to do 
 to enable me to leave the hospital and seek my lost trea- 
 sure. One day I found out by accident that it had been 
 discovered ! You understand my treasure ! that had 
 cost me years of labor and my reason ; had left me a help- 
 less, forgotten pauper. That gold I had never enjoyed had 
 been found and taken possession of by another ! " 
 
 He checked an exclamation from Mulrady with his hand. 
 " They say they picked me up senseless from the floor, 
 where I must have fallen when I heard the news I don't 
 remember I recall nothing until I was confronted, nearly 
 three weeks after, by my son, who had called at the hospi- 
 tal, as a reporter for a paper, and had accidentally dis- 
 covered me through my name and appearance. He thought 
 me crazy, or a fool. I did n't undeceive him. I did not 
 tell him the story of the mine to excite his doubts and 
 derision, or, worse (if I could bring proof to claim it), have 
 it perhaps pass into his ungrateful hands. No ; I said 
 nothing. I let him bring me here. He could do no less, 
 and common decency obliged him to do that." 
 
 " And what proof could you show of your claim ? " asked 
 Mulrady gravely. 
 
 "If I had that letter if I could find Masters," began 
 Slinn vaguely. 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 327 
 
 " Have you any idea where the letter is, or what has be- 
 come of Masters ? " continued Mulrady, with a matter-of- 
 fact gravity that seemed to increase Slum's vagueness and 
 excite his irritability. 
 
 " I don't know I sometimes think " He stopped, 
 sat down again, and passed his hands across his forehead. 
 " I have seen the letter somewhere since. Yes," he went 
 on with sudden vehemence, " I know it, I have seen it ! 
 I " His brows knitted, his features began to work con- 
 vulsively ; he suddenly brought his paralyzed hand down, 
 partly opened, upon the table. " I will remember where." 
 
 " Go slow, old man ; go slow." 
 
 "You asked me once about my visions. Well, that is 
 one of them. I remember a man somewhere showing me 
 that letter. I have taken it from his hands and opened it, 
 and knew it was mine by the specimens of gold that were 
 in it. But where or when or what became of it, I 
 cannot tell. It will come to me it must come to me 
 soon." 
 
 He turned his eyes upon Mulrady, who was regarding 
 him with an expression of grave curiosity, and said bitterly, 
 " You think me crazy. I know it. It needed only this." 
 
 " Where is this mine ? " asked Mulrady, without heed- 
 ing him. 
 
 The old man's eyes swiftly sought the ground. 
 
 " It is a secret, then ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " You have spoken of it to any one ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Not to the man who possesses it ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Because I would n't take it from him." 
 
 " Why would n't you ? " 
 
 " Because that man is yourself ! " 
 
328 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 In the instant of complete silence that followed they 
 could hear that the monotonous patter of rain on the roof 
 had ceased. 
 
 " Then all this was in my shaft, and the vein I thought 
 I struck there was your lead, found three years ago in your 
 tunnel. Is that your idea ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then I don't sabe why you don't want to claim it." 
 
 " I have told you why I don't want it for my children. 
 I go further, now, and I tell you, Alvin Mulrady, that I 
 was willing that your children should squander it, as they 
 were doing. It has only heen a curse to me ; it could 
 only he a curse to them ; hut I thought you were happy 
 in seeing it feed selfishness and vanity. You think me 
 bitter and hard. Well, I should have left you in your 
 fool's paradise, but that I saw to-night, when you came 
 here, that your eyes had been opened like mine. You, 
 the possessor of my wealth, my treasure, could not buy 
 your children's loving care and company with your mil- 
 lions, any more than I could keep mine in my poverty. 
 You were to-night lonely and forsaken, as I was. We 
 were equal, for the first time in our lives. If that cursed 
 gold had dropped down the shaft between us into the hell 
 from which it sprang, we might have clasped hands like 
 brothers across the chasm." 
 
 Mulrady, who in a friendly show of being at his ease 
 had not yet resumed his coat, rose in his shirt-sleeves, and, 
 standing before the hearth, straightened his square figure 
 by drawing down his waistcoat on each side with two 
 powerful thumbs. After a moment's contemplative sur- 
 vey of the floor between him and the speaker, he raised 
 his eyes to Slinn. They were small and colorless ; the 
 forehead above them was low, and crowned with a shock 
 of tawny reddish hair ; even the rude strength of his lower 
 features was enfeebled by a long, straggling, goat-like 
 
Go slow, old man j go slow 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 329 
 
 beard ; but for the first time in his life the whole face was 
 impressed and transformed with a strong and simple dig- 
 nity. 
 
 " Ez far ez I kin see, Slinn," he said gravely, " the 
 pint between you and me ain't to be settled by our chil- 
 dren, or wot we allow is doo and right from them to us. 
 Afore we preach at them for playing in the slumgullion, 
 and gettin' themselves splashed, perhaps we mout ez well 
 remember that that thar slumgullion comes from our own 
 sluice-boxes, where we wash our gold. So we '11 just put 
 them behind us, so," he continued, with a backward sweep 
 of his powerful hand towards the chimney, " and goes on. 
 The next thing that crops up ahead of us is your three 
 years in the hospital, and wot you went through at that 
 time. I ain't sayin' it was n't rough on you, and that you 
 did n't have it about as big as it 's made ; but ez you '11 
 allow that you 'd hev had that for three years, whether I 'd 
 found your mine or whether I had n't, I think we can put 
 that behind us, too. There 's nothin' now left to prospect 
 but your story of your strike. Well, take your own 
 proofs. Masters is not here ; and if he was, accordin' to 
 your own story, he knows nothin' of your strike that day, 
 and could only prove you were a disappointed prospector 
 in a tunnel ; your letter that the person you wrote to 
 never got you can't produce ; and if you did, would be 
 only your own story without proof ! There is not a busi- 
 ness man ez would look at your claim ; there is n't a friend 
 of yours that would n't believe you were crazy, and dreamed 
 it all ; there is n't a rival of yours ez would n't say ez 
 you 'd invented it. Slinn, I 'm a business man I am 
 your friend I am your rival but I don't think you 're 
 lyin' I don't think you're crazy and I'm not sure 
 your claim ain't a good one ! 
 
 "Ef you reckon from that that I 'm goin' to hand you 
 over the mine to-morrow," he went on, after a pause, raising 
 
330 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 his hand with a deprecating gesture, " you 're mistaken. 
 For your own sake, and the sake of my wife and children, 
 you 've got to prove it more clearly than you hev ; but I 
 promise you that from this night forward I will spare neither 
 time nor money to help you to do it. I have more than 
 doubled the amount that you would have had, had you 
 taken the mine the day you came from the hospital. When 
 you prove to me that your story is true and we will find 
 some way to prove it, if it is true that amount will be 
 yours at once, without the need of a word from law or law- 
 yers. If you want my name to that in black and white, 
 come to the office to-morrow, and you shall have it." 
 
 " And you think I '11 take it now ? " said the old man 
 passionately. " Do you think that your charity will bring 
 back my dead wife, the three years of my lost life, the love 
 and respect of my children ? Or do you think that your 
 own wife and children, who deserted you in your wealth, 
 will come back to you in your poverty ? No ! Let the mine 
 stay, with its curse, where it is I '11 have none of it ! " 
 
 " Go slow, old man ; go slow," said Mulrady quietly, 
 putting on his coat. " You will take the mine if it is yours ; 
 if it is n't I '11 keep it. If it is yours, you will give your 
 children a chance to show what they can do for you in your 
 sudden prosperity, as I shall give mine a chance to show 
 how they can stand reverse and disappointment. If my 
 head is level and I reckon it is they '11 both pan out 
 all right." 
 
 He turned and opened the door. With a quick revulsion 
 of feeling, Slinn suddenly seized Mulrady's hand between 
 both of his own, and raised it to his lips. Mulrady smiled, 
 disengaged his hand gently, and saying soothingly, " Go slow, 
 old man ; go slow," closed the door behind him, and passed 
 out into the clear Christmas dawn. 
 
 For the stars, with the exception of one that seemed to 
 sparkle brightly over the shaft of his former fortunes, were 
 
A MILLION AIEE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 331 
 
 slowly paling. A burden seemed to have fallen from his 
 square shoulders as he stepped out sturdily into the morning 
 air. He had already forgotten the lonely man hehind him, 
 for he was thinking only of his wife and daughter. And at 
 the same moment they were thinking of him ; and in their 
 elaborate villa overlooking the blue Mediterranean at Cannes 
 were discussing, in the event of Mamie's marriage with 
 Prince Rosso e Negro, the possibility of Mr. Mulrady's pay- 
 ing two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the gambling 
 debts of that unfortunate but deeply conscientious noble- 
 man. 
 
CHAPTEK YI 
 
 WHEN Alvin Mulrady reentered his own house, he no 
 longer noticed its loneliness. Whether the events of the 
 last few hours had driven it from his mind, or whether his 
 late reflections had repeopled it with his family under plea- 
 santer auspices, it would be difficult to determine. Desti- 
 tute as he was of imagination, and matter-of-fact in his 
 judgments, he realized his new situation as calmly as he 
 would have considered any business proposition. While he 
 was decided to act upon his moral convictions purely, he 
 was prepared to submit the facts of Slinn's claim to the 
 usual patient and laborious investigation of his practical 
 mind. It was the least he could do to justify the ready 
 and almost superstitious assent he had given to Slinn's 
 story. 
 
 When he had made a few memoranda at his desk by the 
 growing light, he again took the key of the attic, and 
 ascended to the loft that held the tangible memories of his 
 past life. If he was still under the influence of his reflec- 
 tions, it was with very different sensations that he now 
 regarded them. Was it possible that these ashes might be 
 warmed again, and these scattered embers rekindled ? His 
 practical sense said No ! whatever his wish might have 
 been. A sudden chill came over him ; he began to realize 
 the terrible change that was probable, more by the impossi- 
 bility of his accepting the old order of things than by his 
 voluntarily abandoning the new. His wife and children 
 would never submit. They would go away from this place, 
 far away, where no reminiscence of either former wealth or 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 333 
 
 former poverty could obtrude itself upon them. Mamie 
 his Mamie should never go hack to the cabin, since 
 desecrated by Slum's daughters, and take their places. No ! 
 Why should she ? because of the half-sick, half-crazy 
 dreams of an old vindictive man ? 
 
 He stopped suddenly. In moodily turning over a heap 
 of mining clothing, blankets, and india-rubber boots, he had 
 come upon an old pickaxe the one he had found in the 
 shaft ; the one he had carefully preserved for a year, and 
 then forgotten ! Why had he not remembered it before ? 
 He was frightened, not only at this sudden resurrection of 
 the proof he was seeking, but at his own fateful forgetful- 
 ness. Why had he never thought of this when Slinn was 
 speaking ? A sense of shame^as if he had voluntarily with- 
 held it from the wronged man, swept over him. He was 
 turning away, when he was again startled. 
 
 This time it was by a voice from below a voice calling 
 him Slinn's voice. How had the crippled man got here 
 so 'soon, and what did he want ? He hurriedly laid aside 
 the pick, which, in his first impulse, he had taken to the 
 door of the loft with him, and descended the stairs. The 
 old man was standing at the door of his office awaiting him. 
 
 As Mulrady approached, he trembled violently, and clung 
 to the door-post for support. 
 
 " I had to come over, Mulrady," he said in a choked 
 voice ; " I could stand it there no longer. I 've come to 
 beg you to forget all that I have said ; to drive all thought 
 of what passed between us last night out of your head and 
 mine forever ! I 've come to ask you to swear with me 
 that neither of us will ever speak of this again forever. It 
 is not worth the happiness I have had in your friendship 
 for the last half-year ; it is not worth the agony I have 
 suffered in its loss in the last half-hour." 
 
 Mulrady grasped his outstretched hand. " PVaps," he 
 said gravely, " there may n't be any use for another word, 
 
334 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 if you can answer one now. Come with me. No matter," 
 he added, as Slinn moved with difficulty ; " I will help 
 you." 
 
 He half supported, half lifted the paralyzed man up the 
 three nights of stairs, and opened the door of the loft. 
 The pick was leaning against the wall, where he had left it. 
 " Look around, and see if you recognize anything." 
 
 The old man's eyes fell upon the implement in a half- 
 frightened way, and then lifted themselves interrogatively 
 to Mulrady's face. 
 
 " Do you know that pick ? " 
 
 Slinn raised it in his trembling hands. " I think I do j 
 and yet " - 
 
 " Slinn ! is it yours ? " 
 
 " No," he said hurriedly. 
 
 " Then what makes you think you know it ? " 
 
 " It has a short handle like one I have seen." 
 
 "And it isn't yours?" 
 
 " No. The handle of mine was broken and spliced.' I 
 was too poor to buy a new one." 
 
 " Then you say that this pick which I found in my shaft 
 is not yours ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Slinn ! " 
 
 The old man passed his hand across his forehead, looked 
 at Mulrady, and dropped his eyes. " It is not mine," he 
 said simply. 
 
 " That will do," said Mulrady gravely. 
 
 " And you will not speak of this again ? " said the old 
 man timidly. 
 
 " I promise you not until I have some more evi- 
 dence." 
 
 He kept his word, but not before he had extorted from 
 Slinn as full a description of Masters as his imperfect 
 memory and still more imperfect knowledge of his former 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 335 
 
 neighbor could furnish. He placed this, with a large sum 
 of money and the promise of a still larger reward, in the 
 hands of a trustworthy agent. When this was done he re- 
 sumed his old relations with Slinn, with the exception that 
 the domestic letters of Mrs. Mulrady and Mamie were no 
 longer a subject of comment, and their bills no longer 
 passed through his private secretary's hands. 
 
 Three months passed ; the rainy season had ceased, the 
 hillsides around Mulrady's shaft were bridal-like with 
 flowers ; indeed, there were rumors of an approaching 
 fashionable marriage in the air, and vague hints in the 
 " Record " that the presence of a distinguished capitalist 
 might soon be required abroad. The face of that distin- 
 guished man did not, however, reflect the gayety of nature 
 nor the anticipation of happiness ; on the contrary, for the 
 past few weeks, he had appeared disturbed and anxious, 
 and that rude tranquillity which had characterized him was 
 wanting. People shook their heads ; a few suggested specu- 
 lations ; all agreed on extravagance. 
 
 One morning, after office hours, Slinn, who had been 
 watching the careworn face of his employer, suddenly rose 
 and limped to his side. 
 
 "We promised each other," he said in a voice trem- 
 bling with emotion, " never to allude to our talk of Christ- 
 mas Eve again unless we had other proofs of what I told 
 you then. We have none ; I don't believe we '11 ever 
 have any more. I don't care if we never do, and I break 
 that promise now because I cannot bear to see you unhappy 
 and know that this is the cause." 
 
 Mulrady made a motion of deprecation, but the old man 
 continued : 
 
 " You are unhappy, Alvin Mulrady. You are unhappy, 
 because you want to give your daughter a dowry of two 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and you will not use 
 the fortune that you think may be mine." 
 
336 A MILLIONAIEE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 " Who 's been talking about a dowry ? " asked Mulrady, 
 with an angry flush. 
 
 " Don Caesar Alvarado told my daughter." 
 
 " Then that is why he has thrown off on me since he re- 
 turned," said Mulrady, with sudden small malevolence, 
 "just that he might unload his gossip because Mamie 
 would n't have him. The old woman was right in warnin' 
 me agin him." 
 
 The outburst was so unlike him, and so dwarfed his 
 large though common nature with its littleness, that it was 
 easy to detect its feminine origin, although it filled Slinn 
 with vague alarm. 
 
 " Never mind him," said the old man hastily ; " what 
 I wanted to say now is that I abandon everything to you 
 and yours. There are no proofs ; there never will be any 
 more than what we know, than what we have tested and 
 found wanting. I swear to you that, except to show you 
 that I have not lied and am not crazy, I would destroy 
 them on their way to your hands. Keep the money, and 
 spend it as you will. Make your daughter happy, and, 
 through her, yourself. You have made me happy through 
 your liberality ; don't make me suffer through your priva- 
 tion." 
 
 " I tell you what, old man," said Mulrady, rising to his 
 feet, with an awkward mingling of frankness and shame in 
 his manner and accent, " I should like to pay that money 
 for Mamie, and let her be a princess, if it would make her 
 happy. I should like to shut the lantern jaws of that Don 
 Caesar, who 'd be too glad if anything happened to break off 
 Mamie's match. But I should n't touch that capital un- 
 less you 'd lend it to me. If you '11 take a note from me, 
 payable if the property ever becomes yours, I 'd thank you. 
 A mortgage on the old house and garden, and the lands I 
 bought of Don Ca3sar, outside the mine, will screen you." 
 
 " If that pleases you," said the old man, with a smile 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 337 
 
 " have your way ; and if I tear up the note, it does not 
 concern you." 
 
 It did please the distinguished capitalist of Rough-and- 
 Eeady ; for the next few days his face wore a brightened 
 expression, and he seemed to have recovered his old tranquil- 
 lity. There was, in fact, a slight touch of consequence in 
 his manner, the first ostentation he had ever indulged in, 
 when he was informed one morning at his private office that 
 Don CsBsar Alvarado was in the counting-house, desiring a 
 few moments' conference. " Tell him to come in," said 
 Mulrady shortly. The door opened upon Don Csesar 
 erect, sallow, and grave. Mulrady had not seen him since 
 his return from Europe, and even his inexperienced eyes 
 were struck with the undeniable ease and grace with which 
 the young Spanish- American had assimilated the style and 
 fashion of an older civilization. It seemed rather as if he 
 had returned to a familiar condition than adopted a new 
 one. 
 
 " Take a cheer," said Mulrady. 
 
 The young man looked at Slinn with quietly persistent 
 significance. 
 
 " You can talk all the same," said Mulrady, accepting 
 the significance. " He 's my private secretary." 
 
 " It seems that for that reason we might choose another 
 moment for our conversation," returned Don Csesar haugh- 
 tily. " Do I understand you cannot see me now ? " 
 
 Mulrady hesitated. He had always revered and recognized 
 a certain social superiority in Don Ramon Alvarado ; some- 
 how his son a young man of half his age, and once a 
 possible son-in-law appeared to claim that recognition 
 also. He rose, without a \vord, and preceded Don Csesar 
 upstairs into his drawing-room. The alien portrait on the 
 wall seemed to evidently take sides with Don Csesar, as 
 against the common intruder, Mulrady. 
 
 " I hoped the Senora Mulrady might have saved me this 
 
338 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 interview," said the young man stiffly ; " or at least have 
 given you some intimation of the reason why I seek it. As 
 you just now proposed my talking to you in the presence 
 of the unfortunate Senor Esslinn himself, it appears she has 
 not." 
 
 " I don't know what you 're driving at, or what Mrs. 
 Mulrady ? s got to do with Slinn or you," said Mulrady in 
 angry uneasiness. 
 
 " Do I understand," said Don Caesar sternly, " that 
 Seiiora Mulrady has not told you that I entrusted to her an 
 important letter, belonging to Senor Esslinn, which I had 
 the honor to discover in the wood six months ago, and which 
 she said she would refer to you ? " 
 
 " Letter?" echoed Mulrady slowly; "my wife had a 
 letter of Slinn's ? " 
 
 Don Caesar regarded the millionaire attentively. " It is 
 as I feared," he said gravely. " You do not know, or you 
 would not have remained silent." He then briefly recounted 
 the story of his finding Slinn's letter, his exhibition of it to 
 the invalid, its disastrous effect upon him, and his innocent 
 discovery of the contents. " I believed myself at that time 
 on the eve of being allied with your family, Senor Mul- 
 rady," he said haughtily ; " and when I found myself in 
 possession of a secret which affected its integrity and good 
 name, I did not choose to leave it in the helpless hands of 
 its imbecile owner, or his sillier children, but proposed to 
 trust it to the care of the senora, that she and you might 
 deal with it as became your honor and mine. I followed 
 her to Paris, and gave her the letter there. She affected to 
 laugh at any pretension of the writer, or any claim he might 
 have on your bounty; but she kept the letter, and, I fear, 
 destroyed it. You will understand, Senor Mulrady, that 
 when I found that my attentions were no longer agreeable to 
 your daughter, I had no longer the right to speak to you on 
 the subject, nor could I, without misapprehension, force her 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 339 
 
 to return it. I should have still kept the secret to myself, 
 if I had not since my return here made the nearer acquaint- 
 ance of Senor Esslinn's daughters. I cannot present my- 
 self at his house as a suitor for the hand of the Senorita 
 Vashti, until I have asked his absolution for my complicity 
 in the wrong that has been done to him. I cannot, as a 
 caballero, do that without your permission. It is for that 
 purpose I am here." 
 
 It needed only this last blow to complete the humilia- 
 tion that whitened Mulrady's face. But his eye was none 
 the less clear and his voice none the less steady as he 
 turned to Don Caesar. 
 
 " You know perfectly the contents of that letter ? " 
 
 " I have kept a copy of it." 
 
 " Come with me." 
 
 He preceded his visitor down the staircase and back into 
 his private office. Slinn looked up at his employer's face 
 in unrestrained anxiety. Mulrady sat down at his desk, 
 wrote a few hurried lines, and rang a bell. A manager 
 appeared from the counting-room. 
 
 " Send that to the bank." 
 
 He wiped his pen as methodically as if he had not at 
 that moment countermanded the order to pay his daugh- 
 ter's dowry, and turned quietly to Slinn. 
 
 " Don Caesar Alvarado has found the letter you wrote 
 your wife on the day you made your strike in the tunnel 
 that is now my shaft. He gave the letter to Mrs. Mul- 
 rady ; but he has kept a copy." 
 
 Unheeding the frightened gesture of entreaty from Slinn, 
 equally with the unfeigned astonishment of Don Caesar, 
 who was entirely unprepared for this revelation of Mul- 
 rady's and Slinn's confidences, he continued : " He has 
 brought the copy with him. I reckon it would be only 
 square for you to compare it with what you remember of 
 the original." 
 
340 A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 
 
 In obedience to a gesture from Mulrady, Don Caesar me- 
 chanically took from his pocket a folded paper, and handed 
 it to the paralytic. But Slimi's trembling fingers could 
 scarcely unfold the paper; and as his eyes fell upon its 
 contents, his convulsive lips could not articulate a word. 
 
 "P'r'aps I'd better read it for you," said Mulrady 
 gently. " You kin follow me and stop me when I go 
 wrong." 
 
 He took the paper, and, in a dead silence, read as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " DEAR WIFE, I 've just struck gold in my tunnel, 
 and you must get ready to come here with the children, at 
 once. It was after six months' hard work ; and I 'm so 
 weak I ... It 's a fortune for us all. We should be rich 
 even if it were only a branch vein dipping west towards 
 the next tunnel, instead of dipping east, according to my 
 theory " - 
 
 " Stop ! " said Slinn in a voice that shook the room. 
 
 Mulrady looked up. 
 
 " It 's wrong, ain't it ? " he asked anxiously ; " it 
 should be east towards the next tunnel." 
 
 " No ! It 's right ! I am wrong ! We 're all wrong ! " 
 
 Slinn had risen to his feet, erect and inspired. " Don't 
 you see," he almost screamed, with passionate vehemence, 
 " it 's Masters' s abandoned tunnel your shaft has struck ? 
 Not mine ! It was Masters's pick you found ! I know it 
 now ! " 
 
 " And your own tunnel ? " said Mulrady, springing to 
 his feet in his excitement. " And your strike ? " 
 
 " Is still there ! " 
 
 The next instant, and before another question could be 
 asked, Slinn had darted from the room. In the exaltation 
 of that supreme discovery he regained the full control of 
 his mind and body. Mulrady and Don Csesar, no less ex- 
 cited, followed him precipitately, and with difficulty kept up 
 
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY 341 
 
 with his feverish speed. Their way lay along the base of the 
 hill below Mulrady's shaft, and on a line with Masters's 
 abandoned tunnel. Only once he stopped to snatch a pick 
 from the hand of an astonished Chinaman at work in a 
 ditch, as he still kept on his way, a quarter of a mile be- 
 yond the shaft. Here he stopped before a jagged hole in 
 the hillside. Bared to the sky and air, the very openness 
 of its abandonment, its unpropitious position, and distance 
 from the strike in Mulrady's shaft had no doubt preserved 
 its integrity from wayfarer or prospector. 
 
 " You can't go in there alone, and without a light," said 
 Mulrady, laying his hand on the arm of the excited man. 
 " Let me get more help and proper tools." 
 
 "I know every step in the dark as in the daylight," 
 returned Slinn, struggling. "Let me go, while I have 
 yet strength and reason ! Stand aside ! " 
 
 He broke from them, and the next moment was swal- 
 lowed up in the yawning blackness. They waited with 
 bated breath until, after a seeming eternity of night and 
 silence, they heard his returning footsteps, and ran forward 
 to meet him. As he was carrying something clasped to his 
 breast, they supported him to the opening. But at the 
 same moment the object of his search, and his burden, a 
 misshapen wedge of gold and quartz, dropped with him, 
 and both fell together with equal immobility to the ground. 
 He had still strength to turn his fading eyes to the other 
 millionaire of Kough-and-Ready, who leaned over him. 
 
 " You see," he gasped brokenly, " I was not 
 crazy ! " 
 
 No. He was dead ! 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 THEY had all known him as a shiftless, worthless crea- 
 ture. From the time he first entered Redwood Camp, car- 
 rying his entire effects in a red handkerchief on the end of 
 a long-handled shovel, until he lazily drifted out of it on a 
 plank in the terrible inundation of '56, they never expected 
 anything better of him. In a community of strong men 
 with sullen virtues and charmingly fascinating vices, he was 
 tolerated as possessing neither not even rising by any 
 dominant human weakness or ludicrous quality to the im- 
 portance of a butt. In the dramatis personce of Redwood 
 Camp he was a simple " super " who had only passive, 
 speechless roles in those fierce dramas that were sometimes 
 unrolled beneath its green-curtained pines. Nameless and 
 penniless, he was overlooked by the census and ignored by 
 the tax-collector, while in a hotly contested election for 
 sheriff, when even the headboards of the scant cemetery 
 were consulted to fill the poll-lists, it was discovered that 
 neither candidate had thought fit to avail himself of his 
 actual vote. He was debarred the rude heraldry of a nick- 
 name of achievement, and in a camp made up of " Euchre 
 Bills,' 7 " Poker Dicks," " Profane Pete," and Snap-shot 
 Harry," was known vaguely as " him," " Skeesicks," or 
 " that coot." It was remembered long after, with a feeling 
 of superstition, that he had never even met with the dig- 
 nity of an accident, nor received the fleeting honor of a 
 chance shot meant for somebody else in any of the liberal 
 and broadly comprehensive encounters which distinguished 
 the camp. And the inundation that finally carried him 
 
A DKIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 343 
 
 out of it was partly anticipated by his passive incompe- 
 tency ; for while the others escaped or were drowned in 
 escaping he calmly floated off on his plank without an 
 opposing effort. 
 
 For all that, Elijah Martin which was his real name 
 was far from being unamiable or repellent. That he 
 was cowardly, untruthful, selfish, and lazy, was undoubt- 
 edly the fact ; perhaps it was his peculiar misfortune that, 
 just then, courage, frankness, generosity, and activity were 
 the dominant factors in the life of Redwood Camp. His 
 submissive gentleness, his unquestioned modesty, his half 
 refinement, and his amiable exterior consequently availed 
 him nothing against the fact that he was missed during a 
 raid of the Digger Indians, and lied to account for it ; or 
 that he lost his right to a gold discovery by failing to 
 make it good against a bully, and selfishly kept this dis- 
 covery from the knowledge of the camp. Yet this weak- 
 ness awakened no animosity in his companions, and it is 
 probable that the indifference of the camp to his fate in 
 this final catastrophe came purely from a simple forgetful- 
 ness of one who at that supreme moment was weakly in- 
 capable. 
 
 Such was the reputation and such the antecedents of the 
 man who, on the 15th of March, 1856, found himself 
 adrift in a swollen tributary of the Minyo. A spring 
 freshet of unusual volume had flooded the adjacent river 
 until, bursting its bounds, it escaped through the narrow, 
 wedge-shaped valley that held Redwood Camp. For a 
 day and a night the surcharged river poured half its waters 
 through the straggling camp. At the end of that time 
 every vestige of the little settlement was swept away ; all 
 that was left was scattered far and wide in the country, 
 caught in the hanging branches of water-side willows and 
 alders, embayed in sluggish pools, dragged over submerged 
 meadows, and one fragment bearing up Elijah Martin 
 
344 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 pursuing the devious courses of an unknown tributary fifty 
 miles away. Had he been a rash, impatient man, he would 
 have been speedily drowned in some earlier desperate at- 
 tempt to reach the shore ; had he been an ordinarily bold 
 man, he would have succeeded in transferring himself to 
 the branches of some obstructing tree ; but he was neither, 
 and he clung to his broken raft-like berth with an endur- 
 ance that was half the paralysis of terror and half the pa- 
 tience of habitual misfortune. Eventually he was caught 
 in a side current, swept to the bank, and cast ashore on an 
 unexplored wilderness. 
 
 His first consciousness was one of hunger that usurped 
 any sentiment of gratitude for his escape from drowning. 
 As soon as his cramped limbs permitted, he crawled out of 
 the bushes in search of food. He did not know where he 
 was ; there was no sign of habitation or even occupation 
 anywhere. He had been too terrified to notice the direc- 
 tion in which he had drifted even if he had possessed the 
 ordinary knowledge of a backwoodsman, which he did not. 
 He was helpless. In his bewildered state, seeing a squirrel 
 cracking a nut on the branch of a hollow tree near him, he 
 made a half-frenzied dart at the frightened animal, which 
 ran away. But the same association of ideas in his torpid 
 and confused brain impelled him to search for the squirrel's 
 hoard in the hollow of the tree. He ate the few hazel-nuts 
 he found there ravenously. The purely animal instinct 
 satisfied, he seemed to have borrowed from it a certain 
 strength and intuition. He limped through the thicket not 
 unlike some awkward, shy quadrumane, stopping here and 
 there to peer out through the openings over the marshes 
 that lay beyond. His sight, hearing, and even the sense of 
 smell had become preternaturally acute. It was the latter 
 which suddenly arrested his steps with the odor of dried 
 fish. It had a significance beyond the mere instincts of 
 hunger it indicated the contiguity of some Indian en- 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 345 
 
 campment. And as such it meant danger, torture, and 
 death. 
 
 He stopped, trembled violently, and tried to collect his 
 scattered senses. Redwood Camp had embroiled itself need- 
 lessly and brutally with the surrounding Indians, and only 
 held its own against them by reckless courage and unerring 
 marksmanship. The frequent use of a casual wandering 
 Indian as a target for the practicing rifles of its members 
 had kept up an undying hatred in the heart of the abori- 
 gines and stimulated them to terrible and isolated reprisals. 
 The scalped and skinned dead body of Jack Trainer, tied 
 on his horse and held hideously upright by a cross of wood 
 behind his saddle, had passed, one night, a slow and ghastly 
 apparition, into camp ; the corpse of Dick Eyner had been 
 found anchored on the river-bed, disemboweled and filled 
 with stone and gravel. The solitary and unprotected mem- 
 ber of Redwood Camp who fell into the enemy's hands 
 was doomed. 
 
 Elijah Martin remembered this, but his fears gradually 
 began to subside in a certain apathy of the imagination, 
 which perhaps dulled his apprehensions and allowed the 
 instinct of hunger to become again uppermost. He knew 
 that the low bark tents, or wigwams, of the Indians were 
 hung with strips of dried salmon, and his whole being was 
 now centred upon an attempt to stealthily procure a deli- 
 cious morsel. As yet he had distinguished no other sign of 
 life or habitation ; a few moments later, however, and 
 grown bolder with an animal-like trustfulness in his momen- 
 tary security, he crept out of the thicket and found himself 
 near a long, low mound or burrow-like structure of mud 
 and bark on the river-bank. A single narrow opening, not 
 unlike the entrance of an Esquimau hut, gave upon the 
 river. Martin had no difficulty in recognizing the character 
 of the building. It was a " sweat-house," an institution 
 common to nearly all the aboriginal tribes of California. 
 
346 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 Half a religious temple, it was also half a sanitary asylum, 
 was used as a Russian bath or superheated vault, from 
 which the braves, sweltering and stifling all night, by 
 smothered fires, at early dawn plunged, perspiring, into the 
 ice-cold river. The heat and smoke were further utilized 
 to dry and cure the long strips of fish hanging from the 
 roof, and it was through the narrow aperture that served as 
 a chimney that the odor escaped which Martin had detected. 
 He knew that, as the bathers only occupied the house from 
 midnight to early morn, it was now probably empty. He 
 advanced confidently toward it. 
 
 He was a little surprised to find that the small open space 
 between it and the river was occupied by a rude scaffolding, 
 like that on which certain tribes exposed their dead, but in 
 this instance it only contained the feathered leggings, fringed 
 blanket, and eagle-plumed head-dress of some brave. He 
 did not, however, linger in this plainly visible area, but 
 quickly dropped on all fours and crept into the interior of 
 the house. Here he completed his feast with the fish, and 
 warmed his chilled limbs on the embers of the still smoul- 
 dering fires. It was while drying his tattered clothes and 
 shoeless feet that he thought of the dead brave's useless 
 leggings and moccasins, and it occurred to him that he would 
 be less likely to attract the Indians' attention from a dis- 
 tance and provoke a ready arrow, if he were disguised as 
 one of them. Crawling out again, he quickly secured, not 
 only the leggings, but the blanket and head-dress, and, put- 
 ting them on, cast his own clothes into the stream. A 
 bolder, more energetic, or more provident man would have 
 followed the act by quickly making his way back to the 
 thicket to reconnoitre, taking with him a supply of fish for 
 future needs. But Elijah Martin succumbed again to the 
 recklessness of inertia ; he yielded once more to the animal 
 instinct of momentary security. He returned to the inte- 
 rior of the hut, curled himself again on the ashes, and, 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 347 
 
 weakly resolving to sleep until moonrise, and as weakly 
 hesitating, ended by falling into uneasy but helpless stupor. 
 
 When he awoke, the rising sun, almost level with the low 
 entrance to the sweat-house, was darting its direct rays into 
 the interior, as if searching it with fiery spears. He had 
 slept ten hours. He rose tremblingly to his knees. Every- 
 thing was quiet without ; he might yet escape. He crawled 
 to the opening. The open space before it was empty, but 
 the scaffolding was gone. The clear, keen air revived him. 
 As he sprang out, erect, a shout that nearly stunned him 
 seemed to rise from the earth on all sides. He glanced 
 around him in a helpless agony of fear. A dozen concentric 
 circles of squatting Indians, whose heads were visible above 
 the reeds, encompassed the banks around the sunken base of 
 the sweat-house with successive dusky rings. Every avenue 
 of escape seemed closed. Perhaps for that reason the atti- 
 tude of his surrounding captors was passive rather than 
 aggressive, and the shrewd, half-Hebraic profiles nearest him 
 expressed only stoical waiting. There was a strange simi- 
 larity of expression in his own immovable apathy of despair. 
 His only sense of averting his fate was a confused idea of 
 explaining his intrusion. His desperate memory yielded a 
 few common Indian words. He pointed automatically to 
 himself and the stream. His white lips moved. 
 
 " I come from the river ! " 
 
 A guttural cry, as if the whole assembly were clearing 
 their throats, went round the different circles. The nearest 
 rocked themselves to and fro and bent their feathered heads 
 toward him. A hollow-cheeked, decrepit old man arose 
 and said simply : 
 
 " It is he ! The great chief has come ! " 
 
 He was saved. More than that, he was recreated. For 
 by signs and intimations he was quickly made aware that 
 since the death of their late chief, their medicine-men had 
 
348 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 prophesied that his perfect successor should appear miracu- 
 lously before them, borne noiselessly on the river from the 
 sea, in the plumes and insignia of his predecessor. This 
 mere coincidence of appearance and costume might not have 
 been convincing to the braves had not Elijah Martin's actual 
 deficiencies contributed to their unquestioned faith in him. 
 Not only his inert possession of the sweat-house and his 
 apathetic attitude in their presence, but his utter and com- 
 plete unlikeness to the white frontiersmen of their knowledge 
 and tradition creatures of fire and sword and malevolent 
 activity as well as his manifest dissimilarity to themselves, 
 settled their conviction of his supernatural origin. His 
 gentle, submissive voice, his yielding will, his lazy helpless- 
 ness, the absence of strange weapons and fierce explosives in 
 his possession, his unwonted sobriety all proved him an 
 exception to his apparent race that was in itself miraculous. 
 For it must be confessed that, in spite of the cherished 
 theories of most romances and all statesmen and commanders, 
 that fear is the great civilizer of the savage barbarian, and 
 that he is supposed to regard the prowess of the white man 
 and his mysterious death-dealing weapons as evidence of his 
 supernatural origin and superior creation, the facts have 
 generally pointed to the reverse. Elijah Martin was not 
 long in discovering that when the Minyo hunter, with his 
 obsolete bow, dropped dead by a bullet from a viewless and 
 apparently noiseless space, it was not considered the light- 
 nings of an avenging Deity, but was traced directly to the 
 ambushed rifle of Kansas Joe, swayed by a viciousness quite 
 as human as their own ; the spectacle of Blizzard Dick, 
 verging on delirium tremens, and riding " amuck " into an 
 Indian village with a revolver in each hand, did not impress 
 them as a supernatural act, nor excite their respectful awe 
 as much as the less harmful frenzy of one of their own 
 medicine-men ; they were not influenced by implacable white 
 gods, who relaxed only to drive hard bargains and exchange 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 349 
 
 mildewed flour and shoddy blankets for their fish and furs. 
 I am afraid they regarded these raids of Christian civiliza- 
 tion as they looked upon grasshopper plagues, famines, 
 inundations, and epidemics ; while an utterly impassive God 
 washed his hands of the means he had employed, and even 
 encouraged the faithful to resist and overcome^ his emissaries 
 the white devils ! Had Elijah Martin been a student of 
 theology, he would have been struck with the singular 
 resemblance of these theories although the application 
 thereof was reversed to the Christian faith. But Elijah 
 Martin had neither the imagination of a theologian nor the 
 insight of a politician. He only saw that he, hitherto 
 ignored and despised in a community of half-barbaric men, 
 now translated to a community of men wholly savage, was 
 respected and worshiped ! 
 
 It might have turned a stronger head than Elijah's. He 
 was at first frightened, fearful lest his reception concealed 
 some hidden irony, or that, like the flower-crowned victim 
 of ancient sacrifice, he was exalted and sustained to give 
 importance and majesty to some impending martyrdom. 
 Then he began to dread that his innocent deceit if deceit 
 it was should be discovered ; at last, partly from meek- 
 ness and partly from the animal contentment of present 
 security, he accepted the situation. Fortunately for him 
 it was purely passive. The Great Chief of the Minyo 
 tribe was simply an expressionless idol of flesh and blood. 
 The previous incumbent of that office had been an old 
 man, impotent and senseless of late years through age and 
 disease. The chieftains and braves had consulted in coun- 
 cil before him, and perfunctorily submitted their decisions, 
 like offerings, to his unresponsive shrine. In the same 
 way, all material events expeditions, trophies, indus- 
 tries were supposed to pass before the dull, impassive 
 eyes of the great chief, for direct acceptance. On the 
 second day of Elijah's accession, two of the braves brought 
 
350 A DEIFT FEOM KEDWOOD CAMP 
 
 a bleeding human scalp before him. Elijah turned pale, 
 trembled, and averted his head, and then, remembering the 
 danger of giving way to his weakness, grew still more 
 ghastly. The warriors watched him with impassioned 
 faces. A grunt but whether of astonishment, dissent, 
 or approval, he could not tell went round the circle. 
 But the scalp was taken away and never again appeared in 
 his presence. 
 
 An incident still more alarming quickly followed. Two 
 captives, white men, securely bound, were one day brought 
 before him on their way to the stake, followed by a crowd 
 of old and young squaws and children. The unhappy 
 Elijah recognized in the prisoners two packers from a dis- 
 tant settlement who sometimes passed through Redwood 
 Camp. An agony of terror, shame, and remorse shook the 
 pseudo-chief to his crest of high feathers, and blanched his 
 face beneath its paint and yellow ochre. To interfere to 
 save them from the torture they were evidently to receive 
 at the hands of those squaws and children, according to 
 custom, would be exposure and death to him as well as 
 themselves; while to assist by his passive presence at the 
 horrible sacrifice of his countrymen was too much for even 
 his weak selfishness. Scarcely knowing what he did as 
 the lugubrious procession passed before him, he hurriedly 
 hid his face in his blanket and turned his back upon the 
 scene. There was a dead silence. The warriors were 
 evidently unprepared for this extraordinary conduct of 
 their chief. What might have been their action it was 
 impossible to conjecture, for at that moment a little squaw, 
 perhaps impatient for the sport and partly emboldened by 
 the fact that she had been selected, only a few days before, 
 as the betrothed of the new chief, approached him slyly 
 from the other side. The horrified eyes of Elijah, momen- 
 tarily raised from his blanket, saw and recognized her. 
 The feebleness of a weak nature, that dared not measure 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 351 
 
 itself directly with the real cause, vented its rage on a 
 secondary object. He darted a quick glance of indignation 
 and hatred at the young girl. She ran back in startled 
 terror to her companions, a hurried consultation followed, 
 and in another moment the whole bevy of girls, old women, 
 and children were on the wing, shrieking and crying, to 
 their wigwams. 
 
 " You see," said one of the prisoners coolly to the other, 
 in English, " I was right. They never intended to do any- 
 thing to us. It was only a bluff. These Minyos are a dif- 
 ferent sort from the other tribes. They never kill anybody 
 if they can help it." 
 
 " You 're wrong," said the other excitedly. " It was 
 that big chief there, with his head in a blanket, that sent 
 those dogs to the right-about. Hell ! did you see them run 
 at just a look from him ? He 's a big and mighty feller, 
 you bet. Look at his dignity ! " 
 
 " That 's so he ain't no slouch/' said the other, gazing 
 at Elijah's muffled head critically. " D d if he ain't a 
 born king." 
 
 The sudden conflict and utter revulsion of emotion that 
 those simple words caused in Elijah's breast was almost 
 incredible. He had been at first astounded by the revela- 
 tion of the peaceful reputation of the unknown tribe he 
 had been called upon to govern ; but even this comforting 
 assurance was as nothing compared to the greater revela- 
 tions implied in the speaker's praise of himself. He, 
 Elijah Martin ! the despised, the rejected, the worthless out- 
 cast of Redwood Camp, recognized as a " born king," a 
 leader ; his power felt by the very men who had scorned 
 him ! And he had done nothing stop ! had he actually 
 done nothing? Was it not possible that he was really 
 what they thought him ? His brain reeled under the 
 strong, unaccustomed wine of praise ; acting upon his weak 
 selfishness, it exalted him for a moment to their measure of 
 
352 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 his strength, even as their former belief in his inefficiency 
 had kept him down. Courage is too often only the memory 
 of past success. This was his first effort ; he forgot he had 
 not earned it, even as he now ignored the danger of earning 
 it. The few words of unconscious praise had fallen like 
 the blade of knighthood on his cowering shoulders ; he had 
 risen ennobled from the contact. Though his face was still 
 muffled in his blanket, he stood erect and seemed to have 
 gained in stature. 
 
 The braves had remained standing irresolute, and yet 
 watchful, a few paces from their captives. Suddenly Elijah, 
 still keeping his back to the prisoners, turned upon the 
 braves, with blazing eyes, violently throwing out his hands 
 with the gesture of breaking bonds. Like all sudden de- 
 monstrations of undemonstrative men, it was extravagant, 
 weird, and theatrical. But it was more potent than speech 
 the speech that, even if effective, would still have 
 betrayed him to his countrymen. The braves hurriedly cut 
 the thongs of the prisoners ; another impulsive gesture from 
 Elijah, and they, too, fled. When he lifted his eyes cau- 
 tiously from his blanket, captors and captives had dis- 
 persed in opposite directions, and he was alone and 
 triumphant ! 
 
 From that moment Elijah Martin was another man. He 
 went to bed that night in an intoxicating dream of power ; 
 he arose a man of will, of strength. He read it in the eyes 
 of the braves, albeit at times averted in wonder. He under- 
 stood, now, that although peace had been their habit and 
 custom, they had nevertheless sought to test his theories of 
 administration with the offering of the scalps and the cap- 
 tives, and in this detection of their common weakness he 
 forgot his own. Most heroes require the contrast of the 
 unheroic to set them off; and Elijah actually found himself 
 devising means for strengthening the defensive and offensive 
 character of the tribe, and was himself strengthened by it. 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 353 
 
 Meanwhile the escaped packers did not fail to heighten the 
 importance of their adventure by elevating the character 
 and achievements of their deliverer ; and it was presently 
 announced throughout the frontier settlements that the hith- 
 erto insignificant and peaceful tribe of Minyos, who inhab- 
 ited a large territory bordering on the Pacific Ocean, had 
 developed into a powerful nation, only kept from the war- 
 path by a more powerful but mysterious chief. The Gov- 
 ernment sent an Indian agent to treat with them, in its 
 usual half-paternal, half-aggressive, and wholly inconsistent 
 policy. Elijah, who still retained the imitative sense and 
 adaptability to surroundings which belong to most lazy, 
 impressible natures, and in striped yellow and vermilion 
 features looked the chief he personated, met the agent with 
 silent and becoming gravity. The council was carried on 
 by signs. Never before had an Indian treaty been entered 
 into with such perfect knowledge- of the intentions and 
 designs of the whites by the Indians, and such profound 
 ignorance of the qualities of the Indians by the whites. It 
 need scarcely be said that the treaty was an unquestionable 
 Indian success. They did not give up their arable lands ; 
 what they did sell to the agent they refused to exchange 
 for extravagant-priced shoddy blankets, worthless guns, 
 damp powder, and mouldy meal. They took pay in dol- 
 lars, and were thus enabled to open more profitable com- 
 merce with the traders at the settlements for better goods 
 and better bargains ; they simply declined beads, whiskey, 
 and Bibles at any price. The result was that the traders 
 found it profitable to protect them from their countrymen, 
 and the chances of wantonly shooting down a possible valu- 
 able customer stopped the old indiscriminate rifle-practice. 
 The Indians were allowed to cultivate their fields in peace. 
 Elijah purchased for them a few agricultural implements. 
 The catching, curing, and smoking of salmon became an 
 important branch of trade. They waxed prosperous and 
 
354 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 rich ; they lost their nomadic habits a centralized settle- 
 ment bearing the external signs of an Indian village took 
 the place of their old temporary encampments, but the huts 
 were internally an improvement on the old wigwams. The 
 dried fish were banished from the tent-poles to long sheds 
 especially constructed for that purpose. The sweat-house 
 was no longer utilized for worldly purposes. The wise and 
 mighty Elijah did not attempt to reform their religion, but 
 to preserve it in its integrity. 
 
 That these improvements and changes were due to the 
 influence of one man was undoubtedly true, but that he 
 was necessarily a superior man did not follow. Elijah's 
 success was due partly to the fact that he had been enabled 
 to impress certain negative virtues, which were part of his 
 own nature, upon a community equally constituted to re- 
 ceive them. Each was strengthened by the recognition in 
 each other of the unexpected value of those qualities ; each 
 acquired a confidence begotten of their success. " He-hides- 
 his-face," as Elijah Martin was known to the tribe after 
 the episode of the released captives, was really not so much 
 of an autocrat as many constitutional rulers. 
 
 Two years of tranquil prosperity passed. Elijah Martin, 
 foundling, outcast, without civilized ties or relationship of 
 any kind, forgotten by his countrymen, and lifted into alien 
 power, wealth, security, and respect, became homesick ! 
 
 It was near the close of a summer afternoon. He was 
 sitting at the door of his lodge, which overlooked, on one 
 side, the far-shining levels of the Pacific, and, on the other, 
 the slow descent to the cultivated meadows and banks of 
 the Minyo River, that debouched through a waste of salt- 
 \narsh, beach-grass, sand-dunes, and foamy estuary into the 
 ocean. The headland, or promontory the only eminence 
 of the Minyo territory had been reserved by him for his 
 lodge, partly on account of its isolation from the village at 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 355 
 
 its base, and partly for the view it commanded of his ter- 
 ritory. Yet his wearying and discontented eyes were more 
 often found on the ocean, as a possible highway of escape 
 from his irksome position, than on the plain and the distant 
 range of mountains, so closely connected with the nearer 
 past and his former detractors. In his vague longing he 
 had no desire to return to them, even in triumph ; in his 
 present security there still lingered a doubt of his ability to 
 cope with the old conditions. It was more like his easy, 
 indolent nature which revived in his prosperity to trust 
 to this least practical and remote solution of his trouble. 
 His homesickness was as vague as his plan for escape from 
 it ; he did not know exactly what he regretted, but it was 
 probably some life he had not enjoyed, some pleasure that 
 had escaped his former incompetency and poverty. 
 
 He had sat thus a hundred times, as aimlessly blinking 
 at the vast possibilities of the shining sea beyond, turning 
 his back upon the nearer and more practicable mountains, 
 lulled by the far-off beating of monotonous rollers, the 
 lonely cry of the curlew and plover, the drowsy changes 
 of alternate breaths of cool, fragrant reeds and warm, spicy 
 sands that blew across his eyelids, and succumbed to sleep, 
 as he had done a hundred times before. The narrow strips 
 of colored cloth, insignia of his dignity, flapped lazily from 
 his tent-poles, and at last seemed to slumber with him ; the 
 shadows of the leaf-tracery thrown by the bay-tree, on the 
 ground at his feet, scarcely changed its pattern. Nothing 
 moved but the round, restless, berry-like eyes of Wachita, 
 his child- wife, the former heroine of the incident with the 
 captive packers, who sat near her lord, armed with a willow 
 wand, watchful of intruding wasps, sand-flies, and even the 
 more ostentatious advances of a rotund and clerical-looking 
 humble-bee, with his monotonous homily. Content, dumb, 
 submissive, vacant, at such times, Wachita, debarred her 
 husband's confidences through the native customs and his 
 
356 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 own indifferent taciturnity, satisfied herself by gazing at 
 him with the wondering but ineffectual sympathy of a faith- 
 ful dog. Unfortunately for Elijah, her purely mechanical 
 ministration could not prevent a more dangerous intrusion 
 upon his security. 
 
 He awoke with a light start, and eyes that gradually 
 fixed upon the woman a look of returning consciousness. 
 Wachita pointed timidly to the village below. 
 
 " The Messenger of the Great White Father has come 
 to-day, with his wagons and horses ; he would see the chief 
 of the Minyos, but I would not disturb my lord." 
 
 Elijah's brow contracted. Relieved of its characteristic 
 metaphor, he knew that this meant that the new Indian 
 agent had made his usual official visit, and had exhibited 
 the usual anxiety to see the famous chieftain. 
 
 " Good ! " he said. " White Rabbit [his lieutenant] 
 will see the Messenger and exchange gifts. It is enough." 
 
 " The white messenger has brought his wangee [white] 
 woman with him. They would look upon the face of him 
 who hides it," continued Wachita dubiously. " They 
 would that Wachita should bring them nearer to where my 
 lord is, that they might see him when he knew it not." 
 
 Elijah glanced moodily at his wife, with the half sus- 
 picion with which he still regarded her alien character. 
 " Then let Wachita go back to the squaws and old women, 
 and let her hide herself , with them until the wangee stran- 
 gers are gone," he said curtly. " I have spoken. Go ! " 
 
 Accustomed to these abrupt dismissals, which did not 
 necessarily indicate displeasure, Wachita disappeared with- 
 out a word. Elijah, who had risen, remained for a few 
 moments leaning against the tent-poles, gazing abstractedly 
 toward the sea. The bees droned uninterruptedly in his 
 ears, the far-off roll of the breakers came to him distinctly ; 
 but suddenly, with greater distinctness, came the murmur 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 357 
 
 " He don't look savage a bit ! Why, he 's real hand- 
 some." 
 
 "Hush! you" said a second voice in a frightened 
 whisper. 
 
 " But if he did hear he could n't understand," returned 
 the first voice. A suppressed giggle followed. 
 
 Luckily, Elijah's natural and acquired habits of repres- 
 sion suited the emergency. He did not move, although he 
 felt the quick blood fly to his face, and the voice of the 
 first speaker had suffused him with a strange and delicious 
 anticipation. He restrained himself, though the words she 
 had naively dropped were filling him with new and tremu- 
 lous suggestion. He was motionless, even while he felt 
 that the vague longing and yearning which had possessed 
 him hitherto was now mysteriously taking some unknown 
 form and action. 
 
 The murmuring ceased. The humble-bee's drone again 
 became ascendant a sudden fear seized him. She was 
 going ; he should never see her ! While he had stood 
 there a dolt and sluggard, she had satisfied her curiosity 
 and stolen away. With a sudden yielding to impulse, he 
 darted quickly in the direction where he had heard her 
 voice. The thicket moved, parted, crackled, and rustled, 
 and then undulated thirty feet before him in a long wave, as 
 if from the passage of some lithe, invisible figure. But at 
 the same moment a little cry, half of alarm, half of laughter, 
 broke from his very feet, and a bent manzanita bush, re- 
 laxed by frightened fingers, flew back against his breast. 
 Thrusting it hurriedly aside, his stooping, eager face came 
 almost in contact with the pink, flushed cheeks and tangled 
 curls of a woman's head. He was so near, her moist and 
 laughing eyes almost drowned his eager glance ; her parted 
 lips and white teeth were so close to his that her quick 
 breath took away his own. 
 
 She had dropped on one knee, as her companion fled, ex- 
 
358 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 pecting he would overlook her as he passed, but his direct 
 onset had extracted the feminine outcry. Yet even then 
 she did not seem greatly frightened. 
 
 " It 's only a joke, sir/' she said, coolly lifting herself to 
 her feet by grasping his arm. " 1 'm Mrs. Dall, the Indian 
 agent's wife. They said you would n't let anybody see you 
 and / determined I would. That 's all ! " She stopped, 
 threw back her tangled curls behind her ears, shook the 
 briers and thorns from her skirt, and added : " Well, I 
 reckon you are n't afraid of a woman, are you ? So no 
 harm 's done. Good-by ! " 
 
 She drew slightly back as if to retreat, but the elasticity 
 of the manzanita against which she was leaning threw her 
 forward once more. He again inhaled the perfume of her 
 hair ; he saw even the tiny freckles that darkened her upper 
 lip and brought out the moist, red curve below. A sudden 
 recollection of a playmate of his vagabond childhood flashed 
 across his mind ; a wild inspiration of lawlessness, begotten 
 of his past experience, his solitude, his dictatorial power, 
 and the beauty of the woman before him, mounted to his 
 brain. He threw his arms passionately around her, pressed 
 his lips to hers, and with a half-hysterical laugh drew back 
 and disappeared in the thicket. 
 
 Mrs. Dall remained for an instant dazed and stupefied. 
 Then she lifted her arm mechanically, and with her sleeve 
 wiped her bruised mouth and the ochre-stain that his paint 
 had left, like blood, upon her cheek. Her laughing face 
 had become instantly grave, but not from fear ; tier dark 
 eyes had clouded, but not entirely with indignation. She 
 suddenly brought down her hand sharply against her side 
 with a gesture of discovery. 
 
 " That 's no Injun ! " she said, with prompt decision. 
 The next minute she plunged back into the trail again, 
 and the dense foliage once more closed around her. But 
 as she did so the broad, vacant face and the mutely wonder- 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 359 
 
 ing eyes of Wachita rose, like a placid moon, between the 
 branches of a tree where they had been hidden, and shone 
 serenely and impassively after her. 
 
 A month elapsed. But it was a month filled with more 
 experience to Elijah than his past two years of exaltation. 
 In the first few days following his meeting with Mrs. Dall, 
 he was possessed by terror, mingled with flashes of despera- 
 tion, at the remembrance of his rash imprudence. His re- 
 collection of extravagant frontier chivalry to womankind, 
 and the swift retribution of the insulted husband or guard- 
 ian, alternately filled him with abject fear or extravagant 
 recklessness. At times prepared for flight, even to the 
 desperate abandonment of himself in a canoe to the waters 
 of the Pacific, at times he was on the point of inciting his 
 braves to attack the Indian agency and precipitate the war 
 that he felt would be inevitable. As the days passed, and 
 there seemed to be no interruption to his friendly relations 
 with the agency, with that relief a new, subtle joy crept 
 into Elijah's heart. The image of the agent's wife framed 
 in the leafy screen behind his lodge, the perfume of her 
 hair and breath mingled with the spicing of the bay, the 
 brief thrill and tantalization of the stolen kiss still haunted 
 him. Through his long, shy abstention from society, and 
 his two years of solitary exile, the fresh beauty of this 
 young Western wife, in whom the frank artlessness of girl- 
 hood still lingered, appeared to him like a superior creation. 
 He forgot his vague longings in the inception of a more 
 tangible but equally unpractical passion. He remembered 
 her unconscious and spontaneous admiration of him ; he 
 dared to connect it with her forgiving silence. If she had 
 withheld her confidences from her husband, he could hope 
 he knew not exactly what ! 
 
 One afternoon Wachita put into his hand a folded note. 
 With an instinctive presentiment of its contents, Elijah 
 
360 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 turned red and embarrassed in receiving it from the woman 
 who was recognized as his wife. But the impassive, sub- 
 missive manner of this household drudge, instead of touch- 
 ing his conscience, seemed to him a vulgar and brutal accept- 
 ance of the situation that dulled whatever compunction he 
 might have had. He opened the note and read hurriedly 
 as follows : 
 
 " You took a great freedom with me the other day, and 
 I am justified in taking one with you now. I believe you 
 understand English as well as I do. If you want to explain 
 that, and your conduct to me, I will be at the same place 
 this afternoon. My friend will accompany me, but she need 
 not hear what you have to say." 
 
 Elijah read the letter, which might have been written 
 by an ordinary schoolgirl, as if it had conveyed the veiled 
 rendezvous of a princess. The reserve, caution, and shy- 
 ness which had been the safeguard of his weak nature were 
 swamped in a flow of immature passion. He flew to the 
 interview with the eagerness and inexperience of first love. 
 He was completely at her mercy. So utterly was he sub- 
 jugated by her presence that she did not even run the risk 
 of his passion. Whatever sentiment might have mingled 
 with her curiosity, she was never conscious of a necessity 
 to guard herself against it. At this second meeting she 
 was in full possession of his secret. He had told her 
 everything ; she had promised nothing in return she 
 had not even accepted anything. Even her actual after- 
 relations to the denouement of his passion are still shrouded 
 in mystery. 
 
 Nevertheless, Elijah lived two weeks on the unsubstan- 
 tial memory of this meeting. What might have followed 
 could not be known, for at the end of that time an out- 
 rage so atrocious that even the peaceful Minyos were 
 thrilled with savage indignation was committed on the 
 outskirts of the village. An old chief, who had been spe- 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 361 
 
 cially selected to deal with the Indian agent, and who kept 
 a small trading outpost, had been killed and his goods de- 
 spoiled by a reckless Redwood packer. The murderer had 
 coolly said that he was only " serving out " the tool of a 
 fraudulent imposture on the Government, and that he 
 dared the arch-impostor himself, the so-called Minyo chief, 
 to help himself. A wave of ungovernable fury surged up 
 to the very tent-poles of Elijah's lodge and demanded 
 vengeance. Elijah trembled and hesitated. In the thrall- 
 dom of his selfish passion for Mrs. Dall he dared not con- 
 template a collision with her countrymen. He would have 
 again sought refuge in his passive, non-committal attitude, 
 but he knew the impersonal character of Indian retribution 
 and compensation, a sacrifice of equal value, without 
 reference to the culpability of the victim, and he dreaded 
 some spontaneous outbreak. To prevent the enforced ex- 
 piation of the crime by some innocent brother packer, he 
 was obliged to give orders for the pursuit and arrest of the 
 criminal, secretly hoping for his escape or the interposition 
 of some circumstance to avert his punishment. A day of 
 sullen expectancy to the old men and squaws in camp, of 
 gloomy anxiety to Elijah alone in his lodge, followed the 
 departure of the braves on the war-path. It was midnight 
 when they returned. Elijah, who, from his habitual re- 
 serve and the accepted etiquette of his exalted station, had 
 remained impassive in his tent, only knew from the gut- 
 tural rejoicings of the squaws that the expedition had been 
 successful and the captive was in their hands. At any 
 other time he might have thought it an evidence of some 
 growing skepticism of his infallibility of judgment and a 
 diminution of respect that they did not confront him with 
 their prisoner. But he was too glad to escape from the 
 danger of exposure and possible arraignment of his past 
 life by the desperate captive, even though it might not 
 have been understood by the spectators. He reflected that 
 
362 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 the omission might have arisen from their recollection of 
 his previous aversion to a retaliation on other prisoners. 
 Enough that they would wait his signal for the torture and 
 execution at sunrise the next day. 
 
 The night passed slowly. It is more than probable that 
 the selfish and ignoble torments of the sleepless and vacil- 
 lating judge were greater than those of the prisoner, who 
 dozed at the stake between his curses. Yet it was part of 
 Elijah's fatal weakness that his kinder and more human 
 instincts were dominated even at that moment by his law- 
 less passion for the Indian agent's wife, and his indecision 
 as to the fate of his captive was as much due to this pre- 
 occupation as to a selfish consideration of her relations to 
 the result. He hated the prisoner for his infelicitous and 
 untimely crime, yet he could not make up his mind to his 
 death. He paced the ground before his lodge in dishonor- 
 able incertitude. The small eyes of the submissive Wa- 
 chita watched him with vague solicitude. 
 
 Toward morning he was struck by a shameful inspira- 
 tion. He would creep unperceived to the victim's side, 
 unloose his bonds, and bid him fly to the Indian agency. 
 There he was to inform Mrs. Dall that her husband's safety 
 depended upon his absenting himself for a few days, but 
 that she was to remain and communicate with Elijah. She 
 would understand everything, perhaps ; at least she would 
 know that the prisoner's release was to please her, but even 
 if she did not, no harm would be done, a white man's life 
 would be saved, and his real motive would not be sus- 
 pected. He turned with feverish eagerness to the lodge. 
 Wachita had disappeared probably to join the other wo- 
 men. It was well ; she would not suspect him. 
 
 The tree to which the doomed man was bound was, by 
 custom, selected nearest the chief's lodge, within its sacred 
 inclosure, with no other protection than that offered by its 
 reserved seclusion and the outer semicircle of warriors' 
 
A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 363 
 
 tents before it. To escape, the captive would therefore 
 have to pass beside the chief's lodge to the rear and descend 
 the hill toward the shore. Elijah would show him the way, 
 and make it appear as if he had escaped unaided. As he 
 glided into the shadow of a group of pines, he could dimly 
 discern the outline of the destined victim, secured against 
 one of the larger trees in a sitting posture, with his head 
 fallen forward on his breast as if in sleep. But at the 
 same moment another figure glided out from the shadow 
 and approached the fatal tree. It was Wachita ! 
 
 He stopped in amazement. But in another instant a 
 flash of intelligence made it clear. He remembered her 
 vague uneasiness and solicitude at his agitation, her sudden 
 disappearance ; she had fathomed his perplexity, as she had 
 once before. Of her own accord she was going to release 
 the prisoner ! The knife to cut his cords glittered in her 
 hand. Brave and faithful animal ! 
 
 He held his breath as he drew nearer. But, to his hor- 
 ror, the knife suddenly flashed in the air and darted down, 
 again and again, upon the body of the .helpless man. 
 There was a convulsive struggle, but no outcry, and the 
 next moment the body hung limp and inert in its cords. 
 Elijah would himself have fallen, half-fainting, against a 
 tree, but, by a revulsion of feeling, came the quick revela- 
 tion that the desperate girl had rightly solved the problem ! 
 She had done what he ought to have done and his loy- 
 alty and manhood were preserved. That conviction and 
 the courage to act upon it to have called the sleeping 
 braves to witness his sacrifice would have saved him, 
 but it was ordered otherwise. 
 
 As the girl rapidly passed him he threw out his hand 
 and seized her wrist. " Who did you do this for ? " he 
 demanded. 
 
 " For you," she said stupidly. 
 
 " And why ? " 
 
 " Because you no kill him you love his squaw." 
 
364 A DRIFT FROM REDWOOD CAMP 
 
 " His squaw ! " He staggered back. A terrible sus- 
 picion flashed upon him. He dashed Wachita aside and 
 ran to the tree. It was the body of the Indian agent ! 
 Aboriginal justice had been satisfied. The warriors had 
 not caught the murderer, but, true to their idea of vica- 
 rious retribution, had determined upon the expiatory sacri- 
 fice of a life as valuable and innocent as the one they had 
 lost. 
 
 " So the GovVment hev at last woke up and wiped out 
 them cussed Digger Minyos," said Snap-shot Harry, as he 
 laid down the newspaper, in the brand-new saloon of the 
 brand-new town of Redwood. " I see they J ve stampeded 
 both banks of the Minyo Biver, and sent off a lot to the 
 reservation. I reckon the soldiers at Fort Cass got sick o* 
 sentiment after those hounds killed the Injun agent, and 
 are beginning to agree with us that the only ' good Injun ' 
 is a dead one." 
 
 " And it turns out that that wonderful chief, that them 
 two packers used to rave about, woz about as big a devil ez 
 any, and tried to run off with the agent's wife, only the 
 warriors killed her. I 'd like to know what become of 
 him. Some says he was killed, others allow that he got 
 away. I 've heerd tell that he was originally some kind 
 of Methodist preacher ! a kind o' saint that got a sort 
 o' spiritooal holt on the old squaws and children." 
 
 " Why don't you ask old Skeesicks ? I see he 's back 
 here agin and grubbin' along at a dollar a day on tailin's. 
 He 's been somewhere up north, they say." 
 
 " What, Skeesicks ? that shiftless, o'n'ry cuss ! You bet 
 he wusn't anywhere where there was danger or fighting. 
 Why, you might as well hev suspected him of being the big 
 chief himself ! There he comes ask him." 
 
 And the laughter was so general that Elijah Martin 
 alias Skeesicks lounging shyly into the bar-room, joined 
 in it weakly. 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FKIEND 
 
 HARDLY one of us, I think, really believed in the 
 auriferous probabilities of Eureka Gulch. Following a little 
 stream, we had one day drifted into it, very much as we 
 imagined the river-gold might have done in remoter ages, 
 with the difference that we remained there, while the river- 
 gold to all appearances had not. At first it was tacitly 
 agreed to ignore this fact, and we made the most of the 
 charming locality, with its rare watercourse that lost itself 
 in tangled depths of manzanita and alder, its laurel-choked 
 pass, its flower-strewn hillside, and its summit crested with 
 rocking pines. 
 
 "You see," said the optimistic Rowley, "water 's the main 
 thing after all. If we happen to strike river-gold, thar 9 a 
 the stream for washing it ; if we happen to drop into quartz 
 and that thar rock looks mighty likely thar ain't a 
 more natural-born site for a mill than that right bank, with 
 water enough to run fifty stamps. That hillside is an 
 original dump for your tailings, and a ready found inclined 
 road for your trucks, fresh from the hands of Providence ; 
 and that road we ? re kalkilatin' to build to the turnpike will 
 run just easy along that ridge." 
 
 Later, when we were forced to accept the fact that finding 
 gold was really the primary object of a gold-mining company, 
 we still remained there, excusing our youthful laziness and 
 incertitude by brilliant and effective sarcasms upon the 
 unremunerative attractions of the gulch. Nevertheless, 
 
366 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 when Captain Jim, returning one day from the nearest 
 settlement and post-office, twenty miles away, burst upon 
 us with "Well, the hull thing '11 be settled now, boys; Lacy 
 Bassett is coming down yer to look round/' we felt con- 
 siderably relieved. 
 
 And yet, perhaps, we had as little reason for it as we had 
 for remaining there. There was no warrant for any belief 
 in the special divining power of the unknown Lacy Bassett, 
 except Captain Jim's extravagant faith in his general supe- 
 riority, and even that had always been a source of amused 
 skepticism to the camp. We were already impatiently 
 familiar with the opinions of this unseen oracle ; he was 
 always impending in Captain Jim's speech as a fragrant 
 memory or an unquestioned authority. When Captain Jim 
 began, "Ez Lacy was one day tellin' me," or, "Ez Lacy 
 Bassett allows," or more formally, when strangers were 
 present, "Ez a partickler friend o' mine, Lacy Bassett 
 maybe ez you know him sez," the youthful and lighter 
 members of the Eureka Mining Company glanced at each 
 other in furtive enjoyment. Nevertheless no one looked 
 more eagerly forward to the arrival of this apocryphal sage 
 than these indolent skeptics. It was at least an excitement ; 
 they were equally ready to accept his condemnation of the 
 locality or his justification of their original selection. 
 
 He came. He was received by the Eureka Mining Com- 
 pany lying on their backs on the grassy site of the prospec- 
 tive quartz mill, not far from the equally hypothetical 
 "slide " to the gulch. He came by the future stage road 
 at present a thickset jungle of scrub-oaks and ferns. He 
 was accompanied by Captain Jim, who had gone to meet 
 him on the trail, and for a few moments all critical inspec- 
 tion of himself was withheld by the extraordinary effect he 
 seemed to have upon the faculties of his introducer. 
 
 Anything like the absolute prepossession of Captain Jim 
 by the stranger we had never imagined. He approached us 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 367 
 
 running a little ahead of his guest, and now and then return- 
 ing assuringly to his side with the expression of a devoted 
 Newfoundland dog, which in fluffiness he generally re- 
 sembled. And now, even after the introduction was over, 
 when he made a point of standing aside in an affectation of 
 carelessness, with his hands in his pockets, the simulation 
 was so apparent, and his consciousness and absorption in his 
 friend so obvious, that it was a relief to us to recall him 
 into the conversation. 
 
 As to our own first impressions of the stranger, they were 
 probably correct. We all disliked him ; we thought him 
 conceited, self-opinionated, selfish, and untrustworthy. But 
 later, reflecting that this was possibly the result of Captain 
 Jim's over-praise, and finding none of these qualities as yet 
 offensively opposed to our own selfishness and conceit, we 
 were induced, like many others, to forget our first impression. 
 We could easily correct him if he attempted to impose 
 upon us, as he evidently had upon Captain Jim. Believ- 
 ing, after the fashion of most humanity, that there was 
 something about us particularly awe-inspiring and edifying 
 to vice or weakness of any kind, we good-humoredly yielded 
 to the cheap fascination of this showy, self-saturated, over- 
 dressed, and underbred stranger. Even the epithet of 
 " blower " as applied to him by Kowley had its mitigations ; 
 in that Trajan community a bully was not necessarily a 
 coward, nor florid demonstration always a weakness. 
 
 His condemnation of the gulch was sweeping, original, 
 and striking. He laughed to scorn our half-hearted theory 
 of a gold deposit in the bed and bars of our favorite stream. 
 We were not to look for auriferous alluvium in the bed of 
 any present existing stream, but in the " cement " or dried- 
 up bed of the original prehistoric rivers that formerly 
 ran parallel with the present bed, and which he demon- 
 strated with the stem of Pickney's pipe in the red dust 
 could be found by sinking shafts at right angles with the 
 
368 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 stream. The theory was to us, at that time, novel and 
 attractive. It was true that the scientific explanation, al- 
 though full and gratuitous, sounded vague and incoherent. 
 It was true that the geological terms were not always cor- 
 rect, and their pronunciation defective, but we accepted such 
 extraordinary discoveries as " ignus fatuus rock," " splendif- 
 erous drift," " mica twist " (recalling a popular species of 
 tobacco), " iron pirates," and " discomposed quartz " as part 
 of what he not inaptly called a " tautological formation," 
 and were happy. Nor was our contentment marred by the 
 fact that the well-known scientific authority with whom 
 the stranger had been intimate, to the point of " sleeping 
 together " during a survey, and whom he described as a 
 bent old man with spectacles, must have aged considerably 
 since one of our party saw him three years before as a keen 
 young fellow of twenty-five. Inaccuracies like those were 
 only the carelessness of genius. " That 's my opinion, 
 gentlemen," he concluded, negligently rising, and with 
 pointed preoccupation whipping the dust of Eureka Gulch 
 from his clothes with his handkerchief, " but of course it 
 ain't nothin' to me." 
 
 Captain Jim, who had followed every word with deep 
 and trustful absorption, here repeated, " It ain't nothing to 
 him, boys," with a confidential implication of the gratuitous 
 blessing we had received, and then added, with loyal encour- 
 agement to him, " It ain't nothing to you, Lacy, in course," 
 and laid his hand on his shoulder with infinite tenderness. 
 
 We, however, endeavored to make it something to Mr. 
 Lacy Bassett. He was spontaneously offered a share in 
 the company and a part of Captain Jim's tent. He ac- 
 cepted both after a few deprecating and muttered asides to 
 Captain Jim, which the latter afterwards explained to us 
 was the giving up of several other important enterprises for 
 our sake. When he finally strolled away with Rowley to 
 look over the gulch, Captain Jim reluctantly tore himself 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 369 
 
 away from him only for the pleasure of reiterating his praise 
 to us as if in strictest confidence and as an entirely novel 
 proceeding. 
 
 " You see, hoys, I did n't like to say it afore him, we 
 bein' old friends ; but, between us, that young feller ez 
 worth thousands to the camp. Mebbe," he continued, with 
 grave naivete, " I ain't said much about him afore, mebbe, 
 bein' old friends and accustomed to him you know how 
 it is, boys, I have n't appreciated him as much ez I ought, 
 and ez you do. In fact, I don't ezakly remember how I 
 kem to ask him down yer. It came to me suddent, one day 
 only a week ago Friday night, thar under that buckeye ; I 
 was thinkin' o' one of his say in' s, and sez I thar *s Lacy, 
 if he was here he 'd set the hull thing right. It was the 
 ghost of a chance my findin' him free, but I did. And 
 there Tie is, and yer we are settled ! Ye noticed how he 
 just knocked the bottom outer our plans to work. Ye 
 noticed that quick sort o' sneerin' smile o' his, did n't ye 
 that 's Lacy ! I 've seen him knock over a heap o' things 
 without sayin' any thin' with jist that smile." 
 
 It occurred to us that we might have some difficulty in 
 utilizing this smile in our present affairs, and that we should 
 have probably preferred something more assuring, but Cap- 
 tain Jim's faith was contagious. 
 
 " What is he, anyway ? " asked Joe Walker lazily. 
 
 " Eh ! " echoed Captain Jim in astonishment. " WTiat 
 is Lacy Bassett ? " 
 
 "Yes, what is he ? " repeated Walker. 
 
 " Wot is he ? " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " I 've knowed him now goin' as four year," said Captain 
 Jim, with slow, reflective contentment. " Let 's see. It 
 was in the fall o' '54 I first met him, and he 's allus been 
 the same ez you see him now." 
 
 " But what is his business or profession ? What does 
 he do ? 
 
370 CAPTAIN JIM'S FEIEND 
 
 Captain Jim looked reproachfully at his questioner. 
 
 " Do ? " he repeated, turning to the rest of us as if dis- 
 daining a direct reply. " Do ? why, wot he 's doin' now. 
 He 's allus the same, allus Lacy Bassett." 
 
 Howbeit, we went to work the next day under the super- 
 intendence of the stranger with youthful and enthusiastic 
 energy, and began the sinking of a shaft at once. To do 
 Captain Jim's friend justice, for the first few weeks he did 
 not shirk a fair share of the actual labor, replacing his 
 objectionable and unsuitable finery with a suit of service- 
 able working clothes got together by general contribution of 
 the camp, and assuring us of a fact we afterwards had cause 
 to remember, that " he brought nothing but himself into 
 Eureka Gulch." It may be added that he certainly had 
 not brought money there, as Captain Jim advanced the 
 small amounts necessary for his purchases in the distant 
 settlement, and for the still smaller sums he lost at cards, 
 which he played with characteristic self-sufficiency. 
 
 Meantime the work in the shaft progressed slowly but 
 regularly. Even when the novelty had worn off and the 
 excitement of anticipation grew fainter, I am afraid that we 
 clung to this new form of occupation as an apology for 
 remaining there ; for the fascinations of our vagabond and 
 unconventional life were more potent than we dreamed of. 
 We were slowly fettered by our very freedom ; there was a 
 strange spell in this very boundlessness of our license that 
 kept us from even the desire of change ; in the wild and 
 lawless arms of Nature herself we found an embrace as 
 clinging, as hopeless and restraining, as the civilization from 
 which we had fled. We were quite content after a few 
 hours' work in the shaft to lie on our backs on the hillside 
 staring at the unwinking sky, or to wander with a gun 
 through the virgin forest in search of game scarcely less 
 vagabond than ourselves. We indulged in the most extrav- 
 agant and dreamy speculations of the fortune we should 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FEIEND 371 
 
 eventually discover in the shaft, and believed that we were 
 practical. We broke our " saleratus bread " with appetites 
 unimpaired by restlessness or anxiety ; we went to sleep 
 under the grave and sedate stars with a serene consciousness 
 of having fairly earned our rest ; we awoke the next morn- 
 ing with unabated trustfulness, and a sweet obliviousness of 
 even the hypothetical fortunes we had perhaps won or lost 
 at cards overnight. We paid no heed to the fact that our 
 little capital was slowly sinking with the shaft, and that 
 the rainy season wherein not only " no man could work," 
 but even such play as ours was impossible was momen- 
 tarily impending. 
 
 In the midst of this, one day Lacy Bassett suddenly 
 emerged from the shaft before his " shift " of labor was 
 over with every sign of disgust and rage in his face and in- 
 articulate with apparent passion. In vain we gathered 
 round him in concern ; in vain Captain Jim regarded him 
 with almost feminine sympathy, as he flung away his pick 
 and dashed his hat to the ground. 
 
 " What 's up, Lacy, old pard ? What 'B gone o' you ? " 
 said Captain Jim tenderly. 
 
 " Look ! " gasped Lacy at last, when every eye was on 
 him, holding up a small fragment of rock before us and the 
 next moment grinding it under his heel in rage. " Look ! 
 To think that I 've been fooled agin by this blanked fos- 
 siliferous trap blank it ! To think that after me and 
 Professor Parker was once caught jist in this way up on 
 the Stanislaus at the bottom of a hundred-foot shaft by this 
 rotten trap that yer I am bluffed agin ! " 
 
 There was a dead silence ; we looked at each other 
 blankly. 
 
 " But, Bassett," said Walker, picking up a part of the 
 fragment, " we *ve been finding this kind of stuff for the 
 last two weeks." 
 
 (t But how ? " returned Lacy, turning upon him almost 
 
372 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 fiercely. " Did ye find it superposed on quartz, or did 
 you find it not superposed on quartz ? Did you find it in 
 volcanic drift, or did ye find it in old red-sandstone or 
 coarse illuvion ? Tell me that, and then ye kin talk. But 
 this yer blank f ossilif erous trap, instead o' being superposed 
 on top, is superposed on the bottom. And that means " 
 
 " What ? " we all asked eagerly. 
 
 " Why blank it all that this yer convulsion of na- 
 ture, this prehistoric volcanic earthquake, instead of acting 
 laterally and chuckin' the stream to one side, has been 
 revolutionary and turned the old river-bed bottom-side up, 
 and yer d d cement hez got half the globe atop of it ! Ye 
 might strike it from China, but nowhere else.' 7 
 
 We continued to look at one another, the older members 
 with darkening faces, the younger with a strong inclination 
 to laugh. Captain Jim, who had been concerned only in 
 his friend's emotion, and who was hanging with undisguised 
 satisfaction on these final convincing proofs of his superior 
 geological knowledge, murmured approvingly and confid- 
 ingly, " He 's right, boys ! Thar ain't another man livin' 
 ez could give you the law and gospil like that ! Ye can 
 tie to what he says. That 's Lacy all over." 
 
 Two weeks passed. We had gathered, damp and discon- 
 solate, in the only available shelter of the camp. For the 
 long summer had ended unexpectedly to us ; we had one 
 day found ourselves caught like the improvident insect of 
 the child's fable with gauzy and unseasonable wings wet 
 and bedraggled in the first rains, homeless and hopeless. 
 The scientific Lacy, who lately spent most of his time as a 
 bar-room oracle in the settlement, was away, and from our 
 dripping canvas we could see Captain Jim returning from a 
 visit to him, slowly plodding along the trail towards us. 
 
 " It 's no use, boys," said Rowley, summarizing the re- 
 sult of our conference, " we must speak out to him ; and if 
 nobody else cares to do it I will. I don't know why we 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FEIEND 373 
 
 should be more mealy-mouthed than they are at the settle- 
 ment. They don't hesitate to call Bassett a dead-beat, 
 whatever Captain Jim says to the contrary." 
 
 The unfortunate Captain Jim had halted irresolutely be- 
 fore the gloomy faces in the shelter. Whether he felt in- 
 stinctively some forewarning of what was coming I cannot 
 say. There was a certain doglike consciousness in his eye 
 and a half-backward glance over his shoulder as if he were 
 not quite certain that Lacy was not following. The rain 
 had somewhat subdued his characteristic flufnness, and he 
 cowered with a kind of sleek storm-beaten despondency 
 over the smoking fire of green wood before our tent. 
 
 Nevertheless, Rowley opened upon him with a direct- 
 ness and decision that astonished us. He pointed out 
 briefly that Lacy Bassett had been known to us only 
 through Captain Jim's introduction. That he had been 
 originally invited there on Captain Jim's own account, and 
 that his later connection with the company had been wholly 
 the result of Captain Jim's statements. That, far from be- 
 ing any aid or assistance to them, Bassett had beguiled 
 them by apocryphal knowledge and sham scientific theories 
 into an expensive and gigantic piece of folly. That, in 
 addition to this, they had just discovered that he had also 
 been using the credit of the company for his own individ- 
 ual expenses at the settlement while they were working on 
 his d d fool shaft all of which had brought them to the 
 verge of bankruptcy. That, as a result, they were forced 
 now to demand his resignation not only on their general 
 account, but for Captain Jim's sake believing firmly, as 
 they did, that he had been as grossly deceived in his friend- 
 ship for Lacy Bassett as they were in their business rela- 
 tions with him. 
 
 Instead of being mollified by this, Captain Jim, to our 
 greater astonishment, suddenly turned upon the speaker, 
 bristling with his old canine suggestion. 
 
374 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 " There ! I said so ! Go on ! I 'd have sworn to it 
 afore you opened your lips. I knowed it the day you 
 sneaked around and wanted to know wot his business was ! 
 I said to myself, Cap, look out for that sneakin' hound 
 Kowley, he 's no friend o' Lacy's. And the day Lacy so 
 far demeaned himself as to give ye that splendid explana- 
 tion o' things, I watched ye ; ye did n't think it, but I 
 watched ye. Ye can't fool me ! I saw ye lookin' at 
 Walker there, and I said to myself, Wot 's the use, Lacy, 
 wot 's the use o' your slingin' them words to such as them ? 
 Wot do they know ? It 's just their pure jealousy and 
 ignorance. Ef you'd come down yer, and lazed around 
 with us and fallen into our common ways, you 'd ha' been 
 ez good a man ez the next. But no, it ain't your style, 
 Lacy, you 're accustomed to high-toned men like Professor 
 Parker, and you can't help showing it. No wonder you 
 took to avoidin' us ; no wonder I 've had to f oiler you over 
 the Burnt Wood Crossin' time and again, to get to see ye. 
 I see it all now : ye can't stand the kempany I brought ye 
 to ! Ye had to wipe the slumgullion of Eureka Gulch off 
 your hands, Lacy " He stopped, gasped for breath, and 
 then lifted his voice more savagely, " And now, what 's 
 this ? Wot 's this hogwash ? this yer lyin' slander about 
 his gettin' things on the kempany's credit ? Eh, speak up, 
 some of ye ! " 
 
 We were so utterly shocked and stupefied at the degra- 
 dation of this sudden and unexpected outburst from a man 
 usually so honorable, gentle, self-sacrificing, and forgiving, 
 that we forgot the cause of it and could only stare at each 
 other. What was this cheap stranger, with his shallow 
 swindling tricks, to the ignoble change he had worked upon 
 the man before us. Kowley and Walker, both fearless 
 fighters and quick to resent an insult, only averted their 
 saddened faces and turned aside without a word. 
 
 " Ye dussen't say it ! Well, hark to me then/ 7 he con- 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 375 
 
 tinned, with white and feverish lips. " / put him up to 
 helpin' himself. / told him to use the kempany's name 
 for credit. Ye kin put that down to me. And when ye 
 talk of his resigning, I want ye to understand that / resign 
 outer this rotten kempany and take him with me ! Ef all 
 the gold yer lookin' for was piled up in that shaft from 
 its bottom in hell to its top in the gulch, it ain't enough to 
 keep me here away from him ! Ye kin take all my share 
 all my rights yer above ground and below it all I 
 carry, " he threw his buckskin purse and revolver on the 
 ground, "and pay yourselves what you reckon you've 
 lost through him. But you and me is quits from to-day." 
 He strode away before a restraining voice or hand could 
 reach him. His dripping figure seemed to melt into the 
 rain beneath the thickening shadows of the pines, and the 
 next moment he was gone. From that day forward Eureka 
 Gulch knew him no more. And the camp itself somehow 
 melted away during the rainy season, even as he had done. 
 
n 
 
 THREE years had passed. The pioneer stagecoach was 
 sweeping down the long descent to the pastoral valley of 
 Gilead, and I was looking towards the village with some 
 pardonable interest and anxiety. For I carried in my 
 pocket my letters of promotion from the box seat of the 
 coach where I had performed the functions of treasure 
 messenger for the Excelsior Express Company to the 
 resident agency of that company in the bucolic hamlet be- 
 fore me. The few dusty right-angled streets, with their 
 rigid and staringly new shops and dwellings, the stern for- 
 mality of one or two obelisk-like meeting-house spires, the 
 illimitable outlying plains of wheat and wild oats beyond, 
 with their monotony scarcely broken by skeleton stockades, 
 corrals, and barrack-looking farm buildings, were all cer- 
 tainly unlike the unkempt freedom of the mountain fast- 
 nesses in which I had lately lived and moved. Yuba Bill, 
 the driver, whose usual expression of humorous discontent 
 deepened into scorn as he gathered up his reins as if to 
 charge the village and recklessly sweep it from his path, 
 indicated a huge, rambling, obtrusively glazed, and capital- 
 lettered building with a contemptuous flick of his whip as 
 we passed. " Ef you 're kalkilatin' we '11 get our partin' 
 drink there you 're mistaken. That 's wot they call a 
 temperance house wot means a place where the licker ye 
 get underhand is only a trifle worse than the hash ye get 
 above-board. I suppose it 's part o' one o' the mysteries o' 
 Providence that wherever you find a dusty hole like this 
 that 's naturally thirsty ye run agin a ' temperance ' 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 377 
 
 house. But never you mind ! I should n't wonder if thar 
 was a demijohn o' whiskey in the closet of your back office, 
 kept thar by the feller you 're relievin' who was a white 
 man and knew the ropes." 
 
 A few minutes later, when my brief installation was over, 
 we did find the demijohn in the place indicated. As Yuba 
 Bill wiped his mouth with the back of his heavy buckskin 
 glove, he turned to me not unkindly. " I don't like to set 
 ye agin Gil-e-ad, which is a scrip-too-rural place, and a God- 
 fearin' place, and a nice dry place, and a place ez I 've heard 
 tell whar they grow beans and pertatoes and garden sass ; 
 but afore three weeks is over, old pard, you '11 be howlin' 
 to get back on that box seat with me, whar you uster sit, 
 and be ready to take your chances agin, like a little man, 
 to get drilled through with buckshot from road agents. 
 You hear me ! I '11 give you three weeks, sonny, just 
 three weeks, to get your butes full o' hayseed and straws in 
 yer ha'r ; and I '11 find ye wadin' the North Fork at high 
 water to get out o' this." He shook my hand with grim 
 tenderness, removing his glove a rare favor to give me 
 the pressure of his large, soft, protecting palm, and strode 
 away. The next moment he was shaking the white dust of 
 Gilead from his scornful chariot-wheels. 
 
 In the hope of familiarizing myself with the local inter- 
 ests of the community, I took up a copy of the " Gilead 
 Guardian" which lay on my desk, forgetting for the 
 moment the usual custom of the country press to displace 
 local news for long editorials on foreign subjects and 
 national politics. I found, to my disappointment, that the 
 " Guardian " exhibited more than the usual dearth of do- 
 mestic intelligence, although it was singularly oracular on 
 " The State of Europe," and " Jeffersonian Democracy." 
 A certain cheap assurance, a copy-book dogmatism, a collo- 
 quial familiarity, even in the impersonal plural, and a series 
 of inaccuracies and blunders here and there, struck some 
 
378 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 old chord in my memory. I was mutely wondering where 
 and when I had become personally familiar with rhetoric 
 like that, when the door of the office opened and a man 
 entered. I was surprised to recognize Captain Jim. 
 
 I had not seen him since he had indignantly left us, 
 three years before, in Eureka Gulch. The circumstances 
 of his defection were certainly not conducive to any volun- 
 tary renewal of friendship on either side ; and although, 
 even as a former member of the Eureka Mining Company, 
 I was not conscious of retaining any sense of injury, yet 
 the whole occurrence flashed back upon me with awkward 
 distinctness. To my relief, however, he greeted me with 
 his old cordiality ; to my amusement he added to it a sug- 
 gestion of the large forgiveness of conscious rectitude and 
 amiable toleration. I thought, however, I detected, as he 
 glanced at the paper which was still in my hand and then 
 back again at my face, the same uneasy canine resemblance 
 I remembered of old. He had changed but little in appear- 
 ance; perhaps he was a trifle stouter, more mature, and 
 slower in his movements. If I may return to my canine 
 illustration, his grayer, dustier, and more wiry ensemble 
 gave me the impression that certain pastoral and agricul- 
 tural conditions had varied his type, and he looked more 
 like a shepherd's dog in whose brown eyes there was an 
 abiding consciousness of the care of straying sheep, and 
 possibly of one black one in particular. 
 
 He had, he told me, abandoned mining and taken up 
 farming on a rather large scale. He had prospered. He 
 had other interests at stake, "A flour-mill with some im- 
 provements and and" here his eyes wandered to 
 the " Guardian " again, and he asked me somewhat abruptly 
 what I thought of the paper. Something impelled me to 
 restrain my previous fuller criticism, and I contented myself 
 by saying briefly that I thought it rather ambitious for the 
 locality. " That 's the word," he said, with a look of grat- 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 379 
 
 ified relief, " ' ambitious ' you 've just hit it. And what 'a 
 the matter with thet ? Ye can't expect a high-toned man 
 to write down to the level of every karpin' hound, ken ye 
 now ? That 's what he says to me " He stopped half 
 confused, and then added abruptly : " That 's one o' my 
 investments." 
 
 " Why, Captain Jim, I never suspected that you " 
 
 " Oh, I don't write it," he interrupted hastily. " I 
 only furnish the money and the advertising, and run it 
 gin'rally, you know ; and I 'in responsible for it. And I 
 select the eddyter and " he continued, with a return 
 of the same uneasy wistful look " thar 's suthin' in thet, 
 you know, eh ? " 
 
 I was beginning to be perplexed. The memory evoked 
 by the style of the editorial writing and the presence of 
 Captain Jim was assuming a suspicious relationship to each 
 other. " And who 's your editor ? " I asked. 
 
 " Oh, he 's he 's er Lacy Bassett," he replied, 
 blinking his eyes with a hopeless assumption of careless- 
 ness. " Let 's see ! Oh yes ! You knowed Lacy down 
 there at Eureka. I disremembered it till now. Yes, sir ! " 
 he repeated suddenly and almost rudely, as if to preclude 
 any adverse criticism, " he 's the eddyter ! " 
 
 To my surprise he was quite white and tremulous with 
 nervousness. I was very sorry for him ; and as I really 
 cared very little for the half-forgotten escapade of his friend 
 except so far as it seemed to render him sensitive, I shook 
 his hand again heartily and began to talk of our old life in 
 the gulch avoiding as far as possible any allusion to Lacy 
 Bassett. His face brightened ; his old simple cordiality 
 and trustfulness returned, but unfortunately with it his old 
 disposition to refer to Bassett. "Yes, they waz high old 
 times ; and ez I waz sayin' to Lacy on'y yesterday, there is 
 a kind o' freedom 'bout that sort o' life that runs civiliza- 
 tion and noospapers mighty hard, however high-toned they 
 
380 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 is. Not but what Lacy ain't right, 57 he added quickly, 
 " when he sez that the opposition the ' Guardian ' gets here 
 comes from ignorant low-down fellers ez wos brought up 
 in played-out camps, and can't tell a gentleman and a 
 scholar and a scientific man when they sees him. No ! So 
 I sez to Lacy, l Never you mind, it 's high time they did, 
 and they 've got to do it and to swaller the " Guardian," 
 if I sink double the money I've already put into the 
 paper.' ): 
 
 I was not long in discovering from other sources that 
 the " Guardian " was not popular with the more intelli- 
 gent readers of Gilead, and that Captain Jim's extravagant 
 estimate of his friend was by no means indorsed by the 
 community. But criticism took a humorous turn even in 
 that practical settlement, and it appeared that Lacy Bassett's 
 vanity, assumption, and ignorance were an unfailing and 
 weekly joy to the critical, in spite of the vague distrust 
 they induced in the more homely-witted, and the dull ac- 
 quiescence of that minority who accepted the paper for its 
 respectable exterior and advertisements. I was somewhat 
 grieved, however, to find that Captain Jim shared equally 
 with his friend in this general verdict of incompetency, 
 and that some of the most outrageous blunders were put 
 down to him. But I was not prepared to believe that 
 Lacy had directly or by innuendo helped the public to this 
 opinion. 
 
 Whether through accident or design on his part, Lacy 
 Bassett did not personally obtrude himself upon my re- 
 membrance until a month later. One dazzling afternoon, 
 when the dust and heat had driven the pride of Gilead's 
 manhood into the surreptitious shadows of the temperance 
 hotel's back room, and had even cleared the express office of 
 its loungers, and left me alone with darkened windows in 
 the private office, the outer door opened and Captain Jim's 
 friend entered as part of that garish glitter I had shut out. 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 381 
 
 To do the scamp strict justice, however, he was somewhat 
 subdued in his dress and manner, and, possibly through 
 some gentle chastening of epigram and revolver since I had 
 seen him last, was less aggressive and exaggerated. I had 
 the impression, from certain odors wafted through the apart- 
 ment and a peculiar physical exaltation that was inconsistent 
 with his evident moral hesitancy, that he had prepared 
 himself for the interview by a previous visit to the hidden 
 fountains of the temperance hotel. 
 
 " We don't seem to have run agin each other since you 've 
 been here," he said, with an assurance that was nevertheless 
 a trifle forced, " but I reckon we 're both busy men, and 
 there 's a heap too much loafing goin' on in Gilead. Cap- 
 tain Jim told me he met you the day you arrived ; said you 
 just cottoned to the ' Guardian ' at once and thought it a 
 deal too good for Gilead ; eh ? Oh, well, jest ez likely he 
 did n't say it it was only his gassin'. He 's a queer man 
 is Captain Jim." 
 
 I replied somehat sharply that I considered him a very 
 honest man, a very simple man, and a very loyal man. 
 
 " That 's all very well," said Bassett, twirling his cane 
 with a patronizing smile, "but, as his friend, don't you 
 find him considerable of a darned fool ? " 
 
 I could not help retorting that I thought he had found 
 that hardly an objection. 
 
 " You think so," he said querulously, apparently ignor- 
 ing everything but the practical fact, " and maybe others 
 do ; but that 's where you 7 re mistaken. It don't pay. It 
 may pay him to be runnin' me as his particular friend, to 
 be quotin' me here and there, to be gettin' credit of 
 knowin' me and my friends and ownin' me by Gosh ! 
 but I don't see where the benefit to me comes in. Eh ? 
 Take your own case down there at Eureka Gulch ; did n't 
 he send for me just to show me up to you fellers ? Did I 
 want to have anything to do with the Eureka Company ? 
 
382 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 Did n't he set me up to give my opinion about that shaft 
 just to show off what I knew about science and all that ? 
 And what did he get me to join the company for ? Was 
 it for you ? No ! Was it for me ? No ! It was just 
 to keep me there for himself, and kinder pit me agin you 
 fellers and crow over you ! Now that ain't my style ! It 
 may be his it may be honest and simple and loyal, as 
 you say, and it may be all right for him to get me to run 
 up accounts at the settlement and then throw off on me 
 but it ain't my style. I suppose he let on that I did that. 
 No ? He did n't ? Well, then, why did he want to run 
 me off with him, and cut the whole concern in an under- 
 hand way and make me leave with nary a character behind 
 me, eh ? Now, I never said anything about this before 
 did I ? It ain't like me. I would n't have said anything 
 about it now, only you talked about my being benefited by 
 his darned foolishness. Much I 've made outer him" 
 
 Despicable, false, and disloyal as this was, perhaps it 
 was the crowning meanness of such confidences that his 
 very weakness seemed only a reflection of Captain Jim's 
 own, and appeared in some strange way to degrade his 
 friend as much as himself. The simplicity of his vanity 
 and selfishness was only equaled by the simplicity of Cap- 
 tain Jim's admiration of it. It was a part of my youthful 
 inexperience of humanity that I was not above the common 
 fallacy of believing that a man is " known by the company 
 he keeps," and that he is in a manner responsible for its 
 weakness ; it was a part of that humanity that I felt no 
 surprise in being more amused than shocked by this revela- 
 tion. It seemed a good joke on Captain Jim ! 
 
 " Of course you kin laugh at his darned foolishness ; 
 but, by Gosh, it ain't a laughing matter to me ! " 
 
 " But surely he 's given you a good position on the 
 ' Guardian,' " I urged. " That was disinterested, cer- 
 tainly." 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 383 
 
 " Was it ? I call that the cheekiest thing yet. When 
 he found he could n't make enough of me in private life, 
 he totes me out in public as his editor, the man who 
 runs his paper ! And has his name in print as the pro- 
 prietor, the only chance he 'd ever get of being before the 
 public. And don't know the whole town is laughing at 
 him ! " 
 
 "That may be because they think he writes some of the 
 articles," I suggested. 
 
 Again the insinuation glanced harmlessly from his van- 
 ity. " That could n't be, because / do all the work, and 
 it ain't his style," he said, with naive discontent. " And 
 it 's always the highest style, done to please him, though 
 between you and me it 's sorter castin' pearls before swine, 
 this 'Frisco editing, and the public would be just as 
 satisfied with anything I could rattle off that was peart and 
 sassy, something spicy or personal. I 'm willing to 
 clirnb down and do it, for there 's nothin' stuck-up about 
 me, you know ; but that darned fool Captain Jim has got 
 the big head about the style of the paper, and darned if I 
 don't think he 's afraid if there 's a lettin' down, people 
 may think it 's him ! Ez if ! Why, you know as well as 
 me that there 's a sort of snap I could give these things 
 that would show it was me and no slouch did them, in a 
 minute." 
 
 I had my doubts about the elegance or playfulness of 
 Mr. Bassett's trifling, but from some paragraphs that ap- 
 peared in the next issue of the " Guardian " I judged that 
 he had won over Captain Jim if indeed that gentleman's 
 alleged objections were not entirely the outcome of Bas- 
 sett's fancy. The social paragraphs themselves were clumsy 
 and vulgar. A dull-witted account of a select party at 
 Parson Baxter's, with a pointblank compliment to Polly 
 Baxter his daughter, might have made her pretty cheek 
 burn but for her evident prepossession for the meretricious 
 
384 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 scamp, its writer. But even this horse-play seemed more 
 natural than the utterly artificial editorials with their pinch- 
 beck glitter and cheap erudition ; and thus far it appeared 
 harmless. 
 
 I grieve to say that these appearances were deceptive. 
 One afternoon, as I was returning from a business visit to 
 the outskirts of the village, I was amazed on reentering the 
 main street to find a crowd collected around the " Guard- 
 ian " office, gazing at the broken glass of its windows and a 
 quantity of type scattered on the ground. But my atten- 
 tion was at that moment more urgently attracted by a simi- 
 lar group around my own office, who, however, seemed 
 more cautious, and were holding timorously aloof from the 
 entrance. As I ran rapidly towards them, a few called 
 out, " Look out he *s in there ! " while others made way 
 to let me pass. With the impression of fire or robbery in 
 my mind, I entered precipitately, only to find Yuba Bill 
 calmly leaning back in an armchair with his feet on the 
 back of another, a glass of whiskey from my demijohn in 
 one hand and a huge cigar in his mouth. Across* his lap 
 lay a stumpy shot-gun which I at once recognized as " the 
 Left Bower," whose usual place was at his feet on the box 
 during his journeys. He looked cool and collected, although 
 there were one or two splashes of printer's ink on his shirt 
 and trousers, and from the appearance of my lavatory and 
 towel he had evidently been removing similar stains from 
 his hands. Putting his gun aside and grasping my hand 
 warmly without rising, he began, with even more than his 
 usual lazy imperturbability : 
 
 " Well, how 's Gilead lookin' to-day ? " 
 
 It struck me as looking rather disturbed, but, as I was 
 still too bewildered to reply, he continued lazily : 
 
 " Ez you did n't hunt me up, I allowed you might hev 
 got kinder petrified and dried up down yer, and I reckoned 
 to run down and rattle round a bit and make things lively 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 385 
 
 for ye. I 've jist cleared out a newspaper office over thar. 
 They call it the ' Guar-di-an,' though it did n't seem to 
 offer much pertection to them fellers ez was in it. In fact, 
 it was n't ez much a fight ez it orter hev been. It was 
 rather monotonous for me." 
 
 " But what 'B the row, Bill ? What has happened ? " I 
 asked excitedly. 
 
 "Nothin' to speak of, I tell ye," replied Yuba Bill 
 reflectively. " I jest meandered into that shop over there, 
 and I sez, ' I want ter see the man ez runs this yer mill o' 
 literatoor an' progress.' Thar waz two infants sittin' on 
 high chairs havin' some innocent little game o' pickin' 
 pieces o' lead outer pill-boxes like, and as soon ez they seed 
 me one of 'em crawled under his desk and the other scooted 
 outer the back door. Bimeby the door opens again, and a 
 fluffy coyote-lookin' feller comes in and allows that he is 
 responsible for that yer paper. When I saw the kind of ani- 
 mal he was, and that he had n't any weppings, I jist laid the 
 Left Bower down on the floor. Then I sez, ' You allowed 
 in your paper that I oughter hev a little sevility knocked 
 inter me, and I 'm here to hev it done. You ken begin it 
 now.' With that I reached for him, and we waltzed oncet 
 or twicet around the room, and then I put him up on the 
 mantelpiece and on them desks and little boxes, and took 
 him down again, and kinder wiped the floor with him gin- 
 'rally, until the first thing I knowed he was outside the 
 winder on the sidewalk. On'y blamed if I did n't forget 
 to open the winder. Ef it had n't been for that, it would 
 hev been all quiet and peaceful-like, and nobody hev 
 knowed it. But the sash being in the way, it sorter created 
 a disturbance and unpleasantness outside." 
 
 11 But what was it all about ? " I repeated. " What 
 had he done to you ? " 
 
 " Ye '11 find it in that paper," he said, indicating a copy of 
 the " Guardian " that lay on my table, with a lazy nod of his 
 
386 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 head. " PVaps you don't read it ? No more do I. But 
 Joe Bilson sez to me yesterday : ' Bill,' sez he, ' they 're 
 goin' for ye in the "Guardian."' 'Wot's that?' sez I. 
 ' Hark to this,' sez he, and reads out that bit that you '11 
 find there." 
 
 I had opened the paper, and he pointed to a paragraph. 
 " There it is. Pooty, ain't it ? " I read with amazement 
 as follows : 
 
 " If the Pioneer Stage Company want to keep up with 
 the times, and not degenerate into the old style ' one horse ' 
 road-wagon business, they 'd better make some reform on 
 the line. They might begin by shipping off some of the 
 old-time whiskey-guzzling drivers who are too high and 
 mighty to do anything but handle the ribbons, and are 
 above speaking to a passenger unless he 's a favorite or one 
 of their set. Overpraise for an occasional scrimmage with 
 road agents and flattery from Eastern greenhorns have given 
 them the big head. If the fool-killer were let loose on 
 the line with a big club, and knocked a little civility into 
 their heads, it would n't be a bad thing, and would be a 
 particular relief to the passengers for Gilead who have to 
 take the stage from Simpson's Bar." 
 
 " That 's my stage," said Yuba Bill quietly, when I had 
 ended ; " and that 's me." 
 
 " But it 's impossible," I said eagerly. " That insult 
 was never written by Captain Jim." 
 
 " Captain Jim," repeated Yuba Bill reflectively. " Cap- 
 tain Jim, yes, that was the name o' the man I was playin' 
 with. Shortish hairy feller, suthin' between a big coyote 
 and the old-style hair-trunk. Fought pretty well for a hay- 
 footed man from Gil-e-ad." 
 
 " But you 've whipped the wrong man, Bill," I said. 
 " Think again ! Have you had any quarrel lately ? run 
 against any newspaper man ? " The recollection had flashed 
 upon me that Lacy Bassett had lately returned from a 
 visit to Stockton. 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FKIEND 387 
 
 Yuba Bill regarded his boots on the other armchair for 
 a few moments in profound meditation. " There was a 
 sort o' gaudy insect/' he began presently, " suthin' half- 
 way betwixt a hoss-fly and a devil's darnin' -needle, ez 
 crawled up onter the box seat with me last week, and 
 buzzed ! Now I think on it, he talked highfaluten' o' the 
 inflooence of the press and sech. I may hev said ' shoo ' to 
 him when he was hummin' the loudest. I mout hev 
 flicked him off oncet or twicet with my whip. It must be 
 him. Gosh ! " he said suddenly, rising and lifting his heavy 
 hand to his forehead, "now I think agin, he was the feller 
 ez crawled under the desk when the fight was goin' on, 
 and stayed there. Yes, sir, that was him. His face 
 looked sorter familiar, but I didn't know him moultuV 
 with his feathers off." He turned upon me with the first 
 expression of trouble and anxiety I had ever seen him 
 wear. " Yes, sir, that 's him. And I 've kem me, 
 Yuba Bill ! kem myself, a matter of twenty miles, totin' 
 a g un a gun, by Gosh ! to fight that that that 
 potatar-bug I " He walked to the window, turned, walked 
 back again, finished his whiskey with a single gulp, and laid 
 his hand almost despondingly on my shoulder. " Look ye, 
 old old fell, you and me 's ole friends. Don't give me 
 away. Don't let on a word o' this to any one ! Say I kem 
 down yer howlin' drunk on a gen'ral tear ! Say I mistook 
 that newspaper office for a cigar-shop, and got licked by 
 the boss ! Say anythin' you like, 'cept that I took a gun 
 down yer to chase a fly that had settled onter me. Keep the 
 Left Bower in yer back office till I send for it. Ef you 've 
 got a back door somewhere handy, where I can slip outer 
 this without bein' seen, I 'd be thankful." 
 
 As this desponding suggestion appeared to me as the 
 wisest thing for him to do in the then threatening state of 
 affairs outside, which, had he suspected it, he would have 
 stayed to face, I quickly opened a door into a courtyard 
 
388 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 that communicated through an alley with a side street. 
 Here we shook hands and parted ; his last dejected ejacula- 
 tion being, " That potatar-bug ! " Later I ascertained that 
 Captain Jim had retired to his ranch some four miles distant. 
 He was not seriously hurt, but looked, to use the words of 
 my informant, " ez ef he 'd been hugged by a playful b'ar." 
 As the " Guardian " made its appearance the next week 
 without the slightest allusion to the fracas, I did not deem 
 it necessary to divulge the real facts. When I called to 
 inquire about Captain Jim's condition, he himself, however, 
 volunteered an explanation. 
 
 "I don't mind tellin' you, ez an old friend o' mine and 
 Lacy's, that the secret of that there attack on me and the 
 1 Guardian ? was perlitikal. Yes, sir ! There was a power- 
 ful orginization in the interest o' Halkins for assemblyman 
 ez did n't like our high-toned editorials on caucus corrup- 
 tion, and hired a bully to kem down here and suppress us. 
 Why, this yer Lacy spotted the idea to oncet ; yer know 
 how keen he is." 
 
 " Was Lacy present ? " I asked as carelessly as I could. 
 
 Captain Jim glanced his eyes over his shoulder quite in 
 his old furtive canine fashion, and then blinked them at 
 me rapidly. " He war ! And if it warn't for his pluck 
 and his science and his strength, I don't know whar I'd 
 hev been now ! Howsomever, it 's all right. I 've had a 
 fair offer to sell the ' Guardian ' over at Simpson's Bar, and 
 it's time I quit throwin' away the work of a man like 
 Lacy Bassett upon it. And between you and me, I 've got 
 an idea and suthin' better to put his talens into." 
 
ni 
 
 IT was not long before it became evident that the " talens " 
 of Mr. Lacy Bassett, as indicated by Captain Jim, were to 
 grasp at a seat in the State legislature. An editorial in the 
 " Simpson's Bar Clarion " boldly advocated his pretensions. 
 At first it was believed that the article emanated from the 
 gifted pen of Lacy himself, but the style was so unmistak- 
 ably that of Colonel Starbottle, an eminent political " war- 
 horse " of the district, that a graver truth was at once sug- 
 gested, namely, that the " Guardian " had simply been 
 transferred to Simpson's Bar, and merged into the " Clarion" 
 solely on this condition. At least it was recognized that it 
 was the hand of Captain Jim which guided the editorial 
 fingers of the colonel, and Captain Jim's money that dis- 
 tended the pockets of that gallant political leader. 
 
 Howbeit Lacy Bassett was never elected ; in fact, he was 
 only for one brief moment a candidate. It was related that 
 upon his first ascending the platform at Simpson's Bar a 
 voice in the audience said lazily, "Come down!" That 
 voice was Yuba Bill's. A slight confusion ensued, in which 
 Yuba Bill whispered a few words in the colonel's ear. 
 After a moment's hesitation the " war-horse " came forward, 
 and in his loftiest manner regretted that the candidate had 
 withdrawn. The next issue of the " Clarion " proclaimed 
 with no uncertain sound that a base conspiracy gotten up by 
 the former proprietor of the " Guardian " to undermine the 
 prestige of the Great Express Company had been ruthlessly 
 exposed, and the candidate, on learning it himself for the 
 first time, withdrew his name from the canvass, as became 
 
390 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 a high-toned gentleman. Public opinion 3 ignoring Lacy 
 Bassett completely, unhesitatingly denounced Captain Jim. 
 During this period I had paid but little heed to Lacy 
 Bassett's social movements, or the successes which would 
 naturally attend such a character with the susceptible sex. 
 I had heard that he was engaged to Polly Baxter, but that 
 they had quarreled in consequence of his flirtations with 
 others, especially a Mrs. Sweeny, a profusely ornamented but 
 reputationless widow. Captain Jim had often alluded with 
 a certain respectful pride and delicacy to Polly's ardent 
 appreciation of his friend, and had more than half hinted 
 with the same reverential mystery to their matrimonial union 
 later, and his intention of " doing the square thing " for the 
 young couple. But it was presently noticed that these allu- 
 sions became less frequent during Lacy's amorous aberrations, 
 and an occasional depression and unusual reticence marked 
 Captain Jim's manner when the subject was discussed in his 
 presence. He seemed to endeavor to make up for his friend's 
 defection by a kind of personal homage to Polly, and not 
 unfrequently accompanied her to church or to singing-class. 
 I have a vivid recollection of meeting him one afternoon 
 crossing the fields with her, and looking into her face with 
 that same wistful, absorbed, and uneasy canine expression 
 that I had hitherto supposed he had reserved for Lacy alone. 
 I do not know whether Polly was averse to the speechless 
 devotion of these yearning brown eyes ; her manner was 
 animated, and the pretty cheek that was nearest me mantled 
 as I passed ; but I was struck for the first time with the 
 idea that Captain Jim loved her ! I was surprised to have 
 that fancy corroborated in the remark of another wayfarer 
 whom I met, to the effect, " That now that Bassett was out 
 o' the running it looked ez if Captain Jim was makin' up 
 for time ! " Was it possible that Captain Jim had always 
 loved her ? I did not at first know whether to be pained 
 or pleased for his sake. But I concluded that whether the 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 391 
 
 unworthy Bassett had at last found a rival in Captain Jim 
 or in the girl herself, it was a displacement that was for Cap- 
 tain Jim's welfare. But as I was about leaving Gilead for a 
 month's transfer to the San Francisco office, I had no oppor- 
 tunity to learn more from the confidences of Captain Jim. 
 
 I was ascending the principal staircase of my San Fran- 
 cisco hotel one rainy afternoon, when I was pointedly re- 
 called to Gilead by the passing glitter of Mrs. Sweeny's 
 jewelry and the sudden vanishing behind her of a gentleman 
 who seemed to be accompanying her. A few moments 
 after I had entered my room I heard a tap at my door, and 
 opened it upon Lacy Bassett. I thought he looked a little 
 confused and agitated. Nevertheless, with an assumption 
 of cordiality and ease he said, "It appears we're neigh- 
 bors. That's my room next to yours." He pointed to 
 the next room, which I then remembered was a sitting-room 
 en suite with my own, and communicating with it by a 
 second door, which was always locked. It had not been 
 occupied since my tenancy. As I suppose my face did not 
 show any extravagant delight at the news of his contiguity, 
 he added hastily, " There 's a transom over the door, and 
 I thought I 'd tell you you kin hear everything from the 
 one room to the other." 
 
 I thanked him, and told him dryly that, as I had no se- 
 crets to divulge and none that I cared to hear, it made no 
 difference to me. As this seemed to increase his confusion 
 and he still hesitated before the door, I asked him if Cap- 
 tain Jiin was with him. 
 
 " No," he said quickly. " I have n't seen him for a 
 month, and don't want to. Look here, I want to talk to 
 you a bit about him." He walked into the room, and 
 closed the door behind him. " I want to tell you that me 
 and Captain Jim is played ! All this runnin' o' me and 
 interferin' with me is played ! I 'm tired of it. You kin 
 tell him so from me." 
 
392 
 
 " Then you have quarreled ? " 
 
 " Yes. As much as any man can quarrel with a darned 
 fool who can't take a hint." 
 
 " One moment. Have you quarreled about Polly Bax- 
 ter ? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered querulously. " Of course I have. 
 What does he mean by interfering ? " 
 
 " Now listen to me, Mr. Bassett," I interrupted. " I 
 have no desire to concern myself in your association with 
 Captain Jim, but since you persist in dragging me unto it, 
 you must allow me to speak plainly. From all that I can 
 ascertain you have no serious intentions of marrying Polly 
 Baxter. You have come here from Gilead to follow Mrs. 
 Sweeny, whom I saw you with a moment ago. Now, why 
 do you not frankly give up Miss Baxter to Captain Jim, 
 who will make her a good husband, and go your own way 
 with Mrs. Sweeny ? If you really wish to break off your 
 connection with Captain Jim, that 's the only way to do 
 it." 
 
 His face, which had exhibited the weakest and most piti- 
 able consciousness at the mention of Mrs. Sweeny, changed 
 to an expression of absolute stupefaction as I concluded. 
 
 " Wot stuff are you tryin' to fool me with ? " he said at 
 last roughly. 
 
 " I mean," I replied sharply, " that this double game of 
 yours is disgraceful. Your association with Mrs. Sweeny 
 demands the withdrawal of any claim you have upon Miss 
 Baxter at once. If you have no respect for Captain Jim's 
 friendship, you must at least show common decency to 
 her." 
 
 He burst into a half -relieved, half -hysteric laugh. " Are 
 you crazy ? " gasped he. " Why, Captain Jim 's just hunt- 
 in' me down to make me marry Polly. That 's just what 
 the row 7 s about. That 's just what he 's interferin' for 
 just to carry out his darned fool ideas o' gettin' a wife for 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 393 
 
 me ; just his vanity to say he 's made the match. It's me 
 that he wants to marry to that Baxter girl, not himself. 
 He J s too cursed selfish for that." 
 
 I suppose I was not different from ordinary humanity, 
 for in my unexpected discomfiture I despised Captain Jim 
 quite as much as I did the man before me. Reiterating my 
 remark that I had no desire to mix myself further in their 
 quarrels, I got rid of him with as little ceremony as possible. 
 But a few minutes later, when the farcical side of the situa- 
 tion struck me, my irritation was somewhat mollified, with- 
 out however increasing my respect for either of the actors. 
 The whole affair had assumed a triviality that was simply 
 amusing, nothing more, and I even looked forward to a 
 meeting with Captain Jim and his exposition of the matter 
 which I knew would follow with pleasurable anticipa- 
 tion. But I was mistaken. 
 
 One afternoon, when I was watching the slanting volleys of 
 rain driven by a strong southwester against the windows of 
 the hotel reading-room, I was struck by the erratic movements 
 of a dripping figure outside that seemed to be hesitating 
 over the entrance to the hotel. At times furtively penetrat- 
 ing the porch as far as the vestibule, and again shyly recoil- 
 ing from it, its manner was so strongly suggestive of some 
 timid animal that I found myself suddenly reminded of 
 Captain Jim and the memorable evening of his exodus from 
 Eureka Gulch. As the figure chanced to glance up to the 
 window where I stood I saw to my astonishment that it was 
 Captain Jim himself, but so changed and haggard that I 
 scarcely knew him. I instantly ran out into the hall and 
 vestibule, but when I reached the porch he had disappeared. 
 Either he had seen me and wished to avoid me, or he had 
 encountered the object of his quest, which I at once con- 
 cluded must be Lacy Bassett. I was so much impressed 
 and worried by his appearance and manner, that in this be- 
 lief, I overcame my aversion to meeting Bassett, and even 
 
394 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 sought him through the public room and lobbies in the hope 
 of finding Captain Jim with him. But in vain ; possibly 
 he had succeeded in escaping his relentless friend. 
 
 As the wind and rain increased at nightfall and grew into 
 a tempestuous night, with deserted streets and swollen 
 waterways, I did not go out again, but retired early, inex- 
 plicably haunted by the changed and brooding face of 
 Captain Jim. Even in my dreams he pursued me in his 
 favorite likeness of a wistful, anxious, and uneasy hound, 
 who, on my turning to caress him familiarly, snapped at me 
 viciously, and appeared to have suddenly developed a snarl- 
 ing rabid fury. I seemed to be awakened at last by the 
 sound of his voico. For an instant I believed the delusion 
 a part of my dream. But I was mistaken ; I was lying 
 broad awake, and the voice clearly had come from the next 
 room, and was distinctly audible over the transom. 
 
 " I 've had enough of it," he said, "and I 'm givin' ye 
 now this night yer last chance. Quit this hotel and 
 that woman, and go back to Gilead and marry Polly. Don't 
 do it and I '11 kill ye, ez sure ez you sit there gapin' in that 
 chair. If I can't get ye to fight mo like a man, and I '11 
 spit in yer face or put some insult onto you afore that wo- 
 man, afore everybody, ez would make a bigger skunk nor 
 you turn, I '11 hunt ye down and kill ye in your tracks." 
 
 There was a querulous murmur of interruption in Lacy's 
 voice, but whether of defiance or appeal I could not distin- 
 guish. Captain Jim's voice again rose, dogged and distinct. 
 
 " Ef you kill me it 's all the same, and I don't say that 
 I won't thank ye. This yer world is too crowded for yer 
 and me, Lacy Bassett. I 've believed in ye, trusted in ye, 
 lied for ye, and fought for ye. From the time I took ye 
 up a feller-passenger to 'Fresco believin' there wor the 
 makin's of a man in ye, to now, you fooled me, fooled 
 me afore the Eureka boys ; fooled me afore Gilead ; fooled 
 me afore her ; fooled me afore God ! It 's got to end herec 
 
CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 395 
 
 Ye 've got to take the curse of that foolishness off o' me ! 
 You 've got to do one single thing that 's like the man I 
 took ye for, or you 've got to die. Times waz when I 'd 
 have wished it for your account that 's gone, Lacy Bas- 
 sett ! You 've got to do it for me. You've got to do it so 
 I don't see ' d d fool ' writ in the eyes of every man ez 
 looks at me." 
 
 He had apparently risen and walked towards the door. 
 His voice sounded from another part of the room. 
 
 " I '11 give ye till to-morrow mornin' to do suthin' to lift 
 this curse off o' me. Ef you refoose, then, by the living 
 God, I '11 slap yer face in the dinin'-room, or in the office 
 afore them all ! You hear me ! " 
 
 There was a pause, and then a quick sharp explosion that 
 seemed to fill and expand both rooms until the windows 
 were almost lifted from their casements, a hysterical inartic- 
 ulate cry from Lacy, the violent opening of a door, hurried 
 voices, and the tramping of many feet in the passage. I 
 sprang out of bed, partly dressed myself, and ran into the 
 hall. But by that time I found a crowd of guests and 
 servants around the next door, some grasping Bassett, who 
 was white and trembling, and others kneeling by Captain 
 Jim, who was half lying in the doorway against the wall. 
 
 " He heard it all," Bassett gasped hysterically, pointing 
 to me. " He knows that this man wanted to kill me." 
 
 Before I could reply, Captain Jim partly raised himself 
 with a convulsive effort. Wiping away the blood that, 
 oozing from his lips, already showed the desperate character 
 of his internal wound, he said in a husky and hurried voice : 
 " It 's all right, boys ! It 's my fault. It was m-e who done 
 it. I went for him in a mean underhanded way just now, 
 when he had n't a w T eppin nor any show to defend himself. 
 We gripped. He got a holt o' my derringer you see that 's 
 f my pistol there, I swear it and turned it agin me in self- 
 defense, and sarved me right. I swear to God, gentlemen, 
 
396 CAPTAIN JIM'S FRIEND 
 
 it 's so ! " Catching sight of my face, he looked at me, I 
 fancied half imploringly and half triumphantly, and added, 
 " I might hev knowed it ! I allers allowed Lacy Bassett 
 was game ! game, gentlemen and he was. If it 's my 
 last word, I say it he was game ! " 
 
 And with this devoted falsehood upon his lips and some- 
 thing of the old canine instinct in his failing heart, as his 
 head sank back he seemed to turn it towards Bassett, as if 
 to stretch himself out at his feet. Then the light failed 
 from his yearning upward glance, and the curse of foolish- 
 ness was lifted from him forever. 
 
 So conclusive were the facts, that the coroner's jury did 
 not deem it necessary to detain Mr. Bassett for a single 
 moment after the inquest. But he returned to Gilead, 
 married Polly Baxter, and probably on the strength of hav- 
 ing " killed his man," was unopposed on the platform next 
 year, and triumphantly elected to the legislature ! 
 
THE HEEITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 I 
 
 THE sun was going down on the Dedlow Marshes. The 
 tide was following it fast as if to meet the reddening lines 
 of sky and water in the west, leaving the foreground to 
 grow blacker and blacker every moment, and to bring out 
 in startling contrast the few half-filled and half-lit pools 
 left behind and forgotten. The strong breath of the Pacific 
 fanning their surfaces at times kindled them into a dull 
 glow like dying embers. A cloud of sandpipers rose white 
 from one of the nearer lagoons, swept in a long eddying 
 ring against the sunset, and became a black and dropping 
 rain to seaward. The long sinuous line of channel, fading 
 with the light and ebbing with the tide, began to give off 
 here and there light puffs of gray-winged birds like sudden 
 exhalations. High in the darkening sky the long arrow- 
 headed lines of geese and " brant " pointed towards the 
 upland. As the light grew more uncertain the air at times 
 was filled with the rush of viewless and melancholy wings, 
 or became plaintive with far-off cries and lamentations. 
 As the Marsh grew blacker the far-scattered tussocks and 
 accretions on its level surface began to loom in exaggerated 
 outline, and two human figures, suddenly emerging erect on 
 the bank of the hidden channel, assumed the proportion of 
 giants. 
 
 When they had moored their unseen boat, they still ap- 
 peared for some moments to be moving vaguely and aim- 
 lessly round the spot where they had disembarked. But as 
 
398 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 the eye became familiar with the darkness it was seen that 
 they were really advancing inland, yet with a slowness of 
 progression and deviousness of course that appeared inex- 
 plicable to the distant spectator. Presently it was evident 
 that this seemingly even, vast, black expanse was traversed 
 and intersected by inky creeks and small channels, which 
 made human progression difficult and dangerous. As they 
 appeared nearer and their figures took more natural propor- 
 tions, it could be seen that each carried a gun ; that one 
 was a young girl, although dressed so like her companion in 
 shaggy pea-jacket and sou'wester as to be scarcely distin- 
 guished from him above the short skirt that came halfway 
 down her high india-rubber fishing-boots. By the time 
 they had reached firmer ground, and turned to look back at 
 the sunset, it could be also seen that the likeness between 
 their faces was remarkable. Both had crisp, black, tightly 
 curling hair ; both had dark eyes and heavy eyebrows ; 
 both had quick vivid complexions, slightly heightened by 
 the sea and wind. But more striking than their similarity 
 of coloring was the likeness of expression and bearing. 
 Both wore the same air of picturesque energy ; both bore 
 themselves with a like graceful effrontery and self-posses- 
 sion. 
 
 The young man continued his way. The young girl 
 lingered for a moment looking seaward, with her small 
 brown hand lifted to shade her eyes, a precaution which 
 her heavy eyebrows and long lashes seemed to render utterly 
 gratuitous. 
 
 " Come along, Mag. What are ye waitin 7 for ? " said 
 the young man impatiently. 
 
 " Nothin'. Lookin' at that boat from the Fort." Her 
 clear eyes were watching a small skiff, invisible to less keen- 
 sighted observers, aground upon a flat near the mouth of the 
 channel. " Them chaps will have a high ole time gunnin' 
 thar, stuck in the mud, and the tide goin' out like sixty ! " 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 399 
 
 " Never you mind the sodgers," returned her companion 
 aggressively, " they kin take care o' their own precious 
 skins, or Uncle Sam will do it for 'em, I reckon. Anyhow 
 the people that 's you and me, Mag is expected to pay 
 for their foolishness. That 's what they 're sent yer for. 
 Ye oughter to be satisfied with that/ 7 he added, with deep 
 sarcasm. 
 
 " I reckon they ain't expected to do much off o' dry 
 land, and they can't help bein' queer on the water," re- 
 turned the young girl, with a reflecting sense of justice. 
 
 "Then they ain't no call to go gunnin', and wastin' 
 Guv'nment powder on ducks instead o' Injins." 
 
 " Thet 's so," said the girl thoughtfully. " Wonder ef 
 Guv'nment pays for them frocks the Kernel's girls went 
 cavortin' round Logport in last Sunday they looked like 
 a cirkis." 
 
 " Like ez not the old Kernel gets it outer contracts 
 one way or another. We pay for it all the same," he added 
 gloomily. 
 
 " Jest the same ez if they were my clothes," said the 
 girl, with a quick, fiery, little laugh, " ain't it ? Wonder 
 how they 'd like my sayin' that to 'em when they was 
 prancin' round, eh, Jim ? " 
 
 But her companion was evidently unprepared for this 
 sweeping feminine deduction, and stopped it with masculine 
 promptitude. 
 
 " Look yer instead o' botherin' your head about what 
 the Fort girls wear, you 'd better trot along a little more 
 lively. It 's late enough now." 
 
 " But these darned boots hurt like pizen," said the girl, 
 limping. " They swallowed a lot o' water over the tops 
 while I was wadin' down there, and my feet go swashin' 
 around like in a churn every step." 
 
 " Lean on me, baby," he returned, passing his arm 
 around her waist, and dropping her head smartly on his 
 
400 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 shoulder. " Thar ! " The act was brotherly and slightly 
 contemptuous, but it was sufficient to at once establish their 
 kinship. 
 
 They continued on thus for some moments in silence, the 
 girl, I fear, after the fashion of her sex, taking the fullest 
 advantage of this slightly sentimental and caressing attitude. 
 They were moving now along the edge of the Marsh, 
 parallel with the line of rapidly fading horizon, following 
 some trail only known to their keen youthful eyes. It was 
 growing darker and darker. The cries of the sea-birds had 
 ceased ; even the call of a belated plover had died away in- 
 land ; the hush of death lay over the black funereal pall of 
 marsh at their side. The tide had run out with the day. 
 Even the sea-breeze had lulled in this dead slack-water of 
 all nature, as if waiting outside the bar with the ocean, the 
 stars, and the night. 
 
 Suddenly the girl stopped and halted her companion. 
 The faint far sound of a bugle broke the silence, if the idea 
 of interruption could have been conveyed by the two or 
 three exquisite vibrations that seemed born of that silence 
 itself, and to fade and die in it without break or discord. 
 Yet it was only the " retreat " call from the Fort two miles 
 distant and invisible. 
 
 The young girl's face had become irradiated, and her 
 small mouth half opened as she listened. " Do you know, 
 Jim/' she said, with a confidential sigh, " I allus put words 
 to that when I hear it it 's so pow'ful pretty. It allus 
 goes to me like this : l Goes the day, Far away, With the 
 light, And the night Comes along Comes along Comes 
 along Like a-a so-o-ong.' 75 She here lifted her voice, a 
 sweet, fresh, boyish contralto, in such an admirable imita- 
 tion of the bugle that her brother, after the fashion of more 
 select auditors, was for a moment quite convinced that the 
 words meant something. Nevertheless, as a brother, it was 
 his duty to crush this weakness. <f Yes j and it says : 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 401 
 
 ' Shut your head, Go to bed,' " he returned irascibly ; " and 
 you } d better come along, if we 're goin' to hev any supper. 
 There 's Teller Bob hez got ahead of us over there with the 
 game already." 
 
 The girl glanced towards a slouching burdened figure 
 that now appeared to be preceding them, straightened her- 
 self suddenly, and then looked attentively towards the 
 Marsh. 
 
 " Not the sodgers again ? " said her brother impatiently. 
 
 "No," she said quickly; "but if that don't beat any- 
 thin' ! I 'd hev sworn, Jim, that Teller Bob was some- 
 where behind us. I saw him only jest now when ' Taps ' 
 sounded, somewhere over thar." She pointed with a half- 
 uneasy expression in quite another direction from that in 
 which the slouching Tellow Bob had just loomed. 
 
 " Tell ye what, Mag, makin' poetry outer bugle-calls hez 
 kinder muddled ye. That 's Teller Bob ahead, and ye 
 orter know Injins well enuff by this time to remember that 
 they allus crop up jest when ye don't expect them. And 
 there 's the bresh jest afore us. Come ! " 
 
 The " bresh," or low bushes, was really a line of stunted 
 willows and alders that seemed to have gradually sunk into 
 the level of the plain, but increased in size farther inland, 
 until they grew to the height and density of a wood. Seen 
 from the channel it had the appearance of a green cape or 
 promontory thrust upon the Marsh. Passing through its 
 tangled recesses, with the aid of some unerring instinct, the 
 two companions emerged upon another and much larger 
 level that seemed as illimitable as the bay. The strong 
 breath of the ocean lying just beyond the bar and estuary 
 they were now facing came to them salt and humid as an- 
 other tide. The nearer expanse of open water reflected 
 the after-glow, and lightened the landscape. And between 
 the two wayfarers and the horizon rose, bleak and startling, 
 the strange outlines of their home. 
 
402 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 At first it seemed a ruined colonnade of many pillars, 
 whose base and pediment were buried in tbe earth, support- 
 ing a long parallelogram of entablature and cornices. But 
 a second glance showed it to be a one-storied building, up- 
 held above the Marsh by numberless piles placed at regular 
 distances ; some of them sunken or inclined from the per- 
 pendicular, increasing the first illusion. Between these 
 pillars, which permitted a free circulation of air, and, at 
 extraordinary tides, even the waters of the bay itself, the 
 level waste of marsh, the bay, the surges of the bar, and 
 finally the red horizon line, were distinctly visible. A 
 railed gallery or platform, supported also on piles, and 
 reached by steps from the Marsh, ran around the building, 
 and gave access to the several rooms and offices. 
 
 But if the appearance of this lacustrine arid amphibious 
 dwelling was striking, and not without a certain rude and 
 massive grandeur, its grounds and possessions, through 
 which the brother and sister were still picking their way, 
 were even more grotesque and remarkable. Over a space 
 of half a dozen acres the flotsam and jetsam of years of 
 tidal offerings were collected, and even guarded with a cer- 
 tain care. The blackened hulks of huge uprooted trees, 
 scarcely distinguishable from the fragments of genuine 
 wrecks beside them, were securely fastened by chains to 
 stakes and piles driven in the marsh, while heaps of broken 
 and disjointed bamboo orange crates, held together by ropes 
 of fibre, glistened like ligamented bones heaped in the dead 
 valley. Masts, spars, fragments of shell-encrusted boats, 
 binnacles, round-houses and galleys, and part of the after- 
 deck of a coasting schooner had ceased their wanderings 
 and found rest in this vast cemetery of the sea. The 
 legend on a wheel-house, the lettering on a stern or bow, 
 served for mortuary inscription. Wailed over by the trade- 
 winds, mourned by lamenting sea-birds, once every year the 
 tide visited its lost dead and left them wet with its tears. 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 403 
 
 To such a spot and its surroundings the atmosphere of 
 tradition and mystery was not wanting. Six years ago 
 Boone Culpepper had built the house, and brought to it his 
 wife variously believed to be a gypsy, a Mexican, a 
 bright mulatto, a Digger Indian, a South Sea princess from 
 Tahiti, somebody else's wife but in reality a little Creole 
 woman from New Orleans, with whom he had contracted a 
 marriage, with other gambling debts, during a winter's 
 vacation from his home in Virginia. At the end of two 
 years she had died, succumbing, as differently stated, from 
 perpetual wet feet, or the misanthropic idiosyncrasies of 
 her husband, and leaving behind her a girl of twelve and a 
 boy of sixteen to console him. How futile was this bequest 
 may be guessed from a brief summary of Mr. Culpepper's 
 peculiarities. They were the development of a singular form 
 of aggrandizement and misanthropy. On his arrival at Log- 
 port he had bought a part of the apparently valueless Dedlow 
 Marsh from the Government at less than a dollar an acre, 
 continuing his singular investment year by year until he 
 was the owner of three leagues of amphibious domain. It 
 was then discovered that this property carried with it the 
 water-front of divers valuable and convenient sites for 
 manufactures and the commercial ports of a noble bay, as 
 well as the natural embarcaderos of some " lumbering " 
 inland settlements. Boone Culpepper would not sell. 
 Boone Culpepper would not rent or lease. Boone Culpep- 
 per held an invincible blockade of his neighbors, and the 
 progress and improvement he despised granting only, 
 after a royal fashion, occasional license, revocable at plea- 
 sure, in the shape of tolls, which amply supported him, 
 with the game he shot in his kingfisher's eyrie on the 
 Marsh. Even the Government that had made him power- 
 ful was obliged to " condemn " a part of his property at an 
 equitable price for the purposes of Fort Kedwood, in which 
 the adjacent town of Logport shared. And Boone Culpep- 
 
404 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 per, unable to resist the act, refused to receive the compen- 
 sation or quitclaim the town. In his scant intercourse 
 with his neighbors he always alluded to it as his own, showed 
 it to his children as part of their strange inheritance, and 
 exhibited the starry flag that floated from the Fort as a 
 flaunting insult to their youthful eyes. Hated, feared., and 
 superstitiously shunned by some, regarded as a madman by 
 others, familiarly known as " The Kingfisher of Dedlow," 
 Boone Culpepper was one day found floating dead in his 
 skiff, with a charge of shot through his head and shoulders. 
 The shot-gun lying at his feet at the bottom of the boat 
 indicated the " accident " as recorded in the verdict of the 
 coroner's jury but not by the people. A thousand 
 rumors of murder or suicido prevailed, but always with the 
 universal rider, " Served him right. 77 So invincible was 
 this feeling that but few attended his last rites, which took 
 place at high water. The delay of the officiating clergy- 
 man lost the tide ; the homely catafalque his own boat 
 was left aground on the Marsh, and deserted by all mourn- 
 ers except the two children. Whatever he had instilled 
 into them by precept and example, whatever took place 
 that night in their lonely watch by his bier on the black 
 marshes, it was certain that those who confidently looked 
 for any change in the administration of the Dedlow Marsh 
 were cruelly mistaken. The old Kingfisher was dead, but 
 he had left in the nest two young birds, more beautiful 
 and graceful, it was true, yet as fierce and tenacious of beak 
 and talon. 
 
II 
 
 ARRIVING at the house, the young people ascended the 
 outer flight of wooden steps, which bore an odd likeness to 
 the companionway of a vessel, and the gallery, or " deck," 
 as it was called where a number of nets, floats, and buoys 
 thrown over the railing completed the nautical resem- 
 blance. This part of the building was evidently devoted 
 to kitchen, dining-room, and domestic offices ; the principal 
 room in the centre serving as hall or living-room, and com- 
 municating on the other side with two sleeping apartments. 
 It was of considerable size, with heavy lateral beams across 
 the ceiling, built, like the rest of the house, with a cer- 
 tain maritime strength, and looked not unlike a saloon 
 cabin. An enormous open Franklin stove between the 
 windows, as large as a chimney, blazing with driftwood, 
 gave light and heat to the apartment, and brought into 
 flickering relief the boarded walls hung with the spoils of 
 sea and shore, and glittering with gun-barrels. Fowling- 
 pieces of all sizes, from the long ducking-gun mounted on 
 a swivel for boat use to the light single-barrel or carbine, 
 stood in racks against the walls ; game-bags, revolvers in 
 their holsters, hunting and fishing knives in their sheaths, 
 depended from hooks above them. In one corner stood 
 a harpoon ; in another, two or three Indian spears for 
 salmon. The carpetless floor and rude chairs and settles 
 were covered with otter, mink, beaver, and a quantity of 
 valuable seal-skins, with a few larger pelts of the bear 
 and elk. The only attempt at decoration was the displayed 
 wings and breasts of the wood and harlequin duck, the 
 
406 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 muir, the cormorant, the gull, the gannet, and the femi- 
 ninely delicate half mourning of petrel and plover, nailed 
 against the wall. The influence of the sea was dominant 
 above all, and asserted its saline odors even through the 
 spice of the curling driftwood smoke that half veiled the 
 ceiling. 
 
 A berry-eyed old Indian woman with the complexion of 
 dried salmon ; her daughter, also with berry eyes, and 
 with a face that seemed wholly made of a moist laugh ; 
 " Yellow Bob," a Digger " buck," so called from the prevail- 
 ing ochre markings of his cheek, and " Washooh," an ex- 
 chief ; a nondescript in a blanket, looking like a cheap and 
 dirty doll whose fibrous hair was badly nailed on his carved 
 wooden head, composed the Culpepper household. While 
 the two former were preparing supper in the adjacent dining- 
 room, Yellow Bob, relieved of his burden of game, ap- 
 peared on the gallery and beckoned mysteriously to his 
 master through the window. James Culpepper went out, 
 returned quickly, and, after a minute's hesitation and an 
 uneasy glance towards his sister, who had meantime pushed 
 back her sou'wester from her forehead, and without taking 
 off her jacket had dropped into a chair before the fire with 
 her back towards him, took his gun noiselessly from the 
 rack, and, saying carelessly that he would be back in a 
 moment, disappeared. 
 
 Left to herself, Maggie coolly pulled off her long boots 
 and stockings, and comfortably opposed to the fire two very 
 pretty feet and ankles, whose delicate purity was slightly 
 blue-bleached by confinement in the tepid sea-water. The 
 contrast of their waxen whiteness with her blue woolen 
 skirt, and with even the skin of her sunburnt hands and 
 wrists, apparently amused her, and she sat for some moments 
 with her elbows on her knees, her skirts slightly raised, 
 contemplating them, and curling her toes with evident satis- 
 faction. The firelight playing upon the rich coloring of her 
 
THE HERITAGE OP DEDLOW MARSH 407 
 
 face, the fringe of jet-black curls that almost met the thick 
 sweep of eyebrows, and left her only a white strip of fore- 
 head, her short upper lip and small chin, rounded but 
 resolute, completed a piquant and striking figure. The 
 rich brown shadows on the smoke-stained walls and ceiling, 
 the occasional starting into relief of the scutcheons of bril- 
 liant plumage, and the momentary glitter of the steel bar- 
 rels made a quaint background to this charming picture. 
 Sitting there, and following some lingering memory of her 
 tramp on the Marsh, she hummed to herself a few notes of 
 the bugle-call that had impressed her at first softly, and 
 finally with the full pitch of her voice. 
 
 Suddenly she stopped. 
 
 There was a faint and unmistakable rapping on the 
 floor beneath her. It was distinct, but cautiously given, 
 as if intended to be audible to her alone. For a moment 
 she stood upright, her feet still bare and glistening, on the 
 otter skin that served as a rug. There were two doors to 
 the room, one from which her brother had disappeared, 
 which led to the steps, the other giving on the back gal- 
 lery, looking inland. With a quick instinct she caught up 
 her gun and ran to that one, but not before a rapid scram- 
 ble near the railing was followed by a cautious opening of 
 the door. She was just in time to shut it on the extended 
 arm and light blue sleeve of an army overcoat that pro- 
 truded through the opening, and for a moment threw her 
 whole weight against it. 
 
 " A dhrop of whiskey, Miss, for the love of God." 
 
 She retained her hold, cocked her weapon, and stepped 
 back a pace from the door. The blue sleeve was followed 
 by the rest of the overcoat, and a blue cap with the infan- 
 try blazoning, and the letter H on its peak. They were 
 for the moment more distinguishable than the man beneath 
 them grimed and blackened with the slime of the Marsh. 
 But what could be seen of his mud-stained face was more 
 
408 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 grotesque than terrifying. A combination of weakness and 
 audacity, insinuation and timidity struggled through the 
 dirt for expression. His small "blue eyes were not ill- 
 natured, and even the intruding arm trembled more from 
 exhaustion than passion. 
 
 " On'y a dhrop, Miss," he repeated piteously, " and av 
 ye pleeze, quick ! afore I J m stharved with the cold en- 
 toirely." 
 
 She looked at him intently without lowering her gun. 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 " Thin, it 's the truth I '11 tell ye, Miss whisth then ! " 
 he said in a half whisper ; " I 'm a desarter ! " 
 
 " Then it was you that was doggin' us on the Marsh ? " 
 
 " It was the sarjint I was lavin', Miss." 
 
 She looked at him hesitatingly. 
 
 " Stay outside there ; if you move a step into the room, 
 I '11 blow you out of it." 
 
 He stepped back on the gallery. She closed the door, 
 bolted it, and, still holding the gun, opened a cupboard, 
 poured out a glass of whiskey, and, returning to the door, 
 opened it and handed him the liquor. 
 
 She watched him drain it eagerly, saw the fiery stimu- 
 lant put life into his shivering frame, trembling hands, and 
 kindle his dull eye and quietly raised her gun again. 
 
 " Ah, put it down, Miss, put it down ! Fwhot 's the 
 use ? Sure the bullets ye carry in them oiyes of yours is 
 more deadly ! It 's out here oi '11 sthand, glory be to 
 God, all night, without movin' a fut till the sarjint comes 
 to take me, av ye won't levil them oiyes at me like that. 
 Ah, whirra ! look at that now ! but it 's a goddess she is 
 the livin' Jaynus of warr, standin' there like a statoo, 
 wid her alybaster fut put forward." 
 
 In her pride and conscious superiority, any suggestion of 
 shame at thus appearing before a common man and a men- 
 dicant was as impossible to her nature as it would have 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 409 
 
 been to a queen or the goddess of his simile. His presence 
 and his compliment alike passed her calm modesty unchal- 
 lenged. The wretched scamp recognized the fact and felt 
 its power, and it was with a superstitious reverence assert- 
 ing itself through his native extravagance that he raised 
 his grimy hand to his cap in military salute and became 
 respectfully rigid. 
 
 " Then the sodgers were huntin' you ? " she said thought- 
 fully, lowering her weapon. 
 
 " Thrue for you, Miss they worr, and it 's meself 
 that was lyin' flat in the ditch wid me faytures makin' an 
 illigant cast in the mud more betoken, as ye see even 
 now and the sarjint and his day tail thrampin' round 
 me. It was thin that the mortial cold sthruck through me 
 mouth, and made me wake for the whiskey that would 
 resthore me.' 7 
 
 " What did you desert fer ? " 
 
 " Ah, list to that now ! Fwhat did I desart fer ? Shure 
 ev there was the ghost of an inemy round, it 's meself that 
 would be in the front now ! But it was the letthers from 
 me ould mother, Miss, that is sthruck wid a mortial illness 
 long life to her ! in County Clare, and me sisthers 
 in Ninth Avenue in New York, fornint the daypo, that is 
 brekken their harruts over me listin' in the Fourth Infan- 
 thry to do duty in a haythen wilderness. Av it was the 
 cavalry and it 's me own father that was in the Innish- 
 killen Dthragoons, Miss oi would n't moind. Wid a 
 horse betune me legs, it 's on parade oi 'd be now, Miss, 
 and not wandhering over the bare flure of the Marsh, 
 sthajrved wid the cold, the thirst, and hunger, wid the mud 
 and the moire thick on me ; facin' an illigant young leddy 
 as is the ekal ov a Fayld Marshal's darter not to sphake 
 ov Kernal Preston's ez could n't hold a candle to her." 
 
 Brought up on the Spanish frontier, Maggie Culpepper 
 was one of the few American girls who was not familiar 
 
410 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 with the Irish race. The rare smile that momentarily lit 
 up her petulant mouth seemed to justify the intruder's 
 praise. But it passed quickly, and she returned dryly : 
 
 " That means you want more drink, suthin' to eat, and 
 clothes. Suppose my brother comes back and ketches you 
 here ? " 
 
 " Shure, Miss, he 's just now hunten me, along wid his 
 two hay then Diggers, beyond the lay goon there. It worr 
 the yellar one that sphotted me lyin' there in the ditch ; it 
 worr only your own oiyes, Miss more power to their 
 beauty for that ! that saw me folly him unbeknownst 
 here ; and that desaved them, ye see ! " 
 
 The young girl remained for an instant silent and 
 thoughtful. 
 
 " We 're no friends of the Fort," she said finally, " but 
 I don't reckon for that reason my brother will cotton to 
 you. Stay out thar where ye are, till I come to ye. If 
 you hear me singin' again, you '11 know he 's come back, 
 and ye 'd better scoot with what you 've already got, and 
 be thankful." 
 
 She shut the door again and locked it, went into the 
 dining-room, returned with some provisions wrapped in 
 paper, took a common wicker flask from the wall, passed 
 into her brother's bedroom, and came out with a flannel 
 shirt, overalls, and a coarse Indian blanket, and, reopening 
 the door, placed them before the astonished and delighted 
 vagabond. His eye glistened ; he began, " Glory be to 
 God," but for once his habitual extravagance failed him. 
 Nature triumphed with a more eloquent silence over his 
 well-worn art. He hurriedly wiped his begrimed face^ and 
 eyes with the shirt she had given him, and, catching the 
 sleeve of her rough pea-jacket in his dirty hand, raised it 
 to his lips. 
 
 " Go ! " she said imperiously. " Get away while you 
 can." 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 411 
 
 " Av it vas me last words it 's speechless oi am,'' he 
 stammered, and disappeared over the railing. 
 
 She remained for a moment holding the door half open, 
 and gazing into the darkness that seemed to flow in like a 
 tide. Then she shut it, and going into her hedroom resumed 
 her interrupted toilet. When she emerged again she was 
 smartly stockinged and slippered, and even the blue serge 
 skirt was exchanged for a bright print, with a white fichu 
 tied around her throat. An attempt to subdue her rebel- 
 lious curls had resulted in the construction from their ruins 
 of a low Norman arch across her forehead with pillared 
 abutments of ringlets. When her brother returned a few 
 moments later she did not look up, but remained, perhaps 
 a little ostentatiously, bending over the fire. 
 
 " Bob allowed that the Fort boat was huntin' men 
 deserters, I reckon," said Jim aggrievedly. " Wanted me 
 to believe that he saw one on the Marsh hidin'. On'y an 
 Injin lie, I reckon, to git a little extra fire-water, for toting 
 me out to the bresh on a fool's errand." 
 
 " Oh, that's where you went ! " said Maggie, addressing 
 the fire. " Since when hev you tuk partnership with the 
 Guv'nment and Kernel Preston to hunt up and take keer 
 of their property ? " 
 
 " Well, I ain't goin' to hev such wreckage as they pick 
 up and enlist set adrift on our marshes, Mag," said Jim 
 decidedly. 
 
 " What would you hev done had you ketched him ? " 
 said Maggie, looking suddenly into her brother's face. 
 
 " Given him a dose of snipe-shot that he'd remember, 
 and be thankful it wasn't slugs," said Jim promptly. 
 Observing a deeper seriousness in her attitude, he added, 
 " Why, if it was in war-time he 'd get a ball from them 
 sodgers on sight." 
 
 " Yes ; but you ain't got no call to interfere," said Mag- 
 gie. 
 
412 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MAESH 
 
 " Ain't I ? Why, he 's no better than an outlaw. I 
 ain't sure that he has n't been stealin' or killin' somebody 
 over theer." 
 
 " Not that man ! " said Maggie impulsively. 
 
 " Not what man ? " said her brother, facing her quickly. 
 
 "Why," returned Maggie, repairing her indiscretion 
 with feminine dexterity, " not any man who might have 
 knocked you and me over on the marshes in the dusk, and 
 grabbed our guns." 
 
 " Wish he 'd hev tried it," said the brother, with a 
 superior smile, but a quickly rising color. " Where d' ye 
 suppose I'd hev been all the while ? " 
 
 Maggie saw her mistake, and for the first time in her life 
 resolved to keep a secret from her brother over night. 
 " Supper 's gettin' cold," she said, rising. 
 
 They went into the dining-room an apartment as 
 plainly furnished as the one they had quitted, but in its 
 shelves, cupboards, and closely fitting boarding bearing out 
 the general nautical suggestion of the house and seated 
 themselves before a small table on which their frugal meal 
 was spread. In this tete-a-tete position Jim suddenly laid 
 down his knife and fork and stared at his sister. 
 
 " Hello ! " 
 
 " What 's the matter ? " said Maggie, starting slightly. 
 " How you do skeer one." 
 
 " Who 's been prinkin', eh ? " 
 
 " My ha'r was in kinks all along o' that hat," said 
 Maggie, with a return of higher color, "and I had to 
 straighten it. It 's a boy's hat, not a girl's." 
 
 " But that necktie and that gown and all those frills 
 and tuckers ? " continued Jim, generalizing, with a rapid 
 twirling of his fingers over her. " Are you expectin' Judge 
 Martin or the Expressman this evening ? " 
 
 Judge Martin was the lawyer of Logport, who had 
 proven her father's will, and had since raved about his 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 413 
 
 single interview with the Kingfisher's beautiful daughter ; 
 the Expressman was a young fellow who was popularly 
 supposed to have left his heart while delivering another 
 valuable package on Maggie in person, and had " never been 
 the same man since." It was a well-worn fraternal plea- 
 santry that had done duty many a winter's evening, as a 
 happy combination of moral admonition and cheerfulness. 
 Maggie usually paid it the tribute of a quick little laugh 
 and a sisterly pinch, but that evening those marks of appro- 
 bation were withheld. 
 
 "Jim dear," said she, when their Spartan repast was 
 concluded and they were reestablished before the living- 
 room fire, " what was it the Eedwood Mill Kempany 
 offered you for that piece near Dead Man's Slough ? " 
 
 Jim took his pipe from his lips long enough to say, 
 "Ten thousand dollars," and put it back again. 
 
 "And what do ye kalkilate all our property, letting 
 alone this yer house, and the driftwood front, is worth 
 all together ? " 
 
 " Includin' wot the Gov'nment owes us ? for that 's 
 all ours, ye know ? " said Jim quickly. 
 
 "No leavin' that out jest for greens, you know," 
 suggested Maggie. 
 
 " Well nigh onter a hundred and seventy-five thousand 
 dollars, I reckon, by and large." 
 
 " That 's a heap o' money, Jim ! I reckon old Kernel 
 Preston would n't raise that in a hundred years," continued 
 Maggie, warming her knees by the fire. 
 
 " In five million years," said Jim, promptly sweeping 
 away further discussion. After a pause he added, " You 
 and me, Mag, kin see anybody's pile, and go 'em fifty thou- 
 sand better." 
 
 There were a few moments of complete silence, in which 
 Maggie smoothed her knees, and Jim's pipe, which seemed 
 to have become gorged and apoplectic with its owner's 
 wealth, snored unctuously. 
 
414 THE HEEITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 " Jim dear, what if it 's on'y an idea of mine, you 
 know what if you sold that piece to the Redwood Mill, 
 and we jest tuk that money and and and jest lifted the 
 ha'r offer them folks at Logport ? Jest astonished 'em ! 
 Jest tuk the best rooms in that new hotel, got a hoss and 
 buggy, dressed ourselves, you and me, fit to kill, and made 
 them Fort people take a back seat in the Lord's Tabernacle, 
 oncet for all. You see what I mean, Jim," she said hastily, 
 as her brother seemed to be succumbing, like his pipe, in 
 apoplectic astonishment, "jest on'y to show 'em what we 
 could do if we keerd. Lord ! when we done it and spent 
 the money we 'd jest snap our fingers and skip back yer ez 
 nat'ral ez life ! Ye don't think, Jim/' she said, suddenly 
 turning half fiercely upon him, " that I 'd allow to live 
 among 'em to stay a menet after that ! " 
 
 Jim laid down his pipe and gazed at his sister with 
 stony deliberation. " And what do you kalki- 
 late to make by all that ? " he said, with scornful dis- 
 tinctness. 
 
 " Why, jest to show 'em we have got money, and could 
 buy 'em all up if we wanted to," returned Maggie, sticking 
 boldly to her guns, albeit with a vague conviction that her 
 fire was weakened through elevation, and somewhat alarmed 
 at the deliberation of the enemy. 
 
 " And you mean to say they don't know it now," he con- 
 tinued with slow derision. 
 
 " No," said Maggie. " Why, theer 's that new school- 
 marm over at Logport, you know, Jim, the one that wanted 
 to take your picter in your boat for a young smuggler or 
 fancy pirate or Eyetalian fisherman, and allowed that you 're 
 handsomed some, and offered to pay you for sittin' do you 
 reckon she 'd believe you owned the land her schoolhouse 
 was built on? No! Lots of 'em don't. Lots of 'em 
 thinks we 're poor and low down and them ez does n't, 
 thinks " 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MAESH 415 
 
 " What ? " asked her brother sharply. 
 
 " That we 're mean" 
 
 The quick color came to Jim's cheek. " So," he said, 
 facing her quickly, " for the sake of a lot of riff-raff and 
 scum that 's drifted here around us jest for the sake of 
 cuttin' a swell before them you '11 go out among the 
 hounds ez allowed your mother was a Spanish nigger or a 
 kanaka, ez called your father a pirate and landgrabber, ez 
 much as allowed he was shot by some one or killed himself 
 a purpose, ez said you was a heathen and a loony because 
 you did n't go to school or church along with their trash, 
 ez kept away from maw's sickness ez if it was smallpox, 
 and dad's fun'ral ez if he was a hoss-thief, and left you and 
 me to watch his coffin on the marshes all night till the tide 
 kem back. And now you you that jined hands with me 
 that night over our father lyin' there cold and despised 
 ez if he was a dead dog thrown up by the tide and swore 
 that ez long ez that tide ebbed and flowed it could n't bring 
 you to them, or them to you agin ! You now want 
 what ? What ? W T hy, to go and cast your lot among 'em, 
 and live among 'em, and join in their God-forsaken holler 
 foolishness, and and and " 
 
 " Stop ! It 's a lie ! I did n't say that. Don't you 
 dare to say it ! " said the girl, springing to her feet, and 
 facing her brother in turn, with flashing eyes. 
 
 For a moment the two stared at each other it might 
 have been as in a mirror, so perfectly were their passions 
 reflected in each line, shade, and color of the other's face. 
 It was as if they had each confronted their own passionate 
 and willful souls, and were frightened. It had often 
 occurred before, always with the same invariable ending. 
 The young man's eyes lowered first ; the girl's filled with 
 tears. 
 
 " Well, ef ye did n't mean that, what did ye mean ? " 
 said Jim, sinking, with sullen apology, back into his chair. 
 
416 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 "I only meant it for for revenge ! " sobbed 
 Maggie. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Jim, as if allowing his higher nature to be 
 touched by this noble instinct. " But I did n't jest see 
 where the revenge kern in. 7 ' 
 
 " No ? But, never mind now, Jim," said Maggie, osten- 
 tatiously ignoring, after the fashion of her sex, the trouble 
 she had provoked ; " but to think that that you 
 thought " (sobbing). 
 
 " But I did n't, Mag " (caressingly). 
 
 With this very vague and impotent conclusion, Maggie 
 permitted herself to be drawn beside her brother, and for a 
 few moments they plumed each other's ruffled feathers, and 
 smoothed each other's lifted crests, like two beautiful young 
 specimens of that halcyon genus to which they were popu- 
 larly supposed to belong. At the end of half an hour Jim 
 rose, and, yawning slightly, said in a perfunctory way : 
 
 " Where 's the book ? " 
 
 The book in question was the Bible. It had been the 
 self-imposed custom of these two young people to read 
 aloud a chapter every night as their one vague formula of 
 literary and religious discipline. When it was produced, 
 Maggie, presuming on his affectionate and penitential con- 
 dition, suggested that to-night he should pick out " suthin' 
 interestin'." But this unorthodox frivolity was sternly 
 put aside by Jim albeit, by way of compromise, he agreed 
 to " chance it," i. e., open its pages at random. 
 
 He did so. Generally he allowed himself a moment's 
 judicious pause for a certain chaste preliminary inspection 
 necessary before reading aloud to a girl. To-night he 
 omitted that modest precaution, and in a pleasant voice, 
 which in reading was singularly free from colloquial infeli- 
 cities of pronunciation, began at once : 
 
 " ' Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye 
 bitterly the inhabitants thereof ; because they came not to 
 
Suthiri 1 interestm' 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 417 
 
 the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the 
 mighty. 7 f: 
 
 " Oh, you looked first/' said Maggie. 
 
 " I did n't now honest Injin ! I just opened." 
 
 " Go on," said Maggie, eagerly shoving him and inter- 
 posing her neck over his shoulder. 
 
 And Jim continued Deborah's wonderful song of Jael 
 and Sisera to the bitter end of its strong monosyllabic 
 climax. 
 
 " There," he said, closing the volume, " that 's what / 
 call revenge. That 's the real Scripture thing no fancy 
 frills theer." 
 
 " Yes ; but, Jim dear, don't you see that she treated him 
 first sorter got round him with free milk and butter, and 
 reg'larly blandished him," argued Maggie earnestly. 
 
 But Jim declined to accept this feminine suggestion, or 
 to pursue the subject further, and after a fraternal embrace 
 they separated for the night. Jim lingered long enough to 
 look after the fastening of the door and windows, and 
 Maggie remained for some moments at her casement, look- 
 ing across the gallery to the Marsh beyond. 
 
 The moon had risen, the tide was half up. Whatever 
 sign or trace of alien footprint or occupation had been there 
 was already smoothly obliterated ; even the configuration 
 of the land had changed. A black cape had disappeared, a 
 level line of shore had been eaten into by teeth of glisten- 
 ing silver. The whole dark surface of the Marsh was be- 
 ginning to be streaked with shining veins as if a new life 
 was coursing through it. Part of the open bay before the 
 Fort, encroaching upon the shore, seemed in the moonlight 
 to be reaching a white and outstretched arm towards the 
 nest of the Kingfisher. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE reveille at Fort Eedwood had been supplemented 
 full five minutes by the voice of Lieutenant George Calvert's 
 servant, before that young officer struggled from his bed. 
 His head was splitting, his tongue and lips were dry and 
 feverish, his bloodshot eyes were shrinking from the insuffer- 
 able light of the day, his mind a confused medley of the 
 past night and the present morning, of cards and wild 
 revelry, and the vision of a reproachfully trim orderly 
 standing at his door with reports and orders which he now 
 held composedly in his hand. For Lieutenant Calvert had 
 been enjoying a symposium variously known as " Stag 
 Feed " and " A Wild Stormy Night " with several of his 
 brother officers, and a sickening conviction that it was not 
 the first or the last time he had indulged in these festivities. 
 At that moment he loathed himself, and then after the 
 usual derelict fashion cursed the fate that had sent him, 
 after graduating, to a frontier garrison the dull monotony 
 of whose duties made the Border horse-play of dissipation 
 a relief. Already he had reached the miserable point of 
 envying the veteran capacities of his superiors and equals. 
 " If I could drink like Kirby or Crowninshield, or if there 
 was any other cursed thing a man could do in this hole," 
 he had wretchedly repeated to himself, after each misspent 
 occasion, and yet already he was looking forward to them 
 as part of a " sub's " duty and worthy his emulation. Al- 
 ready the dream of social recreation fostered by West Point 
 had been rudely dispelled. Beyond the garrison circle of 
 Colonel Preston's family and two officers' wives, there was 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MAKSH 419 
 
 no society. The vague distrust and civil jealousy with 
 which some frontier communities regard the Federal power, 
 heightened in this instance by the uncompromising attitude 
 the Government had taken towards the settlers 7 severe 
 Indian policy, had kept the people of Logport aloof from 
 the Fort. The regimental band might pipe to them on 
 Saturdays, but they would not dance. 
 
 Howbeit, Lieutenant Calvert dressed himself with uncer- 
 tain hands but mechanical regularity and neatness, and, 
 under the automatic training of discipline and duty, man- 
 aged to button his tunic tightly over his feelings, to pull 
 himself together with his sword-belt, compressing a still 
 cadet-like waist, and to present that indescribable combina- 
 tion of precision and jauntiness which his brother officers 
 too often allowed to lapse into frontier carelessness. His 
 closely clipped light hair, yet dripping from a plunge in 
 the cold water, had been brushed and parted with military 
 exactitude, and when surmounted by his cap, with the 
 peak in an artful suggestion of extra smartness tipped for- 
 ward over his eyes, only his pale face a shade lighter 
 than his little blonde mustache showed his last night's 
 excesses. He was mechanically reaching for his sword and 
 staring confusedly at the papers on his table when his ser- 
 vant interrupted : 
 
 " Major Bromley arranged that Lieutenant Kirby takes 
 your sash this morning, as you 're not well, sir ; and you 're 
 to report for special to the colonel," he added, pointing 
 discreetly to the envelope. 
 
 Touched by this consideration of his superior, Major 
 Bromley, who had been one of the veterans of last night's 
 engagement, Calvert mastered the contents of the envelope 
 without the customary anathema of specials, said, " Thank 
 you, Parks," and passed out on the veranda. 
 
 The glare of the quiet sunlit quadrangle, clean as a well- 
 swept floor, the whitewashed walls and galleries of the bar- 
 
420 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 rack buildings beyond, the white and green palisade of 
 officers' cottages on either side, and the glitter of a sentry's 
 bayonet, were for a moment intolerable to him. Yet, by a 
 kind of subtle irony, never before had the genius and spirit 
 of the vocation he had chosen seemed to be as incarnate as 
 in the scene before him. Seclusion, self-restraint, cleanli- 
 ness, regularity, sobriety, the atmosphere of a wholesome 
 life, the austere reserve of a monastery without its mysteri- 
 ous or pensive meditation, were all there. To escape 
 which, he had of his own free will successively accepted a 
 fool's distraction, the inevitable result of which was the 
 viewing of them the next morning with tremulous nerves 
 and aching eyeballs. 
 
 An hour later, Lieutenant George Calvert had received 
 his final instructions from Colonel Preston to take charge 
 of a small detachment to recover and bring back certain 
 deserters, but notably one, Dennis M'Caffrey of Company 
 H, charged additionally with mutinous solicitation and ex- 
 ample. As Calvert stood before his superior, that distin- 
 guished officer, whose oratorical powers had been consider- 
 ably stimulated through a long course of " returning thanks 
 for the Army," slightly expanded his chest and said pater- 
 nally : 
 
 " I am aware, Mr. Calvert, that duties of this kind are 
 somewhat distasteful to young officers, and are apt to be 
 considered in the light of police detail ; but I must remind 
 you that no one part of a soldier's duty can be held more 
 important or honorable than another, and that the fulfill- 
 ment of any one, however trifling, must, with honor to 
 himself and security to his comrades, receive his fullest de- 
 votion. A sergeant and a file of men might perform your 
 duty, but I require, in addition, the discretion, courtesy, 
 and consideration of a gentleman who will command an 
 equal respect from those with whom his duty brings him 
 in contact. The unhappy prejudices which the settlers 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 421 
 
 show to the military authority here render this, as you are 
 aware, a difficult service, but I believe that you will, with- 
 out forgetting the respect due to yourself and the Govern- 
 ment you represent, avoid rousing these prejudices by any 
 harshness, or inviting any conflict with the civil authority. 
 The limits of their authority you will find in your written 
 instructions ; but you might gain their confidence, and im- 
 press them, Mr. Calvert, with the idea of your being their 
 auxiliary in the interests of justice you understand. 
 Even if you are unsuccessful in bringing back the men, 
 you will do your best to ascertain if their escape has been 
 due to the sympathy of the settlers, or even with their pre- 
 liminary connivance. They may not be aware that incit- 
 ing enlisted men to desert is a criminal offense ; you will 
 use your own discretion in informing them of the fact or 
 not, as occasion may serve you. I have only to add, that 
 while you are on the waters of this bay and the land covered 
 by its tides, you have no opposition of authority, and are 
 responsible to no one but your military superiors. Good- 
 by, Mr. Calvert. Let me hear a good account of you." 
 
 Considerably moved by Colonel Preston's manner, which 
 was as paternal and real as his rhetoric was somewhat per- 
 functory, Calvert half forgot his woes as he stepped from 
 the commandant's piazza. But he had to face a group of 
 his brother officers, who were awaiting him. 
 
 " Good-by, Calvert," said Major Bromley ; " a day or 
 two out on the grass won't hurt you and a change from 
 commissary whiskey will put you all right. By the way, 
 if you hear of any better stuff at Westport than they 're 
 giving us here, sample it and let us know. Take care of 
 yourself. Give your men a chance to talk to you now and 
 then, and you may get something from them, especially 
 Donovan. Keep your eye on Ramon. You can trust your 
 sergeant straight along." 
 
 (( Good-by, George," said Kirby. " I suppose the old 
 
422 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 man told you that, although no part of a soldier's duty was 
 better than another, your service was a very delicate one, 
 just fitted for you, eh ? He always does when he ? s cut 
 out some hellish scrub-work for a chap. And told you, 
 too, that as long as you didn't go ashore, and kept to a 
 dispatch-boat, or an eight-oared gig, where you could n't 
 deploy your men, or dress a line, you 'd be invincible." 
 
 " He did say something like that," smiled Calvert, with 
 an uneasy recollection, however, that it was the part of his 
 superior's speech that particularly impressed him. 
 
 " Of course," said Kirby gravely, " that, as an infantry 
 officer, is clearly your duty." 
 
 "And don't forget, George," said Eollins still more 
 gravely, " that, whatever may befall you, you belong to a 
 section of that numerically small but powerfully diversified 
 organization the American Army. Remember that in the 
 hour of peril you can address your men in any language, 
 and be perfectly understood. And remember that when 
 you proudly stand before them, the eyes not only of your 
 own country, but of nearly all the others, are upon you ! 
 Good-by, Georgey. I heard the major hint something 
 about whiskey. They say that old pirate, Kingfisher Cul- 
 pepper, had a stock of the real thing from Robertson County 
 laid in his shebang on the Marsh just before he died. Pity 
 we are n't on terms with them, for the cubs cannot drink it, 
 and might be induced to sell. Should n't wonder, by the 
 way, if your friend M'Caffrey was hanging round somewhere 
 there ; he always had a keen scent. You might confiscate 
 it as an ' incitement to desertion, 7 you know. The girl 's 
 pretty, and ought to be growing up now." 
 
 But haply at this point the sergeant stopped further 
 raillery by reporting the detachment ready ; and drawing 
 his sword, Calvert, with a confused head, a remorseful heart, 
 but an unfaltering step, marched off his men on his delicate 
 mission. 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 423 
 
 It was four o'clock when he entered Jonesville. Follow- 
 ing a matter-of-fact idea of his own, he had brought his men 
 the greater distance by a circuitous route through the woods, 
 thus avoiding the ostentatious exposure of his party on the 
 open bay in a well-manned boat to an extended view from 
 the three leagues of shore and marsh opposite. Crossing 
 the stream, which here separated him from the Dedlow 
 Marsh, by the common ferry, he had thus been enabled to 
 halt unperceived below the settlement and occupy the two 
 roads by which the fugitives could escape inland. He had 
 deemed it not impossible that, after the previous visit of the 
 sergeant, the deserters hidden in the vicinity might return 
 to Jonesville in the belief that the visit would not be 
 repeated so soon. Leaving a part of his small force to patrol 
 the road and another to deploy over the upland meadows, 
 he entered the village. By the exercise of some boyish 
 diplomacy and a certain prepossessing grace, which he knew 
 when and how to employ, he became satisfied that the objects 
 of his quest were not there however their whereabouts 
 might have been known to the people. Dividing his party 
 again, he concluded to take a corporal and a few men and 
 explore the lower marshes himself. 
 
 The preoccupation of duty, exercise, and perhaps, above 
 all, the keen stimulus of the iodine-laden salt air seemed to 
 clear his mind and invigorate his body. He had never 
 been in the Marsh before, and enjoyed its novelty with the 
 zest of youth. It was the hour when the tide of its feathered 
 life was at its flood. Clouds of duck and teal passing from 
 the fresh water of the river to the salt pools of the marshes 
 perpetually swept his path with flying shadows ; at times it 
 seemed as if even the uncertain ground around him itself 
 arose and sped away on dusky wings. The vicinity of hidden 
 pools and sloughs was betrayed by startled splashings ; a 
 few paces from their marching feet arose the sunlit pinions 
 of a swan. The air was tilled with multitudinous small 
 
424 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 cries and pipings. In this vocal confusion it was some 
 minutes before he recognized the voice of one of his out- 
 flankers calling to the other. 
 
 An important discovery had been made. In a long tongue 
 of bushes that ran down to the Marsh they had found a 
 mud-stained uniform, complete even to the cap, bearing the 
 initial of the deserter's company. 
 
 " Is there any hut or cabin hereabouts, Schmidt ? " asked 
 Calvert. 
 
 " Dot vos schoost it, Lefdennun," replied his corporal. 
 " Dot vos de shanty from der Kingvisher old Gulbebber. 
 I pet a dollar, py shimminy, dot der men haf der gekommt." 
 
 He pointed through the brake to a long, low building 
 that now raised itself, white in the sunlight, above the many 
 blackened piles. Calvert saw in a single reconnoitring glance 
 that it had but one approach the flight of steps from the 
 Marsh. Instructing his men to fall in on the outer edge 
 of the brake and await his orders, he quickly made his way 
 across the space and ascended the steps. Passing along the 
 gallery he knocked at the front door. There was no response. 
 He repeated his knock. Then the window beside it opened 
 suddenly, and he was confronted with a double-muzzle of a 
 long ducking-gun. Glancing instinctively along the barrels, 
 he saw at their other extremity the bright eyes, brilliant 
 color, and small set mouth of a remarkably handsome girl. 
 It was the fact, and to the credit of his training, that he 
 paid more attention to the eyes than to the challenge of the 
 shining tubes before him. 
 
 " Jest stop where you are will you ! " said the girl 
 determinedly. 
 
 Calvert's face betrayed not the slightest terror or sur- 
 prise. Immovable as on parade, he carried his white gloved 
 hand to his cap, and said gently, " With pleasure." 
 
 " Oh yes," said the girl quickly ; " but if you move a 
 step I '11 jest blow you and your gloves offer that railin' 
 inter the Marsh." 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 425 
 
 " I trust not/ 7 returned Calvert, smiling. 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 " Because it would deprive me of the pleasure of a few 
 moments' conversation with you and I've only one pair 
 of gloves with me.' 7 
 
 He was still watching her beautiful eyes respectfully, 
 admiringly, and strategically. For he was quite convinced 
 that if he did move she would certainly discharge one or 
 both barrels at him. 
 
 " Where 's the rest of you ? " she continued sharply. 
 
 " About three hundred yards away, in the covert, not 
 near enough to trouble you." 
 
 " Will they come here ? " 
 
 " I trust not." 
 
 " You trust not ? " she repeated scornfully. " Why ? " 
 
 " Because they would be disobeying orders." 
 
 She lowered her gun slightly, but kept her black brows 
 leveled at him. " I reckon I 'm a match for you" she said, 
 with a slightly contemptuous glance at his slight figure, 
 and opened the door. For a moment they stood looking at 
 each other. He saw, besides the handsome face and eyes 
 that had charmed him, a tall, slim figure, made broader 
 across the shoulders by an open pea-jacket that showed a 
 man's red flannel shirt belted at the waist over a blue skirt, 
 with the collar knotted by a sailor's black handkerchief, and 
 turned back over a pretty though sunburnt throat. She 
 saw a rather undersized young fellow in a jaunty undress 
 uniform, scant of gold braid, and bearing only the single 
 gold shoulder-bars of his rank, but scrupulously neat and 
 well fitting. Light-colored hair cropped close, the smallest 
 of light mustaches, clear and penetrating blue eyes, and a 
 few freckles completed a picture that did not prepossess her. 
 She was therefore the more inclined to resent the perfect 
 ease and self-possession with which the stranger carried off 
 these manifest defects before her. 
 
426 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 She laid aside the gun, put her hands deep in the pockets 
 of her pea-jacket, and, slightly squaring her shoulders, said 
 curtly, " What do you want ? " 
 
 "A very little information, which I trust it will not 
 trouble you to give me. My men have just discovered the 
 uniform belonging to a deserter from the Fort lying in the 
 bushes yonder. Can you give me the slightest idea how it 
 came there ? " 
 
 " What right have you traipsing over our property ? " 
 she said, turning upon him sharply, with a slight paling of 
 color. 
 
 " None whatever." 
 
 " Then what did you come for ? " 
 
 " To ask that permission, in case you would give me no 
 information." 
 
 " Why don't you ask my brother, and not a woman ? 
 Were you afraid ? " 
 
 " He could hardly have done me the honor of placing me 
 in more peril than you have," returned Calvert, smiling. 
 " Then I have the pleasure of addressing Miss Culpepper ? " 
 
 " I 'm Jim Culpepper's sister." 
 
 " And, I believe, equally able to give or refuse the 
 permission I ask." 
 
 " And what if I refuse ? " 
 
 " Then I have only to ask pardon for having troubled 
 you, go back, and return here with the tide. You don't 
 resist that with a shot-gun, do you ? " he asked pleasantly. 
 
 Maggie Culpepper was already familiar with the accepted 
 theory of the supreme jurisdiction of the Federal Sea. 
 She half turned her back upon him, partly to show her 
 contempt, but partly to evade the domination of his clear, 
 good-humored, and self-sustained little eyes. 
 
 " I don't know anythin' about your deserters, nor what 
 rags o' theirs happen to be floated up here," she said 
 angrily, " and don't care to. You kin do what you like." 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 427 
 
 " Then I 'm afraid I should remain here a little longer, 
 Miss Culpepper ; but my duty " 
 
 " Your wot ? " she interrupted disdainfully. 
 
 " I suppose I am talking shop," he said smilingly. 
 " Then my business " 
 
 " Your business pickin' up half-starved runaways ! " 
 
 " And, I trust, sometimes a kind friend," he suggested, 
 with a grave bow. 
 
 " You trust ? Look yer, young man," she said, with 
 her quick, fierce, little laugh, " I reckon you trust a heap 
 too much ! " She would like to have added, " with your 
 freckled face, red hair, and little eyes " but this would 
 have obliged her to face them again, which she did not 
 care to do. 
 
 Calvert stepped back, lifted his hand to his cap, still 
 pleasantly, and then walked gravely along the gallery down 
 the steps, and towards the cover. From her window, un- 
 seen, she followed his neat little figure moving undeviat- 
 ingly on, without looking to the left or right, and still less 
 towards the house he had just quitted. Then she saw the 
 sunlight flash on cross-belt plates and steel barrels, and 
 a light blue line issued from out the dark green bushes, 
 round the point, and disappeared. And then it suddenly 
 occurred to her what she had been doing ! This, then, was 
 her first step towards that fancy she had so lately conceived, 
 quarreled over with her brother, and lay awake last night 
 to place anew, in spite of all opposition ! This was her 
 brilliant idea of dazzling and subduing Logport and the 
 Fort ! Had she grown silly, or what had happened ? 
 Could she have dreamed of the coming of this whipper- 
 snapper, with his insufferable airs, after that beggarly 
 deserter ? I am afraid that for a few moments the miser- 
 able fugitive had as small a place in Maggie's sympathy as 
 the redoubtable whipper-snapper himself. And now the 
 cherished dream of triumph and conquest was over ! What 
 
428 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 a " loony " she had been ! Instead of inviting him in, 
 and outdoing him in " company manners/' and " fooling " 
 Vim about the deserter, and then blazing upon him after- 
 wards at Logport in the glory of her first spent wealth and 
 finery, she had driven him away ! 
 
 And now " he '11 go and tell tell the Fort girls of 
 his hairbreadth escape from the claws of the Kingfisher's 
 daughter ! " 
 
 The thought brought a few bitter tears to her eyes, but 
 she wiped them away. The thought brought also the ter- 
 rible conviction that Jim was right, that there could be 
 nothing but open antagonism between them and the tra- 
 ducers of their parents, as she herself had instinctively 
 shown ! But she presently wiped that conviction away 
 also, as she had her tears. 
 
 Half an hour later she was attracted by the appearance 
 from the windows of certain straggling blue spots on the 
 upland that seemed moving diagonally towards the Marsh. 
 She did not know that it was Calvert's second " detail " 
 joining him, but believed for a moment that he had not 
 yet departed, and was strangely relieved. Still later the 
 frequent disturbed cries of coot, heron, and marsh-hen, 
 recognizing the presence of unusual invaders of their 
 solitude, distracted her yet more, and forced her at last, 
 with increasing color and an uneasy sense of shyness, to 
 steal out to the gallery for a swift furtive survey of the 
 Marsh. But an utterly unexpected sight met her eyes, and 
 kept her motionless. 
 
 The birds were rising everywhere and drifting away with 
 querulous perturbation before a small but augmented blue 
 detachment that was moving with monotonous regularity 
 towards the point of bushes where she had seen the young 
 officer previously disappear. In their midst, between two 
 soldiers with fixed bayonets, marched the man w r hom even 
 at that distance she instantly recognized as the deserter of 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 429 
 
 the preceding night, in the very clothes she had given him. 
 To complete her consternation, a little to the right marched 
 the young officer also, but accompanied by, and apparently 
 on the most amicable terms with, Jim her own brother ! 
 
 To forget all else and dart down the steps, flying towards 
 the point of bushes, scarcely knowing why or what she was 
 doing, was to Maggie the impulse and work of a moment. 
 When she had reached it the party were not twenty paces 
 away. But here a shyness and hesitation again seized her, 
 and she shrank back in the bushes with an instinctive cry to 
 her brother inarticulate upon her lips. They came nearer, 
 they were opposite to her ; her brother Jim keeping step with 
 the invader, and even conversing with him with an anima- 
 tion she had seldom seen upon his face they passed ! She 
 had been unnoticed except by one. The roving eye of the 
 deserter had detected her handsome face among the leaves, 
 slightly turned towards it, and poured out his whole soul in 
 a single swift wink of eloquent but indescribable con- 
 fidence. 
 
 When they had quite gone, she crept back to the house, 
 a little reassured, but still tremulous. When her brother 
 returned at nightfall, he found her brooding over the fire, 
 in the same attitude as on the previous night. 
 
 " I reckon ye might hev seen me go by with the 
 sodgers," he said, seating himself beside her, a little 
 awkwardly, and with an unusual assumption of carelessness. 
 
 Maggie, without looking up, was languidly surprised. 
 He had been with the soldiers and where ? 
 
 " About two hours ago I met this yer Lef tenant Cal- 
 vert," he went on with increasing awkwardness, " and 
 oh, I say, Mag he said he saw you, and hoped he had n't 
 troubled ye, and and ye saw him, did n't ye ? " 
 
 Maggie, with all the red of the fire concentrated in her 
 cheek as she gazed at the flame, believed carelessly " that 
 she had seen a shrimp in uniform asking questions.'' 
 
430 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 " Oh, he ain't a bit stuck up," said Jim quickly ; "that ? s 
 what I like about him. He 's ez nat'ral ez you be, and 
 tuck my arm, walkin' around, careless-like, laffen at what 
 he was doin', ez ef it was a game, and he was n't sole com- 
 mander of forty men. He 's only a year or two older than 
 me and and " he stopped and looked uneasily at 
 Maggie. 
 
 "So ye 've bin craw-fishin' agin ? " said Maggie in her 
 deepest and most scornful contralto. 
 
 " Who 's craw-fishin ' ? " he retorted angrily. 
 
 " What 's this backen out o' what you said yesterday ? 
 What 's all this trucklin' to the Fort now ? " 
 
 " What ? Well now, look yer," said Jim, rising sud- 
 denly, with reproachful indignation, " darned if I don't 
 jest tell ye everythin'. I promised him I would n't. He 
 allowed it would frighten ye." 
 
 " Frighten me ! " repeated Maggie contemptuously, never- 
 theless with her cheek paling again. "Frighten me 
 with what ? " 
 
 " Well, since yer so cantankerous, look yer. We 've 
 been robbed ! " 
 
 "Robbed ? " echoed Maggie, facing him. 
 
 " Yes, robbed by that same deserter. Robbed of a suit 
 of my clothes, and my whiskey-flask, and the darned skunk 
 had 'em on. And if it had n't bin for that Leftenant Cal- 
 vert, and my givin' him permission to hunt him over the 
 Marsh, we would n't have caught him." 
 
 " Bobbed ? " repeated Maggie again vaguely. 
 
 1 ' Yes, robbed ! Last night, afore we came home. He 
 must hev got in yer while we was comin' from the boat." 
 
 " Did, did that Leftenant say so ? " stammered Maggie. 
 
 " Say it, of course he did ! and so do I," continued 
 Jim impatiently. " Why, there were my very clothes on 
 his back, and he dare n't deny it. And if you 'd heark- 
 ened to me jest now, instead of flyin' off in tantrums, 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 431 
 
 you 'd see that that 's jest how we got him, and how me 
 and the Lef tenant joined hands in it. I did n't give him 
 permission to hunt deserters, but thieves. I did n't help 
 him to ketch the man that deserted from him, but the 
 skunk that took my clothes. For when the Leftenant 
 found the man's old uniform in the bush, he nat'rally kal- 
 kilated he must hev got some other duds near by in some 
 underhand way. Don't you see ? eh ? Why, look, Mag. 
 Darned if you ain't skeered after all ! Who 'd hev thought 
 it ? There now sit down, dear. Why, you 're white 
 ez a gull." 
 
 He had his arm round her as she sank back in the chair 
 again with a forced smile. 
 
 " There now," he said with fraternal superiority, " don't 
 mind it, Mag, any more. Why, it's all over now. You 
 bet he won't trouble us agin, for the Leftenant sez that 
 now he 's found out to be a thief, they '11 jest turn him 
 over to the police, and he 's sure o' getten six months' 
 state prison fer stealin' and burglarin' in our house. But " 
 he stopped suddenly and looked at his sister's contracted 
 face ; " look yer, Mag, you 're sick, that 's what 's the 
 matter. Take suthin' " 
 
 "I'm better now," she said with an effort; "it's only 
 a kind o' blind chill I must hev got on the Marsh last 
 night. What 's that ? " 
 
 She had risen, and, grasping her brother's arm tightly, 
 had turned quickly to the window. The casement had 
 suddenly rattled. 
 
 " It 's only the wind gettin' up. It looked like a sou'- 
 wester when I came in. Lot o' scud fly in'. But you take 
 some quinine, Mag. Don't you go now and get down sick 
 like maw." 
 
 Perhaps it was this well-meant but infelicitous reference 
 that brought a moisture to her dark eyes, and caused her 
 lips to momentarily quiver. But it gave way to a quick 
 
432 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 determined setting of her whole face as she turned it once 
 more to the fire, and said slowly : - 
 
 " I reckon I '11 sleep it off, if I go to bed now. What 
 time does the tide fall ? " 
 
 " About three, unless this yer wind piles it up on the 
 Marsh afore then. Why ? " 
 
 " I was only wonderin' if the boat wus safe," said Maggie, 
 rising. 
 
 " You 'd better hoist yourself outside some quinine, in- 
 stead o' talken about those things," said Jim, who preferred 
 to discharge his fraternal responsibility by active medication. 
 " You are n't fit to read to-night." 
 
 " Good-night, Jim," she said suddenly, stopping before 
 him. 
 
 " Good-night, Mag." He kissed her with protecting 
 and amiable toleration, generously referring her hot hands 
 and feverish lips to that vague mystery of feminine com- 
 plaint which man admits without indorsing. 
 
 They separated ; Jim, under the stimulus of the late 
 supposed robbery, ostentatiously fastening the doors and 
 windows with assuring comments, calculated to inspire con- 
 fidence in his sister's startled heart. Then he went to bed. 
 He lay awake long enough to be pleasantly conscious that 
 the wind had increased to a gale, and to be lulled again to 
 sleep by the cosy security of the heavily timbered and 
 tightly sealed dwelling that seemed to ride the storm like 
 the ship it resembled. The gale swept through the piles 
 beneath him and along the gallery as through bared spars 
 and over wave- washed decks. The whole structure, attacked 
 above, below, and on all sides by the fury of the wind, 
 seemed at times to be lifted in the air. Once or twice the 
 creaking timbers simulated the sound of opening doors and 
 passing footsteps, and again dilated as if the gale had forced 
 a passage through. But Jim slept on peacefully, and 
 was at last only aroused by the brilliant sunshine staring 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MAESH 433 
 
 through his window from the clear wind-swept blue arch 
 beyond. 
 
 Dressing himself lazily, he passed into the sitting-room 
 and proceeded to knock at his sister's door, as was his cus- 
 tom ; he was amazed to find it open and the room empty. 
 Entering hurriedly, he saw that her bed was undisturbed, 
 as if it had not been occupied, and was the more bewildered 
 to see a note ostentatiously pinned upon the pillow, ad- 
 dressed in pencil, in a large school-hand, " To Jim." 
 
 Opening it impatiently, he was startled to read as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Don't be angry, Jim dear but it was all my fault 
 and I did n't tell you. I knew all about the deserter, and 
 I gave him the clothes and things that they say he stole. 
 It was while you was out that night, and he came and 
 begged of me, and was mournful and hid jus to behold. I 
 thought I was helping him, and getting our revenge on the 
 Fort, all at the same time. Don't be mad, Jim dear, and 
 do not be frighted fer me. I 'm going over thar to make it 
 all right to free himoi stealing to have you left out of 
 it all and take it all on myself. Don't you be a bit feared 
 for me. I ain't skeert of the wind or of going. I '11 close 
 reef everything, clear the creek, stretch across to Injen 
 Island, hugg the Point, and bear up fer Logport. Dear Jim 
 
 don't get mad but I could n't bear this fooling of you 
 nor him and that man being took for stealing any longer ! 
 
 Your loving sister, MAGGIE. 
 
 With a confused mingling of shame, anger, and sudden fear 
 he ran out on the gallery. The tide was well up, half the 
 Marsh had already vanished, and the little creek where he 
 had moored his skiff was now an empty shining river. 
 The water was everywhere fringing the tussocks of salt 
 grass with concentric curves of spume and drift, or tumul- 
 
434 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 tuously tossing its white-capped waves over the spreading 
 expanse of the lower bay. The low thunder of breakers in 
 the farther estuary broke monotonously on the ear. But 
 his eye was fascinated by a dull shifting streak on the hori- 
 zon, that, even as he gazed, shuddered, whitened along its 
 whole line, and then grew ghastly gray again. It was the 
 ocean bar. 
 
IV 
 
 " WELL, I must say," said Cicely Preston, emphasizing 
 the usual feminine imperative for perfectly gratuitous state- 
 ment, as she pushed back her chair from the commandant's 
 breakfast table, " I must really say that I don't see any- 
 thing particularly heroic in doing something wrong, lying 
 about it just to get other folks into trouble, and- then rush- 
 ing off to do penance in a high wind and an open boat. 
 But she 's pretty, and wears a man's shirt and coat, and of 
 course that settles anything. But why earrings and wet 
 white stockings and slippers ? And why that Gothic arch 
 of front and a boy 's hat ? That 's what I simply ask ; " 
 and the youngest daughter of Colonel Preston rose from the 
 table, shook out the skirt of her pretty morning dress, and, 
 placing her little thumbs in the belt of her smart waist, 
 paused witheringly for a reply. 
 
 " You are most unfair, my child," returned Colonel 
 Preston gravely. " Her giving food and clothes to a de- 
 serter may have been only an ordinary instinct of humanity 
 towards a fellow creature who appeared to be suffering, to 
 say nothing of M'Caffrey's plausible tongue. But her 
 periling her life to save him from an unjust accusation, and 
 her desire to shield her brother's pride from ridicule, is 
 altogether praiseworthy and extraordinary. And the moral 
 influence of her kindness was strong enough to make that 
 scamp refuse to tell the plain truth that might implicate her 
 in an indiscretion, though it saved him from state prison." 
 
 " He knew you would n't believe him if he had said the 
 clothes were given to him," retorted Miss Cicely, " so I 
 
436 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 don't see where the moral influence comes in. As to her 
 periling her life, those Marsh people are amphibious any- 
 way, or would be in those clothes. And as to her motive, 
 why, papa, I heard you say in this very room, and after- 
 wards to Mr. Calvert, when you gave him instructions, that 
 you believed those Culpeppers were capable of enticing 
 away deserters ; and you forget the fuss you had with her 
 savage brother's lawyer about that water front, and how 
 you said it was such people who kept up the irritation be- 
 tween the Civil and Federal power. " 
 
 The colonel coughed hurriedly. It is the fate of all 
 great organizers, military as well as civil, to occasionally 
 suffer defeat in the family circle. 
 
 " The more reason," he said soothingly, " why we should 
 correct harsh judgments that spring from mere rumors. 
 You should give yourself at least the chance of overcoming 
 your prejudices, my child. Remember, too, that she is 
 now the guest of the Fort." 
 
 " And she chooses to stay with Mrs. Bromley ! I 'm 
 sure it 's quite enough for you and mamma to do duty 
 and Emily, who wants to know why Mr. Calvert raves 
 so about her without my going over there to stare." 
 
 Colonel Preston shook his head reproachfully, but event- 
 ually retired, leaving the field to the enemy. The enemy, 
 a little pink in the cheeks, slightly tossed the delicate rings 
 of its blonde crest, settled its skirts again at the piano, but 
 after turning over the leaves of its music book, rose, and 
 walked pettishly to the window.. 
 
 But here a spectacle presented itself that for a moment 
 dismissed all other thoughts from the girl's rebellious 
 mind. 
 
 Not a dozen yards away, on the wind-swept parade, a 
 handsome young fellow, apparently halted by the sentry, 
 had impetuously turned upon him in an attitude of indig- 
 nant and haughty surprise. To the quick fancy of the girl 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MAESH 437 
 
 it seemed as if some disguised rustic god had been startled 
 by the challenge of a mortal. Under an oilskin hat, like 
 the petasus of Hermes, pushed back from his white fore- 
 head, crisp black curls were knotted around a head whose 
 beardless face was perfect as a cameo cutting. In a close- 
 fitting blue woolen jersey under his open jacket the clear 
 outlines and youthful grace of his upper figure were revealed 
 as clearly as in a statue. Long fishing-boots reaching to his 
 thighs scarcely concealed the symmetry of his lower limbs. 
 Cricket and lawn-tennis, knickerbockers and flannels had 
 not at that period familiarized the female eye to unfettered 
 masculine outline, and Cicely Preston, accustomed to the 
 artificial smartness and regularity of uniform, was perhaps 
 the more impressed by the stranger's lawless grace. 
 
 The sentry had repeated his challenge ; an angry flush 
 was deepening on the intruder's cheek. At this critical 
 moment Cicely threw open the French windows and stepped 
 upon the veranda. 
 
 The sentry saluted the familiar little figure of his colo- 
 nel's daughter with an explanatory glance at the stranger. 
 The young fellow looked up and the god became human. 
 
 " I 'm looking for my sister," he said half awkwardly, 
 half defiantly ; " she 's here, somewhere." 
 
 " Yes and perfectly safe, Mr. Culpepper, I think," 
 said the arch-hypocrite with dazzling sweetness ; " and 
 we're all so delighted. And so brave and plucky and 
 skillful in her to come all that way and for such a pur- 
 pose." 
 
 "Then you know all about it" stammered Jim, 
 more relieved than he had imagined " and that I " 
 
 "That you were quite ignorant of your sister helping 
 the deserter. Oh yes, of course," said Cicely, with bewil- 
 dering promptitude. " You see, Mr. Culpepper, we girls 
 are so foolish. I dare say I should have done the same 
 thing in her place, only / should never have had the cour- 
 
438 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 age to do what she did afterwards. You really must for- 
 give her. But won't you come in do." She stepped 
 back, holding the window open with the half-coaxing air of 
 a spoiled child. " This way is quickest. Do come." As 
 he still hesitated, glancing from her to the house, she added, 
 with a demure little laugh, "Oh, I forget this is Colonel 
 Preston's quarters, and I 'm his daughter." 
 
 And this dainty little fairy, so natural in manner, so 
 tasteful in attire, was one of the artificial over-dressed 
 creatures that his sister had inveighed against so bitterly ! 
 Was Maggie really to be trusted ? This new revelation 
 coming so soon after the episode of the deserter staggered 
 him. Nevertheless he hesitated, looking up with a certain 
 boyish timidity into Cicely's dangerous eyes. 
 
 " Is is my sister there ? " 
 
 "I'm expecting her with my mother every moment," 
 responded this youthful but ingenious diplomatist sweetly ; 
 " she might be here now ; but," she added with a sudden 
 heart-broken flash of sympathy, " I know how anxious you 
 both must be. I'll take you to her now. Only one mo- 
 ment, please." The opportunity of leading this handsome 
 savage as it were in chains across the parade, before every- 
 body, her father, her mother, her sister, and his was not 
 to be lost. She darted into the house, and reappeared with 
 the daintiest imaginable straw hat on the side of her head, 
 and demurely took her place at his side. "It's only over 
 there, at Major Bromley's," she said, pointing to one of the 
 vine-clad cottage quarters ; " but you are a stranger here, 
 you know, and might get lost." 
 
 Alas ! he was already that. For keeping step with those 
 fairy-like slippers, brushing awkwardly against that fresh 
 and pretty skirt, and feeling the caress of the soft folds, 
 looking down upon the brim of that beribboned little hat, 
 and more often meeting the upturned blue eyes beneath it, 
 Jim was suddenly struck with a terrible conviction of his 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 439 
 
 own contrasting coarseness and deficiencies. How hideous 
 those oiled canvas fishing-trousers and pilot jacket looked 
 beside this perfectly fitted and delicately gowned girl ! He 
 loathed his collar, his jersey, his turned-back sou'wester, 
 even his height, which seemed to hulk beside her every- 
 thing, in short, that the girl had recently admired. By the 
 time that they had reached Major Bromley's door he had so 
 far succumbed to the fair enchantress and realized her ambi- 
 tion of a triumphant procession, that when she ushered him 
 into the presence of half a dozen ladies and gentlemen he 
 scarcely recognized his sister as the centre of attraction, or 
 knew that Miss Cicely's effusive greeting of Maggie was her 
 first one. " I knew he was dying to see you after all you 
 had both passed through, and I brought him straight here," 
 said the diminutive Machiavelli, meeting the astonished 
 gaze of her father and the curious eyes of her sister with 
 perfect calmness, while Maggie, full of gratitude and admi- 
 ration of her handsome brother, forgot his momentary oblivi- 
 ousness, and returned her greeting warmly. Nevertheless, 
 there was a slight movement of reserve among the gentle- 
 men at the unlooked-for irruption of this sunburnt Adonis, 
 until Calvert, disengaging himself from Maggie's side, came 
 forward with his usual frank imperturbability and quiet 
 tact, and claimed Jim as his friend and honored guest. 
 
 It then came out with that unostentatious simplicity 
 which characterized the brother and sister, and was their 
 secure claim to perfect equality with their entertainers, that 
 Jim, on discovering his sister's absence, and fearing that 
 she might be carried by the current towards the bar, had 
 actually swum the estuary to Indian Island, and in an 
 ordinary Indian canoe had braved the same tempestuous 
 passage she had taken a few hours before. Cicely, listen- 
 ing to this recital with rapt attention, nevertheless managed 
 to convey the impression of having fully expected it from 
 the first. " Of course he 'd have come here ; if she 'd only 
 waited," she said, sotto voce, to her sister Emily. 
 
440 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 " He 's certainly the handsomer of the two," responded 
 that young lady. 
 
 " Of course," returned Cicely with a superior air, " don't 
 you see she copies him?" 
 
 Not that this private criticism prevented either from 
 vying with the younger officers in their attentions to Maggie, 
 with perhaps the addition of an open eulogy of her hand- 
 some brother, more or less invidious in comparison to the 
 officers. " I suppose it 's an active out-of-door life gives 
 him that perfect grace and freedom," said Emily, with a 
 slight sneer at the smartly belted Calvert. " Yes ; and he 
 don't drink or keep late hours," responded Cicely signifi- 
 cantly. " His sister says they always retire before ten 
 o'clock, and that although his father left him some valuable 
 whiskey he seldom takes a drop of it." " Therein," gravely 
 concluded Captain Kirby, " lies our salvation. If, after 
 such a confession, Calvert does n't make the most of his 
 acquaintance with young Culpepper to remove that whiskey 
 from his path and bring it here, he 's not the man I take 
 him for." 
 
 Indeed, for the moment it seemed as if he was not. Dur- 
 ing the next three or four days, in which Colonel Preston 
 had insisted upon detaining his guests, Calvert touched no 
 liquor, evaded the evening poker parties at quarters, and 
 even prevailed upon some of his brother officers to give 
 them up for the more general entertainment of the ladies. 
 Colonel Preston was politician enough to avail himself of the 
 popularity of Maggie's adventure to invite some of the Log- 
 port people to assist him in honoring their neighbor. Not 
 only was the old feud between the Fort and the people thus 
 bridged over, but there was no doubt that the discipline of the 
 Fort had been strengthened by Maggie's extravagant reputa- 
 tion as a mediator among the disaffected rank and file. What- 
 ever characteristic license the grateful Dennis M'Caffrey 
 let off with a nominal punishment may have taken in his 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 441 
 
 praise of the " Quane of the Marshes/' it is certain that the 
 men worshiped her, and that the band pathetically begged 
 permission to serenade her the last night of her stay. 
 
 At the end of that time, with a dozen invitations, a 
 dozen appointments, a dozen vows of eternal friendship, 
 much hand-shaking, and accompanied by a number of the 
 officers to their boat, Maggie and Jim departed. They 
 talked but little on their way home ; by some tacit under- 
 standing they did not discuss those projects, only recalling 
 certain scenes and incidents of their visit. By the time 
 they had reached the little creek the silence and nervous 
 apathy which usually follow excitement in the young seemed 
 to have fallen upon them. It was not until after their 
 quiet frugal supper that, seated beside the fire, Jim looked 
 up somewhat self-consciously in his sister's grave and 
 thoughtful face. 
 
 " Say, Mag, what was that idea o' yours about selling 
 some land, and taking a house at Logport ? " 
 
 Maggie looked up, and said passively, " Oh, that 
 idea ? " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Well," said Jim somewhat awkwardly, " it could be 
 done, you know. I 'm willin'." 
 
 As she did not immediately reply, he continued uneasily, 
 " Miss Preston says we kin get a nice little house that is 
 near the Fort, until we want to build." 
 
 " Oh, then you have talked about it ? " 
 
 " Yes that is why, what are ye thinkin' of, Mag ? 
 Was n't it your idea all along ? " he said, suddenly facing 
 her with querulous embarrassment. They had been sitting 
 in their usual evening attitudes of Assyrian frieze profile, 
 with even more than the usual Assyrian frieze similarity 
 of feature. 
 
 " Yes j but, Jim dear, do you think it the best thing 
 
442 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 f or for us to do ? " said Maggie, with half -frightened 
 gravity. 
 
 At this sudden and startling exhibition of female incon- 
 sistency and inconsequence, Jim was for a moment speech- 
 less. Then he recovered himself, volubly, aggrievedly, and 
 on his legs. What did she mean ? Was he to give up 
 understanding girls or was it their sole vocation in life 
 to impede masculine processes and shipwreck masculine con- 
 clusions ? Here, after all she said the other night, after 
 they had nearly " quo'lled " over her " set idees," after 
 she 'd " gone over all that foolishness about Jael and Sisera 
 and there was n't any use for it after she J d let him 
 run on to them officers all he was goin' to do nay, after 
 she herself, for he had heard her, had talked to Calvert 
 about it, she wanted to know now if it was best.' 7 He 
 looked at the floor and the ceiling, as if expecting the 
 tongued and grooved planks to cry out at this crowning 
 enormity. 
 
 The cause of it had resumed her sad gaze at the fire. 
 Presently, without turning her head, she reached up her 
 long, graceful arm, and, clasping her brother's neck, brought 
 his face down in profile with her own, cheek against cheek, 
 until they looked like the double outlines of a medallion. 
 Then she said to the fire : 
 
 " Jim, do you think she 's pretty ? " 
 
 " Who ? " said Jim, albeit his color had already an- 
 swered the question. 
 
 " You know who. Do you like her ? " 
 
 Jim here vaguely murmured to the fire that he thought 
 her ''kinder nice/' and that she dressed mighty purty. 
 " Ye know, Mag," he said with patronizing effusion, " you 
 oughter get some gownds like hers.' 7 
 
 " That would n't make me like her," said Maggie 
 gravely. 
 
 " I don't know about that," said Jim politely, but with 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MAESH 443 
 
 an appalling hopelessness of tone. After a pause he added 
 slyly, " 'Pears to me somebody else thought somebody else 
 mighty party eh ? " 
 
 To his discomfiture she did not solicit further informa- 
 tion. After a pause he continued, still more archly : 
 
 " Do you like him, Mag ? " 
 
 " I think he 's a perfect gentleman," she said calmly. 
 
 He turned his eyes quickly from the glowing fire to her 
 face. The cheek that had been resting against his own 
 was as cool as the night wind that came through the open 
 door, and the whole face was as fixed and tranquil as the 
 upper stars. 
 
FOB a year the tide had ebbed and flowed on the Ded- 
 low Marsh unheeded before the sealed and sightless win- 
 dows of the " Kingfisher's Nest." Since the young birds 
 had flown to Logport, even the Indian caretakers had 
 abandoned the piled dwelling for their old nomadic haunts 
 in the " bresh." The high spring tide had again made its 
 annual visit to the little cemetery of driftwood, and, as if 
 recognizing another wreck in the deserted home, had hung 
 a few memorial offerings on the blackened piles, softly 
 laid a garland of grayish drift before it, and then sobbed it- 
 self out in the salt grass. 
 
 From time to time the faint echoes of the Culpeppers' 
 life at Logport reached the upland, and the few neighbors 
 who had only known them by hearsay shook their heads 
 over the extravagance they as yet only knew by report. 
 But it was in the dead ebb of the tide and the waning day- 
 light that the feathered tenants of the Marsh seemed to 
 voice dismal prophecies of the ruin of their old master and 
 mistress, and to give themselves up to gloomiest lamenta- 
 tion and querulous foreboding. Whether the traditional 
 " bird of the air " had intrusted his secret to a few orni- 
 thological friends, or whether from a natural disposition to 
 take gloomy views of life, it was certain that at this hour 
 the vocal expression of the Marsh was hopeless and despair- 
 ing. It was then that a dejected plover, addressing a 
 mocking crew of sandpipers on a floating log, seemed to be- 
 wail the fortune that was being swallowed up by the riot- 
 ous living and gambling debts of Jim. It was then that 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 445 
 
 the querulous crane rose, and testily protested against the 
 selling of his favorite haunt in the sandy peninsula, which 
 only six months of Jim's excesses had made imperative. 
 It was then that a mournful curlew, who, with the preface 
 that he had always been really expecting it, reiterated the 
 story that Jim had been seen more than once staggering 
 home with nervous hands and sodden features from a debauch 
 with the younger officers ; it was the same desponding fowl 
 who knew that Maggie's eyes had more than once filled 
 with tears at Jim's failings, and had already grown more 
 hollow with many watchings. It was a flock of wrangling 
 teal that screamingly discussed the small scandals, jealous 
 heart-burnings, and curious backbitings that had attended 
 Maggie's advent into society. It was the high flying brent 
 who, knowing how the sensitive girl, made keenly con- 
 scious at every turn of her defective training and ingenuous 
 ignorance, had often watched their evening flight with 
 longing gaze, now " honked " dismally at the recollection. 
 It was at this hour and season that the usual vague la- 
 meritings of Dedlow Mqrsh seemed to find at last a preor- 
 dained expression. And it was at such a time, when 
 light and water were both fading, and the blackness of the 
 Marsh was once more reasserting itself, that a small boat 
 was creeping along one of the tortuous inlets, at times half 
 hiding behind the bank like a wounded bird. As it slowly 
 penetrated inland it seemed to be impelled by its solitary 
 occupant in a hesitating, uncertain way, as if to escape ob- 
 servation rather than as if directed to any positive bourn. 
 Stopping beside a bank of reeds at last, the figure rose 
 stoopingly, and drew a gun from between its feet and the 
 bottom of the boat. As the light fell upon its face, it 
 could be seen that it was James Culpepper ! James Cul- 
 pepper ! hardly recognizable in the swollen features, blood- 
 shot eyes, and tremulous hands of that ruined figure ! James 
 Culpepper, only retaining a single trace of his former self 
 
446 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 in his look of set and passionate purpose ! And that pur- 
 pose was to kill himself to be found dead, as his father 
 had been before him in an open boat, adrift upon the 
 Marsh ! 
 
 It was not the outcome of a sudden fancy. The idea had 
 first come to him in a taunting allusion from the drunken 
 lips of one of his ruder companions, for which he had 
 stricken the offender to the earth. It had since haunted 
 his waking hours of remorse and hopeless fatuity ; it had 
 seemed to be the one relief and atonement he could make 
 'his devoted sister ; and, more fatuous than all, it seemed to 
 the miserable boy the one revenge he would take upon the 
 faithless coquette, who for a year had played with his sim- 
 plicity, and had helped to drive him to the distraction of 
 cards and drink. Only that morning Colonel Preston had 
 forbidden him the house ; and now it seemed to him the 
 end had come. He raised his distorted face above the 
 reedy bank for a last tremulous and half -frightened glance 
 at the landscape he was leaving forever. A glint in the 
 western sky lit up the front of his deserted dwelling in the 
 distance, abreast of which the windings of the inlet had 
 unwittingly led him. As he looked he started, and involun- 
 tarily dropped into a crouching attitude. For to his su- 
 perstitious terror, the sealed windows of his old home were 
 open, the bright panes were glittering with the fading light, 
 and on the outer gallery the familiar figure of his sister 
 stood, as of old, awaiting his return ! Was he really going 
 mad, or had this last vision of his former youth been pur- 
 posely vouchsafed him ? 
 
 But even as he gazed, the appearance of another figure in 
 the landscape beyond the house proved the reality of his 
 vision, and as suddenly distracted him from all else. For 
 it was the apparition of a man on horseback approaching 
 the house from the upland ; and even at that distance he 
 recognized its well-known outlines. It was Calvert ! Cal- 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 447 
 
 vert the traitor ! Calvert, the man whom he had long sus- 
 pected as being the secret lover and destined husband of 
 Cicely Preston ! Calvert, who had deceived him with his 
 calm equanimity and his affected preference for Maggie, to 
 conceal his deliberate understanding with Cicely. What 
 was he doing here ? Was he a double traitor, and now 
 trying to deceive her as he had him ? And Maggie here ! 
 This sudden return this preconcerted meeting. It was 
 infamy ! 
 
 For a moment he remained stupefied, and then, with a 
 mechanical instinct, plunged his head and face in the lazy- 
 flowing water, and then once again rose cool and collected. 
 The half-mad distraction of his previous resolve had given 
 way to another, more deliberate, but not less desperate 
 determination. He knew now why he came there why 
 he had brought his gun why his boat had stopped when 
 it did ! 
 
 Lying flat in the bottom, he tore away fragments of the 
 crumbling bank to fill his frail craft, until he had sunk it 
 to the gunwale, and below the low level of the Marsh. 
 Then, using his hands as noiseless paddles, he propelled 
 this rude imitation of a floating log slowly past the line of 
 vision, until the tongue of bushes had hidden him from 
 view. With a rapid glance at the darkening flat, he then 
 seized his gun, and springing to the spongy bank, half 
 crouching, half crawling through reeds and tussocks, he 
 made his way to the brush. A foot and eye less experi- 
 enced would have plunged its owner helpless in the black 
 quagmire. At one edge of the thicket he heard hoofs tram- 
 pling the dried twigs. Calvert's horse was already there, 
 tied to a skirting alder. 
 
 He ran to the house, but, instead of attracting attention 
 by ascending the creaking steps, made his way to the piles 
 below the rear gallery and climbed to it noiselessly. It was 
 the spot where the deserter had ascended a year ago, and, 
 
448 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 like him, he could see and hear all that passed distinctly. 
 Calvert stood near the open door as if departing. Maggie* 
 stood between him and the window, her face in shadow, her 
 hands clasped tightly behind her. A profound sadness, 
 partly of the dying day and waning light, and partly of some 
 vague expiration of their own sorrow, seemed to encompass 
 them. Without knowing why, a strange trembling took 
 the place of James Culpepper's fierce determination, and a 
 film of moisture stole across his staring eyes. 
 
 " When I tell you that I believe all this will pass, and 
 that you will still win your brother back to you," said 
 Calvert's sad but clear voice, " I will tell you why 
 although, perhaps, it is only a part of that confidence you 
 command me to withhold. When I first saw you, I myself 
 had fallen into like dissolute habits ; less excusable than he, 
 for I had some experience of the world and its follies. When 
 I met you, and fell under the influence of your pure, simple, 
 and healthy life ; when I saw that isolation, monotony, 
 misunderstanding, even the sense of superiority to one's 
 surroundings, could be lived down and triumphed over, with- 
 out vulgar distractions or pitiful ambitions ; when I learned 
 to love you hear me out, Miss Culpepper, I beg you 
 you saved me I, who was nothing to you, even as I hon- 
 estly believe you will still save your brother whom you love." 
 
 " How do you know I did n't ruin him ? " she said, 
 turning upon him bitterly. " How do you know that it 
 was n't to get rid of our monotony, our solitude, that I drove 
 him to this vulgar distraction, this pitiful yes, you were 
 right pitiful ambition ? " 
 
 " Because it is n't your real nature," he said quietly. 
 
 " My real nature," she repeated with a half savage vehe- 
 mence that seemed to be goaded from her by his very 
 gentleness, "my real nature ! What did he what do you 
 know of it ? My real nature ! I '11 tell you what it 
 was," she went on passionately. " It was to be revenged 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 449 
 
 on you all for your cruelty, your heartlessness, your wicked- 
 ness to me and mine in the past. It was to pay you off for 
 your slanders of my dead father for the selfishness that 
 left me and Jim alone with his dead body on the Marsh. 
 That was what sent me to Logport to get even with you 
 to to fool and flaunt you ! There, you have it now ! 
 And now that God has punished me for it by crushing my 
 brother you you expect me to let you crush me too." 
 
 " But," he said eagerly, advancing toward her, " you are 
 wronging me you are wronging yourself cruelly." 
 
 " Stop," she said, stepping back, with her hands still 
 locked behind her. " Stay where you are. There ! That 's 
 enough ! " She drew herself up and let her hands fall at 
 her side. " Now, let us speak of Jim," she said coldly. 
 
 Without seeming to hear her, he regarded her for the 
 first time with hopeless sadness. 
 
 " Why did you let my brother believe you were his rival 
 with Cicely Preston ? " she asked impatiently. 
 
 " Because I could not undeceive him without telling him. 
 I hopelessly loved his sister. You are proud, Miss Culpep- 
 per," he said, with the first tinge of bitterness in his even 
 voice. " Can you not understand that others may be proud 
 too ? " 
 
 " No," she said bluntly ; " it is not pride but weakness. 
 You could have told him what you knew to be true : that 
 there could be nothing in common between her folk and 
 such savages as we ; that there was a gulf as wide as that 
 Marsh and as black between our natures, our training and 
 theirs ; and even if they came to us across it, now and then, 
 to suit their pleasure, light and easy as that tide it was 
 still there to some day ground and swamp them ! And if 
 he doubted it, you had only to tell him your own story. 
 You had only to tell him what you have just told me 
 that you yourself, an officer and a gentleman, thought you 
 loved me, a vulgar, uneducated, savage girl, and that I, 
 
450 THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 
 
 kinder to you than you to me or him, made you take it back 
 across that tide, because I could n't let you link your life 
 with me, and drag you in the mire." 
 
 "You need not have said that, Miss Culpepper," returned 
 Calvert with the same gentle smile, " to prove that I am 
 your inferior in all but one thing." 
 
 " And that ? " she said quickly. 
 
 "Is my love." 
 
 His gentle face was as set now as her own as he moved 
 -back slowly towards the door. There he paused. 
 
 " You tell me to speak of Jim, and Jim only. Then 
 hear me. I believe that Miss Preston cares for him as far 
 as lies in her young and giddy nature. I could not, there- 
 fore, have crushed his hope without deceiving him, for there 
 are as cruel deceits prompted by what we call reason as by 
 our love. If you think that a knowledge of this plain truth 
 would help to save him, I beg you to be kinder to him 
 than you have been to me, or even, let me dare to hope, 
 to yourself." 
 
 He slowly crossed the threshold, still holding his cap 
 lightly in his hand. 
 
 " When I tell you that I am going away to-morrow on a 
 leave of absence, and that in all probability we may not 
 meet again, you will not misunderstand why I add my 
 prayer to the message your friends in Logport charged me 
 with. They beg that you will give up your idea of return- 
 ing here, and come back to them. Believe me, you have 
 made yourself loved and respected there, in spite I beg 
 pardon perhaps I should say because of your pride. 
 Good-night and good-by." 
 
 For a single instant she turned her set face to the win- 
 dow with a sudden convulsive movement, as if she would 
 have called him back, but at the same moment the opposite 
 door creaked and her brother slipped into the room. 
 Whether a quick memory of the deserter's entrance at that 
 
THE HERITAGE OF DEDLOW MARSH 451 
 
 door a year ago had crossed her mind, whether there was 
 some strange suggestion in his mud-stained garments and 
 weak, deprecating smile, or whether it was the outcome of 
 some desperate struggle within her, there was that in her 
 face that changed his smile into a frightened cry for pardon, 
 as he ran and fell on his knees at her feet. But even as 
 he did so her stern look vanished, and with her arm around 
 him she bent over him and mingled her tears with his. 
 
 " I heard it all, Mag dearest ! All ! Forgive me ! I 
 have been crazy ! wild ! I will reform ! I will be 
 better ! I will never disgrace you again, Mag ! Never, 
 never ! I swear it ! " 
 
 She reached down and kissed him. After a pause, a 
 weak, boyish smile struggled into his face. 
 
 " You heard what he said of her, Mag. Do you think 
 it might be true ? " 
 
 She lifted the damp curls from his forehead with a sad, 
 half-maternal smile, but did not reply. 
 
 " And Mag, dear, don't you think you were a little 
 just a little hard on him ? No ! Don't look at me 
 that way, for God's sake ! There, I did n't mean anything. 
 Of course you knew best. There, Maggie dear, look up. 
 Hark there ! Listen, Mag, do ! " 
 
 They lifted their eyes to the dim distance seen through 
 the open door. Borne on the fading light, and seeming to 
 fall and die with it over marsh and river, came the last 
 notes of the bugle from the Fort. 
 
 " There ! Don't you remember what you used to say, 
 Mag ? " 
 
 The look that had frightened him had quite left her face 
 now. 
 
 " Yes," she smiled, laying her cold cheek beside his 
 softly. " Oh yes ! It was something that came and went, 
 1 Like a song ' ' Like a song.' " 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 I 
 
 As Father Felipe slowly toiled up the dusty road 
 toward the Rancho of the Blessed Innocents, he more 
 than once stopped under the shadow of a sycamore to rest 
 his somewhat lazy mule and to compose his own perplexed 
 thoughts by a few snatches from his breviary. For the 
 good padre had some reason to be troubled. The invasion 
 of Gentile Americans that followed the gold discovery of 
 three years before had not confined itself to the plains of 
 the Sacramento, but stragglers had already found their way 
 to the Santa Cruz Valley, and the seclusion of even the 
 mission itself was threatened. It was true that they had 
 not brought their heathen engines to disembowel the earth 
 in search of gold, but it was rumored that they had already 
 speculated upon the agricultural productiveness of the land, 
 arid had espied " the fatness thereof." As he reached the 
 higher plateau he could see the afternoon sea-fog pres- 
 ently to obliterate the fair prospect already pulling 
 through the gaps in the Coast Range, and on a nearer slope 
 no. less ominously the smoke of a recent but more per- 
 manently destructive Yankee saw mill was slowly drifting 
 towards the valley. 
 
 " Get up, beast ! " said the father, digging his heels into 
 the comfortable flanks of his mule with some human impa- 
 tience, " or art thou, too, a lazy renegade ? Thinkest thou, 
 besotted one, that the heretic will spare thee more work 
 than the Holy Church ? " 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 453 
 
 The mule, thus apostrophized in ear and flesh, shook its 
 head obstinately as if the question was by no means clear 
 to its mind, but nevertheless started into a little trot, which 
 presently brought it to the low adobe wall of the courtyard 
 of " The Innocents/' and entered the gate. A few loung- 
 ing peons in the shadow of an archway took off their broad- 
 brimmed hats and made way for the padre, and a half- 
 dozen equally listless vaqueros helped him to alight. Ac- 
 customed as he was to the indolence and superfluity of his 
 host's retainers, to-day it nevertheless seemed to strike 
 some note of irritation in his breast. 
 
 A stout, middle-aged woman of ungirt waist and be- 
 shawled head and shoulders appeared at the gateway as if 
 awaiting him. After a formal salutation she drew him aside 
 into an inner passage. 
 
 " He is away again, your Reverence," she said. 
 
 " Ah always the same ? " 
 
 " Yes, your Eeverence and this time to ' a meeting ' 
 of the heretics at their pueblo, at Jonesville where they 
 will ask him of his land for a road." 
 
 " At a meeting ? " echoed the priest uneasily. 
 
 " Ah yes ! at a meeting where Tiburcio says they 
 shout and spit on the ground, your Reverence, and only one 
 has a chair and him they call a ' chairman ' because of it, 
 and yet he sits not, but shouts and spits even as the others 
 and keeps up a tapping with a hammer like a very pico. 
 And there it is they are ever ' resolving ' that which is not, 
 and consider it even as done." 
 
 " Then he is still the same," said the priest gloomily, as 
 the woman paused for breath. 
 
 a Only more so, your Reverence, for he reads naught but 
 the newspaper of the Americanos that is brought in the 
 ship, the ' New York 'errald ' and recites to himself the 
 orations of their legislators. Ah ! it was an evil day when 
 the shipwrecked American sailor taught him his uncouth 
 
454 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 tongue, which, as your Reverence knows, is only fit for 
 beasts and heathen incantation." 
 
 " Pray Heaven that were all he learned of him," said 
 the priest hastily ; " for I have great .fear that this sailor 
 was little better than an atheist and an emissary from Sa- 
 tan. But where are these newspapers and the fantasies 
 of publicita that fill his mind ? I would see them, my 
 daughter. 7 ' 
 
 " You shall, your Reverence, and more too," she replied 
 eagerly, leading the way along the passage to a grated door 
 which opened upon a small cell-like apartment, whose scant 
 light and less air came through the deeply embayed win- 
 dows in the outer wall. " Here is his estudio." 
 
 In spite of this open invitation, the padre entered with 
 that air of furtive and minute inspection common to his 
 order. His glance fell upon a rude surveyor's plan of the 
 adjacent embryo town of Jonesville hanging on the wall, 
 which he contemplated with a cold disfavor that even in- 
 cluded the highly colored vignette of the projected Jones- 
 ville Hotel in the left-hand corner. He then passed to a 
 supervisor's notice hanging near it, which he examined with 
 a suspicion heightened by that uneasiness common to mere 
 worldly humanity when opposed to an unknown and unfa- 
 miliar language. But an exclamation broke from his lips 
 when he confronted an election placard immediately below 
 it. It was printed in Spanish and English, and Father 
 Felipe had no difficulty in reading the announcement that 
 " Don Jose Sepulvida would preside at a meeting of the 
 Board of Education in Jonesville as one of the trustees." 
 
 " This is madness," said the padre. 
 
 Observing that Dona Maria was at the moment preoccu- 
 pied in examining the pictorial pages of an illustrated 
 American weekly which had hitherto escaped his eyes, he 
 took it gently from her hand. 
 
 " Pardon, your Reverence," she said with slightly acidu- 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 455 
 
 lous deprecation, " but thanks to the Blessed Virgin and 
 your Reverence's teaching, the text is but gibberish to me 
 and I did but glance at the pictures." 
 
 " Much evil may come in with the eye," said the priest 
 sententiously, " as I will presently show thee. We have 
 here," he continued, pointing to an illustration of certain 
 college athletic sports, " a number of youthful cavaliers 
 posturing and capering in a partly nude condition before a 
 number of shameless women, who emulate the saturnalia 
 of heathen Home by waving their handkerchiefs. We have 
 here a companion picture," he said, indicating an illustra- 
 tion of gymnastic exercises by the students of a female 
 academy at " Commencement," " in which, as thou seest, 
 even the aged of both sexes unblushingly assist as specta- 
 tors with every expression of immodest satisfaction." 
 
 "Have they no bull-fights or other seemly recreation 
 that they must indulge in such wantonness ? " asked Dona 
 Maria indignantly, gazing, however, somewhat curiously at 
 the baleful representations. 
 
 " Of all that, my daughter, has their pampered civiliza- 
 tion long since wearied," returned the good padre ; " for see, 
 this is what they consider a moral and even a religious 
 ceremony." He turned to an illustration of a woman's 
 rights convention ; " observe with what rapt attention the 
 audience of that heathen temple watch the inspired ravings 
 of that elderly priestess on the dais. It is even this kind 
 of sacrilegious performance that I am told thy nephew Don 
 Jose* expounds and defends." 
 
 " May the blessed saints preserve us ; where will it lead 
 to ? " murmured the horrified Dona Maria. 
 
 " I will show thee," said Father Felipe, briskly turning 
 the pages with the same lofty ignoring of the text until he 
 came to a representation of a labor procession. " There is 
 one of their periodic revolutions unhappily not unknown even 
 in Mexico. Thou perceivest those complacent artisans 
 
456 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 marching with implements of their craft, accompanied by 
 the military, in the presence of their own stricken masters. 
 Here we see only another instance of the instability of all 
 communities that are not founded on the principles of the 
 Holy Church." 
 
 " And what is to be done with my nephew ? " 
 
 The good father's brow darkened with the gloomy reli- 
 gious zeal of two centuries ago. 
 
 " We must have a council of the family, the alcalde, and 
 the archbishop at once" he said ominously. To the mere 
 heretical observer the conclusion might have seemed lame 
 and impotent, but it was as near the Holy Inquisition as 
 the year of grace 1852 could offer. 
 
 A few days after this colloquy the unsuspecting subject 
 of it, Don Jose Sepulvida, was sitting alone in the same 
 apartment. The fading glow of the western sky, through 
 the deep embrasured windows, lit up his rapt and meditative 
 face. He was a young man of apparently twenty-five, with 
 a colorless satin complexion, dark eyes alternating between 
 melancholy and restless energy, a narrow high forehead, 
 long straight hair, and a lightly penciled mustache. He 
 was said to resemble the well-known portrait of the Marquis 
 of Monterey in the mission church, a face that was alleged 
 to leave a deep and lasting impression upon the observers. 
 It was undoubtedly owing to this quality during a brief 
 visit of the famous viceroy to a remote and married ances- 
 tress of Don Jose* at Leon that the singular resemblance 
 may be attributed. 
 
 A heavy and hesitating step along the passage stopped 
 before the grating. Looking up, Don Jose beheld, to his 
 astonishment, the slightly inflamed face of Roberto, a vaga- 
 bond American whom he had lately taken into his employ- 
 ment. 
 
 Roberto, a polite translation of "Bob the Bucker," 
 cleaned out at a monte-bank in Santa Cruz, penniless and 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 457 
 
 profligate, had sold his mustang to Don Jose and recklessly 
 thrown himself in with the bargain. Touched by the rascal's 
 extravagance, the quality of the mare, and observing that 
 Bob's habits had not yet affected his seat in the saddle, but 
 rather lent a demoniac vigor to his chase of wild cattle, 
 Don Jose had retained rider and horse in his service as 
 vaquero. 
 
 Bucking Bob, observing that his employer was alone, 
 coolly opened the door without ceremony, shut it softly be- 
 hind him, and then closed the wooden shutter of the grat- 
 ing. Don Jose* surveyed him with mild surprise and 
 dignified composure. The man appeared perfectly sober, 
 it was a peculiarity of his dissipated habits that, when not 
 actually raving with drink, he was singularly shrewd and 
 practical. 
 
 " Look yer, Don Kosay," he began in a brusque but 
 guarded voice, " you and me is pards. When ye picked 
 me and the mare up and set us on our legs again in this 
 yer ranch, I allowed I 'd tie to ye whenever ye was in 
 trouble and wanted me. And I reckon that ? s what 's 
 the matter now. For from what I see and hear on every 
 side, although you 're the boss of this consarn, you 're 
 surrounded by a gang of spies and traitors. Your comings 
 and goings, your ins and outs, is dogged and followed and 
 blown upon. The folks you trust is playing it on ye. It 
 ain't for me to say why or wherefore what 's their rights 
 and what 's yourn but I 've come to tell ye that if you 
 don't get up and get outer this ranch them d d priests 
 and your own flesh and blood your aunts and your uncles 
 and your cousins, will have you chucked outer your pro- 
 perty, and run into a lunatic asylum." 
 
 " Me Don Jose Sepulvida a lunatico ! You are 
 yourself crazy of drink, friend Roberto." 
 
 " Yes," said Koberto grimly, " but that kind ain't illegal, 
 while your makin' ducks and drakes of your property and 
 
458 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 going into 'Merikin ideas and 'Merikin speculations they 
 reckon is. And speakin' on the square, it ain't nat'ral." 
 
 Don Jose sprang to his feet and began to pace up and 
 down his cell-like study. " Ah, I remember now," he 
 muttered, " I begin to comprehend : Father Felipe's homi- 
 lies and discourses ! My aunt's too affectionate care ! My 
 cousin's discreet consideration ! The prompt attention of 
 my servants ! I see it all ! And you," he said, suddenly 
 facing Eoberto, " why come you to tell me this ? " 
 
 " Well, boss/' said the American dryly, "I reckoned to 
 stand by you." 
 
 " Ah," said Don Jose, visibly affected. " Good Eo- 
 berto, come hither, child, you may kiss my hand." 
 
 " If ! it 's all the same to you, Don Kosay, that kin 
 slide." 
 
 " Ah, if yes," said Don Josd, meditatively putting 
 his hand to his forehead, " miserable that I am ! I re- 
 membered not you were Americano. Pardon, my friend 
 embrace me Conpanero y Amigo." 
 
 With characteristic gravity he reclined for a moment 
 upon Robert's astonished breast. Then recovering himself 
 with equal gravity he paused, lifted his hand with gentle 
 warning, marched to a recess in the corner, unhooked a 
 rapier hanging from the wall, and turned to his companion. 
 
 " We will defend ourselves, friend Eoberto. It is the 
 sword of the Comandante my ancestor. The blade is of 
 Toledo." 
 
 " An ordinary six-shooter of Colt's would lay over 
 that," said Eoberto grimly " but that ain't your game 
 just now, Don Kosay. You must get up and get, and at 
 once. You must vamose the ranch afore they lay hold of 
 you and have you up before the alcalde. Once away from 
 here, they dare n't follow you where there 's 'Merikin law, 
 and when you kin fight 'em in the square." 
 
 "Good," said Don Jose* with melancholy preciseness. 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 459 
 
 "You are wise, friend Boberto. We may fight them 
 later, as you say on the square, or in the open Plaza. 
 And you, camarado, you shall go with me you and your 
 mare." 
 
 Sincere as the American had been in his offer of service, 
 he was somewhat staggered at this imperative command. 
 But only for a moment. " Well," he said lazily, " I don't 
 care if I do." 
 
 " But," said Don Jose* with increased gravity, " you 
 shall care, friend Roberto. We shall make an alliance, an 
 union. It is true, my brother, you drink of whiskey, and 
 at such times are even as a madman. It has been re- 
 counted to me that it was necessary to your existence that 
 you are a lunatic three days of the week. Who knows ? 
 I myself, though I drink not of aguardiente, am accused 
 of fantasies for all time. Necessary it becomes, therefore, 
 that we should go together. My fantasies and speculations 
 cannot injure you, my brother ; your whiskey shall not 
 empoison me. We shall go together in the great world of 
 your American ideas of which I am much inflamed. We 
 shall together breathe as one the spirit of Progress and 
 Liberty. We shall be even as neophytes making of our- 
 selves Apostles of Truth. I absolve and renounce myself 
 henceforth of my family. I shall take to myself the sister 
 and the brother, the aunt and the uncle, as we proceed. I 
 devote myself to humanity alone. I devote you, my friend, 
 and the mare though happily she has not a Christian 
 soul to this glorious mission." 
 
 The few level last rays of light lit up a faint enthusiasm 
 in the face of Don Jose*, but without altering his imper- 
 turbable gravity. The vaquero eyed him curiously and 
 half doubtfully. 
 
 " We will go to-morrow," resumed Don Jose* with 
 solemn decision, " for it is Wednesday. It was a Sunday 
 that thou didst ride the mare up the steps of the Fonda 
 
460 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 and demanded that thy liquor should be served to thee in 
 a pail. I remember it, for the landlord of the Fonda 
 claimed twenty pesos for damage and the kissing of his 
 wife. Therefore, by computation, good Roberto, thou 
 shouldst be sober until Friday, and we shall have two 
 clear days to fly before thy madness again seizes thee." 
 
 "They kin say what they like, Don Kosay, but your 
 head is level," returned the unabashed American, grasping 
 Don Josefs hand. "All right, then. Hasta manana, as 
 your folks say." 
 
 " Hasta manana," repeated Don Jose* gravely. 
 
 At daybreak next morning, while slumber still weighted 
 the lazy eyelids of " the Blessed Innocents," Don Josd 
 Sepulvida and his trusty squire Koberto, otherwise known 
 as " Bucking Bob," rode forth unnoticed from the corral. 
 
II 
 
 THKEE days had passed. At the close of the third, 
 Don Jose* was seated in a cosy private apartment of the 
 San Mateo Hotel, where they had halted for an arranged 
 interview with his lawyer before reaching San Francisco. 
 From his window he could see the surrounding park-like 
 avenues of oaks and the level white highroad, now and 
 then clouded with the dust of passing teams. But his 
 eyes were persistently fixed upon a small copy of the 
 American Constitution before him. Suddenly there was a 
 quick rap on his door, and before he could reply to it a 
 man brusquely entered. 
 
 Don Jose' raised his head slowly, and recognized the 
 landlord. But the intruder, apparently awed by the gentle, 
 grave, and studious figure before him, fell back for an in- 
 stant in an attitude of surly apology. 
 
 " Enter freely, my good Jenkinson," said Don Jose, with 
 a quiet courtesy that had all the effect of irony. "The 
 apartment, such as it is, is at your disposition. It is even 
 yours, as is the house." 
 
 " Well, I 'm darned if I know as it is," said the land- 
 lord, recovering himself roughly, " and that 's jest what ? s 
 the matter. Yer 's that man of yours smashing things right 
 and left in the bar-room and chuckin' my waiters through 
 the window." 
 
 " Softly, softly, good Jenkinson," said Don Jose, putting 
 a mark in the pages of the volume before him. "It is 
 necessary first that I should correct your speech. He is 
 not my ' many which I comprehend to mean a slave, a hire- 
 
462 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 ling, a thing obnoxious to the great American nation which 
 / admire and to which he belongs. Therefore, good Jen- 
 kinson, say * friend/ ' companion/ ' guide/ * philosopher/ if 
 you will. As to the rest, it is of no doubt as you relate. I 
 myself have heard the breakings of glass and small dishes 
 as I sit here ; three times I have seen your waiters pro- 
 jected into the road with much violence and confusion. To 
 myself I have then said, even as I say to you, good Jenkin- 
 son, ' Patience, patience, the end is not far.' In four hours/ 7 
 continued Don Jose*, holding up four fingers, " he shall 
 make a finish. Until then, not." 
 
 "Well, I'm d d," ejaculated Jenkinson, gasping for 
 breath in his indignation. 
 
 " Nay, excellent Jenkinson, not dam-ned, but of a possi- 
 bility dam-aged. That I shall repay when he have make a 
 finish." 
 
 " But, darn it all," broke in the landlord angrily. 
 
 " Ah," said Don Jose* gravely, " you would be paid be- 
 fore ! Good ; for how much shall you value all you have 
 in your bar ? " 
 
 Don Josefs imperturbability evidently shook the land- 
 lord's faith in the soundness of his own position. He 
 looked at his guest critically and audaciously. 
 
 " It cost me two hundred dollars to fit it up," he said 
 curtly. 
 
 Don Jose* rose, and, taking a buckskin purse from his 
 saddle-bag, counted out four slugs 1 and handed them to 
 the stupefied Jenkinson. The next moment, however, his 
 host recovered himself, and, casting the slugs back on the 
 little table, brought his fist down with an emphasis that 
 made them dance. 
 
 " But, look yer suppose I want this thing stopped 
 you hear me stopped now." 
 
 1 Hexagonal gold pieces valued at $50 each, issued by a private firm as 
 eoin in the early days. 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 463 
 
 " That would be interfering with the liberty of the sub- 
 ject, my good Jenkinson which God forbid ! " said Don 
 Jose* calmly. " Moreover, it is the custom of the Ameri- 
 canos a habit of my friend Roberto a necessity of his 
 existence and so recognized of his friends. Patience and 
 courage, Senor Jenkinson. Stay ah, I comprehend ! 
 you have of a possibility a wife ? " 
 
 " No, I 'm a widower," said Jenkinson sharply. 
 
 " Then I congratulate you. My friend Roberto would 
 have kissed her. It is also of his habit. Truly you have 
 escaped much. I embrace you, Jenkinson." 
 
 He threw his arms gravely around Jenkinson, in whose 
 astounded face at last an expression of dry humor faintly 
 dawned. After a moment's survey of Don Josh's impene- 
 trable gravity, he coolly gathered up the gold coins, and, 
 saying that he would assess the damages and return the dif- 
 erence, he left the room as abruptly as he had entered it. 
 
 But Don Jose* was not destined to remain long in peace- 
 ful study of the American Constitution. He had barely 
 taken up the book again and renewed his serious contem- 
 plation of its excellencies when there was another knock at 
 his door. This time, in obedience to his invitation to enter, 
 the new visitor approached with more deliberation and a 
 certain formality. 
 
 He was a young man of apparently the same age as Don 
 Jose*, handsomely dressed, and of a quiet self-possession 
 and gravity almost equal to his host's. 
 
 " I believe I am addressing Don Jose* Sepulvida," he 
 said with a familiar yet courteous inclination of his hand- 
 some head. Don Jose*, who had risen in marked contrast 
 to his reception of his former guest, answered : 
 
 " You are truly making it him a great honor." 
 
 "Well, you're going it blind as far as I'm concerned 
 certainly," said the young man, with a slight smile, " for 
 you don't know me." 
 
464 A KNIGHT-EKKANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 " Pardon, my friend," said Don Jose* gently ; " in this 
 book, this great Testament of your glorious nation, I have 
 read that you are all equal, one not above, one not below 
 the other. I salute in you the Nation ! It is enough ! " 
 
 " Thank you," returned the stranger, with a face that, 
 saving the faintest twinkle in the corner of his dark eyes, 
 was as immovable as his host's, " but for the purposes of 
 my business I had better say I am Jack Hamlin, a gambler, 
 and am just now dealing faro in the Florida saloon round 
 the corner." 
 
 He paused carelessly, as if to allow Don Jose* the pro- 
 test he did not make, and then continued : 
 
 "The matter is this. One of your vaqueros, who is, 
 however, an American, was round there an hour ago buck- 
 ing against faro, and put up and lost, not only the mare he 
 was riding, but a horse which I have just learned is yours. 
 Now we reckon, over there, that we can make enough 
 money playing a square game, without being obliged to take 
 property from a howling drunkard, to say nothing of it not 
 belonging to him, and I 've come here, Don Jose, to say 
 that if you '11 send over and bring away your man and your 
 horse, you can have 'em both." 
 
 " If I have comprehended, honest Hamlin," said Don 
 Jose* slowly, " this Roberto, who was my vaquero and is 
 my brother, has approached this faro game by himself unso- 
 licited ? " 
 
 " He certainly did n't seem shy of it," said Mr. Hamlin 
 with equal gravity. " To the best of my knowledge he 
 looked as if he 'd been there before." 
 
 " And if he had won, excellent Hamlin, you would have 
 given him the equal of his mare and horse ? " 
 
 " A hundred dollars for each, yes, certainly." 
 
 " Then I see not why I should send for the property 
 which is truly no longer mine, nor for my brother, who will 
 amuse himself after the fashion of his country in the com- 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 465 
 
 pany of so honorable a caballero as yourself. Stay ! oh, 
 imbecile that I am. I have not remembered. You would 
 possibly say that he has no longer of horses ! Play him ; 
 play him, admirable yet prudent Hamlin. I have two 
 thousand horses ! Of a surety he cannot exhaust them in 
 four hours. Therefore play him, trust to me for recompensa, 
 and have no fear." 
 
 A quick flush covered the stranger's cheek, and his eye- 
 brows momentarily contracted. He walked carelessly to 
 the window, however, glanced out, and then turned to Don 
 Jose. 
 
 " May I ask, then," he said with almost sepulchral 
 gravity, " is anybody taking care of you ? " 
 
 " Truly," returned Don Jose* cautiously, " there is my 
 brother and friend Roberto." 
 
 " Ah ! Roberto, certainly," said Mr. Hamlin profoundly. 
 
 " Why do you ask, considerate friend ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I only thought, with your kind of opinions, you 
 must often feel lonely in California. Good-by." He 
 shook Don Jose's hand heartily, took up his hat, inclined 
 his head with graceful seriousness, and passed out of the 
 room. In the hall he met the landlord. 
 
 " Well," said Jenkinson, with a smile half anxious, half 
 insinuating, " you saw him ? What do you think of him ? " 
 
 Mr. Hamlin paused and regarded Jenkinson with a calmly 
 contemplative air, as if he were trying to remember first 
 who he was, and secondly why he should speak to him at 
 all. " Think of whom ? " he repeated carelessly. 
 
 " Why him you know Don Jose*." 
 
 " I did not see anything the matter with him," returned 
 Hamlin with frigid simplicity. 
 
 " What ? nothing queer ? " 
 
 " Well, no except that he 's a guest in your house," 
 said Hamlin with great cheerfulness. " But then, as you 
 keep a hotel, you can't help occasionally admitting a 
 gentleman." 
 
466 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 Mr. Jenkinson smiled the uneasy smile of a man who 
 knew that his interlocutor's playfulness occasionally ex- 
 tended to the use of a derringer, in which he was singularly 
 prompt and proficient ; and Mr. Hamlin, equally conscious 
 of that knowledge on the part of his companion, descended 
 the staircase composedly. 
 
 But the day had darkened gradually into night, and Don 
 Jose was at last compelled to put aside his volume. The 
 sound of a large bell rung violently along the hall and pas- 
 sages admonished him that the American dinner was ready, 
 and, although the viands and the mode of cooking were not 
 entirely to his fancy, he had, in his grave enthusiasm for 
 the national habits, attended the table d'hote regularly with 
 Roberto. On reaching the lower hall he was informed that 
 his henchman had early succumbed to the potency of his 
 libations, and had already been carried by two men to bed. 
 Receiving this information with his usual stoical composure, 
 he entered the dining-room, but was surprised to find that 
 a separate table had been prepared for him by the landlord, 
 and that a rude attempt had been made to serve him with 
 his own native dishes. 
 
 " Senores y Senoritas," said Don Jose*, turning from it 
 and with grave politeness addressing the assembled company, 
 " if I seem to-day to partake alone and in a reserved fashion 
 of certain viands that have been prepared for me, it is truly 
 from no lack of courtesy to your distinguished company, 
 but rather, I protest, to avoid the appearance of greater 
 discourtesy to our excellent Jenkinson, who has taken some 
 pains and trouble to comport his establishment to what he 
 conceives to be my desires. Wherefore, my friends, in 
 God's name fall to, the same as if I were not present, and 
 grace be with you." 
 
 A few stared at the tall, gentle, melancholy figure with 
 some astonishment ; a few whispered to their neighbors ; 
 but when, at the conclusion of his repast, Don Jose* arose 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 467 
 
 and again saluted the company, one or two stood up and 
 smilingly returned the courtesy ; and Polly Jenkinson, the 
 landlord's youngest daughter, to the great delight of her 
 companions, blew him a kiss. 
 
 After visiting the vaquero in his room, and with his own 
 hand applying some native ointment to the various contu- 
 sions and scratches which recorded the late engagements of 
 the unconscious Roberto, Don Jose placed a gold coin in 
 the hands of the Irish chamber-maid, and bidding her look 
 after the sleeper, he threw his serape over his shoulders 
 and passed into the road. The loungers on the veranda 
 gazed at him curiously, yet half acknowledged his usual 
 serious salutation, and made way for him with a certain 
 respect. Avoiding the few narrow streets of the little 
 town, he pursued his way meditatively along the highroad, 
 returning to the hotel after an hour's ramble, as the even- 
 ing stagecoach had deposited its passengers and departed. 
 
 " There 's a lady waiting to see you upstairs," said the 
 landlord with a peculiar smile. " She rather allowed it 
 wasn't the proper thing to see you alone, or she wasn't 
 quite ekal to it, I reckon, for she got my Polly to stand by 
 her." 
 
 " Your Polly, good Jenkinson ? " said Don Jose* inter- 
 rogatively. 
 
 " My darter, Don Jose." 
 
 " Ah, truly ! I am twice blessed," said Don Jose*, 
 gravely ascending the staircase. 
 
 On entering the room he perceived a tall, large-featured 
 woman with an extraordinary quantity of blond hair parted 
 on one side of her broad forehead, sitting upon the sofa. 
 Beside her sat Polly Jenkinson, her fresh, honest, and 
 rather pretty face beaming with delighted expectation and 
 mischief. Don Jose* saluted them with a formal courtesy, 
 which, however, had no trace of the fact that he really did 
 not remember anything of them. 
 
468 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 " I called/' said the large-featured woman with a voice 
 equally pronounced, " in reference to a request from you, 
 which, though perhaps unconventional in the extreme, I 
 have been able to meet by the intervention of this young 
 lady's company. My name on this card may not be familiar 
 to you but I am ' Dorothy Dewdrop.' " 
 
 A slight movement of abstraction and surprise passed over 
 Don Jose's face, but as quickly vanished as he advanced 
 towards her and gracefully raised the tips of her ringers to 
 his lips. " Have I then, at last, the privilege of beholding 
 that most distressed and deeply injured of women ! Or is 
 it but a dream ! " 
 
 It certainly was not, as far as concerned the substantial 
 person of the woman before him, who, however, seemed 
 somewhat uneasy under his words as well as the demure 
 scrutiny of Miss Jenkinson. " I thought you might have 
 forgotten," she said with slight acerbity, " that you desired 
 an interview with the authoress of " 
 
 " Pardon," interrupted Don Jose, standing before her in 
 an attitude of the deepest sympathizing dejection, " I had 
 not forgotten. It is now three weeks since I have read in 
 the journal ' Golden Gate ' the eloquent and touching poem 
 of your sufferings, and your aspirations, and your miscom- 
 prehensions by those you love. I remember as yesterday 
 that you have said that cruel fate have linked you to a 
 soulless state that but I speak not well your own 
 beautiful language you are in tears at evenfall ' because 
 that you are not understood of others, and that your soul 
 recoiled from iron bonds, until, as in a dream, you sought 
 succor and release in some true Knight of equal plight.' ' 
 
 "I am told," said the large-featured woman with some 
 satisfaction, " that the poem to which you allude has been 
 generally admired." 
 
 "Admired! Senora," said Don Jose*, with still darker 
 sympathy, " it is not the word ; it is felt. I have felt it. 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 469 
 
 When I read those words of distress, I am touched of com- 
 passion ! I have said, This woman, so disconsolate, so 
 oppressed, must be relieved, protected ! I have wrote to 
 you, at the e Golden Gate/ to see me here." 
 
 "And I have come, as you perceive," said the poetess, 
 rising with a slight smile of constraint ; " and emboldened 
 by your appreciation, I have brought a few trifles thrown 
 off" 
 
 "Pardon, unhappy Senora," interrupted Don Jose, lift- 
 ing his hand deprecatingly without relaxing his melancholy 
 precision, " but to a cavalier further evidence is not required 
 and I have not yet make finish. I have not content 
 myself to write to you. I have sent my trusty friend 
 Roberto to inquire at the ' Golden Gate ' of your condition. 
 I have found there, most unhappy and persecuted friend 
 that with truly angelic forbearance you have not told all 
 that you are married, and that of a necessity it is your 
 husband that is cold and soulless and unsympathizing and 
 all that you describe." 
 
 " Sir ! " said the poetess, rising in angry consternation. 
 
 " I have written to him," continued Don Jose, with 
 unheeding gravity ; " have appealed to him as a friend, I 
 have conjured him as a caballero, I have threatened him 
 even as a champion of the Right, I have said to him, in 
 effect that this must not be as it is. I have informed him 
 that I have made an appointment with you even at this 
 house, and I challenged him to meet you here in this 
 room even at this instant, and, with God's help, we should 
 make good our charges against him. It is yet early ; I have 
 allowed time for the lateness of the stage and the fact that 
 he will come by another conveyance. Therefore, Dona 
 Dewdrop, tremble not like thy namesake as it were on the 
 leaf of apprehension and expectancy. I, Don Jose, am 
 here to protect thee. I will take these charges " gently 
 withdrawing the manuscripts from her astonished grasp 
 
470 A KtflGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 " though even, as I related to thee before, I want them not, 
 yet we will together confront him with them and make them 
 good against him." 
 
 " Are you mad ? " demanded the lady in almost stento- 
 rious accents, " or is this an unmanly hoax ? " Suddenly 
 she stopped in undeniable consternation. " Good heavens," 
 she muttered, " if Abner should believe this. He is such a 
 fool ! He has lately been queer and jealous. Oh dear ! " 
 she said, turning to Polly Jenkinson with the first indication 
 of feminine weakness, " is he telling the truth ? is he crazy ? 
 what shall I do ? " 
 
 Polly Jenkinson, who had witnessed the interview with 
 the intensest enjoyment, now rose equal to the occasion. 
 
 " You have made a mistake," she said, uplifting her 
 demure blue eyes to Don Jose's dark and melancholy gaze. 
 " This lady is a poetess ! The sufferings she depicts, the 
 sorrows she feels, are in the imagination, in her fancy 
 only." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Don Jose* gloomily ; " then it is all false." 
 
 " No," said Polly quickly, " only they are not her own, 
 you know. They are somebody else's. She only describes 
 them for another, don't you see ? " 
 
 " And who, then, is this unhappy one ? " askd the Don 
 quickly. 
 
 " Well a friend," stammered Polly hesitatingly. 
 
 " A friend ! " repeated Don Jose. " Ah, I see, of possi- 
 bility a dear one, even," he continued, gazing with tender 
 melancholy into the untroubled cerulean depths of Polly's 
 eyes, " even, but no, child, it could not be ! thou art too 
 young." 
 
 " Ah," said Polly, with an extraordinary gulp and a fierce 
 nudge of the poetess, "but it was me." 
 
 " You, Senorita," repeated Don Jose*, falling back in an 
 attitude of mingled admiration and pity. " You, the child 
 of Jenkinson ! " 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 471 
 
 " Yes, yes/' joined in the poetess hurriedly ; " but that 
 isn't going to stop the consequences of your wretched 
 blunder. My husband will be furious, and will be here at 
 any moment. Good gracious ! what is that ? " 
 
 The violent slamming of a distant door at that instant, 
 the sounds of quick scuffling on the staircase, and the up- 
 lifting of an irate voice had reached her ears and thrown 
 her back into the arms of Polly Jenkinson. Even the 
 young girl herself turned an anxious gaze towards the door. 
 Don Jose alone was unmoved. 
 
 " Possess yourselves in peace, Senoritas," he said calmly. 
 " We have here only the characteristic convalescence of my 
 friend and brother, the excellent Roberto. He will ever 
 recover himself from drink with violence, even as he pre- 
 cipitates himself into it with fury. He has been prema- 
 turely awakened. I will discover the cause." 
 
 With an elaborate bow to the frightened women, he left 
 the room. Scarcely had the door closed when the poetess 
 turned quickly to Polly. " The man 's a stark staring 
 lunatic, but, thank Heaven, Abner will see it at once. 
 And now let 's get away while we can. To think," she 
 said, snatching up her scattered manuscripts, "that that 
 was all the beast wanted." 
 
 " I 'm sure he 's very gentle and kind," said Polly, re- 
 covering her dimples with a demure pout ; " but stop, he 's 
 coming back." 
 
 It was indeed Don Jose reentering the room with the 
 composure of a relieved and self-satisfied mind. "It is 
 even as I said, Seiiora," he began, taking the poetess's 
 hand, " and more. You are saved ! " 
 
 As the women only stared at each other, he gravely 
 folded his arms and continued : " I will explain. For the 
 instant I have not remember that, in imitation of your 
 own delicacy, I have given to your husband in my letter, 
 not the name of myself, but, as a mere Don Fulano, the 
 
472 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 name of my brother Koberto l Bucking Bob.' Your 
 husband have this moment arrive ! Penetrating the bed- 
 room of the excellent Roberto, he has indiscreetly seize 
 him in his bed, without explanation, without introduction, 
 without fear ! The excellent Koberto, ever ready for such 
 distractions, have respond ! In a word, to use the lan- 
 guage of the good Jenkinson our host, our father 
 who was present, he have ' wiped the floor with your hus- 
 band/ and have even carried him down the staircase to the 
 street. Believe me, he will not return. You are free ! " 
 
 " Fool ! Idiot ! Crazy beast ! " said the poetess, dash- 
 ing past him and out of the door. " You shall pay for 
 this ! " 
 
 Don Jose did not change his imperturbable and melan- 
 choly calm. " And now, little one,' 7 he said, dropping on 
 one knee before the half-frightened Polly, " child of Jen- 
 kinson, now that thy perhaps too excitable sponsor has, in 
 a poet's caprice, abandoned thee for some newer fantasy, 
 confide in me thy distress, to me, thy Knight, and tell the. 
 story of thy sorrows." 
 
 " But," said Polly, rising to her feet and struggling be- 
 tween a laugh and a cry, " I have n't any sorrows. Oh, 
 dear ! don't you see, it 's only her fancy to make me seem 
 so. There 's nothing the matter with me." 
 
 "Nothing the matter," repeated Don Jose slowly. 
 " You have no distress ? You want no succor, no relief, 
 no protector ? This, then, is but another delusion ! " he 
 said, rising sadly. 
 
 " Yes, no that is oh, my gracious goodness ! " said 
 Polly, hopelessly divided between a sense of the ridiculous 
 and some strange attraction in the dark, gentle eyes that 
 were fixed upon her half reproachfully. " You don't un- 
 derstand." 
 
 Don Jose replied only with a melancholy smile, and 
 then going to the door opened it with a bowed head and 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 473 
 
 respectful courtesy. At the act Polly plucked up courage 
 again, and with it a slight dash of her old audacity. 
 
 " I 'm sure 1 'm very sorry that I ain't got any love 
 sorrows," she said demurely. " And I suppose it 's very 
 dreadful in me not to have been raving and broken-hearted 
 over somebody or other as that woman has said. Only,' 7 
 she waited till she had gained the secure vantage of the 
 threshold, " I never knew a gentleman to object to it be- 
 fore ! " 
 
 With this Parthian arrow from her blue eyes she slipped 
 into the passage and vanished through the door of the op- 
 posite parlor. For an instant Don Jose remained motion- 
 less and reflecting. Then, recovering himself with grave 
 precision, he deliberately picked up his narrow black gloves 
 from the table, drew them on, took his hat in his hand, 
 and, solemnly striding across the passage, entered the door 
 that had just closed behind her. 
 
m 
 
 IT must not be supposed that in the meantime the flight 
 of Don Jose and his follower was unattended by any com- 
 motion at the rancho of the Blessed Innocents. At the 
 end of three hours' deliberation, in which the retainers 
 were severally examined, the corral searched, and the well 
 in the courtyard sounded, scouts were dispatched in differ- 
 ent directions, who returned with the surprising informa- 
 tion that the fugitives were not in the vicinity. A trust- 
 worthy messenger was sent to Monterey for " custom-house 
 paper," on which to draw up a formal declaration of the 
 affair. The archbishop was summoned from San Luis, and 
 Don Victor and Don'Vincente Sepulvida, with the Donas 
 Carmen and Inez Alvarado, and a former alcalde, gathered 
 at a family council the next day. In this serious conclave 
 the good Father Felipe once more expounded the alienated 
 condition and the dangerous reading of the absent man. 
 In the midst of which the ordinary post brought a letter 
 from Don Jose*, calmly inviting the family to dine with 
 him and Roberto at San Mateo on the following Wednes- 
 day. The document was passed gravely from hand to 
 hand. Was it a fresh evidence of mental aberration an 
 audacity of frenzy or a trick of the vaquero ? The 
 archbishop and alcalde shook their heads it was without 
 doubt a lawless, even a sacrilegious and blasphemous fete. 
 But a certain curiosity of the ladies and of Father Felipe 
 carried the day. Without formally accepting the invitation 
 it was decided that the family should examine the afflicted 
 man, with a view of taking active measures hereafter. On 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 475 
 
 the day appointed, the traveling carriage of the Sepulvidas, 
 an equipage coeval with the beginning of the century, 
 drawn by two white mules gaudily caparisoned, halted be- 
 fore the hotel at San Mateo and disgorged Father Felipe, 
 the Donas Carmen and Inez Alvarado and Maria Sepulvida ; 
 while Don Victor and Don Vincente Sepulvida, their at- 
 tendant cavaliers on fiery mustangs, like outriders, drew 
 rein at the same time. A slight thrill of excitement, as of 
 the advent of a possible circus, had preceded them through 
 the little town ; a faint blending of cigarette smoke and 
 garlic announced their presence on the veranda. 
 
 Ushered into the parlor of the hotel, apparently set 
 apart for their reception, they were embarrassed at not find- 
 ing their host present. But they were still more discon- 
 certed when a tall full-bearded stranger, with a shrewd, 
 amused-looking face, rose from a chair by the window, and, 
 stepping forward, saluted them in fluent Spanish with a 
 slight American accent. 
 
 " I have to ask you, gentlemen and ladies," he began, 
 with a certain insinuating ease and frankness that alter- 
 nately aroused and lulled their suspicions, " to pardon the 
 absence of our friend Don Josd Sepulvida at this prelimi- 
 nary greeting. For to be perfectly frank with you, al- 
 though the ultimate aim and object of our gathering is a 
 social one, you are doubtless aware that certain infelicities 
 and misunderstandings common to most families have 
 occurred, and a free, dispassionate, unprejudiced discussion* 
 and disposal of them at the beginning will only tend to 
 augment the good will of our gathering." 
 
 " The Senor without doubt is " suggested the padre, 
 with a polite interrogative pause. 
 
 " Pardon me ! I forgot to introduce myself. Colonel 
 Parker entirely at your service and that of these charm- 
 ing ladies." 
 
 The ladies referred to allowed their eyes to rest with 
 
476 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 evident prepossession on the insinuating stranger. " Ah, a 
 soldier," said Don Vincente. 
 
 " Formerly," said the American lightly ; " at present a 
 lawyer, the counsel of Don Jose*." 
 
 A sudden rigor of suspicion stiffened the company ; the 
 ladies withdrew their eyes ; the priest and the Sepulvidas 
 exchanged glances. 
 
 "Come," said Colonel Parker, with apparent uncon- 
 sciousness of the effect of his disclosure, " let us begin 
 frankly. You have, I believe, some anxiety in regard to 
 the mental condition of Don JoseV' 
 
 " We believe him to be mad," said Padre Felipe 
 promptly, u irresponsible, possessed ! " 
 
 " That is your opinion ; good," said the lawyer quietly. 
 
 lt And ours too," clamored the party, " without doubt." 
 
 " Good," returned the lawyer with perfect cheerfulness. 
 " As his relations, you have no doubt had superior oppor- 
 tunities for observing his condition. I understand also 
 that you may think it necessary to have him legally de- 
 clared non compos, a proceeding which, you are aware, 
 might result in the incarceration of our distinguished friend 
 in a madhouse." 
 
 " Pardon, Senor," interrupted Dona Maria proudly ; " you 
 do not comprehend the family. When a Sepulvida is 
 visited of God we do not ask the Government to confine 
 him like a criminal. We protect him in his own house 
 from the consequences of his frenzy." 
 
 " From the machinations of the worldly and heretical," 
 broke in the priest, " and from the waste and dispersion of 
 inherited possessions. " 
 
 " Very true," continued Colonel Parker, with unalterable 
 good humor ; " but I was only about to say that there might 
 be conflicting evidence of his condition. For instance, our 
 friend has been here three days. In that time he has had 
 three interviews with three individuals under singular cir- 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 477 
 
 cumstances." Colonel Parker then briefly recounted the 
 episodes of the landlord, the gambler, Miss Jenkinson, and 
 the poetess, as they had been related to him. " Yet," he 
 continued, " all but one of these individuals are willing to 
 swear that they not only believe Don Jose perfectly sane, 
 but endowed with a singularly sound judgment. In fact, 
 the testimony of Mr. Hamlin and Miss Jenkinson is re- 
 markably clear on that subject." 
 
 The company exchanged a supercilious smile. "Do you 
 not see, Senor Advocate," said Don Vincente compas- 
 sionately, " that this is but a conspiracy to avail themselves 
 of our relative's weakness ? Of a necessity they find him 
 sane who benefits them." 
 
 " I have thought of that, and am glad to hear you say 
 so," returned the lawyer still more cheerfully, "for your 
 prompt opinion emboldens me to be at once perfectly frank 
 with you. Briefly, then, Don Jose has summoned me here 
 to make a final disposition of his property. In the carrying 
 out of certain theories of his, which it is not my province 
 to question, he has resolved upon comparative poverty for 
 himself as best fitted for his purpose, and to employ his 
 wealth solely for others. In fact, of all his vast possessions 
 he retains for himself only an income sufficient for the bare 
 necessaries of life." 
 
 " And you have done this ? " they asked in one voice. 
 
 " Not yet," said the lawyer. 
 
 " Blessed San Antonio, we have come in time ! " ejacu- 
 lated Dona Carmen. " Another day and it would have 
 been too late ; it was an inspiration of the Blessed Inno- 
 cents themselves," said Dona Maria, crossing herself. "Can 
 you longer doubt that this is the wildest madness ? " said 
 Father Felipe with flashing eyes. 
 
 " Yet," returned the lawyer, caressing his heavy beard 
 with a meditative smile, " the ingenious fellow actually 
 instanced the vows of your own order, reverend sir, as an 
 
478 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 example in support of his theory. But to be brief. Con- 
 ceiving, then, that his holding of property was a mere acci- 
 dent of heritage, not admitted by him, unworthy his accep- 
 tance, and a relic of superstitious ignorance " 
 
 " This is the very sacrilege of Satanic prepossession," 
 broke in the priest indignantly. 
 
 " He therefore," continued the lawyer composedly, 
 " makes over and reverts the whole of his possessions, 
 with the exceptions I have stated, to his family and the 
 Church." 
 
 A breathless and stupefying silence fell upon the com- 
 pany. In the dead hush the sound of Polly Jenkinson's 
 piano, played in a distant room, could be distinctly heard. 
 With their vacant eyes staring at him the speaker con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " That deed of gift I have drawn up as he dictated it. 
 I don't mind saying that in the opinion of some he might 
 be declared non compos upon the evidence of that alone. 
 I need not say how relieved I am to find that your opinion 
 coincides with my own." 
 
 "But," gasped Father Felipe hurriedly, with a quick 
 glance at the others, "it does not follow that it will be 
 necessary to resort to these legal measures. Care, counsel, 
 persuasion " 
 
 "The general ministering of kinship nursing, a wo- 
 man's care the instincts of affection," piped Dona Maria 
 in breathless eagerness. 
 
 " Any light social distraction a harmless flirtation a 
 possible attachment," suggested Dona Carmen shyly. 
 
 "Change of scene active exercise experiences even 
 as those you have related," broke in Don Vincente. 
 
 " I for one have ever been opposed to legal measures," 
 said Don Victor. "A mere consultation of friends in 
 fact, a fete like this is sufficient." 
 
 "Good friends," said Father Felipe, who had by this 
 
A KNIGHT-EERANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 479 
 
 time recovered himself, taking out his snuff-box porten- 
 tously, "it would seem truly, from the document which 
 this discreet caballero has spoken of, that the errors of our 
 dear Don Jose are rather of method than intent, and that 
 while we may freely accept the one " 
 
 " Pardon," interrupted Colonel Parker with bland per- 
 sistence, " but I must point out to you that what we call 
 in law 'a, consideration 7 is necessary to the legality of a 
 conveyance, even though that consideration be frivolous 
 and calculated to impair the validity of the document." 
 
 " Truly," returned the good padre insinuatingly ; " but 
 if a discreet advocate were to suggest the substitution of 
 some more pious and reasonable consideration " 
 
 "But that would be making it a perfectly sane and 
 gratuitous document, not only glaringly inconsistent with 
 your charges, my good friends, with Don Josefs attitude 
 towards you and his flight from home, but open to the 
 gravest suspicion in law. In fact, its apparent propriety 
 in the face of these facts would imply improper influence." 
 
 The countenances of the company fell. The lawyer's 
 face, however, became still more good-humored and sympa- 
 thizing. " The case is simply this. If in the opinion of 
 judge and jury Don Jose is declared insane, the document 
 is worthless except as a proof of that fact or a possible in- 
 dication of the undue influence of his relations, which 
 might compel the court to select his guardians and trustees 
 elsewhere than among them." 
 
 "Friend Abogado," said Father Felipe with extraordi- 
 nary deliberation, " the document thou hast just described 
 so eloquently convinces me beyond all doubt that Don Jose 
 is not only perfectly sane but endowed with a singular dis- 
 cretion. I consider it as a delicate and high-spirited inti- 
 mation to us, his friends and kinsmen, of his unalterable 
 and logically just devotion to his family and religion, what- 
 ever may seem to be his poetical and imaginative manner 
 
480 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 of declaring it. I think there is not one here," continued 
 the padre, looking around him impressively, " who is not 
 entirely satisfied of Don Jose's reason and competency to 
 arrange his own affairs." 
 
 " Entirely," " truly," " perfectly," eagerly responded 
 the others with affecting spontaneity. 
 
 "Nay, more. To prevent any misconception, we shall 
 deem it our duty to take every opportunity of making our 
 belief publicly known," added Father Felipe. 
 
 The padre and Colonel Parker gazed long and gravely 
 into each other's eyes. It may have been an innocent 
 touch of the sunlight through the window, but a faint 
 gleam seemed to steal into the pupil of the affable lawyer 
 at the same moment that, probably from the like cause, 
 there was a slight nervous contraction of the left eyelid of 
 the pious father. But it passed, and the next instant the 
 door opened to admit Don Jose Sepulvida. 
 
 He was at once seized and effusively embraced by the en- 
 tire company with every protest of affection and respect. 
 Not only Mr. Hamlin and Mr. Jenkinson, who accompanied 
 him as invited guests, but Roberto, in a new suit of clothes 
 and guiltless of stain or trace of dissipation, shared in the 
 pronounced friendliness of the kinsmen. Padre Felipe took 
 snuff, Colonel Parker blew his nose gently. 
 
 Nor were they less demonstrative of their new convic- 
 tions later at the banquet. Don Jose*, with Jenkinson and 
 the padre on his right and left, preserved his gentle and 
 half-melancholy dignity in the midst of the noisy fraterni- 
 zation. Even Padre Felipe, in a brief speech or exhortation 
 proposing the health of their host, lent himself in his own 
 tongue to this polite congeniality. " We have had also, 
 my friends and brothers," he said in peroration, "a pleas- 
 ing example of the compliment of imitation shown by our 
 beloved Don Jose*. No one who has known him during 
 his friendly sojourn in this community but will be struck 
 
A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 481 
 
 with the conviction that he has acquired that most marvel- 
 ous faculty of your great American nation, the exhibition 
 of humor and of the practical joke.' 7 
 
 Every eye was turned upon the imperturbable face of 
 Don Jose* as he slowly rose to reply. " In bidding you to 
 this fete, my friends and kinsmen," he began calmly, "it 
 was with the intention of formally embracing the habits, 
 customs, and spirit of American institutions by certain 
 methods of renunciation of the past, as became a caballero 
 of honor and resolution. Those methods may possibly be 
 known to some of you." He paused for a moment as if to 
 allow the members of his family to look unconscious. 
 " Since then, in the wisdom of God, it has occurred to me 
 that my purpose may be as honorably effected by a discreet 
 blending of the past and the present in a word, by the 
 judicious combination of the interests of my native people 
 and the American nation. In consideration of that pur- 
 pose, friends and kinsmen, I ask you to join me in drinking 
 the good health of my host Senor Jenkinson, my future 
 father-in-law, from whom I have to-day had the honor to 
 demand the hand of the peerless Polly, his daughter, as 
 the future mistress of the Rancho of the Blessed Inno- 
 cents." 
 
 The marriage took place shortly after. Nor was the 
 free will and independence of Don Jose Sepulvida in the 
 least opposed by his relations. Whether they felt they had 
 already committed themselves, or had hopes in the future, 
 did not transpire. Enough that the escapade of a week 
 was tacitly forgotten. The only allusion ever made to the 
 bridegroom's peculiarities was drawn from the demure lips 
 of the bride herself on her installation at the "Blessed 
 Innocents." 
 
 " And what, little one, didst thou find in me to admire ? " 
 Don Jose had asked tenderly. 
 
482 A KNIGHT-ERRANT OF THE FOOT-HILLS 
 
 " Oh, you seemed to be so much like that dear old Don 
 Quixote, you know,' 7 she answered demurely. 
 
 " Don Quixote," repeated Don Jose with gentle gravity. 
 " But, my child, that was only a mere fiction a romance, 
 of one Cervantes. Believe me, of a truth there never was 
 any such person ! " 
 
fltbe fitoerjiibe 
 
 Electrotype* and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. 
 Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.