A PICKED 
 COMPANY 
 
 BY 
 MARY HALLOCK FOOTE 
 
"A PICKED COMPANY." 
 
 Mary Hallock Foote in "A Picked 
 Company" tells a vivid story of the 
 adventures of a body of pioneers who 
 cross the plains from their homes in 
 the East to go to Oregon. The record 
 of this long trip is made more note- 
 worthy for the tragedy that results 
 from the lawless love of a girl who 
 j has come from the West Indies as the 
 1 guest of her aunt. This girl, who has 
 none of the Puritan instincts, accepts 
 the attentions of a coarse, but bril- 
 liant man, and she does not check these 
 attentions when she learns that he 
 still has a xvife in the East. The re- 
 eult of her infatuation is the same old 
 story, ami the man who causes all the 
 trouble falls by the hand of a youth, 
 the son of the leader of the party, in a 
 fair duel. There is much in this story 
 which must have been tak> n direct 
 from some old diary, but the life and 
 color and the sketches of characters 
 are Mrs. Foote's own, and she has never 
 done stronger or better work. (Bos- 
 ton: Houghton Mifflin Company; pric'e 
 $1 30 net.) 
 
University of California Berkeley 
 
JjaUocfc f oote 
 
 A PICKED COMPANY. 
 
 THE ROYAL AMERICANS. 
 
 A TOUCH OF SUN AND OTHER STORIES. 
 
 THE DESERT AND THE SOWN. 
 
 THE PRODIGAL. Illustrated by the Author. 
 
 THE CHOSEN VALLEY. 
 
 THE LED-HORSE CLAIM. Illustrated. 
 
 JOHN BODEWIN'S TESTIMONY. 
 
 THE LAST ASSEMBLY BALL, and THE FATE 
 
 OF A VOICE. 
 
 IN EXILE, AND OTHER STORIES. 
 COEUR D'ALENE. A Novel. 
 THE CUP OF TREMBLING, AND OTHER 
 
 STORIES. 
 THE LITTLE FIG-TREE STORIES. With two 
 
 illustrations by MRS. FOOTE, and a colored Cover 
 
 Design. 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
A 
 
 PICKED COMPANY 
 
 A Novel 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY HALLOCK FOOTE 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 re#* Camtirib0e ' 
 1912 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY MARY HALLOCK FOOTE 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published October tqit 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 I. THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 3 
 
 II. Two DAUGHTERS OP ONE RACE 18 
 
 III. COLONIZATION SUNDAY 31 
 
 IV. THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 41 
 
 V. FOR THE YOUNG . . . 55 
 
 VI. A SALE AND AN ENGAGEMENT 60 
 
 VII. THE UMBRELLA 68 
 
 VIII. BETWEEN Two STOOLS 75 
 
 IX. THE COVENANT 83 
 
 X. OPPORTUNITY 90 
 
 XI. BRADBURN'S EDUCATION 98 
 
 XII. CAPTAIN OF THE ROAD 105 
 
 XIII. THE WAGONS AT NIGHT 113 
 
 XIV. SILENCE 120 
 
 XV. THE FIRST ADMONITION 126 
 
 XVI. THE SECOND ADMONITION 134 
 
 XVII. AN APOSTOLIC JUDGMENT 146 
 
 XVIII. THE PARSON'S SON 152 
 
 XIX. MUTINY 161 
 
 XX. A SURE REMEDY 171 
 
 XXI. "A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE" 174 
 
 XXII. THINKING IT OVER 187 
 
 XXIII. A SCOFFER'S SERMON 193 
 
 XXIV. THE DIVIDE , . 199 
 
 Mi.8922 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 XXV. THE BETTER MAN 207 
 
 XXVI. ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES .... 213 
 
 XXVII. THE CAMP OF WAITING 224 
 
 XXVIII. THE WOMEN'S PART 232 
 
 XXIX. THE MEN'S PART 241 
 
 XXX. THE FIRST OFFERING 251 
 
 PART II 
 
 I. HAIL AND FAREWELL! 257 
 
 II. THE TRUTH AS IT is TOLD 264 
 
 III. STILL WITH Us 270 
 
 IV. THE WASTERS 273 
 
 V. THE BUILDERS 282 
 
 VI. THE GAMBLERS 294 
 
 VII. CORN AND CABBAGES 307 
 
 VIII. THE DEAD FAWN 311 
 
 IX. THE DELEGATE 323 
 
 X. THE WIFE OF His BOSOM 327 
 
 XI. SYMPTOMS OF A CHANGE 332 
 
 XII. THE EMPTY BEDROOM 336 
 
 XIII. RUNNING WATER 343 
 
 XIV. ACROSS THE BORDER 355 
 
 XV. HAVING REACHED THE BAY 360 
 
 XVI. A MAIL FROM THE SOUTH 371 
 
 XVII. THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL .... 380 
 
 XVIII. THE GRAVES 393 
 
 XIX. A WEDDING-GIFT DELAYED 401 
 
 XX. THE SAME DAY . 408 
 
PAET I 
 
A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 
 
 THE storm had increased steadily toward nightfall, though 
 Mr. Hannington had found it far from pleasant driving 
 that afternoon, over country roads to an out-of-town 
 funeral. He might have made the weather or the distance 
 an excuse for not going, or that he had seen so little in 
 late years of the old neighbor just deceased, but these 
 were reasons that with Alvin worked the other way. " I 
 guess I am full as equal to it as Mr. Yardley," he an- 
 swered his wife's concern on his behalf. It had ended in 
 his taking the minister with him, and as they plodded 
 home together under the same buggy-top through the 
 rain, he opened the subject of a decision that he and 
 Silence had come to, which would add new material for 
 church membership and another girl to the young people's 
 circle of Dugdale. 
 
 " It will be quite a different element in your house- 
 hold," Mr. Yardley observed, speaking of the young rela- 
 tive who was expected. 
 
 "Yes," said Alvin, "she won't be altogether our kind, 
 more than likely, but that may be some advantage on both 
 sides." 
 
 It was a way of looking at it characteristic of Alvin ; 
 the minister could have nothing to say in disapproval, 
 though he would have preferred to keep the Hannington 
 
A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 family as lie had always known it, and he had a stake 
 of his own in the social life of Dugdale in the person of 
 a handsome, headstrong son. 
 
 It was now rather late in the evening : Alvin had fin- 
 ishe^/U^PJ^' folded his spectacles and the curtains of 
 Jtiis., C9psciousne.ss and settled himself for a doze. Mrs. 
 : lI-aflriJng.tpin'MpoJred at him and at the clock ; there were 
 matters awaiting discussion that with difficulty she had 
 postponed till he should have done with his reading, but 
 she had not reckoned on a bedtime nap. Repression at 
 this moment had given a slight set to her features which 
 did injustice to their general benignity and the pleasure 
 she was taking in her work ; finishing the buttonholes in 
 one of Barbie's new nightgowns which the girl had left in 
 her mother's lap with a smile and a wheedling kiss when 
 she went off to read " Philothea " alone by the dining- 
 room fire. Barbie could make beautiful buttonholes her- 
 self, but preferred to charm them out of her mother ; she 
 had the fullest confidence in the weak points in that 
 woman's character. Most mothers are strong in theory, 
 but we think that many were infirm in practice, even in 
 Hampshire County, seventy years ago. 
 
 Suddenly, out of his specious slumbers, Mr. Hanning- 
 ton brought forth a live remark, with evident deliberation 
 back of it. 
 
 " I should think this house was big enough for the girl 
 to have a room to herself." 
 
 Silence, at no loss to grasp an allusion to the very sub- 
 ject her own thoughts were busy with, answered as one 
 prepared at all points, " It would have to be a room as 
 good as Barbie's." 
 
 " It would have to be comfortable," Mr. Hannington 
 
THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 5 
 
 assented ; but this did not settle the matter to a house- 
 keeper's mind entirely. 
 
 " I have thought,'' she considered, " of giving her the 
 northwest chamber ; but then we should n't have any spare 
 bedroom." 
 
 " How about that little room next the linen closet ? " 
 
 " For a best bedroom ! " withering pause to allow the 
 sarcasm to sink into the male mind. 
 
 " For one of the girls." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington put off her spectacles at once : " For 
 which one, father ? Barbie has had that northeast cham- 
 ber since she was ten years old, and chose it herself, 
 though I thought she would freeze to death up there 
 winters. She always loved the room and I think she has 
 well earned it." 
 
 " Who says she has n't ? I did n't mean you should turn 
 Barbie out." Mr. Hannington rose from the small of his 
 back and sat forward, neglecting to straighten his vest. 
 In domestic argument this was counter to his wife's lay- 
 ing aside her spectacles. 
 
 " Would you want me to put Stella Mutrie into a room 
 not half so good as our own child's ? The English live very 
 handsomely in Jamaica," she subjoined, spoiling her point. 
 
 " It 's nothing to us how they live ! Any room in this 
 house ought to be good enough for any one of my father's 
 grandchildren. There was no such finicking and fussing 
 when we were eleven to stow away, not counting company." 
 
 Silence accepted the rebuke ; she knew when she had 
 done injustice to her side of an argument. She was merely 
 visualizing that little room next the linen closet as it 
 would appear to Stella Mutrie coming from those houses 
 in the tropics, with mahogany floors like dark mirrors 
 
A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 under foot, and courts full of flowers, and negro servants 
 to fan you at your meals. Mary Hannington had written 
 of these things glowingly, when she first went to the 
 West Indies, exiled because of her cough. The doctors 
 said she could not live North another winter. 
 
 " If I don't mistake," Alvin continued, warming into 
 reminiscence, "the girl's own mother, my sister Mary, 
 used to have that little room when she was about sixteen to 
 twenty ; before she began to be delicate. The room was n't 
 much to boast of, but she used to come out of it Sunday 
 mornings dressed for church, looking like a queen lily." 
 
 " Poor lily," said Mrs. Hannington softly. 
 
 Her husband had a way of forgetting how long ago it 
 was that she entered his family. The lily was at their 
 wedding in her first bloom. She remembered the sad 
 years of her decline; she had been one of the intimate 
 group gathered to say farewell, when her father took her 
 by stage to Boston. To this day she could recall the girl's 
 white face as she looked back at her home. It had seemed 
 the end for her, but it turned out to be only another begin- 
 ning ; whether worth what it cost or not, Mary's legacy to 
 her family, the child of her sudden, tropical marriage, 
 the orphan niece who was coming to live with them, would 
 prove. 
 
 Husband and wife shared the same misgivings with 
 regard to this event. They were ready to say " better she 
 had died at home"; better that her asphodel lilies had 
 not turned into orange flowers. They were afraid of the 
 late Captain Mutrie ; of what he might have done with 
 Mary's child in the years of his careless widowerhood, 
 after her mother's death. 
 
 The Hanningtons were village gentry of a plain, old- 
 
THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 
 
 fashioned type, but they knew enough about English 
 society in Kingston to be aware that Mary could not have 
 met her merchant captain in any of the houses her father's 
 introductions had opened to her. Inquiries about him per- 
 sonally caused a great reserve whenever the marriage was 
 mentioned. It was done, however; the doomed girl had 
 made her last cast for life and happiness. She lived to 
 see the curls on her baby's head thick like its father's, 
 golden like her own grow long enough to brush a pair of 
 sturdy shoulders that had not come from the New Eng- 
 land side. 
 
 The Hanningtons were hardy stock, but Dr. Hanning- 
 ton in middle life had married beautiful Barbara Ilsey, of 
 a more aristocratic, attenuated line. She bore him many 
 babes in that northeast chamber, which her grand- 
 child and namesake throve in, loving its great summer 
 mornings and thrilled by its winter gales. But Madam 
 Ilsey declared that sunless bedroom, that chamber of the 
 winds, had shortened her daughter's life and cost her the 
 children she lost. It was amazing that a doctor should not 
 have better protected his own the old saying of shoe- 
 makers' children and blacksmiths' horses! Madam Ilsey 
 was a spoiled, excitable woman who often spoke the truth, 
 but seldom altogether truly. 
 
 Captain Mutrie had been away on one of his voyages 
 when his wife died ; certain requests she left him in writ- 
 ing, referring to their child, were mislaid in a slack West 
 Indian household and never met his eyes. Very likely it 
 would have made no difference. 
 
 No more was heard for many years of the little West 
 Indian offshoot. Dr. Hanningtoii died. He had provided 
 against future complications, so he excused himself, by 
 
8 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 giving his daughter Mary, on her marriage, cash value 
 for what he deemed her share in his estate. The money 
 he raised on a mortgage. It was done in wrath : " Take 
 it," his act said, " and run through with it as you have 
 with your life." Neither of his girls had married to suit 
 him, but the youngest, who had done this thing almost at 
 the door of heaven, had shocked his heart. He had a 
 doctor's opinion of those days as to her right to marry at 
 all. The wild experiment would soon be over, for her ; let 
 her use what he had to give her and use it up. He was not 
 providing for the children of Captain Mutrie. 
 
 " That branch might as well be lopped off," said the 
 hurt, despondent old man. 
 
 The Hanningtons were scattered now, like other big 
 families in narrowing circumstances. Alvin was the last 
 of his name in Dugdale : the least clever, least polished, 
 but most dependable of the doctor's sons, on his back 
 were loaded the burdens which the old man could not 
 carry beyond the grave. 
 
 Alvin had loved his youngest sister. The lopped branch 
 never ceased to haunt him. Once, taking counsel of his 
 wife, he wrote to Captain Mutrie, asking after his niece 
 who must be now of an age to begin her schooling : could 
 her relatives in Dugdale give him any information or 
 help in regard to New England schools, in case he might 
 be thinking of sending the little girl North for her educa- 
 tion, and a more bracing climate? (The respect of a New 
 Englander for his climate is rather like a small boy's 
 for the master's rod : he will run his risks and take his 
 chances, but if caught he can't complain: he knew the 
 rod was there ; and he courts the same risks and runs the 
 same chances next time.) 
 
THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 9 
 
 Mr. Hannington's carefully considered letter obtained no 
 answer. It may have miscarried, or Captain Mutrie, having 
 nothing to say in response, had been too lazy to say it. 
 
 Great was Alvin's surprise, years later, when his 
 niece herself addressed him, on paper perfumed and 
 broadly edged with black. She informed him of her 
 father's recent death in phrases a grown person would 
 use. Reckoning back, he placed her age at eighteen. In 
 almost the next sentence she entered upon a business 
 matter, explained in a letter enclosed which had been 
 found among her father's papers, in his handwriting, 
 either a copy or unsent. As it referred to a family matter, 
 she had chosen to write to her uncle direct, she said, rather 
 than consult a solicitor. Mr. Hannington smiled as he ran 
 his eye over the enclosure. 
 
 "Is 'solicitor' English for lawyer?" Silence asked, 
 taking alarm at the word, connected with family affairs. 
 
 " Probably her father did consult a lawyer and that 's 
 why he never sent his own letter. He 'd heard of some 
 wharf property sold in Boston after Edward's death, 
 when his estate was settled up ; he thought if he had died 
 single, there might be a share coming to Mary's daughter. 
 It was supposing a good many things that did n't happen 
 to be true, as I guess he found out." 
 
 " Well, that 's easily set right. The poor girl will be 
 disappointed, though. Does she think the money would be 
 withheld?" 
 
 " I guess she did n't think much about it. She says she 
 ' knows nothing of business ' ' Alvin consulted the letter 
 " but she does pretty well when it comes to asking for 
 what she wants. * If any money from any source should 
 be found to be awaiting my mother's claim,'" he read 
 
10 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 on, " ' may it not be sent to her daughter directly ? My 
 father's sudden death left his affairs in confusion. The 
 law is very slow. I have no means to help myself with at 
 present, am living on my friends, in fact, and one 
 hasn't so many after misfortunes come, I find/ 
 
 " That 's a poor sort of wisdom at her age, but she may 
 be entitled to it," Alvin owned with charity. " Well, 
 mother, what do you think ? This is the branch father 
 said had better be lopped off. Shall I send her a hun- 
 dred dollars and let it go at that ? " He sat revolving his 
 thumbs and waited with a quiet smile. 
 
 Silence looked at him absently. "Your father was a 
 wise man in most things, but I expect he must have been 
 considerably incensed when he said that. I 've seen a tree 
 branch cut off so close to the house it belonged to, that it 
 fell on the roof and broke a skylight." 
 
 They laughed together at the homely allegory. " You 
 think that branch my father cut off has struck somewhere 
 near us do you? Well ; won't a hundred be enough ?" 
 
 " In money, it 's enough, and more than you can spare." 
 
 " Well, come ! say what you think. I can't ask the 
 girl to come and stay with us if you don't feel to want 
 her." 
 
 " I guess the roof won't fall in if she should come," 
 Silence answered dryly. 
 
 Each waited for the other to take the responsibility for 
 a step which might well be supposed to have long conse- 
 quences. They did not like the tone of their niece's letter, 
 but neither did they wish to prejudge her in her unhappy 
 situation. It hurt their pride that one of the family should 
 be so placed. 
 
 "What's the use of asking me?" Mrs. Hannington 
 
THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 11 
 
 concluded. " You '11 do it anyway, and I don't see, myself, 
 how you can get out of it." 
 
 As the invitation had been an act of duty, so the ac- 
 ceptance was plainly one of necessity. It came after long 
 delay, after the money was spent, perhaps, and other ex- 
 pedients tried in vain. Mr. Hannington forwarded a second 
 remittance, rather closely figured out (times were tight 
 with him that year), for his niece's passage North, and in 
 three days he expected to go to Boston to meet her. 
 
 They talked until after midnight, but were both awake 
 and thinking long before the slow, November dawn showed 
 the objects in their room. The choreman overhead in the 
 attic chamber gat himself up and into his boots with large 
 clumping sounds as of cattle rising in their stalls. They 
 heard his accustomed knock on Jane's door (Jane-of-all- 
 work) ; then he continued downstairs, still on hoofs ap- 
 parently, like a domesticated faun. The noise did not dis- 
 turb them. 
 
 It was Mr. Hannington who brought up the bedroom 
 question again, his wife grimly amused at his puzzled 
 efforts to improve upon a plan she had resigned herself to 
 with such deep, inward dissatisfaction. 
 
 " Why can't you take the room back of the parlor for 
 your spare bedroom ? " 
 
 " Because, in the first place," she answered tartly, " it 
 is n't to spare ! " 
 
 " I mean, of course, next spring." 
 
 " That 's mother's room ! As long as she is in it, I 'd 
 rather not discuss what we are going to do with it as soon 
 as she is gone." 
 
 The doctor's old study, a charming room, with a fire- 
 place and its own outside door opening on a sunny porch, 
 
12 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 had been given to Mrs. Trumbull, to save her the stairs. 
 Grandmother was, as Barbie said, a rather " stoutsome" 
 old lady. This was her second visit East, since she moved 
 out to Buffalo, following the fortunes of her son William 
 and his family; not only had she followed them, she had 
 materially pushed them with money of her own to give 
 William a start. Now, Buffalo was building out to meet 
 his land ; he promised to become a rich man. In doing so 
 much for William, Mrs. Trumbull had always felt guilty 
 towards her daughter, her favorite child. She could not 
 put it into words ; Silence would have been wounded if 
 her mother had apologized : " It 's his only chance ; he '11 
 never do anything here ; I will make it up to you if he 
 succeeds." She made it up, by loving best the child she 
 was parted from. She boasted a good deal, however, be- 
 fore her son-in-law, of her business-like hardness with 
 William : " Oh, I don't let him keep me waiting ! he 
 pays me good interest right on the nail." She had means 
 to dress well and to travel, as her Eastern visits showed ; 
 but now the years began to count. She was seventy-six, 
 a wonderful old lady of her age ; but there was no like- 
 lihood that she would ever make the trip again : hence her 
 daughter's sensitiveness on the point of looking to its 
 close, in a matter of house convenience. It was more than 
 that, she knew, but the subject had nagged her enough 
 already. 
 
 " We shall need a good spare room this winter," she 
 explained less petulantly. " I want to ask one or two of 
 mother's Valley friends to visit us while she is here. Old 
 people can't be tucked around anywhere." 
 
 " I still say," - Mr. Hannington inserted a middle 
 finger in either loop of his boot-leg, "I still think you 
 
THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 13 
 
 ought not to put those girls together in the same bedroom 
 unless Barbie wants it so. What does she say ? " 
 
 " I don't know what Barbie wants. She does n't say 
 anything." 
 
 " Much the best way ! Well, I don't seem to be helping 
 much," he yielded. 
 
 His wife took up the word brightly, to comfort him. 
 
 " I '11 tell you how you can help ! Go down to Harvey's 
 and pick out a good-sized air-tight stove to put up in the 
 girls' room." 
 
 " The girls' room ' ! " Barbie echoed. 
 
 She had been waiting in the dining-room for breakfast 
 when her mother entered, speaking. The little smile on 
 her face remained fixed, abashed by a flood of crimson. 
 It was not the custom of this family to kiss all around 
 when they met each morning, but Mrs. Hannington went 
 over directly to her daughter and kissed her, without a 
 word. 
 
 After worship, grace was said, and Barbie burst in 
 fluently : " Are you going to put up a stove in in our 
 room when Stella comes ? " 
 
 "I think we must," said Mrs. Hannington. "She'll 
 feel the change very much this first winter ; her mother 
 was delicate." 
 
 " The wind must be tempered to the shorn lamb," said 
 the deacon ; he meant it not piously, though the com- 
 monplace jarred upon his women. 
 
 " Why can't we use the old fireplace ? Is it bricked up, 
 father?" 
 
 " No," he replied ; Mrs. Hannington adding that stoves 
 heat up so much quicker and save firewood. Barbie let the 
 subject drop. 
 
14 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Harvey's men came next day and left the stove and a 
 sheet-iron fireboard and their tracks on the stair carpet ; 
 it was snowing outside. After them Barbie rushed up to 
 face disaster. What she saw first was her rejected fire- 
 board leaned against the passage wall on its way up-gar- 
 ret. It was only a square pine back, faced with wallpaper 
 of an old English design, a landscape supposed to be in 
 China: till this moment she had not known how she 
 cared for the old thing ; nor, till she regarded the new 
 one in its place, did she realize how it had suited its 
 frame, the white-painted mantelpiece and the soft, dull 
 pinks of her faded ingrain carpet. It had been the drop- 
 curtain, never lifted, of those unseen dramas on stormy 
 nights performed by the wind in dialogue with that 
 deep-chested old tragedian, the East Chimney. In pauses 
 the chimney would make you think it was speaking 
 alone, mouthing and whispering and ranting to itself. 
 Often, the stage would be the house roof ; you knew it was 
 a bough of the big elm that sounded like cordage dragged 
 across a deck ; that no men's feet could be up there, nor 
 large bodies moving softly down the slope of the kitchen 
 shingles, but the creepy effect, as you snuggled under the 
 bedclothes, was the same. 
 
 These were days when the northeast chamber had for 
 its small occupant one face by day and another by night ; 
 when she lived there in a state of fearsome joy like a 
 little Pysche in the Palace of the Unseen. She was en- 
 chanted by her solitary state, but at any moment there 
 might be a nameless terror to reckon with. 
 
 In one pang, Barbie felt that a piece of her childhood 
 was gone. " At least the rats shall not gnaw it ! " And she 
 searched the house for large wrapping-paper and lugged 
 
THE NORTHEAST CHAMBER 15 
 
 the hngh bumping bundle up-garret herself and spent a 
 quarter-hour suspending it by strings from the rafters. 
 
 Her mother was now calling ; she ran down and they 
 met in the passage outside of her closed door. 
 
 " Where is the fireboard ? " 
 
 Barbie explained sufficiently: Mrs. Hanuington was 
 not obtuse. 
 
 " Well, don't go in just yet. I 've opened all the 
 windows." 
 
 " What for ? " asked Barbie. 
 
 She went into her room to see, Silence following, 
 flushed and depressed. They were seized by a smother- 
 ing, greasy, gaseous smell mingled with fresh wood smoke 
 which the wind was expelling through the open windows. 
 A little dry snow drifted in, lightly sprinkling the carpet. 
 In front of the hand-carved mantelpiece, which seemed to 
 flatten itself against the chimney repellently, stood a 
 squat, iron monster on crocodile feet, panting, sucking its 
 own flames. It stood on a square of new, chequered oil- 
 cloth, which went well enough with blackened sheet-iron, 
 but not with old English ingrains dulled with use. These 
 things were not matters of deep moment at that period, 
 New England being moral and ethical rather than artis- 
 tic, but certain persons had the instinct to feel them out. 
 Mrs. Hannington saw the consternation in her daughter's 
 eye. 
 
 " I thought of telling them to put it wrongside up ; the 
 Tinder side is plain brown." 
 
 " I wish you had," said Barbie. 
 
 " Next time we put it down we '11 do so." 
 
 "Will it always smell like this?" Barbie seized upon 
 the odor savagely, to cover her general despair ; years of 
 
16 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 that oilcloth and that stove stretched before her. They 
 stood for years of other things. 
 
 " It 's only the fresh blacking burning off. And they 
 wanted to see how it would draw," Mrs. Hannington 
 gasped, breathing through her handkerchief, "so they 
 built a fire and forgot the damper in the pipe." 
 
 " Oh, there 's a damper in the pipe ! I must remember 
 that." Barbie began to giggle hysterically. " Come out, 
 mother, and let it go on and do its worst alone." 
 
 In the passage Silence pleaded anxiously : " You '11 find 
 it very comfortable to dress by. I used to worry about you 
 up here, those awful winter mornings. I don't know why 
 we never did it for you." 
 
 "Well, /know! " said Barbie. 
 
 " Next summer it will come down. Then you '11 have 
 your room just as it used to be." 
 
 " It is n't the room ! " said Barbie, choking. " But it 's 
 right, mother. I 've had too many things just as I wanted." 
 She was taller than her mother ; she had to bend to kiss 
 her cheek, clasping her tensely to feel herself close to the 
 best thing in life which now she must learn to share with 
 a stranger. 
 
 " Of course, it's right," said Silence sternly. " You 
 don't suppose father and I did it because we wanted to ! 
 Parents can be selfish as well as children. I never felt a 
 gift to mother any girl except my own, but I 've got to do 
 it, and you must help me, daughter." 
 
 This was said with clear intention. Mrs. Hannington 
 had made observations while wrestling with the stove in 
 Barbie's room : she saw where the hitch lay. Of all her 
 material comforts, the girl had been generous. She had 
 washed her dainty toilet-covers with her own hands and 
 
THE NOKTHEAST CHAMBER 17 
 
 given over the dressing-table to her room-mate, mounting 
 a swing-glass on a chest of drawers for her own use ; and 
 made the action simple by saying, "I am tall and I 
 never do my hair sitting " ; she had been over-generous 
 with closet-hooks and bureau-drawers, but every bit of 
 herself she withheld. The room was stripped of personal- 
 ity. Mrs. Hannington looked around, missing one after 
 another of the objects Barbie had built into her nest, 
 some whose significance the mother understood, others 
 that she smiled at in silence. The copy of a Kempis which 
 she had placed on Barbie's bedside table, the first night 
 she slept in her own room, was gone out of sight; also a 
 broken skate-strap tied with a ribbon, that had hung since 
 winter before last against the girl's looking-glass. The rib- 
 bon was plainly one of Barbie's ; the strap fitted a skate 
 of male size which Mrs. Hannington suspected had once 
 belonged to Jimmy Yardley. 
 
 So ; the decks were cleared. " She does n't know if it 's 
 a friend or an enemy who is coming into her life, I sup- 
 pose," the mother sighed ; " it is the instinct of self- 
 defence." She was battling with the same instinct in 
 herself, only, it included her offspring. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE KACE 
 
 WITH Stella Mutrie's arrival the first fear was over. 
 She looked healthy, to say the least ; pale, from living 
 in those darkened houses that narrow with their shuttered 
 balconies the glaring streets of Kingston, but not meagre 
 nor drooping : her complexion reminded one of Southern 
 flowers, the velvet white of a magnolia blossom or the 
 over-scented tuberose ; loops of golden curls fell against 
 her temples, and a massive ten-strand braid crowned her 
 with the support of a Spanish comb. Her black dresses 
 had gigot sleeves and wide white shoulder capes ; they 
 were very modish and looked expensive. There was no 
 suggestion of the shorn lamb about her except her sensi- 
 tiveness to cold. 
 
 Thus, the stove, which had been domiciled for her sake, 
 became at once her idol and a grovelling necessity of her 
 unacclimated being. The presumption had been that " the 
 girls " would take turns laying their fire overnight, a task 
 which delayed getting into bed when nights were coldest; 
 but Stella's fires would never "go " : hence, no good hus- 
 band for her ! such was the popular fallacy. Barbie's 
 fires went at the first spurt of the match; but Grand- 
 mother Trumbull hastened to moderate her hopes by set- 
 ting forth that no young woman need build on the sort 
 of intelligence required by these modern stoves, nothing 
 but iron boxes! A fire on the hearth was the orthodox 
 test, from the days when the saying began. Your wasteful 
 
TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE KACE 19 
 
 virgin used too much splitwood and kindlings ; a foolish 
 one went out of her way to lay them contrary to the laws 
 of artificial air currents ; a hasty disposition piled on logs 
 and discouraged the struggling flames. There were ways 
 enough of putting out a fire ; only the right way to mend 
 or make one. Barbie would then speak up for those un- 
 promising young firemakers she could name them who 
 had hoodwinked destiny and got the good husband without 
 qualifying for him. This was a girl's way of slighting 
 prophecy too plainly put forth in the interests of thrift, 
 marriage appealing to young minds on livelier grounds. 
 
 It was Sunday morning. Barbie, awakening at the 
 usual hour, had lain listening for the clock downstairs to 
 strike seven. There were no curtains to the mahogany 
 four-poster : housekeepers were beginning to say that wash 
 curtains made too much work and stuff ones were stuffy, 
 but scarcely any one except reformers and cranks had 
 reached the hardihood of open windows at night with the 
 mercury below zero. There were in the room, besides a 
 chintz-covered easy-chair and a small rocker, two straight- 
 backed mahogany Sheratons, uncomfortable but choice, 
 that matched the table and bedstead ; one stood on Stella's 
 side of the bed, heaped with her peelings of the night before : 
 to compare her garments with Barbie's folded on her chair 
 by the frost-blinded window, was like comparing the crum- 
 pled leaves a fig tree flings down with the neatly sifted 
 needles of the pine. 
 
 On week days, Barbie awoke to the sound of her father's 
 voice below stairs : " Bound up, Barbie, bound up ! " but on 
 Sundays, with an extra half -hour's grace, she was expected 
 to " bound up " without that rouse to the conquest of 
 creaturely comfort. 
 
20 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Out she sprang, when the fell moment came to have it 
 over with ; closed the passage door and set a match to 
 the pine shaving hanging from the stove's square lip like 
 a lazy man's pipe ; placed the frozen water-jug near, but 
 not too near, the zone of heat expansion and tip-toed 
 across the icy carpet to the window for a look at the 
 weather. No peep-hole scraped in the frost curtain (after 
 warming the spot with one's breath) was needed to advise 
 her of the state of things outside : her little nose, cold as 
 a nipped rosebud above the bed covers when she woke, had 
 reported the matter. It was still and clear ; a hard Jan- 
 uary freeze without wind or snow had made skaters' ice ; 
 and this was Sabbath and Jimmy Yardley's last day at 
 home! 
 
 He had been graduated from Yale the year before, and 
 finished the summer, by his father's advice, making trips to 
 manufacturing towns to study the best methods in cotton- 
 milling, which he regretted was to be his occupation ; one 
 of those chilling compromises young men are sometimes 
 forced into when they cannot please themselves without 
 too much wreck and ruin to the feelings of others : in 
 Jimmy's case, an old father whom he loved despite their 
 habit of never quite understanding each other. He had 
 been lately loafing around home, as he called it, waiting 
 for a certain opening which had opened. This day his 
 boyhood ended. To-morrow he would set out to begin his 
 apprenticeship to business. 
 
 Barbie went down on her knees as custom directed, 
 though in no mood for prayer. Still, one must be just even 
 to a Providence which sees in secret and openly makes use 
 of what it has seen. Her spirit was proud, but conscience 
 humbled her by degrees. 
 
TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE RACE 21 
 
 Why had she raged at the weather rain and slush 
 and sleet and more rain, as the precious days of Jimmy's 
 last boy holiday flew by? Why had she longed, nay, 
 prayed for cold which Stella hated, for skating which 
 left her out ? Such thoughts are clearly to be paid for, 
 and the sooner the better : it is the Busy One who chuckles 
 to see a sinner's account overdrawn, while he waits for 
 bankruptcy and the chance to bring in his fatal lien. It 
 was a close calculation, an awful book of reckoning, but it 
 produced a race of men and women unparalleled in history. 
 
 Most persons in Dugdale would have said that Barbie 
 Hannington was about the whitest lamb of the Rev. 
 Recompense Yardley's Congregational flock. She had in- 
 herited the brows and smile of a sainted great-grandmother 
 whose over-stock of virtues, justly celebrated, had not 
 robbed her of a delicate mundane beauty in her own type ; 
 oval face and sweet narrow eyes and hair of infantile fine- 
 ness, so fine it seemed unable to retain the crudity of 
 color and was ashen blonde ; and the distinctive mouth 
 of a nature that can both feel and repress feeling. Barbie 
 was half the time striving to live up to her unearned in- 
 crement of family piety, the other, despairing because she 
 could n't, but never at any time as good as she looked. 
 
 Now, since Stella came, it had been her thankless task 
 to prod and prevent another no younger than herself 
 and armed with a cool irony of self-sufficiency towards 
 those virtues that bore Barbie down. She knew by daily 
 experience just how long beforehand you had to begin in 
 order to get the cousin up in any reasonable time for even 
 breakfast ; prayers were no longer expected of her. She 
 was a guest ; she had no rights in the house, therefore 
 she must have privileges. Sunday was hardest, when every 
 
22 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 moment downstairs counted before meeting. Barbie suf- 
 fered both ways : for her mother and the sore-tried help, 
 and for herself, acting the part of the woman whose price 
 is above rubies, who rises betimes and looks well to the 
 ways of her slug-a-bed sister. 
 
 " Come, Stella, come ! I can't give you another minute. 
 I am going down now. Come, it 's Sunday, remember. Do 
 turn over and see how late it is. All your fire will burn out." 
 
 This last argument carried some weight apparently. A 
 sleek hand and wrist dragged a pair of roughened yellow 
 braids from beneath the sleeper's shoulders and flung them 
 over her pillow ; they fell like loaded whips. 
 
 " I 'm not going to church, you know, and I don't care 
 for breakfast, so why bother? " 
 
 " Well," Barbie answered briskly, " if you change your 
 mind about breakfast, there 's plenty you can find to eat. 
 I should think, though, you 'd want to go to church this 
 Sunday." 
 
 " Why this Sunday?" 
 
 " I told you ; you 've forgotten. Mr. Yardley will speak 
 about his Oregon Mission in the spring. It 's almost his 
 resignation sermon ! " 
 
 " Bless you ! what do I care about his resignation 
 poor old man ! I have n't an idea where or what his Oregon 
 is." 
 
 Barbie moved about tidying the room. " What do you 
 want I should say downstairs?" 
 
 " Say ? I 've nothing -to say." 
 
 " Mother will come running up, of course. She '11 think 
 you must be sick if you can't get up for meeting." 
 
 " I can get up, but I don't see the use." Stella turned 
 her back to the room and a warm shrug to the teaser. 
 
TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE RACE 23 
 
 Barbie waited another interval. " It seems almost dis- 
 respectful for any of us to stay away, to-day. It was given 
 out last Sabbath what he wants to tell us. It 's his great 
 plan, and why he is breaking up his whole life here, after 
 all these years." 
 
 " His plans don't concern me, my dear. Why should I 
 walk a mile, and freeze to death 
 
 "Hardly half a mile!" 
 
 " Half, then, to listen to Oh; do be off! You 
 can't get me up short of pouring cold water on me." 
 
 Hearing no further sound of departure, Stella turned 
 on one elbow and looked at her cousin. 
 
 " There you are still ! " she laughed, and lay down 
 again. 
 
 Barbie was dressed for church, having tied on an apron 
 to protect her blue merino. There was nothing difficult or 
 aesthetic about that blue, just blue ; it showed hard in 
 the cold snow light, but fairness like hers could bear it. 
 Her curl-papers in a quaint way were becoming too ; they 
 suggested those sculptured lumps investing the brow of 
 a Greek antique head. Her forehead was modelled on a 
 more feminine plan than the vast Hannington brow ; she 
 had snatched that grace from the stout, brown, low-built 
 Trumbulls, but she had missed the Trumbull hair which 
 curled naturally. Still, her own was so angel- soft and 
 light, a few minutes in papers shaped it for all day ; but 
 Barbie, unconscionable as to neatness, preferred to risk a 
 rather cork-screw effect sooner than have her curls " come 
 down " in what she called strings. Pretty sight as she was, 
 in spite of mid-nineteenth-century fashions, there was 
 something about her that provoked her cousin's merri- 
 ment. Perhaps it was the perplexity in the fine Ilsey eye- 
 
24 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 brows cast upwards. It was impossible for Stella to measure 
 the seriousness of some of Barbie's obligations : she had 
 never dreamt of a life so beset with moral responsibility. 
 
 " Now, I want to know what you are waiting for ? I be- 
 lieve it 's an excuse ! Say I am sick, then." 
 
 " Stella! I can't contradict you." 
 
 " You need n't, dear : the fib is all mine. I used n't to 
 have to tell them about lying in bed, but if it 's necessary, 
 why, go ahead and say I 'm sick." 
 
 " I suppose," said Barbie, desperately resolved to keep 
 her Sunday temper, "in that town where you lived I 
 could n't have gone to their church as I am ? I should 
 have had to be in black, should n't I, with some kind of a 
 shawl over my head ? " 
 
 " They are not all Catholics, by any means : we went 
 to the English church just as you go." 
 
 " Oh, you did go to church then ! " 
 
 " Sometimes ; it made no difference." 
 
 " That you see is just the difference ! Here everybody 
 has to go to some church." 
 
 " Not everybody ; Jimmy Yardley, for instance? " Stella 
 laughed, and Barbie colored in spite of herself. 
 
 " Jimmy 's an exception." 
 
 " We quite understand that ! " 
 
 " He gave up a great thing to please his father. He has 
 always been crazy to go to sea, but he gave it up because 
 his father felt so about it. I think Mr. Yardley wants to 
 let him get his breath a little before he bears down too 
 hard about something else." 
 
 " 4 Something else ' ! Barbie, you reprobate ! is that how 
 you speak of our Jimmy's salvation ? You 'd better look 
 out or you '11 be slipping back where he is." 
 
TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE RACE 25 
 
 " I meant just what I said ; not only uniting with the 
 church, but other things. He reads books that mother 
 would n't want me to read. She is right and he 's right 
 too. We are all one way of thinking here, and always 
 have been ; we can't make allowances. Where you were 
 brought up you must have seen all sorts of ways of liv- 
 ing?" 
 
 " Well, I never was brought up, you know. I lived in 
 a houseful of lazy darkies, and the housekeeper she 
 was n't much like Aunt Silence ! " Stella kicked her feet 
 free from the weight of the cotton-wool comforter and 
 clasped her hands beneath her head. With the light shin- 
 ing level with her chin, casting the shadow of her thick 
 golden lashes up against her brows, she was a perfect 
 beauty, Barbie thought, though her features lacked a good 
 deal of perfection. 
 
 " Is there any of that honey salve left up here ? " 
 
 Barbie fetched a small china box of it made after Grandma 
 Trumbull's recipe. 
 
 " Thanks," said Stella. " There was n't a rule about 
 the place I could break, if I tried. We did n't live by rule." 
 
 " I see," said Barbie, watching Stella's narrow finger- 
 nail plane off a modicum of the salve that smelled of fresh 
 honey-comb and rose-leaves. " It must come hard. But 
 you'd be happier, don't you think ?" 
 
 The girl's answer was a groan ; her lips being shut tight 
 to receive the emollient. Barbie turned away and began 
 to force wood into the stove, unshipped the lid of the hot- 
 water kettle to ease its boiling fury, and closed down the 
 draught to a crack. 
 
 " There ! Now you '11 do till noon. The trouble with us 
 is we 've never been out of Dugdale, Mass. I 'm begin- 
 
26 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 ning to find it out. What was she like, your house- 
 keeper ?" 
 
 "Oh, I can't tell you you!" said Stella, and pro- 
 ceeded to tell minutely, for the fun of shocking Barbie. 
 " She was a mestiza, a person who is nearly white and 
 sometimes very pretty ; she was, when she was tidy. She 
 wore a much-embroidered chemise and not much of a pet- 
 ticoat, and gold beads and bare feet. Sometimes she put 
 on a low-necked yellow silk and French slippers. She 
 told lies, but she could get up a ten-course dinner and 
 mix every drink that was ever heard of. She'd been 
 educated." 
 
 "Stella!" 
 
 " Well, dear, if you don't like the dregs of my past, why 
 do you stir 'em up? I may be able to help my future, but 
 I can't help my past. Come, kiss me, you blue-and-white 
 Old Innocence ! you are the youngest thing, and you are 
 the oldest ! You know nothing at all, and you know the 
 most frightful lot that don't belong to you and certainly 
 don't to me ! I know I 'm a sarpint I 'm a thankless 
 adder ; and I shall bite like one if you don't be off and 
 take your scandalous perfections out of my sight; you 
 positively blind me ! " 
 
 Stella would often run on like this, mocking at what she 
 pretended to admire ; and Barbie, conscious of her own 
 hapless attitude, felt the sting of words which a smile or 
 a careless kiss were meant to sweeten, but seldom did. 
 Barbie had not been brought up to kiss anybody on slight 
 occasions. 
 
 Skating was not properly one of the sports for girls in 
 New England, in the forties. Barbie had the luck, though, 
 to be an exception, because she had a sensible mother ; 
 
TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE RACE 27 
 
 and possibly the Hanningtons could do things on the 
 strength of their local position for which others might have 
 been talked about. 
 
 She had learned on Jimmy Yardley's outgrown skates, 
 he having no sister and she no brother. His arm had 
 supported her through the tottering stage not in all 
 respects like a brother. Afterwards, when rhythm was 
 established between them, it was hands across, the mutual 
 free stride, a marriage of true muscles and true minds. 
 The air was the pure, unrealized cold of skating weather, 
 the time after school generally, approaching sunset, or 
 the intense twilight of a short winter's day ; colors mar- 
 vellously blending above the horizon and all remaining 
 light forced down upon the fields of white below ; and the 
 young faces beholding each other's fresh beauty on this 
 startling background. The hour for parting was no chap- 
 erone's affair ; the girl herself must remember and keep it, 
 in spite of the boy and his longing looks and the pressure 
 of his hard young hand. 
 
 Barbie's hours of this sort with Jimmy Yardley began 
 about the winter she was fifteen, and Jimmy, after miss- 
 ing one vacation through a trip to the South, came home 
 so tall she had to change the level of her eyes to meet his 
 with the new shyness in them. Barbie did not realize the 
 change in herself, which took his breath away. Then the 
 shyness by fits became boldness. Then, last holidays, 
 that last evening on the ice, she forgot the hour and 
 was late to tea; but mother merely looked at her. At 
 bedtime she came up on some excuse to Barbie's room 
 and kissed her good-night with another look that asked, 
 " Have you anything to tell mother ? " Barbie had 
 nothing that could be put in words, but she gave herself 
 
28 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 to be kissed again a kiss which both of them under- 
 stood how, is a mother's business. 
 
 Mrs. Hannington did not sleep that night. A beautiful 
 thing which she might have welcomed later had begun, 
 she feared, too soon. Barbie, of an age to listen, must wait 
 till Jimmy was free to speak ; yet nature, she guessed, had 
 betrayed them to each other. The situation was unfair to 
 both. The just woman had no blame for Jimmy more 
 than her own child, though he was one-and-twenty, within 
 a year then of his graduation ; that was a man in those 
 days. She comforted herself, thinking that he had no 
 long bondage to poverty before him: his father had 
 strong theories on the subject of a young man and his 
 work, but Mr. Yardley was more than " well off," and 
 Jimmy had property of his own from his mother. 
 
 This winter she perceived there was a change. If she 
 had hunted for a simile she might have said, "you 
 mustn't stop churning just as your butter has begun to 
 come." If you leave it at that delicate moment it goes 
 back. Now it was a question if Barbie's butter would 
 ever come. The weather, as she knew, had been against 
 her. Evenings the child no longer saw Jimmy alone ; and 
 Stella was so lovely by lamplight ! 
 
 No one supposes these New England girls, with their 
 pure brows and reticent eyes, were bloodless, immune 
 from jealousy, and other passions they knew their mothers 
 never had, and so little could understand that it would be 
 like a form of spiritual indecency to lay such confessions 
 at her feet ; and besides, it might not be true. Jealousy, 
 Barbie informed herself out of a good habit of thought, 
 is a thing you need not be on speaking terms with unless 
 you prefer low company ; yet the struggle to get rid of 
 
TWO DAUGHTEES OF ONE RACE 29 
 
 the pushing thing may hurt one's maiden self-respect and 
 pride of detachment. 
 
 Stella Mutrie, in spite of her peculiarities as they were 
 called in Dugdale, had been accepted for her mother's 
 sake, though freely criticized for her own. So long as 
 those excellent people, Alvin and Silence, were not pained 
 by hearing what was said about their niece, the village 
 might speak its mind. She wore low necks and jewelry 
 with her fresh mourning, and spoke of her deceased 
 father, the captain, as if he had just stepped into the next 
 room. Every one knew it was "too soon" for her to go 
 out : she was asked with Barbie, no one expecting her 
 to accept, yet she did ; and though she joined none of the 
 games that with church members took the place of dancing, 
 her reason seemed to be a frank preference for the warm 
 corner by the stove, where shortly a circle of flushed-faced 
 youths would gather, to the detriment of the games. 
 
 She distributed pangs about equally between girls and 
 young men that winter. Parents were " worked up " about 
 her; one or two promising love-affairs went the wrong 
 way. In a community made up largely of marriage and 
 blood-relations and distinguished for sincerity of speech, 
 the young stranger in their midst could hardly be unaware 
 of the distrust she excited, nor fail to smile with quite 
 excusable cynicism at its being so generally confined to 
 her own sex. 
 
 The young men of the village haunted the Hannington 
 block, hoping not to meet each other in Alvin's front 
 parlor ; his consumption of firewood that winter was dis- 
 tinctly increased by the persistence of Stella's admirers. 
 They might have been called Barbie's, but Barbie knew ; she 
 could not escape it herself, that breath of allurement and 
 
30 A 'PICKED COMPANY 
 
 mystery from the lazy South. It pained and sickened 
 her, but she owned its power. 
 
 As for Jimmy Yardley, in a place where neither lazi- 
 ness nor mystery had been tolerated for upwards of a 
 hundred years, it would not be surprising if the high- 
 hearted boy, baulked of his dreams in one direction, 
 should fall to dreaming again under the spell of this fresh 
 and foreign seduction. Stella instinctively created a sens- 
 uous atmosphere which upset calculations founded on self- 
 control ; she roused in these strong New England natures 
 fundamental emotions which it was their painful study to 
 subdue. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 COLONIZATION SUNDAY 
 
 THE minister's dream of transplanting a Congregational 
 colony beyond the Rocky Mountains had been laid be- 
 fore the session in November. Deacon Hannington dis- 
 cussed it in confidence with his wife, who, also in confidence, 
 mourned to Barbie over the loss of the Yardleys. It did 
 not look as if the minister intended to uproot his son, 
 having but just started him in business, but with the home 
 broken up there was not much to call Jimmy back to 
 Dugdale, except for a glimpse of them all now and then. 
 It was very serious news. 
 
 Barbie took it with suspicious quiet. She went about 
 the house with an inward look for a day or two; then it 
 occurred to her that the closets up-garret must need clean- 
 ing, which her mother disputed ; they had been gone over 
 once that fall nevertheless Barbie said she would just as 
 soon take a look up there. She went up with dusting-things 
 and bags of gum-camphor and other preparations for a 
 moth-hunt. (This was shortly after Stella had come to them.) 
 Her mother opened the garret door once and listened: 
 there was only Barbie up there and she made no sound. 
 Mrs. Hannington went away, saying grimly, " She must 
 fight it out by herself." 
 
 As the time grew close for Jimmy's departure, one little 
 hope after another had failed. One last good skate to- 
 gether would have been enough; that was denied, to pun- 
 ish her own meanness. Barbie went to church expecting 
 
32 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 nothing more, beyond a brief call from Jimmy to say 
 good-bye to the family. Mr. Yardley never visited on Sun- 
 day and Jimmy would not leave him this last day. 
 
 And then, as the organ droned out its prelude to the first 
 hymn and the congregation stood up, Jimmy walked 
 quickly past their seat, looking straight before him, color- 
 ing like a girl, and took his unwonted place in the min- 
 ister's pew. He was directly in front of them. Mrs. Han- 
 nington thought Barbie's hymn-book shook a little, but she 
 may have been too imaginative in trifles, owing to her fears. 
 Barbie was thinking better of Providence all at once : she 
 had faith that Jimmy would walk home with her ; father 
 and mother always went together on ahead. Meanwhile, 
 she had his well-built back to look at and now and then 
 that less than side-face which painters call the "lost" pro- 
 file ; there was still a boyish sweetness about the corners 
 of his grave, black-lashed eyes, looking down. Perhaps 
 she deceived herself, thinking she could rest in the persua- 
 sion that it would be enough if they but kept their friend- 
 ship for each other through the years of changes to come : 
 she was in church and she very honestly felt what she was 
 there for. 
 
 Mr. Yardley's choice of hymns for the day expressed 
 his confidence in the decision he had come to after long 
 wrestlings. 
 
 " Sow in the morn thy seed ; 
 
 At eve hold not thy hand. 
 
 To doubt and fear give thouno heed ; 
 
 Broadcast it o'er the land." 
 
 Jimmy's uncertain second sought the support of the 
 pure, pealing soprano in the Hannington pew behind him. 
 The two voices blended surer with each verse. As he took 
 
COLONIZATION SUNDAY 33 
 
 his seat again, he cast one look over his shoulder, and the 
 singers exchanged a mute greeting. 
 
 Silence was happy, though afraid ; her child's magnetic 
 nearness communicated its excess of life and feeling to 
 the sobered mother, who knew how such things too often 
 end. Alvin had not been her first choice by many a long 
 hour's struggle to accept the advice of parents. Other 
 hopes had failed her through the Lord's will. It had 
 turned out for the best, no doubt: who could look back 
 upon far away might-have-beens with such a child as 
 Barbie in the world! 
 
 "You folks wait here," Alvin said briskly, warmed by 
 the excitement of the sermon. " I want to go up and speak 
 to Mr. Yardley." 
 
 "I wish you wouldn't, father. You'd better wait; 
 everybody 's going up. I really wouldn't press in if I were 
 you." 
 
 " Why, I just want to shake his hand and say a word to 
 the man I won't detain him a minute." 
 
 " I wish you'd wait, Alvin. We want to get home." 
 
 Jimmy had risen and was speaking over the pew-back 
 to Barbie, who stood between her parents as they argued 
 across her. Her chin was lifted while she hooked the neck of 
 her victorine, and her languid eyes, beneath lowered lids, 
 took him unawares, with their full meaning. He gave one 
 long look into them, and then began to work his way out of 
 the pew. The aisle was crowded. Mr. Hannington grabbed 
 him by the arms laughing as they squeezed past each other. 
 
 "Hey, well, you're a stranger! Coming in this after- 
 noon?" 
 
 "No, thank you, sir. This evening, I hope to say 
 good-bye." 
 
34 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " You hope ! Well, your good-byes don't seem to worry 
 you much. You'd better not be too pleased to go." 
 
 "I'm not, at all. I am very sorry to go." 
 
 Jimmy might have let the joke pass, but Barbie was 
 listening. He continued to push ahead towards the door, 
 permitting himself one more backward look ; whatever 
 he had to say to her was said presumably in that meeting 
 of their eyes. It may have been much; it was probably 
 more than he knew; but it was not enough, not near 
 enough, for the last day. And he had not waited. 
 
 "You better sit down," Mrs. Hannington spoke hoarsely. 
 " It 's dreadfully close in here, seems to me." 
 
 Barbie sat down and rested her head against something 
 which turned out to be her mother. Mrs. Hannington 
 unhooked the fur cape again and fanned her with her 
 handkerchief. 
 
 " Don't raise your head." 
 
 " I am not faint, mother," Barbie asserted ; her perfectly 
 white lips curled at the notion. 
 
 " Your father would go up I asked him not to ! Now, 
 you sit still; there's no hurry"; "Jimmy has gone 
 on, anyway," Silence might have added if she had al- 
 lowed her thoughts to show. Barbie smiled fixedly, but 
 the smile hurt her mother more than a burst of crying. 
 " We'll send her out to Buffalo when grandma goes back 
 next spring ; it will be just the thing for her," Mrs. 
 Hannington resolved, and her thoughts seemed to take 
 their own way on a sudden. 
 
 " Why can't we all go and shake off our troubles, and 
 be some comfort to Mr. Yardley?" she asked herself 
 crazily. " I don't know as there 's any one left here we 
 care much more about, and he will have no one of his 
 
COLONIZATION SUNDAY 35 
 
 own. What's to prevent us? " For the moment she had 
 forgotten they were four instead of three. Would Mr. 
 Yardley want Stella in his company of the elect ? 
 
 And " out there " what could she do ? Stella was not 
 cut out for a pioneer's daughter nor a missionary's wife. 
 
 At the same moment her husband, holding the min- 
 ister's hand, was saying, " Well, Mr. Yardley, you ought 
 to be congratulated. That was a mighty sermon you gave 
 us. But it's going to come hard to welcome a stranger 
 in your place." 
 
 " I was a stranger, when this congregation first called 
 me," said Mr. Yardley, rather weariedly. " no doubt it was 
 painful to many to see me in Mr. Whitehead's place." 
 
 " That was the course of nature : Mr. Whitehead was a 
 good sound preacher while he lasted, but he wanted his 
 release. I hope we '11 all be as wise when our turn comes 
 to give place to the next generation. Well, I could wish I 
 needn' t be here to see it. And I would n't, that 's all ! if 
 I was ten years younger. I 'd pull up and go along with 
 you." 
 
 " You 'd have to see first whether he 'd take ye, Alvin," 
 a neighbor clapped him on the back, " a kind of a 
 reckless character like you. What say, Mr. Yardley? 
 think he 'd pass muster ? " 
 
 "What, you goin' to Oregon, Deacon Hannington? 
 Massy, what next ! " said a sharp little old lady, who was 
 pushing up to speak to the minister. 
 
 "Oh, I'm going, Mrs. Black," Alvin joked, "if my 
 wife says yes. I have n't asked her yet. They do say," he 
 turned to the first speaker " the country 's been misrep- 
 resented right along. It 's been the Fur Trade's interest to 
 run it down and keep it down, sending out reports it *s 
 
36 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 nothing but a sand desert. Nat Wyeth says there 's mil- 
 lions of dollars worth of clean, mighty timber, and pasture 
 for thousands of sheep, and water power going to waste ; 
 he named a dozen ways to put in capital." 
 
 " Nat Wyeth 's put in most of his own and left it there : 
 I would n't lug him in for authority." 
 
 " Well, I would n't be afraid to quote Nat on any sub- 
 ject he 's acquainted with," Alvin held out. " He 's a 
 strong man : Nat knows what he 's talking about. He 
 couldn't fight the fur companies single-handed who 
 could, I want to know?" 
 
 " Plain, hard-working men are what we need ; character, 
 not capital," Mr. Yardley was answering another enquiring 
 parishioner. " We want to get back to first principles and 
 first practice. Faith was strongest here in New England 
 when the bulk of our educated men worked their own farms 
 and raised their sons to help them." 
 
 " Yes ; that 's true too. There 's something to a church 
 when the members want it bad enough to build it with 
 their own hands." 
 
 " Yes, but you have to have money to get you there." 
 
 " Money will be advanced to those who are short of it 
 for immediate necessities," Mr. Yardley answered. " There 
 will be ample security." 
 
 " And a mortgage on your back ? " said Alvin. 
 
 " A mortgage may be a very useful sort of limitation," 
 Mr. Yardley observed with a faint wintry twinkle. 
 
 " A kind of a counsel to soberness," added the playful 
 neighbor. 
 
 " It certainly does take the boy out of a man," Alvin 
 pronounced, as one who might be supposed to know. 
 
 " If I had a mortgage on my place, I 'd sell off an' git rid 
 
COLONIZATION SUNDAY 37 
 
 of it and put what I had left out there, where a little 's 
 goin' to mean a good deal some day. Look at Bill Trum- 
 bull how he 's gone ahead ! Interest is what ha'nts you. 
 I 'd take wild land any day and build on it with my bare 
 hands, before I 'd grow old meetin' payments on any old 
 farm here you could show me. No, sir ; life ain't long 
 enough." 
 
 Alvin looked at the speaker anxiously ; his jaw relaxed, 
 Presently he said, " We want you should come in to tea 
 to-night, Mr. Yardley, and bring Jimmy. Make an ex- 
 ception do the boy's last day ; you don't call it visit- 
 ing, coming in to our house ? " 
 
 Mr. Yardley declined the invitation kindly. He and 
 Jimmy, he said, had some matters to talk over. 
 
 Mrs. Hannington complained, as she walked fast beside 
 her husband, Barbie following, elbowed by little Mrs. 
 Black in pursuit of information : " I thought you never 
 were coming ! Mother gets so faint for her dinner." 
 
 " She ought to eat more breakfast." 
 
 " She can't seem to ; she was just the same when she 
 had her own big houseful. She 'd sit and wait on the rest 
 of us ; but she wanted a good meal for dinner." 
 
 " Well, I hope she '11 get one," said Alvin cheerfully. 
 "How was that turkey? pretty middling tough, think 
 you?" 
 
 " I am not thinking about turkey," Silence assured him. 
 " Things do seem to work in such a queer, contrary way 
 sometimes. I declare ; it 's hard to do what seems right 
 and see it come back on your own children; do your 
 duty and have them suffer for it ! " 
 
 "Why, is there anything the matter with Ba ?" 
 
 " Hush -sh ! I don't want to discuss it now." 
 
38 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 The effect of the sermon was to loosen tongues at the 
 family dinner. Every one had something to say except 
 Barbie, her mother noticed. 
 
 "I don't know what Mr. Yardley's idea is, leaving 
 Jimmy back here : the West I should think would just 
 suit Jimmy." 
 
 " Well, how can he take him, father ? Jimmy is n't a 
 church member," Mrs. Hannington objected. 
 
 " He 's the son of a church member 4 Families whose 
 heads are church members and who will be held respons- 
 ible for their minors ' 
 
 " Jimmy is n't a minor." 
 
 " I should say he was, in religion he 9 s a minus ! " 
 Alvin led the laugh at his own joke. 
 
 " As long as going to church makes a good person and 
 not going makes a bad one, / don't wonder Jimmy Yard- 
 ley stops outside." Stella put both elbows on the table, as 
 she spoke, turning her full glass of cider in her hands ; it 
 was the best fermented pippin, and the beads rose and 
 spitted against the brim. 
 
 " That sounds clever," said her uncle, watching her per- 
 formance uneasily, "but I guess you'll find it doesn't 
 cover the whole question, either side." 
 
 " Folks used to believe in avoiding the appearance of 
 evil, but now they 've grown so proud, they 're ashamed to 
 be good. I suppose Jimmy felt terrible to be caught in 
 meeting this morning," Grandma Trumbull chuckled. 
 " Stella, if you ever had any table manners, child, I should 
 think you were trying to avoid the appearance of it." 
 
 Stella laughed and took in her elbows ; deep white cuffs, 
 turned back with frilling, adorned her lower arm ; black 
 velvet bands at the wrists set off her white hands flatter- 
 
COLONIZATION SUNDAY 39 
 
 ingly, and a similar band encircled her beautiful throat 
 above the broad, ruffled collar fastened with her mother's 
 stone-cameo brooch in a setting of pearls. 
 
 "I don't believe any two persons could disagree more 
 unitedly than Mr. Yardley and his son," Barbie ended 
 without breath. 
 
 " Which * son ' ? " Stella enquired ; she shot a keen, 
 merry glance at her cousin, who colored furiously. 
 
 " Well, I guess giving up the sea hurt Jimmy pretty 
 near as bad as his not uniting hurts his father," Mrs. 
 Hannington struck in. " It 's give and take ; but if they 
 go their separate ways it won't be because there 's any 
 hard feeling. I would be willing to say that to anybody." 
 
 " Mr. Yardley thinks young men had ought to get their 
 facts and form their working habits while their minds are 
 fresh and open ; I 've heard him say so. Founding mis- 
 sions away from home and such big errands that take 
 judgment, I Ve heard him say, are for men old enough 
 to leave details to others while they work out the main 
 idea." 
 
 "I think you've got that a little different, father," 
 Barbie protested in parenthesis. 
 
 " Ooh ! " Stella pretended to shudder. " Old men's ideas 
 are terrible things ; they are so fixed." 
 
 " You want something to be fixed, or we should n't 
 know where we stood," said Mrs. Hannington. " I like to 
 be told when I 'm in error, if I can't see it for myself." 
 
 " Everybody 's in error to somebody," Stella mentioned 
 lightly. 
 
 " Your pastor is n't ' somebody.' What 's a pastor for ? 
 I guess Mr. Yardley is n't going to invent any new com- 
 mandments." 
 
40 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ! I would n't trust him, away out in 
 Oregon," said Stella. " Think how they behaved your 
 old Puritans when they had everything their own way 
 here!" 
 
 " They were n't ' old ' not half of 'em," Grandma 
 Trumbull wandered placidly. "My grandfather believed 
 in witches and I don't know but what he helped to hang 
 one or two. He was n't over five-and-thirty, as pleasant 
 a man as ever was. He lived to see Judge Sewall sit 
 through his own recantation read out in the Old South, 
 and ask forgiveness for all he ever done against those in- 
 nocent folks that were murdered and it wa'n't murder 
 neither. They were mistaken and not mistaken, same as 
 we are now, young or old, but I guess they were pretty 
 conscientious on the whole." 
 
 " Grandma has such a way of spreading out a thing," 
 said Stella with a gesture to fit the phrase. 
 
 " Because she can see so far back ; she can always think 
 up some case to show how little we ought to say this is 
 true, or that is n't true, of any one." 
 
 " Well, mother, I guess you need to take a nap," said 
 Alvin : " you talk as if you were about half asleep 
 already." 
 
 " Aunt Silence is thinking of something," said Stella 
 keenly. " She is n't with us." 
 
 "Well, if we 're all through," said Silence, rising, 
 " suppose we eat our walnuts in the sitting-room." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 
 
 JIMMY would not have missed his walk home with 
 Barbie Hannington, but that his whole mind just then was 
 bent on another matter, and there was no time to lose. 
 
 The Old Man had been " foxy." Here was his son, in 
 the flower of his days, delivered over to Commerce and 
 Manufactures while the reverend gentleman, nearing 
 sixty, was planning for himself a mad career of adventure 
 beyond the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 This accounted for so much extraneous and secular 
 reading-matter covering the minister's desk ; private dia- 
 ries of far- western journeys in cheap, ugly bindings ; re- 
 ports of government engineers, pamphlets on sheep- 
 raising, bee-culture, hops ; notes on the customs and 
 classification of the tra-montane tribes of Indians 
 Jimmy had borrowed the reports, observing it made his 
 father nervous. " Ho ! " thought Jimmy, " he 's dissipat- 
 ing in topics of the time ; he 's got his eyes open at last to 
 the fact that there 's a country bigger than the Congrega- 
 tional church membership of New England ! " But now 
 it was Jimmy's eyes that were opened. 
 
 At dinner there had been silence, of extreme and nerv- 
 ous avidity on the young man's side of the table; he 
 swallowed his soup as if a train, or, to be chronological, 
 a fifty-mile-a-day stage-coach, had to be caught on time. 
 Then suddenly he enquired, in an offhand manner, " What 
 was the Flathead deputation/ father ?" 
 
42 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Mr. Yardley raised sarcastic eyebrows. " How long is 
 it since you 've been inside a church before to-day ? " 
 
 " I 'd rather not be put on oath, sir." 
 
 " It might be worth your while to go occasionally, for 
 the sake of a little general information. Is this too rare 
 for you?" Mr. Yardley asked the question regularly 
 every Sunday; the boy of old had liked his beef well 
 done. 
 
 " It 's just right, thanks, but I don't mind a bit of the 
 outside. Father, why have you been keeping me in the 
 dark about this ? When a man of your age excuse me, 
 sir breaks up his home, don't he usually mention it a 
 few days beforehand to the only son he 's got?" 
 
 " The home is broken up when you go, Jimmy. Your 
 plans were decided before mine were." 
 
 " They can be mighty soon undecided ! This opens en- 
 tirely new ground between us, father. If it only had 
 come sooner it would have saved all our trouble about the 
 sea ; you could have bought me off with this, in one 
 word." 
 
 " I am glad you were not ' bought off.' That satisfac- 
 tion I shall carry to my grave. But you have n't the first 
 qualification for one of my Company." 
 
 " I have the qualification that I am your son. I hope 
 you need me a little ; I know that I need you." 
 
 " You have had me a number of years. You don't seem 
 to have made much use of me." 
 
 "As a father I think I have used you pretty freely, and 
 abused you some." 
 
 " The question remains : Would you find that you needed 
 me so much now, if my plans were not taking a direction 
 it suits your fancy to follow ? " 
 
THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 43 
 
 " Oh, come, sir ! We all have more than one reason for 
 what we want to do ; did n't you have more than one for 
 not asking me to go along ? " 
 
 " You keep forgetting the main idea : I go to build up 
 a pioneer church. Do you feel ready to unite with it ? " 
 
 " Not quite," Jimmy permitted himself to copy his 
 father's dryness, " but there '11 be something for me to 
 do out there as good as making calico." 
 
 " I am not taking out settlers in assorted lots to fit all 
 the temporal needs of a new country ; I am following up 
 the call for men of a special type. They need not be re- 
 markable as individuals, but they must be clean-lived, 
 obedient members of the fellowship of Christ." 
 
 " I thought you said this morning, sir, it was not speci- 
 fically a mission ? " 
 
 " To the Indians, I meant. It is intended for the 
 next step, because I am too late for the first ; braver men 
 than your father answered that call. Simpler men, I might 
 say : I am not aware that I was physically disinclined. 
 ' Leave the dead to bury the dead, but go thou and preach 
 the kingdom of God ' ; that is simple ; all it says is ' Go.' 
 And they went. You were a boy ; I suppose they would 
 be only names to you, Samuel Parker, Jason Lee, 
 Whitman, Spaulding ? The Methodists broke the road, 
 but we sent some grand men, and they stayed. 
 
 " Now, if you want to know about the Flathead depu- 
 tation : that was the great call in '33. I want you to 
 understand the first causes ; what started this tide that is 
 pouring into the Northwest, and is going to make it a 
 great country and a part of us. It was n't war, nor beaver, 
 nor competition in trade : the fur interests, both sides, are 
 dead against it; the British companies are beating us 
 
44 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 out of all that territory, and they don't build up commun- 
 ities ; fences and meeting-houses are scarecrows to them. 
 And it was n't science, though science did something to- 
 wards it. No ; it was man's primal, unquenchable yearn- 
 ing for knowledge of God. It was the journey of the shep- 
 herds over again so our churches named it. The ' call 
 from the Wise men of the West ' eighteen centuries 
 later ; only there was no star to guide these poor men, and 
 no Bethlehem. There was a city just as crowded, though, 
 and just as heedless : St. Louis, in winter, full of white 
 men drunk and white men sober, spending their wages in 
 sin. 
 
 " Five chiefs of the Flathead Nation, in 1832, crossed 
 the Blue Mountains to talk to General Clark about the 
 white man's ' Book of Heaven ' took a little walk of 
 three thousand miles to ask the way to God ! Is n't that 
 astounding ? And you never heard of it in this house ! 
 If I had not one other reason for resigning here, I should 
 say that was enough ! " Father and son smiled at each 
 other forlornly. 
 
 "They had talked it over by their camp-fires," the 
 minister resumed, " I don't remember how many winters 
 since Clark and Meri wether Lewis passed through their 
 country." 
 
 " In 1806 they went through," said Jimmy modestly ; 
 he had just been reading Lewis and Clark's report. 
 
 " ' And now,' said they, * it is time we learned about 
 these things.' They had heard that the book was the 
 strength of the white race, and our only road to Heaven. 
 Well, they started, five, and one died on the plains. In 
 their own words, ' he grew tired in many moons, and his 
 moccasins wore out.' The other four wintered in St. 
 
THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 45 
 
 Louis. If there was much talk of the Book there, it was 
 hid from them. They began to have doubts whether all of 
 the whites themselves had heard of it. General Clark 
 made them his guests ; he was very kind ; he showed them 
 the[sights some which they did not comprehend as proofs 
 of our wisdom and friendship with the Almighty. They 
 ate a great deal of rich food they were not accustomed to 
 and two more died. In the spring, the last two started 
 home. They took back nothing that they came for. Gen- 
 eral Clark told them the Book could not help them with- 
 out teachers : there were none, so far from the white man's 
 country. The roads were very long ; how long none could 
 know better than they. 
 
 " A young man, who was a believer, happened to have 
 been in General Clark's office when their oldest chief made 
 his farewell speech. He went away * exceeding sorrowful.* 
 It made such an impression on him that he wrote it out 
 from memory and sent it to some church friends in Ohio 
 and they passed it on East : it ran like wildfire ; our 
 ' Christian Advocate ' published it. I could repeat that 
 speech now, word for word ; but you would say, * they 
 are the young man's words.' 
 
 " There, however, are the facts : the five who journeyed 
 in hope, the two who went back in the old despair. 
 
 " ' We came,' said they, 4 with one eye partly open, seek- 
 ing more light. We go back with both eyes blinded. You 
 make our feet heavy with the burden of your gifts but 
 the Book is not among them.' --It was not long, though : 
 once that message found the right men, they did not tarry. 
 It was no matter to them whose words it came in ; it was 
 4 as fire in their bones.' It came to me with others. I 
 preached a sermon on it ; a good sermon, I think, but in 
 
46 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 prayer, alone, it was a groaning and a reproach. I walked 
 the floor many a night that winter, but I could not see 
 my duty plain. I could not forget I was a father. You were 
 beginning, before you were out of jackets, to dispute on 
 subjects where I think children should listen and learn to 
 pray. Next, you were possessed to go to sea. I could n't leave 
 you adrift if I took you, it would cost you your edu- 
 cation. And, failing as I had to influence you here, with 
 everything in my favor, how could I hope to stem the 
 rush of new sensations, and all the excitements of a life 
 more hazardous, I had reason to think, to soul and body, 
 than the sea itself?" 
 
 " Your staying spoiled a good sailor-man, father, I ex- 
 pect. Now are you going to spoil a good pioneer ? " 
 
 " I don't want you to interrupt me, son. This has no- 
 thing to do with you ; this is my sole accounting for service 
 that comes too late for me to be making my own conditions. 
 I shall not dicker with my Maker now. The stumbling 
 was here, here ! Your father persuaded himself that his 
 light would be hid, teaching poor, ignorant savages. My 
 people were my very heart-strings. I give up easily to 
 habits ; I am hard to move. Son, the Lord took means to 
 rout me out. He slackened my hands, He shifted the 
 ground I stood on. 'I leaned against my house and it 
 fell ! ' What have I accomplished in this parish since I 
 withheld my word among the heathen ? Did that quench- 
 ing of the spirit in me quicken any other soul in doubt ? 
 What have I done for Christ here in Dugdale in the past 
 eight years ? " 
 
 The question hung in the air while Lyddy, the par- 
 sonage cook and general servant, came in and ministered 
 unto them in the matter of pie and walnuts. She glanced 
 
THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 47 
 
 at the thick wrinkles in the parson's forehead, his bleak 
 eyes, and at his unused plate. 
 
 " I '11 slip off that slice o' beef he 's left and save it for 
 Min's supper," she promised herself. Minnie was Lyddy's 
 sister, a rheumatic cripple to whom the parson gave a home. 
 She stayed upstairs in Lyddy's room and did what sewing 
 her stiff finger-joints allowed. She could do so little for 
 her " keep " that it was Lyddy's constant struggle to make 
 her "eat enough to be decent" as she said, seeing no 
 doubt the impropriety of bones with no flesh to cover 
 them. The doctor had ordered that she should eat little 
 or no red meat ; but Lyddy thought " he only says so 'cause 
 he knows she 's beholden for every meal she gets ; I know 
 Parson would n't be so small as all that comes to ! Min '11 
 eat it, if I tell her 't would be throw'd to the dog if she 
 don't." 
 
 "Yes, if you could know the apathy I see all around 
 me," the minister sighed. " My voice has been heard here 
 too long : some new man must come and wake this parish 
 up ; and if my sermons are not bright enough for the 
 younger generation, I had better carry them to those poor, 
 rude souls who ask only the Bread of Life and are will- 
 ing to take it on their knees. When I preach the Word 
 of God I don't want to hear, 'What's your authority?' 
 (human authority, mind ! ) * Where did you get it ? ' 'Is 
 that all of it ? ' ' Sure you are n't keeping back what 
 would alter the context ? ' You young disputers examine 
 the gospels as if they were some new tricky investment for 
 your money. 
 
 " Well ; come, now, to my own household, where my 
 responsibility sits closest. If I have had one sure expec- 
 tation, it has been that I should prepare my son for his 
 
48 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 first communion while his heart was tender and his life 
 unstained. Can you measure, Jimmy, a boy like you, the 
 exceeding bitterness there is in this that at twenty-two 
 you have not 'united with the church your mother and I 
 were married in, where she made her own first profession, 
 and where I have served the Lord in my poor way for 
 six-and-twenty years ? and don't even call it a duty to 
 go there and say the Lord's prayer on the Lord's Day ! 
 Could there be a greater rebuke before my people ? It is 
 needless to repeat I am finished ; but I don't exactly 
 see how I can take you as a member of my outbound 
 flock. I cannot plant heterodoxy, scepticism, intellectual 
 conceit, even in the beloved son." 
 
 Jimmy had no defence to make to these terrible words ; 
 they really cut him very deep. The preacher's voice rasped 
 on, harsh with nerves, soaring into a tone of almost angry 
 emphasis. " And you are not the only proof that stares 
 me in the face. I could point to another young soul adrift 
 that I have failed to reach ; a stranger amongst us, 
 under a cloud of bereavement " 
 
 Jimmy rose up with a hot face : " Suppose we go into 
 the study, sir," he broke in. 
 
 Mr. Yardley, dropping his napkin, preceded his son, 
 vaguely adopting [the motion, into the adjoining parlor 
 which was the ministerial sanctum. He took his own 
 arm-chair, the chair of counsel, and Jimmy sank into the 
 uneasy seat of the counselled, opposite. Mr. Yardley 
 fingered the sheets of sermon paper on the table between 
 them, while he sought the lost thread of his discourse. 
 
 "It is a poor husbandman who finds fault with his 
 young plants, or with God's seasons : he has something 
 to learn or he had better choose a different soil to work 
 
THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 49 
 
 in. New blood is needed in our old parishes, and some of 
 us old hack preachers need quickening ourselves." 
 
 "All this accounts for your going, father," Jimmy sat 
 forward to say, " but it does n't explain to my satisfac- 
 tion why you won't take me. As I understand, you want 
 the stuff for a free-soil and a religious community and 
 you want it clean as seed wheat. I am free-soil and I 'm 
 not without religion, though I have n't joined the church ; 
 and I hope I 'm not rotten before I am ripe. On what 
 ground except the narrowest do you expect to keep me 
 out ? and what 's to hinder my going anyhow ? I 'm of 
 age. I shall not ask the Board of Foreign Missions for 
 my expenses. There will have to be a long arm to the 
 lever ; let me lift on that end, at a respectful distance 
 from your church members. I 'm not trifling, sir, only 
 your attitude towards me is so unnatural." 
 
 " I was natural before, Jimmy, when I hung back for 
 your sake." 
 
 " Have I heard all your reasons, sir ? " 
 
 " I have a feeling that I must not render and take back 
 in the same action," said Mr. Yardley ignoring the ques- 
 tion. " If I take you with me, r where is my sacrifice ? you 
 will be the sacrifice! I am afraid of that life for you, 
 unless you were better anchored. There is one other safe- 
 guard." 
 
 Jimmy thought he knew its name ; his father had often 
 said, next to being a member in Christ the surest anchor 
 for a young man was an early marriage to a good woman, 
 herself a member. 
 
 Jimmy was more than a little stung by his own emo- 
 tional doubts just now. If he had not met Stella Mutrie, 
 he knew that he would by this time have come to an 
 
50 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 understanding for life with his proud little sweetheart of 
 the winter before. But he had hurt her image in his soul : 
 while he could flush and pant at the mention of another 
 girl he might not go near Barbie. Yet he was firm against 
 steering any closer to the siren's isle. He was passionate 
 but hard-headed, and he knew through his New England 
 habit of foresight exactly within certain limits the 
 sort of wife he must have : Stella was outside those limits. 
 She found him excessively provoking to her vanity. He 
 had undeveloped capacities for love-making which she 
 recognized and felt it would be an agreeable mission 
 to exploit. She was not without a certain naughty fore- 
 sight that told her whom it would be fun to play with, 
 but she could not make this gray-eyed, unsmiling boy 
 commit himself, except with his eyes. He certainly gave 
 himself every opportunity for using them perhaps in 
 the hope that he might come to see her in a different 
 light ; but she never satisfied the standards in his blood, 
 often she jarred on them screamingly. 
 
 He had come to his cool young judgment through a 
 small-sized furnace-blast of controversy with his elders. 
 His metal had been fired and chilled and hammered in 
 those revival winters when he sat through exordiums and 
 sobs and prayers and hushed moans of spiritual travail, 
 shivering, quickened in every nerve of human sympathy, 
 yet isolated and firm " stiff-necked " in his hair- 
 breadth negations. That little, which others thought he 
 might get over if he would, meant " worlds away " to him. 
 Until he could see the road before him, neither in love 
 nor religion would he take the first deliberate step. He 
 had falsified his dream as to work, but that was a thing 
 he owed to a higher necessity ; the comfort and confidence 
 
THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 51 
 
 of his father's sympathy in shaping his course. Theoreti- 
 cally Mr. Yardley was bound to shudder at his son's 
 future state, yet he must in fact have yielded to many 
 consolations, in regard to the boy's fitness for this life. 
 
 " As to that 4 safeguard,' father, how do you know what 
 may happen out there ? " this was bitter irony, but wasted 
 on the preacher. 
 
 " The men I hope to take with me," Mr. Yardley per- 
 severed, " will be men too young to have grown-up daugh- 
 ters : that means no social life and no wives, for unmarried 
 white men of your class ; we shall have to wait for the 
 wives to grow up." 
 
 " Well, perhaps I can wait. You have n't heard me 
 clamoring for a wife lately, have you, sir ? " 
 
 " How do I know what you are doing ! " said the parson, 
 painfully playful. "You may have begun to form ties 
 already that I should be responsible for breaking if I took 
 you West." 
 
 " I have no ties that keep me from you, father. I shall 
 not marry yet awhile." 
 
 Mr. Yardley weighed this statement attentively. " In- 
 deed ? Then I may have taken for granted more than is 
 true, or likely to be true ? " As nothing followed the ques- 
 tion, he filled the pause himself. "I am sorry, I am 
 sorry ! both ways : that I should have forced the subject 
 on you and that I seem to have been mistaken." 
 
 " It was certainly no mistake to bring it up," said 
 Jimmy. " It gives me a chance to say without any quali- 
 fication that I am free to go with you anywhere to- 
 morrow, if you like." 
 
 "I cannot congratulate you on your freedom, son." 
 Mr. Yardley spoke with a heaviness akin to sorrow. A lit- 
 
52 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 tie hope cherished for years died in that moment between 
 them. For of course it was Barbara Hannington who had 
 so long filled the minister's eye as the appointed wife for 
 his son. He had picked her out as a child and watched 
 her with an almost proprietary pride as she grew in grace 
 and comeliness ; she was become to him like one of his 
 own, and her pure, uplifted gaze among the faces in 
 the front pews had long focused the best parts of his 
 sermons. He thought of her in his hours of composition 
 of her lovely, intelligent eyes, when he was choosing a 
 quotation which carried with it the old Bible thrill of 
 naked utterance ; the answering glow in her tender, speak- 
 ing face was never wanting. But it was a dream an old 
 man's flattered fancy. He hoped Jimmy might not make 
 a worse mistake, of commission instead of omission, when 
 he came to choose for himself. Lyddy Fowler, in her vul- 
 gar, lucid way, had set before him the theory of a counter- 
 attraction in the same house. Mr. Yardley endeavored to 
 forget her words : 
 
 " Anybody with eyes in their head can see Barbie Han- 
 nington's cake 's all dough sence that West Injian cousin 's 
 come. Every single one of Barbie's beaus is after her now. 
 Oh, she 's a caution that girl ! Not so tumble good- 
 lookin', /would n't call her, but you can see in one minute 
 she knows how to use every smitch of looks she 's got." 
 
 " There are better things for a young man than free- 
 dom from the obligations of affection," Mr. Yardley re- 
 turned heavily. " I had hoped to see you settled with a 
 suitable partner while you were young, Jimmy. Have you 
 never seen the woman yet you would wish to marry ? " 
 
 " I have seen the woman I would wish not to marry," 
 said Jimmy, goaded to desperation ; " and I want to get 
 
THE FIRST VOLUNTEER 53 
 
 away for fear I may ask her yet, in spite of myself. I am 
 not half as anxious to get away from her as I ought to be ; 
 and that 's why I think it 's time for me to go. Fall River 
 is n't Dugdale, but it 's not far enough away. I may come 
 pelting back again once your back is turned, you know." 
 
 Jimmy was teasing and lobbying too. He was beginning 
 to feel reckless. There was truth enough in what he was 
 saying to satisfy an ordinary working conscience not, 
 of course, a conscience like his father's. The good man 
 had brought it on himself and he fell into the trap at once. 
 His alarm was such that he could scarcely speak. But 
 Jimmy saw his case was won. If he was smitten with a 
 measure of shame for his cunning victory, he trusted the 
 results might justify the means. 
 
 " I should not think you had better speak of this to any 
 one quite yet," Mr. Yardley faltered. 
 
 " Certainly not, sir," Jimmy agreed largely ; " not till 
 I have seen Mr. Pierce. There will be handy fellows 
 enough glad of my job there." 
 
 " I see no reason, if you explain your plans, why you 
 should not keep the job yourself for a month or two. You 
 would be nearer Boston ; you could be very useful to me 
 in working up certain lines of information through sources 
 I can reach only by letter." 
 
 "That would suit me to a dot," said Jimmy, well 
 pleased, "if they don't mind wasting time on a green- 
 horn for nothing." 
 
 " I should n't imagine they would trouble about you 
 much at first, but you would keep occupied, and you could 
 help me. Be as frank as you like about my plans. I shall 
 publish them in the ' Advocate ' next month, to invite cor- 
 respondence with persons who may desire to go." 
 
54 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Jimmy looked amused. " If it 's not irreverent, I 'd like 
 to ask, sir, how you conduct your entrance examinations ? 
 how do you pick 'em out ? By what you ' ve put me through, 
 I should call the needle's eye a double barn-door to it ! " 
 
 " Well, son ; you have n't gone through yet, quite." 
 
 " I am going to squeak it somehow ; it won't be my 
 riches that will hinder me, that 's one thing ! " 
 
 " If it were the gate of heaven, I can't say I think it 
 would be right for a man to favor his own." 
 
 " I 'm sure you 'd make it as hard for me as you could, 
 dad. But that does n't prevent me scuffling for myself." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 THAT evening after prayer meeting, Alvin and Silence 
 talked late over the embers of their sitting-room fire, com- 
 paring notes as to Jimmy's last call. It had seemed hur- 
 ried and perfunctory; there is nothing particularly cheer- 
 ing, moreover, in the good spirits of a friend who comes 
 to say farewell. Jimmy's face certainly was brighter since 
 morning. He had not seen Stella alone, or Mrs. Hanning- 
 ton might have fancied they had come to a sudden under- 
 standing. 
 
 " I wonder," she said, leaning back in her rocking-chair 
 and pushing off the cat that was clawing her black silk 
 lap ; " I wonder if you remember what year it is ? " 
 
 " What year it is? Why, of course ! why not?" 
 
 " Little Sam Demarest will be twenty-one this spring." 
 
 "Well, what then?" Alvin evaded. He knew her 
 thoughts ; she wished to remind him of his long, burden- 
 some trusteeship of the Demarest children's legacies, to 
 be paid off when the youngest came of age. 
 
 "I hope it don't harass you any?" Silence was intim- 
 ate enough with her husband's business affairs to have 
 cause for misgivings. " Think you '11 be able to meet it 
 all interest and principal?" 
 
 " I won't be able to much more than meet it, and I don't 
 know as I can that, without we sell off a piece of land." 
 
 " For pity's sake ! " she cried ; " I don't see what we '11 
 have left to live on if much more of it goes." 
 
56 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 "Nor I," said Alvin. "But don't you say anything." 
 
 " I ! who would I say it to ? " 
 
 " Don't say anything to your mother. She might, nat- 
 urally enough, speak of it to William's folks, and perhaps 
 it will work out without putting on another mortgage. I 'm 
 making arrangements." 
 
 " It 's a great comfort to her the way they get along. 
 It 's more than she expected. We never thought William 
 was much of a manager, but he 's certainly done great 
 things since they moved out there. It 's almost discourag- 
 ing." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington would not have been understood to 
 mean that she deprecated her brother's success ; it was the 
 contrast that hurt. Alvin when she married him had been 
 a man of property and her brother William had little or 
 nothing. Alvin was silent ; he knew her thoughts, but 
 refrained from alluding to the help William's mother 
 had given him : without her encouragement he would not 
 have made even the start. 
 
 " A change does seem to bring a man out sometimes. 
 I 've noticed the branch that moves away generally 's the 
 one to get on, in families. The ones who stay by the old 
 homes well, they have the homes," she sighed. 
 
 "It's a good home." Alvin stroked the arms of his 
 father's old black oak Windsor. He tipped back for a fresh 
 stick of wood. "But I'm pretty tired, seeing things go 
 downhill. I can remember when we raised about every- 
 thing we needed off the Kidge place. We children were 
 sent there summers, like the country ; we could n't see a 
 house around us anywhere, and the land was all our own." 
 
 " I believe Barbie would like it real well." 
 
 "Like what?" 
 
FOR THE YOUNG 57 
 
 " Nothing, nothing ! It just slipped out " 
 
 " Out of what ? What are you thinking about ? I won- 
 der," smiling shyly, he added, " if you could be thinking 
 what I 'ra thinking ? " 
 
 44 1 don't know what you 're thinking. I was thinking 
 about Barbie. I don't know as I know of a place where 
 there 's such a poor lookout for a girl as Dugdale." 
 
 " Since when ? " 
 
 " Oh, come ; I don't feel so very much like being teased 
 Alvin." 
 
 " I guess I can see that I I always supposed but, 
 I guess maybe we were mistaken." 
 
 " I guess it looks so ; I never believed any of the time 
 there was anything in it just boy and girl." 
 
 " Well, mother ! I call that a pretty close shave for a 
 church member." 
 
 They had been awake for some hours in the night try- 
 ing to hide their restlessness from each other, when Alvin 
 spoke. 
 
 44 What could we do with Stella, supposing we should 
 ever want to make a change here? " 
 
 His wife needed no key to the question. 44 Stella is going 
 to marry one of those young men before spring." 
 
 44 That 's the difficulty ; there 's too many." 
 
 44 Well ; she 's got all the bigger choice. I should n't say 
 she 'd be easy to satisfy I don't know as she 'd mind it 
 so much as some girls would if she was n't altogether sat- 
 isfied. She 's easygoing ; she scares me sometimes. I don't 
 know as I know where she would stop." 
 
 44 Oh, well ; so far forth as that goes, she won't have to 
 stop. There 's nothing to persuade her to begin ; there 's 
 no strain on her, as I can see." 
 
58 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " We can't see very far. If we did take her, we 'd be 
 responsible she 's a ' minor.' " 
 
 " What makes you so anxious, mother ? Is it worrying 
 about next spring ? I '11 be able to fix it up somehow. If 
 I can't, why, then we '11 sell out, if you 're willing. It 's 
 better to have little and know it 's your own. I have n't 
 drawn a free breath, not to say, for twenty years ; not 
 since father's will was read." 
 
 " I can't see as he did anything out of the way." Silence 
 rebuked her own thoughts. " It don't seem too much to ask 
 a son to look after a sister's rights in her own property 
 when she 's made a poor marry of it. But I know what a 
 burden it 's been." 
 
 " Well, father certainly had his reasons. Never was 
 any quarrel as I know of, but he sized up Uncle Demarest 
 from the start. If any of Aunt Penny's money was to go 
 to her children he did about the only way he could, unless 
 he appointed a trustee out of the family; and he was 
 opposed to taking the money out of the estate then. But 
 it's a most singular awkward time to settle up now; 
 times are tighter than ever I knew." 
 
 " Winter is a poor time to sell, is n't it ? " 
 
 "Any time is a poor time when you 've got to sell." 
 
 " But you have n't got to : it won't come to that, will it ?" 
 
 " It 's going to come mighty close to it. I 'd sell quick 
 enough if I could get anything like a fair, decent price. 
 You would n't make any objection, would you ? " 
 
 " I would sign anything you asked me to sign ! I know 
 you 've done your best. I should say the same if it came 
 to losing everything we have." 
 
 " It 's a great comfort to have you feel so," Alvin ad- 
 mitted. " Father divided up the property when values 
 
FOR THE YOUNG 59 
 
 had n't begun to shrink the way they have lately. And he 
 took out a big chunk in a prideful way when he paid off 
 poor Mary, so to speak. All that was settled up at his 
 death 's took its chance since ; but the Demarests will 
 have to have the round sum : it takes a good deal more to 
 meet it now than father allowed for." 
 
 " I don't think everybody would be so scrupulous, 
 I really don't. Some would let them take their share of 
 the shrinkages too." 
 
 " No ; that could n't be in this case. I know what he 
 intended : he could n't foresee. Now, you try to sleep and 
 stop thinking. If 't was summer, we 'd hear the birds 
 begin to twitter." 
 
 " Did you ever notice how spring is always the time for 
 things to happen ? Not trouble always, but something 
 upsetting." 
 
 " Natural enough ; people have leisure to think in win- 
 ter. They do like nature ; gather up their forces and lay 
 out the future. A man can stand the same round every day 
 while he keeps busy, but when it comes to sitting by tlie 
 stove and thinking, he 's pretty apt to shape things for a 
 move. When he gets to work again, he gets interested in 
 the old job to see what he can make of it this year. 
 But if the job quits him how then ? Things are narrow- 
 ing down here for us ; there won't be much more than 
 standing-room left pretty soon." 
 
 " I 'm ready as soon as you are, but don't let 's say 
 anything." 
 
 " You won't have to, I guess ! Plenty others will be 
 talking before you know it. That old Mrs. Black snapped 
 up a word I said, just gassing ; but she took it in earnest 
 Well, it don't matter." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A SALE AND AN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 To be the highest tax-payer in Dugdale might not be 
 considered a very proud distinction, but such as it was it 
 belonged to a young man whom Barbie refused, in the 
 first flower of her saucy 'teens. She never gave him a mo- 
 ment's consideration ; her father did. Mrs. Hannington 
 said of him, " His hands perspire and he has got no chin : 
 no girl could fall in love with him, Alvin ! " But her true 
 reasons probably went deeper than such a speech as this. 
 
 There was a year when young Hitchcock ceased to call 
 and did not see Barbie Hannington when his sleigh cut 
 around corners where she waited to cross, under the wintry 
 elms. Next year he met Stella at the church socials and 
 joined her court of overheated swains around the stove. 
 Very soon he became a regular caller. That he continued 
 to meet him there often drove Jimmy across the hall into 
 the family sitting-room. Between the two rooms and the 
 two suitors, Barbie's past pursued her ludicrously. She 
 covered her rejected's first defeat, and left him a fair field 
 in what she believed was a hopeless second venture : 
 there are so many things we decide for others, judging 
 them by ourselves. 
 
 Stella made no pretence of admiring the great catch, as 
 he was called, but she allowed him to take the seat beside 
 her on the small sofa, and if she were unaware of the poor 
 youth's trance-like condition, no one else present could 
 have been. 
 
A SALE AND AN ENGAGEMENT 61 
 
 He was calling upon her the second week after " coloni- 
 zation Sunday ; " they had the front parlor to themselves. 
 
 " Suppose," he said, easing the tightness of his waist- 
 coat by laying one arm across the sofa-back ; " suppose 
 your uncle should go to Oregon; what would you do 
 then?" 
 
 " ' Poor thing ! ' Stella supplied lazily. " Suppose we 
 should all go to the moon ! " Her profile as she leaned 
 back was not three inches from his huge, red, dangling- 
 paw. If he raised one finger it would touch her perfect 
 cheek and leave a white pressure mark for the pink to 
 overflow ; the idea fascinated him. 
 
 " I am serious," he brought out. " Everybody V talking 
 about it. I asked him the other day if there 's anything in 
 it. ' There is n't,' he says, ' but there mighty quick would 
 be,' says he, ' if I could raise ten thousand on this place 
 before spring,' " 
 
 Stella began to show attention : the fixed sum impressed 
 her. 
 
 "I told him I guessed it could be raised, but it would 
 take more than the place, if he meant the land only. 
 
 " ' How much more ? ' he says. 
 
 " I put in the house and buildings and some lots on the 
 marshes ; they '11 come up some day. 
 
 " ' Cash down, or future payments ? ' he wanted to 
 know. 'Cash down, 'I told him I meant. We were stand- 
 ing close to the horse-block and he doubled his fist and 
 brought it down I could see his eyes water ' You may 
 have it!' he said, just as quick as that, 'if you can dig up 
 the money soon enough. If I don't get off with Parson 
 Yardley I don't know as I want to go.' That looks 
 serious, don't it ? " 
 
62 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " ' And what will poor robin do then, poor thing ? ' ' 
 Stella raised her eyes ; she did not smile this time. 
 
 " Oh, please answer me ! I 'm not humbugging." 
 
 " Can't you give poor robin a minute to think it over ? 
 no ; I 'm not a robin robins are such cheerful brutes ; 
 they get along anyhow. I 'm a swallow, from the South. 
 I think I am the ' one swallow ' that does n't make a 
 summer." 
 
 " Where you are is summer enough for me," said the 
 infatuated Horace. 
 
 "That's poetry," she said; "but it doesn't answer 
 swallow's question." 
 
 " I can answer it, if you '11 let me. Is n't this a pretty 
 good old nest for two? I want to know what you'd 
 rather do ? Go with them, or stay here " 
 
 " Had n't I better wait till I am asked ? " she cut him 
 off. 
 
 "'Asked'! Which?" 
 
 " Both Suppose they don't want to take me?" 
 
 " You are asked to stay. You don't need to go unless 
 you 'd rather. I ask you now, which you want to do go 
 to Oregon or stay in this house 
 
 Again she broke in. " What have you to say about 
 this house?" 
 
 " I am the man who can dig up the money, if you say so." 
 Horace spoke between heavy breaths. His face was pale, 
 yet wet with the crisis of his hopes. " I would do it for 
 you to keep you here if you 're willing to stay 
 with me." 
 
 "I see," said Stella slowly; "if I understand you," 
 she added to gain time. 
 
 " Oh, understand ! What do I come here for ? If they 
 
A SALE AND AN ENGAGEMENT 63 
 
 want to go and you don't and I want you so I can hardly 
 live, why is n't this a good way to settle it ? Here 's 
 the house I will deed it to to my wife. It won't go 
 out of the family. Is n't it clever ? Oh, say you '11 let me 
 buy it in for you, Stella ? " 
 
 She looked dully at the floor. "It is often done, of 
 course. Girls marry for a home what else can we do ! 
 Swallows you know are all wing; they have poor little 
 feet ; they can 't scratch for a living But I believe we 
 are expected to lie about it." 
 
 " ' Lie about it ' ? " 
 
 "Oh, you know! We don't call it marrying for a 
 home ! " 
 
 " Ah, don't talk like that ! " 
 
 "What is there to say? Don't you want me to be 
 honest ? " 
 
 " If you take me, I am not asking you why ; your rea- 
 sons are your own affair." 
 
 "You won't even ask if I love you? You are easily 
 satisfied ! " 
 
 His face showed distress that should have humiliated 
 her ; perhaps it did. " No ; you are generous," she added. 
 " I ought n't to have said that. You are offering every- 
 thing to a cross, homesick girl. Give me a little time. 
 There are so many new ideas to get used to all at once. 
 How am I to know if they really are going, if they won't 
 say anything? I have n't heard a word of this." 
 
 " They can't tell themselves till they know they have 
 sold the place. I don't go a step further in that, unless I 
 do it for you. If I can't have you, what do I want of a 
 place like this ? " 
 
 " Then I am to decide about Oregon for them ? " 
 
64 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " It comes to about that ; you leave out yourself for 
 me." 
 
 " You leave out the place." 
 
 " Of course you get the place and me. I get the one 
 thing in this world money won't buy me, if I had all the 
 money I want." 
 
 " Your logic seems a little out, but it 's polite," she said. 
 " You are very, very kind. But you are going to be aw- 
 fully cheated." 
 
 He caught her by the hand clumsily and kissed her 
 wrist. She shrank from his unsteady, clammy touch. Her 
 spirits sank low in the silence. 
 
 "You know," she said at last, with her rising inflection 
 that made her words so casual, "you know I can't 
 promise for myself, how I may take things ; I never can 
 tell what I may do, or be, on trial." 
 
 "Is that all? Then I'll take you on trial and keep 
 what I can get." 
 
 " And trust to luck for the rest ? " 
 
 " Why, I don't know but I 'd almost pray to heaven for 
 the rest," he answered thickly. 
 
 " Oh, don't ! Don't bring in poor heaven ; we must 
 manage this ourselves. But see here ; I have n't answered 
 you yet : we 're only talking." 
 
 " I '11 have to do something besides talk, you know, if 
 they get off by spring. Suppose I do buy the place what 
 can I depend on, from you anything?" 
 
 " Buy it," she said " they want to go." 
 
 " But suppose they persuade you at the last moment to 
 go, too ? Then where am I ? Promise you will not go to 
 Oregon. I won't ask you anything more, to-night." 
 
 " If it comes to that," she drawled, looking at him with 
 
A SALE AND AN ENGAGEMENT 65 
 
 dangerous sweetness, " I 'd sooner drown myself in the 
 river when the ice melts than go to Oregon." 
 
 " Then it shall come to that ! I '11 see that it does." 
 
 "So," she said, "you would take me if I chose you in- 
 stead of drowning? Well, you are humble ! " 
 
 "Call it what you like, but don't play with me too 
 long. Do you like me any ? " 
 
 " Not much," she laughed bewitchingly. " Blessed are 
 they that expect little; verily they shall not be disap- 
 pointed." 
 
 " I have n't told you what I expect : I may expect a 
 good deal some day. You can be stingy with me for a 
 while " 
 
 "For a while," Stella echoed vaguely. 
 
 She sat forward, arms on her silken knees. The 
 long chain of dark, crooked garnets she wore swung heav- 
 ily into her lap. He lifted it, fingering the beads, turning 
 one on the string. She shivered and drew back. " I am 
 very stingy," she said, " when I feel like it, and I want 
 you to remember that I can cheat like anything ! " 
 
 The first clear moonlight nights were come. She asked 
 Aunt Silence if there was any reason why she should n't go 
 sleigh-riding with Horace Hitchcock. Aunt Silence opened 
 her eyes a little: "Why, I don't know of any, if you 
 want to go," she said. The emphasis might have told 
 Stella if she cared to know, how her suitor was rated in 
 the family; but that was a small item, now, in the sum of 
 her hurried, desperate calculations. 
 
 Horace bore out an armful of hot soap-stones for her 
 feet. She borrowed Aunt Silence's muff and wore the 
 black velvet hood Barbie made her for a New Year's gift ; 
 it was lined with white satin and had white satin strings. 
 
66 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I declare ! " said Aunt Silence as they drove away, 
 "that looks as if it might come to something." 
 
 It was late when Stella returned in wild spirits, her 
 hair blown about her brilliant face, to which color added 
 a last dazzling charm. For a few days, after her evening 
 of real or pretended joyousness, she seemed remote and 
 thoughtful ; and then the village heard of the sale and the 
 engagement at one and the same time. 
 
 Jimmy felt sick over the letter in which his father made 
 both announcements. There had been moments when he 
 dreamed deliriously of risking the peril of Stella's answer 
 to the question always back of his lips. Now he had her 
 answer, and another had the risk ; that the other man was 
 Hitchcock couldn't appeal to his own modesty nor his 
 respect for Stella; he was too sure of her lazy, outspoken 
 preferences not to scorch her with his contempt in other 
 ways for this. But no less he was miserable. He kept away 
 from Dugdale, doing his father's business at long range. 
 It was known now that he had been accepted as one of 
 the pilgrims. Mr. Yardley winced at the congratulations 
 heaped upon him ; many were anxious to learn how Jimmy 
 " stood now " on the vital question, but they did not learn 
 from his father. 
 
 Barbara patiently helped her mother in the tearing-up 
 of the home. Hours were spent over trunks in dark attics, 
 sorting, condensing, casting away the family past. Senti- 
 ment and prudence, small habits of economy, cutting me- 
 mentoes that had lost their sting with time, all must be 
 exchanged for the traveller's cynic wisdom : nothing which 
 they could live without. Silence grew thin with the agony 
 of selection ; we do not become wise in a day. Certain 
 large parcels and crates of furniture and trunks were to 
 
A SALE AND AN ENGAGEMENT 67 
 
 be left in grandma's care at William's William's folks 
 had been through it themselves. These had reference 
 to Barbie's future, which was never discussed. Other 
 things, some of the handsomest and least personal, were 
 conferred upon Stella as wedding-gifts, who took no plea- 
 sure in the acceptance : all this rending and severing that 
 avoided sympathy, going on around her, singularly em- 
 phasized her isolation in the house so soon to be her own. 
 But the only words spoken were careful, gentle ones, as if 
 these had been the days between a death and the burial. 
 
CHAPTEK VII 
 
 THE UMBRELLA 
 
 FEBRUARY came in dark and sodden with rain. It was 
 a more than dubious afternoon. Stella was starting for a 
 walk ; her aunt met her in the hall and they sparred a 
 moment about the weather. 
 
 " You need an umbrella more than you will that muff," 
 said Aunt Silence : the muff was her own, which Stella 
 borrowed so constantly she sometimes dispensed with the 
 form of asking for it ; she threw it on a chair. 
 
 " I won't take it if you think it will get wet." 
 
 " I 'm thinking of you ; I don't want you should get 
 wet." 
 
 " I 'd rather be wet than carry an umbrella," said Stella. 
 " I 'd rather not go at all." 
 
 "You'll get your wish, then. I can tell you it's going 
 to pour in less than twenty minutes." 
 
 It did and Stella was caught four long blocks from 
 the house on her return. Sheets of rain met her in the 
 face ; the wind blew her bonnet back ; puddles that formed 
 by magic spattered her skirts as the showers churned 
 them. 
 
 A man striding fast overtook her, looked at her keenly 
 as she gave him room to pass, and offered her a share 
 of his umbrella. One bedraggled woman is much like 
 another seen from behind ; few women could be as pretty 
 as Stella was that moment, looking up her face like a 
 storm-beaten rose. 
 
THE UMBRELLA 69 
 
 There was something alien and extraordinary in the 
 man's appearance ; she could not define it. It struck her 
 more keenly, perhaps, by contrast with the village types 
 she had grown used to ; the rusty store-keepers, narrow- 
 chested clerks, and long-lipped farmers with their big 
 noses, and mild, shy eyes. 
 
 The man's look was bold, egregious ; his gaze conveyed 
 a challenge and a declaration, the substance of both 
 grossly personal. Stella was able to bear it. 
 
 She bridled and turned her face away; but she had 
 met his eyes. 
 
 He fell into step beside her. 
 
 ""We are going the same way, it seems. Can you tell 
 me how far I am from Mr. Alvin Hannington's ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; I can take you to the house." 
 
 " You are going there ? " 
 
 " I live there." 
 
 "'Ware mud! " The stranger caught her towards 
 him with his free arm strongly ; she had nearly stepped 
 into a puddle in their path : "I call that luck ! " 
 
 " So do I ! " said she. "Thank you. I 've no gum shoes 
 on." 
 
 " No ; I meant the other thing the coincidence. I 
 overtake a young lady ; I say to myself (with all respect), 
 4 What a face to pass and never see again ! ' And lo, she 
 is bound for the same house ! She lives there ! A coinci- 
 dence is a thing I never lose sight of." 
 
 " What do you do with them ? " 
 
 " What do I do with them ! " he roared over her ques- 
 tion. " I watch them ; I read them as the ancients read 
 the flights of birds. I like to have 'em perch on my ban- 
 ner when I go a new road." 
 
70 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Is this a new road ? " she asked dazed by his audacity. 
 "This is ' Hannington Road.' " 
 
 " I am going to see your father ? " 
 
 " Uncle," she corrected. 
 
 " Your uncle. We shall be taking the same road all 
 of us next month. Is n't that a strange coincidence ? " 
 
 " Oh," said Stella, " are you one of the Oregon party ? " 
 
 " I am rather ! " She remained silent, puzzled by his 
 laugh. 
 
 "I am the temporal head," he elucidated, "of Mr. 
 Yardley's church caravan he being the spiritual. I sel- 
 dom aspire to such very select company on my travels, 
 but your evangelists make it worth my while. Mr. Yard- 
 ley realizes he could n't guide this expedition over the 
 road he is going ; for some reason, he prefers not to join 
 the big train that will start from Independence in March." 
 
 " I thought they were going to start in March ? " 
 
 " They are but why ' they ' ? Why not 4 we ' ? " 
 
 "Oh, I'm not going." 
 
 "You not going? Then you don't live with your 
 uncle ? " 
 
 " I do, now but I shall not go with them to Oregon. 
 I have other plans." 
 
 " They must be mistaken ones." 
 
 Stella laughed in spite of herself. 
 
 " I assure you there is everything in omens : never fly 
 in the face of a coincidence Here 's a bad bit ! " They 
 were come to a road crossing, wide and sploshy. " Take 
 the umbrella and skip on ahead ; we shall make bad work 
 of it together. Now, tell me," he continued, at her side 
 again, relieving her of the umbrella, " what are these 
 plans that keep you from the greatest adventure of the 
 
THE UMBKELLA 71 
 
 day of any day ? Don't you know this kind of travel 
 will be done with in a very few years ? The Oregon pil- 
 grims will beat a trail as wide as the road to Rome." 
 
 " Oh, I wish the wind would n't blow so ! I can hardly 
 hear you ! " 
 
 " Take my arm : now can you hear ? You will go ? 
 won't you ? You must never defy a coincidence." 
 
 " But your co-in-ci-dences are not mine," said Stella 
 confusedly, pretending to stammer. 
 
 " They will be ; you shall see. Fate never offers us the 
 same thing twice." 
 
 " You are so funny ! I 'm going to be married. Is that 
 another coincidence ? " 
 
 " Married ! Not to any one here ! " 
 
 " You are mistaken again." 
 
 " Upon my soul ! How did he do it ? Money, impu- 
 dence ? Did he tire you out ? Because you need n't tell 
 me there are men in this place fit to win a girl like you." 
 
 "Oh, you are dreadful ! " 
 
 " This is one of the days when I am very much alive, 
 and I 've no time for beating around bushes." 
 
 "There are remarkable men in Dugdale." 
 
 " Are you going to marry one of the remarkable ones ? 
 If you are, I guess his age to be about Mr. Yardley's. It 
 must take a long time for a man to make himself remark- 
 able, with the opportunities you have here." 
 
 " Let us walk faster." 
 
 " I think we are walking too fast : you are out of 
 breath ; lean on me. Now ; let me whisper you a pro- 
 phecy." 
 
 " Based on coincidence ? " 
 
 " On experience and knowledge of faces. You will never 
 
72 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 marry that man, and you will go to Oregon. Now, walk 
 as fast as you like ; you cannot walk away from that. I 
 am a wizard in some things. I know my fellow-travellers 
 when we meet. I don't meet them every day and I never 
 lose sight of one I have recognized. Tell me how long you 
 had it in mind, before you set out for this walk? " 
 
 "Ten minutes, perhaps I don't remember." 
 
 " It was scarcely an afternoon for a lady to go out. 
 Why did n't you carry an umbrella ? " 
 
 "Because I was told to ! And I hate to carry things." 
 
 "Obstinacy and laziness ; two queenly attributes in 
 woman; many things are set in motion by those who re- 
 fuse to move themselves. If you had taken advice and 
 brought your own umbrella I 'd have had no excuse to 
 offer mine. Fate, you see ' co-in-cidence.' Just about 
 the time you decided to go out, I left my tavern on the 
 impulse to call upon your uncle. I came, by appointment, 
 to see Mr. Yardley ! " 
 
 " Here 's the house," said Stella. 
 
 He opened the gate for her, extending his arm with 
 the umbrella to shelter her steps, and bent a little as she 
 passed under. 
 
 " Young lady, if you do not go to Oregon, neither do I 
 go. Many matters hang on my decision. Think this over." 
 
 Stella flew up the walk without speaking. 
 
 She thought at first she would not go down to tea 
 the stranger having been asked to stop. She was fasci- 
 nated yet afraid ; but she could not finally deny herself 
 the excitement of meeting him again under the restraint 
 of others present. She hesitated, too, about her dress 
 whether to set off the beauty his eye had seized so boldly, 
 or to minimize it for the sake of Horace, and delicacy. 
 
THE UMBRELLA 73 
 
 Here again temptation conquered ; it was so long since 
 she had met any one who understood the exciting game 
 they were playing. 
 
 Barbie watched her curiously as she turned over her 
 necklaces, trying one and another with the peculiar oys- 
 ter white of the silk she had laid out. She had not worn 
 white before, and Horace was not coming that evening. 
 Dressing up for a stranger any man that came along ! 
 Barbie justly severe as usual, was not this time quite cor- 
 rect. This stranger was not " any man " ; his personal- 
 ity had taken an extraordinary hold on Stella, pining for 
 the perilous form of amusement its daring promised her. 
 She knew quite well what she risked, but peace of mind 
 was not hers in any case ; she was restless as all are who 
 are in doubt about their course, and as much in the power 
 of those who have no doubts. This man, she felt, had no 
 scruples either. The fact did not repel her : it was in ac- 
 cordance with the demands of her nature which was passive 
 in deed, though abandoned in imagination. 
 
 " You look quite like summer, Stella." Her uncle 
 greeted her with a pleased surprise, when she came in 
 before tea and slipped smoothly past him to her seat by 
 the fire. "Mr. Bradburn, my niece, Miss Mutrie, from 
 Jamaica, British West Indies. No, she 's only half Eng- 
 lish : half of her is Hannington my half. She 's my 
 sister's child. I 'm glad to see you out of black, at last, 
 my dear. The women oughtn't to add to it with their 
 clothes when the weather 's so gloomy." 
 
 " We '11 show her sunshine after we get her out on the 
 plains." 
 
 " Yes well; she is n't going to be one of us. There 's 
 a young man here has persuaded her to stay." 
 
74 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Bradburn looked meaningly at Stella and smiled. 
 
 " Do you take along any women folks of your own, Mr. 
 Bradburn?" 
 
 Stella raised her eyes and let them fall. She felt to her 
 disgust that she was blushing. There was a second's pause. 
 
 " You have a family, I presume ? " Alvin changed the 
 question. 
 
 " All the family I possess, sir, I can put under my hat," 
 said Bradburn, motioning as if he lifted it to the company, 
 " and I have never regretted the fact less than at this mo- 
 ment," he added with marked significance. 
 
 Stella's eyelids flickered ; a pair of hawk's eyes pounced 
 upon hers and hovered there. She made an excuse to leave 
 the room. As Bradburn opened the door for her she 
 tripped on the mat ; he caught her hand to steady her. 
 " Do you know what freedom means to a man in my con- 
 dition ? " he murmured. 
 
 " Right before uncle ! " She paced the bedroom floor 
 alone, exulting in the wretch's extravagance. This was the 
 sort of wooing she had dreamt of. " He must be crazy, or 
 else I am." Horace's image came before her and she shiv- 
 ered with loathing. She trembled, with something else. 
 The man was terrible ; what would he do next ! 
 
 Barbie came up, after giving the table its last touches, 
 to look herself over a little : puritan prinking, Stella called 
 it, it was so embarrassed and deprecatory. 
 
 "You're ashamed to see your own face in the glass 
 for fear some one should think that you think you are 
 pretty ! " she would tease. But to-night there was no play- 
 ing. The girls glanced at each other in silence ; a strain 
 was in the atmosphere. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BETWEEN TWO STOOLS 
 
 THE deed of the Hannington place had not been ac- 
 cepted nor signed yet, but ten per cent of the purchase 
 money was in a lawyer's hands as a guarantee of good 
 faith. 
 
 One Saturday afternoon, Horace Hitchcock called early 
 and asked Mr. Hannington to walk out with him a little 
 way. They went down to the barn and sat in the carriage- 
 room and had a short and dreadful talk. 
 
 Hitchcock, with shameful tears, told how he had been 
 jilted : Stella refused to marry him, after all. The place 
 to buy it now would make him a laughing stock. He 
 asked to draw out of his bargain. 
 
 Alvin said, " Of course ! and you don't lose your forfeit, 
 either. One of my family has cheated you I don't want 
 your money, too. No ; I won't keep it : we 're humiliated 
 enough. What does she say for herself ? " 
 
 Horace's words need not be recorded. But he was mag- 
 nanimous enough to own that Stella would never say she 
 loved him, and had warned him that she could " cheat like 
 anything." 
 
 " Oh she can ! " said her uncle. " That 's evident. I 
 don't know where she gets it from. If there 's any of it in 
 me, now 's no time to fool with it. I shan't take your 
 money, Horace. You 've been dealt hardly with among 
 us." 
 
 But Alvin's face was dust gray. He sat turning over 
 
76 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 the loose contents of his pocket with the hand he carried 
 there. The men could not look at each other. 
 
 " Well ! " he coughed and spat, and spoke in a dry, 
 grating voice. " It 's partly my own fault. To be honest, I 
 never believed she cared for you much. In a father's place 
 I 'd ought to have made you both pause on it a while. I 'm 
 obliged to say I saw my own side too clear. It came like 
 an answer to prayer ; but it did n't come from the right 
 place, Horace, or it would have turned out better. I 
 should n't have let her go ahead and do so ; her aunt I 
 know will feel it too. We, both of us, tell the truth, 
 were too Almighty glad to get her off our hands. She 's a 
 singular piece : pleasant as the day, and easy to live with, 
 but undependable and shiftless and vain vain as sin. 
 I don't care if I do say it." 
 
 " You can say it to me ! I know her now," said poor 
 Horace. " I 'm sore I 'm sore about it. I meant to do 
 well by her. She never would repent if she 'd give me but 
 the chance." 
 
 " Well, see if she won't. Maybe it 's just a freak. Give 
 her time, Horace. I '11 get her aunt to talk to her. She 
 may not realize " 
 
 " No, no : I could n't go through with it again. I could n't 
 trust her. I don't want her over-persuaded nor accused 
 nor frightened. If she don't want me, let her go." 
 
 " Well, you shan't be mocked with the place on your 
 hands. I'm sorry, man. But there's this to say on her 
 side : she lost her mother when she was four years old. 
 Her father did n't amount to anything ! he left her at 
 loose ends. It wa'n't a nice set of folks she lived with. 
 I don't mean to rake up the man's past, now it 's done 
 with, but he left things in a scandalous mess. We can't 
 
BETWEEN TWO STOOLS 77 
 
 go into it women, and dabbling in the slave traffic : he 
 was better acquainted with the Congo coast and the har- 
 bor of New Orleans than ever he was with any of the 
 China ports, though the China trade was what he boasted 
 of." 
 
 Supported by his good pride about the forfeit money, 
 Alvin postponed for a little his own situation ; but he faced 
 it he and Silence faced it together, in the long hours of 
 the night. Their Oregon plans were in ruins ; and as he 
 had relied on the sale for means to meet the legacies due 
 the first week in March, no other arrangements had been 
 completed. No possible ones could be made now the 
 place must go at auction. This was a thing without prece- 
 dent in the family since the first house was built to shelter 
 the first of the name in America. 
 
 It was easy for Barbie not to speak of something she 
 was not supposed to know, but Aunt Silence talked to 
 Stella in whatever room they found themselves alone. 
 She tried to read the girl, and learn if her mind was indeed 
 made up ; if she realized what she had done, what she had 
 lost, herself, and how little remained. Stella appeared to 
 be sublimely indifferent to the future. 
 
 "Even if we were able to go, I don't see how we could 
 take you, Stella, unless you find you can profit by this trial 
 in the right direction. Mr. Yardley is averse to taking any 
 grown person who is n't a church member." 
 
 "How about his son?" 
 
 "Jimmy isn't taken he goes. He's a man. I under- 
 stand he gave his father fair notice he was going anyhow. 
 It 's different with a minor. Well ; we 'd be responsible. 
 But if you can't ever know your own mind, how 's any- 
 body to answer for you ? " 
 
78 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " If I were to say I was ready to join the church now, no 
 one would believe me ; " Stella smiled bitterly. " They 
 would think I did it, as I promised to marry for a 
 home!" 
 
 " Oh, don't! " said Mrs. Hannington. 
 
 " What shall I do ? I can go back to Jamaica, I sup- 
 pose." 
 
 " You know you can't. Your uncle would n't hear of it ; 
 and there 's nothing there for you. It 's hard to say where 
 any of us will go." 
 
 Stella went over to her aunt's chair and stood beside 
 her patiently, in deference to her tears. She would have 
 liked to weep herself, but she had no real sense of the 
 trouble which oppressed every one about her. 
 
 " Do you wish me to bring him back and tell him I will 
 marry him ? " 
 
 " Mercy, no ! Why should I want you to do wrong? " 
 
 " I don't know what to do," said Stella. " I don't see 
 what I ought to have done. You were willing I should 
 marry him at first ; did you think then I loved him ? Did 
 you ever think so, Aunt Silence ? " 
 
 There was no satisfactory answer to this question ; Aunt 
 Silence was humbled by it, but thought no better of Stella, 
 the source of so many perplexities. The girl sat upstairs 
 alone in her room for hours at a time, partly to hide her 
 shameless indifference. All the true feeling she had was 
 a consuming restlessness a craving for change, for re- 
 lease from these woebegone relatives who took life, herself, 
 themselves, and all things with such terrible seriousness. 
 
 She wrote a letter that afternoon and posted it in the 
 village. She met a number of persons on her walk whom 
 she knew women and girls ; they avoided seeing her. 
 
BETWEEN TWO STOOLS 79 
 
 The letter was addressed to Bradburn, Esq. (she 
 
 was writing to a man whose first name she did not know), 
 at his business address in Boston. It said : 
 
 I believe you are a wizard. You knew my mind before 
 I knew it myself. I have broken my engagement, but the 
 punishment is dreadful. There 's no end to it. He the 
 man was going to buy my uncle's place, for a home for 
 me. He only wanted it for me. When I said I could n't 
 go on as we were, he backed out of his bargain. Uncle is 
 worried about some legacies that are coming due. He has 
 no money to meet them. The place is to be sold at auc- 
 tion, I believe. Every one thinks it 's my fault all this 
 trouble because I could n't marry a man I never can 
 love. People that I know won't speak to me. I am in dis- 
 .grace. And yet I told him all along I did n't care for him. 
 He said he 'd take me anyhow take the chance of my 
 learning to care. 3^ should have learned only to hate him. 
 Do you know of anything I can do ? of any way uncle 
 can get help about the money? I don't see how it 's my 
 fault, but if it is, will you help me to find some way of 
 repairing all the trouble I seem to have caused ? 
 
 You said we were fellow-travellers. This traveller ap- 
 pears to be stuck fast, unable to get back or to go for- 
 ward. 
 
 In doubt, faithfully yours, 
 
 STELLA MUTRIE. 
 
 She hesitated over the declaration above her name ; it 
 was the merest convention ; he knew enough of the world 
 to take it so. Yet she knew he would not so take it, in 
 this case. 
 
80 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 She heard nothing directly from her letter, but chance 
 words her uncle dropped assured her that he was looking 
 for another visit soon from Bradburn. He had, in fact, 
 been in the house an hour or more, talking to his host, 
 before she knew it. 
 
 She was sitting above in her bedroom the girls' 
 room, where Barbie seldom came to disturb her cousin's 
 listless musings. Coming down she picked up a pet kitten 
 at the stair-head and descended slowly, cuddling its mur- 
 muring warmth beneath her chin. She did not see Brad- 
 burn till he came out from the parlor just as she had 
 reached the bottom step. It was useless to try to hide 
 from him the complete joy of her surprise. 
 
 He wore a new suit of fine dark blue cloth and a satin 
 waistcoat striped with velvet. The bow which finished his 
 stock was tied in an elegant and citified way. She took 
 a starved delight in his gallant, worldly appearance. And 
 his strange eyes were the same ; the feeling they gave 
 her, the weak trembling that dissolved in helpless, excited 
 laughter. She kept hold of the kitten lest he should see 
 how her hands were shaking. He offered his ; she guided 
 one paw of the kitten to meet it. Smiling he took her then 
 by the wrists and forced her hands apart ; the kitten fell 
 between them with a thud to the carpet and a surprised 
 " mew " jounced out of it. 
 
 " Now I shall take them both ! " He held her hands in 
 his for some seconds. " I did n't come to play with kit- 
 tens, you know." His tones smote upon her nerves like 
 throbbing brass. 
 
 As he did not mention her letter, she would not ; but 
 she knew it had brought him. It was their secret from 
 the family. 
 
BETWEEN TWO STOOLS 81 
 
 " Where are they all ? " she led the way into the sitting- 
 room, which was empty. 
 
 " I have not seen the ladies yet. Your uncle and I have 
 had a little talk." 
 
 "Where is uncle?'' 
 
 " Hitching up a horse. We are going to look at some 
 lots he owns out towards the marshes. I am here for a 
 purpose, you know that, don't you? I am interested in 
 your uncle's getting off for Oregon. Part of my prophecy 
 has come true; how about the other part?" 
 
 " Why should I want to go to Oregon ! " Stella cried. 
 She sat down shivering close to the hearth, and rested her 
 elbows on her knees, a favorite attitude when absorbed. 
 The same long chain of cut garnets fell into her lap in 
 two straight lines, describing the lovely curves of neck 
 and bosom. He drew up a chair and sat and bit his lips 
 and watched her; certain nervous motions betrayed his 
 state, although his physical control in general was perfect 
 as a gambler's. 
 
 At length the question came, dragged out of her : " Are 
 you going to be there to stay any time ? " 
 
 "In Oregon?" he answered softly. "What should I 
 do in that galley, my dear ? I shall see them through the 
 mountains, and deliver my stuff that I 'm taking out to 
 Fort Union. Part of it goes around the Horn ; that must 
 be met and re-shipped up the Columbia. It sounds pretty 
 mixed, but it will all combine and straighten out if my plans 
 go through. I don't do business for the fun of it, though 
 there 's lots of fun. Then, when I 've toted up my commis- 
 sions, there are other, bigger plans." His eyes blazed. 
 
 Stella looked up with a hunted expression. " After the 
 journey is over, then, we shall see no more of you ? " . 
 
82 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I hope " he began, and laughed and smothered the 
 laugh abruptly. " No, I won't say that ; it 's a first-rate 
 company none better. They will make it go. Their piety 
 won't block them out of a good slice apiece of government 
 land. I 'm to help them there, too, do a little lobbying 
 in Washington on the Land-Grant Bill. Are you as pious 
 as the rest of them ? " 
 
 Stella smiled, too, but tears stood in her eyes. 
 
 " My dear," he repeated, looking into them while her 
 hands were held in his, "I hope I shall part good 
 friends with most of your friends, and with some of 
 their money in my pocket. But I do not part with you, 
 unless you desire to see no more of me. When we have 
 made that most wonderful journey together what do 
 you think?" There was no answer in words. They both 
 rose : Stella's head swam with the long, fierce kiss he had 
 given her. The chaise stopped at the horse-block and her 
 uncle came tramping up the porch steps. His look, his 
 changed voice and expression told her " The ships can 
 sail ! " 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE COVENANT 
 
 NOTICES of the Hannington auction were torn down. 
 It was understood Alvin had found a new purchaser at 
 the last moment, or some one with money to risk on a 
 second mortgage. 
 
 The minister was asked one day if he would see Mrs. 
 Hannington for a moment. Ministers know what a 
 woman's "moment" means, but his valued parishioner 
 was not kept waiting. 
 
 Shown into the study, she breathed deep, having walked 
 too fast whilst her thoughts were centred in what she was 
 about to say. 
 
 "Now I have come to trouble you again," she warned 
 him, smiling nervously as they shook hands. " We're in a 
 great fix up at our house. Things have about come to a 
 standstill. You've heard what Stella has done? " 
 
 Mr. Yardley assented, reserving his sympathy. 
 
 " Young girls have been known to change their minds 
 before, Mr. Yardley. I don't know as she ought exactly 
 to be blamed for not wanting to marry without the proper 
 feelings?" 
 
 "Certainly not," said the minister. 
 
 " She was late finding it out, to be sure ; but then she 
 acted up to her convictions. She 's lost a good deal by it, 
 in one way." 
 
 "True; she has not been mercenary." 
 
 "I did think at first 'twas his money; I will confess I 
 
84 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 didn't respect her much for taking him. We didn't do any- 
 thing about it, so we 're hardly the ones to blame her now." 
 
 " I think you put it very fairly," said Mr. Yardley. 
 "Neither do I blame her, for being honest." 
 
 " What else could it be ! She as good as said to me, once, 
 that she'd sooner give right up than go to Oregon to settle. 
 I pitied her when she took Horace Hitchcock. I thought 
 she was a poor little coward and wanted to live easy, a 
 rich man's wife. What she's doing now looks better, 
 certainly. Don't you think so?" 
 
 " Are you positive her affections are not engaged else- 
 where ? with some one, possibly, who might be going in 
 our party?" 
 
 " How could that be, when she said she 'd court death 
 sooner than be obliged to go?" 
 
 "Is it quite lately she said that?" 
 
 "I don't remember, exactly 'twas before she was 
 engaged, though, for it gave me a clue to her taking the 
 man. He certainly behaved well. I suppose he was keyed 
 up, at first ; now he 's growing more bitter. She ought to 
 get away from here, if only on his account." 
 
 "I don't know that he should be considered to that 
 extent," said Mr. Yardley. " He has abundant means to 
 go himself." 
 
 He spoke as required, but his mind was busy on a closer 
 question; he was cogitating about Jimmy whether his 
 joining the expedition late could have influenced Stella 
 Mutrie. All his most private, searching fears and hopes 
 were centred in her not going, yet he knew that her good 
 aunt was come to ask his official consent to it. It be- 
 hooved him to examine carefully what lay back of his 
 objections, if he offered any. 
 
THE COVENANT 85 
 
 "I don't see exactly what we do blame her for, but she 's 
 lost all her friends. Nobody speaks to her hardly when she 
 goes out. Mr. Yardley, do you condemn her so much?" 
 
 "I don't know her disposition," said Mr. Yardley. 
 "Ostracism of the young when they are in doubt about 
 themselves is certainly cruel ; I should condemn that ; but 
 public opinion is like water: it slips through our fingers, 
 and still its force is beyond us. It is one of the mysteries 
 of character how one person can do a thing and never 
 be questioned, and another, doing the same thing, is cast 
 overboard." 
 
 "Yes, but she's so young! Her life has never been 
 governed, oh, worse than that! There's room enough 
 for mistrust-, but we must have charity. You remember 
 her mother, Mr. Yardley?" 
 
 "I do; she was one of my dear wife's young school 
 friends." 
 
 "I think a great deal of my husband's family, but 
 Mary Hannington I always heard was a little a little 
 sentimental? Maybe she never was very well. But Stella 
 is strong " 
 
 "It is a case for prayer: for our enlightenment, and 
 for receptiveness in her. It is hard to know how to help 
 those who can't see their own greatest need." 
 
 "Well, she needs us: I don't know who she's going to 
 turn to, if we were to leave her behind." 
 
 "Has she never been moved at all towards the true and 
 only source?" 
 
 "You have talked with her, Mr. Yardley : you know her 
 state better than I can. Of course we sympathize with 
 your objection to anything but a close membership; but 
 it's going to exclude her, I'm afraid." 
 
86 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " It excludes my own son ; yet he is going with us. He 
 says it is an open road." 
 
 "Not for her, Mr. Yardley. And I don't see how we 
 can leave her we can't ! What shall we do ? Had we 
 best give up going ourselves? " Mrs. Hannington was being 
 subtle without knowing it. " I don't see how it could be 
 managed, now, either ; Alvin 's made all his plans ; we 've 
 burnt our ships, so to say." 
 
 " Who is it, may I ask, stands behind your husband now, 
 in this strait you once spoke to me of ? " Mr. Yardley 
 hesitated to intrude, yet he was anxious, for reasons. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Bradburn." 
 
 " Your husband has confided in him ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't know, but he seemed aware there was 
 some difficulty. I guess it was common knowledge enough; 
 I didn't gather all that was said he seemed just sent, 
 somehow, at the last moment. I don't know as I ever saw 
 Alvin so relieved." 
 
 " Are you much indebted to him ? " 
 
 " Why, he 's practically lifting the whole load for the 
 present." 
 
 " At high interest, most probably ? " 
 
 44 1 don't think so. He 's a generous, large sort of man 
 very free about money; a great friend to pioneering. 
 I don't know but he 's as much a missionary in his way as 
 some others are in a better way. He believes it 's a wonder- 
 ful country out there, and it 's meant for us. And if we 
 don't get it, others will, and we '11 realize what we 've lost 
 when it 's too late." 
 
 44 That is good practical preaching. But, in my dealings 
 with him, he hardly struck me as one who would be likely 
 to forget his price, not entirely disinterested." 
 
THE COVENANT 87 
 
 " I don't suppose lie is : he 's got on too well in the 
 world to have been that always. But he and Alvin seem to 
 have taken a wonderful fancy to each other. You do see 
 it sometimes with folks so different you can't believe it 
 hardly. He seemed to enjoy himself with us," the simple 
 woman boasted ; " he said it was good to be in a real home." 
 
 " Then he is not married ? " Thinking always of the two 
 young persons dearest to him, Mr. Yardley now was trou- 
 bled for Barbara had this altruistic stranger been setting 
 his hopes on a sweeter reward than money ? 
 
 " I should judge he was n't, by a remark he made." 
 
 " You don't know if he is ? " 
 
 " Why, he said, right out, he 'd no women folks to take 
 along ; he could put his family under his hat." 
 
 " Yes ? " Mr. Yardley assented ; " that is a common 
 figure of speech, I believe. But, do you know, Mrs. Han- 
 nington, assuming to be worldly for once, I think I 
 would not admit a stranger to the company of young girls 
 very intimately, unless I had traced him back a little. 
 Are you committed to this man already in friendship ? " 
 
 " I suppose you might call it a beginning that way. In 
 business I guess we are in pretty deep with him." She 
 smiled, uneasy ; "I hope it 's all right ? " 
 
 " I have no reason to imagine otherwise," said the min- 
 ister conscientiously. But his forebodings were at work on 
 these new elements added to the membership of his picked 
 company which had promised such providential combin- 
 ations. 
 
 Returning to Stella, he asked : " I suppose she is not 
 very well provided for ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing, you may say. He made money, 
 her father, but he spent right along as though there 
 
88 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 was no end to it. And there are claims against the estate 
 we can't dispute without going to law. It 's too far off and 
 too slow, and too unpleasant every way, for justice ; her 
 uncle advises her to let it all go ; the lawyers would get it 
 anyway. She has n't much to count on besides what we are 
 able to do for her. I don't see as she 's fitted anyway to do 
 for herself ; as useless a pretty person as ever was. But 
 there ! Suppose you did say ' take her' ? Let her be what 
 she will, we can't expect to show up any better than the 
 apostles, can we? one in twelve ? " 
 
 " Well put," said the minister, smiling. " I have no fear 
 of a Judas amongst us. I warn you, though, my friend : a 
 form of discipline will be exacted on our journey that you 
 good ladies would find intolerable in your own community. 
 One reason I shall not join the caravan that starts when 
 we do is the silly attempt at democracy those great mov- 
 ing villages try to practise, in midocean, you may call it. 
 I am the captain of our ship, so far as the souls on board 
 are concerned. Whoever signs with me, must weigh well 
 that condition beforehand; for themselves and for those 
 they bind with them. We are going where there is no 
 civil law and no means of administering it if we had it. 
 We are not an organized church, as yet ; simply a collec- 
 tion of human beings chosen as material for a church, who 
 agree, in uniting with my company, to recognize me as 
 their governing head for the time we are on the road. We 
 shall meet new and trying experiences together, grievances 
 will arise, questions of private conduct outside of fam- 
 ily discipline. Such questions, where they affect the good 
 of the whole, shall be laid before me. If I fear my own 
 judgment, a committee will be named by me to pass on 
 my decisions ; but in all cases where sin as distinguished 
 
THE COVENANT 89 
 
 from crime is to be punished, I, under the Lord's guidance, 
 shall wield the rod. This is the covenant each individual 
 among you who is of age will be expected to make with me." 
 
 " Mr. Bradburn calls himself our ' temporal head ' ? " 
 Mrs. Hannington sought confirmation of this remarkable 
 statement. 
 
 " Yes, he amuses himself with our terms 4 temporal ' and 
 4 spiritual,' though I should rather call him the ' temporal 
 arm.' Power, in material things, would represent his co- 
 efficiency, and knowledge in directions where we must 
 permit him to lead. But I am your pastor in the Lord." 
 
 " Well," Mrs. Hannington rose, feeling stiff with the 
 intensity of the interview. 
 
 "Well?" the minister repeated, taking her kind big 
 hand. " Will you remember my violent language before 
 you decide to commit another of your young charges to 
 my care, on this long and difficult journey? Can you 
 agree not to keep from the old friend,?for family reasons, 
 anything he ought to know as the pastor of the whole 
 flock ? Our New England women have seldom been known 
 to falter in any public duty required of them." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington smiled rather wanly. " I don't antic- 
 ipate we shall have any trouble, if you are thinking of 
 Stella ; she seems to me quite a good deal chastened." 
 
 Silence went home heavy-hearted, having gained her 
 point. She had forced her sincerity in urging, as duty 
 bade, a thing which she believed would blight her daugh- 
 ter's hopes of happiness. Grimly she said to herself, " If 
 there 's nothing in it, she can't know it too soon." She 
 never guessed the minister's own private, lonely struggle. 
 He was another honest soul that disdained to palter with 
 poor motives. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 OPPORTUNITY 
 
 THEY saw no more of their temporal head (or arm) 
 till they mustered at St. Louis. We know that Mr. Yard- 
 ley had set his heart on young men with years of work 
 before them, and young wives who might have hopes of 
 numerous and healthy offspring. Yet, such is the fate of 
 Perfectionists, the first persons actually accepted by him 
 were his old friends, Alvin and Silence Hannington, both 
 well past fifty ; and such is the comfort of human com- 
 panionship when our ideals are knocked to pieces, the 
 minister was thankful and glad to get them. 
 
 The other men were young, but disappointment again ! 
 most of the wives turned out to be either maidens wait- 
 ing at home in the promised stage, or they were hindered 
 by various reasons from making the journey at this time. 
 It was believed that no wagons nor anything on wheels 
 could cross the Blue Mountains. This was stated persist- 
 ently and the report was spread by the Hudson's Bay 
 factors, for the obvious reason that the fur companies 
 wanted to keep home-makers out of all that tramontane 
 territory. 
 
 A journey known to last six or seven months, and end- 
 ing in the saddle, naturally effected a rigid selection when 
 it came to women and children. The few who " passed " 
 were cheerful, buxom specimens of womankind, and the 
 five or six little faces that peeped from under wagon- 
 tops when the new arrivals drove in looked like the clean 
 
OPPORTUNITY 91 
 
 seed of a hopeful generation. They came out of various 
 congregations east of Ohio, endorsed by their pastors as 
 sound in character and doctrine, bearing letters of mem- 
 bership in readiness to join the new church of the North- 
 west : the church they would build as their forefathers 
 built the first log meeting-houses, with one eye upon God 
 and one eye upon Satan lurking in the forest, father and 
 instigator of all the evil that dwelt therein. Some progress 
 had been made in thought and practice as to both devil 
 and savages, but the Congregational idea of God was still 
 an awful thing to contemplate, and it was a question of 
 the individual minister, or even of his moods, how far 
 consistency would drive the nail that pinned man in his 
 natural state to eternal torment hereafter. 
 
 The pilgrims came mostly in their own farm convey- 
 ances, by country roads deep in mud, and beaten up with 
 spring rains. They brought thrice what they could hope 
 to carry onward : fancied necessaries ; beloved possessions 
 bought with years of waiting ; parlor tables, best bonnets, 
 china tea-sets, pots of preserves, and growing plants. 
 Bradburn's first task was the hard one of parting the 
 women from their idols ; husbands were consoled by 
 lighter loads for the cattle and the prices their wives' relics 
 brought in the booming St. Louis market : many a staid 
 old Puritan sideboard or high-browed secretary stood 
 alone in the alien, unthrifty border home which had ac- 
 quired it for a song for a sermon, would have suited 
 better with their sacrificed dignities. 
 
 The Hanningtons travelled by stage-coach to Albany ; 
 thence by the Erie Canal to Buffalo, where their freight 
 slowly overtook them. They visited meanwhile at u Wil- 
 liam's," and there they left Grandma Trumbull to end her 
 
92 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 days in peace. But her soul was marching on. Very little 
 would have persuaded the undaunted old lady to forsake 
 her feather bed and India-print curtains for the women's 
 end of a Santa Fe wagon and a view of the desert stars. 
 She had never seen the prairies nor the plains nor a herd 
 of buffalo, and mourned that her day must close without 
 one more journey " where the strange roads go down " 
 the roads that were the heritage of her grandchildren. 
 
 "You've seen a good deal in your time, mother," Alvin 
 endeavored to comfort her. " Some folks would be satis- 
 fied to rest." 
 
 " I ain't through yet ; I can rest when I have n't got 
 strength to do anything else. I 'm coming out to visit ye 
 soon as I find a wagon can get across the mountains." 
 
 " Whitman says it can, mother, and we 're a-going to 
 see." 
 
 " And don't you let anything stop you ! I don't want 
 you should come back ; I want to live to go out there 
 too." 
 
 " You shall, you shall ! " " Blessings on you, dears : 
 The Lord is your Shepherd. Do be careful of yourselves." 
 The women choked in each other's arms, but they shed 
 few tears. 
 
 " Barbie my pet, don't you go and marry any outland- 
 ish fellow out there. Wait and plenty good ones will come. 
 You wait and get a good one ! You can take your pick 
 if any girl can ! " 
 
 Grandma's talk was a trifle worldly for past seventy. 
 She would speak out like that about men and marrying. 
 Sad or glad, it was her fashion, of a time when, as she said, 
 girls were not brought up so squeamish. Stella thought 
 grandma was great fun. 
 
OPPORTUNITY 93 
 
 " And how about me ? " she asked, half serious, aside. 
 
 " Oh, you '11 go through the woods and pick up a 
 broken stick at last." 
 
 "A what?" 
 
 " What ! " grandma echoed. " You heard me. Come, 
 give me a kiss, my pretty; what I won't do is flatter 
 you ! And if you can ever find a man who won't flatter you, 
 you marry him, quick ! " 
 
 St. Louis was as " wide open " as a town can be. In- 
 dependence was the " jumping-off place " ; but at St. Louis 
 the wise ones girded their loins, sewed their money into 
 their belts, and committed their souls to God. The foolish 
 were plucked like geese and said good-bye to theatres and 
 cock-fights and cards and girls and faced the grim path 
 of the nation's destiny with unclean memories and fever- 
 ish breaths. 
 
 In spite of firmest intentions to the contrary, Mr. 
 Yardley's company did join the spring caravan, twenty- 
 two wagons and one hundred and five persons, eight days 
 out from Independence ; and they were in trouble already. 
 A baby had died, and its mother, prostrated by grief and 
 ill besides, declared herself unable to go on. The caravan 
 split ; a few sympathizers waited at the sick-camp, the 
 main column making a few miles a day uncertainly ; horse- 
 men posting back and forth for the latest news of the 
 woman's condition, and votes nightly taken on the course 
 to pursue. Some called it cheap humanity to spare one 
 family's feelings at the cost of delay which might imperil 
 the lives of them all later on. Yet wisdom halted. The 
 pilgrims were new to this kind of voting. The husband 
 then drew out from the company and said he would take 
 his wife back, by easy stages, to her friends in Illinois. 
 
94 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 There was nothing left of their home, but that was his 
 affair : he cut the knot ; the caravan moved on. 
 
 Mr. Yardley's party met this lone wagon going the other 
 way. They asked questions which the man answered im- 
 passively ; his wife from her pallet-bed could be heard 
 sobbing while he told their story. Farther on they passed 
 the little grave : " Mary Lancaster, died May 2nd : aged 
 two years and seven mos." " A pebble cast " a 
 snowflake on the desert's dusty face. 
 
 " Now, I wonder," said Aunt Silence to the constant 
 companion of her wonderings, " what Mr. Yardley would 
 have done. I don't envy him his almighty 'one-man- 
 power!' About the worst thing that can happen to any 
 one, I should say, is sitting up alone in the judgment seat." 
 
 " Well, voting, you see, don't work either : they wasted 
 a whole week and the husband decided after all." 
 
 " It was manlier : I guess he felt full better about it 
 than if he 'd been herded back like cattle." 
 
 " It would n't have been done that way. Mr. Yardley 
 would have offered up a good prayer, too." 
 
 " Just the same, I would n't be in his place when he 
 gets us out there a thousand miles from anywhere. He 
 isn't a young man and he isn't familiar with what com- 
 mon folks call life." 
 
 " We are going on with the others for a spell, I hear 
 say." 
 
 " Is that so ? Why, I thought he was so set against it ! " 
 
 " Mr. Yardley 's considerable of an aristocrat, remem- 
 ber, though he don't know it. When he heard about all 
 these folks from everywhere consorting together so, it 
 struck him like Bedlam broke loose. I know he told me 
 it was nothing but troubles, little and big : children of 
 
OPPORTUNITY 95 
 
 different wagons disagreeing and ketching each other's 
 diseases, dogs fighting, guns going off, handled care- 
 less, and killing folks. One man captain one month, 
 another the next, voted for by their friends. Ridiculous 
 rivalries and feuds more politics than Town Meetin'. 
 He said he 'd just as soon go into a madhouse as into such 
 a mess." 
 
 " That don't sound like him." 
 
 " Well, it 's my way of putting it." 
 
 " You better be careful how you quote the minister 
 when you are talking yourself." 
 
 "He'd been reading, see! Now, come to look at 'em 
 close by, they 're much the same as we are. I see fine big 
 fellows there, clean-built, sensible-looking. Don't know 
 as we can brag much on our own looks about now. Any 
 man 's a ruffian with a week's beard on his face." 
 
 More than this was true : the shadow of death and part- 
 ing crossing their path so soon had inclined all hearts to 
 gentleness. The strangers coming up to camp were 
 greeted like brothers. Mr. Yardley felt the warmth of 
 such a welcome, as night drew down in the new silence 
 of that great solitude. He, too, admired the faces of some 
 of the men. They joined camp-fires. And next day, being 
 Sunday, when his little company gathered for the service 
 of prayer and singing that marked off each seventh day 
 that saw them farther from church bells, the others closed 
 in respectfully and all said the Lord's prayer and sang 
 the doxology together. Those who had never seen each 
 other before, men from the East, the far East, men from 
 the Western Reserve, sprung from the same stock ; lank 
 Missourians, fever-shaken, but the sentiment not shaken 
 out of them ; homesick women who hushed their babes 
 
96 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 and wept silently, young girls casting curious looks at 
 the Northern women their newer clothes and brighter 
 skins. It all meant a future nation by the waters of the 
 West. The Lord was their shepherd too. 
 
 Mr. Yardley yielded easily to Bradburn's argument that 
 it would be wisdom to keep on with the train, since they 
 could hardly out-travel it without pressing themselves, or 
 let it pass them without unfriendliness and loss of precious 
 time. 
 
 "We needn't mix up in their election frauds," Brad- 
 burn jeered lightly, " and their discipline would be a loose 
 fit for us ! We can keep along with them as far as Green 
 Kiver. The caravans break up there anyhow: some for 
 California, some for our way." 
 
 During Sunday service, a man across the circle, singing 
 vigorously, kept his eyes fixed on Bradburn where he sat 
 between two lovely girls, a quiet one who looked proud, and 
 a golden-haired beauty with a glance that was not so still. 
 
 He came over, after the benediction, and caught Brad- 
 burn a playful slap between the shoulder blades. 
 
 "Hullo, Cap! pikin' West again? You look hearty. 
 How's the wife? How's her mother? going on just the 
 same? sad awful nuisance. Well, I suppose you con- 
 sole yourself ; same gay old Benedick ! " 
 
 Bradburn edged the speaker off a bit ; he did not in- 
 troduce him, though he looked amusing ; and interested. 
 " I '11 hunt you up later ; I 'm engaged to dinner with some 
 friends," he said. 
 
 " Nice-looking * friends ' ! You always light on your feet 
 somehow in the social game," said the new man. " I 'm 
 with an outfit from Pike County, good old Pike ! I 
 shan't take up your time! " 
 
OPPORTUNITY 97 
 
 " Where do you hang out your shirt? " said Bradburn ; 
 " what 's the street and number of your wagon ? " 
 
 He knew this conversation had been more or less over- 
 heard, but he seemed cool ; explanations did not particu- 
 larly worry him now ; the game was going his way. He 
 had played for secrecy in the first hand, when it suited 
 him to appear to be free in the conventional acceptation of 
 the word : he was not a Christian and he had a grudge 
 against Christian society, so called. These were simple 
 persons ; he had never found the force of language fail 
 him with minds like theirs. He believed that in an hour's 
 talk he could win them over to think of him as he thought 
 of himself, an injured man. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 BRADBURN'S EDUCATION 
 
 " You speak to him, Alvin ! " said Mrs. Hannington. 
 "I don't want he should think we are accusing him " 
 
 "Then why don't you let it pass? It don't affect us 
 any." 
 
 " Well, I don't know. It don't look well to quibble 
 about a simple question like that. If the man 's got a wife, 
 why could n't he say so ? " 
 
 " If you put it that way, no wonder you feel uncomfort- 
 able to bring it up. You '11 show that it nags you." 
 
 " That 's why I want you to bring it up, accident- 
 ally." 
 
 " Mother ! you can quibble as well 's any one when you 
 see reason to." 
 
 " I should be sorry if I could n't. You have to respect 
 people's feelings." 
 
 " Then why don't you, and leave the man alone ? " 
 
 " Because we 're seeing so much of him." 
 
 " Well, if he 's a married man, that settles it. He must 
 be hard on to forty." 
 
 " Oh, he's old enough, but he don't look it and he don't 
 act it. Do you remember that night in St. Louis, when he 
 and Jimmy took the girls to the Minstrels just as if 
 they were the same age ! Jimmy and Barbie came home 
 together. The other two not near so soon. Don't you re- 
 call it?" 
 
 " I don't know as I do." 
 
BRADBURN'S EDUCATION 99 
 
 " I don't know what place he took her to. They said 
 the show was no account, and Jimmy differed, and they 
 fussed about it and Stella sided with Bradburn ; and they 
 two went off she said they went to see some open-air 
 dancing : Indians and trappers and Mexicans, and they 
 had refreshments after, in a grove. I couldn't bear to 
 think of her in such a place. It was all a tangled-up story. 
 It made me cringe, somehow. Now, if he is married 
 after all " 
 
 " Well, I want to know ! A married man of forty ! Sup- 
 pose he is n't so particular as you are ; can't he give a lit- 
 tle pleasure to a chick like Stella ? The place is strange 
 to us and we think all of it 's queer. Their amusements 
 are innocent enough to them. It 's the way you look at it." 
 
 " It seems to me you 're quibbling now." 
 
 " Well, I don't like to speak this way about a man I 
 talk to every day as a friend. If you can't trust him, then 
 say so and quit doing it, but don't let 's criticize behind 
 his back." 
 
 " Well, I shall bring it up, if you won't. I want to hear 
 what he has got to say." 
 
 The opportunity came that evening, by the camp-fire, 
 Silence preferring to ask her question before the fam- 
 ily ; the better, perhaps, to hide her nervousness, for dis- 
 trust lay at the bottom of it. Even so, she took a long 
 breath to steady her voice before beginning. 
 
 " Did n't we understand you to say, Mr. Bradburn, that 
 you had no family ? " 
 
 " I must have said so if you asked me. I have no children, 
 and for the past fifteen years, no wife. Did you ask me if I 
 had a wife? There is," continued Bradburn, " a lady who 
 has the right to bear my name, but she is not my wife in 
 
100 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 any sense ever contemplated when our marriage laws were 
 made. It is a peculiar story " 
 
 He paused, but no one asked for the story. 
 
 " My wife is one of the best women in the world in 
 her world. She was my superior in every way when I 
 married her. I was a boy of twenty. I told her I was 
 twenty-three ; I added those three years out of pure grati- 
 tude she was thirty-one." He laughed coarsely. " I 
 thought the heavens had fallen ! She was n't pretty, but 
 she was the great lady of the village where they knew me 
 first as little better than a tramp. I walked in with a bun- 
 dle on my back ; but, six years after, they were giving me 
 a banquet in the town hall and presenting me with a 
 gold watch and chain I carry it still care to see the 
 inscription ? " 
 
 By the firelight, leaning his dark, high-colored visage 
 down where shadow and flame brought out its heavy out- 
 lines, he opened a glittering watch-case. 
 
 " Won't you read it out for us ? " said Mrs. Hanning- 
 ton stiffly. 
 
 " It 's of no consequence, now," said Bradburn "a 
 bauble : twenty years ago it helped to make a fool of me, 
 though. 
 
 " Generally speaking, a man's fool-trap is the moment 
 he selects as the proudest of his life. I had my first fore- 
 man's job in the Androscoggin woollen mills, part of my 
 wife's property from her father. He died up to his eye- 
 lids in money. That spring something happened ; there 
 was a big freshet and the storage-dam went out. Then it 
 was seen who was the man for a crisis. I suppose I did some 
 pretty quick thinking, if it was thinking. She praised my 
 work the night after the break. It was a bitter flood ; the 
 
BRADBURN'S EDUCATION 101 
 
 valley lined with houseless women and <2bi}*fren,> in ;th 
 pouring rain. She was out in it,' seMiag men' arouiict 'with 
 hot stuff and blankets. A tender-hearted, romantic per- 
 son, saw everything in a story-book light. It was she 
 started the hero cry ; others took it up. 
 
 " Well, the superintendent got the sack, and I got his 
 place that was too big for me, but I never let any one find 
 it out. That 's my rule : take a thing you want when you 
 can get it, work like sin and pay for it when you are able. 
 The gods never stand waiting, and they don't offer the 
 same thing twice. 
 
 " The day I got my step, she and her mother asked me 
 to dinner. I say she, because her mother was a lay figure. 
 It was a great condescension ; but they could ask whoever 
 they liked, for any reason that struck their fancy. She 
 asked Frederick Douglass to dinner once ! it was our only 
 quarrel. I would n't eat with a nigger if he was the pro- 
 phet Daniel. She would n't have asked me if I 'd been one 
 of the village boys ; then she 'd have had my family to swal- 
 low ; I was a rara avis. 
 
 " We made a long evening of it for the first. Old lady 
 amiable but sleepy ; went off early and left us. I got up 
 and offered to go, but I saw I need n't. 
 
 " The room where we sat was chock-a-block with books ; 
 smelt of 'em fairly. I had never seen so many together in 
 my life in a private house. I was hungry then for books. It 
 was my time to read. She was, I told you, thirty thirty- 
 one ; she was hungry for life, shut in. So we talked life 
 an old maid and a boy ! The advances, you might say, were 
 hers had to be. She was a sort of queen to me, then." 
 
 " Did she ask you to marry her ? " Barbie astonished her 
 mother by enquiring. 
 
103 4. PICKED COMPANY 
 
 , tVNo, Miss, .Barbie ; act woman I wanted could get the 
 ' chance to do that 4: .1 did want her then. There were 
 some people in that village I thought I 'd like to surprise, 
 and I did. But I had to pay for my fun ; that 's where the 
 little gods are laughing now. We were married. For five 
 years she was the best friend to me a man ever had. Say 
 what you like, a well-bred old maid is a great person. She 
 taught me to use my mind ; she taught me how to dress, 
 how to sit, and stand, and brush my hair. She was a 
 mother to me, but bright and funny about it, so it did n't 
 sting. 
 
 " But the village was too small for me ; my work was 
 routine. I had to go ; and she was tied. Her mother had 
 had a long sickness that left her weak in the upper story. 
 .There are plenty of places for taking care of gentle lun- 
 ies like her ; they could have paid for one all to herself, 
 they could have hired nurses and kept her home. No ; 
 my wife would n't listen to it. ' There is only a very little 
 of mother left,' she said, ' but that little wants me : I shall 
 be near her as long as she lives.' The old lady is living 
 still ; my wife is half dead. So there we are ! 
 
 " ' A man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave 
 unto his wife and they twain shall be one flesh.' Does that 
 mean woman also ? My wife don't believe in divorce. It 
 is n't a Christian institution, she says, nor a necessity of 
 Christian society. Separation, on sufficient grounds, she 
 tolerates ; but that does n't admit of second marriage. She 
 forgets that men and women mated before marriages were 
 made, on earth or in heaven either : there was no priest 
 for Adam and Eve." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington rose abruptly and said it must be near 
 bedtime. The speaker was forgetting he had two young 
 
BRADBURN'S EDUCATION 103 
 
 girls among his listeners ; her own fault, she owned ; she 
 need not have broached the subject then. 
 
 " Stella did not rise at once. Her aunt looked back : 
 "Aren't you coming, Stella? Take care of that stump 
 there ! I nearly fell over it." 
 
 Bradburn sprang to offer Mrs. Hannington his hand, 
 which she ignored. 
 
 Alvin, more clumsily, followed. "Ain't you coming, 
 Stella?" 
 
 " It 's early yet," she said. " I 'm not sleepy." 
 
 " I guess you 'd better come, had n't you ? " He turned 
 on his way, meaning to say a few words to Bradburn to 
 excuse his wife's abruptness. Stella strolled vaguely to- 
 wards the wagon. 
 
 " Good night," said Bradburn in a low voice. She did 
 not answer. 
 
 The Hanniugtons agreed that Bradburn's story had 
 been frank if anything indecently frank, though they 
 used a moderate word. His impartiality, which cost him 
 nothing, they found unexpected. The poor lady, his wife, 
 might have heard him herself, said Alvin 
 
 " I guess not ! " said Aunt Silence. " What do you think 
 of calling your wife an old maid, hungry for life ! And 
 the way he put it about her mother ! I don't like him ; 
 he 's coarse, and I always thought so." 
 
 Bradburn's statement of his wife's views on divorce, 
 while perfectly true, omitted the fact that he had never 
 asked for one. He did not bring the story down to date 
 and tell them that his wife was still the best friend he had ; 
 that he as ever was the one romance of her life, and knew 
 it and traded on it. That once a year he dawned on the 
 long night of her vigil, and flushed its pale horizon 
 
104 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 (a waiting for death) with the force and color of his pro- 
 gressions from one side of the continent to the other. No 
 one could enter so vitally into his schemes, for she backed 
 them with her money ; none could flatter his ego as she 
 could, for she had a command of words, and she was sin- 
 cere when she listened spellbound to his dramatic present- 
 ations of himself, and believed him born to be one of the 
 country's great men. He never talked better than to her, 
 in the glow of that reflection of himself he saw in her 
 earnest eyes ; he had that power over her imagination, and 
 desired to keep it till he became her heir in fact, as he 
 knew he was on paper. Meantime, his bondage was light. 
 It was only since he had met Stella Mutrie, hedged in 
 by relatives, and with a certain calculating side of her own 
 beneath her tropical softness, that he felt his limitations. 
 Now he proposed to free himself for his true marriage, the 
 flowering of his belated youth. 
 
 But no irrevocable step could be taken until he was on a 
 stronger financial footing of his own. His dreams were 
 those of a Faust after his soul has surrendered to sense : 
 nature in her shameless connivance was with him, and the 
 old gods laughed. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CAPTAIN OF THE KOAD 
 
 ALL the mules of the train sang together every morn- 
 ing before sunrise : no trumpeter was needed after that. 
 But amateur trumpet-calls were cheap ; they brightened 
 the day's monotony. There was reveille and the call for 
 the bachelor's and teamster's mess to meals, the order 
 for the wagons to pull out in line of march, and sound off, 
 when they unhitched at night. Young men on horseback 
 rode ahead, following Bradburn's lead, to examine the 
 country and choose the next camping-spot. Bradburn's 
 horse would be first across every doubtful ford. He was 
 seen scouring up mountain-sides, picking the best trail ; 
 he knew all the Indian signs they met, the name of each 
 tribe represented in their Indian encounters always 
 friendly. There was everything, he said, in manner when 
 you met these fellows : you must never let them suspect 
 you were anxious, still less afraid ; and you must n't give 
 an inch or they would take an ell, and mark it down for 
 death if you denied them. Light hand and hard eye did 
 it, the same as with horses. He was admired by most of 
 the young men who formed the scouting party. Others 
 thought he bragged and condescended. In all things he 
 was too theatrical for the New England taste. 
 
 Bradburn's outfit included two good horses gaited for 
 the saddle. He had listened to Stella's homesick raptures 
 over her rides in Jamaica. Rising at four, after coffee in 
 bed, and climbing the mountain to eat an elaborate hot 
 
106 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 breakfast cooked by black servants who had been up half 
 the night ; seated above the fog and watching the world 
 emerge color first, then mountain forms faintly showing 
 till, in a burst, the sun smote the veil and the great sea 
 wall broke through, rising dark and flashing into surf to- 
 wards the shore. Homeward lazily, then, through the jess- 
 amine-scented trails, to a bath and cool drinks and a 
 siesta in the darkened house. Her words could move him 
 as his moved her : he would retort huskily, " Wait, child ! 
 I will build you a cedar palace on the side of a mountain 
 bigger than your whole tuppenny island. You shall look 
 across the fog lakes to a chain of peaks, monarchs all, 
 with the colors of Jerusalem's gates on their foreheads. 
 We '11 keep the valley roads hot with men running with 
 stuff for you to eat ; and when we get tired of one place 
 we '11 ride away to another. Horses ho ; they are thick 
 as flies in that country ! The hills are black with 'em. I '11 
 have you a saddle made of tooled leather fit for a- queen's 
 prayer-book, and mounted with gold." 
 
 Not any of this was too crude for Stella's fancy, but 
 the actual date of this rhapsody was before Bradburn told 
 the story of his marriage. He had fewer opportunities 
 with her alone after they became an organized army on 
 the march. There had been unexpected seductive occa- 
 sions in St. Louis during the ten days spent in that un- 
 holy town ; hours it shook the blood in his veins to remem- 
 ber. Stella's thoughts in these days were her own. 
 
 " You know how to ride ! " he addressed her before the 
 family. " She 's a rider," he nodded to Mrs. Hamiington 
 familiarly, as an ally. " Miss Barbie, too, ought to learn. 
 We leave the wagons at Fort Hall, or Boise at the fur- 
 thest. Wagons can 't go over the Blue Mountains." 
 
CAPTAIN OF THE ROAD 107 
 
 "Not any wagons?" Mrs. Hannington exclaimed. 
 
 "Carts a few. There will be a great cutting-down 
 for that last climb. Some of the wagons we shall leave at 
 Fort Laramie some we '11 break up and make into those 
 carts, for ladies like yourself, ma'am." 
 
 "Old ladies." 
 
 " And mothers with babies, and children too small to 
 ride. The rest of us will have to toughen down to the 
 cross-saddle business over those high trails. So I say, the 
 young ladies had better work up their riding while the 
 roads are safe. I have a spare horse that 's a dandy, a 
 pacer. Will you let me lend it to you, Hannington, for 
 your girls to try ? " 
 
 Stella had jumped at the offer, but would not confess it 
 by her manner. Barbie was civil, while resolved to ride 
 no horse of Bradburn's. As Stella, after being properly 
 persuaded, began to ride and begged her cousin constantly 
 to take her turn, Barbie found herself cornered. She had 
 a fair amount of character for a girl of twenty, but she 
 was not yet so posed that she could nerve herself against 
 the appearance of old-maidishness it gave her to hold out, 
 or the seeming reflection on Stella. Her feeling about 
 Bradburn she did not attempt to explain, but favors from 
 him she felt it somehow impossible to accept. To her 
 mother she merely said she did not ride well enough to 
 show off before a crowd of men. This sounded disagree- 
 able, and she hastened to amend the speech, though Stella 
 was not present to be hurt by it. 
 
 " You know what I mean ! Stella can do it and every- 
 body thinks it charming. It would n't suit me ; now, do 
 you think it would, mother?" 
 
 Everybody did not think it charming. The older men 
 
108 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 said it was wearing horses out for nothing. Most of the 
 young wives with husbands on scout duty thought it bold 
 for one girl to ride with so many men alone. Mrs. Han- 
 nington was weak-minded : she hated to have Barbie left 
 out of everything youthful and gay. 
 
 "Why, Jimmy is one of them always," she said. "I 
 can 't see how it 's different from skating alone with him, 
 with all the village boys looking on." 
 
 " They were n't looking on ! " Barbie retorted, stung by 
 the difference. " They did n't care a snap about us, and 
 they all knew who we were." 
 
 " They know who you are now. Whatever you do you '11 
 do like yourself, not like Stella. It 's kinder to her, don't 
 you think?" Aunt Silence pleaded. 
 
 Barbie was still a moment, then she burst into frantic 
 sobbing. 
 
 " Oh, my dear, what is it ? " 
 
 " Nothing, nothing ! " 
 
 " I know ! I tease you all the time I can't seem to 
 help it we won't say another word." Mrs. Hannington 
 realized once more how constantly she was tempted to work 
 Barbie in Barbie whom she always could be sure of 
 into the exhausting problem of Stella. Neither she nor Mr. 
 Hannington liked to see their niece, beautiful as she 
 looked, flying ahead of a column of young men, sometimes 
 allowing herself to be caught, oftener leading the chase 
 for miles ahead of the caravan ; she was a senseless rider. 
 Jimmy would frown as he rode at her side or frankly scold 
 her, but he was the one she generally rode with now. It was 
 so contrived by her, and it flattered him when he began to 
 see her intention. He took credit to himself for lecturing 
 her in these opportunities for something different that she 
 
CAPTAIN OF THE ROAD 109 
 
 gave him. More than ever, for some reason, he was afraid 
 to lose control of himself. She listened to him with a 
 pretty pensiveness and promised to be good. 
 
 When Bradburn snatched a moment at her side, he 
 descended at once with the full spring of his tense male 
 speech upon her fainting imagination. There is no disguis- 
 ing the type girls like Stella represent; the insoluble pro- 
 blem of sex the last form of womanhood that yields to 
 the power of soul through motherhood or maiden self-re- 
 strairit. The Puritan half of her began while her own 
 mother, the poor lady, relaxed by illness, under the spell 
 of the tropical life around her clung feverishly to her pass- 
 ing moments of happiness in the arms of full-blown ma- 
 terialism. The paternal half was Captain Mutrie, a hand- 
 some sea animal without a thought of fear or a twinge of 
 conscience in his makeup. 
 
 " Do you forget how short those first talks were ? " 
 Bradburn said, crowding his horse up close to hers. " I 
 had five minutes each time to win you in, my girl, my love ! 
 How if I had said to you at first, ' I want you forever, but 
 I 'm a married man ' ? We should have lost each other. I 
 can and I shall do right by you, give me only what I need 
 in my two fists to keep you on, my blessed little queen! " 
 
 They were skirting those low sand hills called the 
 Coasts of the Platte. The road dipped into a wide, scooped 
 hollow and the world disappeared. They stopped their 
 horses. A wind from immeasurable distances flickered the 
 faded ribbon on Stella's hat ; a prairie-dog popped its head 
 out of its hole to reconnoitre and popped it in again, scat- 
 tering a few grains of sand that shocked the stillness like 
 a blast of gunpowder. Stella started. Bradburn's arm was 
 around her, but no one was in sight. 
 
110 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I can't bear this much longer," she said. " There will 
 be no way of hiding it, for me." 
 
 " You will not have to hide anything, precious : there is 
 plenty of time. Do you keep the bit of gold I gave you ? 
 Well, keep it dark. That is our world secret : it will change 
 the world for us, and for thousands of lovers after we are 
 dead and done with. Have you got it ? Suppose you give 
 it back to me. It might be safer." 
 
 " You are very careful, about the gold ! " 
 
 " Why not ? It means everything ; it makes us gods ! 
 Have you got it with you now ? " 
 
 She handed him out of her bosom, scornfully, a lump of 
 pale greenish yellow stuff wrapped in soft paper. He un- 
 covered and looked at it a moment. 
 
 " 4 The power and the glory,' " he murmured. " Gold is 
 the greatest power on earth, and the glory is to him who 
 finds it first and most ! And his will be the worship, 
 world without end." 
 
 " Oh, you are too awful ! " 
 
 " Why ? they are only words. Does the alleged Cre- 
 ator care what we say in our prayer-books ? Think of the 
 queer things he has listened to from all the peoples in lan- 
 guages before prayer-books began ! Don't you see how nar- 
 row it is, to think he hears only us, and that our stock 
 words and phrases the churches fight about mean any more 
 to him than the beating of a tom-tom or the name of Allah, 
 when the Turk falls on his face at sunrise ? " 
 
 " I am afraid of you," she repeated, " when you talk like 
 that. I am not a heathen ! " 
 
 " You are superstitious, darling, and so am I. I have a 
 superstition about this journey 
 
 Glancing: back he saw that the others were too near. 
 
CAPTAIN OF THE ROAD 111 
 
 He took his arm away and they trotted forward lightly 
 over the noiseless sand. 
 
 " I shall meet that man, you know, at Laramie. We '11 
 have six minutes' talk across the river. Then he will poke 
 along south and wait for me at the place where this 
 came from." Bradburn patted his breast-pocket. " He got 
 the secret from an old drunken Indian who is dead, who 
 knew it back in the padres' time. But the padres were 
 too lazy to dig gold and the Indians were lazier still. They 
 did n't want it known there was much of it there. It meant 
 too many back-loads of dirt for them." 
 
 " How do you know you can trust that man ? " 
 
 " Who? My little Qui Court ? L'eau Qui Court ' is 
 his name in the mountains he won't run away from me ! 
 I have a bit in the poor devil's mouth and the reins are in 
 my hand. The bit is fear, and the reins : I understand him 
 that 's the right rein ; and he loves me in his fashion 
 that's the left. Qui Court is one of the men I own 
 though he 's hardly a man. He '11 sit on our secret like a 
 horned toad in the sand. No one watches Qui Court. And 
 when I come with my fist full of coin we shall go to work 
 in earnest, and the world will buy land of us at a thousand 
 the square foot." 
 
 " Can a thing like that be kept to himself by any one 
 man, very long ? " 
 
 " Not very long. But it won't take more than a few 
 days' start of the rest of the world to get boiling rich at 
 that business." 
 
 "What was your superstition about this journey?" 
 
 " It was only a dream. Three times I dreamt I could n't 
 get through the Devil's Gate on horseback. Ever hear 
 of that place? I sat alone there on'my horse and could n't 
 
112 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 get back nor forward. The oddity is, we don't go through 
 that canyon at all. You can turn out a mile from the trail 
 to see it. It 's one of the wonders of the road : it 's four 
 hundred feet deep ; the sides go straight down ; they are 
 about three hundred feet apart at the top. The Sweet 
 Water strolls along at the bottom ; but if you were down 
 there in it, you 'd be gasping for your life." 
 
 " Three times the same night did you dream it ? " 
 
 " No ; three different nights. It was only a dream, but 
 once was enough. Cheer up, lady-love ! They are here 
 now." 
 
 He turned in his saddle and called out laughing, " What 
 are those things you are sitting on made of ? Pasteboard 
 or are they sheep ? You must have charged along at 
 the rate of three miles an hour ! " 
 
 He was equal to anything, she thought. He could hide 
 anything he could be anything to anybody as it suited 
 his purpose. 
 
 " ' Qui Court,' " she reflected, " 4 is one of the men I 
 own,' how about women ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE WAGONS AT NIGHT 
 
 BRADBURN had engaged a young Missourian to do camp 
 chores, drive his team, and take care of his animals. The 
 lad was poor, anxious to get to Oregon not anxious to 
 work but took the job, unwillingly, for the chance it gave. 
 Driving another man's mules was work for a nigger. 
 
 With envy he watched the scouts ride off, giving him their 
 dust while he stooped to buckle belly-bands or hook greasy 
 traces. It particularly discouraged him to see his employer, 
 a man he called middle-aged, cantering on ahead, like one 
 of the beaus, with the young fellows who squired that 
 handsome girl : daily the sight teased him more and more. 
 
 One morning, as the squad rode by, his temper gave 
 way and he let his leaders " have it." The guide-rein 
 jerked, he lost his balance, and fell in front of the wheels 
 which passed over his leg and broke it. 
 
 It was a case for experienced nursing in proportion to 
 the dearth of surgical skill. Mrs. Hannington said " that 
 boy should not limp for the rest of his life if she could 
 help it! " She had him brought into their wagon. 
 
 He was no boy in size : six feet was the length of him 
 stretched on a wagon-bed. At night with his restlessness 
 he took up the room of two ; Alvin's help was needed in 
 moving the patient. The girls were minus a lodging. 
 
 Bradburn at once vacated his own wagon for the young 
 ladies' exclusive use ; their mother was nursing his sick. 
 He cheerfully made his bed on the ground near enough to 
 be in sound of a call, and all seemed well. 
 
114 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 But a woman is never satisfied. Mrs. Hannington wanted 
 to know if it would be " too much to ask " that Captain 
 Bradburn's wagon should change places with one of those 
 next to theirs. It would be pleasanter, she thought, for 
 the girls. Her husband said dryly no doubt it would ; no 
 doubt they 'd like to have the leader's wagon hauled hither 
 and yon, whichever way they took a notion. They had 
 driven him out upon the ground and made him their 
 private watchman ; wasn't that about enough to ask of 
 the man ? 
 
 The caravan had passed the South Fork's junction with 
 the Platte ; Chimney Rock was its next landmark, five 
 hundred and seventy-one miles, but they were still in 
 the Pawnee Country. That sinister highway, the Pawnee 
 Trail, lay behind them, unswerving as a road of ants, wide 
 as a county turnpike, beaten smooth by families of feet 
 for generations, on errands that shall be told when we 
 know the stories of the buffalo wallows and the wild-horse 
 stampedes and the secret battles of the big-horn and the 
 elk. 
 
 The Indians had left their winter villages on the South 
 Fork and were roaming in large parties looking for buf- 
 falo and scalps. There was no special war on, but the 
 Pawnees had their blood enemies besides those private 
 feuds always seeking a fresh victim. 
 
 Many Indians met them every day, awaiting their com- 
 ing curiously, or camped on their trail, begging, prying, 
 pilfering, watching a chance to run off cattle in the night. 
 The emigrants were in force too great to be in fear of 
 attack. Two wagons might have tempted the feathered 
 Gentlemen of the Road with their faces blacked for mur- 
 der, but twenty were merely watched in hostile wonder, 
 
THE WAGONS AT NIGHT 115 
 
 and followed and advertised by secret messengers for 
 leagues ahead. 
 
 A triple guard was set each night, the men serving in 
 turn, and they were generally faithful, but occasionally 
 such is the contempt familiarity breeds for dangers we 
 have always with us a watchman would choose a dark 
 spot where the camp-fire did not paint him to a prowling 
 aim, bury his head in his blanket, and sleep with the rest. 
 
 All the camp slept mightily ; the whole wearied com- 
 pany took in deep draughts of midnight slumber and 
 emitted them peacefully or in emulative snores. Rarely a 
 babe cried. About twenty dogs the train started with had 
 been voted on and shot, to spare heart-burnings between 
 owners of separate parties to the incessant fights, and to 
 silence their own arguments with the coyotes at night. 
 The coyotes had the first word and the last word now, 
 pack answering pack from one low sand-hill chain to an- 
 other, and a sound of weird footsteps hustled past in the 
 dark ; horses started at their pickets, cattle ceased chew- 
 ing and breathed deep. But every one was grown accus- 
 tomed to the desert sounds thrown up on the desert silence. 
 Only the wind never rested, prowling about camp, seeking 
 something to displace ; a bit of tumble-weed to play 
 with, a wagon-sheet to flap, or a woman's rocking-chair 
 left out, to set in motion. 
 
 Through the rear opening in the wagon-hood, this was 
 what Barbie saw, one moonless night when the wind was 
 rising : the little Boston rocker that used to be in her 
 mother's bedroom rocking empty in a blink of firelight. 
 Father had said he would take that chair through to Ore- 
 gon, patchwork cushion and all, if he left the family Bible. 
 Every evening at supper-time he brought it out for his 
 
116 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 wife to sit in, by the cooking-fire that each family built at 
 the heel of its wagon, but sometimes he forgot to take it in. 
 Barbie was startled. It looked "so like mother " rock- 
 ing in the night in the middle of the continent alone, too 
 homesick to rest, or as if grieving in wakeful silence over 
 a trouble no one could share. 
 
 We give the fancy as it struck the girl, who was but half 
 awake. She asked herself what had wakened her ? she 
 was conscious of having been very deep asleep, and the 
 night in pauses had been so still ! It might have been the 
 wind getting up strong ; the wagon-cover had blown back 
 at the rear end where Stella lay. That was why she could 
 see out so plain ; that and one other reason : Stella was 
 not there. 
 
 It took a moment to make sure of this. Then she called 
 her by name, in a guarded voice, " Stella," and again, 
 "Stella?" No answer betrayed the silence. The little 
 rocker paused as if listening too. 
 
 While hunting for a cloak Barbie explored the wagon, 
 every part ; there was no other person in it. Stella might 
 have awakened, feeling sick, and gone to speak to mother ; 
 she had not always seemed so well these late days nor in 
 such high spirits ; none of them were. 
 
 Before her feet touched ground, Jimmy Yardley was 
 beside her. 
 
 " Is anything wrong ? " 
 
 It was Jimmy's night on watch, but he was middle 
 guard. His post was at the opposite arc of the great cir- 
 cle, yet he had heard her call ; and Brad burn, their pro- 
 tector, sleeping not five rods away, did not stir. Instinct- 
 ively she spoke low, dreading that he would rise and 
 confront them. 
 
THE WAGONS AT NIGHT 117 
 
 " I want to see mother a moment. I am afraid some 
 one is sick." 
 
 This was a lame excuse for being up in the night, but 
 she could not bring out Stella's name ; nor did Jimmy 
 ask another question. His eyes, accustomed to the dark, 
 had satisfied him as he helped Barbie to the ground that 
 the wagon she had left was empty. They stole across to 
 the family camp and he waited while the women whispered 
 together. 
 
 "What is it, dear?" 
 
 " Hush ! don't let 's wake father. I can't find Stella. 
 Isn't she here?" 
 
 "Why, no! Can't you find her?" Barbie had just 
 said so. " She must be there with you." 
 
 " She is not in the wagon." 
 
 " You are sure ? " 
 
 " Of course, mother ! Two persons can't lose each other 
 in a wagon." 
 
 " Well, I '11 go over and see. Why, she would n't get 
 up and leave you without telling you ! " 
 
 Barbie did not dispute it. 
 
 " She may have waked up and felt sick and tried to 
 come over here, and got confused," said Mrs. Hannington, 
 talking to herself while she hastily added to her clothing. 
 
 They went back together ; Jimmy again stood aside and 
 said nothing ; the women looked into the wagon timidly. 
 He could not avoid hearing Stella's voice in a hurried, 
 thick, but not sleepy tone : " Barbie, what are you doing 
 out there ! Why do you wake people up and frighten them 
 half to death? Where in the world have you been ? " 
 
 " Where were you ? " Aunt Silence asked. 
 
 Stella visibly started. 
 
118 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 "Why, nowhere! Barbie must have left me sound 
 asleep." 
 
 " Did n't you hear me call you ? " 
 
 " Did you call ? When ? perhaps it was you that 
 woke me. I found myself all doubled up in a bunch in 
 that corner" she laughed. "My arm has gone to sleep. 
 I wish you could wake that up ! Do, Barbie, speak to me 
 when you get up and go off like that ! " 
 
 Stella rattled on ; no one answered her. Mrs. Hanning- 
 ton was shivering, but not with cold. It was a new sensa- 
 tion, to listen to one of her own family lying. She 
 was no judge of counterfeiting, but her own tense earnest- 
 ness told her that the girl, confused and frightened, had 
 attempted a hasty part and was not doing it well. 
 
 Jimmy and Barbie knew beyond doubt that she was 
 lying, but such was the staggering effect of the know- 
 ledge they shared, and the reluctance of sensitive persons 
 to accuse another on their own bare assertion, it is pro- 
 bable both would have said, if evidence had been demanded 
 of them, that they might be mistaken ; Stella might have 
 been in the wagon asleep all the time. 
 
 Bradburn surprised them, coming up apparently from 
 making his rounds of the camp. It is hard to say why 
 they did not believe this either ; they were in a doubting 
 mood. He presented his enquiries to the mother who 
 stared at him, pale as a ghost. 
 
 No, there was nothing he could do ; she thanked him. 
 Barbie had been over to see her a moment. She had had 
 a little scare ; they were going back now. 
 
 " Mother, you will come back to us ! " Barbie whispered. 
 
 Jimmy heard her and ground his teeth. 
 
 Bradburn stepped up to him. " Are n't you middle 
 
THE WAGONS AT NIGHT 119 
 
 guard to-night ? Then what are you doing over here ? 
 You 'd better get back to your own post. I '11 see to the 
 ladies if they want anything." 
 
 " Mother, you will come back ! " 
 
 " I am going to trouble Jimmy Yardley one moment, 
 Mr. Bradburn ; then he can go. You were not here, you 
 know." 
 
 It was very easily arranged, Mr. Hannington assenting, 
 half asleep, and surprised next morning not to find his 
 wife in her own place. He had forgotten that she had 
 wakened him. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SILENCE 
 
 TRUTH is hard to kill and lies, the frightened assassins, 
 dig shallow graves. Jimmy's system was purged, that 
 night, of the last dregs of his infatuation. 
 
 He had flattered himself of late that if he chose to try, 
 it might be possible to win over a girl so changed as 
 Stella seemed, to a sweeter form of womanhood. He 
 laughed at himself hideously now. Her lie, her own 
 laugh, had worked his cure. He tested the strength of his 
 clean scorn, and knew that he was free. But he was not 
 yet able to pity her: she had cost him too much. Six 
 months may seem a long time to a boy when he has reason 
 to believe they have changed his whole life. Barbie, whom 
 he might have won, was as steel to him now ; cold, springy, 
 keen-edged steel. He never knew how she would answer 
 when he spoke to her. Her state of mind need not be 
 pried into ; it was her business to guard it and she did it 
 well. But her mother, her unhappy mother, was to be 
 stripped of unconsciousness ; dragged by unnamable sus- 
 picions through that knowledge which the terrible intim- 
 acy of women gives them of each other and the advantage 
 experience has over youth, towards a discovery which 
 threatened to wreck her home. Her heart fainted within 
 her ; for on her it rested such was her resolve to 
 hide what she knew, and spare her own family the shame 
 and perplexity of the task she set herself in dealing with 
 it alone ; and finally, to reckon with her own conscience 
 
SILENCE 121 
 
 in daring to do this, notwithstanding her sworn obligations 
 as a member of Mr. Yardley's picked company. 
 
 Mrs. Hannington has put herself on record as one who 
 desired to be shown her duty when in doubt. In this case 
 she hugged what few doubts were left and prayed to be 
 in ignorance as long as possible. She shut out of her 
 mind all speculation as to who could be the man who was 
 responsible for this woe. His name she refused to guess, 
 yet there is no refuting a certain sort of evidence that is 
 never brought into court and her husband was in this 
 man's power. They all were as their financier and 
 leader and guide. She exaggerated, perhaps, the extent 
 of his importance to them, but she feared him too 
 much to dare be the means of an open collision be- 
 tween him and Mr. Yardley, whom she knew no thought 
 of expediency would turn a hair's breadth from his con- 
 ception of duty. She dreaded the position her poor hus- 
 band ^would find himself in, between the family honor and 
 the future of all of them in material ways. Stella, unhappy 
 child, was not one of them, yet they had counted her in, at 
 great cost of anxiety and responsibility. It seemed fantas- 
 tically unjust that everything they had or hoped to have 
 should be lost through her, even to the family good name. 
 
 They stopped over more than a week at Fort Laramie 
 incomprehensibly to some. Bradburn waited for those 
 six minutes with Kunning Water across the river, for if 
 he came inside the fort, Running Water would mix him- 
 self with whiskey, and it was time he was going south. 
 
 The greater company broke up in two divisions and 
 both passed on : those for California, and those for 
 Oregon by Fort Hall and Fort Boise and Black's Fork to 
 the gates of the Blue Mountains. 
 
122 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Our small band, condensed as to outfit and refreshed 
 in body, left Laramie the second week in July. They 
 toiled up the rugged valley of the North Platte and en- 
 tered the Black Hills ; they passed Independence Rock, 
 " the great register of the desert," and saw the grave of 
 poor young Bailey of the train ahead, shot by accident 
 and buried here on the road of the million feet to come. 
 An Indian with gestures and broken talk told the story 
 and grinned in the way of a savage when he speaks of 
 cruelty or tragedy. 
 
 It was the dry grass plains that lay before them now, 
 the Indian's hunting-ground and the buffalo's range. The 
 native possessors of this solitude met them and petty bar- 
 gains were transacted. Many buffalo were killed. There 
 was no time nor horse-flesh to spend on sport for its own 
 sake, but the camp commissariat was overburdened with 
 meat which the young men brought in piles as an excuse 
 for the excitement of killing; so many fresh carcasses 
 hanging in sight, so much blood and offal, made some of 
 the women sick. Stella said she never wished to eat meat 
 again. 
 
 July gave way to August ; the days were hot, the nights 
 astonishingly cold. They saw mountains covered with snow 
 to the southeast ; but they were in the midst of dust, 
 the summer's long burden of drought lay heavy on the 
 land. Mrs. Hannington's surgical patient had asked to be 
 left at Fort Laramie where Bradburn replaced him with 
 a sound man. The girls were back in the family wagon 
 again. It was this interval, between not seeing Stella and 
 seeing her again, unprotected as to dress, that forced the 
 truth upon the mother. She fought against it till, in a 
 dreadful way known to all who have suffered unnatural 
 
SILENCE 123 
 
 things, she grew used to the fact and bowed her pride to 
 meet it. 
 
 Stella became certain that her aunt knew all ; she nerved 
 herself, expecting cruel scenes. None came. The silence 
 frightened her. She was meek enough now ; she clung to 
 the woman who held this power over her and forebore to 
 use it, with such marvellous strength and constancy while 
 suffering, as her looks showed, more, probably, than 
 Stella did herself. Of such characteristics in the persons 
 about her, she knew little. 
 
 Long hours Aunt Silence pondered, while the wagons 
 toiled on. Absorbed, strangely separated in thought from 
 those around her, she sat by the evening fire, in her little 
 rocking chair. The camp-fire was built now on the grades 
 of the South Pass those amazing easy stages of the 
 climb, which the minister said showed that Providence 
 had left a door open from East to West, as a sign that 
 his people should be one. They hardly knew when the 
 highest point was gained, but Bradburn announced it and 
 cried theatrically, " Hail, Oregon and Japan and China 
 and the East ! Here the great snake turns to find its tail ! 
 buried in the Pacific emerging where the East begins 
 to rise. Now the waters go the other way ! " But they 
 were not yet across the Blue Mountains. 
 
 In this pure altitude the brain works clear. Mrs. Han- 
 nington shook off her weakness and formed a plan. 
 Alas! had she but known what she knew now, before 
 they left Fort Laramie. Possibly it needed those weeks 
 of hard thinking, steadily facing an approaching dread, 
 to nerve her for this solution and for the battle with her 
 family such a proposal meant. 
 
 It suited her now to be told she was looking " miserable." 
 
124 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Your mother don't seem to be standing the travel near 
 so well as she did at first," Alvin said to his confidant in 
 all things not to be spoken of to "mother " herself. Barbie 
 owned she had noticed the same thing. " She ? s falling 
 away in flesh, she's lost that good 'tan, and she looks as 
 sallow as a nervous invalid. Your mother never was nerv- 
 ous. She don't eat enough to keep a bird alive." Alvin 
 could not say how little she slept, he slept sound him- 
 self, but her wretched eyes at daybreak told the story 
 of the night. 
 
 " She says her head swims with the shaking of the 
 wagon the whole time. She gets short of breath, and her 
 strength will go all in a second." But it never went so 
 far as loss of consciousness and the power to smile and 
 say, " It is nothing." The steadfast woman bided her time. 
 Since it was too late now for Fort Laramie her hope lay 
 in Fort Hall, their next important station. 
 
 She began to ask questions as many others were doing, 
 but she asked different questions. Fort Hall was now a 
 British post. Nathaniel Wyeth, who built it in revenge 
 to hurt the American fur company, " to roll a stone 
 into their garden," had been frozen out by the Hudson's 
 Bay people who were just completing Fort Boise to head 
 him off on the other side. No wonder the plucky Yankee 
 was forced to drop his prey. 
 
 The Hudson's Bay Company had sent to Fort Hall Cap- 
 tain Grant, not a young man ; report said a gentleman but 
 something of an eccentric. He had been at outs with 
 his company ; had lately gone back to them, or they had 
 induced him to come back, but he ranked lower by some 
 grades than he would have had he not broken his connec- 
 tion with them. This small post was the only one open to 
 
SILENCE 125 
 
 him. It was exceedingly well managed and trade was 
 coming in fast. He was very haughty with the tribes, al- 
 lowed no familiarity ; the women, for instance, "nothing 
 of that kind for him." 
 
 All this gossip, much of it untrue, Aunt Silence amassed 
 to her husband's astonishment; women always wanted to 
 hear about " the folks " inside of these places which to the 
 men meant rest and barter and repairs ; old horses for fresh 
 ones, old harness for new ; time and tools to construct 
 those pioneer carts, two wheels showing the way to 
 four wheels that were to follow next year : hanging over 
 torrents, stalled in the snow, crashing down rocky canyons, 
 lowered by ropes from the horns of precipices where only 
 a wagon-body with wings could pass. 
 
 Mrs. Hannington, pondering in silence on the character 
 report gave to the commandant at Fort Hall, said to her- 
 self, " It will have to do ! " 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE FIRST ADMONITION 
 
 " STAY up after the rest to-night, Stella : I want to 
 have a little talk with you." 
 
 It was time for travellers to be abed. Mr. Hannington 
 was already asleep in the elders' end of the wagon. The 
 fire outside scarcely blazed, but it showed dimly four per- 
 sons watching in front of it : Barbara on her mother's 
 right and Jimmy Yardley next, seated sombrely, thought- 
 fully apart ; only his voice blent with hers in the ancient 
 music of " Transfiguration." The bare stars listened un- 
 amazed in spaces of sky framed in the lofty darkness of 
 strange forests : 
 
 " O Master, it is good to be 
 With thee and with thy faithful three, 
 Here, where the apostles' heart of rock 
 Is nerved against temptation's shock ; 
 Here, where the son of thunder learns 
 The thought that breathes, the word that burns ; 
 Here, where on eagles' wings we move 
 With Him whose last, best creed is love." 
 
 The young soprano sent its clear, vaulting notes aloft 
 as if to escape the thick, shaken second, pursuing, enfold- 
 ing them. 
 
 " O Master, it is good to be 
 Here, on the holy mount with thee, 
 When, darkling in the depths of night, 
 When dazzled with excess of light, 
 
THE FIRST ADMONITION 127 
 
 We bow before the heavenly voice 
 That bids bewildered souls rejoice ; 
 Though love wax cold and faith be dim, 
 This is my Son, oh, hear ye him." 
 
 Stella was on the ground at Mrs. Hannington's left 
 side, her golden head in the motherly lap. With one arm 
 she half embraced the little rocker as if to keep her head- 
 rest still. What tales they could tell, these New Eng- 
 land rocking-chairs ! of nerves relieved, or tortured, by 
 their ceaseless oscillations ; long aching thoughts of sons 
 at sea or vanished on the uncharted plains ; husbands 
 grown harsh and cold, struggling with debt ; daughters 
 with too many babies and all their own work to do ; 
 daughters wasting their bloom waiting for some other 
 mother's son who never wrote nor came ; proud silences 
 of misunderstanding, burning silences of injury and re- 
 gret; bitter silences of resentment hardening into hate. 
 But problems of this kind not often ! 
 
 " Stella, how would you like it, if you and I were to 
 stay over at Fort Hall and let the others go on without us? " 
 
 Aunt Silence spoke in her peaceful, everyday tone, 
 rather more gently than usual. Stella's cheek had whit- 
 ened miserably ; her breath came hard, for she knew her 
 hour was come. Still, no advantage taken of the fact that 
 they were now without listeners ! The blood drummed in 
 her ears so that she scarcely heard the words first spoken ; 
 no others followed. She could bear the suspense no longer. 
 
 " Don't be afraid to speak to me, Aunt Silence." 
 
 " I am speaking, now. Do you expect me to be ugly to 
 you? I never mean to be. It's strange, but I believe 
 I 'm learning to love you now, when I 'd a good deal 
 rather see you dead." 
 
128 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I am in your power. If you love me now, it 's be- 
 cause you are a great person. I have learned to love you. 
 But you must not despair of me. I shall be his wife, per- 
 haps in a year." 
 
 " You poor child ! They all say that." 
 
 " ' They ' are not like him. He is not like any one. I 
 can't tell you all the cruel reasons there were for what 
 has happened." Stella sat up, speaking fast though 
 hardly above a whisper. " He loves me beyond be- 
 yond everything that people are careful about ; it was so 
 from the first. He may not be good in your way, but I 
 cannot change him. I have given him my life. I do 
 everything give everything he asks ; he knows just how 
 to make me. It is love, and it will be marriage." 
 
 " When he has done a great wrong to another woman 
 in order to right you. He never can right you." 
 
 " Don't ! Don't speak his name ! It would bring de- 
 struction on us all if it was known." 
 
 " I don't want his name ; I have a name for him ! 
 But do you realize what 's before you? " 
 
 Mrs. Hannington talked for some moments in an under- 
 tone, Stella holding her hand clasped tight in hers ; now 
 and then she answered a question. She kissed her aunt's 
 hand, who drew it away quickly and then, with a sigh, 
 gave it back. 
 
 " Don't you want Uncle Alvin to stay with us ? " 
 
 " No ; for then Barbie would have to." 
 
 Stella breathed deep while this stone settled on her 
 heart ; it was not cast at her ; it fell by its inevitable 
 weight. Her aunt and uncle and Barbie she knew had 
 never been separated. What separation in such circum- 
 stances would mean to them, she was learning to know, 
 
THE FIRST ADMONITION 129 
 
 as she began to understand these people ; their dumb, 
 deep attachments and the price they would pay for a prin- 
 ciple of conduct. Aunt Silence was ready to pay the price 
 of that winter at Fort Hall to keep her own child clean 
 of this thiog which she handled herself so calmly. " Bar- 
 bie's life and mine/' thought Stella, " will never be allowed 
 to touch again." Gently but absolutely she was judged. 
 
 " You will never see it of course as it really is. It is 
 quite the same as if I were his wife. I should have to con- 
 sult him, about this, for instance." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington tasted the withdrawal, the working of 
 that obstinacy which she knew this easy-going nature 
 abundantly held. 
 
 " You need not consult ' him ' about his coming to Fort 
 Hall. If you go there with me he stays away, remember." 
 
 " All winter, of course ; but you would not prevent his 
 coming next spring, to arrange about our marriage ? " 
 
 " Spring is a long way off. You will have other things 
 to think about before spring." 
 
 " And you would stay there all winter with me, alone 
 in that place! Would Uncle Alvin allow it?" 
 
 " If I made him see I need the rest ; and I certainly do! " 
 
 " But would n't he insist on staying with you ? " 
 
 " We 'd lose what little we have left to start on, if he 
 does. He must be out there next spring to take up his land 
 with the others ; he can't draw out now. He would see 
 that, the first thing not knowing about this. I may have 
 to tell him before I can get his consent for me to stay : I 
 shan't unless I have to." 
 
 " You are wonderfully good to me. Barbie will not un- 
 derstand why you keep me instead of her ? " 
 
 "I can show her that father needs her most. He must 
 
130 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 have one of us; if I drop out she must take my place. 
 Don't do that ! " Stella was kissing her hand again "I 'd 
 rather you 'd trust me than that. You will have to choose 
 between him and me ; don't think you can mix us up. I 
 cannot help your speaking to him, but he can't speak to 
 me I don't want a word with him." 
 
 There is no danger of that. I have not told you his 
 name. But if you knew, you 'd understand the difference." 
 
 "What difference?" 
 
 " How big he is. If you lose the world for love, Aunt 
 Silence, you want to feel you have got something better 
 in its place." 
 
 Aunt Silence took a long, slow breath. " Is the world 
 all you think you have lost ? Stella, your poor little soul 
 is not born yet. And you are bringing into this life an- 
 other soul." 
 
 " Why do you do so much for me> if you can't bear what 
 I have done?" 
 
 " I guess we '11 have to bear it ; I don't pretend I do it 
 all for you, either : I want to keep this thing from spread- 
 ing. I want to hold it back till we can have a chance to 
 bear it by ourselves, where it don't hem us in so and 
 hurt everybody else. If you will go back and forth be- 
 tween us, don't you give him the idea that because I 
 know it and keep it, I tolerate it. If you were my own 
 daughter I'd rather see you in your grave." 
 
 "Do you think I shall tell him that?" said Stella 
 softly. " Perhaps you would rather see even me there ! " 
 
 " Worse might happen to you but our Lord knows 
 best. If he means you to live and learn, I suppose you 
 will have to. But if you live and don't learn, at least 
 how to suffer, you might as well be dead." 
 
THE FIRST ADMONITION 131 
 
 " I don't suppose I do suffer," she admitted tentatively. 
 " Do you want me to ? " 
 
 " Not physically : I should like to see you able to suffer 
 in your mind, though, or your conscience ? " 
 
 " It may come," said Stella. 
 
 " It has come, but you don't feel it ! If it was n't real, 
 this shame and suffering, why should I feel it, an 
 old woman like me ? If it is n't a real thing, why do I try 
 to keep it from hurting the nearest ones I have ? There is 
 such a thing as shame, and right and wrong. To get a 
 thing you have wanted is that the whole of life for 
 you?" 
 
 " The shame seems to come from giving more than 
 your share. I did n't want any more than he wanted. 
 But these people are nothing to us, Aunt Silence ; their 
 opinion of me does n't matter." 
 
 Stella drew back and released the sitter, who rose and 
 looked into the distance a moment. " You go first," she 
 said sternly. 
 
 " Would you kiss me, Aunt Silence ? " 
 
 " In a way, I would ; but I don't feel to kiss you 
 truly, after that last speech. There 's something else you 
 need inside, that I can't give you. Oh, if you only " she 
 could not mention prayer for she knew the words would 
 be wasted ; she could not lay her lifelong faith at the feet 
 of this ignorant child to stare at. 
 
 After all the dreaded plan had cost her, Mrs. Hanning- 
 ton was to be kept waiting for " his " opinion of it, and to 
 learn at last that he considered it impossible, for many rea- 
 sons which Stella hastened to set forth as plausibly as she 
 could, in defence of this mad dismissal. Her aunt listened 
 in silence. 
 
132 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 The difficulties of the road ahead had been exaggerated 
 (he thought). The winter at Fort Hall would mean a long 
 separation (for them) and a long, out-of-the-way journey 
 for him to fetch her. And Fort Hall was a place he 
 could n't fetch her from ; it was the post of a black enemy 
 of his, the new commandant fortunately away just now 
 on a trade mission to some far-off tribal village ; but he 
 would return before snow fell. To leave in Grant's care 
 anything he valued, and come and thank him for the 
 favor, was absurd ! They had crossed each other's trails 
 in time past ; they might do so once too often for one 
 of them. 
 
 Stella did not give " his " opinion in his own language, 
 which was as well ; even so, Aunt Silence was not appeased. 
 
 " On your own heads be it then ! There is just one more 
 chance left: did you ask him anything about Fort Boise ?" 
 
 " Yes ; it is a new little fort, hardly finished ; there is 
 only one white man there and he is a Frenchman." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington cast her hands into her lap. " Re- 
 member, now, who it is you are trusting ! " 
 
 " But I must do as he says, Aunt Silence. If I don't, 
 it will give him his first excuse " 
 
 " Excuse for what ? " 
 
 " What you say * they ' always do. If he is one 
 of ' them,' I have got a great deal to learn ; but I did n't 
 suppose that you could teach me ! " 
 
 " Stella ! I could tell you had been with that man by 
 your having the face to say such a thing to me. You don't 
 love him to trust him. You are afraid he '11 be off and not 
 give you what you expect for what you 've given him. I 
 could almost bear it if I thought it was true love with 
 either of you; I might have some compunction about 
 
THE FIRST ADMONITION 133 
 
 coming between you. But he '11 never do you any good by 
 anything he gives you. He'll make you just like him- 
 self, or he '11 get tired of you and desert you when you 're 
 in some worse strait than you are now. Now, you have 
 got us still; what you want to do is to face this thing and 
 choose " 
 
 " I have chosen," said Stella faintly. " Forgive me, 
 but I must." 
 
 " "Well, if you see it that way, I 'm sorry for your 
 blindness. Your eyes will be opened some day ! " 
 
CHAPTEE XVI 
 
 THE SECOND ADMONITION 
 
 " SEPTEMBER 14th," quoting from Hannington's diary 
 of their journey, preserved in the family but seldom read, 
 we think, by any of Alvin's descendants of to-day " our 
 horses strayed far from camp, and instead of an early 
 start as we intended, got off by 9 o'clock. We left the 
 Branch [of the Powder Kiver?] and gradually rose a long 
 hill. Stopped for dinner on a small stream at 12 o'clock, 
 started 2 J, continued to rise by degrees. The country we 
 travelled to-day was thickly covered with bunch-grass 
 which the horses are very fond of. We found at last the 
 top of the mountain. At a distance we could see what 
 we suppose to be the Blue Mountains and they struck us 
 with terror. Their peaks seemed a resting-place for 
 the clouds. Below us was a great plain and at some dis- 
 tance we could discover a tree which we recognized as the 
 Lone Tree of which we had heard before." 
 
 If men of Hannington's breed were " struck with ter- 
 ror " at the way before them, how must it have been with 
 that soft bundle of sensation clothed in flesh which awaited 
 the unborn soul of Stella Mutrie ? Her will expired like a 
 snuffed candle ; what was left, it puzzled a woman of Mrs. 
 Hannington's experience to deal with. 
 
 " Can't go on ? Why, there 's nothing else you can 
 do, now ! " 
 
 " I must speak to him, then. Aunt Silence, won't you 
 
THE SECOND ADMONITION 135 
 
 try to manage so I can have another talk with him by 
 ourselves ? " 
 
 The closer organization since they became a small com- 
 pany brought each individual under the constant obser- 
 vation of the others. This had estranged Stella of late 
 from Bradburn's direct influence ; she escaped easily from 
 the effect of her most binding impressions. 
 
 A New England woman of Silence Hannington's make 
 is no worm : she turned, and answered with exasperated 
 contempt : 
 
 "If you want to manage any more of those talks, you 
 will have to get along without me. You took his advice at 
 Fort Hall ; I ought to have told your uncle^then. Now I 
 shall speak to him, whether or no ! And you '11 do what 
 lie says." 
 
 Mr. Hannington, during the noon halt, was taking a 
 brief nap in a sitting posture braced against a roll of 
 blankets on the ground. His wife disturbed him, asking 
 him to get up and step away with her a piece. 
 
 "Haven't we stepped about far enough? You going 
 back to Green River! " he joked, as she led him away some 
 distance out of ear-shot. 
 
 With the empty continent receding in every direc- 
 tion from their pygmy group, privacy was the last thing 
 possible to any two persons or any one family on this 
 march. 
 
 " I 've got a dreadful thing to tell you, father, and I 
 don't want it should be overheard." 
 
 Alvin's jaw fell; he looked at his wife pathetically: 
 she understood the appeal. 
 
 " No, no ; it 's nothing to do with Barbie. She 's safe 
 out of it, and I mean she shall be. But there ! she can't 
 
136 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 be ; none of us can. It don't seem to me we 've ever known 
 what trouble was before." 
 
 He would not believe her at first and then he was 
 .stunned, but as the fact was forced upon him he broke 
 out in tones that shocked her nerves ; she had no patience 
 with his manlike carelessness of listeners. He talked as 
 loud as if they were shut up in their own sitting-room with 
 house walls and a door-yard between them and neighborly 
 curiosity. In spite of the total exposure they were drifting 
 on, she clung to her lifelong habit of reticence in family 
 troubles not to be classed as direct dispensations. 
 
 " Hush sh, for goodness' sake ! " she prayed in despair, 
 and could have shaken him like a child. 
 
 "I shan't hush! It's been hushed up plenty long 
 enough. It ought to have gone to Mr. Yardley the very 
 first minute you knew it. It looks almost as if you 'd 
 consented to it. I never knew you to do so, mother. It 
 cuts me like everything to own it up now." 
 
 " It isn't you: I take it all on me, every bit. I couldn't 
 bring myself to believe it ; then I thought I could just take 
 care of it alone. Of course it will have to come out sooner 
 or later, but nobody ever had to bear such a thing with so 
 many folks around! And carry it along with us the 
 man too! And our Barbie, and Jimmy oh my! oh my!" 
 
 " Mr. Yardley won't carry it far if I know him," said 
 Alvin, choking up fiercely at the sound of his wife's wail. 
 " I shall see him to-night ; you 've had it on your mind 
 long enough." 
 
 " Not to-night ! He won't sleep a wink. There 's nothing 
 he can do till to-morrow, anyhow. I know something about 
 nights." 
 
 " I guess you do ! You 've done enough and more than 
 
THE SECOND ADMONITION 137 
 
 enough for that girl. I repudiate her : I won 't be respon- 
 sible for what she 's liable to do next." 
 
 "You wouldn't go at it that way if it was our own 
 child." 
 
 " It could n't be ! She 's no blood of mine. There 's no- 
 thing of her mother in her ; she 's her father over again 
 made his money any dirty way he could and spent it the 
 same way." 
 
 " Don't take it so please, Alvin ! being angry won't 
 reach it. Do try to go in the right spirit when you speak 
 to Mr. Yardley." 
 
 " Why, it seems to me you 've got no spirit left at all. 
 Don't you realize what it means ? I 'm surprised at you, 
 Silence!" 
 
 " I 'm surprised at myself," she owned. " I don't see how 
 I put up with it at all. It don't seem as if it could be you 
 and me, talking about such a thing right in our own 
 family ; and everybody thinking, I suppose, we're quarrel- 
 ling. Well ; I 've tried my way. Now you men see what 
 you can do." 
 
 Alvin, in spite of his wife's plea, had his conversation 
 with the minister that same evening Jimmy being kindly 
 invited to leave them. He went across to the Hannington 
 camp and helped Barbie splice a clothes-line. Washing 
 was done evenings, a few pieces at a time. Stella would 
 not wash, said that she could n't, and practically went 
 unwashed sooner than try. 
 
 The mother cooked and Barbie washed for all ; and her 
 arms increased and grew beautiful, but she was unrecon- 
 ciled in soul. These were Stella's clothes the maiden 
 daughter of the house was hanging out to " blow dry." 
 Stella was quite as handsome as ever, perhaps handsomer, 
 
138 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 but everything connected with her personally, including 
 her garments, was repellent to Barbie on grounds of 
 spiritual caste. The odor of her hair on the pillow next her 
 own at night ; the sight of her marble shoulders when she 
 sat half dressed, feebly mending or altering some article 
 she needed to put on, gave Barbie thrills of loathing. 
 
 In a setting of forest the night would have been pitch 
 dark, but the vast overarching country of stars and 
 star-mist held light enough for space to brood in. The 
 land outstretched beneath might have been some worn- 
 out planet's verge, and this little handful of breathing 
 ereatures the remnant of its doomed inhabitants wait- 
 ing for extinction, instead of the sorted seed of a race 
 to come. 
 
 Barbie stood, arms uplifted, her small head dark 
 against the stars. The wind wrapped her skirts about 
 her poised, slender height as she rose on tiptoe, reach- 
 ing for the line. The corners of her apron tucked up made 
 a bit of classic drapery, but in fact was a pocket for clothes- 
 pins. She felt for them nimbly, and stuck them astride 
 the rope. Jimmy watched her. 
 
 " Bought in Dugdale ? " 
 
 Barbie nodded. 
 
 " Don't they look human ? jacking about in the 
 breeze of the last Divide ! They ought to go down to pos- 
 terity: 4 Clothes-pins made in Massachusetts that my 
 grandmother hung up her clothes with, all across the con- 
 tinent in '42.' " 
 
 " Posterity may not care to own a grandmother that 
 washed her own clothes." 
 
 " Posterity had better be thankful to get one not too 
 lazy to do it, or " (Jimmy's eye was on a pink sunbonnet 
 
THE SECOND ADMONITION 139 
 
 dangling by its strings which was n't Barbie's, he knew) 
 " selfish enough to make some one else do it for her ! " 
 
 " What they might be proud of," said Barbie, " would 
 be clothes-pins a grandfather hung up his wife's clothes 
 with ! " 
 
 " Pooh ! who 'd want such a poor-spirited grandfather 
 as that ? What does a man take a wife to Oregon for ! " 
 
 Barbie sat down on a stone and hugged her elbows in 
 the folds of a little blue shawl that she dragged about 
 her shoulders. She was so curt and cold to him, and 
 she looked so gentle and spiritually worn that Jimmy 
 could scarcely bear his share of the estrangement be- 
 tween them. Yet, as he told himself, he was getting his 
 deserts. 
 
 " I can't ask you to come in" said Barbie, " but I can 
 ask you to sit down outside, anywhere " she waved one 
 arm abroad. 
 
 " Yes, it will seem strange to shut doors again. Don't 
 you begin to like it ? this big house with no walls ? Is n't 
 it a relief to get rid of dusting chairs and cleaning closets 
 or whatever it was you did do ? " 
 
 " Well, I did n't wash ! On the whole I think I 'd just 
 as soon do the little things. Men hate them, but women 
 don't ; they take one 's mind off 
 
 Barbie stopped, and Jimmy presently added : 
 
 " But the sunsets, and sunrises, and the stars ! " 
 
 She looked up and stared at the sky long, in silence. 
 " Yes," she said at length, " the house is big enough, and 
 yet I 've never had such a feeling of nowhere to go. Home 
 is the place where you can sometimes be alone." 
 
 " Do you need that too ? " said Jimmy, with studied 
 indifference. 
 
140 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 But he could capture no more of her confidence. She 
 rose. " There is father coming." 
 
 " Is he ? Then I must go back and cook supper for my 
 dad." 
 
 " What ! no supper yet ? Do bring him over here 
 there 's plenty left. Mother would be so pleased," Barbie 
 added impersonally. 
 
 " Thank you ; we manage pretty well, man-fashion. I 'm 
 not such a bad cook, you know. My frying-pan is going 
 down along with your cocky little clothes-pins. Don't you 
 ever tell, but I wash the parson's clothes." 
 
 Barbie laughed, and laughed again. Her voice trem- 
 bled : "I know it ; I've seen you. I 've been dying to 
 show you how. You are a frightful washer ! " 
 
 Jimmy said " Good night, sir," as Mr. Hannington met 
 and passed him ; there was no answer. This was so unlike 
 the kind, friendly neighbor that Jimmy stood still and 
 looked after him. 
 
 "He walks like a drunken man," he thought. "He's 
 possessed with worry about something or other ; " Under 
 his breath lie added, " Shame upon it ! " 
 
 Husband and wife conferred in whispers. 
 
 " Think you had n't better speak with her to-night ? I 
 would n't put it off." 
 
 " When does he want to see her before breakfast ? 
 that 's half-past five ! Well, I guess I sha n't speak to her 
 to-night." 
 
 " I could n't make objections," said Alvin. " Breakfast 
 don't count with him; and he's giving her every chance. 
 I can see he 's afraid of what 's before him. He 's afraid ! 
 Do try and work her up to some sense of her condi- 
 
THE SECOND ADMONITION 141 
 
 tion. The way she takes it seems to me almost more of a 
 disgrace than the thing itself. Can't you make her see 
 anything ? " 
 
 " I 've been trying, about a month ; but what 's the use ! 
 There's nothing there to work on. She's completely 
 taken up with ' him ' and some great future he 's planning 
 for her." 
 
 Barbie came towards them, hesitating ; her face smote 
 the mother in its questing, resistant dread. She held out 
 her arms with a rare gesture. " Kiss me ! " she said as to 
 a child. 
 
 Barbara kissed her lightly and drew herself away. 
 
 " You must be tired out." Mrs. Hannington hastened 
 to pass off her emotional excess as common, ordinary 
 sympathy. " And here you are sitting up till after ten 
 o'clock!" 
 
 " Mother, if we don't have a house bigger than a nut- 
 shell ' out there,' I want you to give me a room to my- 
 self if it 's on the roof." 
 
 " You shall ! " her mother cried incoherently ; " we owe 
 it to you." 
 
 " You don't owe me anything ! I simply want to make 
 it easier for my own bad disposition." 
 
 " Barbie, you never had a bad disposition ! " 
 
 " Well, then I 've cultivated one, which is worse. It 
 will have to be reckoned with one of these days, but, just 
 now, I feel as if something might break loose." 
 
 " Something will ! " said her mother darkly. " Some- 
 thing is going to, before long." 
 
 Voices were heard in the girls' tent bright and early on 
 Saturday morning. Barbie was up and out, fetching in 
 her wash. It was the mother speaking to Stella. 
 
142 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " You better get you dressed as quick as you can. He 
 wants to talk to you, right now, before we eat." 
 
 The girl shuddered. 
 
 " Barbie will bring you some coffee ; it 's all made 
 oh, my child, don't do that ! " Mrs. Hannington was dis- 
 tracted, watching Stella at her toilet. " Wait, I 've got a 
 bit of tape in my work-basket." 
 
 " Did Uncle Alvin tell him ?" 
 
 " Yes, last evening. I did n't want him to so soon, but 
 it 's just as well to have it over with. He says Mr. Yard- 
 ley is holding the Door open to you ; he wants you to re- 
 member there 's forgiveness to the last. But it 's got to 
 be asked for. He '11 expect to see some sign of a change 
 in you." 
 
 " What sign does he expect ? " 
 
 "He won't ask for any public confession ; I was afraid 
 of that. He only wants to talk with you alone. He 's 
 braver to face the truth than I was: he won't put up 
 with a wrong-doer if he knows who he is, and he won't 
 shirk the knowledge." 
 
 " But he knows he must know." 
 
 " He may guess, but he '11 have to have it straight from 
 you. Such a charge as that can't be handed round on sus- 
 picion." 
 
 " He will never get that name from me ! It 's madness. 
 Mr. Yardley can't do anything to him, but he can drive him 
 to leave us all in the lurch. He can make him desert me." 
 
 " Why, of course he '11 expect to part you if he finds 
 the man is married. You can't ask forgiveness and go on 
 sinning." 
 
 " I have n't asked forgiveness, yet ; I can't, if he won't 
 if he scorns it, and scorns me for asking. We are not 
 
THE SECOND ADMONITION 143 
 
 the dirt under everybody's feet ; Mr. Yardley need n't 
 stoop so low to be merciful." 
 
 " How about the woman at the Saviour's feet ! did He 
 stoop ? He spared her, but not what she had done. He 
 called it sin." 
 
 "No one called it sin when I promised to marry Hor- 
 ace, but I felt more like dirt then than I do now. I 
 wasn't bought this time." 
 
 Aunt Silence's conscience may have stung her. She re- 
 torted : " You were, only you don't know it. You parted 
 with yourself for the moment's weakness, for just excite- 
 ment ; it 's terrible to me to say so, but I 've looked in 
 vain for that love in you that might excuse you, if it was 
 unselfish. How long would it take you to turn against 
 him if he left you ? You are counting on a great time with 
 him somewhere, somehow : that 's why you don't suffer." 
 
 " Did Uncle Alvin tell him I can't go on ? " A sullen 
 hardening of the girl's face showed the uselessness of 
 words ; driven beyond a certain point she would turn in 
 this way. 
 
 " I don't believe he did because you can, and you would, 
 if the man you rely on said so. Own up, now ! would n't 
 you ? if he was taking you to that paradise where you 
 won't have to think about anybody but yourselves, 
 would you say ' I can't go on ' ? " 
 
 " I suppose not ; but he would make it easier some- 
 how." 
 
 " I guess he can't move mountains nor give you wings 
 to fly with. Mrs. Spaulding was full more delicate than 
 you are ; she went over on horseback, eight nine years 
 ago. And Mrs. Whitman, a bride, straight from the altar. 
 They did it on their own courage and faith in God. 
 
144 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 But that is n't the question. It is n't Mr. Yardley's part 
 to see that you are comfortable. What did St. Paul say ? 
 ' I buffet my body and bring it into bondage ' ? " 
 
 " Aunt Silence, I do love you ; you can preach to me if 
 any one can. If I could n't give him up for you, I cer- 
 tainly won't for Mr. Yardley ! he can ' buffet ' me all he 
 wants. You don't any of you see how JIG was wronged ! 
 Take any old maid and let her fall in love with a young 
 man and tempt him with her money what will happen ? 
 He 's the one who was injured." 
 
 " He sold himself for a price, and cheap at that ! I 
 heard him say myself there were some people in that vil- 
 lage he wanted to surprise. He sold himself and now he 
 wants to crawl out of it sin first, and then a cloak to 
 cover it ; the law will be pretty set to work making that 
 sort of a marriage legal ! Now, that 's the last of my 
 preaching to you. Here 's your coffee." 
 
 The petticoat-band was pieced and the sad place Stella 
 had pinned into rags, dragging it together, was mended 
 securely. Aunt Silence rose and straightened up under 
 the weight of mind and body. " It makes no difference 
 between us : we 're bound together, humanly speaking. 
 Your uncle's folks are my folks for this life. If you should 
 think better of these foolish things you Ve said, tell me 
 any time to-day, just a word. You don't want to drive a 
 man like Mr. Yardley into a corner. He '11 never dispute 
 with the Law. I speak while I can. If he deals with you 
 as the minister, flesh and blood will have to stand aside." 
 
 Alvin, starting to fetch Mr. Yardley, was hurriedly 
 intercepted by his wife. 
 
 " You tell him, father, the time is n't ripe for her. He 
 might just as well eat his breakfast. I would n't want he 
 
THE SECOND ADMONITION 145 
 
 should talk to her the way she is now ; nothing makes any 
 impression, and goodness knows I 've said enough ! I 
 never talked to any living being as I have to her. It 
 makes me think of snake-bite : it 's all through her sys- 
 tem. You can burn the place or you can cut it out ; the 
 poison 's in her blood." 
 
CHAPTEK XVII 
 
 AN APOSTOLIC JUDGMENT 
 
 MR. YARDLEY'S sense of his own impending duty 
 kept him silent like a breathless load. As the day went by, 
 with no better answer from the subject of his prayers, he 
 steeled himself slowly; he tried to forget old friends' 
 faces and family scenes ; honestly, fearfully, in the fear of 
 God, he isolated himself from man. Such was his teaching. 
 
 But when it came to his cherished mission, the blow 
 went home. Good men have their beast of pride to reckon 
 with. This scheme had taken years to ripen ; it was the 
 fruit of self-blame, his atonement for admitted cowardice 
 in the past. Worse than physical torture it was to see 
 his dream so mutilated in the very inception. He was not 
 taking bad men and women into the clean wilderness to 
 reform them ; he was taking good ones to exercise and 
 preserve their goodness, alone with the worship and the 
 works of God. What had he done that he should be so 
 confounded ? His explanation partook of the nature of 
 that hard-ridden doctrine of his time that life is one long 
 accounting : some sin of his own in secret the Lord was re- 
 warding openly. Herein was he punished, being called to 
 punish another ; risking his future influence with his flock 
 through their probable condemnation of the act. It must 
 be faced. He had gone partners, influenced by cowardice 
 of various kinds, with a man he neither knew nor liked. 
 He should have trusted God and walked forward. 
 
 All Saturday, journeying onward, he gazed at the fear- 
 
AN APOSTOLIC JUDGMENT 147 
 
 f ul peaks and murmured, " On eagles' wings on eagles' 
 wings I bare you and brought you unto myself," and in the 
 words of the mighty apostle he girded his loins anew : 
 " for necessity is laid upon me ; for it were good for me 
 rather to die than that any man should make my glorying 
 void." Saturday night he slept a few hours from sheer ex- 
 haustion, and on the morning of the Sabbath he faced his 
 people with haggard eyes but a lip of priestly determina- 
 tion. When the benediction had been said, he requested 
 that the women retire with their children to the camping- 
 spot; the men to remain in session with him alone. 
 
 A flutter of anxiety agitated the little departing group. 
 There were some who thought they could guess what was 
 coming. Stella required help to get away. Her uncle, look- 
 ing after his women, saw with wrath the arm of his daugh- 
 ter supporting her, while the mother hastened on to spread 
 down a place for her to lie. His thoughts at the moment 
 did his Christianity sad injustice : it was very clear which 
 of those two girls was his own. 
 
 The little company was encamped in mid-valley near the 
 old landmark of the Lone Pine ; they had expected to 
 reach it by noon of the previous day, but darkness had 
 overtaken them while they were unsaddling and pitching 
 their few tents. Morning now showed they were but 
 halfway across the vast, featureless plain. A steady move- 
 ment of air passing over it unimpeded, caused a murmur 
 on high in the great tree's top like many voices in unison, 
 or a dreamy breaking of surf on some far-off, monotonous 
 shore. Our sagebushes of the desert, like the sedges, have 
 no voice " And still they sing." For miles across the 
 empty intervale there was a dry whispering in answer to 
 the pine. 
 
148 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Those little children," said the preacher, " who went 
 from us just now, and others who shall be born to us 
 they will be our pledge, our promise to the nation and to 
 God. But they must come of clean seed ; and no l pleas- 
 ant vessel,' no 4 vessel of desire ' shall hold the consecrated 
 offering. 
 
 *' You may have heard it whispered it has been known 
 to me only within the last thirty-six hours the nature of 
 the folly that has been wrought amongst us. We are not 
 adventurers nor money-seekers, nor seekers of homes in 
 the sense that we bring nothing to build with more pre- 
 cious than life and wordly goods. I see the heads of ten 
 families before me. Such a thing as this I do not believe 
 has been known in one of these families since their ances- 
 tors settled in America. 
 
 " Kemember, brethren, our dealing with offenders is 
 founded on the apostolic letters of different young churches 
 of Christ according to their individual needs and charac- 
 teristics, but on this point of keeping the membership pure 
 there is never any variance nor the least obscurity : ' Now, 
 we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother 
 that walketh disorderly. . . . And if any man obeyeth 
 not our word by this epistle, note that man, that ye have no 
 company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. 
 . . . Put away the wicked man from among yourselves. 
 Ye shall put him away, or her away from among your- 
 selves. . . . Unless they shall repent and die unto sin and 
 live unto God in Christ Jesus.' Observe the repetition, the 
 insistence on the words, * put away ' : the text cannot other- 
 wise be construed or softened or tampered with. 
 
 " Now, there are two persons in this company whose 
 
AN APOSTOLIC JUDGMENT 149 
 
 choice, so far as I am able to investigate, is finally made : 
 we mock the Law and the Commandments in keeping 
 them with us. As we are moving forward our only means 
 of obeying the word of the apostle is to leave them behind. 
 To them who will own no guide but that of their inclina- 
 tions, we leave the trackless wilderness and their free 
 choice of a way to go. 
 
 " Does this seem hard ? I can see faces wincing. Is there 
 any other reading of the Word? Again and seven times 
 seven did Christ forgive the sinner never the sin. In this 
 case I have not learned that forgiveness has been asked. 
 They have put themselves outside of family discipline, out- 
 side of church discipline, there is no community to re- 
 ceive them condoning or otherwise : there remains God 
 ' who judgeth them that are without.' 
 
 " Our situation takes us back to those days when men 
 lived as we are living, in tents of the wilderness, as one 
 family, with no law but the word of Jehovah and with no 
 administrators but his priests. I am but a rod of Aaron, 
 a tool of the just God. The winnower of souls does not go 
 about the matter with softness and relenting. Blows shall 
 resound upon the threshing-floor where the good grain is 
 sorted and vanity swept away. 
 
 " The woman I shall name but once. Nature takes care 
 the woman shall not escape ; she cannot hide her sin. It 
 is the man I want. I call on the betrayer of Estella Mutrie 
 to step out here before us and take his share in this sen- 
 tence and help her to bear the punishment he has brought 
 upon her ; which might seem in our sister's case extreme 
 but for those vital consequences you know of yourselves. 
 You are family men: the children that grow up among us 
 your children will marry. 
 
150 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 "Those who took the responsibility of bringing her, 
 did so, knowing the absolute terms of the contract which 
 governs us in our departure beyond the reach of human 
 law. They have placed the matter in my hands, as in duty 
 bound. I can see my duty no otherwise than as I have 
 stated. Now, son of Adam, come and take this daughter 
 of Eve for thy companion. May the toils and tribulations 
 of the way before you be counted to you for righteousness. 
 It is not in man, as some claim, to give you absolution, 
 but you know where it is to be found ; and I think you 
 are on the best of all roads to meet it." 
 
 No son of Adam answered: a long silence followed, 
 on the minister's part of prayer. The tension continued 
 till you heard men breathe. At length Mr. Yardley raised 
 his head and studied the faces before him. 
 
 " Is it possible ? is it possible ! I had thought we 
 were at the bottom of this pit of infamy a company 
 such as this. Must we be cowards and liars, too ? 
 
 " So, the affirmative fails ; " after a second, deeper si- 
 lence, he resumed. " We shall have to fall back, then, on the 
 plan of elimination. If the sinner has not nerve to stand 
 upon his feet, he may be able to sit still in his place. Let 
 every man present who can answer to God for the secrets 
 of his heart leave this meeting, not looking behind him 
 for the next man." 
 
 And still no one moved. Deacon Hannington, gray- 
 faced and trembling, came and took the minister by the 
 arm. " You better sit down, sir. This is too much for 
 
 you." 
 
 He helped him to a seat on the ground and walked 
 away to join his wretched women-folk. 
 
 Captain Bradburn rose next to leave the group ; passed 
 
AN APOSTOLIC JUDGMENT 151 
 
 close to Mr. Yardley, making some remark, smiled, and 
 went on. He joined no one and no one questioned him. 
 What he had said was : " Raising the Devil's great sport, 
 sir, ain't it, provided the rascal does n't come ! " The min- 
 ister gave no sign. Steps went by him singly or in pairs. 
 One or two of the younger men lingered speculating why 
 Jimmy Yardley should still be there; then, afraid they 
 might be left themselves, hastened away. 
 
 The husbands who returned to camp were questioned 
 by their women eagerly, but all eyes centred on the two 
 left alone at the foot of the tree. 
 
 " Oh, look there ! " Aunt Silence cried in heart-broken 
 whispers. " Jimmy Yardley ! he 's taken that villain's 
 place ! " 
 
 " What for ? " said Alvin ; he was terribly excited. 
 " He 's no business to. It 's a wrong thing to do." 
 
 " Well, I don't care ! I feel as if I 'd like to go and kiss 
 that boy and I 'm half a mind to do it, before everybody. 
 'T will show we understand." 
 
 " Mother, will you leave them alone ! " Barbie uttered 
 wildly. " He is n't doing it for us ; he 's doing it for her." 
 
 Stella lay quiet under her blinding canvas, and guessed 
 her fate in snatches : some form of discipline was coming 
 which staggered " even them." Bradburn had saved him- 
 self and his schemes, and Jimmie stood her friend; in 
 some sort he was her champion, before them all, and 
 Barbie knew why! "Now I hope they are satisfied! " 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 JIMMY had drawn close to his father's knees, planting 
 himself opposite on the ground. The minister's face was 
 hidden while he strove with the spirit of prayer : it was 
 denied him ; he could not bind his thoughts into words. 
 He believed himself alone and it startled him, through 
 the beating in his ears, to hear his son's voice speaking 
 with forced naturalness : 
 
 " We seem to be the only ones left, father. Excuse my 
 staying ; I hope I have n't frightened you ? No one seemed 
 inclined to sit me out." 
 
 His father looked at him searchingly, but without con- 
 viction of the worst. " I can't suppose you are here for 
 any reason. . . . Have you anything to say to me ? " 
 
 " No, sir : I thought it looked rather lonely in the judg- 
 ment seat." There was no comment. " Could n't you remit 
 something, now it 's only the woman ? " 
 
 " She can't be one of us with my consent." 
 
 " Consent ! " echoed Jimmy, recalling his father's ser- 
 mon. " But she is one of us. Her trouble began right here 
 in our midst. I don't think you '11 find the men of this 
 company will stand by and see her punished alone." 
 
 " That is what her betrayer is saying to himself now. 
 He laughs in his sleeve." 
 
 " Let him laugh ! We will use him for his price. We 
 have paid for him, Lord knows ! " 
 
THE PARSON'S SON 153 
 
 " What are you talking about ? " the minister demanded. 
 " Is this expediency, or mercy ? " 
 
 " Both," said Jimmy. " You can't cast her out alone 
 if that is mercy ! " 
 
 " If you stand between her and the Law, you make your- 
 selves a fence for him. I certainly expect to raise the issue 
 to the point of punishment for her : then we shall see if 
 the traitor be human. The rest is God's." 
 
 " I hope, sir, you will not try that ! It will break up the 
 company. Before the words are out of your mouth every 
 man, woman, and child will be up against you." 
 
 " My influence is blasted if I let that scoffer foil me 
 now. I have no evidence to accuse him and no power over 
 him, except through her. You know the man I mean ! " 
 
 " I do, and we need him. Suppose he is human, and you 
 force him out? where are we? Consider the lives under 
 your care, sir ! I would not say to that worker of iniquity, 
 'Depart from me,' till this company is over the Blue 
 Mountains." 
 
 " Then you would be a moral coward, Jimmy. In mat- 
 ters of duty we must leave the consequences to God. Do 
 what the Law compels and trust Him for the event." 
 
 " Well, father ; you did not trust Him entirely on this 
 journey. You took the road of duty, but you hired that 
 man to pilot us over the physical difficulties." 
 
 " There was my false step ! My responsibility for others 
 weakened me, and this is the punishment ; this monstrous 
 thing I am forced to do." 
 
 " It is monstrous : it 's ' cruel and unusual.' It seems 
 to me one of those things that can't be done by men in 
 their " 
 
 Jimmy paused at " right mind," but his father's heated 
 
154 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 face showed lie had been able to finish the sentence for 
 himself : it did not tend towards harmony at that tortured 
 moment, with all eyes upon them. 
 
 u It has been done," the judge pronounced. " I shall 
 not revoke that sentence under the Law. Am I any wiser 
 or more charitable than God's greatest apostle ? " 
 
 " You have not looked at it in detail " 
 
 " Have n't I ? I 've been on my knees over it for every 
 hour since I have known. Leave me, now, to work it out. 
 I need to think." 
 
 " Excuse me if I say I don't think you are able : this 
 has grown so in your eyes it blots out everything else. It 's 
 ridiculous, for instance, to talk of common humanity blast- 
 ing your reputation with sensible men who can see the 
 situation you are in." 
 
 " Go away, Jimmy ; you work at the wrong end : expedi- 
 ency, consequences what have I to do with those ? I am 
 the Law and the Commandments here, or I am nothing." 
 
 " Then I plant myself, before everybody, as the one who 
 must stay with her ; not because I am the man, but be- 
 cause I am your son : that 's your compensation for work- 
 ing out your law. You shall not sacrifice all the others to 
 reach that one villain who is useful, as God made him. 
 I say you were perfectly right to hire him. Has he hurt 
 any one who was sound ? Evil finds evil, and you can thank 
 him for testing her. When he goes, she '11 go with him ; 
 that is her law." 
 
 " Jimmy, you are mocking ! " 
 
 " Well, you drive me to it, sir ! You go so far the other 
 way, I have to range myself with common sense." 
 
 There was a deadly silence. The parson's face showed 
 grim agony. 
 
THE PARSON'S SON 155 
 
 44 Are you trying to force me out of my duty, Jimmy ? 
 You can wrench my heart, but I will not recede, even to 
 spare my own son." 
 
 " I don't ask you to spare me and I don't want to 
 frighten you : it 's no great thing to go back the way we 
 came. I know that road ; none of us know the road ahead. 
 We may meet snow ; we don't know what may happen. 
 This is the crucial part, and with him behind us ! He 
 may stir up the Indians." 
 
 " Cowardice and no faith ! Take your place beside her, 
 then, if you wish to be the sacrifice. What will you do 
 with her?" 
 
 " Take her back to Fort Hall. She '11 have Christian 
 treatment there ! Captain Grant is a good man. I will 
 follow you out when I can with the next train, I sup- 
 pose : I may have to wait over till spring." 
 
 Another silence of wretchedness and obstinacy on both 
 sides. The minister gazed into the young face that con- 
 fronted him ; Jimmy met his eyes ; his own were not so 
 hard but a mist stole into them as he pondered the conse- 
 quences to his own half-born hopes. He would have liked 
 to say to his father that he ought to thank the smiling 
 villain, out of reach, for his son's final cure : the shock 
 that scattered those flattering little theories that Stella 
 was leaning to the better side through his influence at 
 last, with all her bewildering charm intensified by an un- 
 explained sadness. There was abundant mockery for him- 
 self in his sick heart, when he thought of some of their 
 rides together, and what that soul sadness really hid. 
 
 " Your mind is made up on this alternative ? " 
 
 " Quite, sir." 
 
 " Then I see no way but for us both to go through with 
 
156 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 it ; unless I ask those who brought her with them to take 
 her and leave, themselves. I gather from Mr. Hanning- 
 ton that he and his wife hold somewhat different views, 
 but their pride would unite them if I gave the least hint 
 that such a course was expected." 
 
 " I hope you will spare them that ! " said Jimmy, winc- 
 ing. " Let us call it finished." 
 
 He sat and considered his own part in this appalling 
 situation, and his father's bowels yearned over him. 
 
 "You must understand, son, I cannot take back the 
 sentence now that you are the one to share it. It was 
 wrung from me : Stella with a broken, contrite heart 
 would be the lamb our Saviour carried in his breast, but 
 Stella, as she is, were a secret door to sin." 
 
 " I see, father : you overwhelm me, but I quite see 
 where the courage of the judge comes in. Granting 
 your reading of the Law, no woman like her has any case, 
 to be sure. It 's a pity she has no counsel." 
 
 " Jesus is her counsel, but she has refused Him, over 
 and over." 
 
 " Do you think it will be understood that I am not the 
 man you asked for ? I 'm willing to take his job, but I 
 don't covet his character exactly. You must see to that, 
 father." 
 
 " It shall be seen to. I will tell the Hanningtons 
 myself." 
 
 Jimmy's eyes contracted : " I was n't thinking of them ; 
 if they have to be told, I may as well go and shoot myself." 
 
 " Why have you done this, son ? Do you God help 
 us do you love that girl ? " 
 
 " Not more than you do, father. I had no idea of stay- 
 ing till Brad burn went away." 
 
THE PARSON'S SON 157 
 
 " Were you quite unprepared for the facts as I stated 
 them?" 
 
 " No ; but, yes, I was for the fact. Though I have 
 known for some time she is untruthful." 
 
 " Do you know anything else ? " 
 
 " Nothing I could name except on suspicion ; but there 
 is a man around here the Lord must be looking for." 
 
 " He will find him. How was it with them who tempted 
 His wrath in that other desert ? He ' gave them their 
 desire ' ; ' but sent leanness into their souls.' That man 
 in our midst I alone am responsible for ; and this, I repeat, 
 is my punishment. It takes my very all to meet it. But 
 have faith in your own action, Jimmy ; unconsidered as 
 you say it was, I do not doubt it has been laid upon you, 
 even as my part is laid on me. Would to God I were in 
 your place ! " Again for an instant the minister's features 
 betrayed his lonely anguish. 
 
 " Now, I want to ask you this may be our last pri- 
 vate moment ; are you free to give your life for this 
 woman, if it should come to that?" 
 
 " How do you mean, am I ' free ' ? " 
 
 " As you said you were once ; don't you remember our 
 talk when I hesitated to include you in the offer of my 
 own services and life to the work out here ? " 
 
 " I am free in that way still, father, and no more to be 
 congratulated on my freedom : there is no one who cares 
 for my life half as much as we do. I think we can settle 
 the disposal of it between ourselves. But it is n't going to 
 be given away. Now, I '11 tell you what I 'm most afraid 
 of sleeping on watch. But if Stella wants to save me 
 up for my work, she '11 take a dog-watch now and then 
 herself." " She '11 not do anything of the kind," was 
 
158 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Jimmy's reflection. " She will wear a man out as she 
 wears out a horse, because she never thinks." 
 
 " You will have to make haste with your preparations : 
 we must move on to-morrow." 
 
 Mr. Yardley took his son's warm hand in his that was 
 stone cold. Jimmy added his other hand and they held 
 each other so an instant, eyes meeting shrink ingly. 
 
 " You will consult Deacon Hannington as to your direc- 
 tion and learn his wishes in other respects ; you cannot 
 be called on to extend your protection beyond some point 
 of safety where she may be sent for later. But if you are 
 detained there, you will not, Jimmy, let yourself be drawn 
 into the web she seems to weave around every one who is 
 long in her company ? " 
 
 " She does nothing deliberate, father ; she 's a test. The 
 condition is in yourself. She has been through my system 
 pretty thoroughly. One must n't brag, but I think I 'm 
 immune, for a while." 
 
 " Well, I hope she may discover no weakness in you out 
 of proportion to the strength you will require. It is an 
 ordeal for you both." 
 
 " You can't make too much of her part, but you easily 
 can of mine. Don't be downhearted : I 've learned a lot 
 on this trip. You would n't want me, would you, to back 
 out now, after planting myself before witnesses ? " 
 
 Mr. Yardley raised a warning hand. That question was 
 finished : he begged for mercy. " Have you any messages 
 or farewells I could deliver for you at some better time ? 
 Our poor friends will hardly want to see any one to-day ; 
 they have much to think about. I know nothing of how 
 Mrs. Hannington will take my action. Promises are one 
 thing, but nature will assert itself. I could not blame her 
 
THE PARSON'S SON 159 
 
 if she felt quite hard towards me ; but you they must be 
 drawn to, in gratitude for what you do." 
 
 " D n gratitude ! Do I want any one's gratitude ? You 
 know how I feel about that family. If there is any one I 
 do this for it is Aunt Silence tell her so, father, with 
 my love." 
 
 " And Barbara? Is there no word for her in such a 
 time as this ? " 
 
 Mr. Yardley braced himself for the rebuff he openly 
 was courting ; being ready for it, it did not come. Jimmy 
 hesitated ; his father's pale blue eyes filmed and quiv- 
 ered. The boy had sprung to his feet; now he waited 
 relenting, sat down and spoke softly, deliberately opening 
 the last seal of confidence between them. 
 
 " Father, let me tell you something : Barbie and I did 
 care a good deal for each other once. /cared ; and she 
 left me free, though I think she must have despised me 
 ever since. I cheated her out of a question that was her 
 right, after some other things that passed between us. My 
 head got running 011 Stella ; the question could n't be 
 asked then. Would it be fair to the straightest girl that 
 ever lived to ask it now ? And suppose I got the ' no ' I 
 deserve, would that strengthen me any ? I '11 keep my 
 fighting chance, and she shall keep her freedom." 
 
 "Well, well, well ! " said Mr. Yardley. 
 
 " Now you see why I am liable to forget your cloth, sir, 
 when you talk about that family's gratitude to me. Aunt 
 Silence remembers when that began, between Barbie and 
 your son, and I guess she knew how it ended. There has 
 never been the least change in her manner. And Barbie 
 has scorned me and kept still Oh, good God! "said 
 Jimmy below his breath. If he could have but one last 
 
160 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 word with her, for there had been moments when he was 
 not so sure about that scorn. Last night, when she had 
 looked up at him, so tired, so gentle, so young and worn ! 
 
 " Well, I should n't have spared you, son, if I had known 
 what you tell me now ; but I might have wanted to spare 
 Barbara seeing much more of you." 
 
 " Then don't make a martyr of me, dad. You see where 
 I come in : I wanted Stella, now I have got her tied 
 to my neck. I don't believe there's so much danger, 
 but, father, it 's a loathsome job. You take care of my little 
 chance here, won't you ? You love her. Be good to her 
 and all of them. They will help you to bear what 's coming 
 to you ; but not through your fault ! that is a mania, sir. 
 You took the man to insure our lives." 
 
 " I know what I took him for : I wanted him. The Word 
 of God is a two-edged sword, Jimmy, ' sharper than any 
 two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul 
 and spirit. And there is no creature that is not manifest 
 in His sight.' Your father has been in all points tempted 
 like other men. This is my bitter hour. Go now, son : I 
 cannot say, though you are my son, that you have not 
 done well.'* 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 MUTINY 
 
 IT had been their rule of necessity to travel on the Sab- 
 bath, but no order was given that day for the caravan to 
 start. There was little discussion, however ; a dazed won- 
 der occupied those astonished ininds, slow to decide for 
 themselves, slower still to act in concert, that conned the 
 minister's judgment. Nothing could surprise them now. 
 They waited, but a slow heat of remonstrance was stirring 
 in a few of the more liberal intelligences. 
 
 " I am ready to talk over the route with you, any time : " 
 Bradburn addressed Jimmy, who looked past him and 
 asked, " Which route ?" 
 
 " Yours." The captain raised his voice ; " and the 
 places where you stop. There is a new supply station at 
 Jim Bridger's, on Black Fork. He 's building a fort there ; 
 it may not be finished yet, but he can make you pretty 
 comfortable. You don't want to take her to Fort Hall." 
 
 " Bridger's," said Jimmy curtly, " must be fifty miles 
 out of our way." 
 
 " You seem to forget who is captain of the road on this 
 march." 
 
 " We are marching by ourselves. I thought that was 
 understood." 
 
 Bradburn swore : the " we " " our " sent a wicked flame 
 into his face. "It's d d well understood that you're 
 the spoiled child of the company. Until you learn to take 
 orders, Yardley, you are not fit to give them." 
 
162 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " If you mean your orders. Captain Bradburn, how can 
 I take them when you turn your back on us to-morrow 
 morning ? " 
 
 " You can take them to-day," said Bradburn. " You 
 need money, you know. I can't spare you much now, but 
 you go to Bridger : tell him who you come from. He '11 
 give you anything he 's got, and charge it up to me. You 
 must get fresh horses and more men and a wagon or a cart, 
 if you expect to make Laramie. I would n't try it, though ; 
 let her stop at Bridger's. He '11 do everything he can for 
 her and he knows how. When I Ve got this party through 
 and finished up some contracts, I shall be able to send in 
 for her. She will know her own mind by then." 
 
 Bradburn finished without interruption ; there was no 
 reply. " Whose authority are you acting under, anyhow? " 
 he blustered. 
 
 " None that makes me accountable to you. We take a 
 plain road we 've been over, and all the points you men- 
 tion have been thought of." 
 
 " Why do you go for instructions to persons it is my 
 business to lead ? I don't offer you spiritual advice or tell 
 you when to cut your hair, but I do know something about 
 roads and men in this country, and supply stations, and 
 Indians. You '11 meet no bad Indians if you go by Black's 
 Fork ; but if you try to make Laramie, you '11 cross the 
 Pawnee Trail. Do you know what that means ? These 
 are considerations I should think you might afford to 
 listen to." 
 
 There was quite enough in Bradburn's argument to 
 make it irritating. Jimmy did listen ; he also replied. " If 
 you had wished to conduct this detail yourself, Captain 
 Bradburn, the chance was open to you." 
 
MUTINY 163 
 
 " I wish you could conduct a conversation, so as not 
 to insult the man you are talking to ! Does it hurt you any 
 if I offer you assistance, for some one else ? Is it any of 
 your business ? " 
 
 " Certainly not, if I don't accept it." 
 
 " D n it ! If you fool with this job I may take it my- 
 self. Such a Pathfinder as you ought not to be wasted on 
 a home trail. You ought to pilot the train through the 
 mountains." 
 
 Bradburn walked away, leaving Jimmy chuckling 
 fiercely ; he believed he had been talking to a ghastly 
 hypocrite who had done all the harm in his power to Stella 
 and her friends. For himself, he never expected to meet 
 the man again. 
 
 Bradburn had often teased Stella about the young New 
 Englander's passion for her, which he kept on ice. They 
 had laughed at the boy's struggles. He did not laugh at 
 him now. 
 
 Mrs. Hannington could scarcely believe her ears when 
 Bradburn, visiting their quarter of the camp that even- 
 ing, asked to see Miss Mutrie, adding that he wished to 
 bid her good-bye. 
 
 Alvin rose up and walked away. He was fifty-four : 
 prudence was the governing principle with him, un- 
 less he became excited. He had had excitement enough 
 for one day; it would be safer to leave the man to 
 Silence. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Hannington's knees sank under her, but she 
 remembered prudence, too. They had been and were still 
 " at their wits' end " about money ; Mr. Yardley had in- 
 deed come to their relief, in a brief and painful scene over 
 
164 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 the question of providing for Stella's enforced journey. 
 They could not unload her on Jimmy : Aunt Silence 
 did not share Barbara's theory of his exalted love resisting 
 knowledge ; she thought she had seen that Jimmy's eyes 
 were open. Barbie might have seen, too, except for a 
 habit she had cultivated of never seeing him at all. Now, 
 if they were to cut her off from this scoundrel renegade, 
 who owed her his protection in material ways, at least, 
 how was Alvin to repudiate her ! He would have her on 
 his hands indefinitely and hopelessly at long range ; there 
 would be, as the poor woman said, " no end to it ! " Her 
 shielding of the girl did not profess to be pure altruism ; 
 she had thought of her own child ; she was thinking now 
 of her tried, hampered husband, of the disgrace they could 
 never get over, of the endless drag upon their lives. Ac- 
 cepting her errand stoically as part of the unspeakable 
 whole, she rose and said she would ask if Stella felt like 
 seeing any one. 
 
 Barbie was seated sewing and Stella lay with her 
 face turned aside ; the sun striking through the canvas 
 wagon-sheet made a ground -glass effect of glaring shel- 
 ter over them. Barbie worked fast in silence finishing 
 some garment to be packed that night for the dreadful 
 journey. 
 
 " Take your work outside a minute," her mother whis- 
 pered hoarsely. " Not that way ! " she would not have 
 had Barbara see who was their visitor. The girl looked 
 back though and saw him, and walked away stunned. 
 
 " She says she 'd like to be excused." Aunt Silence 
 delivered her niece's answer. 
 
 Bradburn stood puzzled. " Does she know who it is ? " 
 
 " I told her." 
 
MUTINY 165 
 
 " Tell her not to be afraid. We cannot have secrets 
 from you, Mrs. Hannington." 
 
 Aunt Silence flamed back, " Well, I don't thank you 
 for your confidence." 
 
 " Surely you know why she must see me ! " 
 
 "I found out her trouble by myself. The name she 
 did not want to tell me, I did n't want to know and I 
 never asked." 
 
 " But you do know. Does your husband know? " 
 
 " Mr. Hannington does not know it from me." 
 
 " You have never discussed me with him by name ? 
 You New Englanders are a singular people." 
 
 She became stony. 
 
 " Will you take a message from me to your niece, 
 madam?" 
 
 " I 'd rather not." 
 
 " Will you carry a letter to her, then ? " 
 
 " If it is sealed." 
 
 Bradburn sneered. "Are you afraid you might be 
 tempted to look inside ? I am not." 
 
 " If you don't understand, Captain Bradburn, why I 
 won't carry an open letter from you to Stella Mutrie, 
 'twould be a waste for me to tell you." 
 
 " No l kindness of Mrs. Hannington ' in the case, I 
 suppose ! " 
 
 "Not in your case. If it was anything important to 
 Stella, I might not stand in the way." 
 
 " You don't call it important that I should put myself 
 right with her, after this morning ! " 
 
 " You had the chance then to put yourself as right with 
 her as you can. You don't risk much talking to her or to 
 me, now." 
 
166 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " The question this morning, of risk, concerned your 
 company rather than ourselves. I would sooner, as to 
 safety, take my chance going back alone with her than 
 ahead with this party and your minister as guide. But I 
 won't detain you. I will write to your niece, and seal the 
 letter. There will be a small packet inside ; something 
 she ought not to travel without." 
 
 " Medicine ? " 
 
 " For snake bite," said Bradburn soberly. He looked 
 at her with his black impenetrable eyes. 
 
 " Very well, I will deliver it." 
 
 " Did she send me no message at all ? " 
 
 "Just now, you mean?" Mrs. Hannington paused, 
 after his " Yes, when you left her." 
 
 " Well ; she did say something I was to tell you. I 
 thought, perhaps, I 'd better not." 
 
 " Was n't that rather too much responsibility for a lady 
 so anxious to wash her hands of our affairs ? " 
 
 " Maybe it was. You think you want to hear it ? " 
 
 " Most certainly." 
 
 " These were her words, then> if I recollect : she said, 
 ' If anybody cares to hear him talk they are welcome. / 
 will never believe a word he says to me again.' I did n't 
 tell you because I thought it sounded peevish. She 's a 
 child, about half the time. But then, she is n't ! " 
 
 " Does she seem to take it very hard ? " 
 
 Silence looked at him a moment. He was a man whose 
 effrontery beat down the common barriers of speech ; he 
 could not feel a rebuff, and compelled from others the 
 familiarity he forced upon all whom he addressed. Aunt 
 Silence surprised herself by answering him. 
 
 " I can't tell you how she takes it, and I don't see how 
 
MUTINY 167 
 
 you can ask. But I don't know anything about such peo- 
 ple as she and you are." 
 
 " That is evident," said Bradburn ; " and, looking at it 
 from our side, your twisting and torturing and cramping 
 of nature, for the sake of living according to a recipe made 
 by men who were half mad on one or two questions a thou- 
 sand years ago, is a mystery to us. Such a scene as we had 
 this morning, some of the greatest philosophers men 
 who have changed our whole conception of the universe 
 would be unable to comprehend. It would look as mon- 
 strous to Benjamin Franklin, for instance, as stoning 
 a woman to death or throwing her over the wall would 
 look to you." 
 
 " You are a terrible man ; but you, and Benjamin Frank- 
 lin, have hurt that poor girl about all you are ever going 
 to, I guess." 
 
 " You seemed to be having a stormy time of it," Alvin 
 speculated anxiously as he rejoined his better half. 
 
 " I gave him to understand what we think of him but, 
 there ! I 'm doing just what he asked me to. He 's a ter- 
 rible man," she repeated. " I don't know as I ever heard 
 any one talk as he does. If he 's been talking that way 
 to Stella I don't wonder much she can't tell black from 
 white." 
 
 " The trouble with Stella is she would n't care if she 
 could : she '11 do just what suits her best and the rest of 
 us can call it what we like." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington observed aloud without any manifest 
 feeling, " Good as they are, I 've always noticed a hard 
 streak in the Hanningtons. If there 's one person in this 
 world you can't blind, it's my own mother ; she sees straight 
 
168 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 through Stella, and yet I do believe she 's half fond of 
 her." 
 
 "Grandma likes pretty people, and she does n't have to 
 suffer for her likes and dislikes. She sits one side she 's 
 interested in folks, whether they 're the just or the un- 
 just." 
 
 " Grandma suffers what we suffer, I guess, but she sees 
 there 's an end to all of it ; an end to our wisdom and our 
 conceit of our own justice ; and to all the wonderful hap- 
 piness young folks think is meant for them that 's going 
 to last forever, and the sorrow they think they never can 
 bear. I know we shall bear this, but I wish I did know 
 where it 's going to end! " 
 
 " It won't end short of a life for a life. He 's taken 
 what he can't give back. ' Burning for burning, wound 
 for wound.' " 
 
 " Father, that 's benighted ! We 're some ways beyond 
 Leviticus, I should hope." 
 
 " You 're mistaken ; everything in the Bible is in life. 
 We come to it piece by piece ; and we 've got to take it. 
 I don't say it's meted out to one more than another." 
 
 " Well, I hope you get your fill of the Old Testament 
 before you 're through with it. I always pitied Mr. Yard- 
 ley ; he 's never advanced much. But I never dreamt his 
 own son would have to pay for his antiquated judgments. 
 I promised I 'd submit to what he said should be, but I 
 believe he 'd thank us now to set his word aside and just 
 rebel ! I 'm ready to, for my part. I 'm ready to go to him 
 now and say it 's too much ! If he leaves one of us, he '11 
 have to leave us all." 
 
 " Well, now I put my foot down ! You '11 do no such 
 thing. This paying for Stella stops right here. You took 
 
MUTINY 169 
 
 the responsibility on you, and when you got through you 
 said 4 Now, I leave it to the men.' This is a man's way." 
 
 " Three men's way, I guess you mean. Jimmy won't 
 back out ; his father can't, now ; the other I don't call a 
 man. But if you '11 stand by me, you and I could give Mr. 
 Yardley a chance to forget he 's a rod of Aaron and act 
 like a human being. Don't you believe he 'd thank us ? I 
 do ! I believe he 's just praying now for some way out of 
 it." 
 
 " He did his praying beforehand. He won't ask for a 
 new way to be shown him." 
 
 " Why should n't he ? A new way was shown ; had 
 to be, or the world could n't go on. Don't the hymn say 
 ' last best creed ' ? Don't you see how good it would turn 
 out, if you 'd only have the courage, Alvin ! " 
 
 " I 'm going to have the courage to keep my word and 
 obey the Law," said her husband. 
 
 " Oh, the Law ! There are forty different ways of read- 
 ing the Law, but there is only one Jesus." 
 
 " I said I would follow Mr. Yardley and abide by his 
 judgment on this march and I am going to do it, and I ex- 
 pect my wife will do the same, unless you want to take 
 hold and run the whole thing yourself." 
 
 " I don't see how we can do it ! " moaned the woman. 
 " How are we ever going to forget those two ! How are 
 you going to feel, when night comes down and you are fix- 
 ing you to sleep, and friends all around you, and don't 
 know what may be creeping upon them ! How 's Jimmy 
 Yardley going to keep awake every night a young man 
 like him ? They '11 be followed, and they '11 be surprised! " 
 
 " Silence, where 's your faith in anything ? Jimmy 's 
 got to do this ; there 's no one else for it. His father, if 
 
170 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 he 's consistent, can't pardon a woman to save a man 
 and his own son at that ! How could any one believe that 
 scoundrel would have hung back ? Why, I 'd do it myself 
 if I wa'n't owing money and had no family to provide for, 
 though I should be out of my element considerable ; it 's a 
 young man 's job. Jimmy, I ventur', don't feel to be pitied 
 one bit ; no more than if he was going to sea. Sailors have 
 to be broke of their sleep, young or old. He won't get lost ; 
 he is n't afraid to fight and he won't be in a hurry to fight. 
 You '11 see it will make a man of him ! And if he has any 
 foolishness left for Stella, this trip will take it well out of 
 him. He '11 know her before it 's through. Now, go and see 
 what you can do for her and don't talk mutiny to me in 
 the middle of the desert." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 A SURE REMEDY 
 
 "My poor little queen," wrote Bradburn. " It looks as 
 if she was downright forsaken, but that is n't so. The old 
 inquisitor fixed up a devilish trap for us this morning, 
 didn't he? I was even with him, though, if son Jimmy 
 had n't been taken the way he was. When I got up and 
 showed the other sons of Adam what to do, I supposed they 
 would all follow like sheep. That would have left Parson 
 Yardley alone with the Tables of the Law. I think the 
 tables would have turned on him ; he could n't have thrown 
 little Eve out of the Garden alone (perhaps you don't see 
 the Garden !) Nay, his own flock would have torn him to 
 pieces first. Having settled that in my mind, I went away. 
 
 " You never can tell what children and fools will do 
 next. The son of the judge plays the part of saviour. He 
 hangs to his job like a dog to a bone. We '11 let him 
 have it, then ; give the parson a taste of his own medicine. 
 As it happens, if I had been looking for a man to take my 
 place as your escort, I believe I 'd have picked Yardley ; 
 but he will take no orders from me, hang his impudence! 
 You must manage him, 
 
 " My darling, on no account stop at Fort Hall ! I want 
 you to winter over at Bridger's new fort. The place will 
 be clean anyhow. You can trust old Jim. He's the best sort 
 I know. I trust him, even with you. Wait for me there 
 and take care of yourself for my sake. But if things take 
 such a turn, with pig-headed boys in charge, that you can't 
 do my way, then you keep me informed. I shall think of 
 
172 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 you every moment, but you know how I am tied. Must 
 deliver the goods to the U. M. O. Must get my commis- 
 sions, and nail that discovery before some one gets ahead 
 of me. It will give us our kingdom, my golden-haired 
 gypsy ! Soon as I get rid of these church farmers and fix 
 the other matters, I am after you ; no shadow of turning 
 in me. But I was caught this morning, I own it. The 
 father and son, both together, were rather much for me. 
 Pacienza ! I shall get even with those two yet. No man 
 ever bested me in the long run. 
 
 "Now for the last word ! Don't let me frighten you, but 
 mind what I say. If that boy tries to take you as far as 
 L/aramie with no more guns along, never on your life be 
 parted one instant from the contents of this box. The pills 
 are wax outside and a trifle big for a baby throat like 
 yours, but inside is the best gift I can give you if you 
 should be taken by Indians alive. If you are chased, put 
 one, or two, in your mouth. But for God's sake, don't 
 close your teeth on it unless you are actually in the devils' 
 hands. Do I make it plain enough? I wish you knew how 
 I feel, writing this! Don't experiment don't delay! 
 Either is fatal. This is for the moment we call the last 
 extremity ; be sure it 's come before you use my gift. But 
 when you are sure, don't delay. Farewell, my star of the 
 desert. Stars will set, but they rise again. Pity your poor 
 pilgrim when he turns his face away from the east. He 
 will suffer more than you." 
 
 As Stella read these closing words, she tore the sheet 
 across ; then she took up her gift, and smiled. When the 
 little white box, with its careful fastening of string and seal- 
 ing-wax, dropped into her lap out of the letter, her thought 
 had been, he has sent me a pledge his diamond ring ! 
 
A SURE REMEDY 173 
 
 A short time later Bradburn got her reply. 
 
 "Your last gift, like all your gifts to me, is inexpensive, 
 I judge, and it is something you have no use for yourself. 
 When I say 'all ' I forgot the lump of gold but you took 
 that back. I remember you said it might be ' safer.' It is 
 quite safe, and so are you and all your secrets, for what I 
 care ! Go and find your kingdom and find some one else 
 to share it with. But I thank you for this last gift. I will 
 think of you when I am ready to use it. Farewell, 'fellow 
 traveller.' " 
 
 Bradburn asked himself sincerely, What did the girl 
 expect ? Had he not done all a man so trapped could do ? 
 The facts he reminded her of she had known before ; could 
 these facts be altered ? Did she seriously demand that he 
 should fling away the whole foundation in material means 
 of that life glorious they had planned together to save a 
 bad hour and a period of waiting ? How could he have 
 foreseen that the parson's son would pick up his carefully 
 rejected role and make it the star part in the performance ? 
 No ; his letter explained everything, but she was a child 
 and something hurt her. She must be kissed and cured at 
 once. 
 
 But Jimmy's action did not by any means strike him 
 as negligible. The infatuated boy (Bradburn was still 
 convinced of Jimmy's passion for Stella) had become a 
 rival seriously to be reckoned with. What he had done 
 proclaimed what he might be capable of, once alone with 
 the monstrous advantages he had seized. Bradburn could 
 see nothing in Jimmy's championship but the wild hope 
 of possession ; thy woman my woman, if I can snatch 
 and console her. Stella's rebuff and Jimmy's defiance, 
 taken together, gave him food for much thought. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 JIMMY, though hurried with thoughtful preparations, 
 could spare an eye for what was taking place in the Han- 
 ningtons' quarter of the camp. He saw Barbie leave the 
 tent and wander off by herself after one look at her 
 mother's visitor. Jimmy saw that look. He was puzzled 
 and indignant. Mrs. Hannington had been talking to the 
 man all of ten minutes, and still he stood there quite at 
 ease, throwing his weight carelessly on one hip, cocking 
 his hat-brim against the sun, obviously expecting her back 
 again soon. If Bradburn were to be taken into the councils 
 of that family, after the scene of the morning, no won- 
 der Barbie had fled confounded. He started in pursuit of 
 her with no definite purpose but to be near in case she 
 might wish to speak to him. 
 
 She did not, apparently ; she gave him one quick 
 glance, said "Jimmy," by way of greeting, and they 
 walked on together in silence. They had nowhere to go in 
 their miserable, isolated self-consciousness. The strange 
 publicity both families had achieved was hardly a subject 
 for them, yet Barbie could think of nothing else. Jimmy 
 had his resolution on his mind : he had also pockets to 
 drive his restless fists into ; Barbie had only her thimble, 
 which she had been using when her mother made her 
 drop her work. All the motions of her hands were dearly 
 familiar to him in those feminine arts and crafts which 
 are practised with the aid of a thimble. Young men have 
 
A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE 175 
 
 remarkable powers of observation, off and on, and Jimmy, 
 at one time in his lamented past, had cultivated with 
 tingling results the habit of observing Barbara. There 
 are layers and layers of one's consciousness ; every season- 
 able experience that bears fruit in the soul leaves its drift 
 and buries its seeds of memory. Suddenly as mayflowers 
 are uncovered by spring winds, a perfume, an ecstasy of 
 the most evasive, subtle delicacy, took hold of him. It 
 was one of those moments, ghostlike, that came and went 
 on that strange pilgrimage, where none of them seemed 
 to be themselves. This immense bare valley, that incred- 
 ible scene of the morning, the thing his father had done, 
 and what he was about to do, this preposterous parting 
 all sense of the present went out of him ; he could not 
 think ; association was sharper than fact. He smelled 
 hyacinths blooming, hyacinths and daffodils, in earthen 
 pots, in the Hanningtons' sitting-room in winter ; it was 
 the short mid-term vacation, those evenings after 
 skating when Barbie's cheeks in the close-heated room 
 (she was too young, then, to have her company in the 
 parlor) mounted that wonderful deep, blush rose that 
 lends distracting brilliancy to blue eyes with dark lashes ; 
 when he would sit transfixed on the sofa apart, enter- 
 tained by her parents while his eyes wandered to her 
 profile against the lamp where she sat sewing by the centre- 
 table. In a thrill of memory keen as the scent of those 
 imprisoned flowers, he lived it all over again, to the 
 moment which crowned the hours of waiting when Deacon 
 Hannington's book slipped down and his head sank back 
 and his wrinkled eyelids closed, and Mrs. Hannington 
 rose softly and went out for a plate of apples and nut- 
 cakes cold from the pantry, and he would compass the 
 
176 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 distance feebly to Barbie's chair and make her look at 
 him in those pleading, confused attempts at conversation 
 between them which were so bad for fine sewing. Her 
 work would flutter down, her fingers go astray, she 
 would fall to playing with her thimble, flash it to and 
 fro, drop it, very likely. All this was damaging to a 
 studied frame of mind; it finished Jimmy's perfected 
 resolution. 
 
 "Oh, Barbie," he said, simply, but quite mad, "I 
 want that little old thimble. Give it to me now, won't 
 you?" 
 
 " My thimble ? " she turned her languid eyes towards 
 him haughtily. "Are you really out of your senses, 
 Jimmy ? What do you want with my thimble ? " 
 
 " What do I want with anything ! naturally I don't 
 intend to wear it." 
 
 A laugh gushed out of her. " That is so exactly like 
 you ! " 
 
 " What is like me ? " 
 
 " The whole thing ! a perfectly foolish speech which 
 you wouldn't take back for anything in the world, no 
 matter how it sounded." 
 
 " It sounds all right, only you are exacting, I think, on 
 the point of sanity, considering. Why should n't I ask 
 for a trifling keepsake when I 'm saying good-bye ? " 
 
 " From me ! " said Barbie, suddenly grave. 
 
 "Who else?" 
 
 She answered him first with silence ; "I don't re- 
 member that we have ever been on a footing of keep- 
 sakes." 
 
 " Don't you ? Then I should propose a change in our 
 footing at once." 
 
A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE 177 
 
 " There have been changes enough, I think ; let us try 
 to keep what we have left." 
 
 " Barbie, why do you take that tone with me, just now ? 
 Explain it, won't you?" 
 
 " It does n't need explaining " 
 
 " Why, I think it does ; you seem to imply that we 
 never have been friends." 
 
 " We never have on the footing you seem to imply." 
 
 "Is that quite true?" Jimmy said deliberately. 
 
 She reflected, moving her hands in the way that wore 
 upon him : he wanted to take them and hold them still. " If 
 it 's not, I think you should not remind me of it. I have 
 a right to think of what is past in any way I choose." 
 
 " That is true : nevertheless I have something to say to 
 you about yourself and me, and one other " 
 
 " Then I shall leave you ; only let me say, first " 
 
 " Oh, no : you must let me talk, Barbie. I 've begun 
 wrong, but what of that ? Give me a moment : I '11 show 
 you if I am crazy." 
 
 She had turned away, but stood so, listening ; she must 
 listen this last day. She pitied him wondered over 
 him so, saw him in such a whirl of misery. He kept his 
 gaze upon her. She was changed in looks, any one could 
 see, in this last year ; there were deeper lines which gave 
 a womanly pathos to the lowered eyelids, larger and more 
 wan. But it was her own profile, distressingly sweet ; it 
 could not change. The Psyche droop of the tall, white, 
 bended neck, the short perpendicular intent brow. And 
 then she turned and gave him a curious, waiting, patient 
 smile. " I thought you had come to say good-bye, quietly 
 and sensibly." 
 
 Jimmy laughed. " It 's a nice, quiet, sensible occasion 
 
178 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 for good-bye, is n't it ? It 's one of those good-byes that 
 may last the rest of our lives, you know. I want to say a 
 few things first." 
 
 " Not about me !" 
 
 " Yes, you and me and Stella." 
 
 " No ; no, Jimmy ! " she pleaded sternly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I must. There can be misunderstandings be- 
 tween friends that are worse than any parting, they 
 are the parting. They are more destructive than death." 
 
 " There are a great many things more destructive 
 than death," said Barbie. 
 
 " We need n't manufacture them for ourselves." 
 
 " What is it you want to explain ? I don't misunder- 
 stand you, Jimmy. You had a friend you have her still. 
 I don't profess to follow you in these days all the way a 
 friend perhaps should go ; but you need n't explain to any 
 one, I should hope, why you cannot turn your back on a 
 girl you cared for once, when she had everything to give, 
 
 because she had been robbed, and left on the 
 road." 
 
 Having taxed herself to say this all out to the end, Bar- 
 bie flew ahead ; when he reached her side again she was 
 shuddering, bowed down, her face between her hands. She 
 did not weep free tears ; she fought with the hard par- 
 oxysms of the young, who mistake their strength and are 
 overtaken suddenly. 
 
 He walked beside her every moment more content 
 
 listening to her long-drawn, broken breaths following 
 the wrecking sobs. Out of the storm came a bewildering 
 peace. 
 
 " I was afraid you might be thinking something like 
 that," he began on a different key, coaxingly. There was 
 
A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE 179 
 
 sunshine in his tones. Barbie's heart expanded : she gave 
 one long, last sigh. He tried to take her hand, but she 
 refused it. 
 
 " You are utterly mistaken : I am not Stella's broken- 
 down lover, nor her champion personally. It is the case of 
 Stella. Any other man has an equal right to take it up 
 only there was none. I regard it as the grimiest episode 
 of my life. The only thing that could make it more in- 
 fernal would be that you should mistake the situation and 
 I not be able to explain. There is no situation : it 's a wild 
 accident ; no, not quite. There may be a certain devilish 
 hilarity in it. I was more or less intoxicated with your 
 cousin once. I paid for my little spree ; I paid with about 
 all I had, but not with myself. No ; when it comes to 
 pitying me for what I 'm supposed to suffer, I 'd like you 
 to give me credit for knowing what 's worth suffering for. 
 We know that women may ruin their lives and men's 
 lives, and be loved not the same, but loved by men 
 who can be faithful to them ; different men from me, 
 and not women like Stella. Can you let me say that ? It 's 
 not because of the catastrophe it 's because of what 
 made it too easy what will go on, with Stella, to the 
 end ; that is why I can justify my father and carry out his 
 orders, though he is terrible." 
 
 " You are terrible ! " 
 
 " Ah, I have been her fool ! not Very long, though, 
 and only a fool of a boy." 
 
 Barbie gave him one of her clear looks, like a call. 
 " You shall not let me hear you abuse that boy ! I 
 loved the boy," she added softly. 
 
 " The man loves you. What are you going to say to 
 him, the man that you made ? " 
 
180 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I did n't make yon, Jimmy," she might as well have 
 added the " dear," for her way of speaking his name 
 amounted to the same thing. " You made yourself, ' with 
 divine assistance,' and I looked on and was cross with 
 you." 
 
 " Well, perhaps Stella made me : she certainly articu- 
 lated me limb from limb. She played the mischief with 
 some of me, but not all of me ; because, you know, the 
 best part of this male specimen has always belonged in 
 your collection, you hard-hearted girl ! " 
 
 " I am hard-hearted, there's too much truth in that ; 
 but not to you, I 'm ashamed to say : to others who 
 are weaker and have no family and no home." 
 
 "Now, where is she coming out on this? " Jimmy en- 
 quired aloud, impartially. 
 
 This time he insisted on the hand ; she gave his a hasty 
 squeeze and dispensed with it firmly, while she went on 
 to say : 
 
 " Mother trusted me to be sweet to her. I never was ! 
 We were put together like sisters, and I was mean. I 
 made comparisons, I disliked her ; I almost loathed 
 Oh, I can't tell you ! Yes, I must ! I was even jealous 
 of her looks, and her charm that confused everybody when 
 I knew what she was ! It enraged me to have father pet 
 her the same as he does me ; and my own mother, so 
 much my own, always on her side, excusing her, want- 
 ing me to love her! I couldn't bear to see her head in 
 mother's lap. I was glad when she engaged herself to that 
 ridiculous Horace. I wished her gone, anywhere, any- 
 how ! I have prayed, without saying the words just in 
 the cowardly meanness of my heart to have her taken 
 out of our lives forever, before she won away from me every 
 
A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE 181 
 
 one I loved. Now," said Barbie in tragic accents, " God, 
 who must be just before He can be merciful, has answered 
 that prayer. He has ' removed ' Stella ' from the fore-seat/ 
 and taken you, too ! That 's the way it must work out 
 when we want to fix things so nicely for ourselves. I 
 thought she was all safe there with Horace and Hor- 
 ace's mother to anchor her down, and we should be 
 sailing away to Galilee, a perfect company just the 
 ones who belonged together. You see the difference ! But 
 if I 'm to be punished more oh, I hope it need n't be 
 through you, Jimmy, for really that' s not fair ! " 
 
 " Even for God, I suppose ! " mocked the unregen- 
 erate. " You precious little darling egotist ! Do you sup- 
 pose the Lord spends his time weighing you up every 
 Monday morning to see how much heavier you are in 
 sin? " He laughed in the face of her Divine Justice, strut- 
 ting in his hour of happiness, but suddenly perceived that 
 it was not wise to laugh in hers. He took her hand in- 
 stead and held it warm and hard, and argued with her in 
 good, set fashion out of his personal idea of life and the 
 ruler of his existence. 
 
 " You give me that little black heart of yours : I '11 ed- 
 ucate it ! How were you to learn self-abnegation, my child, 
 unless you put it on, and then I should hate you living 
 all your life under the wing of your blessed parents, the 
 apple of their eye ! It is n't what you do, dear, nor what 
 you feel, for you don't feel the same two days together 
 even about Stella! It's what you are everlastingly made 
 of that's going to count in the long run. You are the 
 making, I want you to understand, of everything a man 
 needs in his life. You are the stuff the best of us are 
 made of, and that 's why I want you in our family. Men 
 
182 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 are fastidious, too, when they are n't fools. We shall fight, 
 of course : I 'm an only child and a man, besides ; but, 
 wow ! it 's more fun to fight, with the woman you love, 
 on the wide house-tops, than to sit and suck thumbs at 
 any other female feast or gorge, if you like ! " 
 
 Barbie was giggling girlishly. She believed every word 
 he said, though it was not orthodox. 
 
 "You can say good-bye to that 'boy,' though; he's 
 my hated rival. He got me into trouble once. I don't 
 want him in our house." 
 
 " He belongs in my house ! I am going to keep him, for 
 times when I get tired of you. I dare say," she sighed, 
 " we may grow young again if we live long enough. 
 When will you be able to come back to us, Jimmy? " The 
 shadow fell upon them and put out their joy. 
 
 " Oh, next day after never," Jimmy groaned. " Not 
 until next spring anyway. I 'm taking no more fool chances 
 after this, let me tell you ; I want to live a long, hard life 
 with you." Her laugh with that tremor in it was a sound 
 he seemed to have missed for years. 
 
 " Barbie darling I want you to believe, dear, I 
 did n't look for all this. I only meant to tell you some- 
 thing I thought you ought to know. But it is n't too much 
 ' I need it. There 's lots more I shall want, though, when 
 I have earned it." 
 
 " You will earn it, hard enough, more than I can ever 
 give you. It 's nobler and harder than anything I ever 
 heard of. It 's ' stranger than fiction.' It 's Christian 
 chivalry. It 's watching your armor before you are made 
 a knight " 
 
 " Dear, it 's grime ! And we 've wasted time horribly. 
 Here 's a whole summer gone, and now we must part. 
 
A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE 183 
 
 Think, if this had only happened months ago ! Could it, 
 do you think, if I had n't been a coward ? " 
 
 " Don't be a greedy Goliah ; it 's happened now." 
 
 " Ah, so late : and nowhere in this wide wilderness 
 where I can have you one second to myself ! I should like 
 to show Lottie Kiersted over there just what I think of 
 you this minute ; she 's looking at us as if she e wanted to 
 know ' ; shall I ? surprise her ! " 
 
 " Jimmy, behave ! You must let go my hand." 
 
 Barbie, affecting a tragic indifference to her companion, 
 was leading the way rapidly " home." She wore a faint 
 rose in the centre of each cheek, the color of flown joy, 
 and Jimmy's gray eyes, lighted to their blackest depths, 
 blazed his secret to Lottie Kiersted to all and sundry. 
 He revelled shamelessly in the curiosity this conspicuous 
 stroll of theirs aroused ; it stung him to think that others, 
 perhaps every one, looked at the situation as Barbie had 
 done. 
 
 "That man 's gone anyhow ! " she announced, seeing that 
 her father and mother were now talking by themselves 
 quite forcibly, it could be noted, even at that distance. 
 " My mother, my mother ! " she cried, with one of her quick 
 revulsions ; " she has borne this thing for months, and she 
 loves Stella even now ! But, oh, Jimmy, I think to-day she 
 looks as if it was going to kill her ; and poor father is 
 almost out of his mind. Can I love Stella when I look at 
 them?" 
 
 " She cannot hurt them, really." 
 
 " No : but she can kill them and you, too. I think 
 sometimes she will finish us all in the end." 
 
 " You are worn out, Blessedest. Stella is a poor thing 
 for our fears, don't you think rather ? " 
 
184 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Well, you wait and see ! " 
 
 " Anyhow, /'m going to look after Stella ; and it 's the 
 man, after all " 
 
 " And him we have still ! " 
 
 " I tell you, he can't hurt us either, except in ways per- 
 fectly immaterial like himself." 
 
 " He is very dangerous." 
 
 " He is very business-like. Men who buy and .sell do 
 nothing rash." 
 
 "But they can be treacherous: see how he circum- 
 vented your father." 
 
 " He will not be apt to circumvent his God." 
 
 " It does n't seem as if he could have one ! " 
 
 " His own devil, then, little communicant ! I should n't 
 have ventured to say that to you ! I think you flatter him, 
 you know. He 's a common wretch ; his remarkableness 
 consists in his being one of us." 
 
 "Good-bye, now, Jimmy " The tender voice dwell- 
 ing upon his name made the flushes go over him, 
 
 " Will you remember I take your little soul with me, 
 to be the strength of mine to bring me back, in the 
 right way ? " 
 
 " Oh, if I have a soul," she whispered, " I 'm sure 
 you 're welcome to it ! " They both laughed crazily, being 
 as wretchedly happy as the circumstances allowed. " I 
 must go in now, but nothing will seem the same : I can 
 bear anything now." 
 
 It struck Mrs. Hannington, as it had Lottie Kiersted 
 and various others, that Jimmy and Barbie seemed to 
 have a great deal to say to each other, for a day that was 
 so full of things for both of them to do. They had not 
 been in the habit of going for walks together. 
 
A THIMBLEFUL OF LOVE 185 
 
 " Oh, here 's your old thimble, if you want it : " Barbie 
 lingered distractedly, because Jimmy would not go. 
 " Achilles, take your distaff," she taunted. He refused to 
 smile. " I shall be hurt if you don't take it now." 
 
 " What will you do without it ? I 'm afraid you '11 be 
 lazy." 
 
 "You always did have a queer effect upon my sew- 
 ing " They gloated over the past that could not hurt 
 them now. 
 
 " I remember trying to get that large tool away from 
 you once, when you would n't stop sewing ; we had quite 
 a scuffle." 
 
 " We both lost it ; and you had to go under the table 
 after it " 
 
 " And bumped my head, and you laughed enormously ! 
 You were a wicked child. My soul, how we have wasted 
 time ! Go in, for heaven's sake ! Oh, my thimble, bless 
 its little heart ! " 
 
 He helped himself to his maniacal trophy and de- 
 liberately, before several distant witnesses, put a cere- 
 monial kiss on the blanched, tender finger-tip it left bare. 
 " Now, run in and don't let that finger of mine take 
 cold." 
 
 " That 's the one he ought to have had before he tangled 
 himself up in this business," Sam Kiersted observed to 
 Lottie, his wife, a small, vivid, black-eyed person he 
 had married after a two weeks' courtship, but was in love 
 with still. 
 
 " Perhaps he could n't get her," said Lottie, in behalf 
 of the sex that waits. 
 
 " It looks that way, don't it ! " Sam exulted. " I guess 
 little Jim don't have to go round on his knees much to 
 
186 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 girls. Well, she '11 be another victim, if anything hap- 
 pens to him." 
 
 "Victim of what?" 
 
 " The parson's threshing-floor. Where there 's such 
 an almighty wind let loose, something besides chaff is 
 bound to go." 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THINKING IT OVER 
 
 THEY travelled slowly that first day of the separation ; 
 even the dumb beasts lagged, with ears strained back, 
 listening for their road companions that had been parted 
 out for the sinner's convoy. Bradburn rode alone, well in 
 advance ; he addressed no one, and his face of wrath and 
 gloom forbade speech to him. Bits of rather free com- 
 ment on the late occurrence went on in subdued tones at 
 a safe distance from the leaders. 
 
 " How are you feeling about now, Sam ? " 
 
 "Mean as dirt! " grunted Sam. 
 
 " I feel a good deal like a pious nigger-driver myself. 
 How do you suppose the parson takes it about Jimmy ? " 
 
 " Parson Yardley lives with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
 I suppose he *s feeling like Abraham, about now." 
 
 " Well, where 's the angel of the Lord ? Abraham has 
 stood his test " 
 
 " You can't call Jimmy a sacrifice for nothing but a 
 father's pride, though it looks so. He 's acting like a little 
 man ; he '11 save us a lot of trouble, besides helping out 
 the girl. Where, by gracious, would we be if the other 
 had owned up ? " 
 
 A faint, awkward smile passed between the two young 
 husbands. 
 
 " Think you know who it is ? " 
 
 " Parson's process of ' elimination ' mental. It 's safer 
 than picking us over on the spot and surer. You 
 know who he is as well as I do." 
 
188 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " That 's a long way from charging him with it. He 's 
 a man I would n't want to differ with much on this road. 
 The Injians we met last Friday said there are two ways 
 to cross those mountains. They couldn't tell us which 
 was which, or they would n't. The party ahead got dis- 
 puting and split ! Now, which way 's the best it 's going 
 to take a cunning eye to tell. There would be fresh hoof- 
 tracks both roads." 
 
 " I go back to the question ; has Mr. Yardley any right 
 to discipline one that is n't a member? " 
 
 "The people she comes with handed her over; that's 
 what they promised to do. ' Families shall not transgress 
 within themselves and hide the transgression ' ; those were 
 his words. My wife has got his letter the copy we 
 signed ; any 'private transgression,' or ' contagious dis- 
 ease.' We read, last night, what the parson was quoting 
 from Thessalonians. Guess there 's no getting around 
 it. It 's worse than he dared to give us the whole of it. 
 They want to live free. Now, see how they like it." 
 
 " They ! If it was 4 they ' ; but it 's her and Jimmy. 
 That 's lunacy." 
 
 " The parson did his best to reach the fellow. What 
 could he do more ? Throw a woman overboard, and the 
 man who loves her will jump first. Trouble was with the 
 parson, he expected a man. But, squirm as we like, here 
 we are and we need him. As far as the parson goes, don't 
 you worry ! He '11 pay his share ; anyhow you put it, 
 there's his son. The Lord can foreclose on him." 
 
 " Yes ; but how about us ? We have n't put up any 
 bond. Where do we stand?" 
 
 " Ship's discipline ; our grandfathers used to maroon 
 men land 'em and sail away." 
 
THINKING IT OVER 189 
 
 " They did n't maroon women ! We 're wandering from 
 the point. Every mile we go they are going a mile the 
 other way; that makes two; I say something ought to 
 be done. We 're not children ; we can't put this off on 
 Mr. Yardley. He 's a good man, but he 's carried this too 
 far." 
 
 " Do you hear many saying so ? " the first speaker 
 asked uneasily. 
 
 " I say so myself, and I 'm going to stir around for 
 votes. There ought to be a protest signed by every man 
 of us," said Kiersted. 
 
 " How about the women ? My wife says leave the minis- 
 ter alone ; the women are all for the martyr side ; they 
 like strong doings." 
 
 " I 'd like to horsewhip Alvin Hannington. He brought 
 the girl. She 's his own blood kin. He never ought to 
 have given her up. The case would n't spread. It would n't 
 have hurt any one of us to take her along. This looking 
 ahead to who your children 's going to marry before they 're 
 born is stretching it pretty far, I think. Mr. Yardley was 
 an only child ; and then he was a minister with money 
 in the bank ; and then he was a widower, sixteen years, 
 with an only son. What chance has he ever had to learn 
 about life ! I don't say he is n't all right on principle but 
 the man lacks common sense." 
 
 " How are you going to tackle him ? " 
 
 " Work it up to-night quietly, and have a big talk with 
 him to-morrow morning before we start. I '11 bet anything 
 he 's pretty sick over it himself." 
 
 That night was Bradburn's moment if he had been cool 
 enough to seize it. But he did not even suspect it was 
 there. He had travelled with these men all summer. 
 
190 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 thought he knew them, and called them "sheep." With all 
 his cleverness he missed the very point of the situation : 
 he believed that his only course was to ignore them as 
 allies, make the trump himself and play his hand alone ; 
 the others he supposed had all " passed." 
 
 Moreover he was frightfully unnerved, sleepless, and 
 shaken by the conflict between his two live cravings : 
 which to satisfy, which to bind over. When the choice 
 had been forced upon him he said, money first ; love affairs 
 must wait. The girl was his ; but the gold was in the 
 ground, and his time contracts were running out. Now it 
 looked not so certain that Stella was his. Jealousy added 
 its goad to the sting of her repulse. He dashed down his 
 trucks ter's scales ; the money rolled away. All he could 
 see was a golden head, in close proximity to Jimmy's, 
 while that good-looking youth packed their stuff for the 
 mutual journey. They looked like the typical young pair 
 starting forth on that time-honored pilgrimage in which 
 two are a company and three a crowd. It was a memory 
 provocative of maddening suggestions. 
 
 In the Hanningtons' quarter of the camp, also, there 
 was hard thinking and little sleep. Alvin, after all his 
 mighty talk of the day before, groaned like a sinner in 
 his blankets ; and his wife, while she soothed him, battled 
 with a secret shame of her own, a giving way in spite 
 of herself to the sense of rest, utter physical, mental, 
 moral, immoral rest in being free from the load of Stella's 
 daily presence; "just ourselves" once more. "What 
 must be coming to me," she thought, " for such a spiritual 
 breakdown ? " 
 
 Barbie, like any young person, supposed herself to 
 be alone with the ravaging testimonies of the night. A 
 
THINKING IT OVER 191 
 
 fastidious moral training rejects such a meretricious per- 
 formance as her late confession to Jimmy ; that was no 
 penance worthy of the name. There might even be the 
 subtlest of dangers in contact with a point of view so 
 overbalanced in one's favor, so ingeniously clever at de- 
 fending one against one's self. She and her conscience re- 
 mained on the same dark terms as before. Her state, 
 indeed, was worse : she, who had been crowned by hap- 
 piness and enriched by hope, could she not put a little 
 spontaneity into her labored compassion for Stella? Alas, 
 she could do many things for Stella of set purpose, but 
 she could not quicken that dead plant, affection ; having 
 forced the first feeble shoots too hard and unavailingly, 
 all life seemed now to have gone out of the root. 
 
 She tried to feel towards her as if she were the Scrip- 
 tural Magdalen, Christ's immortal penitent, crouched 
 for all the ages at humanity's feet. Instead, she saw a 
 painter's invention spurious, to Barbie's Puritan eyes. 
 The print had been shown her once in a Boston book- 
 store : " Magdalene at the entrance of her cavern," it was 
 called. That plump, blonde female was Stella to the life ! 
 There was an actual physical resemblance. The smooth flat 
 brows and full eyelids, the loops of fair hair pushed against 
 the oval cheek by that lovely hand supporting the mock 
 studious head. What was the connection between those 
 well-fed charms, those dazzling arms and shoulders and 
 bare breasts, and the life a penitent leads in the desert of 
 remorse ? No ; that comfortable feline creature was no 
 Magdalen of the cross. She was a fictitious student of 
 higher things, a burden on the earth, a disintegrating in- 
 fluence in any normal family or society that should take 
 her in. 
 
192 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Why should her sisters love her? Her desire is not 
 towards them. It is little brother man she plays with. The 
 rules of the game are fixed God sitting in the judge's 
 chair. This was how Barbie felt, when she was honest 
 with herself, towards the victim of religious law. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 A SCOFFER'S SERMON 
 
 IT was early on the morning of the second day; these 
 were days, every circumstance of which was to fix itself 
 in the memory of those who lived them. Bradburn, lead- 
 ing his best horse saddled, a pair of Mexican spurs clash- 
 ing at his heels, walked up to a group of men who since 
 breakfast had been earnestly conferring with the minister. 
 That it was no ordinary camp caucus their faces bore wit- 
 ness. Mr. Yardley was not, outwardly, at his best : it be- 
 comes not gentlemen of his years to shave but once a 
 week, and wear dark flannel shirts with loose collars. 
 Notwithstanding, he dominated the assembly, and those 
 who listened to his cold but penetrating words were not 
 aware of his shirt collar. 
 
 Bradburn made no scruple of interrupting them. "You 
 are all out, I see,'' he opened in his loud, familiar manner. 
 " Can you listen to a lay sermon this morning ? I have 
 a few words to say to you before I start ; call it my 
 valedictory." 
 
 They turned in surprised silence. Their captain was 
 equipped in every point, horse and man, for an independ- 
 ent journey, with gallant adventures in view his dress 
 betokened. He wore a new suit of white-tanned buck- 
 skins, soft enough for an Indian bride. From head to 
 foot he was fringed and tagged and silver-buttoned. His 
 black silk neckerchief and dark blue shirt contrasted 
 elegantly with the pale-hued buckskin ; a commoner type 
 
194 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 of dandy might have chosen red : Bradburn's visage sup- 
 plied enough of that ; the blood vessels of his forehead 
 and face were swollen ; his eyes blazed impudent fire. 
 
 He pulled from the blanket-roll, strapped behind his 
 saddle, a small crackling bundle done up in oiled silk ; 
 slapping his gloved palm with this, he summoned their 
 attention. The rudeness passed unnoticed. They did not 
 believe him so dashingly at ease as he pretended, and 
 when Bradburn was at the pains to pretend, they knew 
 him well enough by this time to be on guard. 
 
 " I am headed the other way this morning, gentlemen ; 
 carrying out Parson Yardley's programme, you see. Better 
 late than never. But I want to call your attention to one 
 fact : I am forced out of this sanctimonious concern. 
 There has been friction right along from the first between 
 Mr. Yardley and myself. He wants to father my conduct 
 as he does yours. That can't be. If he 'd known anything 
 about men, he wouldn't have been surprised to find I 
 drink when I feel like it, and flip a card, and so on. 
 There are other things I don't do. I used to read the 
 Bible as a book. There are funny things in it. You 
 take it seriously when St. Paul says, has n't a Christian 
 got the right ' to lead about a wife who is a believer.' 
 Those are the words, I think. That 's exactly what you do. 
 You lead about a wife, who is ' a believer ' fortunate 
 for you. You put her in a log hut God knows where ! 
 You expect her to bear you a child every two years and 
 nurse it, and cook your meals and wash your clothes and 
 scrub the floor you pray on ; she mends and makes, and 
 saves, and teaches filthy Indians, and entertains all the 
 travelling brothers and sisters, and adopts their orphans 
 and keeps cheerful and faithful to the end. I have seen 
 
A SCOFFER'S SERMON 195 
 
 whereof I speak. I have eaten at Dr. Whitman's table 
 and listened to his wife sing hymns and wondered where 
 in God's name the woman got her strength." 
 
 " From God," said the minister's voice. 
 
 "Thanks, sir," Bradburn retorted. "You probably 
 know, but that is faith. Faith is like red hair ; it goes with 
 some temperaments, but every woman is n't born with that 
 kind. You had a young lady with you that I am deeply at- 
 tached to. Miss Mutrie could not live the life you expect 
 your lawful wives to live. I would n't myself inflict such 
 a life on a dog. She chose me, knowing I was no church 
 member. I did n't tell her I was married when we first 
 met. The truth, if you call it so, would have deceived her 
 then ; it would have parted us, and I wanted her. I knew 
 she was mine. Nor am I married in any sense to ex- 
 clude me from love or teaching her to love. My only ob- 
 ject in concealing my relations with her was to keep the 
 peace amongst us as men while we were partners ; till the 
 contract was fulfilled on both sides. As I am not pledged 
 to live according to Mr. Yardley's ideas, am not a mem- 
 ber of his church, nor the young lady either, I don't see 
 where his priestly jurisdiction came in. But it worried 
 him just the same. It 's become a habit with him to feel 
 accountable to God for the conduct of his fellow men. He 
 read up the case in the Bible; he got hysterical about 
 such a thing hanging to his skirts. He could n't get at me 
 by name, but he took the name of the young girl, an or- 
 phan, set her up in his spiritual stocks before you all ! 
 Our ancestors used to do the same thing literally ; I, for 
 one, am not proud of it. He called for the man who be- 
 longed there beside her : he meant me, but he had no 
 evidence to say so. He just advertised for a yellow dog. 
 
196 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 I don't answer to that name, nor you didn't. It was, so 
 far, on him. He could n't cast out the girl alone : even 
 church members would have turned. I gave you that 
 much credit. So I went away. Then the parson's son 
 he has a taste for church theatricals too; he saw a 
 chance to distinguish himself in the hero and martyr line. 
 He volunteered just in time to save the whole show from 
 being a fizzle." 
 
 Bradburn ground his thumb-nail against his teeth and 
 continued, gripping the thumb inside his fist. 
 
 " Casting young women to the beasts for young men to 
 rescue them is a fine spectacle, gentlemen, a new form of 
 excitement to crop out on a pious jaunt like this. Why, any 
 of my forbidden little pastimes would be a child's tea-party 
 to it ! But it gets to be exhausting. I don 't know how 
 you feel, but I've had about as much as my system can 
 stand. I leave you here," he tossed his packet on the 
 ground " all the maps I have ; my maps are in my head. 
 Yardley thinks he 's road-wise : I hope he '11 take you safe 
 through. I expect to overhaul him about to-morrow dark ; 
 I will relieve him of his job and he can have mine. My 
 contract calls for safe conduct of this party through to the 
 Willamette Valley ; I needn't mention what I lose myself 
 by turning back but Mr. Yardley will feel safer without 
 me. I expect he 'd be afraid of the wrath of God in those 
 mountains, with such as I am along. If I 'm not overtaken 
 in my sins, you will see me sometime next spring, and I 
 don't abate one damned dollar of my price to you, for 
 you 've broken your own contract. So I 'm off, good-bye. 
 I bear you no ill-will as men ; it is the shape of your con- 
 victions that cramps me. The Lord will take care of his own 
 and I hope you will continue to be without sin among you." 
 
A SCOFFER'S SERMON 197 
 
 They had made camp for the night at the entrance to 
 Grande Ronde Valley. The country behind them was 
 rugged ; little hills interlapping shut off the distance. Brad- 
 burn rode his spare horse, the pacer, seldom used since 
 Stella had graced the saddle on its back. The beast was 
 full of life ; he sprang away under the rider : five minutes 
 after his last words were said, their captain was gone out 
 of sight. And then the storm broke upon the head of the 
 preacher. The line of argument has been sketched already. 
 
 Mr. Yard ley appeared to listen to each person in turn 
 who interrupted the spokesman. In reality he heard only 
 the words of Bradburn's speech. It left him as a Christian 
 leader no choice. Across the open circle of the great valley 
 a range of foothills climbed ; warm oak woods covering 
 their slopes on the sheltered side, golden aspens in the 
 gulches, firs thick and tall firs and pines stunted, strag- 
 gling up towards timber-line ; gulfs of shadow marking sepa- 
 rate planes ; then the lonely peaks, pure flat color against 
 the paler sky, and on their tops a glittering menace of snow. 
 
 "There is the last divide, my friends," said the minister ; 
 " there is our holy mountain. As many as are faithful will 
 march on with me. Those who would feel safer with Cap- 
 tain Bradburn will go and take their families, part their 
 stuff from ours, and join him, but they need not return to 
 me. Don't confuse yourselves with the idea that in suing 
 Bradburn to come back you would help Stella Mutrie, 
 While she is under his protection she cannot be a member 
 of my flock. I will not receive her back if she comes 
 with him. You of course may impeach my authority; you 
 have the numbers, but on my responsibility those two will 
 not rejoin this company. Take your choice : I go forward, 
 if I have to go alone. But I shall wait here a due time first 
 
198 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 for James Yardley, not as my son ; as I would wait for 
 any one of you, and no longer." 
 
 Having delivered this ultimatum, the preacher turned his 
 back on paltering humanity and faced the mountain of en- 
 deavor. In a few moments Samuel Kiersted, spokesman and 
 leader of the insurgents, a big-boned, red-fleshed man, came 
 and put out the hand of reconciliation. Mr. Yardley gave 
 his in silence. 
 
 "Well? "he enquired. 
 
 " All right, Mr. Yardley. It 's all right. We '11 stick it 
 out with you. But see here : have you any objection to let- 
 ting some of us go back for Jimmy and Stella just them- 
 selves ? " 
 
 " Sam, why do you come here and tempt an old man in 
 his hour of trial ? " 
 
 " Oh, go on, Mr. Yardley ! We '11 be responsible." 
 
 "You had better see what the wives say first." 
 
 " Does that mean you are willing? " 
 
 "I wash my hands of it." 
 
 Alas ; the men who were thought fittest to go back were 
 husbands, and the wives said, "No." 
 
 As day after day dragged by, their own peril more defin- 
 itely over-shadowed them. They were making as it was a 
 close calculation on the arrival of the first big snow. When 
 a week had passed, it was agreed (Mr. Yardley being spared 
 a voice in the matter) that a search party should go back, 
 and volunteers were called for. Deacon Hannington, admon- 
 ished by age and obvious unfitness, did not press his claim 
 of kinship before the younger men. Sam Kiersted was 
 chosen leader as the best man for the job. Lottie, his wife, 
 thought him the best man for her job and tried to keep him 
 on it, but this time the women were not consulted. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE DIVIDE 
 
 JIMMY began very soon to see where his chief difficulty 
 would lie. It was near the middle of September and they 
 were four hundred miles from Fort Hall : a certain rate of 
 progress they must make each day or be caught in the 
 snow. Stella groaned under his exactions. She could stand, 
 she told him, just about so much ! He had seen her day 
 by day stand more, under the form of stimulus that ap- 
 pealed to her. " If I save her life, I shall have to treat her 
 like a child." Jimmy had never handled children, but 
 thought he knew how it should be done, having observed 
 the mistakes of parents. 
 
 He went over with her, again and again, the unaltera- 
 ble facts which an intelligence of six years might have 
 retained. Stella had now no object in going one way more 
 than another ; her " spur in the head " was gone ; Jimmy 
 fell back on the " spur in the heel," which brought the 
 situation down to a level humiliating to both. 
 
 " Keep up ! keep up ! " would come the reiterated com- 
 mand, Jimmy leading, a long way ahead, Stella looking 
 her despair ; or he would ride back and rouse her beast 
 himself, and when a rough-and-tumble gait followed, she 
 scolded her rude knight and asked why not tie her hands 
 behind her back at once and lead her as his captive ! 
 
 The trail for much of the way led through a broken 
 country of hills and box-canyons, along precipices where a 
 mis-step were fatal. In such places they could not travel 
 
200 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 off a walk ; time should be made up on every fair stretch 
 between. Stella, misunderstanding Jimmy's silence, treated 
 it as punitive and tried on him little humble politic arts 
 of solicitation which caused him to writhe. He had never 
 spent two consecutive hours before alone in her company. 
 She affected him as wholly deficient in feeling suited to 
 her case forgetting she was hardly likely to see it as 
 he saw it. 
 
 They lagged along in this fashion, losing a little each 
 day, and failed the second evening to make their proper 
 camping-spot. Night overtook them on the mountain be- 
 tween Burnt and Powder rivers, an exposed spot in a 
 strong cold wind. He tied the horses to trees and left 
 them whinnying for supper. There was no grass and no 
 water nearer than a canyon half a mile farther on, down a 
 descent dangerous to riders after dark. They were un- 
 happy without their coffee, but Jimmy refused to go for 
 water and leave his camp-mate alone. He was both afraid 
 to do so and disposed to let her taste the consequence of 
 what he called her feebleness. She complained of cold ; he 
 objected to more fire, since what they had was a beacon 
 conspicuous to the country round ; but he wrapped her 
 scornfully in all the blankets and gave her hot Scotch 
 made with what little water was left in the canteen, con- 
 tent to go without as punishment for being hard with her 
 on purpose. She settled herself in a nook out of the wind 
 and he watched her doze off. Passionate regrets and com- 
 parisons, as useless as they were cruel, occupied his mind 
 and did not tend to quiet his nerves for guard duty, but 
 there was no danger of his sleeping. 
 
 Some moments later Stella sprang up, startled by a 
 stone plunging down the bank above her that struck the 
 
THE DIVIDE 201 
 
 log she leaned against. Straining upward, she saw Jimmy 
 pause as he was stealing past. 
 
 " Where are you going ? " 
 
 He made a gesture for silence, and slipped by. 
 
 She heard him moving about at intervals. Before long 
 he came back and sat down, reflecting. 
 
 " What did you think you heard ? " 
 
 " I thought I 'd take a look around, that 's all." 
 
 " Jimmy, you heard something." 
 
 " I imagined I heard a strange horse's step. It must 
 have been one of our own." 
 
 " Are they all right ? Did you look ? " 
 
 " Yes, but they will be restless. It 's a poor place for 
 them. You need not be frightened if you hear steps stir- 
 ring about to-night." 
 
 " I wish you had n't gone. The negroes say it 's a bad 
 sign to stub your foot against a stone or anything when 
 you start out." 
 
 " It 's a sign of clumsiness, which is a " He checked 
 himself, and they both listened. 
 
 " Was that one of our horses whinnying ? " 
 
 " Very likely," said Jimmy. 
 
 "It sounded too far off, to me." 
 
 " The wind is the other way." 
 
 Stella still seemed nervous. She began fumbling in her 
 dress. " I want to show you something, Jimmy, a friend 
 gave me, Captain Bradburn." 
 
 At the name Jimmy started. They looked at each other 
 straight for an instant. 
 
 She opened the box and showed him Bradburn's gift; 
 the four white pills nearly covered the bottom of the small 
 receptacle. 
 
202 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " This is all he could do for me ; for me ! " 
 
 Her eyes and Jimmy's met again. She showed her beau- 
 tiful white teeth in the firelight, but her lips were pale. 
 
 "Do you know what they are for? They are just wax, 
 filled with some poison, quick, I hope. He recommends 
 me to take them without delay, if the Indians capture us, 
 you know. Don't you want half, Jimmy? There are four." 
 
 " Did Captain Bradburn give you those himself ? " 
 
 " Yes, in a letter with all the directions. If we are fol- 
 lowed and can't get away, I am to put one, or two, in my 
 mouth not to bite them unless I am actually in the 
 Indians' hands. He told me once some of the things they 
 do ; he has a way of putting it right before you. He said 
 don't be in a hurry, but don't delay. You see how much 
 safer this is than your pistol, for instance, supposing I 
 could make you promise to shoot me. You'd wait too 
 long. I would n't trust you, Jimmy. He knows what to 
 do, you see. He has provided for everything." 
 
 " Stella," said Jimmy, after awhile, " will you let me ask 
 you one question ? I have a reason or I would n't That 
 man owes you enough ! Do you want, now, do you ever 
 intend to take anything that he owes you ? " 
 
 " Nothing but this." 
 
 " That 's all I wanted to know," said Jimmy. 
 
 He looked long into the darkness beyond the glow of 
 their sinking fire. His cheek-bones appeared to have grown 
 more prominent in the last few days. Stella took note of 
 his attractions not for the first time ; the eloquent sha- 
 dows marking his eye-sockets, the modelling of his nostrils, 
 and the strongly revealed curves of his upper lip. 
 
 " Jimmy," she remarked casually, but with her entic- 
 ing smile, which was probably as much beyond her control 
 
THE DIVIDE 203 
 
 as the color of her hair, " I did n't know you had such a 
 handsome mouth. Firelight is very becoming to you." 
 
 44 1 did n't know, Stella, that you were possessed to be 
 such an utter fool," Jimmy retorted mercilessly. 
 
 "Jimmy Yardley! How dare you speak to me like 
 that?" 
 
 44 How dare you speak to me like that ! My remark to 
 you was quite as fitting as yours to me, under the circum- 
 stances." 
 
 "Thank you!" said Stella; her lip quivered. "You 
 don't want me to forget my ' circumstances ' not for 
 one minute, do you ? " 
 
 44 1 want you to be still if you can." 
 
 44 What are you listening for ? " 
 
 44 1 don't know till I hear." 
 
 A short silence followed. 44 1 will do whatever you ask 
 me, if you won't be so rude to me, when I am so tired 
 and " 
 
 44 1 ask you just now to be quiet ; is that rude ? I can't 
 see for the bushes and rocks I must use my ears ! " 
 
 44 Is it Indians ? " she whispered. There was no answer. 
 She crept nearer, and softly touched him. 
 
 " No : Indian ponies are not shod. But there is some 
 one, I think, camping not far from us. Now, you know 
 all I know." 
 
 The silence this time lasted long enough for reflection 
 on his side to do its work. " Stella, I beg your pardon for 
 being so rough with you. I can't explain why I spoke so. 
 Will you forgive it?" 
 
 44 Oh, I forgive it : I 'm getting used to some things I 
 thought I never could bear. I never did quarrel much 
 with people anyway." 
 
204 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I wish you 'd let me take that box and keep it for 
 you?" 
 
 " What, my dear little pillikins ? Not for the world ! I 
 never felt so safe in all my life. You know death is one 
 thing but to suffer! I shall suffer enough before we 
 get through ! " 
 
 " I 'm in earnest, Stella. You ought not to carry that 
 stuff about with you. No decent man would put those 
 things in your hands ! " 
 
 " Unless he knew how much I need them ! He trusted 
 me with my own life why can't you ? " 
 
 " I would n't trust any one so unhappy as you are with 
 anything like that, day after day. Come, hand over that 
 box." 
 
 " No ; I '11 divide : if I need them, you will, too, but you 
 can't have them all. That 's one thing I will fight for. 
 You can't have them unless you take them by force." 
 
 Jimmy accepted the challenge in silence, meditating 
 cunning instead of force. If he allowed her to keep her 
 medicine he would practically be aiding Bradburn's cynical 
 purpose when he tempted her with this cheap egress. 
 Jimmy unhesitatingly believed this of Bradburn, who in 
 his thoughts, that same moment, was doing Jimmy a fouler 
 injustice. 
 
 "Aren't you almost ready to turn in, Stella? I want 
 to cover up this fire." 
 
 Stella stowed her box in a pocket of the coat she now 
 took off and folded for a pillow. Jimmy observed her, 
 before going out for a final look around while she made 
 her preparations for bed, camp fashion. 
 
 When he came back later, he discovered she had left 
 him all his own blankets which were thicker than hers. 
 
THE DIVIDE 205 
 
 He laid an extra pair over her and she thanked him 
 drowsily. Even that little act made him gentler to her in 
 his thoughts, as to a child he had put to sleep. Then he 
 sat apart and waited. It was his conclusion, judging by 
 those sounds, that their camp was being watched by 
 one man a white man and would be visited in the 
 morning. He had no difficulty in guessing the man's 
 name, or the nature of his suspicions when he chose this 
 manner of approach. His own part in the collision to 
 come had been helped somewhat by Stella's answer to 
 that straight question. In defending his trust he would 
 have the satisfaction of upholding a finer choice in her 
 than he had believed this poor little daughter of Eve to 
 be capable of. What she might do, in the event of a 
 surprise leading to capture by the man she professed now 
 to abhor, he had no conception ; therefore he felt bound 
 to deprive her of the means to any desperate act, which 
 showed his unacquaintance with women of her type when 
 they boast of their eagerness to die. 
 
 He went about his task with innocent composure. For 
 a moment he stood looking at the sleeper, studying her 
 attitude with reference to his intended theft ; it was dis- 
 couraging. She had crowded the folded jacket beneath 
 her head, one hand saving her cheek from its harsh tex- 
 ture. The smallest tug, exploring for pockets, would start 
 her up like a bird. Jimmy had robbed birds' nests, but 
 birds when they scream are not articulate. It seemed a 
 clumsy way of handling a delicate matter and he felt the 
 insufficiency of his excuse. 
 
 Stella, he decided abruptly, must take her own risks : 
 his vigilance stopped at meddling with her person. 
 
 As he turned away, the round black eyes of Bradburn 
 
206 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 looked into his over the muzzle of a revolver which had 
 nearly touched his chin. The pair fell apart, smiling at 
 each other curiously. 
 
 " It 's you, is it ? I thought so," Jimmy remarked in a 
 pause with no amenities to fill it ; adding, " Why did n't 
 you come around and show us who you were ? " 
 
 "I could see you quite well where I was," Bradburn 
 sneered. " Why do you camp in such fool places? And 
 why do you sleep by your fire where anybody can spot 
 you ? You are less of a mountain man than I thought." 
 
 " You have taken some trouble to give me your opin- 
 ion ; is that what you came for ? " 
 
 " Meet me to-morrow at daybreak, by that big rock 
 the one with a clump of junipers : I '11 tell you my busi- 
 ness then. Good-night ; and see here. You are a parson's 
 son ; you know what ' looking on a woman ' the way I saw 
 you just now may do to you? Take care your eyes don't 
 send you tripping down the back stairs " Bradburn re- 
 versed his thumb and smiled. " You 've probably heard 
 of the place ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE BETTER MAN 
 
 IT was, as Stephenson says, " a wonderful great night 
 of stars." The stillness and the purity of frost chilled the 
 air ; towards morning the sky clouded over and a creep- 
 ing wind arose. Slowly, delicately the autumn dawn came 
 on, preparing for the sun. On the distant ranges there 
 had been heavy snow. Jimmy limped from his shelter 
 and built a small furtive fire for warmth. It was too early 
 to cook breakfast; Stella slept on undisturbed. In the 
 night his lodging being paved with rocks a small 
 compass he was accustomed to carry in a side pocket an- 
 noyed him ; he changed it to the left breast-pocket of his 
 coat. This circumstance should have been mentioned in 
 its proper place, for it belongs in that train of eventuali- 
 ties which in Jimmy's philosophy were nothing accounted 
 save as accidents, while the Eev. Mr. Yardley saw in them 
 proofs, not always understood but unimpeachable, of the 
 direct interposition of Providence which disdains not the 
 smallest means to its ends all fixed beforehand for pur- 
 poses wrapped in mystery. Jimmy could be very sarcas- 
 tic about his father's survivals of a belief which in the 
 main he condescended to share with reservations. 
 There would always be more and more reservations on 
 such a sliding scale of conviction, the minister argued, 
 and where would you stop ? 
 
 As he stepped forth, facing the burst of distance seen 
 from the divide, he took a fresh breath of amaze. For 
 
208 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 uncounted centuries all this astonishing beauty had been 
 waiting here for the first white man to behold. Savages 
 had known it and hunted each other off that prehistoric 
 stage. All these covert paths of loveliness had been 
 paths of death tracked by predatory feet "the wolf 
 that follows, the fawn that flies. " This stillness was an 
 ambush, and he, crunching through the pure frost, spoil- 
 ing shapes of wonder at every step, was walking in these 
 invisible footprints, bound upon the ancient trade. 
 
 Bradburn was already there, by the rock, expecting 
 him. He said " Good morning," and spoke of the cold ; 
 his manner was flat and perfunctory, and held the usual 
 touch of condescension towards any boy of Jimmy's age, 
 he at forty being manhood in its flower. 
 
 " I left your party at the eastern entrance to Grande 
 Konde Valley, just after you clear the canyon wall. You 
 follow the river right down. They will camp there till 
 you join them." 
 
 As Jimmy remained silent, Bradburn urged the sug- 
 gestion upon him without concealing his own impatience. 
 
 " You 'd better put your stuff together now and start 
 on, Yardley ; you don't want to keep them waiting long, 
 you know, this time of year." 
 
 " Why should you think they expect me ? " 
 
 "Because I tell you they do! They are waiting for 
 you. I told them yesterday morning I was going back to 
 overtake you and relieve you of your job." 
 
 " But you can't relieve me of my job, Captain Brad- 
 burn." 
 
 " Can't I ? Well I can make a devil of a shy at it ! " 
 
 " I shall do my best to prevent you, of course, if neces- 
 sary." 
 
THE BETTER MAN 209 
 
 "Young man, don't try any of that bluff on me! 
 I woke up cool this morning ; I don't want to lose my tem- 
 per. How far do you propose to carry your interference 
 with my plans ? " 
 
 " I don't know why you call it my interference. You 
 gave up this * job ' when you went on with the company. 
 Now you come back to interfere with my plans. You are 
 making the bluff, not I." 
 
 " That is how you see it. If you ask the person most 
 concerned, I think you '11 find it looks a little different to 
 her. Suppose we let her decide ? " 
 
 " I did ask her," said Jimmy, " for my own satisfaction, 
 but she can't decide either." 
 
 " What did she answer? " 
 
 " Her answer was to me. This is all beside the mark. 
 You know that she and I are not free agents on this 
 trip. Her friends have accepted my escort for her and 
 given us what help they can ; no change can be made in 
 the programme now except by my father's orders." 
 
 They stood less than five feet apart and their voices had 
 not risen above a low conversational pitch. 
 
 " Don't be nonsensical, Yardley. What is this to you ? 
 For what I said last night, that's nothing! I was mad, 
 with good reason. I don't distrust you more than common. 
 Now get back to your own crowd and put them out of 
 their predicament. You can take it on my word, and 
 I 've no reason to lie about it, they are expecting you ! 
 In about three days at the latest." 
 
 " Then they should have sent a special word to that ef- 
 fect. Have you anything from my father to show that I am 
 under your orders ? " 
 
 " Not a d d thing ! I am not on your father's clerical 
 
210 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 staff. You seem to be obsessed all around. Do you 
 think the Rev. Yardley is the Lord in his holy temple ? " 
 
 " I think " Jimmy lowered his voice, shivers ran 
 down his spine " that you had better be careful how you 
 speak of my father when you talk to me." 
 
 " By ! You keep up this row much longer and I 
 shall begin to think you have something of your own at 
 stake." 
 
 " I have." 
 
 " Out with it, then ! Don't be such a hypocrite. 
 
 What do I care for your high moral airs ! If you want to 
 fight me for the girl, I can see some sense in that ! " 
 
 " You can see more sense in it than I can," said Jimmy. 
 
 He wondered if ever he should be able to share, with 
 any one capable of understanding it, the goblin humor of 
 this situation. 
 
 " If you have been talking me over with Miss Mutrie, 
 you probably know something of my connection with this 
 affair. What business have you to start up, against your 
 father's authority, and say 'Adam ' and 'Eve' shall not 
 go forth together? I am asking you the question from 
 your father's standpoint." 
 
 " If Adam had gone with Eve when he was called, I 
 should not be here myself." 
 
 " Adam had other things, at the time, to think of." 
 
 " So had I," said Jimmy gloomily. 
 
 " Then you can go now and attend to those things. I '11 
 play out your hand. In other words, pack your stuff and 
 take the road you came or, take the consequences." 
 
 " Do you mean that you intend to put me out of my 
 own camp by force, if I don't get out at your orders ? " 
 
 " You have it exactly if that 's what you mean ! 
 
THE BETTER MAN 211 
 
 We '11 settle it here and now, as much like gentlemen as 
 we can. If I were a horse thief, I could have picked you 
 off last night and saved all this bother." 
 
 " Then you are the challenger. It 's not my quarrel if 
 I have to resist an impossible demand." 
 
 "We won't split hairs on it. I challenge you, then; 
 that gives you the choice of weapons." 
 
 "We have our weapons, I think." Jimmy set down his 
 rifle against the rock and stood armed as Bradburn was 
 with a revolver and its mate, the invariable hunting-knife. 
 
 Bradburn fortified himself with a quotum of tobacco, 
 remarking to Jimmy as he pocketed the plug " You 
 don't use it, I believe ? God's best gift to man ! How 
 shall we conduct this affair? There are several ways, all 
 good form." 
 
 " It 's an accomplishment you are better skilled in, prob- 
 ably, than I am. Fix it as you like." 
 
 "Twenty paces, then. And we fire together at the 
 word. That is technically self-defence if we were hauled 
 up on it." 
 
 " It would leave her in bad shape, would n't it, if we 
 both should drop ? " 
 
 " Not likely but there 's something in it. How will 
 you have it, then ? " 
 
 " Toss up for turns ? " 
 
 " That will settle you ! Coin luck is always on my side. 
 Will you be your own executioner?" 
 
 Bradburn offered a copper cent to Jimmy, who shook 
 his head with a writhen smile. " Your hands, I think, are 
 steadier than mine." 
 
 The coin lay poised on Bradburn's thumb-nail. " If you 
 say ' heads,' or if you say ' tails,' that thing is bound to 
 
212 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 fall my way ! Now, let 's quit this nonsense and go about 
 our business : I don't want to mess with a boy like you." 
 
 A faint color came into Jimmy's ashen face. 
 
 " Thank you, Captain. I would spare your feelings if I 
 could, but this appears to be my business, just now." 
 
 " Then, farewell, Pilgrim father ! " the mockery was 
 not coarsely meant; there was tribute in it to a quality 
 that Bradburn considered preposterous, yet did not scorn. 
 " Heads or tails? " The coin flew and spatted the ground 
 between them. 
 
 " As I warned you ! " He pointed to where it lay : 
 Jimmy had lost. 
 
 " We need n't shake hands, I suppose," said the captain. 
 " That 's a gallery play. Go back about ten paces. Halt ! 
 I shall count three." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES 
 
 THE first shot awakened Stella from a dream in which 
 for an infinitesimal space it mingled in a disturbing man- 
 ner. At the second shot she sat up, wide awake ; her 
 calming thought was, " Jimmy has gone pot-hunting be- 
 fore sunrise " ; she took it for a sign there were no intruders 
 near camp. The fire burning peacefully seemed another 
 assurance. She rose, straightened her dress, rolled up her 
 blankets wearily and sat down on them to unbraid her 
 hair; she had not done so since they left Lone Tree 
 Camp. Now she loosened its whole burnished mass, and 
 brushed it tenderly. She loved her hair. It rose in a cloud 
 of shining filaments following each stroke of the brush, 
 enveloping her as if it loved her, too, and offered its glory 
 to console her in her abasement : " queen " of hunger and 
 thirst but queen of beauty still. All those speeches in 
 which he had clothed his pursuit of her pointed now 
 to its selfishness, naked in the sequel ; naked but un- 
 ashamed. 
 
 She lingered, tired as she always was now in the morn- 
 ings and thinking, perhaps, poor fool, " Jimmy has never 
 seen my hair down ! " Aunt Silence was so precise about 
 camp toilets and Barbie, of course, a perfect old maid ! 
 
 But Jimmy did not come ; had he lost his game, or was 
 he stopping to pluck it in the woods ? She fed the fire sul- 
 lenly, feeling neglected and cross. 
 
 If she had but some way of making Jimmy feel her 
 
214 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 power once more ! Once she held the hearts of men in 
 fee. It was bitter to be hunted about the world like this 
 at the behest of one dreadful old man. 
 
 Jimmy came at last, empty-handed. Without speaking 
 or looking at her, he began to prepare a bed of coals for 
 his frying-pan. 
 
 Suddenly he sat back and glowered at the fire, still 
 silent ; his shoulders contracted with a sharp shiver. She 
 saw, without noticing particularly, that his color was bad. 
 
 " Did n't you get any game ? " she asked. " You shot 
 something, did n't you ? What is it now ? Do you wake 
 up in the morning angry with me ? " 
 
 " Angry with you ? " 
 
 " Hear him ! You won't look at me ; you have n't so 
 much as said 4 good morning ' ; you won't answer when I 
 ask you what you were shooting at " 
 
 " The thing is dead. Could you ride on as far as the 
 river? We can't eat here." 
 
 " Can't eat here ! I am as hungry as a bear, this min- 
 ute ! Jimmy, how pale you look you look green ! " 
 
 44 1 am a little sick ; I want something hot to drink. The 
 river is n't far." 
 
 44 Look at your coat ! " she whispered. 4 ' You have been 
 shot ! Will you tell me that is n't a bullet-hole ? " She 
 pointed at a small puncture in the cloth of his reefing- 
 jacket over the left breast. He covered it with his hand. 
 
 44 1 was hit ; yes. It glanced struck something in my 
 pocket ; otherwise you see for yourself ! that 's the whole 
 of it." 
 
 44 Was it that man who camped here last night?" 
 
 " Yes : don't ask any more questions now, will you ? " 
 
 44 Only one : where is he ? " 
 
ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES 215 
 
 "He will not follow us. Can't you spare the subject for 
 a while? for both our sakes." 
 
 "I just want to ask you was he a white man? You 
 said last night " 
 
 Jimmy looked at her ; instead of shouting as she ex- 
 pected he answered low but fierce : " He was a white 
 man, and if I were not alive by accident you would be in 
 his hands now. Just give me a moment to think, will you ? 
 I am not through yet." 
 
 Stella stared at him and murmured meekly, " You do 
 look sick. I 'm very sorry If you 'd lie down and get 
 warm while I Don't try to do that, don't ! You need n't 
 cook anything for me : I '11 ride to the river." 
 
 He thanked her mechanically and packed up the camp- 
 stuff while she finished her own preparations ; she was 
 always very slow when obliged to use her hands. Jimmy 
 watched her when he was through. " Don't be frightened," 
 he said, "if you hear another shot. I have to dispose of 
 his horse, over there waiting." 
 
 " Not shoot it ! You would n't shoot a horse ! Don't we 
 need another horse ? " 
 
 " We don't need that horse." 
 
 He went away out of sight and presently a pistol-shot 
 was heard, followed by a trampling and a crash in the 
 bushes ; chokeberries and juniper grew thick on the 
 mountain. 
 
 " What a waste ! " thought Stella ; "a good horse ; bet- 
 ter perhaps than ours." Her own had a beastly gait, as if 
 his feet were buckets. The dead creature's master had come 
 with designs upon them and their property ; it was cer- 
 tainly overstrained of Jimmy inexplicable, truly. There 
 was no keeping up with the notions of that dismal crew. 
 
216 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Their horses scenting grass and water went plunging 
 down the trail. The little river ran low and quiet so late 
 in the year, but a wistful peace was there, and lean, gray 
 trees like hermits brooded in the shadow of the deep hills ; 
 only their tops at this hour caught a fringe of light. 
 
 Jimmy made coffee and they drank cup after cup 
 greedily in silence. Stella then said what she felt the 
 occasion demanded: "I am very sorry you had that thing 
 to do; it must have been horrid. And you are not used 
 to such things. I know I 'm not worth it any of it to 
 you?" 
 
 The question won from Jimmy no denial. She sighed. 
 
 " How mistaken people are about us ! Once I used to 
 think myself that you liked me a little, but you don't any 
 more. You rather hate me though I don't know how I 
 have ever injured you?" 
 
 " You are quite wrong, of course ; it would be worse 
 than absurd to hate you." 
 
 " You mean that I am not worthy of your hate ? It 's 
 extraordinary how men do change as soon as they get the 
 upper hand of us." 
 
 He did not answer : he was in the back-wash of that 
 current of fatalities which had swept him over the brink 
 of an experience that could not leave him the same. It 
 was a terrific plunge. There was nothing casual to him 
 in the killing of a man before breakfast and he did not 
 want any breakfast, but he was far from confusing the 
 visual memory of certain details inseparable from the act 
 itself, with remorse for what he had done. His cause to 
 him held good : his chance had been one in a thousand 
 and he was alive by the chance ; yet he had been alone for 
 a long time with that silent thing he had made of Brad- 
 
ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES 217 
 
 burn, which he supposed he never should cease to see. A 
 profound desolation, a homesickness of the soul drew him 
 back to lay the case before his father, his boyhood's judge. 
 There was the cooler necessity, when he came to think it 
 out, of ending the predicament those friends were left in ; 
 not knowing how long to wait, nor even whether to expect 
 him. Bradburn might not have lied ; the situation was one 
 too dangerous to risk, on the chance that he had. 
 
 " Jimmy, won't you tell me something ? you don't hes- 
 itate to say things. I have been wondering ever since we 
 started what did induce you to take this upon you ? Bar- 
 bie thinks you are doing it all for me." - - Jimmy began to 
 listen. " She little knows the truth as we know it ! as 
 you grind it into me every hour of the day. You hale me 
 along as if you were both arms of the law. Is it for your 
 father to hold up his arms? You make a wonderful 
 combination, you two, considering there 's no law but your 
 own sweet wills within a thousand miles of us. I have 
 about as much chance, have n't I, as a blind kitten in a 
 bag going to be drowned ! " 
 
 Potations of strong hot coffee, after a fast and hungry 
 ride, were, telling upon Stella's exhausted system ; for the 
 moment she was practically intoxicated. The blood flew to 
 her face with the force of her own excited imagery and 
 with expectation of the counter-stroke. It did not come. 
 Jimmy gave her a long, unseeing stare. 
 
 " Well, can't you even speak to me ? am I thin air ? 
 Abuse me you know I 'm used to it ; say anything ! 
 Thousands of miles of this awful silence, and you, too ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Jimmy, rousing, " there 's a great deal of 
 truth in what you say, if it would do any good, you know. 
 It 's the journey that 's such a brute. Now we 're come to 
 
218 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 a place where I think we can turn around. I shall not 
 ' hale ' you on this road any further ; we are going back 
 to them. Hold on a moment ! " He saw her face redden 
 with surprise and resistance. She threw out her hands, a 
 gesture common with her. 
 
 " I 'm afraid you '11 have to leave this to me altogether. 
 There are too many reasons to tell you now ; some of them 
 " he stopped discouraged. " Well, can 't you just let 
 me decide?" 
 
 " I can 't think what you mean ! Is this a child's picnic ? 
 Can we go home when we are tired ? Please ask yourself 
 why we are here and what you are going to do with me ! 
 I 'm not exactly a bundle on your back. As for what I 
 said just now ; you get cross sometimes yourself. If it 's 
 to spare me we 'd have to go twice as fast that way to 
 overtake them now. I never could do it : you 'd kill the 
 horses and kill me." 
 
 " Which shall I answer first ? You won't go back, and 
 it would kill you if you tried ? I will say to the first, there 
 is no choice if you and I stay together, and I shall not 
 leave you on the road. To the second : I can 't tell you 
 how I know, but I do know they are waiting for us now, 
 in Grande Konde Valley. We must go back for one 
 thing, to put them out of their uncertainty : they have 
 been told to expect us." 
 
 "Well, this is a very strange thing." 
 
 " It is much stranger than I can possibly explain to 
 you." 
 
 "Are you 'in league with powers of the air,' that you 
 can tell what they are doing in Grande Ronde Valley and 
 we here? or, did you plan all this before we started? " 
 
 Stella's mind was of such an order that she could credit 
 
ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES 219 
 
 the theory of Jimmy, in collusion with the other men of 
 the party, leaving out her simple-minded uncle, and 
 Bradburn, a bird of a different feather not likely to make 
 one in their counsels, planning a farcical journey to 
 satisfy the man of God, and give time for remorse and 
 reflection and rebellion to do their work. In a flash she 
 pictured herself the central figure, the wronged heroine of 
 this drama ; but in another flash the dream faded in con- 
 flict with certain details of hopeless reality. She had 
 abandoned the wild dream even before Jimmy could de- 
 prive her of it, wondering always at the complexion of her 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Well, then," she said, " I must tell you plainly I can't 
 believe it because it 's impossible. It really scares me to 
 hear you talk so ! You must have worked yourself up into 
 a state of mind ; people do sometimes, they say, crossing 
 high mountains. It is one of those hallucinations." 
 
 Jimmy of the shattered wits smiled at her. It was 
 enough ; they came to close quarters at once. 
 
 " You must have got word through that man, then, who 
 followed us ? You have never told me " 
 
 " And you had better not ask," he cut her off. 
 
 She warped back to her first and strongest argument : 
 "They may be waiting for you; they will be anxious 
 enough about you, of course! your father never meant 
 this to fall on his beloved son. For my part, I 'd rather 
 die on the road than ever see one of their faces again ; 
 except one. And him I don't want bad enough to go chas- 
 ing back after him. No, if he wants me now he can come 
 and get me." 
 
 This was enigmatical ; Jimmy did not pause on it ; his 
 brain was tired and numb. 
 
220 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " We have n't time to go on with this sort of thing, 
 Stella. It must answer for the present that I tell you 
 there is no other thing for you and me to do. What will 
 come of it, I can't say. Only, there is no human situation 
 that does n't change : however it was when we left them, 
 it will be sure to be different now." 
 
 " You may as well say it then ! you are going back 
 and if I don't go, you wash your hands of me right here 
 on the road. I might have known how it would end. Your 
 nerve has given out ; something has upset you ; I can see 
 that. You want to go back ; you want to explain to Barbie 
 that it isn't for me. I don't believe one word of that 
 story about their waiting. It 's a trumped-up excuse." 
 
 "You think that I am lying, so as to be a coward, or 
 desert you?" Jimmy breathed deep and smiled at her again. 
 " This is pretty cheap for even our style of argument ; and 
 it 's so far from the truth that my heart aches for you ! " 
 
 " Oh, thank you ! I don't care about your heart. I know 
 who it aches for. It is no exaggeration to say I'd sooner 
 go on alone than take one step back with you in that 
 direction. Perhaps some kind Blackfoot will pick me up 
 and give me courage to use my last way out. He might 
 even be human if he isn't Christian and take me 
 where I want to go. I never meant to stay at Fort Hall ; 
 I expected to stand out on that when we got there. Fort 
 Bridger is the place where he wants me to go. You need 
 not look at me, Jimmy. What I said last night was rage ! 
 I was beside myself. Every one of their backs I hated 
 when they rode away his the worst of all. I would n't 
 see him or let him speak I tore his letter and wrote 
 back the meanest things I could think of. And how much 
 better am I off ! Oh, I have come to my senses. My traitor 
 
ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES 221 
 
 is human he 's a man, not a monster of righteousness. He 
 will forgive me, and follow me there where his letter said 
 I should go. I can't disobey him now. He is with me all the 
 the time. I shut my eyes and see him Jimmy ! What, 
 Jimmy?" 
 
 With a cry she turned as he dropped down beside her 
 and took her hands in his. They looked at each other one 
 long, tremendous instant 
 
 " I am sorry, terribly sorry for you. But if you won't 
 trust me without the truth, then here is the truth. There 
 is no one who will meet you at Fort Bridger or anywhere 
 on this road. He is out of the world. I could n't know 
 you cared for him after what you said. But it would n't 
 have changed anything. I was bound to do by you as I 
 would by my own very sister. If you had been mine I 
 should have shot him without a word " 
 
 " Then you did ! " 
 
 " I did : not without a word, many words. I had to 
 do it." 
 
 " That was the man who followed us ? And I never 
 knew ! You let me talk like that, and he was there all the 
 time ! Came after me and you never told me ! I don't know 
 why I don't shoot you ! He was " 
 
 Her face turned sickly in the play of sunlight through 
 the shifting leaves; as he caught her by the arms, she sank 
 away from him and lay over in the grass. The black alders 
 across the ford leaned towards them in a listening group ; 
 there were hushed rustlings up the bank as of late com- 
 ers to a meeting where proceedings had begun. After the 
 silence of the skeleton plains, all this wooded passage 
 teemed with inanimate life, curious, participant, and in a 
 subtle way communicative. 
 
222 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 It had been in Stella's mind, when the darkness came 
 over her, to thank him with telling irony for having slain 
 the father of her child. Blow for blow. Amazing, ignorant 
 boy ; she would turn him over to nature and let her teach 
 him a few of her facts that he should remember ! He who 
 had called her fool, and whipped her horse under her as 
 if she were a common burden, and visited upon her every 
 speech that jarred, or punished her with his sullenness ! 
 This, the revenge of the weak, she had been about to take 
 when her breath came thick and all grew dark. It might 
 have been thought transference, or he may have made the 
 discovery for himself; but the shock came to him pre- 
 cisely as she had planned. This, then, was the meaning 
 of his father's words which he had taken for oratory : 
 " The woman cannot hide her sin." He was dealing with 
 laws he had no knowledge of except that to all civilized 
 manhood a woman in her case is sacred. Even so slight 
 a creature as this " carries destinies in her mantle " ; yet 
 on this nightmare of a march he must either coax or drive. 
 He wondered what hold there was left upon her curious 
 mind, and if, knowing it, he could dare to use it ? He 
 was working against nature in the dark. 
 
 A hard journey is the best of opiates. Stella did not 
 wish to die except when she felt too tired to live ; her ex- 
 hausted system made such heavy demands for itself that 
 the brain went to sleep ; memory was cheated. And she 
 was a woman who could weep and always, insanely, she 
 could talk : Jimmy took it out of himself in being forced to 
 listen. 
 
 He resumed his leadership, but timidly ; their progress 
 was fatally slow, and what his thoughts made him suffer 
 in the long, silent hours of the day's march, imagining 
 
ENLIGHTENMENT ON BOTH SIDES 223 
 
 the cost of this delay to those who were waiting for them, 
 we need not attempt to say. 
 
 He now insisted on the precaution Bradburn had re- 
 minded him of: no good camper in an Indian country 
 sleeps by his fire or on the spot where he makes his first 
 halt; having eaten he creeps away to the shelter of the 
 dark. This simple mano3uvre Jimmy had abandoned out 
 of sheer inability to control Stella's actions ; hence his ex- 
 hausting night-watches. But he found her more docile now : 
 half the time she seemed to be in a swoon of weariness or 
 drowned in a feeble sort of despair. He believed the chance 
 was small of their continued immunity from Indian alarms ; 
 but he was not posted on the temper of the tribes, and '42 
 was before the army of invasion that started the next year 
 had alarmed them as to the future of their own possessions ; 
 before the chiefs of distant nations would travel for many 
 moons, to gaze astonished on that highway of destiny which 
 they named the "Great Medicine Road of the Whites," 
 and then silently creep away to join their confederates. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE CAMP OF WAITING 
 
 IN those transmontane valleys, at the dry summer's 
 close, sunsets are generally cloudless. After the sun is 
 gone, the last peaks against him smoulder and recede in 
 veils of pearl; the nearer ranges suddenly grow dark. 
 Pines that pencil the edges of their heights give to those 
 lonely spots a fabulous appearance of crowded spires in 
 dead, Gothic cities of the past. If there should be any 
 cloud, it floats, a chain of purple islets beached with gold, 
 low in the tropic regions of the color sea that sweeps 
 to the zenith's blue, where we watch for the first star. 
 Intense as the radiance is, lighting up faces of gazers like 
 scenic fire, it has a mysterious quality of aloofness which 
 chills the heart. It reminds us of the difference between 
 a living love, with all its human shortcomings, and that 
 love made perfect through the longings of absence or 
 death. 
 
 Every one who has known suspense knows the passion 
 of this hour. It was then the minister, with no house to 
 hide in, would go away off and walk by himself up and 
 down, up and down. He had his Bible always, so rich in 
 the language of lamentation, in which to clothe his lonely 
 anguish: he was David in the chamber over the gate; but 
 no one came running of whom he could ask, " Is the young 
 man Absalom well?" But if ever tears brought relief to 
 his burning, sleepless eyes, they came with the whispered, 
 
THE CAMP OF WAITING 225 
 
 immortal cry, " Would God I had died for thee, my son, 
 my son ! " 
 
 It was Barbie's mission, when cooking smells began to 
 spread on the evening air, to call him in to supper. He 
 seldom answered her first call and she would walk at his 
 side in silence. She had full courage to approach him ; 
 his grief was hers and this, without words, he partly real- 
 ized and the comfort of it was very great. If he could 
 have brought himself to speak of Jimmy, he would have 
 told her the boy's secret now, unaware that nature had 
 been before him and disposed already of those high con- 
 siderations discussed between father and son. What he 
 constantly did crave was some assurance from the girl's 
 own lips, closed in a silence he could but approve, that 
 Jimmy was forgiven even as matters now stood. It had 
 been such a little, boyish wrong, many would say, but not 
 Mr. Yardley, a gentleman before he was a minister. 
 His son had made a girl understand that he loved her, no 
 matter how ; he had put himself in a position to learn the 
 secrets of her heart : with that knowledge between them 
 he had let the matter drop. Scorn was the only answer he 
 deserved, but love is not logical at nineteen. Why, in 
 speaking to his father, were her tones so delicate, fraught 
 with unspoken meanings full of anguished tenderness? 
 He could not question her. She was as unapproachable to 
 him as the evening star. Barbie did not dream what he 
 wanted. Although in his spiritual office the recipient of 
 so many confidences affecting others, his own personal 
 trials were wrapped in complete reserve. No one ventured 
 to talk to the minister about himself. 
 
 "Will you come to supper, Mr. Yardley?" Barbie re- 
 peated the invitation and urged it with some impatience. 
 
226 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 "Will you please to come? Supper is ready, and this is 
 mother's birthday. She 's forgotten it herself ; we want to 
 be all there to accuse her of it." 
 
 The last words penetrated. " Your mother's birthday ? 
 Then / must have had one yesterday. I believe we are the 
 same age, fifty-nine, lacking one day." 
 
 " Mother is fifty-eight, is n't she ? She has been telling 
 us for almost a year that she was ' going on ' fifty-eight. 
 What a joke if she's been mistaken all the time ! Let's go 
 and ask her if she knows how old she is." 
 
 Silence met them, rosy with fire heat and redolent of ham. 
 
 " Mother, dear, do you know how old you are ? Mr. 
 Yardley thinks you are his age, fifty-nine." 
 
 " I should n't like to contradict, but I 'm afraid Mr. 
 Yardley's a trifle out of the way : I believe I 'in pretty 
 close to fifty-eight. Father, what day of the month is it ? " 
 
 "Now, mummy, don't try to make yourself out younger 
 than you are. You 've been fifty-eight all this whole day, 
 so now you must be ' going on ' fifty-nine. You 've been 
 cooking your own birthday supper I never in my life 
 smelled anything so good! Why don't we always have ham 
 for supper?" 
 
 "Because this is the very last one," complained the chief 
 of commissary. " I wondered why father insisted on my 
 cutting it!" She was quite peevish with them all, stand- 
 ing and smiling at her ; being on a strain in other ways, 
 surprises jarred her nerves. "Really, I can't see what 
 there is to make a fuss over in growing old. We don't de- 
 serve much credit for it." 
 
 " We make a fuss because you don't grow old," Mr. 
 Hannington gallantly rejoined, without appeasing her. 
 " Does she look a day over forty-five?" 
 
THE CAMP OF WAITING 227 
 
 Silence ignored him. "Barbie, just run over to Mrs. 
 Kiersted's with this plate. It 's hot, child ! wrap a towel 
 around it. That little woman scarcely cooks anything for 
 herself since Sam went. Now, we won't wait for Barbie." 
 
 The talk lingered upon ages of persons they knew or 
 might be said to have known in the past so far behind 
 them ; how some held their own and some had wasted away 
 like April snow. 
 
 " Years have n't much to do with age up to a certain 
 point," said Silence. 
 
 " Well, I guess you have n't reached that point," Alvin 
 persisted. 
 
 Discussing his own family before company was one of 
 the deacon's little weaknesses ; he had often been discour- 
 aged in it, enough to make him feel guilty, but he went on 
 with astonishing hardihood, even dragging in Barbie, who 
 had returned and was listening, amused at her mother's 
 face. 
 
 "I was saying your mother's making up to us for 
 keeping out of the scrape so long. Nearly six years she had 
 me on a string steady business, too. She was pretty near 
 an old maid before she would take me. And here she looks 
 like a girl still ! " 
 
 " I 'd be sorry for the girl," Mrs. Hannington retorted. 
 
 In the next pause Mr. Yardley asked, with his detached 
 manner, out of his own thoughts apparently, 
 
 " Was it one, or two children you lost as infants ? I can 
 only remember you with one child." 
 
 There is scarcely any age when a question like this 
 cannot make a woman's heart turn over with a mute 
 groan. 
 
 "Two boys," was the answer briefly. " They were 
 
228 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 not infants : little Edward was three and a half and Alvy 
 was two/' 
 
 " And Barbie was born ? " 
 
 " The year you took Mr. Whitehead's place. She gave 
 me back what father calls my youth : pure comfort she 
 was, from the first. We talked some of giving her your 
 name, Recompense, it just fitted so, but we didn't 
 know how you would feel about it ; and I never liked my 
 own name " Silence checked herself with a glance at 
 Barbie, whose mirthful eyes were upon her. 
 
 " I remember her," said the minister ; " a pretty child." 
 
 " We thought so." 
 
 " Well, she 's got bravely over it," said the deacon. 
 
 Barbie smiled at her father 's customary jocose precau- 
 tion : she knew his" private opinion of her looks. But it 
 was hollow trifling. The old allusions and the old jokes 
 were timid, terrible things. They would have been quieter 
 had they been by themselves. This galvanized flow of 
 spirits was a form of shyness caused by the minister's pre- 
 sence ; he was now their daily guest at meals. 
 
 Alvin rose and excused himself, saying he 'd go and 
 stretch his legs a little before bed, and remarked for the 
 hundredth time that he wished he had a new set of joints 
 for this sitting-down work. Barbie, from where she sat, 
 could follow him with her eyes. He stood still a while fac- 
 ing the gate of the little hills, then turned and beckoned. 
 Her heart flew, but she walked away quietly. Mrs. Han- 
 nington saw it all, pretending superstitiously to think there 
 was nothing in it, specks in the distance that would turn 
 out to be a bunch of antelope. But when Barbie came 
 hurrying back for her father's field-glass, pale and refus- 
 ing to talk, there was no disguising the start it gave them. 
 
THE CAMP OF WAITING 229 
 
 Two or three men pounded past, to get the first news ; one 
 calling out to Mr. Yardley: "I wouldn't come yet, sir. 
 We '11 send word if it 's them." 
 
 The moments lagged. Silence moved about clearing away 
 supper, but gave it up, and waited helplessly. 
 
 " I think, if you '11 excuse me, Mrs. Hannington, I '11 
 walk down a little way." 
 
 " There 's Barbie now," said Silence. She put out her 
 hand to him ; supporting each other'they walked forward 
 trembling. 
 
 Barbie had seen them and checked her run to a walk 
 gathering breath to speak. 
 
 " It is ! " she gasped ; " they are coming." 
 
 Mr. Yardley uncovered his head. " Is the young man 
 Absalom ? " He had no power over his thoughts. The 
 women waited in silence with their eyes down. Then he 
 took a hand of each and said brokenly, " If this be true, 
 let us thank God, for His infinite mercy." 
 
 " Could you count them, Barbie ? " Silence whispered. 
 
 " Yes, four men and one woman." 
 
 " They can't be our folks I " 
 
 " They are ; the woman is Stella." 
 
 " It can't be ! " Mrs. Hannington half groaned. 
 
 But she knew by Barbie's face that it was, and in a mo- 
 ment the news became old and familiar to her, and she had 
 begun to readjust herself to the load. 
 
 " Is that man Bradburn with them ? " 
 
 " No, Mr. Yardley." 
 
 " Could you see their faces ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir," faltering; "Jimmy is there. They are 
 coming very slowly. One of them is a woman " 
 
 " What woman ? " Mr. Yardley demanded. 
 
230 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " She seems sick or very tired " Barbie answered, 
 shirking the name. 
 
 " Then it is Stella ! " 
 
 " Yes, mother. She can hardly ride ; one of them is 
 leading her horse." 
 
 " That will be Jimmy," thought the mother, with a jeal- 
 ous pang. 
 
 " Of course she 's sick " she spoke aloud confirming 
 some dread in her own mind ; " of course she would be 
 sick!" 
 
 " We cannot settle everything beforehand, my friend. 
 There may be surprises for us yet." 
 
 " Now he 's just begging the question," thought Silence. 
 "All I hope is," she said aloud, " we don't take back any 
 of our thanks because she is with them. If we need mercy, 
 she needs it more." 
 
 " You hope more than is reasonable, then," rejoined the 
 minister. " I do not give thanks for this trial sent to us 
 again and I will not pretend to before the Lord, though 
 I trust I can say, Thy will be done." He walked away with- 
 out looking at them ; they could see his thin hands shaking. 
 
 " I don't blame him one bit." Barbie spoke first. 
 
 " Well he need n't call other folks hypocrites." 
 
 " He did n't, mother : how can you say so ! " 
 
 " Why, I heard him : ' I won't pretend,' he said. What 
 does pretending mean ? " 
 
 " It does n't matter. We feel just as he does, if we would 
 own it. He 's not afraid for himself." 
 
 " I suppose I ought to go down there ? There ought to 
 be one of us to meet her. All those men " 
 
 " Father 's there. You look so badly, mother ! I 'm sorry 
 I sided with Mr. Yardley." 
 
THE CAMP OF WAITING 231 
 
 " Well, he did hurt me, I must say. Of course I dread 
 her, too, but we can't give way to it. There 's got to be some 
 heart in it or it's going to spoil our lives." 
 
 " There '11 be a heart in it a broken heart : it won't 
 be hers ! " Barbie seized her mother and dragged her into 
 a wild embrace. It was not Silence's moment for demon- 
 strativeness ; she took the assault passively. 
 
 " Well ; with all we are to one another three of us, it 
 does seem as if we might spare a little to that poor thing." 
 
 " She's not poor! She has a dreadful power and she '11 
 have it always, because she finds the weak spot in every one 
 of us." 
 
 "Well, Jimmy is here alive and strong. Isn't that 
 enough, after what we Ve been through ? I can take up 
 Stella again and not feel her, now I know it's all right 
 between you two." 
 
 Whether Mrs. Hannington supposed that her God, who 
 was a jealous God, would accept this form of barter in try- 
 ing out the soul of woman instead of sacrifice for its own 
 sake, who can say ? They believed strange things and took 
 strange liberties with their belief under " that ancient bat- 
 tle-flag, the Westminster Confession." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE women were standing about their cooking-fires wait- 
 ing and wondering at the strange behavior of the men. Wel- 
 comes and suppers grew cold. Lottie Kiersted was in tears 
 because Sam stayed down there at the halting-place with 
 the other men and did not come and kiss her and the baby. 
 
 " That little fellow belongs in bed," Aunt Silence ob- 
 served impartially. " I would n't keep him up a minute 
 longer for any one. A watched pot never boils : they won't 
 come any sooner for our worrying. I suppose they are ex- 
 plaining to Mr. Yardley about Stella. I don't, for the life 
 of me, see what he can do but take her back ! There 's a 
 limit to all things." 
 
 " They are coming ! " said Barbie, releasing a long 
 breath ; but it was only her father and Stella. No one 
 moved from that ominous group which the women were 
 watching. They had seen the travellers alight and turn 
 loose their horses. The greetings seemed quiet and timid, 
 on Stella's account probably. Sam Kiersted certainly 
 would have been heard from on such an occasion, under 
 other circumstances. 
 
 Mr. Hannington came on supporting Stella at a slow 
 walk ; behind them the tired beasts straggled, girths and 
 packs unloosed, a sign alone that signified some serious 
 preoccupation in their riders. Mrs. Hannington hurried 
 forward, and at sight of Stella her heart swelled against the 
 minister. Could he be human and hold to consistency now ! 
 
THE WOMEN'S PART 233 
 
 The meeting of these three women was one of those im- 
 possible situations which admit of no preparation and defy 
 description. The neighbors looked on a moment and drew 
 away, exchanging glances upon ptella's appearance. There 
 was a deep flush of pain on her cheek-bones ; her eyes re- 
 fused to meet other eyes ; the dust was thick on her golden 
 hair welded into a mass by heat and neglect on the journey ; 
 her little luxurious hands were dirty and darkly tanned 
 like a lost child's. Aunt Silence gazed at her, humbly : we 
 are all humbled by the sight of suffering which is beyond 
 our help. Barbie's heart beat fast. She and her mother 
 between them helped the sick girl under cover and put her 
 to bed, groaning. 
 
 44 Go and call your father," Mrs. Hannington ordered 
 sternly, in a hoarse, hurried whisper. 
 
 Alvin had been looking after the horses, tagged by two 
 or three women asking impossible questions. They were in- 
 terested in Barbie's errand, but made no comments, having 
 regard for her maiden ignorance. 
 
 Father and daughter walked back together, out of step, 
 over the uneven ground. He put his arm through hers awk- 
 wardly, an unaccustomed demonstration which alarmed 
 Barbie, who saw no occasion for it. 
 
 "Jimmy? " she asked; " he's there ?" (She knew he 
 was, having counted him and picked him out with the glass, 
 but Jimmy was at the bottom of all her fears.) 
 
 "Yes ; he 's pretty busy now." 
 
 44 Busy ! " 
 
 44 Yes, giving in his report, so to say." 
 
 Barbie considered the word : her father did not use im- 
 portant terms unless his mind was beclouded. 
 
 " Oh, he's all right. Looks thin, but he would, of course." 
 
234 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Father, what is it ? What keeps them down there so 
 long? What's Jimmy done?" she brought it out at last. 
 It was Jimmy they were examining, not Stella, something 
 told her. 
 
 " It 's just a case that 's a little hard to put in words and 
 be fair to all sides of it. I don't believe you 'd better know 
 about it," said this poor intriguer. 
 
 " Why, I 've got to know if it 's anything about 
 Jimmy." 
 
 Mr. Hannington cleared his throat. 
 
 " Did they meet ? " 
 
 " Who ' meet ' ? " 
 
 " Did Captain Bradburn overtake them ? " 
 
 " Yes. They spent the night on a hill together some- 
 where " 
 
 "All three?" 
 
 " All three ; and they settled it there which one Stella 
 was to go on with." 
 
 " One of them did not leave that hill ! And Jimmy is 
 here." Barbie's voice sank to match the stillness around 
 them. 
 
 " What 's that ? " her father interrupted. The ques- 
 tion answered itself ; he heard a woman groaning in their 
 tent. 
 
 " Is Jimmy on his defence for anything that hap- 
 pened to that man ? I want to know ! " 
 
 " Well, Barbie, we 're law-abiding folks : we don't do 
 such things. There 's a great deal back of it, and Jimmy 
 will get a fair hearing. But we can't take it as a matter 
 of course : it might be held as a precedent." 
 
 " Father, you go down there and say what you think 
 about this, not what you think you ought to think." 
 
THE WOMEN'S PART 235 
 
 "I'm going but your mother wants me, didn't you 
 say?" 
 
 The sounds from the tent grew plainer. 
 
 " Oh, of course ! Stella first ! She is the scourge of this 
 company. This is what she 's made Jimmy do ! She 
 could n't hurt him any other way." 
 
 " Don't you say it, daughter ; don't you say it. Let 
 some one say it who has n't suffered by her." 
 
 " Who is there among us who has n't suffered by her or 
 won't suffer before it 's through with? " 
 
 " Hush, child. Let the minister say those things." 
 
 "Has n't he suffered?" 
 
 Barbie took her mother's place and mortified her spirit 
 by doing menial services which the sick require ; she 
 washed the fair one's feet, handled her soiled linen, un- 
 tangled her hateful hair. Outside, husband and wife were 
 holding another of those shameful colloquies over Mary's 
 child. 
 
 " She 's been over-doing right along ; no woman could 
 stand it except a squaw. Jimmy could n't help it, though, 
 of course she blames him. I can't say but it would be bet- 
 ter to have it all over with : she 's not fit to be a mother." 
 
 " You could n't prevent it now, could you, even with a 
 doctor?" 
 
 " No, no. Mr. Yardley need n't be worried about this 
 poor little seed of iniquity. But he 's got to let up on her 
 for a while. She must be kept stone-still and not wor- 
 ried " 
 
 " Why, what you talking about, mother ? What 's Mr. 
 Yardley done?" 
 
 "What are you talking about, all of you down there?" 
 
 " Well, not about Stella." 
 
236 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " What, then ? " 
 
 He drew her off and while she listened in turbid anxiety, 
 he disclosed the main facts, as far as he knew them, down 
 to this moment with Jimmy on trial for Bradburn's 
 death. 
 
 " Well ; I 'm glad I 'm not a man ! I suppose you 've 
 got to find some name to call it by." 
 
 " Why, yes," said Alvin. " That 's the difference be- 
 tween principles and no principles, what name you call 
 things by." 
 
 "Well; when you come to our affairs, if Mr. Yardley 
 says anything about Stella, you tell him, father, that 's the 
 women's business. If he 's planning to start on to-morrow, 
 you just say to him he will leave our family behind. That 
 girl 's not going to be moved, not till she 's had a few 
 days' rest, however you fix it." 
 
 " Well, of all things in this world!" said the "forgotten 
 man," " if this is n't the cap-sheaf ! I never did see the 
 beat. There must be something very strange going to 
 come of this move, the way we are handled right along." 
 
 " We 'd be foolish to judge the end by the beginning," 
 argued his wife. " We 've seen many a fair day start out 
 with a cloudy morning." 
 
 But it was only through the family habit of discussion 
 that she rebuked her husband's despair. She thought of 
 the lone wagon they met on the Kansas plains, with its 
 hood-face turned the other way. 
 
 " Ah, but that was their own child ! What was Oregon 
 to them ? " When a great sacrifice is demanded, it makes 
 all the difference on whose account it is, and the cost 
 weighs in proportion to other things. Here was her hus- 
 band, a middle-aged man in debt, homeless between east 
 
THE WOMEN'S PART 237 
 
 and west, with his life to begin all over again ; and here 
 was their daughter whose future would be spoiled, or 
 parted from her parents in their declining days ; and there 
 was the minister who would miss his old friends, the ones 
 closest to him in age and in every relation, private and 
 parochial 
 
 " Poor, poor man ! how I did misjudge him. I wish 
 I was n't always so hasty." 
 
 "Who, mother?" 
 
 " Why, the minister. To think of it his own son ! 
 and such a boy as Jimmy. He would n't judge the case 
 himself, you say ? " 
 
 " Handed him right over to the committee," said Alvin, 
 with pride in the pastor's purity. "He never excused 
 him, nor begged for him by one word." 
 
 " And Jimmy ? how does he seem ? " 
 
 " Just the same : I guess he 's pretty hungry. Looks as 
 gaunt as a hound." 
 
 Silence flamed out at the bare suggestion of such re- 
 finement of cruelty. " Well, I do think, among you all 
 that 's a little too much ! Badgering the boy without any 
 supper. If you 're going to condemn him, do let him eat 
 first and see his friends. You know it 's all a farce any- 
 way ; there is n't one of you would n't have done the same 
 if you 'd felt able for it. Would you have let that scoundrel 
 run you out of your own camp and take what was put in 
 your charge, if it was only a dog? " 
 
 " Why, no," Alvin retorted pleasantly ; " unless I was 
 so plaguey anxious to get quit of the whole business I 
 snapped up the first chance." 
 
 " Well, Jimmy stuck to his orders, and now you 're lay- 
 ing it up to him for a crime." 
 
238 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Why, no, mother ; nobody is doing any such thing. 
 There 's always an investigation. I wish I could have 
 taken the job and spared the boy, but if I had and it 
 came out this way, I would expect to be questioned pretty 
 sharp. Jimmy expects it, you may be sure. If he 'd wanted 
 to run away from it, the road was open. I think he looks 
 happy ; he 's done the work. He did n't do it to get 
 praised." 
 
 " Mother," called Barbie, " could you come ? " 
 
 They heard Stella groaning and crying ; their own 
 voices ceased. Mr. Haimington started on hurriedly, then 
 came back to say, " If you want me what did you 
 want?" 
 
 " Just for you to say to Mr. Yardley what I said ; we 
 can't go on across any mountains to-morrow. If it 's best 
 for the others, we 've got no right to detain them. Don't 
 you go and beg them to stay for us, will you?" 
 
 " I guess not ! " said Alvin. 
 
 They parted satisfied with each other, and Silence re- 
 turned to her patient. 
 
 Stella lay an unmanageable heap of dishevelled woman- 
 hood, half on the pallet, half on the canvas-covered ground. 
 Her rich hair unbraided its full length, hid like a cloth of 
 gold the coarse cotton pillow (one did n't use one's best 
 linen in these emigrant camps). She tossed incessantly 
 and writhed in apparent agony. 
 
 " I can't undress her alone," Barbie explained softly. 
 " She 's almost in convulsions." 
 
 " Nothing of the sort ! " Her mother's matter-of-fact 
 tone astonished the amateur. 
 
 Stella began talking wildly as soon as she perceived a 
 fresh listener. 
 
THE WOMEN'S PART 239 
 
 " I did n't mean to come back. Jimmy made me ! Don't 
 I know none of you ever wanted me ? He came after me 
 and Jimmy shot him. Oh, how I hate this whole world ! 
 It 's a torture-chamber, and you can't die." 
 
 " What are these things ? " Silence opened the pill-box 
 which she had discovered in Stella's clothing. Stella 
 glanced at it and was dumb. 
 
 " Was that what he gave you ' for snake-bite ' ? " 
 
 " It was for Indians," Stella choked out, " if we 
 were taken alive." 
 
 " H'um," said Silence, " I 've heard of those pills - 
 * for Indians.' Well, Stella ; I can understand how you 
 feel about living. If you want to take one of these now, 
 or all of them and have it over with, no one is going to 
 prevent you." 
 
 Stella, it appeared, felt hurt by this invitation ; whether 
 genuine or ironic, it left nothing to be said. 
 
 " Very well, then. Now, let me tell you : this is only 
 the beginning, and it can be borne. You won't have near 
 so hard a time as others do." Silence told her why 
 " Now, if you are able to talk about ' torture-chambers,' 
 you are able to stop screaming like a wild animal. You 
 have a will enough to keep you alive at any rate : you 
 better try to use it." 
 
 This summing-up left Stella in a passion of resentment 
 which did duty, momentarily, for courage. There was a 
 bitter silence. 
 
 " Barbie, don't cry so! Go out and get some air." 
 
 " Mother, you are so hard." 
 
 "Well, you see it's done her good," Silence fiercely 
 whispered. To have Barbie break down was the last straw. 
 " Now, go away ; go and help Lottie Kiersted, or let her 
 
240 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 come and help me, and you go over there and cook sup- 
 per. Those men have got to be fed somewhere ; we can't 
 have anybody here." 
 
 Barbie had an acute remembrance since childhood of 
 those tones in her mother's voice. She had the need and 
 the expectation of unvarying love and approval from that 
 mighty woman which made it a shattering experience to 
 have the gulfs of her sudden anger sweep you down ; to 
 have the flashes of her censure light up the blackness 
 of a home in ruins. These were domestic paroxysms not 
 so far back in the past of her twenty years ; they were 
 not of impossible recurrence even now. Incredible as it 
 seemed, she found herself on Stella's side, for once, against 
 her own mother, who showed in such a strange light as a 
 comforter in this supreme extremity. There is nothing 
 like the philosophy that experience breeds. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE men, when Deacon Hannington left them, were 
 seated, knee to knee, on the ground amidst some leafless 
 willows where a stream enters the valley at the base of 
 those interlapping hills. The spot was charmless ; it 
 merely shut them in from observation, and the little run- 
 let at this season was too low to interrupt their talk. In 
 spring it had been a tearing torrent and these sticks and 
 broken limbs of trees amid the trampled copses were part 
 of its regular work. 
 
 Jimmy had been telling his story, not having risen ; he 
 merely sat a little forward in advance of the ring of faces, 
 his own not the palest there. The amateur judges hated 
 their task : discussing the boy's conduct before his father, 
 their sorrow-stricken pastor, seated there in stern de- 
 tachment, surrendering his tenderest ties to their handling. 
 They felt clumsy and afraid. 
 
 " I don't ask you to treat this as a duel," said Jimmy, 
 in conclusion. "It wasn't romantic murder; it was the 
 law working out by means of me. I plead guilty, but I 
 will defend the law ! Don't you suppose I would have been 
 glad to give her up, and come back home ? It may be un- 
 manly to say this, but for my father's sake I am not ashamed 
 to make as good a showing as I can ; I am not pleading 
 against conscience either. If it were to do over again, I 
 don't see how I could escape. He ordered me back and 
 I would n't go : so we fought. We tossed up for turns and 
 
242 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 he got first shot. He hit me here ; but you can call 
 it an accident, if you believe in such accidents a little 
 compass I happened to carry in my breast-pocket turned 
 the ball. Then I fired to clear the road, and to purge the 
 earth of a shameless villain. You can purge this company 
 of me : I have no repentance to offer. I was shaken 
 at first, but I 've been thinking it over on the way here. 
 No ; I had to do it." 
 
 As Mr. Hannington approached and stood listening to 
 Jimmy's last words, room was made for him in the circle. 
 Jimmy glanced up a trifle uneasily. 
 
 " Deacon," said Cephas More, the moderator, " we are 
 pretty well advanced with our proceedings. I 'm sorry ye 
 could n't join us a little sooner to get all the points of this 
 matter and hear what Jimmy has to say for himself." 
 
 " Jimmy is not on his defence before me," said the dea- 
 con firmly. " If I join with you it 's not to vote. I am biased 
 and with good reason." 
 
 "Exactly so ! " Sam Kiersted bellowed softly. 
 
 " If this discussion is closed and you are ready now for 
 the question, I will put it for your votes, ' yea ' or ' nay,' " 
 said Cephas, on his feet looking shyly around upon his 
 neighbors. The meeting eased its sense of difficulty in 
 Jimmy's case by a disparaging attitude towards one an- 
 other as members. 
 
 " Does anybody know what is ' the question' ? I don't ! " 
 Sam Kiersted spoke up irregularly. He wanted to see 
 Lottie, he wanted his supper ; his big feelings had been 
 terribly worked up over Stella's condition on the march. 
 He believed that he cared more for Jim Yardley than for 
 any man, young or old, he had ever associated with for the 
 same length of time, more than for many he called kin 
 
THE MEN'S PART 243 
 
 and had known all his life. After the custom of disciplin- 
 ing church members, Jimmy had been asked if he would 
 choose counsel from those present, and had declined. This 
 was a disappointment to Sam, who had hoped to be called 
 on in some such capacity, and in general wished to relieve 
 his mind of things he did not know how to say. No one 
 spoke to the point of order. 
 
 " The question ? Well a " Cephas hummed ; 
 "hadn't some of you better frame it in the shape of a 
 resolution and then I will put it as a resolution ? " 
 
 Sam gave a sardonic laugh. " Do we know what we are 
 doing anyhow? Are we a town-meetin', or a church com- 
 mittee, or a judge and jury? I move, Mr. Moderator, we 
 consider that question first and in the mean time let 
 Jimmy go get his supper. It 's hardly fair to keep him 
 here while we discuss, and don't even know what we want 
 to vote on." 
 
 " That 's a friendly suggestion," Cephas allowed. " It 
 is moved that we a no use repeating ! you heard the 
 motion. Does any one second it ? " 
 
 " Neighbors, we must not trifle," Mr. Yardley interposed 
 in a passionless voice. " Let your sympathies and your sup- 
 pers wait." They glanced at his chill, worn face and at 
 each other, but concluded not to smile. " We are thankful 
 to our Heavenly Father for our friends' safe return, but 
 we must not shirk the duty that comes home to us in the 
 very act of this rejoicing. Although my son is not one of 
 our church fellowship, he 's a member of Christian so- 
 ciety of which you are all responsible members. Having 
 broken society's oldest law and one of God's most holy 
 commandments, he is not to be treated as a child who 
 wants his supper. He has come home to be judged, and 
 
244 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 there is no court but that of your consciences before 
 which he can be tried. You are not empowered to sen- 
 tence him in law, but you have a right to reject him as 
 a member of our company and a future citizen of the 
 community we go to found. Now, if you please, the 
 question ! " 
 
 Poor Cephas with an audible sigh took up his task again. 
 He cast a deprecatory look at Jimmy. 
 
 " We are all acquainted with our with this young 
 man's character in the past. What we say or which way 
 we vote " 
 
 " Mr. Moderator," broke in belligerent Sam, " I 'd like 
 to ask why you say 'in the past ' ? That 's what I call pre- 
 judging the case. If you think Jimmy's character has al- 
 tered any in the last few days some of the rest of us may 
 not be of your opinion." 
 
 " Out of order ! " " That 's unnecessary ! " was the gen- 
 eral voice : Sam smiled and sat back on his boots, sup- 
 pressed but chuckling. 
 
 " I repeat, friends, and I know you understand me 
 (' Aye, aye ') any action we may take here and now 
 on this special matter before us don't affect our individual 
 opinion of Jimmy, nor begin to express what we feel to- 
 wards him " 
 
 " You 're wandering from the point, Cephas," drawled 
 a voice. " Get back on the question, can't ye?" 
 
 " In plain words, then," said the unhappy mouthpiece, 
 " the question we must look in the face is this : would 
 would Jimmy here having done what he confesses 
 be liable in a community with laws in full force to 
 be indicted on the charge of homicide, say in the second 
 or third " 
 
THE MEN'S PART 245 
 
 " I submit," howled Sam, in a voice as submissive as a 
 steam siren, " that 's not the question at all! " 
 
 " Order, order, Sam ! No use taking the ground you 're 
 the only friend Jim 's got." 
 
 "Just hear me out, will you? There's a point right here 
 we ought to settle ; the discussion won't be closed till we 
 do settle it. There 's no law in any part of these United 
 States that would punish Jimmy for manslaughter on this 
 charge " 
 
 " He did n't say punish 3 he said 4 indict,' " a voice in- 
 terrupted. 
 
 Sam glared and went on : 
 
 " Because you could n't get a live human jury to find 
 him guilty. There 's a law of man's nature in a case like 
 this. It don't need to be on the statutes. It 's in you and 
 in me, if we 'd let it speak. Why don't we ? The question, 
 as I would put it, is : i Do we censure him, man to man? 
 Would we have done different in his place ? Do we want 
 him to be one of us?' That's what Mr. Yardley means, 
 if I can say it before him. Do we, honest, respect 
 Jimmy a bit the less or distrust him more on account 
 of what he 's done ? Do we think he ought to have for- 
 sook his manhood and his trust and come home to us a 
 poltroon his own father would be ashamed of ? That 's 
 the way I 'd put the question or I would n't put it at all." 
 
 Sam sat back on his heels with a satisfied smile and 
 chewed tobacco furiously. It soothed his stomach which 
 clamored for supper. He pitied poor little Jim, who had n't 
 sense enough to use it. 
 
 " If I understand the duties of a moderator," Cephas 
 patiently rejoined, " one of them is to be mod'rate. It 
 would n't strike me as a fair way to put any question to 
 
246 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 vote, the way Brother Kiersted puts his ; but if you want 
 it that way you 're the ones to say so. It 's open for you to 
 discuss, and when you 're ready I will put it to vote on 
 the question which is the question how you '11 have it : 
 the way it was put first or the way Brother Kiersted wants 
 it. Is that all clear?" 
 
 " That 's all right, Brother More," said a new voice en- 
 couragingly. " If I may have the floor, or the ground, a 
 moment, I 'd like to remark: We don't go on record as favor- 
 ing such methods in general because we exonerate Jimmy 
 for fighting this out. But some might say he went counter 
 to his father's judgment before us all at Lone Tree Camp, 
 when he said the son of Adam and the daughter of Eve 
 should go forth together to eat of the fruit of their inherit- 
 ance. 
 
 " Circumstances alter cases," the argument continued. 
 " Jimmy was given the job to run it his own way. No 
 special order was sent to the contrary of what he done. 
 The first call was for Adam's son to go with Eve's daugh- 
 ter and sustain her in what lay before them. Now, this 
 man was n't worthy the name of Adam, who was a man. 
 His conduct right there showed it. Adam 's had enough 
 cast back at him, and Eve too, through their descendants, 
 without putting such a creatur' as this in the same cate- 
 gory. You can call her Eve, but you can't call him Adam, 
 not after he showed what he was; and if we don't 
 blame Jimmy for being forced out of his job by one that 
 had no right to it, why not say so and put it to vote?" 
 
 Deacon Hannington here gave signs of having some- 
 thing on his mind : attention was drawn to him by his 
 straightening up and looking fixedly across the circle at 
 the parson. Failing to meet his eye, he rose and addressed 
 
THE MEN'S PART 247 
 
 him by name, asking permission to say a few words " in 
 acknowledgment of error, grievous error on the part of 
 myself and wife. We desire to ask our minister's forgive- 
 ness, out and out before you all, for urging upon him to 
 take my unfortunate my niece along. We knew he was 
 averse to it ; we did n't really think ourselves she had the 
 requirements ; we put him in a delicate position to help 
 ourselves out ; we were self-seeking through the whole of 
 it, in one way. In another we wa'n't, but that I can't 
 explain." 
 
 There was a pause. All eyes looked kindness upon the 
 pain-stricken face of the speaker : old Doctor Hanning- 
 ton's son, grandson of Judge Hannington, men to 
 whom all hats went off in their day. They warmed to him 
 more for being able to pity him. 
 
 " She 's brought a world of trouble on our minister's 
 family, first and last. (Jimmy moved restlessly.) We have 
 made it the subject of prayer. We see our fault and accept 
 our punishment ; but for what has fallen on others, my 
 head is bowed in shame." 
 
 There was a strong murmured protest, a heavy taking 
 of breaths. Mr. Yardley's eyes were covered, but beneath 
 the shielding hand his mouth was visible in its broken 
 sweetness. He appeared to gather himself to rise, with dif- 
 ficulty, Deacon Hannington gently forestalling the attempt. 
 
 " Parson, excuse me : I have n't finished quite. I wanted 
 to thank Jimmy now, before you act upon him, for bring- 
 ing the poor girl home. Whatever she 's done and I 've 
 been as hard on her as the next one she needs help 
 now, and other women. And I ask you to remember 
 she 's young yet, not twenty. It 's her first serious step 
 aside. To me, of course, she 's my sister's child." 
 
248 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Mr. Yardley now stood up and looked straight at the 
 deacon, who with his last words had broken down and 
 was forced to hide his face. 
 
 " Deacon Hannington, my friend ; I cannot sit still and 
 let God hear you asking forgiveness of me." The minis- 
 ter's voice rang with a rich jar like a stroke on a fine- 
 toned bell. " Your niece, alone, could have done us no 
 harm : there was a bad man amongst you and I brought 
 him ! Instead of trusting the Word of God, I purchased 
 safety and paid the price in a human soul. I knew that 
 man had evil in him. The seed of evil found soil prepared 
 for it : the same soil, sweetened and opened to the sun of 
 love, might have been fit for a precious crop. I will not 
 tax you further with self-examination ; but let no one ask 
 forgiveness of me." 
 
 He sat down and Jimmy reached across and stroked 
 his father's hand. It was not a man's action : wherefore 
 the others looked away. 
 
 Mr. Hannington asked to be heard somewhat further, 
 on a practical matter. 
 
 " I expect you will be planning to start on to-morrow 
 morning, when you have settled whether well," he 
 began afresh ; u my wife and I want it known that on 
 account of our niece's illness, and for other reasons, we 
 shall not be able to remain with this company. We are 
 going to feel the separation very much, and we remember 
 all the kindness you have shown us, but we are prepared 
 to accept what comes to us alone, through our family 
 circumstances. I deeply appreciate our minister's words, 
 and I know my wife, if she could have heard him, would 
 say the same ; but we have no right to take advantage of 
 your sympathies, nor his magnanimous way of putting 
 
THE MEN'S PART 249 
 
 things. We 've been a handicap first and last, and a detri- 
 ment to the whole spirit of the undertaking : and so we 
 are bound to withdraw, and no compunctions need be felt. 
 But now, as to Jimmy ; it occurred to me while you 
 were discussing whether he is blameworthy or not : if 
 you should decide to name it so and want to express your 
 disapproval, in moderation, of what he has done why 
 not consign him to us ? If our company 's good enough 
 for him, he 's plenty good enough for ours. We 're the ones 
 who got him into this trouble : it would ill become us to 
 set up in judgment ; and we need him. There are several 
 reasons and they don't all jibe, but I guess the main rea- 
 son is we love the boy." 
 
 " Now, I 'd like to know what 's that ! " said Lottie 
 Kiersted with a snap of her black eyes. " That 's the sec- 
 ond time they 've woke him up making that noise. My 
 goodness, I think it 's awful cheering like Fourth of 
 July and we up here worried to death and not knowing a 
 thing!" 
 
 Lottie had made the exchange Mrs. Hannington sug- 
 gested, her nursing for Barbie's cooking, but had rushed 
 back to her camp hearing the baby cry. 
 
 " Hush ! " said Barbie. There was no hushing Sam's 
 progeny nor for that matter Sammy junior's excitable 
 little mother when her feelings were aroused. She swung 
 the youngster on her hip and hummed to him while Barbie 
 was trying to listen. 
 
 " They seem pleased with themselves," she thought. 
 " That great shout could n't have meant 4 guilty ' ? they 
 would n't have said it like that ! It could n't have been 
 4 unanimous ' even if it had to be ' guilty.' " She was not 
 
250 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 greatly afraid ; but she was rasped and excited and sick 
 with delay : she wanted one look at Jimmy. 
 
 " Think of their being down there this whole hour ! " 
 Lottie whispered, breaking off her tune ; " why, Sam just 
 loves Jimmy, and he sees through folks. I thought I 
 heard Sam's roar. If it was * guilty ' you would n't hear 
 his voice ! " 
 
 Sam, the great reader of character, at that moment was 
 saying to Mr. Hannington, after that last huge testi- 
 mony to the effect that all should go or none : no more 
 breaks in the company, " Why, great goodness," he was 
 saying, " that little thing ! no more trouble than a kitten ! 
 We ought to rest our horses a day or two anyhow 
 what 's a few days ! If she can lay on a bed she can go 
 along. We'll rig a horse-litter; and if the trail gives 
 out I '11 carry her myself. I can hoof it like a goat. Lottie 
 will have the boy with her in one of the carts ; all of you 
 will see to her. I 'm the strong man of Gaza. I would n't 
 feel that little girl more than a squaw feels her papoose 
 on her back, climbing the mountains. My ! I wanted to 
 carry her on the road we come but I say but that was 
 rough ! As for being one of us ! Who are we ? If we 're 
 all right ourselves, as parson says, how 's she going to 
 hurt us ? " 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE FIRST OFFERING 
 
 No one observed Jimmy no one spoke of it, at least 
 when he slipped away from the supper group and fol- 
 lowed a lane of shadow down which Barbie had disap- 
 peared. Her errand was water, to refill the tea-kettle : 
 the men were being served by the women, patriarchal 
 fashion. He had taken her pail and set it down, and what- 
 ever the precaution led to had satisfactorily occurred 
 without witnesses. 
 
 " There is a hole in my coat, under your cheek, girl 
 girl! You 've got to mend it with my thimble." 
 
 Barbie felt of the place where her cheek had rested ; 
 she became thoughtful. " What is under that hole ? " 
 
 " My ' self-defence.' I 'd like you to see it. Put your 
 head back there again ! " 
 
 " But I hurt you ! There is something " 
 
 " My old compass gave me a beautiful dig just to show 
 it was there on the job. My bully old compass that I paid 
 three dollars for even the money dad sent me to buy a 
 new hat for church." 
 
 " You were always wicked, Jimmy." 
 
 " I 've come to a bad end. Am I the same to you?" 
 
 "Not quite the same." (Better, thought Barbie, who 
 had never seen her lover's eyes like that before.) 
 
 " Not quite such good material for one's husband ? " 
 
 " Oh, I need n't be particular : we 're not a very nice 
 family to marry into. I 'm not joking." 
 
252 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Nor I ! " said Jimmy. " I suppose you and my father 
 care what the other folks think. I want to know what 's 
 going to be thought of this in my own home, that house 
 we were speaking about." 
 
 " We 're not going to think : but you are not going to 
 put on this coat ever again in my sight." 
 
 " Then you don't call it square a case of brute ne- 
 cessity ? " 
 
 " I call it I don't call it anything. You are just you : 
 but other people had better be careful what they call it 
 before me ! Jimmy, you won't keep that coat ? " 
 
 "This," said Jimmy serious topics being suppressed 
 for a time " will have to be your engagement ring, 4 in 
 lieu of many ornaments wherewith my love should duly 
 have been decked.' " He put back the little old thimble 
 on the finger it belonged to, leaving a kiss in its keeping. 
 
 Barbie's mild acquaintance with profane classics gave 
 her no clew to Jimmy's flight, but her heart followed and 
 her ear was delicately tuned to niceties of speech. Her 
 dreaming mind had passed over much in the village life 
 she was too familiar with to note its rich complexity of 
 local detail and its concentrated human interest ; she was 
 not an observer or an interpreter, but an imaginative list- 
 ener and follower of the range of bigger minds: here 
 were pleasant paths to tread in the future of that home 
 which was seeking a spot to rest on. But there would be 
 a strong, practical reaction first : Barbie's initial output 
 would register a plunge into cook-books instead of Eliza- 
 bethan poetry. 
 
 " Speaking of rings," said Jimmy, "could one borrow 
 one's mother's wedding-ring, if a need should arise ? " 
 
 " Would n't a clothes-pin do ? " 
 
THE FIRST OFFERING 253 
 
 " Barbie, I 'm shocked ! Where 's this sort of thing 
 going to end, in one that was a church member ? " 
 
 "In hard work, where every frontier marriage ends, 
 we 're told." 
 
 " Will you mind it, I wonder? Of course, that 's most 
 miserably true ! " 
 
 " Not more than you will : you don't love ploughing 
 do you?" 
 
 " I am willing to plough for something better than 
 ploughing." 
 
 " I 'm willing to wash for something better than wash- 
 ing." 
 
 " It won't last, not the first period. And you won't 
 wash, young lady. If you do, it means failure and we '11 
 quit." 
 
 "By the time it means anything, we'll be so wild 
 about it we can't ' quit.' " 
 
 " Prophetess in Israel, I bow to thy wisdom ! I guess 
 we '11 stick it out somehow." 
 
 They were silenced by the sight of two figures illumi- 
 nated by a lantern, who passed singly, at a distance, across 
 the dark mountain background : Deacon Hannington and 
 his wife. He carried a spade over his shoulder and she 
 walked behind him, holding something out on her two 
 hands wrapped in a white cloth ; her long step broke the 
 line of her skirt in the back ; she moved with solemnity, 
 like a priestess presenting an offering. This strange sight 
 amazed the younger pair. Barbie was the first to under- 
 stand: her parents were burying the family pride, the 
 clean old record of generations which fate had made sport 
 of. It was also a sacrifice to Libitina ; the price of thrills. 
 And the irony which smote the girl was that her own 
 
254 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 father and mother, in the presence of their maiden daugh- 
 ter and her lover, should be the chosen ministrants of this 
 ceremony. She tore herself out of Jimmy's arms and van- 
 ished somewhere, in the darkness. 
 
 When he had swallowed his share of the meaning of 
 that spectacle, he was better prepared for his part. Barbie 
 was not hard to find ; she was crying to herself in a little 
 heap on the ground, not anywhere in particular, just 
 where she could be alone. He took her back to his arms ; 
 there was little said; but Jimmy at length presented a 
 conclusion based not altogether on passion nor on circum- 
 stance : " I want to marry into this family as soon as it 
 will have me." 
 
PART II 
 
CHAPTER I 
 HAIL AND FAREWELL! 
 
 EAST of the Cascade Range and west of the Blue 
 Mountains, in the country of the Upper Columbia, Dr. 
 Whitman had planted his mission among the Cayuse In- 
 dians at Waiilatpu, " place of rye grass." Here arrived, 
 in the middle of September, the main caravan of 1 842, 
 giving the honors of emigration for that year to the 
 Methodists. These people had started without a guide, 
 trusting themselves to the eccentric leadership of Dr. 
 Elijah White, who held a commission as sub-Indian-agent 
 to cooperate with the British in Oregon and Vancouver. 
 It was he who ordered the execution of those twenty dogs 
 belonging to as many uptorn families clinging to the few 
 ties left them that spoke of home : wherefore, and for 
 similar reasons, we are not surprised to hear later on of a 
 split in the party under a rival, Captain Hastings ; but 
 all were of one body, united for safety as they passed 
 through the Pawnee country. At Fort Laramie, where 
 they left our small band of exodists, they hired the moun- 
 taineer, Fitzpatrick, for a round sum to pilot them as far 
 as Fort Hall ; onward from there to Waiilatpu, the tribes, 
 he assured them, were friendly. 
 
 The great Nez Perce* nation, to the north and east of 
 the mission, were intermarried with the Cayuses, having 
 given them their language which had largely replaced the 
 original Cayuse tongue ; all books translated for the use 
 of Indian converts being done into Nez Perce. Bradburn 
 
258 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 equally may have been posted as to the temper of these 
 tribes, but he appears to have been frugal of spreading 
 knowledge which might cheapen the value of the personal 
 element in Indian affairs supposed to reside in himself. 
 
 With Dr. White's party, first to reach the mission, came 
 A. L. Lovejoy, as brave a heart as Whitman's and as 
 keen for the Oregon game : call the stake religion or 
 national expansion or free-state territory, or simply get- 
 ting rich, the game was big enough to include most things 
 big men desire to do in this world, and a faith in God 
 besides which was the chief reward of many who spent 
 their lives there, and lost them as the seed of higher 
 things. 
 
 White and Lovejoy brought news only six months 
 old of the hitch in Oregon affairs at Washington : of the 
 South's opposition and the attitude of Webster, not en- 
 tirely disinterested ; of the calm shrewdness of England's 
 waiting policy not too eager diplomatically, but indus- 
 trious on the ground. Whitman was burning with his own 
 knowledge : the strength of the Hudson's Bay people and 
 the Catholics combined against sectarian Americans who 
 would scatter the hunts and cut into priestly authority. 
 He had other reasons connected with his special work 
 which we will not touch upon ; what he knew in addition 
 to what he heard was enough. The others agreed with 
 him, but could he do it? would he be able to convince 
 President Tyler and the nation that wagons could pass 
 Fort Hall, and that a land for home-makers lay beyond ? 
 
 He said, " I must be there this winter in order to do it. 
 The train must start next spring, and those wagons shall 
 go through ! If it were Pelion upon Ossa, we '11 get 
 
HAIL AND FAREWELL 259 
 
 The material part of his equipment took not long : in 
 spirit he was there already ; his only lack a companion 
 he could trust as himself. In Lovejoy he found the man. 
 Having but just completed a little journey of fifteen hun- 
 dred miles, he turned about and went back with Whit- 
 man by a shorter, wholly conjectural route on the famous 
 " mid-winter ride." We have merely to mention here an 
 incident at the outset of that adventure which hinges upon 
 our tale, explaining several matters that shall follow. 
 
 The horsemen had come down after dark into the 
 valley, making long hours in the saddle. They failed to 
 discern the little camp, its fires covered for the night, hid 
 in the willows across the vague, dim prospect. Daybreak 
 showed them, as they pushed on for the canyon wall, a 
 stain of smoke rising lazily on the frosty air. 
 
 Every high endeavor we read of has been attended by 
 its coincidences which Christian minds call Providence. 
 Mr. Yardley was ever fond of recalling that, by seeming 
 accident, Dr. Whitman had chosen this morning for his 
 start and decided to cross the mountains by a way on 
 which they would surely have missed him had they broken 
 camp on the day first set; if, in short, they had not 
 waited for the Hanningtons. It is on record that the 
 doctor reached Fort Hall in eleven days, our pilgrims 
 taking a month for the same distance. 
 
 Mrs. Hannington had not slept that night, her patient 
 being restless and full of fears. She had been up a num- 
 ber of times waiting upon her and watching her condition 
 in reference to the journey. The watchman had built an 
 early fire and filled her kettle for her and she was brew- 
 ing tea when the cattle-guard, grazing his stock before 
 hitching up for the climb, was heard to shout a name. 
 
260 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Lovejoy ! " rang through the camp. The two had been 
 friends when the companies were united, and had said 
 good-bye to each other at Laramie with strong regrets. 
 
 "Lovejoy! Whitman!" Men sprang out of their 
 blankets ; women tidied their hair in haste and bundled 
 themselves and their babes in wraps to go forth and gaze 
 at the visitors. Dr. Whitman this time of year! his 
 face towards the way they had come ! 
 
 He welcomed them loudly, shaking one after another 
 by the hand, between gulps of Mrs. Hannington's hot tea. 
 Lovejoy, who had known them all, introduced them with 
 hearty pride. 
 
 " You are the very men I am going East to fetch out 
 here," the doctor bellowed. " We want you now, and 
 your wives and babies. I tell you I am glad to see the 
 women : that means a future. We want as many of your 
 sort as the Lord can spare us. We want the salt of the 
 earth. There's an empire waiting for us here, but you 
 can't make an empire out of fur traders and soldiers 
 no, nor missionaries. We want the people and we 
 might as well have good ones. The Lord was n't humble 
 when he made this country ; " the doctor waved a proud 
 hand at the landscape : " now, we want men and women 
 to fit it. 
 
 " Mr. Yardley, let me shake your hand again, sir. There 
 never was a truer or braver conception of a Christian 
 minister's work than this of yours nor more timely. I 
 see you here with your chosen flock, fathers and mothers 
 in Israel, in answer to our prayers. I don't disparage 
 others, but I know the stuff that you bring us. I am only 
 a practical man myself ; a teacher my wife 's a better 
 one; a physician, but she 's the nurse ; a farmer, but she's 
 
HAIL AND FAREWELL 261 
 
 the gardener. We 're practical workers, but we need a 
 Lead, so to speak, in the clouds. 
 
 " There are folks here who hunger and thirst after an 
 old-fashioned church service, prayer and praise and 
 preaching. TFe want you, we need you more than the 
 Indians think they need us ; you will support us in our 
 work. ' Us,' I say ! you '11 be far away from us, but it 's 
 all one country one fellowship in Christ. You '11 be 
 our first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of the 
 new Northwest. We '11 make you our bishop one of these 
 days. And look at that little pink tow-head over there, 
 the rascal ! " remarks addressed to Sam'l Kiersted, Jr., 
 sleepily sucking his thumb and staring at the speaker. 
 Finding himself the centre of all eyes and smiles he 
 ducked his head into his mother's shawl hunched about 
 her neck. " We '11 send that fellow to Congress about 
 the time he grows a beard on those fat cheeks. Mrs. Han- 
 nington, let me say, this tea of yours tastes of home. I 
 think I see the lacquered caddy it came out of, in the 
 corner cupboard of an old white-painted sittin'-room, back 
 in the Old Bay State. That 's where you 're from ; you 
 don't need to tell me. I knew it, first minute you spoke. 
 My ! I wish my wife could be here and there, too ! You '11 
 find her all ready and waiting for you. We 've been look- 
 ing out for you folks these two weeks, ever since the last 
 of the others got in ; they reported you not more than a 
 few days behind : 3d of October, when we left not a 
 word ! I was anxious, so I sent some of our Indians out 
 on scout for you. They won't miss you. You can trust 
 'em guides or packers or hunters. They '11 show you 
 where I had them cache a lot of fodder and foodstuff 
 case you were short and got caught in the snow ; cattle 
 
262 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 can't travel without food. The Willamette is where you 
 are going, I suppose ? Well, there 's a splendid country 
 around Walla Walla, bound to fill up some day. You 
 can't take your stock over the trail this time of year, re- 
 member : the Indians make a practice of burning off the 
 grass in October. You would better go down the Colum- 
 bia from Fort Walla Walla in the fur company's boats ; 
 there 's a wild dash at the Dalles where you 4 carry ' : 
 Don't we have the names out here? My wife says they 
 sound like the 'timbrels o'er Egypt's dark sea.' They 
 get into your blood." 
 
 " Are the Hudson's Bay people friendly, speaking of 
 borrowing boats?" the question was asked. 
 
 " Well, as a company they are not, quite the reverse. 
 They don't want us here and they are trying as hard as 
 they can to back-fire us with settlers of their own. But, 
 man to man, they are clever folks and gentlemen besides : 
 ever see a nicer man than Captain Grant ? Keeps say- 
 ing, though, and believes it, that our wagons will never 
 get across. We '11 show 'em what our wagons can do ! 
 Old John McLoughlin, ' King of Oregon ' - he's ' king,' 
 but he 's father, too. If we don't love him and stick up 
 for him we ought to be spanked for it like ungrateful 
 1 children. He saved the lives of all those first ones, crazy 
 they were, too. He won't sell a cow ; cows are too pre- 
 cious, but where there 's babies he '11 rent. You seem to 
 have had bad luck with your stock. Plenty, plenty ! 
 thank you, Mrs. Hannington. How many cups have you 
 had, Love joy ? don't want to rob my neighbor. We had a 
 cold start. Didn't stop to boil coffee. Letters, ma'm? 
 Why, of course ! write 'em quick 's you can, though ; we 
 must n't let the sun show us our shadows this side the 
 
HAIL AND FAREWELL 263 
 
 climb. How much can a woman's pen say in fifteen min- 
 utes ? " Whitman took out his watch, but looked sailor- 
 wise at the sky. 
 
 " A pen that 's been waiting all summer to say it can 
 say a good deal, I guess." Deacon Hannington smiled at 
 his wife. " Here let me sharpen that pencil ! I kept a 
 diary for most part of the way : if I could get at it handy, 
 I 'd send that along to our folks in Buffalo." 
 
 " Better not," Whitman cautioned. " A diary of this 
 journey is going to be sought after, fifty years from now. 
 We 're not sure, you know, if we '11 ever see a post-office 
 again." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE TRUTH AS IT IS TOLD 
 
 "DEAR mother and all of you," Silence wrote. The 
 letter was one of a bundle sorted by their dates and la- 
 belled " The children's letters from Oregon, 1842-43," 
 found in Grandmother Trumbull's secretary, the small 
 middle drawer with a special key. She read them as the 
 whole truth, forgetting what sort of letters she used to send 
 her daughter in Dugdale, from her first pioneer home. 
 They were, if not God's truth, a woman's, the blood-red 
 rose of truth from which love has plucked the thorns. 
 
 " I must write as fast as I can with this stub of a pen- 
 cil. Everything is packed. We start in about an hour. 
 Dr. Whitman and Mr. Lovejoy surprised us, stopping at 
 our camp this morning on a sudden journey East. A won- 
 derful Providence our not missing them. Mr. Yardley 
 had the greatest desire to talk with Dr. Whitman. He is 
 a glorious man. You will know all about his journey East 
 if this ever reaches you if they get through, that is. 
 
 " We are in the famous valley of the Grand Round, 
 only sixty miles from the mission where friends and rest 
 await us. Dr. Whitman has posted guides in the mountains 
 to meet us. Our troubles, we feel, are over now. This 
 valley is encircled by the grandest peaks ; they shine like 
 the gates of pearl. Snow up there and hot sunshine here, 
 a great plain of dried grass, yellow as harvest. At 
 night we look up at such a sky as they might have watched 
 from the housetops of Bethlehem. 
 
THE TEUTH AS IT IS TOLD 265 
 
 " You must n't expect to hear about the journey, yet. 
 It overwhelms me to look back upon the distance we have 
 come. Months of sunrise and sunset, travel travel 
 travel ! Everything we ever knew, except the stars, we 
 have left behind us. I ought to add our faults and 
 the faults of our neighbors. Human nature comes out on 
 such a journey as this. But we are n't quite as bad as the 
 Israelites. I 've never heard any one say, ' Would to God 
 we had died, when we sat by the flesh-pots,' though I Ve 
 thought with longing of the bits of bread we used to 
 throw to the chickens. Too much ' flesh ' has been our 
 cry. But we don't look back ; we look ahead. And now 
 for our family news. Some day next spring, if we all 
 live, I don't know when, but you may c feel it in your 
 bones,' our girl and the minister's son will stand up 
 before him and be made man and wife. They say they 
 can't wait Jimmy says for a church to be married 
 in. It will be under a tree, I expect, in the woods if 
 there are any around our first cabins. We don't know 
 exactly where we shall settle yet. I hear talk of the 
 Willamette Valley. It's all like a dream, the strange 
 names and all, but if you could hear those men talking as 
 I hear them, while we women write our letters, you 'd say 
 there was a mighty sight of something in it. But I know 
 you can wait about Oregon, and I can't think of any- 
 thing but the children and their happiness, so wonder- 
 fully proved and chastened to them, I hope, by the ex- 
 periences they have shared on this journey. 
 
 " Barbie and Jimmy have both lost flesh, but she has a 
 beauty I never saw in her face before and you know I 
 never was so very humble about the child's looks. She 's 
 a dear child ! and Jimmy seems to have stretched up 
 
266 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 somehow in expression if not in height. And his eyes are 
 a story when he looks at Barbie, which is pretty much all 
 the time. 
 
 " Mr. Yardley seems as pleased as we are. I used to 
 think he held himself just a touch above any of us in 
 Dugdale, but I was over-proud myself, I guess. He has a 
 manner that sets you back sometimes. I dare say he don't 
 know it. To Barbie he 's as tender as a father and be- 
 haves quite like other folks, telling how he saw her first 
 sitting on top of one of our old white gate-posts; she 
 was n't more than five. He never noticed whose house he 
 was passing, being in a brown study, but her little face 
 and figure perched up there struck him. He asked whose 
 little girl she was ' Why, Mr. Hanna' ton's ! ' she said, as 
 if anybody could tell him that. ' Well,' said he, ' I think 
 " Mr. Hanna'ton's " little girl might give the minister a 
 kiss.' ' See will' ; she had a doll in her arms and made 
 him kiss Dolly, too. I guess he hoped nobody saw him. 
 He laughed till the tears came in his eyes when he told 
 it, and owned that he 'd never told any one before. Poor 
 man! 
 
 " Jimmy is full of his dreams : they are good, unworldly 
 dreams such as a man should dream once in his life. 
 Barbie will never cramp him. I think he has a fine mind, 
 more scope than most of us, and a will that ought to 
 amount to something if he uses it right. I have no fears ; 
 I look to see him one of the able men in this new country, 
 with greater powers to come with age and experience. 
 But hear me ! wasting these precious moments bragging 
 about my son-in-law ! 
 
 " We love you all and pray to see you all again, and I 
 know you never forget us. Think of us, dear mother, as 
 
THE TRUTH AS IT IS TOLD 267 
 
 well and happy, standing the journey splendidly and 
 near the end ! It has taken all our fear away and given 
 us new strength, this great meeting with Dr. Whitman. 
 I can see it in the faces of our men. If he can do what he 
 is setting out to do, why, we ought to be ashamed if we 
 can't crawl sixty miles, and then the other part, which 
 is all plain sailing, though it may be a little hard. The 
 others ahead of us have all got through : no trouble with 
 the Indians, though they broke up into small parties. If 
 we had known ! what hours of anxiety we might have 
 been spared. We know more than we did about a good 
 many things. I don't try to send messages. We just all 
 send our love, and are satisfied that we did well to come." 
 
 Oh, prevaricating woman ! " well and happy " ! And 
 not one whit ashamed out-braving conscience on every 
 charge. " All I 've said in so many words is true," she 
 would have answered. " I do want her to think of us as 
 well and happy. Am I going to give poor mother such a 
 blow at her age and shame my husband's kin ? Grandma 
 shall go on smiling and chuckling whenever she thinks of 
 naughty pretty Stella and her ' crooked stick at last.' " 
 
 Mrs. Hannington folded her letter. Barbie was holding 
 young Sam while his mother scrawled a page to her mother 
 in Schenectady ; a sudden stillness fell between the groups. 
 
 " Where 's your Captain Bradburn ? Is n't he sleeping 
 late this morning ? Is he with you ? " 
 
 Lovejoy asked the question ; breaths were held awaiting 
 the answer. 
 
 " He sleeps," said Mr. Yardley, " on the divide as you 
 go up beyond Powder River to the east "; the minister's 
 look was calm. " He left us in a frame of mind, I can 
 but call it lawless, mocking at the wrath of God, which 
 
268 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 overtook him and slew him, by means himself had devised : 
 ' For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish 
 without law.' He lies buried on the mountain, but I fear 
 he has not a quiet bed. Your question falls in with my 
 thoughts precisely as you spoke, Mr. Lovejoy. I was think- 
 ing of his wife ; he has no children. Her home is in the 
 East. A message would reach her through his business 
 address in Boston. I should like to give it to you, Dr. 
 Whitman, and ask you to send her this word : ' He died 
 of a fatal disorder too long neglected, and was buried on 
 the road/ That is all I think she need know. I will write 
 her on the first opportunity after we arrive and account 
 for the various matters between us which leave us con- 
 siderably in debt to his estate, and for all property of 
 his remaining in our charge. In the mean time, I will 
 ask another favor : would you give me an order for the 
 services of a couple of trusty Indians from your mission 
 to go back there and make the interment more perma- 
 nent, and recover anything of value he had with him 
 which the elements may have spared ? " 
 
 Dr. Whitman was impatient to be gone ; the minister 
 took many words to explain what his quick mind had an- 
 ticipated. He was accustomed to death in sudden and 
 shocking forms, whether attributable to God directly or 
 in the working-out of natural laws; in any case, the 
 thought was too familiar to be dwelt upon. He rubbed his 
 beard and glanced at the sunrise brightening above the 
 eastern wall. 
 
 " How long ago was this? " 
 
 Mr. Yardley gave the date. 
 
 " My dear sir, there would be nothing left. If the burial 
 at the time was not c permanent ' there would be no 4 re- 
 
THE TKUTH AS IT IS TOLD 269 
 
 mains.' I will give you the order certainly, but our boys 
 would expect payment and I count it money thrown away ; 
 and I cannot promise that they would be 4 trusty ' for 
 no one could watch them." 
 
 The minister inclined his head in silence. 
 
 Dr. Whitman held out his hand. " Well, I must bid 
 you farewell and * well ' I hope it may be, with all of 
 you." 
 
 " Stay," said Mr. Yardley, " we must not forget there 
 are some things, not the greatest, you have done for us 
 that we are able to repay. You and the mission must not 
 be left poorer for our visit ; you are here to do your work, 
 which is not feeding emigrants. I know it will be merely 
 passing it on to others whom you will help, who may not 
 have the means to compensate you. The work of God 
 is not cheap and a man has but one life." 
 
 " That 's about the way of it," said the doctor humbly. 
 " We '11 certainly try to pass it on ; that 's what we 're 
 here for. But the Home Board thinks we ought to be self- 
 supporting, and we 're too far away to explain. It 's partly 
 what I am going East for to have a few talks face to 
 face with some of the good folks back there who see us 
 from a distance darkly. We don't pretend to be perfect, 
 but we do our best." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 STILL WITH US 
 
 A NUMBER of reasons united to make our company's 
 choice of location an unsocial one. They needed room for 
 adjoining claims in one tract, with home-lots on the river 
 where their future town should build itself and invite the 
 crafts and trades. Their numbers insured safety in isola- 
 tion. They were Presbyterians and we must remember 
 what sectarianism meant in the forties : there was not that 
 " gay condoning charity "as to shades of doctrine, more 
 especially " my neighbor's " doctrine, that we boast of now. 
 Concerning the Methodist brethren at the Falls : they 
 were not Catholics ; so much could be said for them. 
 " Glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh 
 good," but St. Paul set Jew distinctly before Gentile : 
 " to Presbyterians ' and also ' Methodists," would have 
 ranked the denominations, according to a mind cultivated 
 even as our minister's. 
 
 There was a reason, touching those grave incidents on 
 the journey, for their sensitiveness to the curiosity of 
 strangers. It would have taken the minister himself to ex- 
 plain, outside the membership, why they held Jimmy 
 guilty yet blameless for his terrible deed ; and the minis- 
 ter would be the last to try. Stella, too : the unhappy girl 
 must be given another chance, and how could any woman 
 expect to have a fair chance among respectable people, 
 even in a new country, with a story like hers in circu- 
 lation ? 
 
STILL WITH US 271 
 
 They may never have discussed these reasons, but by 
 common consent they cast their lot at a safe distance from 
 gossip, and kept to themselves, busy as beavers that first 
 autumn and winter : working in friendly contest, getting 
 out logs and putting up cabins, making rude furniture 
 of the " settler's period," constructing farming-tools, 
 these were fireside industries during the rains ; breaking 
 ground, planting, fishing, hunting, marrying. Jimmy, 
 with the help of friends, expected to get his cabin roof on, 
 ready for his bride in March. 
 
 In February they were run to earth by W. H. Gray, a 
 stirring visitor, who rode up the valley in search of the 
 new colony and preached to them of their political duties. 
 He came for the purpose of urging them to send delegates 
 or to come, every man of them, to the " wolf meeting " in 
 March. They listened dubiously. The object of the gath- 
 ering ostensibly was to secure protection from wild ani- 
 mals for their increasing flocks and herds, through some 
 concerted action of the settlers ; but the opportunity was 
 to be improved for the purpose of forming a constitution 
 and laws under which the Americans, if necessary, could 
 unite against British interests on the ground, and be ready 
 for recognition as a new Territory. 
 
 Our Eastern men brought with them the conservatism 
 of older communities ; fresh from British hospitality, the 
 war scare left them cold. Their wealth in flocks and herds 
 did not prey upon their minds, as yet ; nor had the Oregon 
 fever taken with them a political turn. 
 
 Mr. Gray's answer was sarcastic. " Well, my good 
 friends, I see how it is with you : ' Ye can discern the 
 face of the sky ; but ye cannot discern the signs of the 
 times.' I leave you now, but I expect to hear from you 
 
272 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 later. There were the two sons, remember ? the one who 
 said, ' I go not,' but he went after all. If you won't meet 
 with us in March, we '11 give you another chance in May. 
 The ball is just opening. "We have done all those things 
 which every newcomer advises. Three years ago we peti- 
 tioned Congress, nothing came of it. We were told to 
 consult with Commodore Wilkes; fine man, guest 
 of Dr. McLoughlin at the time of the conference ; the 
 doctor's wines are good. This sounds like scandal; it's 
 human nature, and loyalty, every man to his side : for all 
 his private benevolence, the doctor is a subject of Great 
 Britain, and he 's pledged to carry out his company's policy 
 in the Northwest. Now we are going to act for ourselves 
 and we don't intend to advertise the fact more than 
 necessary; times are ticklish. But this year shall see 
 something done." 
 
 So the world was with them, after all. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE WASTERS 
 
 THE first wheat- seed had been hardly more than scratched 
 into the ground by means of those hand-made harrows, but 
 such was the grip of fertility in that new soil, it sent up 
 stalks an hundred, a thousand fold, with the sun's energy 
 upon it ; and the straws were not hollow; they were filled 
 with a pithy substance which gave to the wheat backbone. 
 Seldom did a crop lodge in the field, and as the summers 
 were dry a farmer had time to turn around in the press 
 of work : he was not hunted by his harvest in danger of 
 storms. 
 
 It was now the last of June, a forward season ; the early 
 wheat was ready for the cradle, or the sickle ; all had not 
 been equally forehanded in the matter of tools, nor were 
 equally clever in making them. 
 
 "What have you got in that basket?" 
 
 Susan, wife of Peter (baptized Indians known as Susan- 
 Peter and Peter Cooniac) grinned and wrinkled her two- 
 inch forehead to squint at the handsome white woman, 
 dazzling in thin white lawn and a pink sunbonnet. 
 
 " Show me," Stella commanded. 
 
 The cloth was raised ; underneath, fresh baked rasp- 
 berry turn-overs (wild raspberries were in fruit) which 
 Mrs. Hannington had made that morning and was pack- 
 ing off hot to the young men reaping in the upper fields. 
 Sukey displayed them with pride. 
 
 "Who for?" 
 
274 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Him 4 Sam,' him ' Jim.' " A greasy forefinger desig- 
 nated each pie by the name of the donee. 
 
 " I take them," said Stella coolly. 
 
 " Me la-la." Susan stood rooted. The white klooeh- 
 man's charms made her a vision worth stopping to gaze at, 
 but Na-ha was very kind and Susan was learning obedi- 
 ence. The basket was not yielded. 
 
 " Na-ha (mother) tell me ' go quick.' I go ; " she pointed 
 towards the wheat-fields. 
 
 Stella closed the argument effectively on her side by 
 taking the basket. 
 
 "Klat-a-wah!" 
 
 Sukey laughed at the Chinook word. She imagined 
 Stella to be the queen bee in this hive of workers. She 
 wore white dresses which Na-ha washed. Na-ha would 
 trust Sukey to wash her own dresses, but not Stella's, 
 because Sukey scorched the best one trying too hot an 
 iron. All the other white kloochmen worked like squaws. 
 Therefore, Sukey concluded, she must submit to the con- 
 fiscation of her errand by this princess of do-nothing. 
 She walked away thoughtful. Stella with the basket 
 strolled on. 
 
 It was past noon. The men would have eaten their cold 
 dinners already, but pies were good at any time. She 
 was in no hurry ; she had come to speak to Sam Kiersted 
 and wished to see him alone. He and Jimmy were reap- 
 ing in the same field and usually they lunched together. 
 
 A few steps farther on, a sound that she knew made 
 her turn and smile. Out of the oak openings sprang a 
 half -grown fawn, his beautiful proud head thrown back, 
 his breast shining like a satin jerkin. Light as the leap 
 of a fountain, a few bounds brought him to her side and 
 
THE WASTERS 275 
 
 he would have planted his forefeet on her shoulders in 
 triumph, but she eluded him. They went on together, a 
 lovely pair. 
 
 This creature had been the joy and now was the bane 
 of her existence made so by tyrannous utilitarians in 
 behalf of their wretched gardens. Sam Kiersted had shot 
 the mother doe early that spring, by accident, he ex- 
 cused himself to Lottie who scolded him ; in reality they 
 needed meat. When she asked what became of the nurs- 
 ing fawn and he told her, she did not scold, but she looked 
 dark. 
 
 " Why, I 'd love to have had it myself." 
 
 " You 've got a house and a baby and me to look after ; 
 ain't that enough ? Stella saw me fetch it in ; the little 
 beggar came right up to my hand and followed me and 
 she asked for it. I thought 't would be good for her to have 
 something to think about besides her troubles." 
 
 " I guess Mrs. Hannington won't thank you : she '11 
 raise the fawn ! " 
 
 " I looked out for that : I told Stella I would n't give it 
 to her unless she promised me to take the whole care of 
 it herself." 
 
 Stella did so, faithfully, thereby putting Lottie in the 
 wrong, who had said she would forget it in a week. Every 
 one was surprised at her constancy and said what an ex- 
 cellent thing it was for her and such a good sign. It was, 
 in fact, a sign of nothing but her preference for playing 
 with pets rather than washing her own white dresses, for 
 instance, which she wore with great recklessness this warm 
 weather. Aunt Silence apologized for her looking so 
 " dressed up " all the time ; she had such a stock of sum- 
 mer clothes, and so few others, it seemed a pity not to " get 
 
276 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 some good " out of them ; and she was so encouraged by 
 Stella 's affectionate ways with her pet, she would have 
 washed her dresses gladly or done anything else the girl 
 neglected for it : only she wished it had n't been called 
 Nimrod, a heathenish name. " Daisy " would have been 
 prettier ; and the little thing's first coat was all besprin- 
 kled with white spots thick as daisies in an old meadow. 
 
 The white stars were gone now : the foundling they had 
 feared coyotes might chase was able to distance or face its 
 enemies. The delicate legs were swift and strong as bow- 
 strings and the pouncing hoofs could strike like arrows to 
 the mark. Lottie Kiersted lived in fear that the unexpected 
 creature, bounding up behind in sport, might deal her little 
 toddling Sam a fatal blow, some day, with those terrible 
 forefeet which she had seen kill a snake and beat a dog to 
 death. The fences he could not leap he made a practice of 
 swimming around the water fences where sowed ground 
 came down to the shore. He fed at hours when no one was 
 astir : he had become a pest. Public sentiment had put 
 him beyond the pale where Stella followed him and wasted, 
 the house-wives called it, many an hour tampering with 
 his salvation. The field rejected him and the forest knew 
 him not, and his mistress kept him like a longing peri at 
 the gate. There were small elements of tragedy in the sit- 
 uation as it grew. 
 
 They travelled on together towards the wheat-fields, the 
 illicit pair ; and one of them well knew her guilt. Incident- 
 ally they made a picture a painter would have raved over. 
 
 Jimmy in his reaping had reached the lower fence cor- 
 ner ; it was a provisional fence of pine poles thrown up in 
 haste. At first sight of the visitors he raised a shout: 
 " Drive him back ! " without so much as a word of 
 
THE WASTERS 277 
 
 greeting. " Boor ! " said Stella, thinking how handsome he 
 looked with his tall brown throat, and his shirt open, not 
 unlike a stag himself. She stopped and laughed. His 
 nostrils whitened. 
 
 " Stella ! Don't you bring that beast up here ! I would n't 
 have him find the way into this wheat for a hundred dol- 
 lars." 
 
 " I did n't bring him ; he comes wherever I go. I never 
 call him," she said in her wavy English intonation. 
 
 " Stand aside ! " was the next order : Jimmy threw 
 clods at the fawn. 
 
 " I shall not stand aside ! Pelt me, if you choose." She 
 tossed her head and laughed at him, placing herself be- 
 tween him and his mark, and holding out her skirts in 
 thumb and finger saucily. 
 
 " I will, then, if you say so : that brute 's got to go." 
 
 " We '11 both go, thank you. I had some pie for you, 
 fresh raspberry turn-overs ! " she called back. " I '11 
 take them all to Sam ! " 
 
 Jimmy continued to fire sods at the fawn ; and, to his 
 honest dismay, one struck close to Stella's feet in low shoes, 
 soiling her ankles. He lifted his hat and waved his best 
 apology, but they were both angry and the fawn had fled. 
 
 The outcast came back a few moments later and pushed 
 his head over the rails at another place, whimpering for 
 his mistress. She was seated beside Sam in the fence cor- 
 ner watching him eat pie. He would take only his own ; 
 she had told her story, urging the other one on him. 
 
 " No, Jim was right. You no business to bring that fel- 
 low up here ; you'll get him in the way of jumping this 
 fence, too. Can't you see ? it is n't fair to the beast. You 
 ought to help him cure himself of folks and let him go back 
 
278 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 to his own. He '11 end in getting shot for a confirmed 
 nuisance and you '11 be partly responsible, you know." 
 
 " Did n't you tell me to be good to him and take care of 
 him myself ? Could you be ugly to a dumb creature, turn- 
 ing upon it all of a sudden, after you had taught it to love 
 you? I can't I love him, too. He's my baby ; he's 
 everything I 've got." 
 
 " Well, that 's so," mumbled Sam. " By gum, this pie 's 
 good ! " 
 
 "Take the other one," she laughed. "It's contraband 
 of war." 
 
 " 'T ain't my war. I 'm a neutral. I don't side against 
 Jim." 
 
 " Even if it 's me ? " 
 
 " You 've got to have a better cause than this, young 
 lady, before I quit Jim for you. Now, you give that one 
 to him on your way home, that 's a good girl. They are n't 
 your pies, you know." 
 
 " They are if I bring them." 
 
 " You make 'em ? " 
 
 " No, I can't make pies. You ask that just to tease ; 
 you know I can't do things the other women do. I 'm a 
 waster, like Nim." 
 
 " Why need you be ? There 's a question ! " 
 
 " Because it 's too late to be born again." 
 
 " That 's what church folks deny." 
 
 " Oh in that sense ! Don't you try to preach, Sam : 
 it does n't suit you." 
 
 " Is it preaching to have faith in those we are fond 
 of?" 
 
 "Speaking of me?" 
 
 " Both of you. Nim could learn to be free and inde- 
 
THE WASTERS 279 
 
 pendent again, and I think you 'd be just as well off if you 
 could let yourself be governed. You were born to please ; 
 you could please inside of rules just as well as outside 
 more." 
 
 " I was born ' to point tbe moral ' for you good people's 
 benefit. They you are always drawing morals from 
 everything, even a poor wild fawn." 
 
 " Well if you point the moral there 's no mistake you 
 ' adorn the tale,' " said Sam, blushing a trifle, but proud 
 of his borrowed wit. 
 
 "Ah, yes: I know how to make myself look well 
 compared " she added maliciously and, with deeper 
 malice " all wasted here, though : you 've all got your 
 own pretty girls to look at. Who wants to look at me ! " 
 
 " I do, when I want to see something just plain pretty : 
 when I want to see a good little wife I look ' to hum.' " 
 
 " Well, that 's what I call a daring sort of thing to say ; 
 rather a back-hander both ways. If wife does n't mind, 
 I 'm sure I don't." 
 
 " Make what you like of it ; it 's the truth. I love my 
 wife and I 'm glad I married her, but I know she is n't the 
 handsomest woman in the world, and I guess if she had 
 been she 'd have thought twice before she took me." 
 
 " No doubt that 's the truth ! " laughed Stella. " Sam, 
 you are a great person. I admire a man who dares to be 
 as simple as you are." 
 
 " I am not so blame simple as maybe you think I am. 
 I don't flatter myself, for instance, that you 're sitting here 
 delaying my work for nothing. What did you come for ? " 
 
 " Not to see you, and yet I did, partly. I want you to 
 come down on the beach to-night this evening about 
 eight o'clock. I want to talk to you business." 
 
280 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Eight o'clock 's my bedtime, pretty near," said Sam, 
 overdoing his indifference. " ' Early to bed and early to 
 rise ' you know ' makes a man healthy and wealthy and 
 wise.' I 'm healthy enough, but there 's lots of room for 
 the other two." 
 
 " Going to bed at eight for all the years of your life 
 won't make you as wealthy as I can, if you '11 come down 
 to-night and let me make you 4 wise.' " 
 
 " You 're a mysterious little puss, ain't you I " 
 
 " I 'm in a hurry to tell you all there is ' mysterious ' 
 about it ; but, as you say, it 's no time now : policeman 
 Yardley will be after me and Nim again, if we don't clear 
 out. Good-bye ; sure you won't take the other pie ? You 
 need n't think I 'm going back with it to Jimmy." 
 
 " We '11 divide, then, and Lott shall pay it back to him ; 
 she can make bully pies. Hold on a bit ! make it seven, 
 to-night ; why wait till eight ? " 
 
 " There 's a lovely moon." 
 
 " I don't go down to look at the moon." 
 
 " You can't see me without, and you said I was worth 
 looking at." 
 
 "I said when I wanted to look at something pretty 
 but I don't sit up nights in harvest for that," Sam ha-ha 'd. 
 " I thought this was going to be a present of some wisdom. 
 Is it your own ? " 
 
 " I said I would make you rich if you 'd consent to be 
 wise. Oh, I like to tease you, Sam ! you are so solid, so 
 satisfied with your lot your Lott ! I love to see if I 
 can't stir you up." 
 
 " Well, you can," said Sam, with a sudden spark in his 
 blue eyes, " and that 's why you had n't better try. Now, 
 trot along and thank Mrs. Hannington." 
 
THE WASTERS 281 
 
 " Let 's divide Jimmy's pie ; yours was the smallest." 
 " You go on home, you little baggage. I '11 be down 
 there this evening at seven, mind." 
 
 " Obstinate old thing ! " She stood and ate the second 
 pie in front of him, crushing the flaky pastry with her 
 perfect teeth between lips as red as the raspberry juice ; 
 then she sighed, " Hah, that was good ! " and delicately, 
 one by one, she licked her finger tips, smiling at him. He 
 took her by the shoulders and faced her about towards 
 home, and as she whirled in his grasp to laugh back at 
 him, the impulse to kiss her burned in his silly face. He 
 saw that she saw it and knew she knew that much about 
 him which his own wife did not know, nor his best friend. 
 " But it is n't true ! she '11 find she 's mistaken," Sam 
 denied, kicking against the pricks. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE BUILDERS 
 
 A ROUGH cabin interior where two sweet-faced women 
 were talking ; they looked both out of place and singu- 
 larly at home. It was the middle room of the dwelling 
 called the Long House which the Hanningtons and Yard- 
 leys put up the first autumn, to shelter both families in 
 haste. Jimmy would want his own cabin in the spring; 
 meantime they would " make out " somehow. The room was 
 the house-place. Sunday services and Wednesday prayer- 
 meetings were held here, and here Mr. and Mrs. Hanning- 
 ton slept, apologizing for the fact by going to bed later 
 and rising earlier than any one else to remove the traces 
 of their guilt. Tooth-brushes and nighties Aunt Silence 
 concealed as a cat her recent family, but without any of 
 Mother Tabbykin's shameless complacency when the affair 
 is brought to light. You might come upon a comb and 
 brush or some other damaging evidence in the warm pre- 
 cincts of the cheerful day, but it would hurt the dear 
 woman's pride for that day if you did. The unrestfulness 
 of this struggle to separate the two main facts of exist- 
 ence, and confine the details of each within its proper 
 sphere, tired her more than she knew, but she endeavored 
 not to let it prey upon her mind. It was one of the " tem- 
 poralities," like Barbie having the same room with Stella 
 all winter in spite of vows previously exchanged between 
 mother and daughter to the contrary ; or a gentlemen of 
 Mr. Yardley's antecedents being squeezed into another 
 
THE BUILDERS 283 
 
 little den with one window, sleeping on a bunk beside his 
 long-limbed son. 
 
 The apostles had their dungeons, and angels brought 
 the keys of release. Spring came like a troop of angels. 
 The sun moved into Aries and flooded the cell with 
 warmth, and Mr. Yardley had his son's room for his com- 
 pany ; satisfaction was mutual and open to admission on 
 both sides, Jimmy, the Benedict, being no subject for 
 commiseration. 
 
 All this now being settled, why should the good man 
 move ? It seemed to be expected, but with his gentle self- 
 absorption he was an adept at putting questions by. 
 
 Through the open windows, voices of men were heard 
 in the uplands calling to their oxen, rich, open-air notes 
 against an undertone of water that persisted without 
 change ; no cataract, merely the shallow mountain river 
 playing with its stones or sliding a few rapids in laughing 
 leaps like a child. Hundreds of birds, attracted by the 
 settlers' crops, were chirping and twittering in mad ex- 
 citement over a discovery which could n't be exploited too 
 soon, and must have matched in their annals the gold rush 
 of '49. The whack ! whang ! of hoes where minister and 
 deacon were gardening in the home-lot scarcely disturbed 
 them, nor even the deacon's deaconly profanity. Our poor 
 settlers had not spare rags enough wherewith to dress a 
 scarecrow, for the beggar Indian was ever at their gates ; 
 a sinister suppliant dangerous to refuse. 
 
 Lying down under protest at 4 o'clock of the afternoon 
 (because her daughter sat there to make her), Mrs. Han- 
 nington works off her frustrate activity in words ; nervous 
 women talk most when they are over-tired. 
 
 " My child, don't worry about your housekeeping, espe* 
 
284 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 cially now." She took up a corner of Barbie's knitting. 
 " Are n't your needles a little too big for that yarn ? " 
 
 Barbie smiled at the parenthesis. " I have no house- 
 keeping. You 've taken it all on you. Keeping house for 
 Jimmy is nothing, but I did expect to keep house for his 
 father. Either you've enticed the good man from his 
 home or there's something wrong about us: he simply 
 eats and sleeps over here." 
 
 "What does it matter where he eats and sleeps. 
 That *s not the point about Mr. Yardley." 
 
 " It 's the point about a home ; it shows that he 's more 
 at home over here than he is with us. That 's what 's agi- 
 tating his daughter-in-law." 
 
 " Well, remember you are a daughter-in-law. When 
 you were a young girl sitting under his preaching, that 
 was another thing. He 's told me himself frequently that 
 you were his choice above all others for Jimmy ; but now 
 you 're Jimmy's wife, that 's different. A daughter-in- 
 law is an institution." 
 
 " Now, do I look like an institution ? " Barbie's large 
 white apron came down to the floor on both sides of her 
 chair, but not in front where the increasing portliness of 
 her lap took it up. The flushed face of a mother-to-be 
 smiled at the mother emeritus, thin and worn. Their deep 
 life wisdom of love's inevitable price was exchanged in that 
 look between them. If the daughter honored the mother 
 who was done with her part, the mother ached proudly 
 for the younger whose task was but just begun. 
 
 " A very good one," Mrs. Hannington rejoined. " And 
 Jimmy 's another excellent institution. No one could 
 ask for a better son-in-law, but I am afraid of him a 
 little just as Mr. Yardley, I guess, is afraid of you. 
 
THE BUILDEES 285 
 
 We 're always afraid of things we can't change or get 
 rid of." 
 
 " Where did you learn to talk like that, mummy ? 
 You 've been theorizing. It 's bad for old ladies." 
 
 " Well, you put me here on my back ! If I can't do my 
 work, I have to lie and think about it." 
 
 " Think and lie about it you mean. You Ve never told 
 the truth about your work since you began to have any. 
 You say you don't do any work ! As a fact you are four 
 over here and we are two, and you are as much alone, 
 when it comes to help, as I am." 
 
 " Oh, she helps, sometimes." 
 
 " ' Sometimes ' is nothing, for you don't know when the 
 time will be." 
 
 The feminine singular was understood to mean Stella, 
 whose name really could not be brought into these domes- 
 tic conferences in which she had no share, associated 
 always with minor criticism ; it did her no good and was 
 a corrupting family practice. Still, they indulged in it off 
 and on, keeping each other in countenance. 
 
 " Where is she now, for instance ? Is she coming back 
 to see about tea, or not ? " 
 
 "I have n't seen her since about eleven. That French- 
 Indian fellow came to talk to her and they went off to- 
 gether. She gave him something to eat and took her own 
 dinner at the same time." 
 
 " I 'm not worrying about that. She 's very generous 
 with pies and cakes she does n't make herself." 
 
 " I don't like the way that sounds, from you, Barbie." 
 
 " I 'm not any too good to speak the truth about the 
 situation in this house," said Barbie, undaunted. " It 's 
 too much to put up with. Either Stella's got to step 
 
286 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 around and help you more or we must manage somehow 
 to remind Mr. Yardley where he lives." 
 
 "I won't have you speak so, Barbie!" Silence half 
 rose from the lounge. " Your husband's father ! I should 
 like to know " 
 
 " Well, you 're my father's wife, sometime called my 
 mother. I don't want you to kill yourself." 
 
 " Let things take their course. I can tell you just how 
 it is : a man likes to eat in the house where he sleeps. 
 It 's convenient for him Sundays. He 's attached to that 
 room we 're so torn up anyway ; if a little rootlet takes 
 a start here or there with old folks like us, do let it stay ! 
 I feel for him myself. If anybody speaks to me of a 
 change, if it 's only to move a bed into the next room, 
 I feel as if I could scream." 
 
 "Well, mother," said Barbie, a little scared, "I leave 
 the matter of his sleeping, though you and father ought 
 to have that room. That's your room. We said, you 
 know, ' just for the winter.' ' : 
 
 " Well, he likes to come in with father to dinner after 
 they 've been hoeing together all the morning ; they have 
 such good times talking gardening." 
 
 " It looks as if we were both trying to feed him, and he 
 was gently but firmly refusing my advances and carrying 
 on a flesh-pot flirtation with my ma." 
 
 They chuckled, as women will, picking a man to pieces 
 whom they are bound to reverence and obey. 
 
 ' I don't deny you're a better cook than I am." 
 
 "It isn't that; he does n't know what he eats." 
 
 " Well, I guess you do ! " said Barbie, with towering 
 sarcasm. 
 
 " All this has nothing to do with it." 
 
THE BUILDERS 287 
 
 " With what, mummy, dear ? " 
 
 " With what we were talking about," said Mrs. Hanning- 
 ton, glancing about her with restless eyes. 
 
 " What were we talking about? " 
 
 " Well most things old wives say to young ones could 
 just as well be omitted ; I 'm only thinking out loud. As I 
 look back, it seems to me I made about all the mistakes a 
 woman could make. They used to call me house-proud. I 
 can't forget how it was our little boys caught scarlet fever. 
 Little Johnny Wilmarth had it, down street where they 
 used to go and play. The Wilmarths did n't believe it was 
 catching. Johnny was n't very sick, but Mrs. Wilmarth 
 felt hurt that I did n't run in. I was firm, though. But that 
 day I thought my citron preserves were too much conse- 
 quence to leave to a woman I had ; I set her cutting carpet 
 rags on the back porch where she could watch the children. 
 Maybe they would have slipped away from me just the 
 same. Mrs. Wilmarth said they came right in ; she didn't 
 prevent them. It wasn't her fault, though ; she was sincere. 
 She thought 'twas all a notion that they caught it there. / 
 knew it was citron preserves. That 's why I say, you can 
 make your 'creeturly comforts,' as Auntie Northrup used 
 to call them, cost a good deal more than they come to." 
 
 Barbie listened without speaking ; her mother had not 
 finished. The thoughts of an active woman, with a touch of 
 " temperature," who has been persuaded to lie down on a 
 hot afternoon, are not to be held against her. Aunt Si- 
 lence was no babbler nor morbid in her memories as a rule. 
 This was an old wound that had never healed. She was now 
 smiling to herself and breathing hard, her lips parted. 
 
 " Poor Auntie Northrup ; her own marriage was n't ham- 
 pered much by ' creeturly comforts.' But she always kept 
 
288 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 her pride and her good faith. No one ever heard her con- 
 fess by a word that she had anything to regret, though 
 Daniel was a notorious poor provider and left her with three 
 sons to start in life and an invalid daughter homely at 
 that. I dare say they loved each other ; he was weak and 
 complaining and she was always well and cheerful as the 
 day is long." 
 
 " But mother, dear, is Auntie Northrup dead? " 
 
 " Why, no, not that I know of, but we shall never see 
 her again. I think of them all in Dugdale as if they were 
 long passed away. We must seem like the dead to them." 
 Silence paused on a quivering breath. " But memory is a 
 strange thing ! So many of our old neighbors were no wiser 
 than they need to be and no better, we thought, and the 
 place was full of gossip about one another's weaknesses ; 
 and now, as I look back, they seem to have been wonder- 
 fully good, clever folks in the main ; there is n't one I can't 
 recall some real kindness of, even Hannah Wilmarth. I 
 hope it will be so after death." 
 
 Barbie leaned and looked into her mother's eyes with a 
 gaze fond yet searching ; there was something in her man- 
 ner that seemed strange. They said no more for a few 
 minutes ; then Barbie resumed in a different key. 
 
 " You know I don't worry about Jimmy's comforts. I 
 know just what he likes and he's got the appetite of a wolf 
 and so have I. I put up piles of stuff for him to eat in the 
 field, and we'd rather have wheaten grits for supper and 
 only three or four things for the kloochman to wash while 
 the man does his chores, and go out and sit by the river, 
 than a stalled ox and dishes to match," she ended with 
 a laugh. " But there 's the father ! he 's on my mind, for 
 he says nothing. He simply does n't come till near bedtime 
 
THE BUILDERS 289 
 
 for a little call, when Jimmy and I are so sleepy we can 
 hardly hold our heads up. Ever so many times I have 
 cooked things special I thought he'd like, but he didn't 
 come, and I don't want to ask him when he 's coming, for 
 that implies we think he's likely not to." 
 
 " Well, listen," said the mother ; " it has nothing to do 
 with you. In spring, he 'd come out looking so cold of a 
 morning and warm his back at the fire before going over 
 to your house. I think he expected to go, regularly, but 
 we could n't sit there with breakfast before us and not ask 
 him to take a cup of coffee, at least." 
 
 " Coffee leads to other things," said Barbie : " I knew you 
 were corrupting him, wicked woman ! But that was long 
 ago ; it 's only a step to our coffee, and he does n't need a 
 fire at his back now." 
 
 " Well, my dear, he's got in the way of it. Just leave 
 him be. It isn't worth arguing over and it puts me out of 
 breath to think about it." 
 
 " Are n't those Chinook ladies any good at all ? " said 
 Barbie quickly. 
 
 " Well, at a distance ; if there 's anything they can do 
 outside. I sent Susan-Peter on an errand up in the fields 
 " The remark trailed off. Mrs. Hannington knew her- 
 self culpable in the matter of those pies. " She ought to 
 have been back, but I 'm rather glad she is n't ; she makes 
 the whole house smell of fish." 
 
 " Br-r-r I " Barbie shuddered. " I shall never eat fish 
 again ! " 
 
 "You '11 get over that" said the mother wisely. 
 
 " Mother, dear, tell me how you make your short-cake 
 rise so evenly in the Dutch oven." 
 
 " You don't want too hot a fire at first. A good bed of 
 
290 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 coals ; slow, steady heat, so the whole will rise at once and 
 brown very lightly the last thing," Mrs. Hannington ex- 
 plained with unction. 
 
 " Sounds easy. It means, I guess, starting a fire about 
 one solid hour before you begin to bake, so as to get 
 those coals, eh?" 
 
 " Yes, I guess it does." 
 
 " Is that why you are so hot and chilly every afternoon, 
 with that queer thick look to your skin ? " Barbie felt the 
 inside of her mother's hand. 
 
 " It may be a little touch of fever, getting used to the 
 climate," said Silence, who had long known what it was. 
 " It goes off about two in the morning." 
 
 " And about four you get up to start that bed of coals ? " 
 
 " No, never ! Father makes the fire and fetches all the 
 water, just as Jimmy used to he's just like a young 
 man. I tell him it's our first housekeeping over again." 
 
 " Adding Stella and Mr. Yardley, and subtracting the 
 help and most of the comforts " 
 
 " My dear, I don't worry about the comforts, and I 'm 
 sure Mr. Yardley adds nothing but pleasure. Mercy knows 
 he 's no trouble, with his absent-minded ways ! he 's such 
 a gentleman; do let him eat where he pleases." 
 
 " Mummy, it's your own guilty conscience makes you 
 dust around so for arguments ; you only excite yourself in 
 a bad cause. When this family divided last spring, we 
 were three and you were three : now we are two and you 
 are four ; and it's Jimmy's own father who has gone over 
 to the Hanningtons. How does that look ? Have n't you 
 any pride about your daughter's start in life ? You don't 
 want me to be a notorious failure that my own husband's 
 father can't live with ? " 
 
THE BUILDERS 291 
 
 " Are you serious, Barbie ? " 
 
 " Why, no, I guess not : I am serious about you." 
 
 Mrs. Hannington put out her hand with its heavy veins 
 purpling the back, and touched her daughter's knee. 
 
 " You can't very well have him, after a while when 
 you '11 be needing more room yourselves. It's just as well 
 to begin the way we are going on." 
 
 " But we are n't going on not this way. Everything 
 is piling up on you. Either Jimmy ought to speak to his 
 father " 
 
 "No, no! I won't have it. I wouldn't for the world 
 have it brought up. He '11 think we 're tired of him. It '11 
 set him wondering whether he 's wanted anywhere. That 's 
 going to make real trouble." 
 
 "Well, well, I '11 behave, I '11 behave ! " Barbie rushed 
 to another topic. " What do you suppose Qui Court is 
 back here for ? " 
 
 " Oh, there 's no telling what 's going on between them. 
 He 's found out her connection with his ' chief ' ; either he 
 thinks he can get money out of her on some old trade be- 
 tween them, or she is trying to use him in some of her 
 foolish schemes : you know what she wanted father to do 
 about Bradburn's property ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Barbie loathingly. 
 
 "Well, it's hard; it is hard. I don't like to see her 
 moping about so discouraged." 
 
 " Mother, she does n't mope when she is doing what she 
 likes." Barbie could have added more. 
 
 " Never mind," said Silence, flushing darkly. 
 
 A doctor would have had her put to bed and changed 
 her mode of life from that hour. Barbie felt there was 
 something wrong ; there should be a change of some kind. 
 
292 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 But it would not do to try to manage her mother. Giving 
 orders in her own house for so many years, like other habits, 
 was now taking its revenge : Silence had forgotten what 
 a rest it is simply to do as you are told. She attempted 
 to rise, but found herself unable to stand without help ; a 
 dizziness not to be dissembled laid her low again, with 
 Barbie passionately recriminating. 
 
 " Mother, you will break my heart if you do this way. 
 You make me feel as if I had no right to a home of my 
 own. For you to get up and stoop over a hot fire, this 
 weather, with your heart going like that it makes me 
 perfectly wild ! You 've got to let it be a rule that I shall 
 come over every afternoon." 
 
 " Come, then, dear ; I love to have you,'* Silence as- 
 sented speciously. She lay down again, but as she watched 
 Barbie hurrying to and fro with her burdened step, doing 
 what her own hands ached to do, the stubborn truth came 
 out. 
 
 " It is n't a rest, when I borrow of you. I *m robbing 
 my grandchild. Now, go on and mind your business and 
 I will manage mine. You '11 have a poor getting-up if 
 you overwork now, and there's no time after the baby 
 comes to make up old scores. I know what I am talking 
 about." 
 
 It was late when Alvin went to bed that night. The min- 
 ister had sat up writing ; his light shone through the cracks 
 in the rough board partition. Silence lay staring at it a 
 long time. Alvin hung up a table-cover as a screen. He 
 spoke to her and was startled ; she did not appear to know 
 him, but came to herself quickly, saying : 
 
 "I thought mother was sitting there. I must have 
 been dreaming." 
 
THE BUILDERS 293 
 
 She laughed softly and seemed feebly amused and 
 happy. He was dozing off when she spoke again. 
 
 " I have such a queer feeling such a queer feeling ! - 
 all over me." 
 
 He asked her where and she said, " In my veins, I guess," 
 and looked at him, puzzled. " Something seems to go tick, 
 tick, tick ! " She could give no clearer account of her 
 sensation. 
 
 Alvin set it down to nerves; and she was perhaps a 
 little " light-headed." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE GAMBLERS 
 
 SAM listened to his wife's chatter that evening and 
 watched her blythe, unconscious motions about the house 
 with an absorbing discomfort. Self-examination was not 
 his habit and it worried him. He had not " done anything " ; 
 his will was all right and his heart in the usual place, but 
 a man need n't be an ass, even if the fact is not generally 
 known. Stella and her lazy seductions must be given the 
 go-by. Sam was clever enough to see that she only played 
 with him in default of some one she could like better. 
 She was a little baggage; she wouldn't have minded if 
 he had kissed her, not so much as he minded now that he 
 had wanted to which, as Euclid puts it, is absurd. 
 
 The minister had laid it before them as men, married 
 or single, that this young woman under a cloud in their 
 midst was the ancient ordeal, their share in the debt of 
 Adam. The woman herself is the temptation ; she shall be 
 strong if the man be weak, and the serpent never dies. 
 
 At seven they were sitting peacefully on their doorstep, a 
 model pair ; Sam smoking a fresh clay pipe, Sam's wife 
 doing some coarse mending that would not suffer through 
 fading daylight. 
 
 " That little woman never wastes a minute." Sam pride- 
 fully inspected the work of her hands, a huge patch she 
 had stitched onto the knee of his plough-pants " in two 
 shakes of a lamb's tail." 
 
 " I believe I '11 just run over and sit with Mrs. Hanning- 
 
THE GAMBLERS 295 
 
 ton till bedtime," said Lottie, folding her clumsy work. 
 " Barbie says she 's feeling quite poorly. Think I 'm mean 
 to go off and leave you ? " 
 
 " We '11 walk over together," said Sam, knocking out his 
 pipe on the doorstep. 
 
 " What about sonny ? " 
 
 " I guess that son won't be heard from yet awhile. It 's 
 a pretty night. Come ! " 
 
 Lottie laughed. She liked to be dragged half off her feet 
 by one of Sam's huge hugs ; she liked to have him follow 
 her about. " Oh, I guess he 's safe. I never saw such a 
 supper as he ate, poor little fellow! He works all day 
 when he is n't asleep every minute ; he works, for his 
 size, harder than both of us put together." 
 
 " Well, he 'd better," said Sam. " He '11 have to support 
 us in our old age if I give out." 
 
 " Yes, you look like it," Lottie boasted, casting on him 
 the eye of fatuous pride. " Maybe you ought n't to go in, 
 Sam. Mrs. Hannington's room is the sitting-room. I 'm 
 not going to visit ; only to sit there and spell Mr. Han- 
 nington and see if there's anything she '11 let me do." 
 
 They found their host seated outside in a chair tipped 
 back against the log wall of the house. He greeted them 
 and made a motion to close the door. 
 
 " Is that Lottie Kiersted ? " Mrs. Hannington spoke 
 from her couch. "Ask her in, father, do! I'd love to see 
 you Lottie, if you don't mind sitting in this close room. 
 It 's pretty warm to-night, is n't it ? " 
 
 As soon as Mrs. Hannington began to speak, she be- 
 came breathless, and she constantly moistened her lips. 
 "I would n't have known her voice," thought Lottie : she 
 was familiar enough with sick-rooms to regard the symptom 
 
296 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 as a grave one. " I wonder they don't notice it ! I sup- 
 pose, seeing her every day, they don't realize." 
 
 She passed into the dimly lighted room, after a look 
 at her husband warning him not to linger. The deacon 
 walked back a little way with his guest to spare the seem- 
 ing dismissal. 
 
 " She has these poor nights right along," he let his 
 thoughts speak for him. " We '11 have to raise a doctor 
 from somewhere if this goes on." 
 
 " It 's a pity she can't doctor herself. I guess she knows 
 full more about it than any one around here." 
 
 "Yes, but she can't, and she tries to make out it's 
 nothing that won't wear off ; a kind of low fever. Things 
 have just killed her, Sam ! medicine won't do everything." 
 
 "We know it, Mr. Hannington." ("Lord!" thought 
 Sam, "I'm glad I didn't kiss her.") His face grew hot 
 while he was speaking. " We all know what your family 
 has been through ; it 's the kind of trouble that don't be- 
 long to you either." 
 
 " We can't say that, Sam. When things are sent you 
 have to take 'em. It 's a queer kink in a family like ours, 
 it 's true, but I guess we can live it down." 
 
 " Well, I guess so," Sam could respond. (" My Lord, 
 I'm glad I did n't kiss her!") 
 
 " I '11 walk home with your wife, Sam. It was good of 
 her to come over. Mother likes to speak to some one when 
 she 's lying there awake. She and I, when we get talking, 
 we say too much ; we work ourselves up over things we 'd 
 better leave alone." 
 
 Sam strolled away, sobered and at peace. The trouble 
 in that house had done him good : the deacon's simple 
 yearning over his wife's decline, this was reality. Such 
 
THE GAMBLERS 
 
 foolery as that silly pie frolic in the wheat-field " moon- 
 shine!" He would go home by the shore, though, in case 
 Stella should be waiting: a promise is a promise. He 
 would explain how Lottie had gone out and the boy was 
 alone. It might be well for the girl's own sake to have a 
 few quiet words with her to show himself the hearty old 
 friend he always had been. 
 
 There is wisdom, he reflected further, turning over the 
 words of her invitation, in neglecting no live opportunity, 
 and the way we come by things is through our friends; that 
 is how some men get ahead so much faster than others ; 
 any sort of a friend may be useful. Bradburn had not 
 been too haughty in his cleverness to despise that appoint- 
 ment with the half-breed. (Sam was not altogether in the 
 dark as to Stella's promised disclosure.) He had delayed 
 the march a whole week, not to miss those few minutes 
 across the ford with Qui Court. What was good enough 
 for Bradburn, no man need turn up his nose at. Fellows 
 like that French-Indian run across many a good thing a 
 steady worker tied down to one job would never hear of. 
 He had come in the spring looking for his chief. He had 
 gone as suddenly, having learned the general facts of 
 Bradburn's death. Now he was back in daily consultation 
 with her whom he called his captain's " woman," to whom 
 he appeared to have transferred his curious allegiance. 
 
 There was no reason, Sam agreed, why he should not 
 accept a favor in the form of a business tip from Stella ; 
 he had done a good deal for her first and last not 
 counting it, of course. When she was as weak as a kitten, 
 and as scared to look down out of her litter over the preci- 
 pices the horses went swinging past, had n't he picked her 
 up and carried her in his arms around the ticklish bends ! 
 
298 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 He had not grudged her the use of his muscles ; she had 
 wit enough of her own, he had noticed, when it came to 
 getting what she wanted. Now, let her pay him back, if 
 she felt inclined that way ; it might build up her self- 
 respect. 
 
 She was there on the beach, no longer expecting him, 
 apparently ; it was nearer eight than seven. The moon, 
 striving with the long summer twilight, was high enough 
 above the hill to throw a soft forecast of shadow over two 
 figures on the stretch of grey pebbles below. Nim, the 
 outcast, had found his clandestine friend. He lay nuzzling 
 up close to her with his head in her lap ; her arm em- 
 braced his neck shapes of nature's perfection, both, 
 unspoiled by work. Stella's arm was rather short below 
 the elbow, too short for elegance or classic nobility of 
 line ; it was an arm of the toying type that gives rise to 
 primitive impulses like a mother's mumbling of her babe. 
 
 " Feel his little horns," she said in her cosey, casual 
 tones; "they are as big as walnuts." 
 
 " You are a naughty girl." 
 
 " What are you ? do you call this ' seven ' ?" 
 
 " Look at that thing there, beside you ! Don't you 
 mean to pay any attention to what 's said to you ? " 
 
 " Don't you mean to pay any attention to what you say ! 
 Come and sit down with the rest of us." 
 
 " You know you '11 be the death of that fellow yet." 
 
 " So you 've told me before." 
 
 " You can't give him what belongs to him : let him go 
 and find it for himself. I do hate to see you play him 
 false ; luring him back just for your own pleasure." 
 
 " I say I dorit, Sam ! Is it ' luring ' to go for a walk? 
 Have /got to keep inside your stupid little fences, too? 
 
THE GAMBLERS 299 
 
 Please * sit down and show less.' I can't talk to a stone 
 pillar with its hands in its pockets." 
 
 Sam sat down and did violence to principle in tolerating 
 her other neighbor, the wretched fawn ; they were a 
 thoroughly reprehensible pair, defying whosoever should 
 look at them to point out where, in so much that was 
 beautiful and natural and appealing, the wickedness could 
 hide. The great goddess Rhea, patroness of agriculture 
 and the wealth of cities, has her mysterious worship also 
 in the woods and caves. 
 
 " To begin with," said Stella, settling herself for a 
 long talk, " I 'm going to put my case before you legally, 
 Sam." 
 
 " Your * case ' ? " Sam asked, bewildered. 
 
 " My ' circumstances ' your friend Jimmy Yardley calls 
 it. Has a woman in my 'circumstances' no rights no 
 natural rights you law-abiders are bound to respect ? " 
 
 " I don't know what rights you are speaking of." 
 
 " You do, Sam ; you know what Mr. Yardley is doing. 
 Now, tell me : have I no rights in the property the 
 estate of the man who meant to marry me? said so not 
 once, but a hundred times ? Whose death leaves me as 
 I am ? " 
 
 Sam understood her now : it was not what he had come 
 to hear, but a good joke on him ; her business was first to 
 her, naturally. The hard tone she took so easily towards 
 the past jarred, yet it was a brace to his reflection and a 
 warning to his credulity. He rearranged his thoughts on 
 a matter-of-fact basis, much safer than that give-and-take 
 nonsense that had tripped him before. 
 
 " There would be sympathy with such a case, depend- 
 ing on the woman, of course her age, and But the 
 
300 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 law fights on the side of the family generally. The strong- 
 est kind of proofs would be called for." 
 
 " In the case of my father's estate ' the woman ' got it 
 all ! " Stella stated, with perfect coolness. " The family 
 was one orphan girl " she pointed to herself. 
 
 Sam winced : he was a plain fellow, but he could not be 
 as plain as she. 
 
 " Are they usually younger than I am, Sam ? or any 
 more helpless ? Was there anything against me before ? 
 Oh, I have no proofs : nothing but my bare word. I was 
 a fool and lost my temper. I have n't got much, but it 's 
 always in my way. I tore up a letter that would have 
 fixed me, even in law. But what law is there here ? there 
 is only Mr. Yardley. He is keeping account of every cent 
 that 's due 4 the estate,' for the sake of the widow a rich 
 old woman, thousands of miles away. He did n't love her ; 
 she bought him with her money ; she has never had a 
 child ; they had n't lived together for years. She let him 
 go with a chain to his leg; she so virtuous! She 
 would n't give him a chance to live an honest life. He 
 lied to me, of course, but his nature was honest because 
 he was not afraid. They call her a good woman ; if she is, 
 she ought to be told about me ; they ought not to deprive 
 her of the right to do me justice. Good people, I should 
 think, would n't want to be led into doing a great wrong. I 
 had written her the whole story, but uncle would n't allow 
 it to be sent. As long as I am under his roof, he says, I 
 shall never with his knowledge profit by one cent of what 
 was his. That makes me a pauper, a slave to this life 
 I was never meant for. I was trapped into it by fate ; 
 now they bind it upon me. I shall rebel ! Yet I am not 
 ungrateful. Give me some money of my own: the first 
 
THE GAMBLERS 301 
 
 thing I 'd do with it would be to show Aunt Silence what 
 I feel towards her." 
 
 " But you don't need money to do that," said Sam, more 
 gently. " There are little ways women know how to 
 show what they feel if they feel it. Why can't you go 
 to her now with this mighty communication, whatever it 
 is? she 'd be a lots better adviser than me." 
 
 " Ah, she 's sick, poor dear ! it 's too late ; and I never 
 meant to anyway. Going to her means going to uncle. 
 Whatever I want to do he 'd see something wrong in it ; 
 have n't I told you what he said ? You don't listen, Sam ; 
 you go right on with your own ideas." 
 
 " I am listening ; but see here," Sam remembered him- 
 self suddenly. " You 've been so long over your preambles 
 I 've got to go, now ; the boy 's up there in the house 
 alone." 
 
 " Sit down, grandfather : I have n't begun to talk yet. 
 I have n't told you anything." 
 
 " Stella," said Sam, gazing at her in questioning 
 wonder at her beauty and her mystery, as it seemed to 
 him, and her hardness ; so wrong and yet so piteous ! 
 " If you had been born in New England time they 
 believed in witches I believe your life would n't have 
 been safe; you and that creature that comes like your 
 shadow " 
 
 Stella gave the fawn a quick hug. 
 
 " They would have called him your * familiar ' with 
 hoofs and horns." 
 
 " Would you have helped to hang me, Sam ? Or would 
 you have stood up for me and been one of the accused for 
 my sake? I could believe it of you, sometimes." 
 
 " Now, will you send that beast away ? " 
 
302 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 "Mystaglet? how mean you are! The only living 
 thing that asks nothing but my company ; that loves me 
 first and best and always. Every one of you is first to 
 somebody. I have only Nim ! " She held up the beautiful 
 wild head and kissed it between the great dark, depth- 
 less eyes. 
 
 " I wish I had n't given him to you." 
 
 " I wish so, too, now. We were n't meant for fences, 
 were we, Nimsie ? " 
 
 " Go on and talk sense now, if you are going to : I 'm 
 in a hurry." 
 
 Sam waited with his head between his hands. The girl 
 had a confusing charm that worked hypnotically ; he felt 
 disinclined to speak, yet resisted the spell of her nearness 
 by talking rudely. It was bothersome and it was n't safe. 
 She watched him in silence, then she touched his arm and 
 felt him start. 
 
 " Look at this ! " she pushed into his hand a small 
 metal box, closing his fingers on it with her own, a child- 
 ish action, but he shook her off. 
 
 " What now?" he growled. 
 
 " Old Bear ! open it for me." It took the blade of his 
 jack-knife to do so, for the lid (it was a gun-cap box) had 
 been weather-rusted and pressed in by small, sharp dents 
 resembling tooth-marks. It crossed his mind and it made 
 him qualmish, that Qui Court's many questions as to 
 localities and where a certain tragedy occurred might have 
 had reference to the recovery of this box. On opening it, 
 Stella exclaimed, " Yellow does n't show by moonlight, 
 but that 's gold ; and no one knows where it came from 
 but Qui Court no one who is living now." 
 
 Sam stared at the coarse grains of whitish yellow flakes, 
 
THE GAMBLERS 303 
 
 and poked them about with his big finger. Stella lifted a 
 thin scale with her more delicate touch. 
 
 " Feel of that ; you can bend it like a leaf pure, pure 
 gold ! Now, have I told you anything ? and you come 
 lumbering down here as if it was a favor to me. This 
 was my captain's secret and now it 's mine not all, but 
 you shall have half of my share when we divide with Qui 
 Court. This," said Stella, " is what he turned his back on 
 to go after me ! do you wonder he hesitated ? he wanted 
 it for me, for us. Oh, well, if they had not murdered 
 him " 
 
 "Stella, now you stop, my girl; you can't use that 
 word to me." 
 
 " Well, let it go ! But this would have been secure, by 
 now, if he had lived. It would have meant the earth 
 I was his ' queen.' That 's all over for me, but here 's 
 your fortune, Sam ; Lottie's fortune and a future for your 
 children. Qui Court can be bought off for a few hundreds. 
 If it 's half what he thought it was you could ' wash ' those 
 hundreds out of a bushel of sand ; you might do it any 
 day any hour. How much can a man make in a day 
 clear, by farming, Sam ? " 
 
 " I believe my soul, you are a witch ! I could be afraid 
 of you." 
 
 " And I mean so well by you," said Stella, with gen- 
 uine sadness in her voice. " Of course I 'm thinking of 
 myself, too ; a woman can do nothing alone. Qui Court 
 keeps at me : ' Get a partner, get a partner.' He won't 
 stay down there on the ground, he says, if there 's no- 
 thing to be done ; he can't ' work ' it, for that would set 
 people to watching him, and he 's got a squaw wife in the 
 mountains ; she wants him back to hunt this fall. He 's 
 
304 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 the only living person who can take us to the spot. I am 
 going when you do, Sam. This is my one chance of free- 
 dom. I '11 cook for you I '11 learn, and keep your camp 
 nice while you wash my sands our golden river. Now, 
 are you afraid of me, partner your little drudge ? Why, 
 I 'm only nineteen and you are as old how old are you, 
 Sam?" 
 
 " Old enough to keep you in order, my lady : be quiet 
 now ; I want to think. In the first place, I 've got no 
 money to put into this partnership." 
 
 " You 've got these things," she lifted in both hands 
 with great glee one of his huge fists, " and you 've got 
 this, if you '11 only use it." 
 
 The fist went down of its own limp weight : he was 
 magnetized ; and she laid one hand on his head of curls 
 and rocked it saucily. 
 
 " You behave ! I 'm no pet fawn ! " Sam roared. 
 
 He set her off from him by main force. She became 
 grave at once and bewitchingly business-like. He forgot 
 the dead owner of the secret she was tempting him with ; 
 he forgot because she forgot ; she had no more conscious- 
 ness about it getting all she could out of it than 
 the fawn when it went up to Sam, after he had killed its 
 mother, and nuzzled in his breast. 
 
 " I 've got a little money of my own ; I 've been saving 
 it a long time that 's my New England blood ' I guess.' 
 It will take us down there and give us a start. After that, 
 we '11 dig it like clams, with those things ; " she indicated 
 Sam's large paws, but without taking liberties this time. 
 
 " That 's all talk yet awhile. Are there any papers 
 deeds of the land or anything?" 
 
 " The land I don't know who owns it ; perhaps 
 
THE GAMBLERS 305 
 
 nobody ; you can buy acres for a song. By and by a 
 week a day after you show them that stuff can 
 you guess what that land will be worth ? You won't need 
 to do your own digging then." 
 
 " No ; I guess a man will have to own a pistol then." 
 
 "You and I, two simple country folks, can go down 
 there like squatters. It looks much less like prospecting 
 when a man has a woman along." 
 
 " You 've thought it all out, have n't you ? " 
 
 " I have. You can call yourself my uncle. I don't mean 
 anything but straight business : can you doubt me, Sam ? 
 Are n't you able to see it as straight as I can ? " 
 
 " I certainly am not," said Sam. " I will go, but you 
 can't go with me : you must understand that." 
 
 "But I will go ; what 's to stop me going down to take 
 possession of my own ? " 
 
 " That 's another question : if there is a title to this 
 discovery claim it 's an asset of his estate. You have n't 
 any right to dispose of his business secrets, have you ? " 
 
 " Be easy in your mind. There is no title till you find 
 the gold ; it 's Qui Court's secret now. The discovery is 
 years old; it was covered up by the Indians from the 
 padres for fear they would make slaves of them to dig 
 that gold." 
 
 " I '11 think it over," said Sam, in a maze ; " see what 
 Lottie says about it." 
 
 " Now, Sam ; wait a minute. This secret is not yours, 
 nor mine, yet. Qui Court trusted me and I trust you : 
 you have no right to talk to Lottie." 
 
 " Perhaps that 's so," Sam assented. 
 
 " Of course it 's so. It must be so ! " 
 
 "But if I should take it up, there will have to be 
 
306 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 conditions on my side : first, I must tell Lottie where I am 
 going and why ; second, that Indian and I will go alone." 
 
 Stella mused a moment subtly. 
 
 " Very well, if you insist on barring me, though it looks 
 queer that I can't pay a visit to my own ' diggings ' be- 
 cause you are there. You take a lower ground, a good 
 deal, than I do. I hope you see that, my virtuous man." 
 
 " I see it : men are lower than women in some respects ; 
 it's a fact that's better let alone. If you want plain 
 speaking, there it is. I was n't born a church member 
 nor a ' virtuous man.' " 
 
 "I did n't mean a sneer ; I know you are human, Sam : 
 that 's why I go to you for help. Of all the apostles, St. 
 Paul was the biggest ; he was n't always a saint nor a 
 virtuous man. It takes two men to make a really great 
 one." 
 
 " Well," said Sam, " I must go home and think it over. 
 There 's only one of me, and he 's got to be careful of him- 
 self ; he can't lay his foolishness off on t' other fellow." 
 
 " Are you going off with my box ? " 
 
 " Oh, to be sure ! " Sam gave it back, with another 
 look at those curious dents. Stella's eyes followed his. 
 Everything else, when Qui Court sought the spot, was 
 gone ; only this they left with their wolfish marks upon 
 it. It was horrible, but it was fate : so she saw it. This 
 was the gift of the mountain where he died, for her. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 CORN AND CABBAGES 
 
 LOTTIE waited alone in the house three quarters of an 
 hour for Sam's return. She had found the bedroom door 
 open, a draught blowing across the baby's bed ; it had 
 not been properly latched and had opened of itself, but if 
 he had been there he might have seen to it. The baby's 
 blanket was all off ! the window up, of course, that sum- 
 mer night ; a prowling coyote might have scrambled in ; 
 Indians could have carried him off. At this point Sam, 
 who was listening to the recital of his crimes, broke into 
 a rude laugh. 
 
 The common matrimonial quarrel is much too common 
 to dwell upon and leads to less of consequence in the case 
 of a Sam and Lottie, than is possible with a more perilous 
 grade of stuff , they worked too hard and slept too sound for 
 genuine nerve-play to reach the danger pitch, and the words 
 of unreserved persons soon pass the limits of language. 
 After Lottie had said her worst and Sam had gone out 
 and banged the door there remained only a period of 
 sulks too inconvenient to last. The kitchen stove-pipe 
 fell down and Lottie had to ask Sam's help before she 
 could cook his breakfast ; he tore his thumb on an edge 
 of pipe and swore, and she bound it up and soaked the rag 
 in paregoric by mistake for pain-killer, which made them 
 both laugh. They were children , they could n't keep the 
 same frame of mind for many hours consecutively. That 
 evening, with her lapful of mending mostly of his pro- 
 
308 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 viding, she observed, " If I did n't care anything about 
 you, of course it would n't kill me so not to know what 
 you do. Nobody can scare me like you can because you 
 are all I 've got ; you and the boy." 
 
 " Come, Lott, you have n't acted much like being 
 4 scared.' You 're all I 've got, too. What I 'in turning 
 over in mind now is every bit for you. There 's no mystery 
 in it ; it 's making money, that 's all. Now, will you be 
 satisfied ? " 
 
 " But I was satisfied : I don't want money." 
 
 " Well, I do, then. I 'm not satisfied to see my wife 
 working all her days the way you 're doing. We 're going 
 to be first-class folks and raise a big family. I want to 
 hold up my end of the job in good shape. This is the 
 country for opportunities, but they ain't all in one spot." 
 
 Lottie thought : " That sounds like another move ; not 
 with Stella Mutrie along! If he's fixing up anything 
 connected with her, I shall fight it to the last." 
 
 For a man with so good a conscience, Sam found the 
 subject remarkably difficult to handle with fairness to all 
 concerned. There was little danger of Stella's secret get- 
 ting abroad through him ; he could n't picture a worse 
 quarter of an hour than that in store for him when he 
 should lay his plan in detail before his wife. 
 
 He was not slow to realize how impossible a partner- 
 ship with Stella Mutrie, secret or avowed, would be for 
 him if he expected to live happy with Lottie. It took 
 longer to put out of his mind the dream as a useless 
 temptation, and longer still wholly to forgive Lottie what 
 her jealousy was costing him. But the honest fellow could 
 not pretend to be greatly surprised or shocked at her 
 primitive behavior. Simple men are open to this crude 
 
CORN AND CABBAGES 309 
 
 form of marital compliment. There was a certain safety 
 and comfort in being held tight in one woman's arms. 
 
 " I guess I 'd have been a pretty wild sort of fellow if 
 Lott had n't roped me in. And high time, too ! Stella 
 isn't safe to have around for a full-blooded sinner like 
 you, Samuel." 
 
 So the matter paused, and next he must see Stella and 
 communicate his decision. She would take it hard, poor 
 lonesome little thing. Lottie had to be flatly informed 
 (there was no reason for lying) that another interview 
 with Stella would be necessary, in fact, that very even- 
 ing. She flushed at this evidence that a meeting had been 
 prearranged, and left the room quickly. It was her usual 
 time for putting young Sam to bed, after a romp with his 
 dad, who would carry him in to his mother squealing with 
 joy. He saw her run out and snatch the boy from his 
 sand-pile ; she swept in past him without a look, the child 
 fighting against capture, against rules with kisses added 
 for insult. They disappeared like any mother and child 
 except his own. He hung about awhile and finally went 
 off so exasperated at Lott's folly and nonsense that he 
 cared little what she thought. 
 
 The second interview was no easier than would be ex- 
 pected. Stella taunted him with cowardice and enlarged 
 upon her own hapless fate, forever the victim of circum- 
 stance and the will of others, till she wept ; and sitting so 
 near, with no words to offer, simple Sam laid a big clumsy 
 hand upon her shoulder which encouraged her to lean 
 against his breast. 
 
 The fawn, who had kept his usual tryst, rose quietly 
 from the edge of Stella's skirt and stole off up the hill 
 to investigate the parson's fences. Seizing the chance to 
 
310 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 extricate himself from an attitude he would not have 
 cared to be seen in, Sam noisily gave chase and hooted 
 the beast away. 
 
 Nim sought cover till the night was again still: he had 
 found the weak spot. At sunrise the garden was no more ; 
 a tragedy in the annals of a budding settlement. The 
 seed of that sweet corn just coming into tassel had been 
 brought from the garden of the old Dugdale manse ; the 
 lettuces and young cabbage plants, over which the parson 
 had toiled in the hot sun, had borne up against frosts and 
 fowls of the air and beasts of the field and vermin, to 
 perish in a night as a consequence of disobedience and 
 crass folly. The minister was human ; he loved sweet corn 
 and fresh lettuce, and his words on this occasion lacked 
 a sense of proportion : nor was Stella backward in re- 
 sponse. They had not told her she must keep curfew 
 hours. Did they expect her to change the nature of the 
 fawn ? it must be that or kill him ! as for a consistent 
 antagonism, day after day, towards a creature she loved 
 and had taught to love her, it might be possible for some, 
 but not for her. The case, too, had been taken out of her 
 hands when they drove her weanling away with sticks 
 and stones. 
 
 " I did n't shoot his mother and make him dependent 
 on us ! Why did you let him live at all ? Talk of the ten- 
 der mercies of the wicked ! deliver me from the mercies 
 of the good I " 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 THE DEAD FAWN 
 
 A THIRD call had reached the settlement for delegates 
 to Champoeg with the warning added that now the hour 
 was come. Previous meetings, to draw up a constitution 
 for the future State of Oregon, had half failed or not 
 quite finished the work, but necessary ground had been 
 gone over, in close committee work. It was now time the 
 people were heard from. 
 
 Jimmy had been chosen, almost by acclamation, to re- 
 present the company after his father had declined the 
 nomination, alleging as his reason that he did not care to 
 mix in politics. When his son's name was put up imme- 
 diately after his own, he knew what that choice meant. 
 It was the first public trust in the power of the new 
 settlement to bestow. They could not give him a colleague; 
 it was the height of harvest and laborers were too few, 
 which made the honor more unique. 
 
 Barbie cast herself into her boy's arms at the wonder- 
 ful news. They had not dreamed it could be, nor any- 
 thing like it, so soon. It was a deliberate confirmation of 
 that first impassioned acquittal, which had satisfied neither 
 of them at the time nor after. That came from the hearts 
 of excited men ; this made him their equal and their ex- 
 ponent. It restored his pride of citizenship before the 
 law. 
 
 Sam Kiersted found it a help to himself even in his 
 own little questions this bolt that had struck Jimmy 
 
312 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 from the blue : it cleared the air tremendously. It made 
 him see there are other prizes in life besides wealth. 
 Gophering for gold looked small as a man's dream beside 
 Jimmy's clean opportunity ; hunting it on the word of a 
 slippery half-breed, leaving your wife behind, carrying a 
 dead man's secret about to share it with that Indian and 
 the dead man's girl ! A queer mess it showed up by day- 
 light. Different from the way it had looked on the beach 
 by a spring moon with the dazzle of Stella's white arms 
 and her goddess head close to your breast confusing your 
 better judgment. Bah! bah! Samuel, you are no such 
 fool as that ! You were perfectly straight, with that girl in 
 your arms on the mountains : did your heart beat then 
 any faster against your silly ass's ribs ? Thus Sam shoved 
 himself back into the traces again, and tramped off afield. 
 He no longer worried about Lottie's sulks. All she wanted 
 he could give her if he would : it was n't money. 
 
 Nimrod's raid on the ministerial corn-patch occurred on 
 a Wednesday night. Jimmy was making arrangements to 
 start for Champoeg on Monday, July fifth. He left the 
 harvest field before sundown, his mind divided between 
 matters outside and in. Barbie's apprehensions for her 
 mother were fairly hunting her by now ; she spent full 
 half of each day at the Long House doing as she pleased, 
 pretty much. Silence had passed from that former phase 
 of nervous irritability into a passiveness which no one 
 mistook for improvement. There were no more arguments 
 or questions : she had folded the hands of her spirit in an 
 ominous peace. Jimmy thought of Barbie's doubled load 
 and feared she was doing far too much for her own good, 
 but she showed an obstinacy equal to her mother's. He 
 could not stand between them now. He found ways of 
 
THE DEAD FAWN 313 
 
 getting ahead of her and helping in their own house, 
 though it meant shirking somewhat in the field. To leave, 
 with Sam in full swing, hurt his pride. Sam was in no 
 haste to quit : the days were nearing their longest ; it was 
 also part of his plan with Lottie in her present mood to 
 let her wait for him once in a while ; he might be the 
 more welcome when he did come. He was not going the 
 whole way himself to "make up " ; he was behaving like 
 a child, in short, while chiefly doing his duty like a man. 
 
 " Well, I '11 have to give you best again to-day, Sam. 
 I 've got an engagement with myself at home." 
 
 " You don't need to ask leave of me," said Sam, " when 
 you 're ready to quit, best or no best." 
 
 As he came in sight of the river through bordering 
 woods, Jimmy heard a gun go off. The trail hugged the 
 edge of the bank close under the shade of some water- 
 side birches. Following the shot instantly came a woman's 
 scream. He ran, and at the first opening he saw Stella 
 Mutrie, a white shape, flying towards the beach. The 
 boughs closed, but in that glimpse he had gathered the 
 whole scene: the river, glassy, golden, with the sun upon 
 it and a blood-stained wake of some wounded creature 
 swimming slowly towards the hither shore. Stella had re- 
 cognized her fawn and knew by the crimson bubbles his 
 breath expelled that he had got his death-wound. 
 
 Creeping alongshore under those same birches, Qui 
 Court, watching for plover, had marked a young white- 
 tail take water from the opposite bank. His aim was in- 
 stinct ; the ball struck low and passed through the crea- 
 ture's lungs. Like Jimmy he then heard Stella's cry, saw 
 her hands flung out, her facejof horror, and knew that 
 he had done the deed for her unhappy fawn. Whereupon 
 
314 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Qui Court slipped prudently away and Jimmy, gun on 
 shoulder, came plunging into the open. 
 
 He hurried down to the shore and, seeing it was too 
 late, stood in silent pity watching the last struggle. Stella 
 had dragged the beloved's head across her knees; his 
 blood soaked her white lap and trickled through her 
 fingers. She never moved her eyes from his great 
 speaking eyes till they were sightless. Then she turned 
 to Jimmy. 
 
 "Now are you satisfied? Is there anything else of 
 mine you 'd like to kill ? " 
 
 " Stella, you are mistaken : that was not my shot." 
 
 A passionate gesture with her blood-stained hands re- 
 futed the statement. 
 
 " Why, if I had meant to do it I would have warned 
 you. And never before your eyes ! " 
 
 " I don't suppose you thought I saw, but that shot came 
 from exactly where you stood." 
 
 " Some one else must have been there, too." 
 
 " You can count yourselves : who would skulk behind 
 you to shoot my fawn and let it fall on you ? You did 
 it, and you stand there and try to lie out of it to my 
 face!" 
 
 The Long House on the hill was just above them. Bar- 
 bie had left her mother and run out to learn the meaning 
 of that shot, and the voices on the beach. Jimmy had his 
 back to her, but he heard her call. Stella also heard and 
 started to rise. All down the front of her dress and over 
 her breast and arms, she was a sight of horror. With his 
 hands upon her shoulders Jimmy forcibly held her down. 
 He answered his wife coolly : " Nobody hurt. It 's only 
 the fawn ; some one fired at him by mistake." 
 
THE DEAD FAWN 315 
 
 " < Only the fawn ! ' ' Stella writhed in his grasp. 
 " Liar ! butcher ! As long as I live I shall never forget this 
 of you, Jimmy Yardley ! " 
 
 Jimmy had now two women on his hands at once : 
 his startled wife, watching him, who must not see 
 Stella as she was, and Stella fighting like a witch, de- 
 termined to escape and rush up to those two delicate 
 women with her shocking appearance and her tale of 
 wrong. 
 
 " Barbie, I ask you to go back," he ordered, in a voice 
 which he could use, but seldom did, to her. Barbie obeyed 
 at once, trusting to know why when the time came. But 
 the wild thing in his grasp he forced ahead of him, step 
 by step, holding her blood-stained hands away from him 
 who must presently meet his wife. He marched her to 
 the water's edge. 
 
 " Kneel down ! Wash your hands ; wash your face 
 your cheek, there." He thrust her arms in up to the elbow 
 and scrubbed them with beach sand. 
 
 " Oh, heaven I What will ever pay for this ! " choked 
 the furious girl. 
 
 " Take off that apron. Now wash your dress. Get down 
 and do what I say ; you are not going up there with those 
 stains on you to frighten everybody." 
 
 " Get down yourself and wash your own blood-stains, 
 assassin ! they are old ; they won't come out. My last 
 friend, murdered for your cabbages ! My heart broken and 
 you make me wash my clothes ! " 
 
 " When your heart does break you will not talk," said 
 Jimmy through his teeth. He let her go. She could have 
 killed him, yet her primitive nature owned the power of 
 his sex over hers ; she envied the woman he guarded in 
 
316 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 his home, ruthless to all the world ; so a man behaves. 
 And he had not changed a tone of his voice. 
 
 A short distance up the beach there was a little cove 
 where she sat out of the wind and hugged herself and 
 brooded in dangerous quiet. " What I need I shall never 
 get here." It was not a husband, though some husbands 
 would have done ; it was what Jimmy was to Barbie in 
 spite of marriage : she wanted that fine flower of worship 
 at her command. She had heard the voice in which the 
 husband spoke to his wife ; she had also observed how in- 
 stant was Barbie's obedience. Jimmy had not been waste- 
 ful of that tone. " I could obey a man who had earned the 
 right to speak to me like that;" this was a general 
 answer to imaginary accusations in the minds that came 
 in conflict with her own. 
 
 Jimmy among the younger men was the one possessed 
 of that union of fastidiousness, ideality, and force which 
 made his regard worth winning. It was his love she had 
 once aimed for, but Barbie won him back ; now she had 
 nothing but his contempt, and not for any one thing she 
 had done, for the whole of her, what she was and what 
 she lacked, to him. And she must live here and daily meet 
 his eyes with that cool estimate of her back of them. 
 
 She contrasted the " fuss " made over Barbie in her 
 delicate condition with the way in which she had been 
 tossed about. The bitterness that leads to crime was in her 
 heart, but the Yankee in her blood sneered at any im- 
 agined melodramatic revenge. The cony are a feeble folk. 
 It was mischief any mischief that came to hand 
 against the heart-breaking rules of this wilderness prison, 
 that worked in the bottom of her little cynic soul. 
 
 A pair of feet in " stogy " boots, with the tread of a 
 
THE DEAD FAWN 317 
 
 man late for supper, came pounding down the trail the 
 same path which Jimmy had taken from the uplands. 
 Stella was very nearly in the same spot where Qui 
 Court had lurked when he did his work. She knew the 
 feet of Sam, and laughed subtly. 
 
 " It 's all of seven o'clock : wifey has been waiting for 
 him. She shall wait a little longer." 
 
 "Sam!" she called: she could see him plainly now, 
 glowing, tall, bare-breasted, a god of the fields ; he carried 
 a wheat-cradle tossed over his shoulder as a girl slants her 
 parasol. 
 
 When Sam heard her and looked down, his first idea 
 of that fair picture was that the unspeakable girl had been 
 in bathing with her clothes on ; it was just like her ! 
 He blushed as he stared, and turned his eyes away ; to 
 his simple mind she was scarcely decent for a grown 
 woman by daylight, yet there she stood, her thin clothing 
 moulded upon her bust and arms and noble hips, slowly 
 rebinding the wet braids about her head, as artless as a 
 child. 
 
 " Come down ! " she said. " I must tell you something.'* 
 She began at once and recited her version of the fawn's 
 death in a tone as lofty and impassioned as Mary Stuart 
 denouncing the murder of Eizzio. 
 
 Sam refused his belief to her statement that Jimmy had 
 fired the shot. " He would n't have done it that way. 
 There must have been some other fellow behind him in 
 the trees." 
 
 " Do you know any fellow that would skulk behind him 
 in the trees ? you know each other pretty well." Stella 
 was honest in her charge ; she no more thought of Qui 
 Court than of Sam. 
 
318 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Did you ask him, up and down ? " 
 
 " I was there ! " 
 
 "Well, did he deny it?" 
 
 " Of course he denied it. Was the man ever born who 
 would n't lie to a woman to get rid of her the easiest way ? " 
 
 " It would n't be the easiest way for Jim. No ; there 's 
 a nigger in the wood-pile somewhere." 
 
 " I don't understand your expression, but is there any 
 one of you who has Jimmy's reason for doing it, or his 
 aim ? he had to look straight into the glare on the river 
 with the current moving fast." 
 
 " If he did do it, he 'd no business to," came the gruff 
 admission, at last. "If it had to be done, the job belonged 
 to me : I gave you the beast ; I 'd have put him out of 
 the way not to hurt him nor you either. I don't say it is n't 
 hard, but it 's done. We better let it drop now. Every 
 man makes his mistakes." 
 
 " Mistake ! Men don't shoot like that by mistake. And 
 then he dragged me down to the river and made me wash 
 my clothes. Look at me I just like sheep at sheep-wash- 
 ing. He forced me in up to my waist." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " Made me wash my face and wash my dress and tore 
 my apron off and threw it away." Stella began to sob and 
 shiver. 
 
 " What for ? " roared Sam. " Do you mean to say he 's 
 crazy ? " 
 
 " Jimmy crazy ! Jimmy has got a wife who hopes to 
 have a child. She was not to see me the way I was my 
 poor Nim's blood all over me sacrificed to his cab- 
 bages ! If there 's any justice under heaven, that blood 
 will leave its mark on the Yardley " 
 
THE DEAD FAWN 319 
 
 " Good God, hush ! You stop saying those crazy things ! 
 no woman ought to talk like that. Jimmy was perfectly 
 right that time." 
 
 " Well, let it be so, then," Stella crawled. " What does 
 my talk matter ? every one knows I 've no need to be 
 careful like other women : I 'm done for here. Oh, it kills 
 me to stay, Sam. There 's not a thing to look forward to. 
 This is no place for any one but wives and husbands or 
 girls you want for wives. Why do I have to stay ! " The 
 wail was genuine. " Why do I have to live ? " she forced 
 the note, but Sam's ear was not critical. " Why did n't 
 you drop me off when you were carrying me round those 
 places on the mountains ? I want to be done with it all ; 
 but I 'm afraid to do it myself." 
 
 She came to him timidly, putting out her arms. " Sam, 
 take me up like you used to and carry me out a little way 
 there 's a deep spot out there. Just take me and drop 
 me in. Won't you do that one thing for me? I '11 forgive 
 everybody if you '11 only just let me slip out of it." 
 
 There was no refusing the appeal of those arms, though 
 it was not death they asked for. Sam obeyed the gesture, 
 not the words. It was first aid to the injured of the old 
 unschooled sort, all risks of infection taken in glorious 
 ignorance. 
 
 " You are good to me, after all," she murmured, cling- 
 ing to the furnace of his big breast. " Trust me, trust me 
 and come along ! Why should you all be slaves to Mr. 
 Yardley's old idea ? there 's no freedom for any one in a 
 life like this." 
 
 A disturbance in the trees that stood breezeless, gave 
 them a sudden start. Stella looked up at Sam; she 
 saw his eyes grow blank and his face fire up with shame 
 
320 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 and fury. Twisting away from him, there was time for one 
 glimpse of Jimmy Yardley's back before the tree-curtain 
 closed again behind him. They loosed each other foolishly 
 and stood listening to his spurning step tramping away on 
 the pebbles. 
 
 Jimmy had not satisfied his wife that his conduct to 
 Stella in her trouble had been what it should be " or 
 she would n't have gone off without telling any of us about 
 it." It behooved him, Barbie further pointed out, to be 
 more than merely decent, after the personal loss he and his 
 father could lay to the dead creature's account. 
 
 " Do you expect me to go and shed crocodile's tears over 
 the beast ? I 've wished him dead a hundred times." 
 
 "And let Stella see it ! Now do go and show her a little 
 sympathy." 
 
 " 1 have no sympathy for her whatever ; she is the real 
 cause of it all." 
 
 " You 've done something, I can see that, and I don't 
 blame you; but do it different, can't you?" 
 
 Urged by a few after-pricks of his own, he went, and 
 saw what he saw, and returned possessed by it sickeningly 
 so that he could not talk : he did not have to, as it hap- 
 pened. He and Barbie had gone back to their own house 
 for supper and Mr. Hannington, to keep the subject from 
 annoying his wife, had followed Barbie with some do- 
 mestic changes to discuss, and she was giving him her 
 attention. 
 
 The minister had at last seen it was time to move. He 
 wanted Jimmy's help in packing his books and papers. 
 Like other particular old gentlemen, he began long before- 
 hand to prepare for any dreaded upheaval affecting his 
 daily habits. 
 
THE DEAD FAWN 321 
 
 "You won't let mother think it was our proposing?" 
 said Barbie. 
 
 Her father assured her there was no danger. " She 
 does n't notice as she did. I can't remember she was ever 
 like this in any sickness before. She keeps brushing her 
 forehead when there 's nothing there ; not a fly or any- 
 thing ! Have you noticed that ? " 
 
 " What day will Mr. Yardley come over to-morrow? " 
 said Barbie gently. " Sit down, father, dear." 
 
 " He said Sunday night." 
 
 " Why not Saturday ? that will give him two days." 
 
 " He '11 move most of his things, but he spoke of sleep- 
 ing there Saturday night. I can rest all Sunday. I want 
 you to stay home Saturday night." 
 
 " But could n't he come Saturday just as well? " Bar- 
 bie persisted. " Then you could take his room : you don't 
 need to sit up all night." 
 
 " Oh, I shan't sit up. I '11 bunk down somewhere ; 
 don't you worry. I want to be, anyway, where I can hear 
 mother ; I don't hear very quick after I get sound asleep. 
 No, I would n't like to hurry him. Let him take his own 
 time." 
 
 Barbie thought there had been no great rush about the 
 minister's move; but he had felt out the situation for 
 himself ; the sacred laws had not been violated. He had 
 also proposed that service on Sunday should be held out 
 of doors ; he made the suggestion in the patient's room, 
 and looked to her for approval and was disappointed 
 that she hardly seemed to notice what he said, but it was 
 a great relief for her sake to the others. 
 
 " He sees things," said the loyal old deacon, " give him 
 time." 
 
322 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 He was as proud as the parent of a backward child 
 whenever the parson "acted like other folks." Every 
 one knew that he could preach, that his mind was not 
 on common things, and that his life was beautiful and 
 stainless: it was the touch for human needs in little 
 ways he lacked and they had ceased to expect it. He 
 gave them, in giving himself, all he had to give. He 
 would never change. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE DELEGATE 
 
 THERE is not much conversation on general topics in a 
 wheat-field after the reapers get to work, but there may 
 be a certain amount of subconscious thinking going on. 
 Sam Kiersted's mighty back and arms went swishing 
 through the resilient grain, twelve feet in a diagonal 
 ahead of Jimmy to give room for the sweep of his junior 
 stroke. Jimmy, slighter and less practised, was doing 
 his best to keep the pace. He had come to work later 
 than Sam and hung his dinner pail as usual on a bough 
 of the oak tree by the spring where it was their custom 
 to lunch together. Sam perceived the old friendly ar- 
 rangement held good ; he groaned in anticipation of that 
 meal. Not that he proposed to open the subject, but he 
 was grindingly uneasy until he knew how Jimmy was 
 going to take it. Jimmy would not forget what he had 
 stumbled upon in the cove. 
 
 There was silence at first between them, broken by 
 sounds of healthy mastication. When Jimmy had finished 
 he said, " I have a favor to ask of you, Sam." 
 
 Sam's eyebrows twitched. "Now for it," he thought, 
 and drank copiously, to hide his features. 
 
 " I want you to go down to the Falls Monday to that 
 convention in my place." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because Mrs. Hannington is a very sick woman, and 
 she may get worse. It 's entirely too much for Barbie to 
 
324 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 be left alone. They want you to bring back a doctor, but 
 we don't let her mother know we are sending." 
 
 " When did you decide all this ? " 
 
 " Yesterday morning I began to see it was coming, only 
 the temptation to show off as a delegate rather fooled me 
 at first. I shall hand in my resignation to-morrow at 
 meeting. It will save time to have a name ready ; I want 
 yours." 
 
 " Why ? " Sam repeated suspiciously. 
 
 " Because you are the first man they will think of in 
 my place, but somebody has to say so. They would have 
 chosen you to begin with if they had n't wanted a chance 
 to give me a vote of confidence on account of another 
 matter." 
 
 " Kot! " said Sam. " That's all moonshine. I haven't 
 got half your brains and you know it." 
 
 " The Committee of Twelve furnishes the brains. All 
 they need is honest opinions on the constitution they 
 have drawn up, and the officers they are choosing for the 
 people to elect. If we can't spare but one man he ought 
 to be the one who will represent us as a company. The 
 parson 's a specialist ; I 'm no farmer ; I don't begin to 
 understand the interests of a cattle and farming state as 
 you do." 
 
 " How about the man's private life ? " 
 
 " Well how about it ? You know my record." 
 
 " Did I dream it ? that you saw us last evening in the 
 cove?" 
 
 " You did n't dream it, and I don't forget it. I decided 
 this morning." 
 
 " I want to get to the bottom of this ; there 's some- 
 thing here I don't understand. Last fall, if you remein- 
 
THE DELEGATE 325 
 
 ber, I spoke a few words for you when they had you up 
 for trial. Don't suppose they helped any, but I did what 
 I could. Does that stick in your crop ? clearing off old 
 scores, are you ? " 
 
 "With what? the people's interests? That's their 
 money. In other words, am I honest ! " 
 
 " I only asked the question." 
 
 ** Did you whitewash me out of friendship, at that meet- 
 ing in Grande Ronde ? " 
 
 The cases were not exactly similar in Sam's mind ; he 
 could not explain in words, but he knew that if he despised 
 a man, he would n't care to rest under an obligation to 
 him. Jimmy had followed his thought exactly, and chose 
 to avoid that side of the discussion. 
 
 " Before I take anything from you, there 's another ques- 
 tion I must ask " 
 
 " You don't take anything from me." 
 
 " Well, let that pass, for the present. Did you shoot her 
 fawn?" 
 
 " I told her I did not." 
 
 " Did you lie, then ? " Sam roared. 
 
 " To that girl ! I lied to my wife, to keep them apart ; 
 that 's my affair." 
 
 " You are too infernal hard upon her. You think she 
 seduced me no such thing ! She has been silly some- 
 times, like a child who loves a game of romps. Last even- 
 ing she was wet and cold, shivering and crying and 
 telling her troubles. She wanted to die right there and 
 be done with it. I took her in my arms to comfort her." 
 
 Jimmy smiled : " I have heard her talk of dying." 
 
 " We 'd better let the subject drop : no two men can 
 agree about the same woman." 
 
326 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " I think they can, about some women." 
 
 Sam jumped up and stamped down his overalls. " I will 
 talk to your father. If he says " 
 
 " No you won't talk to my father. If things are as they 
 looked last night, then you and I shall talk. Stella is 
 my wife's cousin. If you have helped her to go wrong 
 again easy, Sam ! wait till I 'm through. Things are 
 not as they looked ! You 've nothing to say to my father ; 
 he can't govern your thoughts. The fathers and mothers 
 have been worried enough." 
 
 " You may be right on that point," Sam admitted stiffly; 
 " all the same, I know what you mean. You lay it all on 
 her. That being so, I don't care to take your job on your 
 nomination." 
 
 " Great snakes, I don't nominate anything ! I 'm not 
 even on the committee. I won't vote for you if you make 
 it a personal matter." 
 
 " I will take your vote if my name 's put up, but I won 't 
 take this job from you or any man, as a brace for my 
 moral character." Sam had delivered himself at last. 
 
 Jimmy colored and laughed. "You'll serve, then? 
 that 's all I want to know. Can't you see what a pair of 
 asses we are ! Come, let 's get to work." 
 
 They took up their cradles and waded into the grain. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE WIFE OF HIS BOSOM 
 
 BEFORE he slept, however, Jimmy was forced to break 
 his own silence as to Sam's affair. The person he naturally 
 told was his wife. Barbie's grieved surprise and disap- 
 pointment when he confessed his intention to resign, 
 compelled some better reason for it than staying to help 
 her. 
 
 He found the story a difficult one to tell without alarm- 
 ing her imagination; possibly he laid on the emphasis 
 wrong. It took him a good half-hour to quiet her fears for 
 Lottie's happiness, and he worked so hard, in despair at 
 the wreck he had made of his friend's character in her 
 eyes, that he could see her vivid countenance begin to 
 change with anxiety for his own ideals : had they shifted 
 in the last twelve hours ? Was it possible he and she could 
 think differently of a scene like that he had witnessed be- 
 tween Sam and Stella ? He had touched on it so carefully, 
 she was convinced he kept back more than he dared tell. 
 He assured her that his own anchors held, but she must 
 allow him to mark a distinction between the two parties 
 to that scene: you couldn't have travelled in the same 
 caravan with them all summer and not feel pretty sure 
 where the mischief probably began ; results would be the 
 same, but the measure of accountability must depend a 
 little on previous character, said he. 
 
 Barbie mused: " It 's a totally different point of view. 
 There must be something that supports her: how can she 
 
328 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 live under what she knows that we all know about her ? 
 She really would die of it, you know , she 'd show it in 
 some way. Stella is growing fat ! " 
 
 "Stella is perfectly reckless; she gambles on every 
 chance that comes her way. Sam is a worker and he 's got 
 the real things to work for. He '11 do a lot of thinking on 
 that ride. He '11 be thrown with men who don't suspect 
 what an ass he can make of himself, and he '11 forget it 
 too." 
 
 " I wonder if anything can ever change her ? " 
 
 "Not while she flatters herself that power is enough. 
 Money is her kind of power : for the sake of money she '11 
 give all she is and all she 's got at the moment, at any 
 moment." 
 
 " I think you are wrong about the money all wrong. 
 She wants life, and a woman's life is love," said Barbie 
 shyly. u Stella has never been loved." 
 
 " Well, she might have been." 
 
 " I don't know how ! Her mother died ; her father may 
 have loved her in a coarse way he shamefully neglected 
 her. If she had been even half as good as her own mother, 
 the way she was brought up would have ruined her. Father 
 took her for duty's sake. Mother loves her, but not as she 
 loves me. Who does love Stella ? who can love her, here ? 
 Why shouldn't she go and find her own life some- 
 where? " 
 
 " She won't, and I dare say can't, work for her living : 
 that would n't be life to her. I tell you, money is the ne- 
 cessity of her being; she figured that out long ago." 
 
 " When she would have married you ? how much 
 money had you to give her ! " 
 
 " She would n't have married me ; she might have said 
 
THE WIFE OF HIS BOSOM 329 
 
 so, but she 'd have jilted me, as she did Horace, the mo- 
 ment she found she could do better." 
 
 " She would have been satisfied with you, Jimmy, if 
 you had truly loved her." 
 
 " Then she wouldn't have been satisfied very long. I am 
 not generous enough to sell my birthright for a mess of 
 pottage and stick to my bargain without growls." 
 
 Barbie went inside to make her customary preparations 
 for next morning's early breakfast, and Jimmy followed. 
 
 " Would it be any easier for you, while your mother is 
 sick, to feed me over there ? You are there so much of the 
 time." 
 
 " No, it 's the greatest rest it 's the only rest to come 
 back here. It 's so uncomplicated with only you, Jimmy." 
 
 Then she remembered that his father would soon be 
 added unto them and the vague dread of it made her see 
 what her mother had been doing, that they might have 
 this normal beginning by themselves. She was mistaken, 
 though, as to its having been such a cross : persons getting 
 on in years enjoy each other's company; a wealth of asso- 
 ciations these old friends had stored away in common fur- 
 nished their daily intercourse with allusions which their 
 children could not share. 
 
 " I think," said Jimmy, " we are about as complicated 
 as we know how to be." 
 
 "We're learning: you learned something, sonny, 
 when you made this chair ! " Barbie stuck out the toes of 
 her little moccasins which she wore as a rest to swollen 
 feet ; they could barely reach the floor. The Yardleys were 
 long men ; few men of any size can grasp the scheme of a 
 chair low enough for a woman's comfort. Jimmy had made 
 these " seats of the mighty," as Barbie called them, in 
 
330 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 the evenings of that first huddled winter, in the Long 
 House. 
 
 " I learned the mystery of a girl's mind," said he. " If 
 I was n't building them right, why could n't the girl have 
 said so? she was there watching me all the time. And 
 when they were all done, she made fun of me ! but you 
 were n't pleased, miss ; I saw that plain enough." 
 
 " They were not my chairs ; they were Yardley and 
 Yardley's chairs all hickory and a yard wide 1 " 
 
 " Well, come now, Mrs. Yardley, is there anything 
 wrong with this footstool, that makes you look like a 
 crowned queen sitting there ridiculing your consort ? It 's 
 in the order of things that a man builds his first wife's 
 throne too high and has to add a footstool when she 
 does n't make a footstool of him." 
 
 " Next time," said Barbie, giggling, " you 'd better 
 marry a woman of Brobdingnag and sit in her lap. She '11 
 say, ' Take that thing away I what a poor little doll your 
 first must have been.' " 
 
 "I shall tell her you were a dwarf with an evil wit 
 twice your size. My next is going to be stupid. I shall 
 pick a woman who can't answer back." 
 
 " What a nice time you will have. I wish I had married 
 a troll ; he 'd be so handy to bring in wood." 
 
 " Yes ; and eat more than you could cook if you worked 
 nights and Sundays. You 'd better be satisfied with a man 
 of your own size. I like a woman about this size ! " 
 
 He took the footstool's place and laid his brown head 
 on her knees. 
 
 " Now, seriously," she said, moving her hands over his 
 hair "Harder! rub, don't tickle!" she rubbed and 
 continued : " I won't disguise from you, Jimsey, that I 
 
THE WIFE OF HIS BOSOM 331 
 
 think you did the right thing, but it 's wrong that you 
 should have had to do it for such a reason. You are the 
 man to go, and you don't stay because you married a 
 woman of your own size. Do you ? " 
 
 " My dear girl, I told you so, but if I allowed Sam to 
 think he was being managed by his little brother for the 
 good of his soul he 'd see me in Jericho before he 'd stir a 
 peg. Yet I was honest. I did think and I do that 
 he's a better choice all around than me." 
 
 " But you would have gone ? otherwise I must say you 
 are starting wrong. Country does come before family with 
 our stock it used to : my old Colonel Grandfather Trum- 
 bull went to war and his wife stayed home and did more 
 in one day, I guess, than her feeble descendant can do in 
 a week; and he was on the ' Board,' if that 's what you call 
 it, of Selectmen ; they selected him year after year, and 
 his boys of twelve and fourteen ran the farm. They didn't 
 make money, but they were folks. I liked the way that 
 Mr. Gray talked last spring, did n't you?" 
 
 " I did : I '11 go next time they give me a chance ; but 
 the case indicated, as the doctors say, a change for Sam 
 and a tonic for his moral system." 
 
 " Well, that's settled, then. You did do it for Sam." 
 
 " I suppose I did and yet, I say, I was indifferent 
 honest." 
 
 " As honest as a man need be if he can honestly say 
 he 's giving his chance to his friend ? " 
 
 "But why say it?" 
 
 " To his wife, can't a man say it ? The tonic I need 
 for my moral system is to be proud of you. Don't be 
 afraid, Jimsey ! I shall not prepare a pedestal for you 
 yet awhile." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 SYMPTOMS OF A CHANGE 
 
 AT the open-air service on Sunday morning, before the 
 text was given out, Mr. Yardley read his son's letter aloud 
 with its acknowledgments due the honor he therein re- 
 signed and his apologies for declining at this late day to 
 serve. At the words " serious illness in the family," eyes 
 were turned soberly on Deacon Hannington who sat with 
 bent head, working his hands on the top of his Sunday 
 cane ; he had placed his chair in the doorway between 
 the sound of his wife's sick breathing and the minister's 
 voice outside. 
 
 There was a meeting under the trees after service to 
 consider the choice of a substitute. As time was short and 
 the committee wanted their dinners, the proceedings did 
 not detain them long : Jimmy had already primed them 
 individually. It was Mr. Yardley who proposed Samuel 
 Kiersted in his son's place, and Sam was a delegate be- 
 fore he knew it. 
 
 A feeling of awkwardness (meanness and wrath), in 
 Jimmy's presence, still annoyed him. He felt better, how- 
 ever, when the other men came up to congratulate him 
 frankly and cordially, and he saw his wife flushed with 
 pride, the centre of a circle of women pretending to pity 
 her coming loneliness, when each was envying her the 
 honor for her husband. 
 
 Lottie's face shone with excitement : " Why, I never 
 was so thunder-struck in my life ! I was going to make 
 
SYMPTOMS OF A CHANGE 333 
 
 plum-jam on Monday. Peter Cooniac said there 's buckets 
 of wild plums only five or six miles up the old Indian trail." 
 
 " Well, you '11 have all the more time, with no meals to 
 get." 
 
 " I suppose I might go on and do it, though I feel 
 so upset! Sam will have to get off early. Susan-Peter 
 promised she 'd bring me a lot of those plums to-morrow." 
 
 "Picked on Sunday?" one of the housewives whis- 
 pered. 
 
 Lottie bridled. " I did n't tell her when to pick 'em. I 
 guess I could n't very well prevent it if she did. Better 
 folks than I be have eat fruit picked on the Sabbath." 
 
 " Just a meal, perhaps, but to lay in your winter sup- 
 ply ! Of course, if she gives them " 
 
 44 She give 'em ! She '11 be paid !" 
 
 " I would n't really want to pay her : that makes it a 
 regular business transaction." 
 
 " Well, I don't trouble myself how other people do 
 business, Sundays or week-days ; but if I take anything 
 from an Indian I expect to pay for it, soon or late." 
 
 Saturday was a disturbed night for Mr. Hannington, 
 while Barbie rested at home. Sunday would be her watch- 
 night. She rejoiced that her father could now have a 
 room to himself, and she made haste to move him and 
 arrange his clothes on the empty shelves that had held the 
 minister's works on theology. Stella had been missing 
 after service, but came in and helped Barbie get supper, 
 very sweetly, in silence. More than once she had offered 
 to sit up with her aunt for part of the night, but Barbie, 
 meanly she owned, distrusted her nursing. That evening, 
 when she offered again, her manner was such that Barbie 
 could no longer refuse. The girls spoke in low voices, 
 
334 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 standing by the door of Stella's room. Barbie moved to 
 go inside where they might consult without disturbing her 
 mother, when Stella quietly pushed the door shut. 
 
 " Let us go outside and talk , my room is breathless ; 
 it will be cooler after a while. I'll sit up till two 
 o'clock ; and now you go home. You 'd rather, would n't 
 you?" 
 
 " Yes, I think so. I '11 be back, then, at two , and thank 
 you, Stella." 
 
 They were now outside where the trees and the faint 
 distant churning of the rapids filled the evening silence. 
 Barbie sighed : All, all was so beautiful, so full of 
 promise for the future. It was so close even now to the 
 heart's desire , but for this ! 
 
 " For mother's sake, Stella, because we are one family ; 
 for peace' sake, won't you try not to think that of 
 Jimmy ? I don't say he 's too good to do it, but he never 
 would have denied it. It 's dreadful for you to feel that 
 way towards some one you have to speak to all the time." 
 " I shall have very little to say to your husband after 
 this," Stella answered in a controlled tone without feel- 
 ing ; " but the sun does n't rise and set upon his head for 
 every woman, you must remember : I shall have faith in 
 a few things still." 
 
 Barbie caught her breath after this slap. She remained 
 looking off at the river to regain composure before meet- 
 ing her keen-eyed husband. In that moment Stella came 
 back as if on purpose to add : 
 
 " Saying we are a family can't make us one, you know. 
 We can't help being a human family ; but think of my 
 father and Jimmy's father ! Is it any wonder their chil- 
 dren can't get on together? " 
 
SYMPTOMS OF A CHANGE 335 
 
 " That seems a very wise thing to say. I will try to 
 remember it," said Barbie with equal coolness. 
 
 " Well, thank you. Barbie," said Stella, changing her 
 tone. " I always thought you were one of the best girls 
 that ever lived. That 's why we can't get on together. 
 Good-night." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE EMPTY BEDROOM 
 
 FOR weeks they had said, each evening after the wind 
 fell, "This will be the hottest night we have had," but 
 that Sunday night was hot beyond comparison. Doors 
 stood wide and every open window of the small cabins 
 gaped for air. Only Stella's door of her bedroom in the 
 Long House she closed herself after midnight. Inside, in 
 semi-darkness, she changed her dress, adding the articles 
 she took off to a large bundle which she lifted over the 
 narrow window-sill and pushed out ; hands below received 
 it and steps moved cautiously away. Very faintly from the 
 wood trail came a stir of horses' feet ; leaves of the late 
 summer were beginning to fall; one could almost hear 
 them dropping in the stillness. 
 
 Stella was now merely waiting. Her watch no longer 
 occupied her mind ; it had been but a subterfuge she 
 shrank at nothing. Yet, in her fashion, she loved Aunt 
 Silence ; this sickness grieved and oppressed her, with- 
 out in the slightest influencing her personal plans except 
 that the dreams which inflated her imagination included 
 something which she longed to do for her best friend on 
 earth. 
 
 She returned to the sick-room and stood by the bed lis- 
 tening. Sightless and deaf to the actual, Aunt Silence 
 lay, her eyes unclosed, going over aloud in the blood-chill- 
 ing tones of delirium, that old track her thoughts had 
 worn in hours of destructive dread and secrecy. 
 
THE EMPTY BEDEOOM 337 
 
 " Aunt Silence will not live long, here, if she has to 
 stay : they killed her when they brought her away from 
 home." Self can always find a refuge for self, when causes 
 are sought for mischief done to others. Stella did not con- 
 nect herself as a contributive agent with this mysterious 
 break-down. She stood and listened sentimentally: she 
 and Aunt Silence ; they two, the greatest sufferers, the 
 truly injured by the workings of an old man's implacable 
 scheme. 
 
 " Yes, you are bound to die if you stay here, poor dear ! 
 Don't I know ! But if I could get the money soon enough 
 and pay off the mortgage on the old place, you and uncle 
 could go home." 
 
 " May, June, July, August, September, " the count 
 went on, the sick woman checking off the months on the 
 bed-sheet with her wasted fingers ; " February," she 
 ended, and with a satisfied sigh as though the question 
 were at rest, " Fort Hall ! " 
 
 " Yes, dear soul, Fort Hall ' ! " Stella answered, un- 
 shaken. " I don't forget Fort Hall ! " 
 
 " Fort Hall " was the parting word between them. Her 
 aunt's little rocking-chair stood at the foot of the bed, and 
 because there were real tears in Stella's eyes, she stumbled 
 against it and left it rocking empty in the wind from the 
 open door. 
 
 Barbie went over to her mother's at ten minutes to two, 
 Jimmy at her side steadying her steps in the darkness. At 
 the house-steps they paused and kissed good-bye till dawn. 
 
 There was not a sign of human, wakeful presence, nor 
 the feeling of it, as Barbie stepped inside : she knew with- 
 out evidence that her mother was there alone. She had 
 ceased to wander in speech and lay breathing deep and 
 
338 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 hard. At intervals a convulsive movement lifted her whole 
 body with a mechanical effort to rise, but she was uncon- 
 scious. The little rocker, as if she had just left it, rocked 
 by itself empty in the wind. A chill went over Barbie : 
 she remembered a night on the plains. The rocking of an 
 empty cradle is said to bode sickness or death to the child ; 
 even so might the rocking of a chair, to the one who is 
 accustomed to use it. 
 
 " Mother will never get well." The load of this forebod- 
 ing made her stupid to all else. Stella's absence did not 
 impress her as particularly strange. " Of course she could 
 not ' watch one hour ! ' The night was cooler outside ; her 
 own comfort called her and she went." Young hearts are 
 bitter when human justice is frustrate in their sight, and 
 God's will is so hard to understand. 
 
 The vigil went on till dawn. When Stella was not in by 
 sunrise, nor at six, and it became a question of Jimmy's 
 breakfast, Barbie then awakened her father. "While he 
 dressed she looked into Stella's room. One glance showed 
 what use the unhappy girl had made of the trust she asked 
 for. That light jeer, last night as they parted, had been her 
 farewell ; with those words about " your husband " she had 
 cast the dust of the settlement from her feet. The rest was 
 pure, cold treachery and desertion where everything was 
 due that is possible for one woman to owe another. Thus 
 Barbie closed her heart and was glad the parasite had 
 fled. 
 
 About seven, Lottie Kiersted came over on a fast walk, 
 her boy, still in his night drawers, balanced astride of one 
 hip. With her free hand she swept the un tidied hair 
 from her red and swollen eyes. She found only Mr. Han- 
 nington doing his morning chores outside ; neither one 
 
THE EMPTY BEDROOM 339 
 
 observed the other closely. Her first question was of the 
 invalid, how had she passed the night ? the answer, as 
 usual, " About the same." Then, in a shaken voice, Lottie 
 asked, " Where is Stella ? Is n't she around this morn- 
 ing?" 
 
 " Stella does n't seem to be anywhere around," Mr. 
 Hannington replied. 
 
 " I knew it ! She 's gone away with my husband ! " 
 
 Alvin stared at the little, pale, fierce face of the woman. 
 " Lottie, what are you saying ! Come out here ! How 
 did you know Stella was gone ? " 
 
 " Susan brought the plums," Lottie stammered between 
 chattering teeth. 
 
 " Sit down," said Mr. Hannington. She sat down on 
 the milk-bench, hugging the child and shivering. 
 
 " She met them on the trail " 
 
 "Met who?" 
 
 " Stella and her Injun horseback. Susan asked him 
 where they were going ; they talked chinook. ' To meet 
 the Red One,' he said. That 's Sam the name they call 
 him. To meet him at sunrise on the road to the Falls. 
 They were all going south together, to California." 
 
 " What time did Sam start ? " 
 
 " Oh, early ! Time enough to get to the cross-trails easy 
 by sunrise." 
 
 " What if he did ? There 's nothing in it. Low-minded 
 Indian gossip. Lottie, you ought to be a prouder woman 
 than this." 
 
 Barbie had returned with a pitcher of milk in her hand. 
 She stood by her father making a silent third. Young Sam 
 glued his eyes upon the milk and howled for it. 
 
 "Give him a drink, do," said Mr. Hannington. 
 
340 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Lottie from habit demurred. " You '11 rob yourselves. 
 He '11 get his breakfast soon." 
 
 "Give it to him," Mr. Hannington thundered. The 
 child drank and his mother steadied the cup which he 
 grasped in both hands, her hard-drawn face staring at 
 them over the top of his eager head. 
 
 " Barbie, you and Jimmy know tell your father ! I 
 don't care who knows anything. Sam is not as bad as some. 
 It was money she tolled him off with. All summer there 's 
 been a lot of talk going on between them, some scheme 
 she wanted to work out with his help. He told me what 
 he could about it. I said ' no ' right flat out. He knew 
 he 'd never persuade me to consent, so he 's gone and not 
 told me. I don't accuse him of everything: I don't want 
 it said that I 'm such a fool as to be jealous." 
 
 " Qui Court could easily know a little and guess at more, 
 and of course he has a mind like the others ; suppose they 
 did go together, part of the way ? " Barbie saw the fallacy 
 of this persuasion, for Sam would not have given Stella his 
 aid and company, leaving her home by stealth. 
 
 "Well, Lottie," said Mr. Hannington, " I 've no more 
 doubts of Sam than I would have of Jimmy, but to sat- 
 isfy you, if you've been worried about other things, I '11 
 go to Champoeg myself. If Sam is there, that 's a lesson 
 to you ! We can't wait for a doctor any longer ; if there 's 
 the least chance of this story being true, why, there 's that 
 to consider. The doctor must be sent back here, and we 
 must give account of ourselves at the convention. But I 
 won't believe Sam 's turned his back on his wife and his 
 country, too. You don't think he could look as proud and 
 pleased as he did yesterday, and to-day go sneaking off 
 on a dishonest freak like this ! " 
 
THE EMPTY BEDROOM 341 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Hannington ! It 's a great comfort to 
 speak to some one I mean to one who " Lottie wept, 
 while young Sam tipped the cup till it printed his fore- 
 head, sucking the last drops. 
 
 " Jimmy must do this for you, father : he must go," said 
 Barbie when they were alone. " You can't leave mother 
 now." She drew his head against her and stroked his hot, 
 sticky forehead. The wind that freshened up after mid- 
 night had died away at dawn ; the morning threatened a 
 day of perilous heat. " Go, dear, and look at her : see if 
 you can leave her ! " 
 
 " I shan't leave her," Alvin said. " She is n't here I You 
 and Jimmy,"- he covered his face. 
 
 "Oh, no, you must n't go," she pleaded with him. 
 
 " Don't you try to persuade me, daughter. If there 's 
 anything in it, this is not a young man 's job. Your 
 mother would want me to go," he faltered. Barbie could 
 say no more. 
 
 They had their hard moments together, then Alvin went 
 in alone. He drew the little rocker close to his wife's bed 
 and sat on the edge of it creaking ; his head sank forward; 
 coatless, unshaven, unaware of the heat or his personal 
 appearance, he sat there in the presence of that supreme 
 change, the summing-up of most earthly things for him. 
 Hardly a pride connected with himself was left which 
 time had not humbled, except his pride in the girl out- 
 side, their child ; hardly a possession had he kept, save 
 the treasure of this woman's faith and constancy and the 
 years they had spent together. The altered face seemed 
 no longer hers ; it was unfamiliar, awful in its detachment. 
 But his whole sense of her, spiritually, enwrapped him. 
 The tide would be long going out ; there would be hours 
 
342 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 when he might be sitting here thinking about her, keep- 
 ing his mind from little things ; but the hot Champoeg 
 trail and the crowd of men at the meeting was his duty 
 as he saw it, and he seemed to see it with her eyes. 
 
 " Jimmy can help Barbie better than I can ; he could n't 
 do anything with Stella. I won't be harsh, however it is 
 with her. I promise you that, mother." 
 
 It was not the shape on the bed his thoughts consulted. 
 Even seeing what he saw, it could not seem possible he 
 had nothing left but that. He placed his hand over the 
 dry hand that lay hot and twitching on the bedclothes ; 
 it no longer owned his touch. He felt no desire to kiss the 
 face on the pillow. The soul of his wife was far removed 
 from human prayers or longing, transacting its supreme 
 business alone within the veil that shrouds its initiation. 
 
 " You will never miss me any more, Silence, Silence ! 
 but I shall miss you, my dear." 
 
 So he went on his errand, taking it simply as their mu- 
 tual errand. He was leaving her on her deathbed and her 
 earthly concerns were over, but reality, at last, is only what 
 we are able to feel. The external semblance of her lying 
 there with fixed eyes, fighting for each breath, sinking 
 hour by hour into that fathomless isolation we emerge from 
 and pass out in, that part which he was leaving did not 
 govern his consciousness so nearly as her active, human 
 participancy through which he had known her as his wife. 
 He could not lose that ; nay, more, they were come to the 
 final unveiling of two reserved souls whom life had united 
 by an imperfect tie, and she would soon be free. But he 
 had nothing to fear. On the road he thought, " I don't 
 believe I ever made her understand how much she was 
 to me, but she '11 know it soon, she '11 know ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 RUNNING WATER 
 
 THE old Indian hunting-trail showed fresh pony tracks 
 in the dampened dust, as Sam climbed out of valley shad- 
 ows and met the sun. Stella had been impatient, hence 
 her long wait above, which Qui Court prophesied, grum- 
 bling. She had forbidden him to bring whiskey ; he had 
 however, incorporated sufficient with his person to make 
 him talkative, and although angry with his disobedience 
 she found him interesting. Qui Court never lied unless he 
 happened to be sober. She listened and obtained inform- 
 ation that gave her what she believed to be an immea- 
 surable advantage at the present juncture in her affairs, 
 which unhappily depended so much on others : so she 
 walked down the road to meet Sam in a state of exulta- 
 tion. 
 
 As he hove in sight she took her stand playfully in the 
 middle of his path ; he did not recognize her at once, the 
 sun at her back shining directly in his eyes. She pushed 
 up the brim of her boy's hat and showed the wreath of 
 fair hair framing her provoking beauty ; hands on hips 
 she struck an attitude, laughing in his face. 
 
 " You jackanapes ! Now what are you up to ! " 
 
 Eoughness was his refuge from the shock that went 
 through his veins, and the weak confusion that followed. 
 She came nearer and took his horse's bridle in both hands. 
 Sweet as morning in the woods the smile was she gave him, 
 dodging the horse's big restless head, to meet his eyes. 
 
344 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Get down, Sam, please ; I 've got a world of things 
 to tell you." 
 
 " Tell me, first, what are you doing here prancing around 
 in this rig?" 
 
 Stella had prepared herself for a hard journey, sensi- 
 bly, if somewhat in advance of woman's sense in dress at 
 that time. From a distance, she looked like a boy or a 
 small man, in the semi-Indian costume worn on hunting- 
 trips by all the whites. Nearer, there was no mistaking 
 the conscious feminine glance or the decorative arrange- 
 ment of hair, just enough of it showing for becomingness. 
 
 Her laughter and her mischief were Sam's undoing. 
 She was the witch of the wheat-field who brought him first 
 to shame. The same detested melting in his bones alarmed 
 him. 
 
 He got down dizzily, threw his arm across the saddle 
 and dropped his eyes a moment. 
 
 " Sleepy, Sam ? Got up too early? " 
 
 " Where are you going ? " 
 
 "To Champoeg with my gold. To show it to some 
 ' male citizen of the future State of Oregon '; my contri- 
 bution to the Wolf Meeting.' " 
 
 " You 've run away, then ? " 
 
 " I told you, uncle, I should rebel. You would n't take 
 me for your niece, all proper in the family. Now I 'm off 
 on my own hook. Never was so happy in my life ! " 
 
 " Is that the wonderful news you had to tell me ? " 
 
 " Part of it : you are not glad I am happy ? But the 
 rest is serious. Sit down, do! When you speak, speak low. 
 Qui Court il dort 1 There 's no knowing, though. He 
 has taken some whiskey which I forbade him, but it leads 
 to things : he 's been talking, telling Indian secrets. I hold 
 
RUNNING WATER 345 
 
 the poor wretch's life in my hands ! Sam, what do you 
 think ! There 's going to be an Indian uprising this very 
 autumn. All the young braves, tribe after tribe, are in it. 
 The old men can't hold them back. It's coming, Sam! it 
 means a general massacre. Every American settlement 
 and mission they have sworn to wipe out they are so en- 
 raged at Dr. Whitman. Now they see the game : schools 
 and religion first and heaven and all that, to get their 
 friendship and a foothold ; then bring in the settlers. Set- 
 tlers want land. Catholics and fur companies don't bring 
 wives and children ; don't sweep off the woods and spoil 
 the hunting. They have heard about this fall's emigration 
 that 's on the way : they know at last what the Americans 
 mean. 
 
 " Now, Sam, is that worth telling ? It 's no cock-and- 
 bull story, I assure you. You 've all got to go, somewhere, 
 before next autumn. I hold by my first offer ; you are the 
 first ' male citizen ' I showed my gold to. Come on with 
 us, and by fall, long before fall, you '11 be ready for 
 Lottie and the boy. It's a better country, far, than Ore- 
 gon. It's wonderful! Wait till you see ! There are homes 
 for all of you ; not where we are going. They will take 
 their own way. There's room enough, but time ! there 's 
 no time to spare. Come with us, now! Send back word 
 why you go, and warn them. The Americans had better 
 leave politics alone and think about their lives. Have I 
 talked too loud? No, he's sound. But, careful with your 
 big guns when you begin to roar!" 
 
 Sam looked at her in silence. " Why did you choose 
 to-day for your start ? " 
 
 " For the sake of your company, uncle." 
 
 " Are you safe with that fellow ? " 
 
346 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " He adores me. I belong to his " She hesitated and 
 Sam broke in. 
 
 " He is using you to decoy men into this scheme ; he 
 can't work it alone. He wants money for the rest of his 
 life, for whiskey and ponies and Indian wives. That 's why 
 he adores you." 
 
 " Well, I don't care ! I have his other secret now. It 
 means death to him by inches if the Indians ever know 
 he 's betrayed them." 
 
 " Girl, be careful, for goodness ' sake ! If you brag to 
 him that you 've got his life, your life won't be worth a 
 charge of powder. Stella, you must go home. You're on 
 a dangerous road with that half-breed. You 're playing with 
 death not in one way but dozens. For God's sake, go 
 home ! Come with me now ! " Sam rose and held out his 
 hands. " Come ! I'll take you home : that 's all I can do." 
 
 " Home ! " she repeated in lazy scorn. She let him hold 
 her hands which was the extent of her yielding. " If you 
 are so worried about me, come along, then, and take care 
 of your little partner. Did n't I tell you how I 'd take care 
 of you, big uncle ? " 
 
 "I will take you home to your folks ; that 's the only road 
 we can take together." 
 
 He released her hands from his hot grasp ; his pounding 
 blood betrayed the struggle, shamed him in her mocking 
 eyes ; yet the mastery was his, if not the pride of one who 
 has no need to struggle. Sam was no Galahad, but the solid 
 manhood in him ruled the folly of the hour. 
 
 " There 's only one road to Champoeg," she remarked 
 dryly. 
 
 " It 's open to you, but you can't go in my company, run* , 
 ning away from your friends." y 
 
SUNNING WATER 347 
 
 " I see : you are afraid, as usual, of the looks of things." 
 
 "I'm afraid," said Sam, "of a good many things not 
 necessary to speak of. I start now. Thank you, Stella, for 
 your warning. I sha n't hesitate to pass it on, no names 
 attached, of course. We will be ready ! Our ' politics ' has 
 just that end in view : so we can act together when we need 
 our strength combined. Take my warning, now, and go 
 home. I am your friend, Stella ; too much your friend to 
 let you fool with me. That gold is all a gamble. Drop it, 
 and go home ! " 
 
 " Then I'm a gambler," said Stella. Her face grew hard. 
 " I shall find some one, some day, to play the game with, 
 never fear ! " 
 
 "If you go to Champoeg with that half-breed, I will give 
 you in charge of the mission. I shall have to see that you 
 are looked after, by force, if necessary, till your uncle knows 
 where you are. Think of the trouble they are in this morn- 
 ing!" 
 
 " Not about me," said Stella, divining her place in the 
 house she had left forever. 
 
 "Will you go back?" 
 
 She arched her eye at him under the slant of her hat- 
 brim. " Do you really mean that ? that you '11 have me 
 kept there by force? Suppose I charge you with abduction 
 and desertion afterward ? " 
 
 " That would bring up the question of your character 
 and mine, Stella. You 're losing your good sense." 
 
 "Yes," she said, suddenly giving way, in her subtle, 
 crouching fashion. " I 'm getting angry and then I always 
 hurt my own cause." 
 
 " Promise me you will go home." 
 
 " I will promise you this : I shall chase no big farmer like 
 
348 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 you to Champoeg : I don't call you worth it. As to home ; 
 if you see them before I do, tell them that warning about 
 the Indians came from me, the outcast, the sinner they took 
 back on sufferance. I call that quits!" 
 
 She stepped aside and waved her hand lightly, then 
 mockingly she kissed it. Sam, without looking at her again, 
 swung into his saddle and passed the slumbering half-breed 
 at a heavy trot. 
 
 Qui Court raised his head. It took him some seconds to 
 rearrange his ideas of time and place. Stella had reached 
 the spot and stood regarding him severely. He blinked 
 and yawned like a dog embarrassed by the human gaze. 
 
 " Where is the Ked One, < Uncle ' ? Is not come yet ? " 
 
 "Come and gone," said Stella; "but you needn't call 
 him 'Uncle'!" 
 
 "Goes not with us?" 
 
 "He is that ! " she snapped her fingers. " Cattle ! They 
 are all cattle, with thick heads, and horns to push you out 
 of your road. Qui Court, pay attention." Qui Court sat up 
 and straightened the red handkerchief about his brows. 
 " We do not go to the Falls, understand ? I waste no more 
 time on these farmers." 
 
 " Madame has learned at last ! " 
 
 " Can't we cross the river somewhere near here and go 
 straight to Fort Vancouver ? " 
 
 "We waste our time at Vancouver also, madame. All 
 fur-hunter, no gold-hunter, there. Good place to eat 
 and drink " 
 
 " At least, there are men there," Stella broke in, " and 
 Englishmen. My father was an Englishman." 
 
 " Madame has got friend at Fort Vancouver?" Qui 
 Court screwed an eye at her curiously. 
 
RUNNING WATER 349 
 
 " Captain Bradburn's widow has friends wherever he was 
 known." 
 
 " He was known at Fort Vancouver, but it is true ! 
 Let me warn madarae all those gentlemen what know 
 Captain Bradburn was not his friend, by " 
 
 " Hush ! Captain Grant was n't, that I know." 
 
 " Captain Grant have many friend at Fort Vancouver. 
 Where that flag fly with those letter, H. B. C.' those 
 men all stick together. I speak the word to madame ; reason, 
 it is not for me to say. There are many stories." 
 
 Stella paused an instant : " Thank you for the hint, my 
 friend ; still I shall be Mrs. Bradburn, not in law, perhaps, 
 but in that which is above law to white men. The more 
 bad they speak of him, the more they will pity me. It is a 
 strange thing, Qui Court, that the lady of Captain Brad- 
 burn, whom he gave his life for, should be roaming the coun- 
 try begging her bread : left nothing, nothing but this 
 pinch of gold she owes to you." 
 
 " But it is true, madame ! They will listen to madame's 
 story. There are many such story, but not many such lady, 
 my faith ! Madame sees her way through this crooked 
 world ; she has had instruction. I also knew Captain Brad- 
 burn ! " Qui Court waved a polite salutation to the air, as 
 if it held a presence invisible, but wisely propitiated. 
 
 " But that gold, madame," he resumed, lighting his pipe 
 as an aid to extended conversation, " that makes nothing 
 with Chief McLoughlin. He has many years ; much 
 trouble with those Americain. Too much peopP, all time 
 more and more ! Gold bring peopl'. Ten men go to find 
 land and home, ten thousan' go to find gold ! Chief Mc- 
 Loughlin don' wan' to smell that gold. That smell bad to 
 him. But it is true." Qui Court nodded, removing his 
 
350 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 pipe and watching a fresh puff die in sunshine. " All those 
 Hudson Bay gentlemen what they want is room 
 room ! " with many rrs and a wave of the hand, he em- 
 braced the landscape. " Fort Vancouver, every year, send 
 out three brigade : Caledonia brigade go north, sixty, 
 seventy voyageurs. Gran* sight ! Steersman give order : 
 strike the paddle, all one stroke ! men all sing ! Maybe 
 some bag-pipe screechin'. Pilot boat carry that flag, 
 ' H. B. C.': those men go to Okanogan; leave canoe, take 
 horse, two, three hundred in one pack-train. Tinkle- 
 tinkle in the forest, in the black, dark canyon where the 
 river roar. They go up by Kamloops, country of the Shus- 
 waps ; up Fraser River. All that one gran* empire, New 
 Caledonia. Tha' 's only one ! East brigade take in the 
 hunt from Idaho and Montana and Wyoming. South 
 brigade scoop in all that from Sacramento River and 
 Snake River and Salt Lake. Ain't that big enough? 
 What a great chief like Father McLoughlin who look 
 over all that, what he want with gold ? ' Keep away 
 from me all those peopl' what make me so much troubl' 
 with my company ! ' He has that kind heart : he see poor 
 settler with leettle children, wife sick, cattle dead, no house, 
 no food, winter come. Fath' McLoughlin put finger in his 
 ear : can't hear order from London ; he listen to his 
 heart. But that make him much troubl'. No, madame, we 
 waste our time at Fort Vancouver." 
 
 " Then what do you want ? Have you any plan of your 
 own?" 
 
 " Assuredly! " said Qui Court. 
 
 His last words held more fascination for his girl-partner 
 than any chimerical quest for gold. Her spirits sank at 
 the prospect of endless journeying in loneliness, past one 
 
RUNNING WATER 351 
 
 after another of those friendly lights of hospitality. If 
 no one wanted gold, why peddle it at such a sacrifice ? 
 There were other sides of life more nearly within the 
 scope of her experience and knowledge of her own 
 powers. 
 
 " Would madame feel herself able to travel a little far- 
 ther and join that South brigade ? " 
 
 " At Fort Vancouver ? " Madame would be enchanted ! 
 
 " No, no, madame ; that would be impossibl', against 
 orders." Qui Court grinned a form of explanation. " We 
 pass by and do not stop : we go maybe a leetle slow ; stop 
 at some leetle trader post and buy what we want. Me, I 
 can buy ver* cheap! On the road we catch that South 
 brigade. Chief factor ride in front ; fine gentleman ! 'Bent 
 all to himself. Young, beautiful Scotch gentleman com- 
 mand that brigade. Madame, we show our gold to him. 
 He listen, both ways ! " 
 
 "Both ways?" 
 
 " To the lady, my faith ! and to the gold." 
 
 " Qui Court, you are too free with your ' Lady, my 
 faith ! * I am Captain Bradburn's widow in distress." 
 
 " Madame has right. She sees well her way in this bad 
 world." 
 
 " Does that brigade ever stop anywhere ? " 
 
 " Sure-lee ! It is not for the hunt ; it is for trade. It 
 stop at gran' place, the ver' place we wan' to go ou'selves ! 
 It is the goodness of God ! That young gentleman what 
 goes chief factor this treep, he take command at company, 
 new place at Yerba Buena ; what you call where sheep 
 come in." 
 
 "Sheep?" 
 . " Boat, with sail ; big boat for the ocean." 
 
352 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " Ships ! a seaport. Has the Hudson's Bay Company 
 got a port in California ? " 
 
 " A-a-ah ! Everywhere that company lay its hand ! 
 Father McLoughlin fix that maybe twenty year' ago. 
 Now they got land, thousan' acre, fine house cost four 
 thousan' dollar. This young gentleman get that fine new 
 post for himself. He son-in-law to Chief McLoughlin." 
 
 " Married, is he ? " 
 
 " Not to hurt, not to hurt. The wife does not come 
 down so soon. She stay on the Columbia with her father." 
 
 " Is she handsome ? " 
 
 " She has the beauty that is youth ; me, I prefer those 
 Spanish lady, las Mejicanas." 
 
 "Are they so handsome?" 
 
 " Madame will see for herself. They have not hair like 
 gold thread in the sun, like cobweb in the breeze. They 
 have not the cheek of rose." 
 
 " Qui Court, you know quite well that my nose is as red 
 as my cheeks." 
 
 " What does that make I It is not wide like squaw, that 
 nose, if madame permeet " 
 
 " I don't permit, but I am in no case to scold you, Qui 
 Court, my poor friend." 
 
 " Madame commands from the heart : it is from the 
 heart Qui Court obeys. Trust Qui Court, madame. He 
 go sometime crooked, sometime he go straight; take long 
 trail, long way, but he finish at that ocean. There we play 
 our beeg card, and we win ! " 
 
 " So be it ! " Stella answered gayly. " Lead ahead, Qui 
 Court." 
 
 The ponies stepped neck and neck, as the trail gave 
 room, Qui Court chuckling in a sing-song to himself: 
 
KUNNING WATER 353 
 
 "Gran' time fur comp'ny fort, gran* time! When 
 those brigade come in, my God, sometime carry on awful ! " 
 
 Stella mused in her fashion also. She was beyond set- 
 tlers' fences and cabbage-patches, and sickness and preach- 
 ing and thrift, and the dominion of lawful wives. How 
 had she borne it so long ! Bradburn erstwhile had filled 
 her memory with tales, not too select, of those " gran' time 
 at fur comp'ny fort." How they dined every night in 
 evening dress, those Lords of Trade in the wilderness, 
 waited on by wives and moot-wives, barefoot, humble as 
 the dirt beneath their feet ; of their haughty exclusiveness 
 and merciless memories, punishing Peter in vengeance for 
 Paul; poaching on each other's territory, stealing each 
 other's spoils, skin for skin, wound for wound, by the 
 ancient law of the forest. These men were, for the most 
 part, bachelors if not celibates. 
 
 She drew the breath of license, of adventures coarse and 
 wild. Need we pretend they had no thrill for her because 
 she was part New England, delicately featured, with a 
 mouth like a cruel little rose? She counted over the 
 contents of her travelling-pack : wisdom is justified of her 
 children ! The old Havana lawn was there, fragile but 
 unfaded because Aunt Silence had washed it herself and 
 ironed it with her own hands ; the red dot sprinkled on its 
 sheer whiteness, of a red to match the spark in each bead 
 of her garnet chain, which always had brought her luck, 
 if it be luck to win a man's heart when you have no pre- 
 sent use for it. She had use now for all her winnings. And 
 her white silk a trifle soiled, but men do not notice. It 
 would be daring by lamplight in a smoky, vast, rude din- 
 ing-hall off her shoulders, and the turquoise necklace 
 set in silver hooked tight around her throat. 
 
354 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " ' Gran* time,' " she mimicked gloriously " 'gran' 
 time at fur comp'ny fort ! ' I am coming back to life at 
 last ! The mountains are great graves ! Oh, when I see 
 my long white sands and hear that roll of surf again ! " 
 All that Bradburn's passionate boast had promised, she 
 saw in the distance of her dreams : homesick cravings for 
 pure sensation, and for that subtle luxury of climate she 
 was born to. Among the Spanish of old California, she 
 had heard there was largesse like to the house of Job : 
 riding where only servants walk, delicious eating without 
 care for how it came, indifference to time; feasts and 
 lights and dancing and night scenes in that Southern 
 moonlight, piercing memories of which, bringing back her 
 own childhood, drove her almost to cry out. Summer 
 nights, sick with scent of orange flowers in a dim, walled 
 court, and double jessamine climbing up the paw-paw; 
 where they used to leave her quite alone, the careless serv- 
 ants, with her old whispering neighbor, the great ken- 
 nip tree that overspread the court, and the palm by the 
 house-corner rattling its long, hard leaves like a patter of 
 rain. Scraps of singing, the shuffle of passing feet, faint, 
 thrilling music from a warship in the harbor where there 
 might be dancing on board and that muffled, savage 
 beat of gumbies in the African quarter, the jungle of the 
 gay white town with all its jalousies thrown open to the 
 night: the South, the South! And Englishmen were 
 there who lived the life of men and did not torment you 
 with riddles of the soul. 
 
 " Jam not 'sick of surfeit,' my lords and gentlemen, and 
 I don't believe that you are either." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 ACROSS THE BORDER 
 
 Qui COURT spoke at random when he gave Rae, the 
 young superintendent of the company's post at San Fran- 
 cisco Yerba Buena, it was then title of chief factor 
 and command of the brigade. No doubt, though, its object 
 primarily was trade instead of hunting. Since before '41 
 there had been a Hudson's Bay station on the Umpqua 
 known as McKay's Fort : McKay and Astor's old inter- 
 preter, Framboise, regularly ranged the Sacramento, 
 despite efforts of Sutter, who had a fort of his own, to 
 arouse the Mexicans against them. A subsequent arrange- 
 ment set the limit at thirty trappers allowed on the Cali- 
 fornia side. They must have been hard to count, dressed 
 with the excuse of climate so that even a Mexican could 
 not detect them at gun-range ; but there was no general 
 license to hunt or trap beyond the Umpqua River. 
 
 It was Sir George Simpson's dream, which ended as 
 dreams frequently do, that foothold in California. Not 
 McLoughlin alone, but a strong party of three, Sir George, 
 McLoughlin, and James Douglas, went down and dickered 
 gracefully with the dons. General Vallejo entertained 
 them with mediaeval picturesqueness ; they talked with 
 General Alvarado at Monterey over his seductive old 
 Spanish wines; but the Scotchmen kept their heads and 
 won every point in the game : a trading-post and shipping- 
 port, the right to defend the trail used by their men 
 through Mexican dominions and to punish Indians who 
 
356 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 molested them ; to buy hides and stock in California in 
 exchange for English goods from Fort Vancouver. Though 
 all this had nominally been accomplished years before, Rae 
 was the first resident ; and he had a delicate mission be- 
 fore him. The English were supposed to be welcome 
 neighbors to the proud old families with Spanish names 
 and Spanish blood, at least they were not Americans. 
 Still, those lazy temperaments had fire beneath: the eyes 
 of the ladies and the lurking weapons of the men were al- 
 ways to be reckoned with. The English would be tempted, 
 and they would be watched accordingly. 
 
 Rae had his own camp servants who pitched his young 
 lordship's tent and packed his animals and took charge of 
 his table luxuries, which he handed out in proper style. 
 He had married into the royal family of Oregon ; he "felt 
 his oats," perhaps, but he was extremely charming, as 
 every one knows a temperamental young Scotchman can 
 be, and had magnetism for high and low. To this small 
 but favored retinue, Qui Court attached himself, an enter- 
 taining, song-singing, but otherwise inconspicuous follower. 
 
 His errant lady, also entertaining but never inconspicu- 
 ous, came naturally under Rae's protection as her future 
 host : by Qui Court's soberest advice they had waited be- 
 fore obtruding the subject of gold. Stella, following a 
 change of impulse which seized her on beholding Rae, 
 introduced herself by her own name as Bradburn's fiance*e, 
 in widowed circumstances due to her lover's sudden death 
 on the eve of their marriage ; now journeying with one of 
 his trusted followers to prove her claim to property he had 
 left her in California. Qui Court (to whom this was news) 
 listened in admiration. He much approved madame's 
 change of pose. 
 
ACKOSS THE BOEDER 357 
 
 Rae asked no inconvenient questions: his experience 
 of life, and of errant ladies, married or single, enabled 
 him to draw conclusions which rendered the fair one 
 at his side no less interesting ; but, since fate had sent 
 him this romantic charge, he deemed it quite as well that 
 his young wife Eloise should not be riding on his other 
 hand. 
 
 From prudence, or because its piquancy charmed him, 
 he made a special request that Miss Mutrie should keep 
 faith for the present with her boyish disguise: time 
 enough to unpack the " wimples and crisping-pins " and 
 the rest of her woman's arsenal when this wild jaunt was 
 over. They talked of it lightly, Rae casting side looks of 
 more than judicial approval at the subject of this sage 
 advice. 
 
 Stella kicked her little moccasined feet out of the 
 clumsy Spanish stirrups, wiggled her toes and said, no 
 more side-saddle for her : the dress had too many con- 
 veniences. Still it was a sort of occultation and no one 
 enjoyed more than she the effect of her nightly reappear- 
 ance upon those silent, smoking creatures who pretended 
 not to watch, but would n't have missed the sight for any- 
 thing. The pretty lad in deerskins they had ridden with 
 all day sat down a lad, shed hat and head-binder and 
 leather over-shirt, switched off his neck-cloth and turned 
 back his woollen sleeves, and lo, from the waist-belt up, a 
 white-throated maid fronting the firelight, flushed and 
 delicate as a rose ; sleepy eyes, brilliant from riding, atti- 
 tudes careless as a child's ! Those lovely, listless arms 
 stretch up to search for combs and hairpins, and down 
 rolls the stream of shadow-spotted hair. There are no em- 
 barrassed, foolish smiles, but a business-like gravity while 
 
358 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 the ripples are brushed out, with turnings of the head, 
 and the beautiful stuff is re-woven into its arm-length 
 braids and each end wound with one long, spare golden 
 hair, thoughtfully detached, and examined to see if it 
 were a good one or already split. 
 
 Women are wonders ! Rae's heart went back restlessly 
 to his own girl, half conscious too of a mean relief that 
 she was not there. 
 
 Then, quite as if Aunt Silence were beside her with a 
 motherly lap to lend, Stella would roll over on one hip 
 and cushion her head on the nearest knee, always 
 Rae's, yet no distinctions appeared to exist for her. 
 We cannot say what this was ; it was not love, nor en- 
 thraldom, nor the business side of her adventure down 
 the coast. She was too lazy to act ; her inborn, insolent 
 honesty disdained prepared effects, and she did not need 
 them. She was dangerous because she was terribly nat- 
 ural and free for the first time in ages, she would 
 have said, from a constant sense of shocking others. 
 But in spite of this casualness, others began to feel de 
 trop. Long before the Mexican line was passed she and 
 Rae were spending the evenings in each other's exclusive 
 company. 
 
 Long silences fell between them charged with the mel- 
 ancholy of shortening days. They were coming to the sea 
 where everything resolves itself into something else, or 
 disappears. She developed moods of confiding wistf ulness ; 
 unburdenings the most extreme seemed hovering on her 
 lips. In fact she was tired of the ingenue role she had 
 assumed ; like water she sought her own level if it were 
 the ditch ; she was risky and capricious till she found it. 
 She might have been supposed now to be courting Eae's 
 
ACROSS THE BORDER 359 
 
 sympathy as another of the poets' long list of hapless 
 maids deceived, she of the weary lot, or that other fair 
 one who tied her hair in a horse-boy's trim. These guises 
 pleased her present fancy which luxuriated in sadness. 
 They provoked Rae's passion, as steady drinking on a 
 journey both lazy and exciting inflamed his blood. He 
 may have been no more a libertine at heart than Sam 
 Kiersted, but he needed Sam's large doses of hard work, 
 administered by the natural persuasion of circumstances 
 which preach results. Nightly he tossed and groaned to 
 himself that he wished he had never met the little witch 
 never known there was anything like her in the world ! 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 HAVING BEACHED THE BAY 
 
 STELLA had been considering, on and off, her own pri- 
 vate interests lodged in the person of Qui Court. Know- 
 ing his weakness and the temptations awaiting him, she 
 tried her persuasions to induce a greater frankness be- 
 tween them concerning the discovery they were to share. 
 Qui Court had nothing that he could tell madame ; he 
 could only go himself and show ; like Bradburn his 
 maps were in his head. If he could have told more, evi- 
 dently he thought it safer not to. This was by no means 
 Stella's opinion, but she feared to press the matter and 
 thereby possibly excite distrust. She carried the tangible 
 evidence, the grains of rough gold, but the secret of its 
 hiding-place remained incorporate with the person of Qui 
 Court, subject to his well-known liabilities : he promised 
 to take great care of himself lest he become its grave. 
 
 With the aid of discipline absolutely he was discretion's 
 slave, on the march ; but the fort's welcome to an incom- 
 ing brigade always had been one of those occasions when 
 discipline was understood not to count. 
 
 There was an evening and a night when no official in- 
 quiries were made, whatever the sounds from the court 
 below, or outside the walls, or stumbling along half- 
 lighted galleries ; and there was an hour or two of dark- 
 ness and heavy sleep before dawn, when groans in the 
 patio mingled with grunting of drunken men, annoying 
 each other in their dreams. The officials also had been 
 
HAVING REACHED THE BAY 361 
 
 celebrating. After a bath and tea and hours of inordinate 
 repose, Stella woke thinking she had slept the clock 
 around and cheated herself of the opening scene of this 
 first-night play. A barefooted Indian girl, much wrapped 
 up about the head in a black-and-white rebozo, came in 
 without knocking, shielding a candle from the draught. 
 It appeared to be her mission to light Qui Court who en- 
 tered in the same frank Latin fashion bearing madarne's 
 travelling-packs, his new tinsel-braided sombrero riding 
 atop. The door stood open ; she could see, over the kneel- 
 ing shape of Qui Court unroping her packs, shadows of 
 red torchlight jumping about the court, and a few stars, 
 distant and silver clear in a patch of purple sky. There 
 was also a peculiar rustle of trees that were not pines, a 
 swell of water that was not rapids. Again she sighed: the 
 South the South! 
 
 Something important she had to say to Qui Court when 
 they were alone, but Qui Court managed to make his es- 
 cape while the maid was asking if the senorita would 
 have supper in her own chamber or with the gentlemen 
 below. Stella answered decidedly, " Below ! " She could 
 not recall enough Spanish to order that Qui Court be 
 fetched back immediately so there was the first mis- 
 take ! which Bradburn would never have made. How- 
 ever, one must dress for supper; there was not too much 
 time. 
 
 Rae apologized for the patriarchal Mexican fashion in 
 which supper was served for this occasion ; but his guest 
 was charmed ; she called it baronial. The engages, increas- 
 ing in color as they diminished in rank, seated themselves 
 in two long rows, below the salt. Qui Court was not 
 among them ; his mistress could hardly ask why. Her 
 
362 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 place was the seat of honor beside Rae at the head of the 
 board. Each dish of distinction was presented for her ap- 
 proval before the servant set it before his master to serve. 
 Four or five silent young Englishmen completed the official 
 group. It dawned upon Stella that her presence, however 
 delightful, had not been expected below stairs that even- 
 ing, but her spirits were not dashed : she resolved to be 
 no damper on the company. 
 
 Her uncommon ease and fluency seemed to embarrass 
 the juniors, under the eye of their commander, even more 
 than the amazing stranger's loveliness and style. To them 
 she seemed superb in the soiled white silk and turquoise 
 chain. When nothing else could be thought of to say, each 
 in turn sought her eye, blushing, raised his glass and asked 
 if he might have the honor ? The honor was had, more 
 than a sufficient number of times to witness the metal of 
 the company. Rae's official stateliness wore off. Under- 
 lings left the table and a fitful booming of guitar-strings 
 mingled with hoarse laughter in the patio. Every one cried 
 upon Rae for a song : he gave them " Her looks were like 
 a flower in May." Concluding, amidst applause, he called 
 a toast with a gallant air " To ' Phemie ' " heroine of the 
 song and fixed his swimming gaze daringly on the 
 heroine at his side. With his right arm across the back of 
 "Phemie's " chair he held his glass to her lips insisting 
 that she honor it with the first sip. Between them the 
 wine went all into " Phemie's " white silk lap. It was red 
 wine. She rose and backed away in horror, holding out 
 her skirt. Rae supported her while servants wiped off the 
 brutal stains. But her spirits sank at the spectacle below 
 recovery ; she said it was Nim's blood and Jimmy killed 
 him, and why did they all look at her ! 
 
HAVING KE ACHED THE BAY 363 
 
 Later, they were seated side by side on the floor and 
 she was reciting to Rae brokenly her indignities in the 
 past. 
 
 " An' he push me in the water says, ' wash my dress ' ! 
 4 You can't go up there, such a shight you are ! ' ' was 
 Nim's blood ' ! See 's blood? " They reclined upon each 
 other and she wept. 
 
 At two o'clock, the afternoon following, a heavy-eyed 
 court of enquiry sat in the crowded filthy patio, upon one 
 of those familiar cases of a grand time when the yearly 
 brigade comes in. It lay with its boots on wrapped in a 
 gaudy serape stiff with dark brown stains resembling dregs 
 of wine, being that which was left of Qui Court, who 
 had reached the Bay. 
 
 Of witnesses sober enough to testify, most had seen 
 nothing and the rest told lies for the benefit of the living: 
 what difference to the dead! There was languor and 
 decency, but no surprise. The court adjourned with a 
 headache and called for sherry and bitters. 
 
 Later, it was necessary that Stella should be told. She 
 stormed, and declared it only another of fate's ironies : 
 such had been her life, frustration, mockery the sport 
 of chance. Qui Court should have been put in irons the 
 moment he entered the fort. 
 
 Rae forthwith was appealed to regarding that prospect- 
 ive fortune she had come in search of, her lover's legacy, 
 lost by Qui Court's unnecessary death. She showed him 
 the product of that golden river once more gone back to 
 the fabulous, the unknown. 
 
 Rae said it was pretty squeezed the little hand and 
 its handful of gold, and closed up both in his. 
 
364 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 " But that 's nothing, iny dear, for you to cry about." 
 
 " Ah ; you can say it 's nothing ! Of course it 's nothing if 
 it is never found but it was all I had." 
 
 " But I say ! what 's gold to you ? " With his little 
 finger held apart, he lifted one tress of her hair. 
 
 She tossed her head away. 
 
 " It might have been something to you ! It was all I had 
 to pay my debts with." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said he ; " and may I ask what debt you 
 owe to me?" 
 
 "I have accepted a thousand kindnesses. Why, you 
 picked me up on the road ! " 
 
 " Did you expect to pay for my ' kindness ' with that 
 stuff?" ' 
 
 They were in Rae's office accidentally private at that 
 hour. The same depressed young Indian girl came in with 
 the same rebozo wrapped about her head, and knelt to light 
 a fire in the stone chimney-place where logs were laid. 
 Then she rose and went to the open window. 
 
 " Don't let her close it," Stella cried ; " don't you love 
 the smell of sea fog? " She drew up nearer to the fire. 
 
 " How is your toothache, Bonita ? " Eae asked the girl. 
 " You had better go and do as I told you ! " Bonita 
 shook her head mournfully and withdrew. Men were talk- 
 ing loud and laughing in the corridor. Rae sank his 
 voice : " She will be your maid Bonita." 
 
 " But I can't stay here ! you are dreaming ! A little 
 while, perhaps, till I brush up my Spanish. Why do 
 you look at me ? " 
 
 "You hurt me." 
 
 She temporized on the old key of pathos : " Everything 
 hurts, whichever way you turn me, I mean! You are 
 
HAVING REACHED THE BAY 365 
 
 a vice-king down here : you have married the king's 
 daughter. Of course my little kingdom has all gone to 
 smash," she added, with bitter synchronism. " How hard 
 and extremely high your vice-regal chairs are : I think I 
 shall take the floor. Really you don't belong down here ; 
 this is my place." 
 
 "Don't I?" he stretched himself on the bearskin 
 rug beside her. " This is how it used to be." 
 
 She pushed his arm away peevishly. " Did I hear you 
 say just now, ' my God '! what was that for ? " He did 
 not explain. 
 
 " Well," she subjoined : " a very pleasant time was 
 had, and now it 's over. It has n't ended very well for me. 
 When I looked at my poor frock, this morning, all over 
 those dreadful stains, / knew ! Something of mine was 
 dead. I knew the sign ! Qui Court's death finishes every- 
 thing for me, unless some one will go shares and help 
 me find that gold. There are n't more than just so many 
 rivers in Calf ornia. It was in the sand you washed it 
 out; I mean you washed the sand out." She was watching 
 him while she rambled ; the bait had not taken. " I see ! 
 I can't tempt you ? " 
 
 "Not with gold." 
 
 " I thought you were young enough perhaps to stake 
 something on the chance? It is my last chance, you know. 
 I suppose you are ambitious ? " 
 
 " I hope so." 
 
 " Well ; I 've nothing but my bare hands," she 
 showed them. "I wasn't brought up to work, but I 
 dare say I can learn." 
 
 Again Rae muttered " My God ! " His color deepened 
 hotly. Whether it was prudence in the king's son-in-law, 
 
366 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 or principle or ambition, it goes on record that he made 
 a pause. The proper enquiries followed. Had she no 
 friends in the States whom she could write to ? "I only 
 make the suggestion for your sake, of course, you must 
 know ! " he added hurriedly. 
 
 " I have the relatives I told you I ran away from. They 
 are Yankees, up in Oregon, in a raw settlement just be- 
 gun. They brought me out with them across the plains, 
 on a sort of crusade, founded on religion and hard work ; 
 old New England Calvinism, I suppose, when it was 
 ministers who ruled." 
 
 She threw a little more light, from her own direction, 
 constructive rather than revealing, upon her relations with 
 these quaint folk. Rae had seen specimens of the same 
 sort, as he imagined from the descriptions she dashed off. 
 For a creature like this, a born exotic of fairest Saxon 
 blood, framed for pleasure and to give pleasure, what an 
 existence ! what a sacrifice ! 
 
 He rose and she stood up languidly and faced him, with 
 a curious smile. 
 
 " I want that gold, Stella, my dear ! Will you give it 
 me?" 
 
 She opened her hand " It 's worthless to me ! " 
 
 He freed her palm of the clinging grains. " You will 
 deposit this now with me ; and you shall draw on your 
 banker : let it signify to the extent of my means whatever 
 you feel it might have been worth. That is the way to 
 arrange it." 
 
 " Do you know that you insult me ? You make me a 
 child ! boasting of something that is all imagination." 
 
 " Is n't your pride mostly imagination ? and what 
 about my pride ! You were going to pay me off with a 
 
HAVING REACHED THE BAY 367 
 
 share in a gold-mine ! I don't do that sort of business with 
 ladies." 
 
 " How idiotic we are ! " she sighed. There might be such 
 a thing as carrying the point of pride -too far. " Alas 
 for those who succeed too well ! " 
 
 " Listen : don't fret about terms." He was quick to 
 perceive her hesitation. " Be a noble-minded girl ! Here 
 is your true account with me : you can break this bank, 
 but, till it does break, your drafts will never be dishonored." 
 
 Her hands were taken and pressed against his velvet 
 waistcoat a very splendid affair, where indeed she might 
 have felt the same disturbance she once caused in Sam's 
 perspiring breast, in Horace's poor cheated organ, what 
 time she had carried Jimmy's boyish outworks and he 
 was defending the citadel. Bradburn we leave out of the 
 list of her victims : she was his. 
 
 She drew her hands away, wondering at this odd dis- 
 taste: was she already blase'e? Her bracelet caught in 
 his florid watch-chain arrangement, and an open-faced 
 locket jumped out and dangled in full view. She glanced 
 as he put it back. 
 
 " The queen ? " 
 
 His face turned crimson. 
 
 " When is she coming down? You will think me rude 
 again, but is n't there danger of our two accounts getting 
 mixed? Mine of course is a fable. What, may I ask, have 
 you to offer me except charity, suppose I were 4 noble- 
 minded ' ? Do you mean really to be generous ? How gen- 
 erous can a man be, I wonder ? " 
 
 Rae studied her with gloom and with some excusable 
 resentment. She had been high-fed on the way down with 
 flattery and fun and adventure, and just enough fatigue 
 
368 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 thrown in to give health and youth the spring of resist- 
 ance ; and the fresh wild scenes they rode through, day 
 by day, were an equal stimulus to the imagination. Last 
 night's celebration what he could remember of it 
 showed her no less in a coming-on disposition ; but it was 
 the day after for him; he should have remembered it 
 was the same with her. It could scarcely be called a con- 
 vincing tie that they had sat on the floor together. 
 
 " And when Sarah turns me out of the tent . . . ? " she 
 enquired brutally. 
 
 "Sarah!" 
 
 "Don't you read your Bible, Scotchman? It begins 
 with Genesis." 
 
 Without being remarkably clever he began to suspect 
 that this fury was potential yielding. She was prepared 
 to punish him for his power. 
 
 He petted her. " Lovely one ! I shall find a place to 
 wear you ' lest my jewel I should tine.' " He drew her 
 in to that place, fain to play his part as a gentleman 
 should ; but she criticised him savagely him and his 
 part. No doubt she despised him for the lies he would tell 
 his young wife. She had lately lived with men who, if 
 they did not make you in love with the Puritan ideal, 
 taught you at least to respect its strength. Her thoughts 
 ran strangely upon things of no relevance to being kissed 
 by Eloise McLoughlin's handsome husband: there was 
 Qui Court in the room across the patio ; she had looked 
 in at him a moment stretched on two boards with can- 
 dles at his head. The candles flared, a draught trembled 
 the faded fuchsia blossoms Bonita had propped in his 
 dark stiff hands. She had never seen Qui Court still ex- 
 cept he was asleep. That he should not move ! And there 
 
HAVING KEACHED THE BAY 369 
 
 was Aunt Silence rocking in her funny old chair by the 
 camp-fire on the mountain ; she saw the far sky wells tall 
 pine tops make when you lie and look up and see stars 
 drowned in their depths. The camp-fire roared and 
 crackled and sent up flights of sparks and the pines 
 made their rushing sound like great wings overhead in 
 the dark. Aunt Silence would not speak ; and then she 
 did speak ! " Do you expect me to be ugly to you ? I 
 never shall be." 
 
 u Never ! no, she would pity me now. Tfds would dis- 
 courage her ! " The sick incoherence of her emotions, 
 which she hugged under the name of despair, wrought 
 her to the point of sobs, hard sobs ! Her head lay on this 
 other man's breast like a broken flower ; and he pressed 
 her to him thinking, " I have misjudged her : she is as 
 pure as a child a lost child." Was he doing a greater 
 wrong than his conscience or his code could take care of ? 
 But it was too late. She was his. 
 
 " Now, God help me to behave myself in every other way" 
 
 How this unhappy young gentleman succeeded in his 
 resolve, history must tell. I have never found but one al- 
 lusion to the story a brief summing of its close ; but it 
 quite answers the purpose. 
 
 They had one of their sporadic revolutions down at the 
 Bay and our young Scotchman took the insurgent's side. 
 It was not expected he should take any side, but he did : 
 the rebels disliked the Americans and favored the Eng- 
 lish. Kae furnished them arms, but they were beaten. 
 Under these circumstances we do not pay our debts. He 
 found himself responsible for $30,000 of the company's 
 money risked on the lost cause. This may have been the 
 final stroke on the sundering wedge. 
 
370 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 He and his wife had frequent quarrels. " Rae certainly 
 drank hard ; he may have cherished errant loves," says the 
 cold chronicle. There was one high scene early on a win- 
 ter morning in the young couple's apartments over the 
 stores. A woman's cries, two pistol shots in quick suc- 
 cession a fool and his brains are soon parted ; and the 
 " bank " we have heard of closed its doors for this life 
 upon those sporting securities and sadly mixed accounts, 
 and awaited the Examiner. 
 
 " Sir George Simpson ordered the San Francisco post 
 closed. The one thousand acre farm, which would have 
 been worth more than all the company's furs of Oregon 
 if they could have held on to it till San Francisco became 
 a city, was relinquished without any compensation," says 
 history again. And we sincerely hope that Eloise Mc- 
 Loughlin did not spend her life grieving, and that she 
 ultimately married a stronger man. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A MAIL FROM THE SOUTH 
 
 To Mrs. Lottie Kiersted, up in Oregon, from Samuel Kiersted; 
 dated San Francisco, January, 1850 (Extracts) 
 
 MY DEAR LITTLE WOMAN : 
 
 I am just about as homesick for you as I can be, yet 
 every time I look around I see reason to be thankful that you 
 and the kids are not here. There is just one word for this 
 hell-hole of a place. Make it two and a hyphen, and there 
 you are. I shan't be here but a few days more. Have got 
 my stuff and expect to start for Hawkins Bar on the Stanis- 
 low Monday, I guess, or Tuesday. I don't know as it is 
 on the Stanislow, but it 's either that or another river with 
 a name I can't spell : begins with " Too " [Tuolumne.] 
 
 Well, say ! I wish you could see the shipping in this 
 harbor that only woke up day before yesterday from a 
 trance that must have lasted since creation. Spanking tall 
 great clipper ships from round the Horn don't seem to feel 
 it any condescension to tie up in front of this mud-wharf 
 town. On Long Dock it is half -leg deep. Houses? a 
 mean collection of wood and canvas shacks strung along 
 the bitter windy sand-hills ; streets that are wallows, full 
 of the God-forsakenest crowd on earth. 
 
 It is going to be another story, though, before many 
 years. The Bay is another story now ! They call its ocean 
 entrance the Golden Gate. Sounds fancy, but it is n't any 
 too fancy if you could see it. Give me the treeless moun- 
 tains, after all the colors they get at sundown ! 
 
372 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 Well ! and how about all of you ? Have n't heard a word 
 yet and I don't suppose you have had anything from me. 
 Don't you get to worrying, that 's all. The mails can't be 
 regular. I am as hearty as a steer ; feeling fine, and glad 
 I don't drink, if you know what that means. There is n't 
 a dozen or a hundred, but thousands of men, gambling in 
 this town at one time and most of them drunk the rest of 
 the time. One single house gets $ 150,000 a year for the 
 rent of the monte tables. Of course the sharpers and 
 black-legs scoop all the money ; the fools go back to the 
 mines and dig. Sunday here is no different from any other 
 day, only more drunkenness. As for the women ! 
 
 I must tell you something but don't let it get to any 
 of Mr. Hannington's folks I've seen Stella! What 
 do you think of that ! She was with a man who looked 
 dressed good enough for a Congressman or a college pro- 
 fessor, but a card sharp, I guess, by his eye. I expect 
 better men than him have been hung. They were right in 
 the light going into one of these common variety shows 
 that I would n't think any lady could sit through. I saw 
 she recognized me by the look she gave, and then she 
 did n j t see me! I stared so hard the crowd looked at me 
 and sort of laughed, and I said right out before I thought, 
 " Why, I know that lady ! " and they laughed more. 
 
 She is as handsome as ever. I guess there is n't any 
 handsomer woman in this town, which is saying little 
 enough, but a lot of money is spent on women here. Her 
 face looks awful small, somehow. She had on a little white 
 flaring bonnet with a pink wreath inside and her curls 
 hanging down and a lace shawl over a splendid silk dress. 
 She did n't look to be in want ! It is only the last step on 
 the road she was going when I saw her last, but I was dumb- 
 
A MAIL FROM THE SOUTH 373 
 
 struck. You can't believe it of a woman you have known ! 
 And I don't know why I tell you, only I don't seem able 
 to get it off my mind. Aunt Silence's niece that she 'd 
 have done anything for, here in this town, alone : I 
 could n't make it seem true. I asked a little Mexican gen- 
 tleman, in a shawl, if he knew who that lady was that just 
 went inside. A funny question, but they all acted more 
 or less as if they knew her and every eye was on her. 
 He took off his big cart-wheel hat, and his cigarette out 
 of his teeth, very polite, and said some words in Spanish, 
 never cracked a smile. I only caught senoras, but a white 
 man with him put it, without any bones, into Bible Eng- 
 lish, so there is n't any mistake about it. I found out since 
 what that Spanish was, the little senor called her. It 
 meant one of the Light-hearted ladies. Tried to soften 
 it, I guess, thinking she might be some relation. Well, it 
 did n't help the matter, for me, any. 
 
 Nobody here knows her right name, and I shan't tell 
 you the name she goes by. She chose it to hide herself, 
 and there she showed some little feeling. We don't need 
 'to ever speak of it again. 
 
 There will be wives and children by the ship-load, whoop- 
 ing it in here before another Christmas. Then we will 
 start some real families. There 's a good deal more in this 
 country besides gold. The gold has made all this pande- 
 monium rush that brings the scum of the earth, but scum 
 is generally on top. There are decent men here as good 
 as I be ! Come, now ; don't spare my blushes ; say that 's 
 good enough ! And there are shrewd, quiet chaps, mind- 
 ing their own affairs, picking up money hand over fist in 
 real estate or commissions or starting freight lines. Freight 
 to the mines is sixty cents a pound. Any sort of a jack 
 
374 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 mechanic gets his ten to twenty dollars a day. The price 
 of food is scandalous, ridiculous ! 
 
 This country where I am bound is a happy Canaan, so 
 I hear, beautiful oaks and patches of grass and little 
 valleys, gulches, they are called, that stay green most 
 all summer. The river comes out of a mountain gorge 
 Say, sis ! can't you see us planted on a little ranch, rais- 
 ing our own stuff and maybe a trifle over old man in 
 his shirt-sleeves washing gold on the sandbar our own 
 little gold-mine own little cabin and pigs and hens and 
 calves own little wife and kiddies ! Eh ? Now, get that 
 everlasting sewing done before spring pack up your 
 goods and auction off the furniture. You ought to get good 
 prices, so many folks coming in. Make Jim Yardley stick 
 to his word about taking the place on shares don't want 
 to sell the house from under you, in case anything should 
 happen. And before the salmon begin to run expect to 
 hear me hollerin' for you down here. We will keep our 
 Sundays and spend them in the woods. You and the chicks 
 can hunt wild flowers and I '11 get some fishing ; and 
 game is plenty deer and mallards and plover and the 
 mountain quail, which they say for eating beats anything. 
 
 I expect to be quite a few days getting up country. 
 Teams can't make more than three miles a day across those 
 boggy flats and post-oak quicksands. That 's from Chinese 
 Diggings to Hawkins Bar. In summer I s'pose it will dry 
 up and crack open. Well, we can't have everything and 
 have it all at once ! 
 
 Talk of chances ! Sacramento City is just a mushroom 
 village, on a flat point that 's part of the year a foot or 
 more below high- water. Lots that could have been bought 
 six months ago for two and three hundred are selling now 
 
A MAIL FROM THE SOUTH 375 
 
 easy for thirty-five hundred. Of course I shan't break into 
 that yet awhile, but I hain't forgot how to farm. If I 
 should happen to stake out a poor claim and can't make 
 wages, as wages are here, I will turn to, I guess, and 
 raise foodstuff and sell to these other fellows at boom 
 prices. That 's what Jim Yardley said : he laughed at me ! 
 You go down there and dig your gold when you find 
 any. Oregon will feed you ! Well, Oregon is n't going to 
 do it all. This country is going to be some on wheat and 
 grass, and cattle and various other things. Tell Jimmy 
 not to fret ! . . . 
 
 From Samuel Kiersted at Hawkins Bar to James Yardley, 
 dated six weeks later. 
 
 DEAR JIM : I 'm in considerable of a rush, but there 
 is something I want to talk to you about for your opinion. 
 Been thinking about that money Mrs. Bradburn said she 
 would n't take and wanted it put into a church or a school- 
 house in memory of the man she thought she knew, and 
 we could n't see it somehow, and your father said it would 
 hurt her to send it back. As I understood, we voted it 
 should be held in trust for Stella, and if it was too late 
 to do her any good 't was to help any young woman in 
 similar trouble or likely to be. And we never had any 
 case to call for it. We are not that sort of a community, 
 are we? and not likely to be for some years to come ; 
 but it is different here: I am speaking of now. I am 
 glad you and your wife have kept what Lottie told you 
 about Stella. I did n't mean it should reach the elders. 
 It is too late, I 'm afraid, for her. She has more money 
 than ig good for her slipping through her fingers every 
 day. If she could have had it come by honestly in 
 
376 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 time, she might have felt less hemmed-in. She never liked 
 the life up there. You can't blame her. If she had had the 
 means she might have gone back East (might, I say !) and 
 perhaps married that first man she told me about once, 
 that she broke with for Bradburn : I guess he would have 
 taken her. Now, she won't need money till her capital is 
 gone. You know what I mean, poor thing. But the women 
 are coming in here fast all sorts. Some the worst, some 
 only risky. The Southwest gets in a good deal of beauty 
 and a soft kind of disposition ; there are French and 
 Creole and the half Indian Spanish Well, I could think 
 some of that money might perhaps do a little good out 
 here. I don't mean sending the money here. But to 
 finish about Stella : ten to one I '11 never come across her 
 again. We are a hundred and fifty miles from the Bay. 
 She is a first-class planet of the night. She will never hide 
 her light in a mountain camp and, as I say, no amount 
 of money could help her. But there are young girls like 
 wild weeds around here something might help if you catch 
 them in time. I thought your friends back East might 
 perhaps know some good hard-twisted women with their 
 livings to earn who would n't be scared to come out here 
 if their passage could be paid. Suppose they were to marry 
 right away ! They would be doing the best kind of mis- 
 sionary work wherever they make their homes. I expect 
 Lottie to be a shining little light when I set her on my 
 hill. You can touch pitch and not be defiled ! Inside, is 
 your affair ! The outside will take care of itself. Lottie, 
 like enough, will be the only decent woman in this camp, 
 but where there 's one there ought to be more, and when 
 two or three are gathered together, the men will begin to 
 straighten up. Little Sunday supper invitations will be at 
 
A MAIL FROM THE SOUTH 377 
 
 a premium, and picnics in the woods with nice women- 
 folks and baskets, with clean napkins, full of good home 
 things to eat. Why, the boys would just tumble over each 
 other to get a front seat at that kind of thing. Of course 
 the dregs of both kinds would keep where they have to be. 
 But what we principally need out here now, / think, are 
 good, plain old-fashioned women-folks that you can't budge 
 from their hymn-books and their cook-books and the old 
 Ten Commandments, and who are not afraid for their own 
 righteousness, as if it was a white starched skirt. . . . 
 
 I said something to Lottie about our land not more 
 than half joking. Of course, Jim, if you don't feel to do 
 it what was said was only verbal. I don't expect to hold 
 you, but your father urged me not to sell out, and I saw 
 he had reason. I might get hurt or something might hap- 
 pen and then I should want Lottie to go right back 
 among you all. Well, I 've talked enough : you can put 
 the idea about that trust money better than I can. I don't 
 want to poke myself in, and may be it 's all a bum notion 
 arising out of the contrast between things here and to 
 home. The country is all right never saw a better 
 but the social side, the moral side to talk big ! that 's 
 another story. But you can't help liking these fellows, 
 and there 's no market for humbug here, more than with 
 a gang of schoolboys. 
 
 Now, Jim : here 's a word for you which I never could 
 say to your face, bless you ! You did me a man's turn 
 that day up in the wheat-field, and I was mad enough 
 then to have licked you, because you were too damn 
 right! If I hadn't been red-hot with shame those few 
 cool words of yours would n't have kicked up such a splut- 
 ter on my chest. I want to tell you : she waylaid me, the 
 
378 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 last thing, the little monkey. She waited for me on the 
 road to Champoeg and gave me the fight of my life, for 
 just a minute : I saw then you were right. She is as God 
 made her, but she is n't safe to pet or play with for a plain 
 chap like me. To do her justice, she did give the first 
 warning about the cussed Indian troubles that were head- 
 ing up that fall Perhaps she may have cancelled with 
 that one word most of the actual harm she 's done, for she 
 never hurt any one, I guess, who had n't the taint in him 
 first, and if she had been revengeful she could have kept 
 still. To be sure come to think she made it her last 
 argument for me to quit and go along with her gold-hunt- 
 ing. But let her have what credit we can ; the benefit was 
 the same. It makes her for once the means of good, as 
 she has been the means of evil, I dare say, many times ; 
 but evil was done to her, and whoever she has tempted 
 had his trial to stand if not from her, some other way. 
 Hear me preach, will you ! 
 
 And I wish you would tell your father how good it all 
 seems to look back on. I am not for going back, I Ve 
 got to work out this blame restless streak, the part of me 
 that 's never grown up, but the life was all right, and I 
 start in here a stiffer sort of man for those years in our 
 little church community where we were n't ashamed to 
 sing the old hymns and pray together (this is n't into 
 you, Jim, I got started on the wrong tack, that's all) 
 and sit under a good man's preaching. Best of all, the 
 babies coming along, and that other fellowship of our fami- 
 lies when we carried Aunt Silence up on the hill, shoulder 
 to shoulder ; Jim I could have cried that day to look at 
 your wife and her father. We don't have that kind of 
 funerals here, nor the babies but they are coming. 
 
A MAIL FROM THE SOUTH 379 
 
 Good-bye, old man. My best regards to all. I 'd put 
 it stronger, but what 's the use ! You know how I feel. 
 And here 's my hand on everything that ever was between 
 us, Jim. It 's been good, every bit of it, and I guess 
 you 're glad I 'm through ! 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 SAM. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 
 
 VERY few among San Francisco's tide of strangers who 
 called themselves men of the world would have deemed 
 their study of the city complete without an introduction 
 to a lady who flourished there in '54, under the tem- 
 porary name of Cassie Clayton. Her true name, as well 
 as the days of her past (which no doubt had been better 
 days since they could hardly have been worse), held 
 but a speculative interest for the friends her life permit- 
 ted her to make. Herself, it would be hard to say which 
 she could have had least use for, memory or hope. Miss 
 Clayton was thirty-one and fast losing both her health 
 and her beauty. 
 
 For seven weeks before this warning birthday, she 
 had been suffering from the effects of a neglected cold. 
 The weather did not improve ; her habits could not 
 change. She and a friend were seated at late supper, in 
 the inner room of a draughty gambling-palace on Market 
 Street. The swing-door at her back fanned her bare 
 shoulders with frequent gusts of wind sucked through 
 the intermediate bar-room from the rainy night outside. 
 Following a frightful paroxysm of coughing prolonged 
 till she could scarcely see, her companion rose with a 
 friendly oath, wrapped her shawl about her and placed 
 her in his own seat. " Now," said he, " you quit this ! You 
 get out of this fog or you '11 die ! " 
 
 She thought it quite likely and professed her absolute 
 
THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 381 
 
 indifference, one way or the other. What did cause anguish 
 that could n't be discussed was the ignominy, the ugliness 
 of these seizures. Having caught a glimpse of herself in 
 the mirrors that lined the gaudy little cabinet, she knew 
 the worst ; positively, a gorgon ! muscles around mouth 
 and nostrils coarsely distended, eyes watering, forehead 
 in wrinkles, swollen lips, hair dark with perspiration ; and 
 nothing could be hid! no protecting handkerchief or 
 extenuating fan ; both hands were needed to brace your 
 pain-pierced sides. 
 
 There had been another mirror opposite : the man's 
 face who watched her. It was enough ! Miss Clayton un- 
 derstood. Naturally she had not often been looked at like 
 that before. There was no reason why it should not end 
 in death as her mother's cough had ended, in a better 
 climate than this; among one's other misfortunes to 
 have had a consumptive mother ! 
 
 " Well, if I have to come to it, I won't die where any 
 of them can see me." " They " were all the friends she 
 had, but they were not for rainy days. She was the lady 
 of their mirth. 
 
 Of course she had memories if she chose to let 
 them come. It was noon next day when she awoke, cough- 
 ing. Her windows had been closed but the room was cold 
 and damp. Cotton plush and gilt girandoles and Notting- 
 ham lace did not add to its comfort or its cleanliness. 
 There was an empty grate and a tobacco-stained pan 
 beneath heaped with gray cinders. It would be another 
 hour before the Chinaboy came with breakfast and the 
 breakfast would add insult to injury. Neither was there 
 joy in cock-tails, for spirits made her cough. And if you 
 drugged yourself to sleep, you compounded with that 
 
382 A PICKED COMPANY ' 
 
 wolfish cough at usurious interest. So there was no help 
 in anything. 
 
 She remembered how absurdly well she had been in Dug- 
 dale, through all that iron cold ! going to bed in the icy 
 northeast chamber, your nostrils sticking together when 
 you breathed, your breath a cloud of vapor ; waking 
 up under mounds of covers to watch Barbie, out on the 
 cold carpet, start a fire in the fat jolly monster of a stove, 
 and going off to sleep again lulled by its tremor of 
 heat, and the good strong roar of seasoned oak wood in- 
 side, turning its black cheek a cherry-red ; and the frost 
 tears trickling down the window-panes. Unconscionable 
 way of life, cold as the moral law, but so clean and 
 good ! yes, sometimes ; there certainly was a side to it if 
 you hadn't got to swallow the whole. This had been 
 Miss Clayton's quarrel with existence: that you cannot 
 pluck the rose of each situation without encountering 
 the thorns. And so few persons you call your friends 
 seem willing to take the thorns and leave you the rose ; 
 certainly no men. In short, if you consent to live you 
 must accept regrets. But no philosophy known to ladies 
 of her profession could meet this falling-off in looks, 
 this perpetual harrowing cough that pulled your hair out 
 by dreary handfuls, ravaged your figure, took away the 
 desire to eat and the strength to drink. Some forms of 
 sympathy might have been tolerated if they embraced 
 the general tragedy of lives like hers without going 
 into personalities, but let no man whose company she 
 had suffered in a tributary sense, presume to turn upon 
 her and pity her for her looks. 
 
 The Sierra foothills were then almost untouched in 
 their lofty draping of pine and fir, and as if Nature had 
 
THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 383 
 
 planned her virgin water-courses to attract gayer com- 
 pany, deciduous families of flickering gray-stemmed trees 
 lined their gorges, stretching up for such touches of sun- 
 light as the forest aisles let in. It would be a luxury to 
 count over these young Western cousins with old names 
 from the East and North : the aspens and willows and 
 birches and buckthorns and alders and lindens ; the 
 rhododendron and the mountain-laurel, perfectly at home 
 with California's wild white lilac of the coast range. 
 And here a madrono thrusting out a bare cinnamon-col- 
 ored arm from his resplendent cloak of leaves, or a com- 
 pany of those gallant little native sons, the canyon-oak 
 brotherhood, captains all, stiff and prickly and glistening, 
 but subtle in drawing and rich in light and shade as the 
 most trepitant birches and aspens. 
 
 The tall flowering dogwood and the wild lilac's plumes 
 announced that it was May. In this high region they 
 blossom full late, according to the season. A few miners 
 were washing gold in a new camp on Deer Creek, and up 
 in the foldings of the hills an old Mexican couple had 
 squatted near a mountain stream ; they sold to the boys 
 in the gulch for pinches or spoonfuls of " dust " what was 
 then rarer new-laid eggs, fresh butter and buttermilk 
 richly specked with cream, which the homesick ones from 
 Eastern farms said tasted better than Old Rye. 
 
 Innes, the Louisianian, had come out with Colonel 
 Webb's party by the fearful cholera route of '48-'49, which 
 disease took thirteen of their number before they reached 
 Rio Grande ; where about twenty more gave out and went 
 back with their discouraged leader, who practically had 
 deserted them. The others entered into a compact with 
 Audubon the younger (son of the great naturalist) to stick 
 
384 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 by him for one year if he would lead them through. Some 
 went back with him when the year was up ; but many 
 more remained, careless victims of the gold-craze, and 
 drifted from camp to camp through fortune and infor- 
 tune, thinking each year would be their last. Innes had 
 reached the mature age of twenty-seven and was still his 
 mother's knight, tall and limber and handsome ; great- 
 grandson of an adventurous young Scotchman and a 
 gentle Creole lady of pure French blood ; very attractive 
 ancestry but in the men it had not held out very well 
 against two generations of leisure in the South, and the 
 sporting habits of a slaveholding aristocracy. With warn- 
 ings back of him, Innes had taken a few silent resolves 
 which the face of his lovely, tragic mother helped him 
 to keep. He was by way of being a Catholic, but took 
 that part of his inheritance lightly. 
 
 He shaved every Sunday morning and presented his 
 clean, handsome countenance at the seiiora's spring-house 
 for that drink of buttermilk she saved for him fresh from 
 Saturday's churning. The senora's mouth would moisten 
 like a good cook's while she watched him swig it down. 
 
 " If you drink buttermilk," she told him, " and behave 
 yourself, you will have a hundred years." 
 
 Through these transactions at the spring-house it came 
 about that he heard of the senora's boarder, the sick 
 young lady from town (who had not behaved herself over- 
 well, the senora suspected). He often saw her on his 
 tramps over the hills, with her white dog racing ahead 
 of her, or both of them lying out on the pine slopes in a 
 streak of sunlight. Having observed the White One, 
 his build and breed, Innes carefully left his own dog at 
 home. Personally he had a way with dogs, but he would 
 
THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 385 
 
 have given the pair a respectfully wide berth save for 
 Mike's insufferance. At the first spank, which opened 
 their acquaintance with the impact of Mike's body 
 against his thigh, the young lady had sprung to his as- 
 sistance was seized herself by a fit of coughing and sat 
 down on the pine-needles to finish it, by which time it 
 was seen he could take care of himself (she would have 
 scorned a man who couldn't). Presently she wiped her 
 eyes, lifted a flushed and laughing face and sighed out an 
 apology for Mike's assault. She was no gorgon now: 
 she had been six weeks in the mountains. 
 
 There was no stiffness after that. He found her irresis- 
 tible in her free passes of talk, and her amusing manners 
 with the dog. They had a little language of their own ; he 
 learned to talk it and he and Mike's mistress bestowed 
 it occasionally upon each other. And did she spare this 
 fresh-faced boy ? Not at all ! she was too proud of him. 
 His ardent, modest gaze conveyed a challenge as delicate 
 as it was assured. Young Southerners and a few Northern 
 boys of innocent daring bring that look alike out of their 
 provincial homes. Here was compensation for Jimmy's 
 rankling scorn. Who can say, but for that unbearable 
 recollection which time had never cured^ she might not 
 have let this one go ? 
 
 How did Miss Clayton (who was not Miss Clayton 
 there) ever come to know of Paradise Valley ? One with 
 her assortment of friends to draw upon may hear of every- 
 thing, but the name need not deceive : there are hundreds 
 of such paradises hid in the long laps of the foothills as 
 they stretch down towards the Sacramento, greeting strange 
 buttes of the valley that rise like peaks out of a polar sea, 
 in the season of fogs which roll up and cover the lowlands. 
 
386 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 The old couple made much of their guest and gave her 
 good, homely advice; sent her to bed early, fed her on 
 eggs and olive oil and new milk. When his wife brought 
 the milk, Senor Zapato (Old Shoes, the boys called him) 
 would fetch a certain bottle : " Un poco ? " tilting a little 
 whiskey into the milk, and a voice as coaxing as his glance 
 would answer, " Poco mds, padrecito ! " 
 
 The wife approved less of a " stick " in those glasses ; 
 in her judgment there had probably been too many " sticks " 
 already in the young lady's draughts of existence. She 
 mentioned her suspicions of the senorita's past. The old 
 man smiled. " It is possible ; she is very pretty and she 
 wears no wedding-ring." Neither spoke much English and 
 they were not talkers, outside. A shrug finished the mat- 
 ter : it was all the same. 
 
 Innes, whose pans would not pan out as the fame of the 
 Gulch had predicted, went oftener to the rancho till his 
 partner began to spread the news hilariously, and the 
 senora hinted that her boarder had left the city to escape 
 from too much company ; a plausible fiction well meant, a 
 motherly arm cast about her favorite. With him it was not 
 all the same. She saw there was a little devil in his eye 
 that had never done much harm as yet ; the seiiorita knew 
 how to loose that side in boys who were not yet men. 
 
 The hint was taken. Still the young spring rovers 
 crossed each other's path in the pine woods as before : Mike 
 took care of that. 
 
 Innes had no experience by which he could have placed 
 this woman, in her regenerate mood. As to instinct? Na- 
 ture had taken back her wanton child and was curing her of 
 the unbelievable past as deep as Nature goes, irrespective 
 of habits of the soul. She did not believe it herself, when 
 
THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 387 
 
 she sat beside the unsuspecting boy, with Mike between 
 them, his chest across her knee, his calloused elbows dig- 
 ging into her lap, her feet crossed under her like a school- 
 girl and her long braids sweeping the ground. That beau- 
 tiful hair had ceased to fall, there was no powder on her 
 face nor black around her eyes ; she had given herself up 
 to the sun's painting. She wore a short skirt of miner's 
 jeans and a dark blue flannel blouse of a mannish cut, 
 strained across her bosom. The old curves had come back. 
 At this time the boy had excuse enough for his innocence 
 in playing with fire. 
 
 Miss Clayton had decided nothing except to drift. 
 She refused to think. Moonlight nights were breaking her 
 heart with their beauty, unshared. The boy's partner 
 rode to Downieville to buy supplies, after the winter's 
 embargo of snow: he could do as he liked with his even- 
 ings now, without risking profane comment. He came and 
 stood one night in the entrance to the trellised porch where 
 her hammock swung. He came no further, but stood and 
 looked at her in silence. She could not see his face dis- 
 tinctly, but his hovering, troubled presence spoke his 
 longing. Had she not been calling him with her thoughts ? 
 
 " Oh, there you are ! " she saluted him lightly ; " I 
 wondered if you were going to waste all these lovely 
 nights down there alone ? " 
 
 " You have never asked me to come." 
 
 " I don't ask people : they ask me. I thought you liked 
 your own company best." 
 
 "No, no; you couldn't think that," he stammered. 
 "You must have known I was waiting to to be asked." 
 He took a seat on the low bench along the house-wall 
 close to her hammock and sought for her hand. She let 
 
388 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 it lie a long time in his while neither spoke. Every symp- 
 tom of her power she was deadly familiar with, but his 
 resistance had been new. He had reason for resisting, 
 not through any doubt of his need of this woman, 
 but because of crucifying needs at home. 
 
 " Do you really want me, here now ? " 
 
 " How could any one in the wide world not want you ? " 
 she cooed. 
 
 He drew the hammock close and bent over her, going 
 down on his knees, only to sink back and close his eyes 
 trembling. His fear of her was a luxury so delicate be- 
 yond dreams, that she would have made it last longer but 
 that she dreamed also of his kiss. 
 
 That night his heart was torn from him, poor boy ; and 
 the woman lay awake, her soul in tears. 
 
 " He is good ! O God ! he is as good as they were, and 
 he does n't know it ! He 's not thinking about it and watch- 
 ing himself. He isn't watching me. He is n't afraid; a 
 child could deceive him. O God ! save me when he knows! 
 It will kill him, or he will kill me." 
 
 His worship she must expect to lose even she knew 
 that ; but wives lose their husband's worship, about that 
 time when the first holy fear departs. His passion was 
 enough. Wives lose that, too : who could know it better 
 than she? 
 
 " What men never tire of is beauty and courage and 
 naturalness. If I tell him what I am, if I don't pre- 
 tend to be anything but myself, he can't despise me 
 so much. But I must tell him, before any one else gets 
 the first word. How many people," she groaned; "how 
 many I have known ! " She heard her life told everywhere. 
 
 " ' What I am ' ! But I am not that. I could make my- 
 
THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 389 
 
 self all over for him if once he could know the truth and 
 love me not the same but love me ! I can show him 
 heaven, for I have seen hell." This was a speech to her 
 own ear : she had not considered, before this wonder came, 
 that her life was hell. She had been a very powerful person 
 in her way and liked it more than being a nobody in a 
 better way, which does not say that her heart had not 
 been touched. She was humbly, fearfully in love ; she was 
 stunned by her boy's trustfulness and awful ignorance. 
 
 " I shall die of his knowing it ! but I can't say now 
 that I have n't had my chance equal to any woman, ex- 
 cept " It crossed her mind with a shudder, if it should 
 come to marriage, Parson Yardley's dreadful words : 
 " No ' pleasant vessel,' no ' vessel of desire ' shall hold the 
 sacred offering." 
 
 " But I need not have a child." That was beyond her 
 daring, or, indeed, her wish. " I will not have children ; 
 children lay you open on every side. No one has any life 
 of her own or any safety who has a child." 
 
 So she arranged the future, taking Nature's springtime 
 flattery for the tale of the whole year. Yet, she had known 
 the tricky old mother in her bitter mood of consequences. 
 
 What she was truly sick of were those base alloys, old 
 issues unclean, defaced with use which she had played with 
 as specimens of men. Here was unstamped metal put in 
 her hands to spend, and she had not been accustomed to 
 save or to spare. But a superstitious fear pursued her that 
 if she held back the truth now some dreadful woe would 
 come of it. She took her courage finally in both hands, 
 and told him an incident quite sufficient to enlighten any 
 man not a Pelleas. 
 
 " The boys were passing the hat, one night . . ." she 
 
390 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 mentioned where and paused to see if he knew the place ; 
 he did, as a spectator. " They were making up a purse 
 for the widow and the kids of a man who went broke and 
 shot himself there, the night before. I wasn't in funds just 
 then, so I drew on the bank a woman's bank. Some one 
 helped me to cut off a curl ; I picked out a good long one ; 
 I wasn't mean . . ." she hurried on recklessly; now that 
 she was launched, she entered into the excitement of her 
 own daring. " He doubled it so over his bowie-knife, 
 close to my head ugh ! It did n't pull, but I heard it 
 grind. Then he helped me up on the table where I might 
 have waded in gold. I pushed the stuff away with my feet 
 and I showed them my gold. ' Here,' I said, ' boys, is what 
 came from " dust." It will sure be dust again if you don't 
 save it ; I can't use it any more. Put it into charity for 
 your sins. If you let this little bit of me go cheap, I will 
 burn it here before you. You know I 'm not cheap ! ' The 
 bids were fairly howled. I thought they 'd tear me off the 
 table." 
 
 She gave one long hard sigh. The boy was breaking 
 pine straws into bits (they were sitting out in the woods) ; 
 as fast as one needle was used up he began upon another. 
 She waited, and added, pleading 
 
 " What do you think it brought ? The widow went East 
 and bought a house and farm, and her children go to 
 school. I've kept track of my curl." Still no word from 
 her listener. " But, oh, laddie lad ! I'm glad you weren't 
 there." 
 
 " So am I," said the white-faced boy. 
 
 " You would n't have stood a show ; and I would n't 
 have seen you go broke for one curl, when you might have 
 had the whole garden where they grow ! " 
 
THE GREATEST GAMBLE OF ALL 391 
 
 " Do you think," said he, looking up at last, " I would 
 have touched a hair of that curl, to save it from hell fire ?" 
 There was a change in his voice. Her own voice froze to 
 match it. They stared into each other's dreary eyes. 
 
 " Oh ; and the Garden, perhaps . . . ? (I have done it 
 now, and being good is no use,'* she thought. " Fate is 
 worse than God ; it laughs when it has killed you.") 
 
 " Everybody knows the price of those Gardens . . ." he 
 measured his words with great urging breaths, as if his 
 heart were expiring. " In my family we don't ask the 
 price. There are men, I believe, who think they can have 
 love cheaper than by marriage : they are welcome. When 
 I come into my Garden . . ." He gathered breath again. 
 " Oh, don't you understand ! There is not a hair of your 
 head that is n't sacred to me in the very sight of God, 
 except those you cast before swine." 
 
 He took her hands and laid his face in them and she, 
 weeping like a real Magdalen, kissed the bended head. 
 Truth lay bare between them and he was only paying the 
 first instalment of the price. 
 
 He did not die nor back out, as he would have called 
 it. He had power left to think (as he called it, too), but 
 he had drunk the cup of witchcraft and its madness was 
 in his blood, which was the blood of gamblers, like her 
 own. There are many sorts of stakes : his race had prob- 
 ably gambled for them all. We generalize in a case like 
 this out of charity to the individual. 
 
 It took him some three nights to do his alleged think- 
 ing. On the day before the third, his partner came home, 
 having had speech with men in the streets of Downie- 
 ville. 
 
 " Who do you suppose she is, our little ground-dove 
 
392 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 up there at Zapato's ? Awful joke on good little boys so 
 careful not to intrude ! Say, kid, she's Cassie Clayton ! " 
 
 The boy got up and went out ; he did not blame his 
 partner and he could not fight every man who knew his 
 lady's past. 
 
 The week after, a couple rode to Downieville, camping 
 overnight in the dark woods, for the moon now was old, 
 and were married next day before a justice of the peace. 
 A crowd of starers watched them ride away man and 
 wife, on the supreme adventure. He gave his age all 
 he could give twenty- four ; she placed hers at twenty- 
 six. He believed her and in a sense it was true : happi- 
 ness had taken five years from her appearance and many 
 more from her heart, by this lesson of faith. She defied 
 memory even, at the boy's request, and was married under 
 her own name. He was bold enough to call her his life's 
 star. 
 
 They rode away to his new claim, and Senor Zapato 
 followed them with a couple of pack-mules loaded with 
 their equipment for a summer in camp. In the intervals 
 of prospecting, the man who was a boy in spring would 
 build a winter hut for his woman. They had decided to 
 begin as the world began and do without the rest of 
 humanity that had accumulated since, to no end that 
 seemed just then to concern them. 
 
 " That may do," said the old senora, " till a child is 
 coming." She was deep in Nature's confidence. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE GRAVES 
 
 THE idyll lasted, as the senora had said, till flowering 
 time was over and summer seeds were ripening on the 
 withered hillsides. The wild sunflower's glow had passed 
 from the gulches ; only dry, coarse leaves were left curl- 
 ing in the sun. Most of the spring's delicate virgins had 
 disappeared, blossom and stalk, shrivelled back into the 
 earth. There were cool, autumnal mornings and shivering 
 nights of frost in the mountain valleys, and troops of 
 vagrant little butterflies flittered in sunny spots of the 
 forest trails through the short, still afternoons. 
 
 The woman lay in her blankets all day and refused to 
 eat or to do anything towards the man's eating, who 
 digged and delved without complaint, in words. He had 
 never been sick himself as she was, and it seemed to him 
 that she made too little effort for her own good and for 
 other reasons usually thought to be paramount. He pos- 
 sessed, under his capacity for high stakes, a fund of com- 
 mon knowledge such as men acquire from living on their 
 own land, amidst animals and chattels valued as such. He 
 felt that he was part owner in this case, but he was a gentle- 
 man, also, of his breed; he could not urge his wife to use 
 her hands or feet, even to save her soul. There was no 
 spur now, in the head nor of the heel ; the woman's case 
 was in her own hands, and the boy's case and that of 
 their future offspring. He did not share her feeling as to 
 children, not yet. 
 
394 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 But the prospects failed ; there was no water left for 
 washing gravel. The cabin itself was of no more use if 
 the woman could not exist in it and eat the food camp- 
 life gives. Wild meat, tiresome trout, strong-flavored 
 honey on soda bread, smoky camp-stews and bitter camp- 
 coffee : these were the abomination of desolation to her 
 sick appetite, and appetite weighed with her now more 
 than the love or respect of man. She was famished and 
 she could not eat, and so she begged for the old stimu- 
 lants which she had renounced sitting on his knees and 
 weeping on his breast. How could he deny her ? He was 
 firm, however, on the question of drugs. So, when want 
 of exercise and toothache and hunger kept her awake at 
 night, she would steal from his side and help herself to the 
 relief he refused her out of a store that she kept hidden 
 from his heart-sick, contemptuous vigilance, and he left 
 her in the mornings a dead log. Lying thus one day when 
 he was at his poor-paid diggings, a sluice-robber who had 
 watched their camp sneaked in and stole the boy's little 
 hoard, saved up against troubles to come. 
 
 So the struggle ended ; and they went back to bondage 
 for the sake of the flesh-pots. The woman had friends 
 enough to welcome her who would have shared their pots 
 and she was disposed to dip in freely and say nothing, 
 neither pay. She took pride in getting without the cus- 
 tomary return. Innes never questioned her, but her vir- 
 tuous explanations were hard to bear. 
 
 He had no profession or aptitude for any special work ; 
 he had been bred on the theory that ownership was to 
 be his part in the social economy, but he knew horses. 
 In course of a month or two, he found himself driving 
 stage on the San Jos line. It kept him away from her a 
 
THE GKAVES 395 
 
 good deal and gave him time for more thinking. She had 
 promised to forsake cards among her other abstentions, 
 but he knew that she gambled regularly with what little 
 money he could give her, in the hope of " helping along "; 
 she made it a virtue of necessity. When his money was 
 gone, her friends lent her the stakes, and if she won they 
 paid, and if she lost they waited in equal good part, know- 
 ing she would never pay. Poor girl! she had done for 
 herself. They pitied her forlorn experiment. 
 
 Innes they laughed at and despised. He had strolled 
 through the city, as they remembered him, looking on with 
 his hands in his pockets, a " cool little cuss ; thought 
 he was stronger than the game." He had got out with 
 most of his senses and his money intact. " Now he 's in 
 double harness with Cassie Clayton! He can't pay for 
 her shoe-strings ; but if you go in there and make free, 
 she '11 stick that wedding-ring in your face. That 's what 
 she 's vain of." 
 
 She wore frocks which Innes knew he never paid for. 
 When his eyes brooded upon her, she tried to guess his 
 thoughts. Confessions as to cards and their results poured 
 from her, lest he should accuse her of worse. He never 
 did. He knew that she adored him still and feared him, but 
 as she feared nothing else, his power could not last ; it was 
 already gone. 
 
 There came a day when he saw as in a terrific vision 
 what ultimately lay before them. One of his passengers 
 on the incoming stage was a woman, once handsome and 
 still young. She had with her a scabby babe about two 
 months old. Both were filthy and the woman was delirious 
 drunk. She slept at last on the bottom of the coach, her 
 dishevelled head rocking against some man's knee. The 
 
396 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 other passengers were all men. They did what such men 
 could for the wretched babe, jeering at one another as it 
 was mauled from hand to hand. When its cries of hunger 
 grew unbearable they roused the woman and forced her 
 with oaths to feed her offspring, supporting her and guid- 
 ing her dulled instincts in the maternal office. 
 
 Innes, on the driver's seat, took one look at the scene 
 inside. What it said to his new experience of life may be 
 imagined; he had the beginnings of it in his home. It 
 must have cut through all defences to the knowledge that 
 is without hope. We are trying to account for what he 
 did a few hours afterwards. 
 
 He had stopped in the street on his way for a drink of 
 brandy, feeling physically undone. It was his first breach 
 of a pledge he had given his mother, because he knew her 
 reason for imploring it. It had been nothing to him, 
 except the foolishness of his being supposed to need it, 
 to give it then. It was less than nothing now, that he 
 should break it. 
 
 At the foot of the dirty stairs going up to the dirtier 
 rooms he called home, he waited for a man who was com- 
 ing down. He knew it must be one of his wife's former 
 friends, for Mike was with him cluttering down the stairs. 
 The men were forced to stop and exchange a civil word 
 while Mike greeted his old acquaintance from the country. 
 Mike's master had reclaimed him months ago ; he was a 
 gambler of sorts, formerly Mistress Boy's platonic adviser. 
 He could not afford to take ladies of her profession seri- 
 ously, having serious aims of his own in a profession that 
 is understood to be foreign to the emotions. As they 
 parted, Innes observed Mike's master smile sarcastically 
 under his waxed mustache. 
 
THE GEAVES 397 
 
 His wife's pretty head of fair gold hair looked just as 
 charming to him as ever, when he opened the door and 
 saw her back. She was seated at a table. He fancied that 
 she gave a little start, but she did not turn or rise. 
 
 " If I find her so again . . . ! " he had vowed, when he 
 drank to keep his strength up. He went around the table 
 to speak to her, and he saw at a glance that he must now 
 either keep, or break, that vow. " I shall never have more 
 courage ..." He thought of the woman and child on 
 the bottom of the stage. 
 
 She put up both arms languidly in their full, laced sleeves, 
 to clasp his neck, turning her head away ; she was con- 
 scious, yet befooled. If she did not speak or let him kiss 
 her lips she fancied he would not know that she had " taken 
 anything," though it was too late to put away the wine 
 and whiskey before her. The friend of course had had some- 
 thing. Cigar ashes were scattered on the table; with one 
 forefinger she puddled them into a little blot of spilled 
 wine, intently, like a child making mud-pies. The front 
 breadth of her flounced silk dress was turned up over her 
 lap, he noticed, as if to hide something which apparently 
 she forgot, for when she rose her skirt fell and the secret 
 exposed itself, rolling and clinking over the floor, quite 
 a " pile " not his, nor hers : the philosophic friend's, no 
 doubt. Innes was free from any unphilosophic soreness on 
 that score. He had been hungry, but he no longer felt 
 that either. At the opposite end of the table he made 
 room for ink and paper and began to write. He wrote fast, 
 while she groped about the floor recovering her scattered 
 spoils of friendship. Her movements it were a shame to 
 watch. He kept his eyes on his writing. 
 
 She was conscious of him, conscious of something wrong 
 
398 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 in herself which she began to exculpate, stammering ex- 
 cuses that were too foolish to call lies. The money was an 
 old bet her professional friend had owed her since last 
 year, before she went up to Paradise Valley. (" Paradish," 
 she called it.) Her friend had found the place and sent 
 her there, when she was so sick ; Innes might infer, as 
 another irony of the game, that this useful friend had in 
 effect made the match, the idyll of Paradise Valley. 
 
 There was no answer, and her temper rose. Why should 
 she talk (with such difficulty) and all for nothing ? She 
 threw herself upon him, clutching his shoulder for support, 
 and snatched at the pen. 
 
 " Go in there," he said in a voice she feared : he opened 
 the bedroom door, holding his writing out of reach. It 
 ended in his taking her, and laying her weeping on the 
 bed. 
 
 It was a disgraceful, a tawdry room, but he was grown 
 used to it. It was scented with her soiled clothing and 
 stale perfumes, and with anonymous cigar-smoke which 
 however improved the air. It did not concern him. He 
 was too deeply seared to feel such pricks. His mind 
 endeavored to clear itself from all lesser shames with a 
 last effort to be just. Careless familiarities from other 
 men he could not count against her having known what 
 he knew : nothing but what was blameworthy in her own 
 eyes. His wife's friends were good-natured, when they 
 were flush ; she was become an object of common com- 
 miseration and off-hand charity to those whom he had 
 called swine. 
 
 An hour later the crowd that filled the room and blocked 
 the stairs from the street, did not pause to observe a sheet 
 of writing on the table weighted down by a little heap of 
 
THE GRAVES 399 
 
 coin, as if trusting that the gold would call attention to 
 what lay beneath. The spectacle that drew was in the bed- 
 room, where the fool lay martyred in his folly with his vic- 
 tim and conqueror by his side. He had died first and his 
 death had sobered her : as Jimmy said, " When your heart 
 does break, you will not talk." She died with his head in 
 her lap which was soaked with his blood, and she uttered 
 no complaint. 
 
 An improvised investigation which cleared the rooms 
 took cognizance of the fool's death testimony. It was 
 addressed : 
 
 To whom it may concern : 
 
 I married this woman by whose side I soon shall end 
 my troubles, because we loved each other, and we were 
 mad enough to think that love is the whole of marriage. 
 I loved her too respectfully to want her any other way, 
 and I believed that by honoring her to the utmost in my 
 power, she would be able to honor herself in spite of her 
 past. With what she has not killed in me I love her still, 
 but our married life is a scandal. I still believe in love, 
 but there are some things it cannot alter. Fathers and 
 mothers know that, and why not husbands and wives ? 
 
 She had been drinking and so had I. I have a father 
 at home who wanders about the house a harmless spectre. 
 He is not old, but his mind is gone through drink, as mine 
 will go if I begin, and what 's to prevent me ? I don't do 
 this in anger or through jealousy. I believe my poor wife 
 has been " faithful," as it is called in marriage, though 
 she could not be faithful in anything else. Still, I knew 
 her past, and when a man commits a crime against society 
 he ought to take the consequences of his act. The trouble 
 
400 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 is, there are some consequences he can't take, nor see the 
 end of. She is going to have a child. God only knows what 
 she would do with it, or what the child might do if it should 
 live to grow up. I saw a mother to-day who is what she 
 will be a few years hence. I may be no better. So this 
 madness must stop . . . 
 
 It stopped, in the bedroom, a short time later. 
 
 Few women of Stella's history ever brought the soul test 
 home to better types of character, men and women ; even in 
 death, it was said, she sorted out the city. The whited sepul- 
 chres in silk hats and frock coats were there in numbers at 
 her funeral, but where they had been bold in the past to look 
 at that beautiful face, they were troubled now. The city 
 was changed and changing. By common impulse all those 
 respectable citizens in white shirt-fronts avoided mutual 
 recognition. They passed each other as if each by an act 
 of will had been rendered invisible. Some of them would 
 meet that evening again at their wives' dinner-tables, prac- 
 tising the discretion of bad boys under the eyes of un- 
 suspicious parents. Or, would these be the ghosts of 
 men who had departed this life of the spirit, and were go- 
 ing about in the flesh, never suspecting their own demise ? 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A WEDDING-GIFT DELAYED 
 
 THE following chapter was purposely held back in order 
 to give our settlers the last word, which surely belongs to 
 them in this story, and we think that the builders will 
 always have the last word in any true story or one that 
 pretends to be true, though the gamblers shall be there, 
 foremost in every race for achievement or possession: 
 they run as torch-bearers, and end as incendiaries who 
 perish in their own fires. 
 
 We return then to the common chord, our " resting- 
 place in this life." It is September; before the winter 
 of the Whitman massacre and before the discovery of 
 gold at Butter's Mill. Mr. Yardley is pacing about in 
 front of the wagon-shed, watching his son perform a task 
 which commands the minister's respect because he would 
 have exceedingly disliked it himself. Jimmy is greasing 
 his road-wagon for a trip to Champoeg. We suppose 
 there was not such a thing as a jack-screw in Oregon at 
 that time, but much may be done with patience and a 
 crow-bar and a stick of wood the right height to prop an 
 axle. 
 
 "Now, son," the parson resumes a suspended argu- 
 ment with spirit, "don't flinch at the price. Make it 
 twenty-five, no matter what Lewelling holds them at." 
 
 " He will hold them high," said Jimmy, wiping his 
 fingers before putting away the grease-pot. " You won't 
 get one of those trees for less than five dollars, coin." 
 
 " Let it be five or ten ! This is my present to Barbara. 
 
402 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 And every tree will be worth a field of oats, yearly, in less 
 than five years' time." 
 
 Jimmy laughed at the enthusiasm of the amateur. His 
 father had brought to these new outside interests all the 
 concentrated fervor of his cloistered mind. 
 
 The road team, in harness hitched to a tree, swung 
 their heads around at the rustle of straw. " Nothing in 
 your line, old chaps," said Jimmy, bedding down the 
 bottom of his wagon-box ; he went back to the barn for 
 an armful of old sacking which he crowded in upon the 
 straw. 
 
 "Take plenty," his father urged. "It's coming off 
 hot." He cast a watery eye upwards at the sun's progress 
 back of the slow, September fog. "Think you've got 
 plenty of that sacking ? you don't want to let their roots 
 get dry." Jimmy did not answer. 
 
 "Now make it twenty-five not a tree less! Call it 
 Barbie's silver tea-set. I never gave either of you a suita- 
 ble wedding-present that I remember." 
 
 "Well, father, you married us! I never gave you a 
 suitable fee, did I ? It is n't a question of tea-sets. How- 
 ever, if you insist, I can't say she would n't rather have 
 a young orchard than almost anything you could give 
 her." 
 
 " That settles it, then ! " The minister's face relaxed. 
 " Twenty-five trees will just about set out that southwest 
 slope, under your bedroom windows. Mr. Hannington 
 thinks that will be the place for them." 
 
 " Oho! so you've been and talked to father Hannington? 
 Well, I guess Barbie knows all about it by this time. I 
 asked her what I should bring her from the Falls : she 
 generally says a diamond necklace or a set of sables ! This 
 
A WEDDING-GIFT DELAYED 403 
 
 morning she sort o' twinkled at me: *A big red 
 apple ' ! " 
 
 " No ! " cried Mr Yardley, beaming ; these jokes on the 
 grandfathers were a matter of course, but Barbara's an- 
 swer pleased him almost to tears ; he repeated it childishly. 
 "'A big red apple'!" 
 
 " 'Scuse me, father : did you happen to see where I put 
 my coat just now? Ah!" The coat was recovered and 
 given a good shaking to windward, folded and laid across 
 the wagon-seat. The parson sneezed. But nobody could 
 interrupt him. He was accustomed to keep the thread of 
 his own discourse through the hum of family distractions, 
 much as an old clock with a last century strike intones 
 the hour reflectively over the heads of a chattering gener- 
 ation. 
 
 " I have noticed Barbara's cravings are always healthy 
 ones. There 's virtue in the apple ! I believe the apple- 
 eating habit has helped preserve our race in New Eng- 
 land " 
 
 " From the pie and the preaching habit," Jimmy 
 threw in casually. He was in rude spirits, impatient to set 
 off. " Must go now and say good-bye to the lady of the 
 house. Will you take in that broom, Dad, after I 'm gone ? 
 it's one of her good ones ; I stole it for a purpose. Brooms 
 are Barbie's pet economy do you think it 's a healthy 
 craving in a full-grown woman ? " 
 
 Mr. Yardley smiled, indulgent of his son's nonsense. 
 He forgot all about the broom. He and a brace of hens 
 wandering about whom he knew by sight and knew to be 
 hens of no character, having fed their neglected offspring, 
 had the silence of the sunny place to themselves. He 
 enjoyed an acquaintance with all the farm creatures now, 
 
404 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 remarked their habits, drew analogies from them and felt 
 the kindly influence of their dependence on man. Many 
 little sides of life he had been wont to pass over in ab- 
 straction won his smiles in these days. It was part of a 
 general unreefing and shaking out of sails, like the broaden- 
 ing of his scholarly hands through garden practice with a 
 spade, and his fresher color and livelier eye. He had lost the 
 housebound look. Barbara's children helped him, too, as 
 they grew and cut their teeth and crushed his heart with 
 their mysterious little ailments and learned to walk and to 
 call him " Gan " and " Ganfa-a-! " with long-vowelled sweet- 
 ness. He smiled ten times a day where he used to smile 
 once, and his Sabbath texts were chosen from a need to 
 speak lovingly and hopefully to his young church in the 
 wilderness. He was pondering, now, something sweet to 
 say to Barbara out of the Scriptures, of course when 
 her little fruit-trees should arrive at the door with the 
 earth of home still clinging to their roots. 
 
 He thought of her good, dear mother, asleep on the hill; 
 a familiar way of putting it not true to her memory, 
 though, his old friend with the big warm hand. She was 
 not up there quiescent, nor down here querulous and 
 weak as that last summer when she had begun to " fail." 
 She was cosmic. The Bible alone has expressions for that 
 sort of nature-woman. 
 
 " I raised thee up under the apple-tree ; there thy 
 mother brought thee forth ; there she brought thee forth 
 that bare thee." It was a misapplication of the text, to be 
 exact ; but Mr. Yardley used even his Bible now more hu- 
 manly. The tender, dove-voiced repetitions moved him to 
 think of willow copses full of nests in foldings of the 
 old New England hills ; memories stirred within him of 
 
A WEDDING-GIFT DELAYED 405 
 
 certain long spring twilights with a slender moon, that 
 call young folk out of doors and make old ones loath to 
 go in and light a fire, though none are left to share them 
 with. 
 
 To understand the good man's mood why his heart 
 should melt into poetry and break into song over twenty- 
 five little sticks of fruit-trees not yet in the ground (nor 
 paid for) it should be counted how few their homely 
 kindred were, west of the Cascade range, in 1847. Squaw- 
 berries grew on the mountain, wild plums were had for 
 the price of gathering, wild-grape blossoms and wild 
 strawberries scented the rich air: these belonged to the 
 camper, the mover-on, the Indians. When a man sets out 
 an orchard in a new land he plants for his children's child- 
 ren ; that soil is his home, and the fate of Oregon's homes 
 had now become a national question. The South had been 
 fighting the Oregon Bill in Congress, step by step : it 
 contained an anti-slavery clause highly offensive to South- 
 ern sentiments at that time. The North, equally deter- 
 mined, did not wait to win the fight in Congress. She sent 
 men of brains and character, who moved their families out 
 there, on the ground, making the venture a species of 
 crusade. They were helping to anchor the future State 
 in principles of a nation's faith as dear to them as their 
 fathers' religion ; they were the next generation of " fish- 
 ers and choppers and ploughmen " who " shall constitute 
 a State." 
 
 " Lo, I uncover the land 
 Which I hid of old time in the West." 
 
 Here was a new " Columbia of the Rocks which dip their 
 foot in the seas." The great pathway had been cut from 
 ocean to ocean; toil of countless feet of men and cattle 
 
406 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 with sweat and blood had worn it wider, every year. This 
 was the year before the feet branched off and sons of 
 the Trail were bearing southward with a new hunger in 
 their bones. 
 
 That summer's emigration brought out five thousand per- 
 sons, mostly dreamers: builders for the Northwest, 
 gamblers for California. This is a loose classification. We 
 have already told how one fair, average fellow (builder and 
 gambler too) went off at the first call, but did not sell 
 his home ; went for the larger fun and the chances, hold- 
 ing himself ready to go back into harness again and pull 
 a plough or drag a harrow, if he failed to get a lead in the 
 race. 
 
 But the dreamers do things, although they suffer, so 
 we say, and their joys are incommunicable like the joys 
 of childhood. Among those who dreamed to some purpose 
 in that summer's caravan, first place should be given to 
 Henderson Lewelling. With untold care he brought across 
 the plains his Travelling Nursery, the greatest contribu- 
 tion Oregon ever received from one man : seven hundred 
 young fruit-trees and shrubs planted in wagon-beds. 
 Homely, delightful inspiration! Worthy of Benjamin 
 Franklin. Where is there a stroke of genius that has not 
 in it the directness and the unconsciousness of the soil? 
 They came with the rest of the pioneer babies, rocked in 
 those continental cradles of our race, curtains over their 
 heads when the desert sun burned too strong, fed from 
 every wild brook and river that flows east or west from 
 the three great divides, and always safe-rooted in the earth 
 of home. 
 
 Eyes must have watered (and mouths, too) as the pen- 
 cilled pine labels were read, attached to each little graft- 
 
A WEDDING-GIFT DELAYED 407 
 
 ling's stein, giving its native State, its foundation soil, 
 its name and pedigree. Now these were the forbears of all 
 the great orchards of Oregon : "Rhode Island Greening," 
 "Newtown Pippin," "Northern Spy," " Spitzenberg," 
 from old Esopus, " The King," bless you ! " of Tompkins 
 County." The " Jonathan " apple, aha ! (but was he born 
 then?) Russets and Belleflowers and Pearmains, and 
 Winesaps, perhaps : we don't know if he was born either, 
 in 1847. But all the best families of the orchard aris- 
 tocracy were there, although it was a Northern propa- 
 ganda. In each of these little wands no bigger than a man's 
 thumb, some old parent State sent a little of the sap from 
 her own veins to build up the blood of the Northwest. 
 
 There was a fury of participation in Lewelling's great 
 idea. Farmers must have driven for days to buy treelings 
 at a price they dared not tell their wives. Jimmy Yardley 
 thought himself quite abreast of the times, deciding for 
 one dozen, when his father made it two, and one over 
 for luck, and called it Barbara's tea-set. 
 
 " Yes, " he mused, " I shall tell her that she herself is 
 like * a young apple-tree among the trees of the wood.' She 
 won't remember it was written in praise of ' my beloved 
 among the sons ' ! " said the cunning parson, with apol- 
 ogies to Solomon. " Surely the apple-tree is in every sense 
 feminine : in her beauty as she stands covered with flowers 
 in spring like a young bride ; in her abundance in autumn ; 
 in the keeping quality of her gifts that we can store them 
 for the old age of the year; in her modest stature ; in her 
 girth and her stoop as she grows eld in burden-bearing, 
 and in her habitat which makes her the peculiar treasure 
 of homes ; I should say Northern homes. In the South, 
 of course, she has her rivals." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE SAME DAT 
 
 " WHAT are those blessed grandfathers up to now ! " 
 Barbara spoke aloud in sheer astonishment. No one could 
 have heard her except her eldest, who did not answer, hav- 
 ing no interest in the question and showing it with the 
 sang-froid of your only true aristocrat. She is three, and 
 her name is not " Sister " nor " polly-my-lamb," nor 
 " Doodleums " nor " Piggsy-wigs," nor any of the foolish 
 things her parents call her to avoid her real name, which 
 is Silence, they regret to say. It had to be although 
 there never can be another Silence. Barbie feels that, and 
 she knows Jimmy does not like the name, but father ! 
 He was so wistful and humble about it. It just had 
 to be. 
 
 The morning's work done and husband well on his way 
 to the Falls and baby having his long after -bath-and- 
 feeding nap, Barbara has taken her sewing out upon the 
 bench under her bedroom windows where the house shadow 
 falls ; where she can listen to baby and keep little sister 
 reasonably quiet if amused. 
 
 The sun has come out hot as Mr. Yardley predicted. It 
 shines on the vest-backs of the two old men, coats off and 
 waistcoats unbuttoned, who follow each other's steps me- 
 thodically in silence over the slope of autumn grass. One 
 lays down a sort of measuring-rod, the other drives in a 
 sort of stake ; they repeat the process at some little distance 
 from the last stake, sighting with a string. It looks earnest 
 
THE SAME DAY 409 
 
 though not strictly technical ; something might come of 
 it, however. Something has come of it : an Indian in a 
 red calico shirt is digging up the sod where no one who 
 loves the mistress of this house would dream of driving a 
 spade unless by her special orders. 
 
 " For goodness' sake ! I wonder if Jimmy knows about 
 this?" 
 
 " Fo' doo'ness' sate ! " the lamb recites, without lifting 
 an eyelash. 
 
 There is a feeling of general distrust in Barbara's mind 
 whenever the grandfathers get to work in Jimmy's absence, 
 unless she knows that Jimmy does know. The present case 
 is no exception. " What in the world are those old Blesseds 
 doing down there, by themselves, and who set them at it ? " 
 She rambles down to see. 
 
 The grandfathers are not communicative : they are in- 
 deed rather provoking. They behave as she often does 
 when busy making pies, and Polly-my-lamb hangs around 
 asking for things but then ! 
 
 Barbie came up the slope quite fast with a flushed face, 
 and saved herself from my lamb's onset almost without a 
 smile which did not give perfect satisfaction either. 
 
 " Mama 'peak to me, 'peak to me ! " 
 
 " Softly, so/My! 'Wake little Brother ! " 
 
 " Sof 'y, sooo-f 'y ! " came the fascinating echo. The two 
 sank down, laughing, on the grass together, one in the 
 other's lap. The lamb nestles and tries to suck her thumb ; 
 is prevented. A guilty pause, with an embarrassed smile 
 as we sit up again and pretend that we don't care. 
 
 " It looks like setting out trees, Doodl'ums. It certainly 
 looks that way ; and we 've only just got rid of them ! 
 Grass is so nice, and the sunsets and all! They can't be 
 
410 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 going to plant trees all over my beautiful west slope as 
 ever was ! I wonder if Jimmy can have known ! " 
 
 This would appear to be the nature of most surprises 
 prearranged by man to pleasure his women-folk: with 
 woman in general, as with poets, " it is not the What but 
 the How." The What was perfect, but, alas, the How ! 
 And Barbie's own father had done it. She thanked father 
 Yardley with much loving grace, for his wonderful gift ; 
 she knew how to do that sort of thing or even to overdo 
 it. And she was able to put a tolerable face on her own 
 father's deed, considering what a blow it was, and that he 
 was merely her own father. But to Jimmy, in private, 
 she almost wept. 
 
 " My lovely, clear slope all dug up into holes. A lot of 
 little sticks (darlings, of course ! it was lovely of father 
 Yardley, I can never thank him enough) always right 
 in your eyes when you want to look at the sunset ; and 
 the woods turn dark early now against the west. And the 
 color we used to see Jimmy, do you remember ? (he 
 did) over the west woods, when we were skating, just 
 before dark, that strange apple-green, and pink and 
 old rose ! And little Sister does so love to stand on my 
 lap in her nighty and watch the crows come pouring 
 home, as if they were emptied out of the sky." 
 
 " Wait, girlie ; only a few years. You'll be comforted. 
 It will be different, but it will be good." 
 
 " ' He comforteth those who fail in patience,' mother 
 used to say that " Barbie choked. "Yes: He gives us 
 something else, better for us perhaps, but not the same. 
 It is n't the orchard, Jimmy ; it 's everything ! It 's the 
 time of year, I guess." 
 
 Jimmy hugged her in silence. 
 
THE SAME DAY 411 
 
 The next spring they carried handfuls of their first pre- 
 cious blossoms up to " mother " she and Jimmy did that 
 alone, but father knew. The second year she and little Sis- 
 ter did the same ; the men were busy ; and there were many 
 blossoms left more than the young trees were allowed 
 to mature. The third spring it was a festival, like the won- 
 derful May orchards at home, only the trees were so low. 
 You looked into the faces of the flowers, crowds, masses, 
 hugging their pink little buds like babies' cheeks pressed 
 against the pale young mothers'. Of course some of the 
 mothers were pink, too, and all the blossoms seemed very 
 large. Then came a new moon setting early behind the low 
 white-veiled trees, and a breath of river-damp heavy with 
 perfume, thrills of the old spring sweetness borne on the 
 same soft rush of wind that used to carry the sound of 
 freshets in the hills. Life to those pioneer women must have 
 been heavily fraught with the restlessness and the melan- 
 choly that home memories breed ; as the first years of mar- 
 riage are haunted by memories of girlhood ; as, all through 
 life, we advance from one pioneer stage of experience to the 
 next, attended by whisperings that clutch at our beating 
 hearts out of the hearts which have ceased to beat in the 
 countless generations that conducted us hither. 
 
 Barbie wondered what it must be like, the acquiescence 
 of the old. She watched her father walk his evening rounds 
 alone, and Mr. Yardley walking by himself, the two wife- 
 less old men. They seemed wonderfully content. She felt 
 almost hurt that her father should take his loss with such 
 cheerful submission. She would have predicted a complete 
 breakdown, that first summer, an illness at least. Are men 
 such objective creatures ? Was it possible to imagine one's 
 Jimmy taking such a healthful interest in everyday affairs 
 
412 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 and she not four years " under the sod " ! and they had 
 lived together such a little while comparatively. 
 
 She went about her own life (which she would have 
 considered a rather hard life to watch another woman liv- 
 ing it) with extraordinary zest and satisfaction in finding 
 that her capacities rose with each demand. She took pride 
 in justifying her mother's defence, when grandma used to 
 complain of her persistent reading habit and call her an 
 idle child, a dreamer. 
 
 Her mother would answer, " She '11 take her head out 
 of her books when she needs it somewhere else. A good 
 reader means a good thinker ; and every woman ought to 
 think out her work for herself. Housekeeping isn't a 
 treadmill," and then she would add with a sigh : " As for 
 dreaming, I hope the time may never come when she can't 
 dream." Grandma was not aware of the fact that she her- 
 self had been a master dreamer. Had she not dreamed out 
 William's future in the West ? That she called common 
 sense. It was William who had the common sense which 
 took counsel of prudence at every step, which waited to 
 know everything before daring to decide. 
 
 Barbie's dreams were not world-wide, but they were less 
 self-centred than when she wanted one thing only, that she 
 was ashamed to pray for. Now she had it, and Jimmy him- 
 self to pray for ; three lives beside her own, in which her 
 own life was merged to the point of extinguishing almost 
 every individual desire. Yet she had an intense personal 
 consciousness which gave her those thrills of melancholy, 
 those bursts of lyric joy. And now and then an obscure 
 want possessed her : she wondered if Jimmy were keeping 
 to himself something which in a man corresponds to it, 
 the loneliness of sex. However it started with her, from 
 
THE SAME DAY 413 
 
 various small causes, it usually climbed and broke in a 
 longing for one of the old woman-talks with one's mother. 
 Barbie knew not the love of sisters, and she had never had 
 an intimate girl friend : the mother had been her sole other 
 feminine. If forced to be honest with herself, she must 
 have admitted these woman-talks had occasionally been 
 rather hectic ; she and her mother had not been always per- 
 fect companions for each other. A long old age rarely is a 
 blessing to those we wish to keep with us ; the dear mother 
 Silence herself might have lost her "controls," grown fussy 
 and tiresome, and even intrusive when grandchildren came 
 along (those seeds of joy and dissension). It was better 
 in every way that both should be spared the closing chap- 
 ter. Barbie would have admitted the truth of all this in a 
 general sense, but it couldn't have been true of them ! " The 
 grandmothers are not like that in our family : think of 
 Grandmother Trumbull; and she could never have had 
 just the quality that was mother, and no one else." 
 
 Often she wondered at her own complete happiness. 
 She would say to herself, "Supposing I had known, 
 the winter Stella came, that mother my mother ! would 
 live only two years ? I could not have borne it, and 
 here I am ! " So that is love, might have been one in- 
 ference ; it was not Barbie's. She remembered a saying 
 of her mother's which satisfied her : " When you are mar- 
 ried to a good man and have learned to love each other, 
 there is n't much in life you cannot bear." 
 
 Did the wonderful mother mean that, whatever sort of 
 love you may think you marry on, you have to learn an- 
 other kind to live on ? the kind that is said to bear all 
 things, believe all things and seek not its own ? 
 
 With her and Jimmy the one last hitch was that old 
 
414 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 agony of human forbearance, the Body of Doctrine in 
 which Barbie was brought up and which her mind had 
 accustomed itself to in a manner which she called belief. 
 Jimmy said she could n't possibly believe its code of sal- 
 vation, for instance, and preserve her sanity. He would 
 not acknowledge that his own father believed it in any 
 vital sense dooming, as it must, his only child to eter- 
 nal torment. The good man ate his three meals daily and 
 laid him down to sleep at peace with that terrific God 
 of his Orthodoxy. On the other hand, Barbie smiled to 
 herself to see her haughty mentor carry his little girl in to 
 bed, if mamma were detained, and hear her say her ridicu- 
 lously illogical prayer with the sweetest gravity. What 
 did he think of that for sincerity ! She never asked him : 
 far too wise was she ! But if she had he would very likely 
 have " come back " with the reminder that " consistency 
 is the bug-bear of little minds." 
 
 We trust no reader of this tale will ask the author to 
 reconcile the inconsistencies of her characters, taking 
 them one time with another. There can be no doubt Mr. 
 Yardleywas conscientious in that priestly sentence of his 
 which he stood by and saw put in execution. And yet 
 he suffered hours of anguish, as doubtless he deserved 
 to, in thinking of it afterwards ; and the shock of review- 
 ing his own action (though he justified it in words to the 
 end) broke down the very tissue of his ancient theology 
 and made him at the time of his death one of the broadest 
 and tenderest religious teachers which his generation had 
 known. Mr. Hannington, who was ready to repudiate his 
 sister's child and who handed her over to punishment pro- 
 fessing not to feel a qualm, left his wife on her death-bed 
 to go after the homeless girl, prepared to resume his 
 
THE SAME DAY 415 
 
 guardianship with all its responsibilities underscored. 
 Bradburn, unprincipled egotist and hardened sport, kept 
 the love of a pious, clever woman, touched her life with 
 the color of romance, and hoodwinked her to the last. 
 Jimmy, in theory, would have parted with his right hand 
 sooner than raise it deliberately against another man's 
 life for any fantastic notion of so-called honor ; yet, con- 
 fronted with the alternative, he chose the course least re- 
 pulsive to something in himself which he could not reason 
 about. And though by every effort of love and friendship, 
 and even his own conscience, he was freely absolved, the 
 cold horror of those moments alone with Bradburn's body 
 on the mountain were never quite forgotten. Through all 
 the intricate sources of culpability in and out, without any 
 pretence of justice, his soul retained a deep-seated rage 
 against not the man he fought, but the weak and winding 
 nature he fought for, that his hand for her sake must wear 
 this stain. As for his tenderness to one woman's sensibili- 
 ties and the remorseless way in which he could crush an- 
 other's, we must admit he did what a man is called on to do 
 to protect his own from possible harm, but we should have 
 been sorry to see it done as he did it. It takes a certain 
 hardness to do such things, and hardness by the nature of 
 it must be hard: Jimmy Yardley, before he was through, 
 did more and better work, as a citizen, than all the young 
 brains of the Yardley tract put together. 
 
 As a final poser, there was Dr. Whitman; the most 
 practical of men, wise, far-sighted, for others ; who was 
 besieged with warnings and would not listen. No, but 
 held on at Waiilatpu (place of bloody grass, that winter 
 of 1847), and 1 * brought destruction upon his faithful wife 
 and friends and died a martyr, sooner than abandon the 
 
416 A PICKED COMPANY 
 
 mere material part of his great creative work of years, 
 which the nation remembers while it forgets his pathetic 
 human obstinacy and rashness. 
 
 And the missionaries? After so noble a beginning their 
 work showed rather small in its immediate results. The 
 Indians remained savages and behaved as savages do; 
 here and there a life was altered, a sincere convert made, 
 but far many more acquired a cynicism as to the Christ- 
 ian's Road to Heaven that was very sad for the Christian 
 hope of bringing light to souls in darkness ; and yet those 
 bigoted men and women did not break the trail and their 
 own hearts, in vain. Mr. Yardley's boast may remain un- 
 challenged and history has since supported it. It was not 
 the two-hundred years' traffic in dead animals' skins, nor 
 the skin for skin wars of the hunters among themselves, 
 nor national jealousy, nor race expansion, nor scientific 
 exploration that first uncovered the new Columbia of the 
 Rocks which dip their foot in the North Pacific seas : it 
 was a wretched intermontane flat-headed Indian tribe, 
 groping for a better way of life in the imperishable hope 
 of a Something hereafter. 
 
 THE END 
 
flitocrsibe 
 
 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 U . S . A 
 
LOST FARM CAMP 
 
 By Harry Herbert Knibbs 
 
 "An exhilarating story of the Maine woods." 
 
 Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
 
 " A real human story, of flesh and blood people. . . . 
 A story of the open, fresh and wholesome, with a clean 
 sweetness in its fiber like the spring fragrance of bal- 
 sam boughs." Milwaukee Free Press. 
 
 "It is evident on every page that he knows and loves 
 the country, its people, and, more than all, its woods 
 and their inhabitants. . . . It is a breezy, wholesome 
 novel, full of the feeling of the pine woods." 
 
 N. Y. Times. 
 
 "A wholesome, out-of-doors spirit pervades the 
 book, which is truly delightful." Living Age. 
 
 " A clean, true story . . . deserves all the popular- 
 ity it will surely win." The Bellman, Minneapolis. 
 
 " Has a fine tang of the forest." - N. Y. World. 
 
 Illustrated by Harold James Cue. 
 
 1 2 mo. $1.25 net. Postage 12 cents 
 
 HOUGHTON f<jj^ BOSTON 
 
 MIFFLIN /vf^ AND 
 
 COMPANY ra': NEW YORK 
 
A HOOSIER CHRONICLE 
 
 By Meredith Nicholson 
 
 " It is one of the bravest, sweetest, most optimistic 
 books in which, ever, plain truths of humanity and 
 history have been mingled with the weavings of fic- 
 tion." N. Y. World. 
 
 " Mr. Nicholson knows whereof he writes, and the 
 picture of the political and social life of the capital 
 which he gives us in the present volume is vigorous 
 and convincing." Boston Transcript. 
 
 " It puts Mr. Nicholson in the front rank of Amer- 
 ican novelists who are trying to produce real literature." 
 
 Indianapolis Star. 
 
 " In * A Hoosier Chronicle ' he has done something 
 much bigger, and given us a work of fiction of a rich- 
 ly human sort, creating real characters and giving us 
 a penetrating study of political life and domestic rela- 
 tions in the commonwealth of Indiana." The Dial. 
 
 Illustrated in color by F. C. Yohn. 
 
 Square crown 8vo. $1.40 net. Postage 16 cents 
 
 HOUGHTON /&*[ BOSTON 
 
 MIFFLIN /^S! AND 
 
 COMPANY (rall^V NEW YORK 
 
O / 
 
 PLL 
 
P18922 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY