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diff --git a/2310-h/2310-h.htm b/2310-h/2310-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1138b90 --- /dev/null +++ b/2310-h/2310-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5572 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + In the Carquinez Woods, by Bret Harte + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Carquinez Woods, by Bret Harte + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Carquinez Woods + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 16, 2006 [EBook #2310] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODS *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + The sun was going down on the Carquinez Woods. The few shafts of sunlight + that had pierced their pillared gloom were lost in unfathomable depths, or + splintered their ineffectual lances on the enormous trunks of the + redwoods. For a time the dull red of their vast columns, and the dull red + of their cast-off bark which matted the echoless aisles, still seemed to + hold a faint glow of the dying day. But even this soon passed. Light and + color fled upwards. The dark interlaced treetops, that had all day made an + impenetrable shade, broke into fire here and there; their lost spires + glittered, faded, and went utterly out. A weird twilight that did not come + from the outer world, but seemed born of the wood itself, slowly filled + and possessed the aisles. The straight, tall, colossal trunks rose dimly + like columns of upward smoke. The few fallen trees stretched their huge + length into obscurity, and seemed to lie on shadowy trestles. The strange + breath that filled these mysterious vaults had neither coldness nor + moisture; a dry, fragrant dust arose from the noiseless foot that trod + their bark-strewn floor; the aisles might have been tombs, the fallen + trees enormous mummies; the silence the solitude of a forgotten past. + </p> + <p> + And yet this silence was presently broken by a recurring sound like + breathing, interrupted occasionally by inarticulate and stertorous gasps. + It was not the quick, panting, listening breath of some stealthy feline or + canine animal, but indicated a larger, slower, and more powerful + organization, whose progress was less watchful and guarded, or as if a + fragment of one of the fallen monsters had become animate. At times this + life seemed to take visible form, but as vaguely, as misshapenly, as the + phantom of a nightmare. Now it was a square object moving sideways, + endways, with neither head nor tail and scarcely visible feet; then an + arched bulk rolling against the trunks of the trees and recoiling again, + or an upright cylindrical mass, but always oscillating and unsteady, and + striking the trees on either hand. The frequent occurrence of the movement + suggested the figures of some weird rhythmic dance to music heard by the + shape alone. Suddenly it either became motionless or faded away. + </p> + <p> + There was the frightened neighing of a horse, the sudden jingling of + spurs, a shout and outcry, and the swift apparition of three dancing + torches in one of the dark aisles; but so intense was the obscurity that + they shed no light on surrounding objects, and seemed to advance of their + own volition without human guidance, until they disappeared suddenly + behind the interposing bulk of one of the largest trees. Beyond its eighty + feet of circumference the light could not reach, and the gloom remained + inscrutable. But the voices and jingling spurs were heard distinctly. + </p> + <p> + “Blast the mare! She's shied off that cursed trail again.” + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't lost it again, hev ye?” growled a second voice. + </p> + <p> + “That's jist what I hev. And these blasted pine-knots don't give light an + inch beyond 'em. D—d if I don't think they make this cursed hole + blacker.” + </p> + <p> + There was a laugh—a woman's laugh—hysterical, bitter, + sarcastic, exasperating. The second speaker, without heeding it, went on:— + </p> + <p> + “What in thunder skeert the hosses? Did you see or hear anything?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothin'. The wood is like a graveyard.” + </p> + <p> + The woman's voice again broke into a hoarse, contemptuous laugh. The man + resumed angrily:— + </p> + <p> + “If you know anything, why in h-ll don't you say so, instead of cackling + like a d—d squaw there? P'raps you reckon you ken find the trail + too.” + </p> + <p> + “Take this rope off my wrist,” said the woman's voice, “untie my hands, + let me down, and I'll find it.” She spoke quickly and with a Spanish + accent. + </p> + <p> + It was the men's turn to laugh. “And give you a show to snatch that + six-shooter and blow a hole through me, as you did to the Sheriff of + Calaveras, eh? Not if this court understands itself,” said the first + speaker dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Go to the devil, then,” she said curtly. + </p> + <p> + “Not before a lady,” responded the other. There was another laugh from the + men, the spurs jingled again, the three torches reappeared from behind the + tree, and then passed away in the darkness. + </p> + <p> + For a time silence and immutability possessed the woods; the great trunks + loomed upwards, their fallen brothers stretched their slow length into + obscurity. The sound of breathing again became audible; the shape + reappeared in the aisle, and recommenced its mystic dance. Presently it + was lost in the shadow of the largest tree, and to the sound of breathing + succeeded a grating and scratching of bark. Suddenly, as if riven by + lightning, a flash broke from the center of the tree-trunk, lit up the + woods, and a sharp report rang through it. After a pause the jingling of + spurs and the dancing of torches were revived from the distance. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo?” + </p> + <p> + No answer. + </p> + <p> + “Who fired that shot?” + </p> + <p> + But there was no reply. A slight veil of smoke passed away to the right, + there was the spice of gunpowder in the air, but nothing more. + </p> + <p> + The torches came forward again, but this time it could be seen they were + held in the hands of two men and a woman. The woman's hands were tied at + the wrist to the horse-hair reins of her mule, while a riata, passed + around her waist and under the mule's girth, was held by one of the men, + who were both armed with rifles and revolvers. Their frightened horses + curveted, and it was with difficulty they could be made to advance. + </p> + <p> + “Ho! stranger, what are you shooting at?” + </p> + <p> + The woman laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “Look yonder at the roots of + the tree. You're a d—d smart man for a sheriff, ain't you?” + </p> + <p> + The man uttered an exclamation and spurred his horse forward, but the + animal reared in terror. He then sprang to the ground and approached the + tree. The shape lay there, a scarcely distinguishable bulk. + </p> + <p> + “A grizzly, by the living Jingo! Shot through the heart.” + </p> + <p> + It was true. The strange shape lit up by the flaring torches seemed more + vague, unearthly, and awkward in its dying throes, yet the small shut + eyes, the feeble nose, the ponderous shoulders, and half-human foot armed + with powerful claws were unmistakable. The men turned by a common impulse + and peered into the remote recesses of the wood again. + </p> + <p> + “Hi, Mister! come and pick up your game. Hallo there!” + </p> + <p> + The challenge fell unheeded on the empty woods. + </p> + <p> + “And yet,” said he whom the woman had called the sheriff, “he can't be far + off. It was a close shot, and the bear hez dropped in his tracks. Why, + wot's this sticking in his claws?” + </p> + <p> + The two men bent over the animal. “Why, it's sugar, brown sugar—look!” + There was no mistake. The huge beast's fore paws and muzzle were streaked + with the unromantic household provision, and heightened the absurd + contrast of its incongruous members. The woman, apparently indifferent, + had taken that opportunity to partly free one of her wrists. + </p> + <p> + “If we hadn't been cavorting round this yer spot for the last half hour, + I'd swear there was a shanty not a hundred yards away,” said the sheriff. + </p> + <p> + The other man, without replying, remounted his horse instantly. + </p> + <p> + “If there is, and it's inhabited by a gentleman that kin make centre shots + like that in the dark, and don't care to explain how, I reckon I won't + disturb him.” + </p> + <p> + The sheriff was apparently of the same opinion, for he followed his + companion's example, and once more led the way. The spurs tinkled, the + torches danced, and the cavalcade slowly reentered the gloom. In another + moment it had disappeared. + </p> + <p> + The wood sank again into repose, this time disturbed by neither shape nor + sound. What lower forms of life might have crept close to its roots were + hidden in the ferns, or passed with deadened tread over the bark-strewn + floor. Towards morning a coolness like dew fell from above, with here and + there a dropping twig or nut, or the crepitant awakening and + stretching-out of cramped and weary branches. Later a dull, lurid dawn, + not unlike the last evening's sunset, filled the aisles. This faded again, + and a clear gray light, in which every object stood out in sharp + distinctness, took its place. Morning was waiting outside in all its + brilliant, youthful coloring, but only entered as the matured and sobered + day. + </p> + <p> + Seen in that stronger light, the monstrous tree near which the dead bear + lay revealed its age in its denuded and scarred trunk, and showed in its + base a deep cavity, a foot or two from the ground, partly hidden by + hanging strips of bark which had fallen across it. Suddenly one of these + strips was pushed aside, and a young man leaped lightly down. + </p> + <p> + But for the rifle he carried and some modern peculiarities of dress, he + was of a grace so unusual and unconventional that he might have passed for + a faun who was quitting his ancestral home. He stepped to the side of the + bear with a light elastic movement that was as unlike customary + progression as his face and figure were unlike the ordinary types of + humanity. Even as he leaned upon his rifle, looking down at the prostrate + animal, he unconsciously fell into an attitude that in any other mortal + would have been a pose, but with him was the picturesque and unstudied + relaxation of perfect symmetry. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo, Mister!” + </p> + <p> + He raised his head so carelessly and listlessly that he did not otherwise + change his attitude. Stepping from behind the tree, the woman of the + preceding night stood before him. Her hands were free except for a thong + of the riata, which was still knotted around one wrist, the end of the + thong having been torn or burnt away. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her + hair hung over her shoulders in one long black braid. + </p> + <p> + “I reckoned all along it was YOU who shot the bear,” she said; “at least + some one hiding yer,” and she indicated the hollow tree with her hand. “It + wasn't no chance shot.” Observing that the young man, either from + misconception or indifference, did not seem to comprehend her, she added, + “We came by here, last night, a minute after you fired.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that was YOU kicked up such a row, was it?” said the young man, with + a shade of interest. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon,” said the woman, nodding her head, “and them that was with me.” + </p> + <p> + “And who are they?” + </p> + <p> + “Sheriff Dunn, of Yolo, and his deputy.” + </p> + <p> + “And where are they now?” + </p> + <p> + “The deputy—in h-ll, I reckon; I don't know about the sheriff.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said the young man quietly; “and you?” + </p> + <p> + “I—got away,” she said savagely. But she was taken with a sudden + nervous shiver, which she at once repressed by tightly dragging her shawl + over her shoulders and elbows, and folding her arms defiantly. + </p> + <p> + “And you're going?” + </p> + <p> + “To follow the deputy, may be,” she said gloomily. “But come, I say, ain't + you going to treat? It's cursed cold here.” + </p> + <p> + “Wait a moment.” The young man was looking at her, with his arched brows + slightly knit and a half smile of curiosity. “Ain't you Teresa?” + </p> + <p> + She was prepared for the question, but evidently was not certain whether + she would reply defiantly or confidently. After an exhaustive scrutiny of + his face she chose the latter, and said, “You can bet your life on it, + Johnny.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't bet, and my name isn't Johnny. Then you're the woman who stabbed + Dick Curson over at Lagrange's?” + </p> + <p> + She became defiant again. + </p> + <p> + “That's me, all the time. What are you going to do about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. And you used to dance at the Alhambra?” She whisked the shawl + from her shoulders, held it up like a scarf, and made one or two steps of + the sembicuacua. There was not the least gayety, recklessness, or + spontaneity in the action; it was simply mechanical bravado. It was so + ineffective, even upon her own feelings, that her arms presently dropped + to her side, and she coughed embarrassedly. “Where's that whiskey, + pardner?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + The young man turned toward the tree he had just quitted, and without + further words assisted her to mount to the cavity. It was an + irregular-shaped vaulted chamber, pierced fifty feet above by a shaft or + cylindrical opening in the decayed trunk, which was blackened by smoke, as + if it had served the purpose of a chimney. In one corner lay a bearskin + and blanket; at the side were two alcoves or indentations, one of which + was evidently used as a table, and the other as a cupboard. In another + hollow, near the entrance, lay a few small sacks of flour, coffee, and + sugar, the sticky contents of the latter still strewing the floor. From + this storehouse the young man drew a wicker flask of whiskey, and handed + it, with a tin cup of water, to the woman. She waved the cup aside, placed + the flask to her lips, and drank the undiluted spirit. Yet even this was + evidently bravado, for the water started to her eyes, and she could not + restrain the paroxysm of coughing that followed. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon that's the kind that kills at forty rods,” she said, with a + hysterical laugh. “But I say, pardner, you look as if you were fixed here + to stay,” and she stared ostentatiously around the chamber. But she had + already taken in its minutest details, even to observing that the hanging + strips of bark could be disposed so as to completely hide the entrance. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes,” he replied; “it wouldn't be very easy to pull up the stakes + and move the shanty further on.” + </p> + <p> + Seeing that either from indifference or caution he had not accepted her + meaning, she looked at him fixedly, and said,— + </p> + <p> + “What is your little game?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh?” + </p> + <p> + “What are you hiding for—here, in this tree?” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm not hiding.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why didn't you come out when they hailed you last night?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I didn't care to.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa whistled incredulously. “All right—then if you're not hiding, + I'm going to.” As he did not reply, she went on: “If I can keep out of + sight for a couple of weeks, this thing will blow over here, and I can get + across into Yolo. I could get a fair show there, where the boys know me. + Just now the trails are all watched, but no one would think of lookin' + here.” + </p> + <p> + “Then how did you come to think of it?” he asked carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “Because I knew that bear hadn't gone far for that sugar; because I know + he hadn't stole it from a cache—it was too fresh, and we'd have seen + the torn-up earth; because we had passed no camp; and because I knew there + was no shanty here. And, besides,” she added in a low voice, “maybe I was + huntin' a hole myself to die in—and spotted it by instinct.” + </p> + <p> + There was something in this suggestion of a hunted animal that, unlike + anything she had previously said or suggested, was not exaggerated, and + caused the young man to look at her again. She was standing under the + chimney-like opening, and the light from above illuminated her head and + shoulders. The pupils of her eyes had lost their feverish prominence, and + were slightly suffused and softened as she gazed abstractedly before her. + The only vestige of her previous excitement was in her left-hand fingers, + which were incessantly twisting and turning a diamond ring upon her right + hand, but without imparting the least animation to her rigid attitude. + Suddenly, as if conscious of his scrutiny, she stepped aside out of the + revealing light and by a swift feminine instinct raised her hand to her + head as if to adjust her straggling hair. It was only for a moment, + however, for, as if aware of the weakness, she struggled to resume her + aggressive pose. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said. “Speak up. Am I goin' to stop here, or have I got to get + up and get?” + </p> + <p> + “You can stay,” said the young man quietly; “but as I've got my provisions + and ammunition here, and haven't any other place to go to just now, I + suppose we'll have to share it together.” + </p> + <p> + She glanced at him under her eyelids, and a half-bitter, half-contemptuous + smile passed across her face. “All right, old man,” she said, holding out + her hand, “it's a go. We'll start in housekeeping at once, if you like.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll have to come here once or twice a day,” he said, quite composedly, + “to look after my things, and get something to eat; but I'll be away most + of the time, and what with camping out under the trees every night I + reckon my share won't incommode you.” + </p> + <p> + She opened her black eyes upon him, at this original proposition. Then she + looked down at her torn dress. “I suppose this style of thing ain't very + fancy, is it?” she said, with a forced laugh. + </p> + <p> + “I think I know where to beg or borrow a change for you, if you can't get + any,” he replied simply. + </p> + <p> + She stared at him again. “Are you a family man?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + She was silent for a moment. “Well,” she said, “you can tell your girl I'm + not particular about its being in the latest fashion.” + </p> + <p> + There was a slight flush on his forehead as he turned toward the little + cupboard, but no tremor in his voice as he went on: “You'll find tea and + coffee here, and, if you're bored, there's a book or two. You read, don't + you—I mean English?” + </p> + <p> + She nodded, but cast a look of undisguised contempt upon the two worn, + coverless novels he held out to her. “You haven't got last week's + 'Sacramento Union,' have you? I hear they have my case all in; only them + lying reporters made it out against me all the time.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see the papers,” he replied curtly. + </p> + <p> + “They say there's a picture of me in the 'Police Gazette,' taken in the + act,” and she laughed. + </p> + <p> + He looked a little abstracted, and turned as if to go. “I think you'll do + well to rest a while just now, and keep as close hid as possible until + afternoon. The trail is a mile away at the nearest point, but some one + might miss it and stray over here. You're quite safe if you're careful, + and stand by the tree. You can build a fire here,” he stepped under the + chimney-like opening, “without its being noticed. Even the smoke is lost + and cannot be seen so high.” + </p> + <p> + The light from above was falling on his head and shoulders, as it had on + hers. She looked at him intently. + </p> + <p> + “You travel a good deal on your figure, pardner, don't you?” she said, + with a certain admiration that was quite sexless in its quality; “but I + don't see how you pick up a living by it in the Carquinez Woods. So you're + going, are you? You might be more sociable. Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + “Good-by!” He leaped from the opening. + </p> + <p> + “I say pardner!” + </p> + <p> + He turned a little impatiently. She had knelt down at the entrance, so as + to be nearer his level, and was holding out her hand. But he did not + notice it, and she quietly withdrew it. + </p> + <p> + “If anybody dropped in and asked for you, what name will they say?” + </p> + <p> + He smiled. “Don't wait to hear.” + </p> + <p> + “But suppose I wanted to sing out for you, what will I call you?” + </p> + <p> + He hesitated. “Call me—Lo.” + </p> + <p> + “Lo, the poor Indian?” * + </p> + <p> + “Exactly.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The first word of Pope's familiar apostrophe is humorously + used in the Far West as a distinguishing title for the + Indian. +</pre> + <p> + It suddenly occurred to the woman, Teresa, that in the young man's height, + supple, yet erect carriage, color, and singular gravity of demeanor there + was a refined, aboriginal suggestion. He did not look like any Indian she + had ever seen, but rather as a youthful chief might have looked. There was + a further suggestion in his fringed buckskin shirt and moccasins; but + before she could utter the half-sarcastic comment that rose to her lips he + had glided noiselessly away, even as an Indian might have done. + </p> + <p> + She readjusted the slips of hanging bark with feminine ingenuity, + dispersing them so as to completely hide the entrance. Yet this did not + darken the chamber, which seemed to draw a purer and more vigorous light + through the soaring shaft that pierced the roof than that which came from + the dim woodland aisles below. Nevertheless, she shivered, and drawing her + shawl closely around her began to collect some half-burnt fragments of + wood in the chimney to make a fire. But the preoccupation of her thoughts + rendered this a tedious process, as she would from time to time stop in + the middle of an action and fall into an attitude of rapt abstraction, + with far-off eyes and rigid mouth. When she had at last succeeded in + kindling a fire and raising a film of pale blue smoke, that seemed to fade + and dissipate entirely before it reached the top of the chimney shaft, she + crouched beside it, fixed her eyes on the darkest corner of the cavern, + and became motionless. + </p> + <p> + What did she see through that shadow? + </p> + <p> + Nothing at first but a confused medley of figures and incidents of the + preceding night; things to be put away and forgotten; things that would + not have happened but for another thing—the thing before which + everything faded! A ball-room; the sounds of music; the one man she had + cared for insulting her with the flaunting ostentation of his + unfaithfulness; herself despised, put aside, laughed at, or worse, jilted. + And then the moment of delirium, when the light danced; the one wild act + that lifted her, the despised one, above them all—made her the + supreme figure, to be glanced at by frightened women, stared at by + half-startled, half-admiring men! “Yes,” she laughed; but struck by the + sound of her own voice, moved twice round the cavern nervously, and then + dropped again into her old position. + </p> + <p> + As they carried him away he had laughed at her—like a hound that he + was; he who had praised her for her spirit, and incited her revenge + against others; he who had taught her to strike when she was insulted; and + it was only fit he should reap what he had sown. She was what he, what + other men, had made her. And what was she now? What had she been once? + </p> + <p> + She tried to recall her childhood: the man and woman who might have been + her father and mother; who fought and wrangled over her precocious little + life; abused or caressed her as she sided with either; and then left her + with a circus troupe, where she first tasted the power of her courage, her + beauty, and her recklessness. She remembered those flashes of triumph that + left a fever in her veins—a fever that when it failed must be + stimulated by dissipation, by anything, by everything that would keep her + name a wonder in men's mouths, an envious fear to women. She recalled her + transfer to the strolling players; her cheap pleasures, and cheaper + rivalries and hatred—but always Teresa! the daring Teresa! the + reckless Teresa! audacious as a woman, invincible as a boy; dancing, + flirting, fencing, shooting, swearing, drinking, smoking, fighting Teresa! + “Oh, yes; she had been loved, perhaps—who knows?—but always + feared. Why should she change now? Ha, he should see.” + </p> + <p> + She had lashed herself in a frenzy, as was her wont, with gestures, + ejaculations, oaths, adjurations, and passionate apostrophes, but with + this strange and unexpected result. Heretofore she had always been + sustained and kept up by an audience of some kind or quality, if only + perhaps a humble companion; there had always been some one she could + fascinate or horrify, and she could read her power mirrored in their eyes. + Even the half-abstracted indifference of her strange host had been + something. But she was alone now. Her words fell on apathetic solitude; + she was acting to viewless space. She rushed to the opening, dashed the + hanging bark aside, and leaped to the ground. + </p> + <p> + She ran forward wildly a few steps, and stopped. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo!” she cried. “Look, 'tis I, Teresa!” + </p> + <p> + The profound silence remained unbroken. Her shrillest tones were lost in + an echoless space, even as the smoke of her fire had faded into pure + ether. She stretched out her clenched fists as if to defy the pillared + austerities of the vaults around her. + </p> + <p> + “Come and take me if you dare!” + </p> + <p> + The challenge was unheeded. If she had thrown herself violently against + the nearest tree-trunk, she could not have been stricken more breathless + than she was by the compact, embattled solitude that encompassed her. The + hopelessness of impressing these cold and passive vaults with her selfish + passion filled her with a vague fear. In her rage of the previous night + she had not seen the wood in its profound immobility. Left alone with the + majesty of those enormous columns, she trembled and turned faint. The + silence of the hollow tree she had just quitted seemed to her less awful + than the crushing presence of these mute and monstrous witnesses of her + weakness. Like a wounded quail with lowered crest and trailing wing, she + crept back to her hiding place. + </p> + <p> + Even then the influence of the wood was still upon her. She picked up the + novel she had contemptuously thrown aside, only to let it fall again in + utter weariness. For a moment her feminine curiosity was excited by the + discovery of an old book, in whose blank leaves were pressed a variety of + flowers and woodland grasses. As she could not conceive that these had + been kept for any but a sentimental purpose, she was disappointed to find + that underneath each was a sentence in an unknown tongue, that even to her + untutored eye did not appear to be the language of passion. Finally she + rearranged the couch of skins and blankets, and, imparting to it in three + clever shakes an entirely different character, lay down to pursue her + reveries. But nature asserted herself, and ere she knew it she was asleep. + </p> + <p> + So intense and prolonged had been her previous excitement that, the + tension once relieved, she passed into a slumber of exhaustion so deep + that she seemed scarce to breathe. High noon succeeded morning, the + central shaft received a single ray of upper sunlight, the afternoon came + and went, the shadows gathered below, the sunset fires began to eat their + way through the groined roof, and she still slept. She slept even when the + bark hangings of the chamber were put aside, and the young man reentered. + </p> + <p> + He laid down a bundle he was carrying and softly approached the sleeper. + For a moment he was startled from his indifference; she lay so still and + motionless. But this was not all that struck him; the face before him was + no longer the passionate, haggard visage that confronted him that morning; + the feverish air, the burning color, the strained muscles of mouth and + brow, and the staring eyes were gone; wiped away, perhaps, by the tears + that still left their traces on cheek and dark eyelash. It was the face of + a handsome woman of thirty, with even a suggestion of softness in the + contour of the cheek and arching of her upper lip, no longer rigidly drawn + down in anger, but relaxed by sleep on her white teeth. + </p> + <p> + With the lithe, soft tread that was habitual to him, the young man moved + about, examining the condition of the little chamber and its stock of + provisions and necessaries, and withdrew presently, to reappear as + noiselessly with a tin bucket of water. This done, he replenished the + little pile of fuel with an armful of bark and pine cones, cast an + approving glance about him, which included the sleeper, and silently + departed. + </p> + <p> + It was night when she awoke. She was surrounded by a profound darkness, + except where the shaft-like opening made a nebulous mist in the corner of + her wooden cavern. Providentially she struggled back to consciousness + slowly, so that the solitude and silence came upon her gradually, with a + growing realization of the events of the past twenty-four hours, but + without a shock. She was alone here, but safe still, and every hour added + to her chances of ultimate escape. She remembered to have seen a candle + among the articles on the shelf, and she began to grope her way towards + the matches. Suddenly she stopped. What was that panting? + </p> + <p> + Was it her own breathing, quickened with a sudden nameless terror? or was + there something outside? Her heart seemed to stop beating while she + listened. Yes! it was a panting outside—a panting now increased, + multiplied, redoubled, mixed with the sounds of rustling, tearing, + craunching, and occasionally a quick, impatient snarl. She crept on her + hands and knees to the opening and looked out. At first the ground seemed + to be undulating between her and the opposite tree. But a second glance + showed her the black and gray, bristling, tossing backs of tumbling beasts + of prey, charging the carcass of the bear that lay at its roots, or + contesting for the prize with gluttonous, choked breath, sidelong snarls, + arched spines, and recurved tails. One of the boldest had leaped upon a + buttressing root of her tree within a foot of the opening. The excitement, + awe, and terror she had undergone culminated in one wild, maddened scream, + that seemed to pierce even the cold depths of the forest, as she dropped + on her face, with her hands clasped over her eyes in an agony of fear. + </p> + <p> + Her scream was answered, after a pause, by a sudden volley of firebrands + and sparks into the midst of the panting, crowding pack; a few smothered + howls and snaps, and a sudden dispersion of the concourse. In another + moment the young man, with a blazing brand in either hand, leaped upon the + body of the bear. + </p> + <p> + Teresa raised her head, uttered a hysterical cry, slid down the tree, flew + wildly to his side, caught convulsively at his sleeve, and fell on her + knees beside him. + </p> + <p> + “Save me! save me!” she gasped, in a voice broken by terror. “Save me from + those hideous creatures. No, no!” she implored, as he endeavored to lift + her to her feet. “No—let me stay here close beside you. So,” + clutching the fringe of his leather hunting-shirt, and dragging herself on + her knees nearer him—“so—don't leave me, for God's sake!” + </p> + <p> + “They are gone,” he replied, gazing down curiously at her, as she wound + the fringe around her hand to strengthen her hold; “they're only a lot of + cowardly coyotes and wolves, that dare not attack anything that lives and + can move.” + </p> + <p> + The young woman responded with a nervous shudder. “Yes, that's it,” she + whispered, in a broken voice; “it's only the dead they want. Promise me—swear + to me, if I'm caught, or hung, or shot, you won't let me be left here to + be torn and—ah! my God! what's that?” + </p> + <p> + She had thrown her arms around his knees, completely pinioning him to her + frantic breast. Something like a smile of disdain passed across his face + as he answered, “It's nothing. They will not return. Get up!” + </p> + <p> + Even in her terror she saw the change in his face. “I know, I know!” she + cried. “I'm frightened—but I cannot bear it any longer. Hear me! + Listen! Listen—but don't move! I didn't mean to kill Curson—no! + I swear to God, no! I didn't mean to kill the sheriff—and I didn't. + I was only bragging—do you hear? I lied! I lied—don't move, I + swear to God I lied. I've made myself out worse than I was. I have. Only + don't leave me now—and if I die—and it's not far off, may be—get + me away from here—and from THEM. Swear it!” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said the young man, with a scarcely concealed movement of + irritation. “But get up now, and go back to the cabin.” + </p> + <p> + “No; not THERE alone.” Nevertheless, he quietly but firmly released + himself. + </p> + <p> + “I will stay here,” he replied. “I would have been nearer to you, but I + thought it better for your safety that my camp-fire should be further off. + But I can build it here, and that will keep the coyotes off.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me stay with you—beside you,” she said imploringly. + </p> + <p> + She looked so broken, crushed, and spiritless, so unlike the woman of the + morning that, albeit with an ill grace, he tacitly consented, and turned + away to bring his blankets. But in the next moment she was at his side, + following him like a dog, silent and wistful, and even offering to carry + his burden. When he had built the fire, for which she had collected the + pine-cones and broken branches near them, he sat down, folded his arms, + and leaned back against the tree in reserved and deliberate silence. + </p> + <p> + Humble and submissive, she did not attempt to break in upon a reverie she + could not help but feel had little kindliness to herself. As the fire + snapped and sparkled, she pillowed her head upon a root, and lay still to + watch it. + </p> + <p> + It rose and fell, and dying away at times to a mere lurid glow, and again, + agitated by some breath scarcely perceptible to them, quickening into a + roaring flame. When only the embers remained, a dead silence filled the + wood. Then the first breath of morning moved the tangled canopy above, and + a dozen tiny sprays and needles detached from the interlocked boughs + winged their soft way noiselessly to the earth. A few fell upon the + prostrate woman like a gentle benediction, and she slept. But even then, + the young man, looking down, saw that the slender fingers were still + aimlessly but rigidly twisted in the leather fringe of his hunting-shirt. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + It was a peculiarity of the Carquinez Wood that it stood apart and + distinct in its gigantic individuality. Even where the integrity of its + own singular species was not entirely preserved, it admitted no inferior + trees. Nor was there any diminishing fringe on its outskirts; the + sentinels that guarded the few gateways of the dim trails were as + monstrous as the serried ranks drawn up in the heart of the forest. + Consequently, the red highway that skirted the eastern angle was bare and + shadeless, until it slipped a league off into a watered valley and + refreshed itself under lesser sycamores and willows. It was here the newly + born city of Excelsior, still in its cradle, had, like an infant Hercules, + strangled the serpentine North Fork of the American river, and turned its + life current into the ditches and flumes of the Excelsior mines. + </p> + <p> + Newest of the new houses that seemed to have accidentally formed its + single, straggling street was the residence of the Rev. Winslow Wynn, not + unfrequently known as “Father Wynn,” pastor of the First Baptist church. + The “pastorage,” as it was cheerfully called, had the glaring distinction + of being built of brick, and was, as had been wickedly pointed out by idle + scoffers, the only “fireproof” structure in town. This sarcasm was not, + however, supposed to be particularly distasteful to “Father Wynn,” who + enjoyed the reputation of being “hail fellow, well met” with the rough + mining element, who called them by their Christian names, had been known + to drink at the bar of the Polka Saloon while engaged in the conversion of + a prominent citizen, and was popularly said to have no “gospel starch” + about him. Certain conscious outcasts and transgressors were touched at + this apparent unbending of the spiritual authority. The rigid tenets of + Father Wynn's faith were lost in the supposed catholicity of his humanity. + “A preacher that can jine a man when he's histin' liquor into him, without + jawin' about it, ought to be allowed to wrestle with sinners and splash + about in as much cold water as he likes,” was the criticism of one of his + converts. Nevertheless, it was true that Father Wynn was somewhat loud and + intolerant in his tolerance. It was true that he was a little more rough, + a little more frank, a little more hearty, a little more impulsive than + his disciples. It was true that often the proclamation of his extreme + liberality and brotherly equality partook somewhat of an apology. It is + true that a few who might have been most benefited by this kind of gospel + regarded him with a singular disdain. It is true that his liberality was + of an ornamental, insinuating quality, accompanied with but little + sacrifice; his acceptance of a collection taken up in a gambling saloon + for the rebuilding of his church, destroyed by fire, gave him a popularity + large enough, it must be confessed, to cover the sins of the gamblers + themselves, but it was not proven that HE had ever organized any form of + relief. But it was true that local history somehow accepted him as an + exponent of mining Christianity, without the least reference to the + opinions of the Christian miners themselves. + </p> + <p> + The Rev. Mr. Wynn's liberal habits and opinions were not, however, shared + by his only daughter, a motherless young lady of eighteen. Nellie Wynn was + in the eye of Excelsior an unapproachable divinity, as inaccessible and + cold as her father was impulsive and familiar. An atmosphere of chaste and + proud virginity made itself felt even in the starched integrity of her + spotless skirts, in her neatly gloved finger-tips, in her clear amber + eyes, in her imperious red lips, in her sensitive nostrils. Need it be + said that the youth and middle age of Excelsior were madly, because + apparently hopelessly, in love with her? For the rest, she had been + expensively educated, was profoundly ignorant in two languages, with a + trained misunderstanding of music and painting, and a natural and + faultless taste in dress. + </p> + <p> + The Rev. Mr. Wynn was engaged in a characteristic hearty parting with one + of his latest converts, upon his own doorstep, with admirable al fresco + effect. He had just clapped him on the shoulder. “Good-by, good-by, + Charley, my boy, and keep in the right path; not up, or down, or round the + gulch, you know—ha, ha!—but straight across lots to the + shining gate.” He had raised his voice under the stimulus of a few + admiring spectators, and backed his convert playfully against the wall. + “You see! we're goin' in to win, you bet. Good-by! I'd ask you to step in + and have a chat, but I've got my work to do, and so have you. The gospel + mustn't keep us from that, must it, Charley? Ha, ha!” + </p> + <p> + The convert (who elsewhere was a profane expressman, and had become quite + imbecile under Mr. Wynn's active heartiness and brotherly horse-play + before spectators) managed, however, to feebly stammer with a blush + something about “Miss Nellie.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Nellie. She, too, is at her tasks—trimming her lamp—you + know, the parable of the wise virgins,” continued Father Wynn hastily, + fearing that the convert might take the illustration literally. “There, + there—good-by. Keep in the right path.” And with a parting shove he + dismissed Charley and entered his own house. + </p> + <p> + That “wise virgin,” Nellie, had evidently finished with the lamp, and was + now going out to meet the bridegroom, as she was fully dressed and gloved, + and had a pink parasol in her hand, as her father entered the + sitting-room. His bluff heartiness seemed to fade away as he removed his + soft, broad-brimmed hat and glanced across the too fresh-looking + apartment. There was a smell of mortar still in the air, and a faint + suggestion that at any moment green grass might appear between the + interstices of the red-brick hearth. The room, yielding a little in the + point of coldness, seemed to share Miss Nellie's fresh virginity, and, + barring the pink parasol, set her off as in a vestal's cell. + </p> + <p> + “I supposed you wouldn't care to see Brace, the expressman, so I got rid + of him at the door,” said her father, drawing one of the new chairs + towards him slowly, and sitting down carefully, as if it were a hitherto + untried experiment. + </p> + <p> + Miss Nellie's face took a tint of interest. “Then he doesn't go with the + coach to Indian Spring to-day?” + </p> + <p> + “No; why?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought of going over myself to get the Burnham girls to come to + choir-meeting,” replied Miss Nellie carelessly, “and he might have been + company.” + </p> + <p> + “He'd go now, if he knew you were going,” said her father; “but it's just + as well he shouldn't be needlessly encouraged. I rather think that Sheriff + Dunn is a little jealous of him. By the way, the sheriff is much better. I + called to cheer him up to-day” (Mr. Wynn had in fact tumultuously + accelerated the sick man's pulse), “and he talked of you, as usual. In + fact, he said he had only two things to get well for. One was to catch and + hang that woman Teresa, who shot him; the other—can't you guess the + other?” he added archly, with a faint suggestion of his other manner. + </p> + <p> + Miss Nellie coldly could not. + </p> + <p> + The Rev. Mr. Wynn's archness vanished. “Don't be a fool,” he said dryly. + “He wants to marry you, and you know it.” + </p> + <p> + “Most of the men here do,” responded Miss Nellie, without the least trace + of coquetry. “Is the wedding or the hanging to take place first, or + together, so he can officiate at both?” + </p> + <p> + “His share in the Union Ditch is worth a hundred thousand dollars,” + continued her father; “and if he isn't nominated for district judge this + fall, he's bound to go to the legislature, anyway. I don't think a girl + with your advantages and education can afford to throw away the chance of + shining in Sacramento, San Francisco, or, in good time, perhaps even + Washington.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Nellie's eyes did not reflect entire disapproval of this suggestion, + although she replied with something of her father's practical quality. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Dunn is not out of his bed yet, and they say Teresa's got away to + Arizona, so there isn't any particular hurry.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps not; but see here, Nellie, I've some important news for you. You + know your young friend of the Carquinez Woods—Dorman, the botanist, + eh? Well, Brace knows all about him. And what do you think he is?” + </p> + <p> + Miss Nellie took upon herself a few extra degrees of cold, and didn't + know. + </p> + <p> + “An Injin! Yes, an out-and-out Cherokee. You see he calls himself Dorman—Low + Dorman. That's only French for 'Sleeping Water,' his Injin name!—'Low + Dorman.'” + </p> + <p> + “You mean 'L'Eau Dormante,'” said Nellie. + </p> + <p> + “That's what I said. The chief called him 'Sleeping Water' when he was a + boy, and one of them French Canadian trappers translated it into French + when he brought him to California to school. But he's an Injin, sure. No + wonder he prefers to live in the woods.” + </p> + <p> + “Well?” said Nellie. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” echoed her father impatiently, “he's an Injin, I tell you, and you + can't of course have anything to do with him. He mustn't come here again.” + </p> + <p> + “But you forget,” said Nellie imperturbably, “that it was you who invited + him here, and were so much exercised over him. You remember you introduced + him to the Bishop and those Eastern clergymen as a magnificent specimen of + a young Californian. You forget what an occasion you made of his coming to + church on Sunday, and how you made him come in his buckskin shirt and walk + down the street with you after service!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes,” said the Rev. Mr. Wynn, hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “And,” continued Nellie carelessly, “how you made us sing out of the same + book 'Children of our Father's Fold,' and how you preached at him until he + actually got a color!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said her father; “but it wasn't known then he was an Injin, and + they are frightfully unpopular with those Southwestern men among whom we + labor. Indeed, I am quite convinced that when Brace said 'the only good + Indian was a dead one' his expression, though extravagant, perhaps, really + voiced the sentiments of the majority. It would be only kindness to the + unfortunate creature to warn him from exposing himself to their rude but + conscientious antagonism.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you'd better tell him, then, in your own popular way, which they + all seem to understand so well,” responded the daughter. Mr. Wynn cast a + quick glance at her, but there was no trace of irony in her face—nothing + but a half-bored indifference as she walked toward the window. + </p> + <p> + “I will go with you to the coach-office,” said her father, who generally + gave these simple paternal duties the pronounced character of a public + Christian example. + </p> + <p> + “It's hardly worth while,” replied Miss Nellie. “I've to stop at the + Watsons', at the foot of the hill, and ask after the baby; so I shall go + on to the Crossing and pick up the coach when it passes. Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, as soon as Nellie had departed, the Rev. Mr. Wynn proceeded + to the coach-office, and publicly grasping the hand of Yuba Bill, the + driver, commended his daughter to his care in the name of the universal + brotherhood of man and the Christian fraternity. Carried away by his + heartiness, he forgot his previous caution, and confided to the expressman + Miss Nellie's regrets that she was not to have that gentleman's company. + The result was that Miss Nellie found the coach with its passengers + awaiting her with uplifted hats and wreathed smiles at the Crossing, and + the box seat (from which an unfortunate stranger, who had expensively paid + for it, had been summarily ejected) at her service beside Yuba Bill, who + had thrown away his cigar and donned a new pair of buckskin gloves to do + her honor. But a more serious result to the young beauty was the effect of + the Rev. Mr. Wynn's confidences upon the impulsive heart of Jack Brace, + the expressman. It has been already intimated that it was his “day off.” + Unable to summarily reassume his usual functions beside the driver without + some practical reason, and ashamed to go so palpably as a mere passenger, + he was forced to let the coach proceed without him. Discomfited for the + moment, he was not, however, beaten. He had lost the blissful journey by + her side, which would have been his professional right, but—she was + going to Indian Spring! could he not anticipate her there? Might they not + meet in the most accidental manner? And what might not come from that + meeting away from the prying eyes of their own town? Mr. Brace did not + hesitate, but saddling his fleet Buckskin, by the time the stage-coach had + passed the Crossing in the high-road he had mounted the hill and was + dashing along the “cutoff” in the same direction, a full mile in advance. + Arriving at Indian Spring, he left his horse at a Mexican posada on the + confines of the settlement, and from the piled debris of a tunnel + excavation awaited the slow arrival of the coach. On mature reflection he + could give no reason why he had not boldly awaited it at the express + office, except a certain bashful consciousness of his own folly, and a + belief that it might be glaringly apparent to the bystanders. When the + coach arrived and he had overcome this consciousness, it was too late. + Yuba Bill had discharged his passengers for Indian Spring and driven away. + Miss Nellie was in the settlement, but where? As time passed he became + more desperate and bolder. He walked recklessly up and down the main + street, glancing in at the open doors of shops, and even in the windows of + private dwellings. It might have seemed a poor compliment to Miss Nellie, + but it was an evidence of his complete preoccupation, when the sight of a + female face at a window, even though it was plain or perhaps painted, + caused his heart to bound, or the glancing of a skirt in the distance + quickened his feet and his pulses. Had Jack contented himself with + remaining at Excelsior he might have vaguely regretted, but as soon become + as vaguely accustomed to, Miss Nellie's absence. But it was not until his + hitherto quiet and passive love took this first step of action that it + fully declared itself. When he had made the tour of the town a dozen times + unsuccessfully, he had perfectly made up his mind that marriage with + Nellie or the speedy death of several people, including possibly himself, + was the only alternative. He regretted he had not accompanied her; he + regretted he had not demanded where she was going; he contemplated a + course of future action that two hours ago would have filled him with + bashful terror. There was clearly but one thing to do—to declare his + passion the instant he met her, and return with her to Excelsior an + accepted suitor, or not to return at all. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he was vexatiously conscious of hearing his name lazily called, + and looking up found that he was on the outskirts of the town, and + interrogated by two horsemen. + </p> + <p> + “Got down to walk, and the coach got away from you, Jack, eh?” + </p> + <p> + A little ashamed of his preoccupation, Brace stammered something about + “collections.” He did not recognize the men, but his own face, name, and + business were familiar to everybody for fifty miles along the stage-road. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you can settle a bet for us, I reckon. Bill Dacre thar bet me five + dollars and the drinks that a young gal we met at the edge of the + Carquinez Woods, dressed in a long brown duster and half muffled up in a + hood, was the daughter of Father Wynn of Excelsior. I did not get a fair + look at her, but it stands to reason that a high-toned young lady like + Nellie Wynn don't go trap'sing along the wood like a Pike County tramp. I + took the bet. May be you know if she's here or in Excelsior?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Brace felt himself turning pale with eagerness and excitement. But the + near prospect of seeing her presently gave him back his caution, and he + answered truthfully that he had left her in Excelsior, and that in his two + hours' sojourn in Indian Spring he had not met her once. “But,” he added, + with a Californian's reverence for the sanctity of a bet, “I reckon you'd + better make it a stand-off for twenty-four hours, and I'll find out and + let you know.” Which, it is only fair to say, he honestly intended to do. + </p> + <p> + With a hurried nod of parting, he continued in the direction of the Woods. + When he had satisfied himself that the strangers had entered the + settlement, and would not follow him for further explanation, he quickened + his pace. In half an hour he passed between two of the gigantic sentinels + that guarded the entrance to a trail. Here he paused to collect his + thoughts. The Woods were vast in extent, the trail dim and uncertain—at + times apparently breaking off, or intersecting another trail as faint as + itself. Believing that Miss Nellie had diverged from the highway only as a + momentary excursion into the shade, and that she would not dare to + penetrate its more sombre and unknown recesses, he kept within sight of + the skirting plain. By degrees the sedate influence of the silent vaults + seemed to depress him. The ardor of the chase began to flag. Under the + calm of their dim roof the fever of his veins began to subside; his pace + slackened; he reasoned more deliberately. It was by no means probable that + the young woman in a brown duster was Nellie; it was not her habitual + traveling dress; it was not like her to walk unattended in the road; there + was nothing in her tastes and habits to take her into this gloomy forest, + allowing that she had even entered it; and on this absolute question of + her identity the two witnesses were divided. He stopped irresolutely, and + cast a last, long, half-despairing look around him. Hitherto he had given + that part of the wood nearest the plain his greatest attention. His glance + now sought its darker recesses. Suddenly he became breathless. Was it a + beam of sunlight that had pierced the groined roof above, and now rested + against the trunk of one of the dimmer, more secluded giants? No, it was + moving; even as he gazed it slipped away, glanced against another tree, + passed across one of the vaulted aisles, and then was lost again. Brief as + was the glimpse, he was not mistaken—it was the figure of a woman. + </p> + <p> + In another moment he was on her track, and soon had the satisfaction of + seeing her reappear at a lesser distance. But the continual intervention + of the massive trunks made the chase by no means an easy one, and as he + could not keep her always in sight he was unable to follow or understand + the one intelligent direction which she seemed to invariably keep. + Nevertheless, he gained upon her breathlessly, and, thanks to the + bark-strewn floor, noiselessly. He was near enough to distinguish and + recognize the dress she wore, a pale yellow, that he had admired when he + first saw her. It was Nellie, unmistakably; if it were she of the brown + duster, she had discarded it, perhaps for greater freedom. He was near + enough to call out now, but a sudden nervous timidity overcame him; his + lips grew dry. What should he say to her? How account for his presence? + “Miss Nellie, one moment!” he gasped. She darted forward and—vanished. + </p> + <p> + At this moment he was not more than a dozen yards from her. He rushed to + where she had been standing, but her disappearance was perfect and + complete. He made a circuit of the group of trees within whose radius she + had last appeared, but there was neither trace of her, nor a suggestion of + her mode of escape. He called aloud to her; the vacant Woods let his + helpless voice die in their unresponsive depths. He gazed into the air and + down at the bark-strewn carpet at his feet. Like most of his vocation, he + was sparing of speech, and epigrammatic after his fashion. Comprehending + in one swift but despairing flash of intelligence the existence of some + fateful power beyond his own weak endeavor, he accepted its logical result + with characteristic grimness, threw his hat upon the ground, put his hands + in his pockets, and said— + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm d—d!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + Out of compliment to Miss Nellie Wynn, Yuba Bill, on reaching Indian + Spring, had made a slight detour to enable him to ostentatiously set down + his fair passenger before the door of the Burnhams. When it had closed on + the admiring eyes of the passengers and the coach had rattled away, Miss + Nellie, without any undue haste or apparent change in her usual quiet + demeanor, managed, however, to dispatch her business promptly, and, + leaving an impression that she would call again before her return to + Excelsior, parted from her friends and slipped away through a side street + to the General Furnishing Store of Indian Spring. In passing this + emporium, Miss Nellie's quick eye had discovered a cheap brown linen + duster hanging in its window. To purchase it, and put it over her delicate + cambric dress, albeit with a shivering sense that she looked like a badly + folded brown-paper parcel, did not take long. As she left the shop it was + with mixed emotions of chagrin and security that she noticed that her + passage through the settlement no longer turned the heads of its male + inhabitants. She reached the outskirts of Indian Spring and the high-road + at about the time Mr. Brace had begun his fruitless patrol of the main + street. Far in the distance a faint olive-green table mountain seemed to + rise abruptly from the plain. It was the Carquinez Woods. Gathering her + spotless skirts beneath her extemporized brown domino, she set out briskly + towards them. + </p> + <p> + But her progress was scarcely free or exhilarating. She was not accustomed + to walking in a country where “buggy-riding” was considered the only + genteel young-lady-like mode of progression, and its regular provision the + expected courtesy of mankind. Always fastidiously booted, her + low-quartered shoes were charming to the eye, but hardly adapted to the + dust and inequalities of the highroad. It was true that she had thought of + buying a coarser pair at Indian Spring, but once face to face with their + uncompromising ugliness, she had faltered and fled. The sun was + unmistakably hot, but her parasol was too well known and offered too + violent a contrast to the duster for practical use. Once she stopped with + an exclamation of annoyance, hesitated, and looked back. In half an hour + she had twice lost her shoe and her temper; a pink flush took possession + of her cheeks, and her eyes were bright with suppressed rage. Dust began + to form grimy circles around their orbits; with cat-like shivers she even + felt it pervade the roots of her blond hair. Gradually her breath grew + more rapid and hysterical, her smarting eyes became humid, and at last, + encountering two observant horsemen in the road, she turned and fled, + until, reaching the wood, she began to cry. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless she waited for the two horsemen to pass, to satisfy herself + that she was not followed; then pushed on vaguely, until she reached a + fallen tree, where, with a gesture of disgust, she tore off her hapless + duster and flung it on the ground. She then sat down sobbing, but after a + moment dried her eyes hurriedly and started to her feet. A few paces + distant, erect, noiseless, with outstretched hand, the young solitary of + the Carquinez Woods advanced towards her. His hand had almost touched + hers, when he stopped. + </p> + <p> + “What has happened?” he asked gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” she said, turning half away, and searching the ground with her + eyes, as if she had lost something. “Only I must be going back now.” + </p> + <p> + “You shall go back at once, if you wish it,” he said, flushing slightly. + “But you have been crying; why?” + </p> + <p> + Frank as Miss Nellie wished to be, she could not bring herself to say that + her feet hurt her, and the dust and heat were ruining her complexion. It + was therefore with a half-confident belief that her troubles were really + of a moral quality that she answered, “Nothing—nothing, but—but—it's + wrong to come here.” + </p> + <p> + “But you did not think it was wrong when you agreed to come, at our last + meeting,” said the young man, with that persistent logic which exasperates + the inconsequent feminine mind. “It cannot be any more wrong to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “But it was not so far off,” murmured the young girl, without looking up. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, the distance makes it more improper, then,” he said abstractedly; but + after a moment's contemplation of her half-averted face, he asked gravely, + “Has anyone talked to you about me?” + </p> + <p> + Ten minutes before, Nellie had been burning to unburthen herself of her + father's warning, but now she felt she would not. “I wish you wouldn't + call yourself Low,” she said at last. + </p> + <p> + “But it's my name,” he replied quietly. + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense! It's only a stupid translation of a stupid nickname. They might + as well call you 'Water' at once.” + </p> + <p> + “But you said you liked it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, so I do. But don't you see—I—oh dear! you don't + understand.” + </p> + <p> + Low did not reply, but turned his head with resigned gravity towards the + deeper woods. Grasping the barrel of his rifle with his left hand, he + threw his right arm across his left wrist and leaned slightly upon it with + the habitual ease of a Western hunter—doubly picturesque in his own + lithe, youthful symmetry. Miss Nellie looked at him from under her + eyelids, and then half defiantly raised her head and her dark lashes. + Gradually an almost magical change came over her features; her eyes grew + larger and more and more yearning, until they seemed to draw and absorb in + their liquid depths the figure of the young man before her; her cold face + broke into an ecstasy of light and color; her humid lips parted in a + bright, welcoming smile, until, with an irresistible impulse, she arose, + and throwing back her head stretched towards him two hands full of vague + and trembling passion. + </p> + <p> + In another moment he had seized them, kissed them, and, as he drew her + closer to his embrace, felt them tighten around his neck. “But what name + do you wish to call me?” he asked, looking down into her eyes. + </p> + <p> + Miss Nellie murmured something confidentially to the third button of his + hunting shirt. “But that,” he replied, with a smile, “THAT wouldn't be any + more practical, and you wouldn't want others to call me dar—” Her + fingers loosened around his neck, she drew her head back, and a singular + expression passed over her face, which to any calmer observer than a lover + would have seemed, however, to indicate more curiosity than jealousy. + </p> + <p> + “Who else DOES call you so?” she added earnestly. “How many, for + instance?” + </p> + <p> + Low's reply was addressed not to her ear, but her lips. She did not avoid + it, but added, “And do you kiss them all like that?” Taking him by the + shoulders, she held him a little way from her, and gazed at him from head + to foot. Then drawing him again to her embrace, she said, “I don't care, + at least no woman has kissed you like that.” Happy, dazzled, and + embarrassed, he was beginning to stammer the truthful protestation that + rose to his lips, but she stopped him: “No, don't protest! say nothing! + Let ME love YOU—that is all. It is enough.” He would have caught her + in his arms again, but she drew back. “We are near the road,” she said + quietly. “Come! You promised to show me where you camped. Let US make the + most of our holiday. In an hour I must leave the woods.” + </p> + <p> + “But I shall accompany you, dearest.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I must go as I came—alone.” + </p> + <p> + “But Nellie—” + </p> + <p> + “I tell you no,” she said, with an almost harsh practical decision, + incompatible with her previous abandonment. “We might be seen together.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, suppose we are; we must be seen together eventually,” he + remonstrated. + </p> + <p> + The young girl made an involuntary gesture of impatient negation, but + checked herself. “Don't let us talk of that now. Come, while I am here + under your own roof—” she pointed to the high interlaced boughs + above them—“you must be hospitable. Show me your home; tell me, + isn't it a little gloomy sometimes?” + </p> + <p> + “It never has been; I never thought it WOULD be until the moment you leave + it to-day.” + </p> + <p> + She pressed his hand briefly and in a half-perfunctory way, as if her + vanity had accepted and dismissed the compliment. “Take me somewhere,” she + said inquisitively, “where you stay most; I do not seem to see you HERE,” + she added, looking around her with a slight shiver. “It is so big and so + high. Have you no place where you eat and rest and sleep?” + </p> + <p> + “Except in the rainy season, I camp all over the place—at any spot + where I may have been shooting or collecting.” + </p> + <p> + “Collecting?” queried Nellie. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; with the herbarium, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Nellie dubiously. “But you told me once—the first time + we ever talked together,” she added, looking in his eyes—“something + about your keeping your things like a squirrel in a tree. Could we not go + there? Is there not room for us to sit and talk without being brow-beaten + and looked down upon by these supercilious trees?” + </p> + <p> + “It's too far away,” said Low truthfully, but with a somewhat pronounced + emphasis, “much too far for you just now; and it lies on another trail + that enters the wood beyond. But come, I will show you a spring known only + to myself, the wood ducks, and the squirrels. I discovered it the first + day I saw you, and gave it your name. But you shall christen it yourself. + It will be all yours, and yours alone, for it is so hidden and secluded + that I defy any feet but my own or whoso shall keep step with mine to find + it. Shall that foot be yours, Nellie?” + </p> + <p> + Her face beamed with a bright assent. “It may be difficult to track it + from here,” he said, “but stand where you are a moment, and don't move, + rustle, nor agitate the air in any way. The woods are still now.” He + turned at right angles with the trail, moved a few paces into the ferns + and underbrush, and then stopped with his finger on his lips. For an + instant both remained motionless; then with his intent face bent forward + and both arms extended, he began to sink slowly upon one knee and one + side, inclining his body with a gentle, perfectly-graduated movement until + his ear almost touched the ground. Nellie watched his graceful figure + breathlessly, until, like a bow unbent, he stood suddenly erect again, and + beckoned to her without changing the direction of his face. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” she asked eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “All right; I have found it,” he continued, moving forward without turning + his head. + </p> + <p> + “But how? What did you kneel for?” He did not reply, but taking her hand + in his continued to move slowly on through the underbrush, as if obeying + some magnetic attraction. “How did you find it?” again asked the half-awed + girl, her voice unconsciously falling to a whisper. Still silent, Low kept + his rigid face and forward tread for twenty yards further; then he stopped + and released the girl's half-impatient hand. “How did you find it?” she + repeated sharply. + </p> + <p> + “With my ears and nose,” replied Low gravely. + </p> + <p> + “With your nose?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I smelt it.” + </p> + <p> + Still fresh with the memory of his picturesque attitude, the young man's + reply seemed to involve something more irritating to her feelings than + even that absurd anticlimax. She looked at him coldly and critically, and + appeared to hesitate whether to proceed. “Is it far?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not more than ten minutes now, as I shall go.” + </p> + <p> + “And you won't have to smell your way again?” + </p> + <p> + “No; it is quite plain now,” he answered seriously, the young girl's + sarcasm slipping harmlessly from his Indian stolidity. “Don't you smell it + yourself?” + </p> + <p> + But Miss Nellie's thin, cold nostrils refused to take that vulgar + interest. + </p> + <p> + “Nor hear it? Listen!” + </p> + <p> + “You forget I suffer the misfortune of having been brought up under a + roof,” she replied coldly. + </p> + <p> + “That's true,” repeated Low, in all seriousness; “it's not your fault. But + do you know, I sometimes think I am peculiarly sensitive to water; I feel + it miles away. At night, though I may not see it or even know where it is, + I am conscious of it. It is company to me when I am alone, and I seem to + hear it in my dreams. There is no music as sweet to me as its song. When + you sang with me that day in church, I seemed to hear it ripple in your + voice. It says to me more than the birds do, more than the rarest plants I + find. It seems to live with me and for me. It is my earliest recollection; + I know it will be my last, for I shall die in its embrace. Do you think, + Nellie,” he continued, stopping short and gazing earnestly in her face—“do + you think that the chiefs knew this when they called me 'Sleeping Water'?” + </p> + <p> + To Miss Nellie's several gifts I fear the gods had not added poetry. A + slight knowledge of English verse of a select character, unfortunately, + did not assist her in the interpretation of the young man's speech, nor + relieve her from the momentary feeling that he was at times deficient in + intellect. She preferred, however, to take a personal view of the + question, and expressed her sarcastic regret that she had not known before + that she had been indebted to the great flume and ditch at Excelsior for + the pleasure of his acquaintance. This pert remark occasioned some + explanation, which ended in the girl's accepting a kiss in lieu of more + logical argument. Nevertheless, she was still conscious of an inward + irritation—always distinct from her singular and perfectly material + passion—which found vent as the difficulties of their undeviating + progress through the underbrush increased. At last she lost her shoe + again, and stopped short. “It's a pity your Indian friends did not + christen you 'Wild Mustard' or 'Clover,'” she said satirically, “that you + might have had some sympathies and longings for the open fields instead of + these horrid jungles! I know we will not get back in time.” + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, Low accepted this speech literally and with his remorseless + gravity. “If my name annoys you, I can get it changed by the legislature, + you know, and I can find out what my father's name was, and take that. My + mother, who died in giving me birth, was the daughter of a chief.” + </p> + <p> + “Then your mother was really an Indian?” said Nellie, “and you are—” + She stopped short. + </p> + <p> + “But I told you all this the day we first met,” said Low, with grave + astonishment. “Don't you remember our long talk coming from church?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Nellie coldly, “you didn't tell me.” But she was obliged to + drop her eyes before the unwavering, undeniable truthfulness of his. + </p> + <p> + “You have forgotten,” he said calmly; “but it is only right you should + have your own way in disposing of a name that I have cared little for; and + as you're to have a share of it—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but it's getting late, and if we are not going forward—” + interrupted the girl impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “We ARE going forward,” said Low imperturbably; “but I wanted to tell you, + as we were speaking on THAT subject” (Nellie looked at her watch), “I've + been offered the place of botanist and naturalist in Professor Grant's + survey of Mount Shasta, and if I take it—why, when I come back, + darling—well—” + </p> + <p> + “But you're not going just yet,” broke in Nellie, with a new expression in + her face. + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Then we need not talk of it now,” she said, with animation. + </p> + <p> + Her sudden vivacity relieved him. “I see what's the matter,” he said + gently, looking down at her feet; “these little shoes were not made to + keep step with a moccasin. We must try another way.” He stooped as if to + secure the erring buskin, but suddenly lifted her like a child to his + shoulder. “There,” he continued, placing her arm round his neck, “you are + clear of the ferns and brambles now, and we can go on. Are you + comfortable?” He looked up, read her answer in her burning eyes and the + warm lips pressed to his forehead at the roots of his straight dark hair, + and again moved onward as in a mesmeric dream. But he did not swerve from + his direct course, and with a final dash through the undergrowth parted + the leafy curtain before the spring. + </p> + <p> + At first the young girl was dazzled by the strong light that came from a + rent in the interwoven arches of the wood. The breach had been caused by + the huge bulk of one of the great giants that had half fallen, and was + lying at a steep angle against one of its mightiest brethren, having borne + down a lesser tree in the arc of its downward path. Two of the roots, as + large as younger trees, tossed their blackened and bare limbs high in the + air. The spring—the insignificant cause of this vast disruption—gurgled, + flashed, and sparkled at the base; the limpid baby fingers that had laid + bare the foundations of that fallen column played with the still clinging + rootlets, laved the fractured and twisted limbs, and, widening, filled + with sleeping water the graves from which they had been torn. + </p> + <p> + “It had been going on for years, down there,” said Low, pointing to a + cavity from which the fresh water now slowly welled, “but it had been + quickened by the rising of the subterranean springs and rivers which + always occurs at a certain stage of the dry season. I remember that on + that very night—for it happened a little after midnight, when all + sounds are more audible—I was troubled and oppressed in my sleep by + what you would call a nightmare; a feeling as if I was kept down by bonds + and pinions that I longed to break. And then I heard a crash in this + direction, and the first streak of morning brought me the sound and scent + of water. Six months afterwards I chanced to find my way here, as I told + you, and gave it your name. I did not dream that I should ever stand + beside it with you, and have you christen it yourself.” + </p> + <p> + He unloosened the cup from his flask, and filling it at the spring handed + it to her. But the young girl leant over the pool, and pouring the water + idly back said, “I'd rather put my feet in it. Mayn't I?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you,” he said wonderingly. + </p> + <p> + “My feet are SO hot and dusty. The water looks deliciously cool. May I?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away as Nellie, with apparent unconsciousness, seated herself on + the bank, and removed her shoes and stockings. When she had dabbled her + feet a few moments in the pool, she said over her shoulder— + </p> + <p> + “We can talk just as well, can't we?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, why didn't you come to church more often, and why didn't you + think of telling father that you were convicted of sin and wanted to be + baptized?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” hesitated the young man. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you lost the chance of having father convert you, baptize you, and + take you into full church fellowship.” + </p> + <p> + “I never thought—” he began. + </p> + <p> + “You never thought. Aren't you a Christian?” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose so.” + </p> + <p> + “He supposes so! Have you no convictions—no profession?” + </p> + <p> + “But, Nellie, I never thought that you—” + </p> + <p> + “Never thought that I—what? Do you think that I could ever be + anything to a man who did not believe in justification by faith, or in the + covenant of church fellowship? Do you think father would let me?” + </p> + <p> + In his eagerness to defend himself he stepped to her side. But seeing her + little feet shining through the dark water, like outcroppings of + delicately veined quartz, he stopped embarrassed. Miss Nellie, however, + leaped to one foot, and, shaking the other over the pool, put her hand on + his shoulder to steady herself. “You haven't got a towel—or,” she + said dubiously, looking at her small handkerchief, “anything to dry them + on?” + </p> + <p> + But Low did not, as she perhaps expected, offer his own handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + “If you take a bath after our fashion,” he said gravely, “you must learn + to dry yourself after our fashion.” + </p> + <p> + Lifting her again lightly in his arms, he carried her a few steps to the + sunny opening, and bade her bury her feet in the dried mosses and baked + withered grasses that were bleaching in a hollow. The young girl uttered a + cry of childish delight, as the soft ciliated fibres touched her sensitive + skin. + </p> + <p> + “It is healing, too,” continued Low; “a moccasin filled with it after a + day on the trail makes you all right again.” + </p> + <p> + But Miss Nellie seemed to be thinking of something else. + </p> + <p> + “Is that the way the squaws bathe and dry themselves?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know; you forget I was a boy when I left them.” + </p> + <p> + “And you're sure you never knew any?” + </p> + <p> + “None.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl seemed to derive some satisfaction in moving her feet up + and down for several minutes among the grasses in the hollow; then, after + a pause, said, “You are quite certain I am the first woman that ever + touched this spring?” + </p> + <p> + “Not only the first woman, but the first human being, except myself.” + </p> + <p> + “How nice!” + </p> + <p> + They had taken each other's hands; seated side by side, they leaned + against a curving elastic root that half supported, half encompassed, + them. The girl's capricious, fitful manner succumbed as before to the near + contact of her companion. Looking into her eyes, Low fell into a sweet, + selfish lover's monologue, descriptive of his past and present feelings + towards her, which she accepted with a heightened color, a slight exchange + of sentiment, and a strange curiosity. The sun had painted their + half-embraced silhouettes against the slanting tree-trunk, and began to + decline unnoticed; the ripple of the water mingling with their whispers + came as one sound to the listening ear; even their eloquent silences were + as deep, and, I wot, perhaps as dangerous, as the darkened pool that + filled so noiselessly a dozen yards away. So quiet were they that the + tremor of invading wings once or twice shook the silence, or the quick + scamper of frightened feet rustled the dead grass. But in the midst of a + prolonged stillness the young man sprang up so suddenly that Nellie was + still half clinging to his neck as he stood erect. “Hush!” he whispered; + “some one is near!” + </p> + <p> + He disengaged her anxious hands gently, leaped upon the slanting + tree-trunk, and running half-way up its incline with the agility of a + squirrel, stretched himself at full length upon it and listened. + </p> + <p> + To the impatient, inexplicably startled girl, it seemed an age before he + rejoined her. + </p> + <p> + “You are safe,” he said; “he is going by the western trail towards Indian + Spring.” + </p> + <p> + “Who is HE?” she asked, biting her lips with a poorly restrained gesture + of mortification and disappointment. + </p> + <p> + “Some stranger,” replied Low. + </p> + <p> + “As long as he wasn't coming here, why did you give me such a fright?” she + said pettishly. “Are you nervous because a single wayfarer happens to + stray here?” + </p> + <p> + “It was no wayfarer, for he tried to keep near the trail,” said Low. “He + was a stranger to the wood, for he lost his way every now and then. He was + seeking or expecting some one, for he stopped frequently and waited or + listened. He had not walked far, for he wore spurs that tinkled and caught + in the brush; and yet he had not ridden here, for no horse's hoofs passed + the road since we have been here. He must have come from Indian Spring.” + </p> + <p> + “And you heard all that when you listened just now?” asked Nellie, half + disdainfully. + </p> + <p> + Impervious to her incredulity Low turned his calm eyes on her face. + “Certainly, I'll bet my life on what I say. Tell me: do you know anybody + in Indian Spring who would likely spy upon you?” + </p> + <p> + The young girl was conscious of a certain ill-defined uneasiness, but + answered, “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it was not YOU he was seeking,” said Low thoughtfully. Miss Nellie + had not time to notice the emphasis, for he added, “You must go at once, + and lest you have been followed I will show you another way back to Indian + Spring. It is longer, and you must hasten. Take your shoes and stockings + with you until we are out of the bush.” + </p> + <p> + He raised her again in his arms and strode once more out through the + covert into the dim aisles of the wood. They spoke but little; she could + not help feeling that some other discordant element, affecting him more + strongly than it did her, had come between them, and was half perplexed + and half frightened. At the end of ten minutes he seated her upon a fallen + branch, and telling her he would return by the time she had resumed her + shoes and stockings glided from her like a shadow. She would have uttered + an indignant protest at being left alone, but he was gone ere she could + detain him. For a moment she thought she hated him. But when she had + mechanically shod herself once more, not without nervous shivers at every + falling needle, he was at her side. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know anyone who wears a frieze coat like that?” he asked, handing + her a few torn shreds of wool affixed to a splinter of bark. + </p> + <p> + Miss Nellie instantly recognized the material of a certain sporting coat + worn by Mr. Jack Brace on festive occasions, but a strange yet infallible + instinct that was part of her nature made her instantly disclaim all + knowledge of it. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Not anyone who scents himself with some doctor's stuff like cologne?” + continued Low, with the disgust of keen olfactory sensibilities. + </p> + <p> + Again Miss Nellie recognized the perfume with which the gallant expressman + was wont to make redolent her little parlor, but again she avowed no + knowledge of its possessor. “Well,” returned Low with some disappointment, + “such a man has been here. Be on your guard. Let us go at once.” + </p> + <p> + She required no urging to hasten her steps, but hurried breathlessly at + his side. He had taken a new trail by which they left the wood at right + angles with the highway, two miles away. Following an almost effaced mule + track along a slight depression of the plain, deep enough, however, to + hide them from view, he accompanied her, until, rising to the level again, + she saw they were beginning to approach the highway and the distant roofs + of Indian Spring. “Nobody meeting you now,” he whispered, “would suspect + where you had been. Good night! until next week—remember.” + </p> + <p> + They pressed each other's hands, and standing on the slight ridge outlined + against the paling sky, in full view of the highway, parting carelessly, + as if they had been chance met travelers. But Nellie could not restrain a + parting backward glance as she left the ridge. Low had descended to the + deserted trail, and was running swiftly in the direction of the Carquinez + Woods. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <p> + Teresa awoke with a start. It was day already, but how far advanced the + even, unchanging, soft twilight of the woods gave no indication. Her + companion had vanished, and to her bewildered senses so had the camp-fire, + even to its embers and ashes. Was she awake, or had she wandered away + unconsciously in the night? One glance at the tree above her dissipated + the fancy. There was the opening of her quaint retreat and the hanging + strips of bark, and at the foot of the opposite tree lay the carcass of + the bear. It had been skinned, and, as Teresa thought with an inward + shiver, already looked half its former size. + </p> + <p> + Not yet accustomed to the fact that a few steps in either direction around + the circumference of those great trunks produced the sudden appearance or + disappearance of any figure, Teresa uttered a slight scream as her young + companion unexpectedly stepped to her side. “You see a change here,” he + said; “the stamped-out ashes of the camp-fire lie under the brush,” and he + pointed to some cleverly scattered boughs and strips of bark which + completely effaced the traces of last night's bivouac. “We can't afford to + call the attention of any packer or hunter who might straggle this way to + this particular spot and this particular tree; the more naturally,” he + added, “as they always prefer to camp over an old fire.” Accepting this + explanation meekly, as partly a reproach for her caprice of the previous + night, Teresa hung her head. + </p> + <p> + “I'm very sorry,” she said, “but wouldn't that,” pointing to the carcass + of the bear, “have made them curious?” + </p> + <p> + But Low's logic was relentless. + </p> + <p> + “By this time there would have been little left to excite curiosity, if + you had been willing to leave those beasts to their work.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very sorry,” repeated the woman, her lips quivering. + </p> + <p> + “They are the scavengers of the wood,” he continued in a lighter tone; “if + you stay here you must try to use them to keep your house clean.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa smiled nervously. + </p> + <p> + “I mean that they shall finish their work to-night,” he added, “and I + shall build another camp-fire for us a mile from here until they do.” + </p> + <p> + But Teresa caught his sleeve. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said hurriedly, “don't, please, for me. You must not take the + trouble, nor the risk. Hear me; do, please. I can bear it, I WILL bear it—to-night. + I would have borne it last night, but it was so strange—and”—she + passed her hands over her forehead—“I think I must have been half + mad. But I am not so foolish now.” + </p> + <p> + She seemed so broken and despondent that he replied reassuringly: “Perhaps + it would be better that I should find another hiding-place for you, until + I can dispose of that carcass so that it will not draw dogs after the + wolves, and men after THEM. Besides, your friend the sheriff will probably + remember the bear when he remembers anything, and try to get on its track + again.” + </p> + <p> + “He's a conceited fool,” broke in Teresa in a high voice, with a slight + return of her old fury, “or he'd have guessed where that shot came from; + and,” she added in a lower tone, looking down at her limp and nerveless + fingers, “he wouldn't have let a poor, weak, nervous wretch like me get + away.” + </p> + <p> + “But his deputy may put two and two together, and connect your escape with + it.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa's eyes flashed. “It would be like the dog, just to save his pride, + to swear it was an ambush of my friends, and that he was overpowered by + numbers. Oh yes! I see it all!” she almost screamed, lashing herself into + a rage at the bare contemplation of this diminution of her glory. “That's + the dirty lie he tells everywhere, and is telling now.” + </p> + <p> + She stamped her feet and glanced savagely around, as if at any risk to + proclaim the falsehood. Low turned his impassive, truthful face towards + her. + </p> + <p> + “Sheriff Dunn,” he began gravely, “is a politician, and a fool when he + takes to the trail as a hunter of man or beast. But he is not a coward nor + a liar. Your chances would be better if he were—if he laid your + escape to an ambush of your friends, than if his pride held you alone + responsible.” + </p> + <p> + “If he's such a good man, why do you hesitate?” she replied bitterly. “Why + don't you give me up at once, and do a service to one of your friends?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not even know him,” returned Low opening his clear eyes upon her. + “I've promised to hide you here, and I shall hide you as well from him as + from anybody.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa did not reply, but suddenly dropping down upon the ground buried + her face in her hands and began to sob convulsively. Low turned + impassively away, and putting aside the bark curtain climbed into the + hollow tree. In a few moments he reappeared, laden with provisions and a + few simple cooking utensils, and touched her lightly on the shoulder. She + looked up timidly; the paroxysm had passed, but her lashes yet glittered. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” he said, “come and get some breakfast. I find you have eaten + nothing since you have been here—twenty-four hours.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know it,” she said, with a faint smile. Then seeing his burden, + and possessed by a new and strange desire for some menial employment, she + said hurriedly, “Let me carry something—do, please,” and even tried + to disencumber him. + </p> + <p> + Half annoyed, Low at last yielded, and handing his rifle said, “There, + then, take that; but be careful—it's loaded!” + </p> + <p> + A cruel blush burnt the woman's face to the roots of her hair as she took + the weapon hesitatingly in her hand. + </p> + <p> + “No!” she stammered, hurriedly lifting her shame-suffused eyes to his; + “no! no!” + </p> + <p> + He turned away with an impatience which showed her how completely + gratuitous had been her agitation and its significance, and said, “Well, + then, give it back if you are afraid of it.” But she as suddenly declined + to return it; and shouldering it deftly, took her place by his side. + Silently they moved from the hollow tree together. + </p> + <p> + During their walk she did not attempt to invade his taciturnity. + Nevertheless she was as keenly alive and watchful of his every movement + and gesture as if she had hung enchanted on his lips. The unerring way + with which he pursued a viewless, undeviating path through those trackless + woods, his quick reconnaissance of certain trees or openings, his mute + inspection of some almost imperceptible footprint of bird or beast, his + critical examination of certain plants which he plucked and deposited in + his deerskin haversack, were not lost on the quick-witted woman. As they + gradually changed the clear, unencumbered aisles of the central woods for + a more tangled undergrowth, Teresa felt that subtle admiration which + culminates in imitation, and simulating perfectly the step, tread, and + easy swing of her companion, followed so accurately his lead that she won + a gratified exclamation from him when their goal was reached—a + broken, blackened shaft, splintered by long-forgotten lightning, in the + centre of a tangled carpet of wood-clover. + </p> + <p> + “I don't wonder you distanced the deputy,” he said cheerfully, throwing + down his burden, “if you can take the hunting-path like that. In a few + days, if you stay here, I can venture to trust you alone for a little + pasear when you are tired of the tree.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa looked pleased, but busied herself with arrangements for the + breakfast, while he gathered the fuel for the roaring fire which soon + blazed beside the shattered tree. + </p> + <p> + Teresa's breakfast was a success. It was a revelation to the young nomad, + whose ascetic habits and simple tastes were usually content with the most + primitive forms of frontier cookery. It was at least a surprise to him to + know that without extra trouble kneaded flour, water, and saleratus need + not be essentially heavy; that coffee need not be boiled with sugar to the + consistency of syrup; that even that rarest delicacy, small shreds of + venison covered with ashes and broiled upon the end of a ramrod boldly + thrust into the flames, would be better and even more expeditiously cooked + upon burning coals. Moved in his practical nature, he was surprised to + find this curious creature of disorganized nerves and useless impulses + informed with an intelligence that did not preclude the welfare of + humanity or the existence of a soul. He respected her for some minutes, + until in the midst of a culinary triumph a big tear dropped and spluttered + in the saucepan. But he forgave the irrelevancy by taking no notice of it, + and by doing full justice to that particular dish. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, he asked several questions based upon these recently + discovered qualities. It appeared that in the old days of her wanderings + with the circus troupe she had often been forced to undertake this nomadic + housekeeping. But she “despised it,” had never done it since, and always + had refused to do it for “him”—the personal pronoun referring, as + Low understood, to her lover, Curson. Not caring to revive these memories + further, Low briefly concluded: “I don't know what you were, or what you + may be, but from what I see of you you've got all the sabe of a + frontierman's wife.” + </p> + <p> + She stopped and looked at him, and then with an impulse of imprudence that + only half concealed a more serious vanity, asked, “Do you think I might + have made a good squaw?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” he replied quietly. “I never saw enough of them to know.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa, confident from his clear eyes that he spoke the truth, but having + nothing ready to follow this calm disposal of her curiosity, relapsed into + silence. + </p> + <p> + The meal finished, Teresa washed their scant table equipage in a little + spring near the camp-fire; where, catching sight of her disordered dress + and collar, she rapidly threw her shawl, after the national fashion, over + her shoulder and pinned it quickly. Low cached the remaining provisions + and the few cooking utensils under the dead embers and ashes, obliterating + all superficial indication of their camp-fire as deftly and artistically + as he had before. + </p> + <p> + “There isn't the ghost of a chance,” he said in explanation, “that anybody + but you or I will set foot here before we come back to supper, but it's + well to be on guard. I'll take you back to the cabin now, though I bet you + could find your way there as well as I can.” + </p> + <p> + On their way back Teresa ran ahead of her companion, and plucking a few + tiny leaves from a hidden oasis in the bark-strewn trail brought them to + him. + </p> + <p> + “That's the kind you're looking for, isn't it?” she said, half timidly. + </p> + <p> + “It is,” responded Low, in gratified surprise; “but how did you know it? + You're not a botanist, are you?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon not,” said Teresa; “but you picked some when we came, and I + noticed what they were.” + </p> + <p> + Here was indeed another revelation. Low stopped and gazed at her with such + frank, open, utterly unabashed curiosity that her black eyes fell before + him. + </p> + <p> + “And do you think,” he asked with logical deliberation, “that you could + find any plant from another I should give you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Or from a drawing of it” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; perhaps even if you described it to me.” + </p> + <p> + A half-confidential, half-fraternal silence followed. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what. I've got a book—” + </p> + <p> + “I know it,” interrupted Teresa; “full of these things.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Do you think you could—” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I could,” broke in Teresa, again. + </p> + <p> + “But you don't know what I mean,” said the imperturbable Low. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly I do. Why, find 'em, and preserve all the different ones for + you to write under—that's it, isn't it?” + </p> + <p> + Low nodded his head, gratified but not entirely convinced that she had + fully estimated the magnitude of the endeavor. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” said Teresa, in the feminine postscriptum voice which it + would seem entered even the philosophical calm of the aisles they were + treading—“I suppose that SHE places great value on them?” + </p> + <p> + Low had indeed heard Science personified before, nor was it at all + impossible that the singular woman walking by his side had also. He said + “Yes;” but added, in mental reference to the Linnean Society of San + Francisco, that “THEY were rather particular about the rarer kinds.” + </p> + <p> + Content as Teresa had been to believe in Low's tender relations with some + favored ONE of her sex, this frank confession of a plural devotion + staggered her. + </p> + <p> + “They?” she repeated. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he continued calmly. “The Botanical Society I correspond with are + more particular than the Government Survey.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you are doing this for a society?” demanded Teresa, with a stare. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly. I'm making a collection and classification of specimens. I + intend—but what are you looking at?” + </p> + <p> + Teresa had suddenly turned away. Putting his hand lightly on her shoulder, + the young man brought her face to face him again. + </p> + <p> + She was laughing. + </p> + <p> + “I thought all the while it was for a girl,” she said; “and—” But + here the mere effort of speech sent her off into an audible and genuine + outburst of laughter. It was the first time he had seen her even smile + other than bitterly. Characteristically unconscious of any humor in her + error, he remained unembarrassed. But he could not help noticing a change + in the expression of her face, her voice, and even her intonation. It + seemed as if that fit of laughter had loosed the last ties that bound her + to a self-imposed character, had swept away the last barrier between her + and her healthier nature, had dispossessed a painful unreality, and + relieved the morbid tension of a purely nervous attitude. The change in + her utterance and the resumption of her softer Spanish accent seemed to + have come with her confidences, and Low took leave of her before their + sylvan cabin with a comrade's heartiness, and a complete forgetfulness + that her voice had ever irritated him. + </p> + <p> + When he returned that afternoon he was startled to find the cabin empty. + But instead of bearing any appearance of disturbance or hurried flight, + the rude interior seemed to have magically assumed a decorous order and + cleanliness unknown before. Fresh bark hid the inequalities of the floor. + The skins and blankets were folded in the corners, the rude shelves were + carefully arranged, even a few tall ferns and bright but quickly fading + flowers were disposed around the blackened chimney. She had evidently + availed herself of the change of clothing he had brought her, for her late + garments were hanging from the hastily-devised wooden pegs driven in the + wall. The young man gazed around him with mixed feelings of gratification + and uneasiness. His presence had been dispossessed in a single hour; his + ten years of lonely habitation had left no trace that this woman had not + effaced with a deft move of her hand. More than that, it looked as if she + had always occupied it; and it was with a singular conviction that even + when she should occupy it no longer it would only revert to him as her + dwelling that he dropped the bark shutters athwart the opening, and left + it to follow her. + </p> + <p> + To his quick ear, fine eye, and abnormal senses, this was easy enough. She + had gone in the direction of this morning's camp. Once or twice he paused + with a half-gesture of recognition and a characteristic “Good!” at the + place where she had stopped, but was surprised to find that her main + course had been as direct as his own. Deviating from this direct line with + Indian precaution, he first made a circuit of the camp, and approached the + shattered trunk from the opposite direction. He consequently came upon + Teresa unawares. But the momentary astonishment and embarrassment were his + alone. + </p> + <p> + He scarcely recognized her. She was wearing the garments he had brought + her the day before—a certain discarded gown of Miss Nellie Wynn, + which he had hurriedly begged from her under the pretext of clothing the + wife of a distressed overland emigrant then on the way to the mines. + Although he had satisfied his conscience with the intention of confessing + the pious fraud to her when Teresa was gone and safe from pursuit, it was + not without a sense of remorse that he witnessed the sacrilegious + transformation. The two women were nearly the same height and size; and + although Teresa's maturer figure accented the outlines more strongly, it + was still becoming enough to increase his irritation. + </p> + <p> + Of this becomingness she was doubtless unaware at the moment that he + surprised her. She was conscious of having “a change,” and this had + emboldened her to “do her hair” and otherwise compose herself. After their + greeting she was the first to allude to the dress, regretting that it was + not more of a rough disguise, and that, as she must now discard the + national habit of wearing her shawl “manta” fashion over her head, she + wanted a hat. “But you must not,” she said, “borrow any more dresses for + me from your young woman. Buy them for me at some shop. They left me + enough money for that.” Low gently put aside the few pieces of gold she + had drawn from her pocket, and briefly reminded her of the suspicion such + a purchase by him would produce. “That's so,” she said, with a laugh. + “Caramba! what a mule I'm becoming! Ah! wait a moment. I have it! Buy me a + common felt hat—a man's hat—as if for yourself, as a change to + that animal,” pointing to the fox-tailed cap he wore summer and winter, + “and I'll show you a trick. I haven't run a theatrical wardrobe for + nothing.” Nor had she, for the hat thus procured, a few days later, + became, by the aid of a silk handkerchief and a bluejay's feather, a + fascinating “pork pie.” + </p> + <p> + Whatever cause of annoyance to Low still lingered in Teresa's dress, it + was soon forgotten in a palpable evidence of Teresa's value as a botanical + assistant. It appeared that during the afternoon she had not only + duplicated his specimens, but had discoverd one or two rare plants as yet + unclassified in the flora of the Carquinez Woods. He was delighted, and in + turn, over the campfire, yielded up some details of his present life and + some of his earlier recollections. + </p> + <p> + “You don't remember anything of your father?” she asked. “Did he ever try + to seek you out?” + </p> + <p> + “No! Why should he?” replied the imperturbable Low; “he was not a + Cherokee.” + </p> + <p> + “No, he was a beast,” responded Teresa promptly. “And your mother—do + you remember her?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I think she died.” + </p> + <p> + “You THINK she died? Don't you know?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you're another!” said Teresa. Notwithstanding this frankness, they + shook hands for the night: Teresa nestling like a rabbit in a hollow by + the side of the campfire; Low with his feet towards it, Indian-wise, and + his head and shoulders pillowed on his haversack, only half + distinguishable in the darkness beyond. + </p> + <p> + With such trivial details three uneventful days slipped by. Their retreat + was undisturbed, nor could Low detect, by the least evidence to his acute + perceptive faculties, that any intruding feet had since crossed the belt + of shade. The echoes of passing events at Indian Spring had recorded the + escape of Teresa as occurring at a remote and purely imaginative distance, + and her probable direction the county of Yolo. + </p> + <p> + “Can you remember,” he one day asked her, “what time it was when you cut + the riata and got away?” + </p> + <p> + Teresa pressed her hands upon her eyes and temples. + </p> + <p> + “About three, I reckon.” + </p> + <p> + “And you were here at seven; you could have covered some ground in four + hours?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps—I don't know,” she said, her voice taking up its old + quality again. “Don't ask me—I ran all the way.” + </p> + <p> + Her face was quite pale as she removed her hands from her eyes, and her + breath came as quickly as if she had just finished that race for life. + </p> + <p> + “Then you think I am safe here?” she added, after a pause. + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly—until they find you are NOT in Yolo. Then they'll look + here. And THAT'S the time for you to go THERE.” Teresa smiled timidly. + </p> + <p> + “It will take them some time to search Yolo—unless,” she added, + “you're tired of me here.” The charming non sequitur did not, however, + seem to strike the young man. “I've got time yet to find a few more plants + for you,” she suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, certainly!” + </p> + <p> + “And give you a few more lessons in cooking.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + The conscientious and literal Low was beginning to doubt if she were + really practical. How otherwise could she trifle with such a situation? + </p> + <p> + It must be confessed that that day and the next she did trifle with it. + She gave herself up to a grave and delicious languor that seemed to flow + from shadow and silence and permeate her entire being. She passed hours in + a thoughtful repose of mind and spirit that seemed to fall like balm from + those steadfast guardians, and distill their gentle ether in her soul; or + breathed into her listening ear immunity from the forgotten past, and + security for the present. If there was no dream of the future in this + calm, even recurrence of placid existence, so much the better. The simple + details of each succeeding day, the quaint housekeeping, the brief + companionship and coming and going of her young host—himself at best + a crystallized personification of the sedate and hospitable woods—satisfied + her feeble cravings. She no longer regretted the inferior position that + her fears had obliged her to take the first night she came; she began to + look up to this young man—so much younger than herself—without + knowing what it meant; it was not until she found that this attitude did + not detract from his picturesqueness that she discovered herself seeking + for reasons to degrade him from this seductive eminence. + </p> + <p> + A week had elapsed with little change. On two days he had been absent all + day, returning only in time to sup in the hollow tree, which, thanks to + the final removal of the dead bear from its vicinity, was now considered a + safer retreat than the exposed camp-fire. On the first of these occasions + she received him with some preoccupation, paying but little heed to the + scant gossip he brought from Indian Spring, and retiring early under the + plea of fatigue, that he might seek his own distant camp-fire, which, + thanks to her stronger nerves and regained courage, she no longer required + so near. On the second occasion, he found her writing a letter more or + less blotted with her tears. When it was finished, she begged him to post + it at Indian Spring, where in two days an answer would be returned, under + cover, to him. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you will be satisfied then,” she added. + </p> + <p> + “Satisfied with what?” queried the young man. + </p> + <p> + “You'll see,” she replied, giving him her cold hand. “Good-night.” + </p> + <p> + “But can't you tell me now?” he remonstrated, retaining her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Wait two days longer—it isn't much,” was all she vouchsafed to + answer. + </p> + <p> + The two days passed. Their former confidence and good fellowship were + fully restored when the morning came on which he was to bring the answer + from the post-office at Indian Spring. He had talked again of his future, + and had recorded his ambition to procure the appointment of naturalist to + a Government Surveying Expedition. She had even jocularly proposed to + dress herself in man's attire and “enlist” as his assistant. + </p> + <p> + “But you will be safe with your friends, I hope, by that time,” responded + Low. + </p> + <p> + “Safe with my friends,” she repeated in a lower voice. “Safe with my + friends—yes!” An awkward silence followed; Teresa broke it gayly: + “But your girl, your sweetheart, my benefactor—will SHE let you go?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven't told her yet,” said Low, gravely, “but I don't see why she + should object.” + </p> + <p> + “Object, indeed!” interrupted Teresa in a high voice and a sudden and + utterly gratuitous indignation; “how should she? I'd like to see her do + it!” + </p> + <p> + She accompanied him some distance to the intersection of the trail, where + they parted in good spirits. On the dusty plain without a gale was blowing + that rocked the high tree-tops above her, but, tempered and subdued, + entered the low aisles with a fluttering breath of morning and a sound + like the cooing of doves. Never had the wood before shown so sweet a sense + of security from the turmoil and tempest of the world beyond; never before + had an intrusion from the outer life—even in the shape of a letter—seemed + so wicked a desecration. Tempted by the solicitation of air and shade, she + lingered, with Low's herbarium slung on her shoulder. + </p> + <p> + A strange sensation, like a shiver, suddenly passed across her nerves, and + left them in a state of rigid tension. With every sense morbidly acute, + with every faculty strained to its utmost, the subtle instincts of Low's + woodcraft transformed and possessed her. She knew it now! A new element + was in the wood—a strange being—another life—another man + approaching! She did not even raise her head to look about her, but darted + with the precision and fleetness of an arrow in the direction of her tree. + But her feet were arrested, her limbs paralzyed, her very existence + suspended, by the sound of a voice:— + </p> + <p> + “Teresa!” + </p> + <p> + It was a voice that had rung in her ears for the last two years in all + phases of intensity, passion, tenderness, and anger; a voice upon whose + modulations, rude and unmusical though they were, her heart and soul had + hung in transport or anguish. But it was a chime that had rung its last + peal to her senses as she entered the Carquinez Woods, and for the last + week had been as dead to her as a voice from the grave. It was the voice + of her lover—Dick Curson! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <p> + The wind was blowing towards the stranger, so that he was nearly upon her + when Teresa first took the alarm. He was a man over six feet in height, + strongly built, with a slight tendency to a roundness of bulk which + suggested reserved rather than impeded energy. His thick beard and + mustache were closely cropped around a small and handsome mouth that + lisped except when he was excited, but always kept fellowship with his + blue eyes in a perpetual smile of half-cynical good-humor. His dress was + superior to that of the locality; his general expression that of a man of + the world, albeit a world of San Francisco, Sacramento, and Murderer's + Bar. He advanced towards her with a laugh and an outstretched hand. + </p> + <p> + “YOU here!” she gasped, drawing back. + </p> + <p> + Apparently neither surprised nor mortified at this reception, he answered + frankly, “Yeth. You didn't expect me, I know. But Doloreth showed me the + letter you wrote her, and—well—here I am, ready to help you, + with two men and a thpare horthe waiting outside the woodth on the blind + trail.” + </p> + <p> + “You—YOU—here?” she only repeated. + </p> + <p> + Curson shrugged his shoulders. “Yeth. Of courth you never expected to thee + me again, and leatht of all HERE. I'll admit that; I'll thay I wouldn't if + I'd been in your plathe. I'll go further, and thay you didn't want to thee + me again—anywhere. But it all cometh to the thame thing; here I am. + I read the letter you wrote Doloreth. I read how you were hiding here, + under Dunn'th very nothe, with his whole pothe out, cavorting round and + barkin' up the wrong tree. I made up my mind to come down here with a few + nathty friends of mine and cut you out under Dunn'th nothe, and run you + over into Yuba—that'th all.” + </p> + <p> + “How dared she show you my letter—YOU of all men? How dared she ask + YOUR help?” continued Teresa, fiercely. + </p> + <p> + “But she didn't athk my help,” he responded coolly. “D—d if I don't + think she jutht calculated I'd be glad to know you were being hunted down + and thtarving, that I might put Dunn on your track.” + </p> + <p> + “You lie!” said Teresa, furiously; “she was my friend. A better friend + than those who professed—more,” she added, with a contemptuous + drawing away of her skirt as if she feared Curson's contamination. + </p> + <p> + “All right. Thettle that with her when you go back,” continued Curson + philosophically. “We can talk of that on the way. The thing now ith to get + up and get out of thethe woods. Come!” + </p> + <p> + Teresa's only reply was a gesture of scorn. + </p> + <p> + “I know all that,” continued Curson half soothingly, “but they're + waiting.” + </p> + <p> + “Let them wait. I shall not go.” + </p> + <p> + “What will you do?” + </p> + <p> + “Stay here—till the wolves eat me.” + </p> + <p> + “Teresa, listen. D—- it all—Teresa—Tita! see here,” he + said with sudden energy. “I swear to God it's all right. I'm willing to + let by-gones be by-gones and take a new deal. You shall come back as if + nothing had happened, and take your old place as before. I don't mind + doing the square thing, all round. If that's what you mean, if that's all + that stands in the way, why, look upon the thing as settled. There, Tita, + old girl, come.” + </p> + <p> + Careless or oblivious of her stony silence and starting eyes, he attempted + to take her hand. But she disengaged herself with a quick movement, drew + back, and suddenly crouched like a wild animal about to spring. Curson + folded his arms as she leaped to her feet; the little dagger she had drawn + from her garter flashed menacingly in the air, but she stopped. + </p> + <p> + The man before her remained erect, impassive, and silent; the great trees + around and beyond her remained erect, impassive, and silent; there was no + sound in the dim aisles but the quick panting of her mad passion, no + movement in the calm, motionless shadow but the trembling of her uplifted + steel. Her arm bent and slowly sank, her fingers relaxed, the knife fell + from her hand. + </p> + <p> + “That'th quite enough for a thow,” he said, with a return to his former + cynical ease and a perceptible tone of relief in his voice. “It'th the + thame old Theretha. Well, then, if you won't go with me, go without me; + take the led horthe and cut away. Dick Athley and Petereth will follow you + over the county line. If you want thome money, there it ith.” He took a + buckskin purse from his pocket. “If you won't take it from me”—he + hesitated as she made no reply—“Athley'th flush and ready to lend + you thome.” + </p> + <p> + She had not seemed to hear him, but had stooped in some embarrassment, + picked up the knife and hastily hid it, then with averted face and nervous + fingers was beginning to tear strips of loose bark from the nearest trunk. + </p> + <p> + “Well, what do you thay?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't want any money, and I shall stay here.” She hesitated, looked + around her, and then added, with an effort, “I suppose you meant well. Be + it so! Let by-gones be by-gones. You said just now, 'It's the same old + Teresa.' So she is, and seeing she's the same she's better here than + anywhere else.” + </p> + <p> + There was enough bitterness in her tone to call for Curson's + half-perfunctory sympathy. + </p> + <p> + “That be d—d,” he responded quickly. “Jutht thay you'll come, Tita, + and—” + </p> + <p> + She stopped his half-spoken sentence with a negative gesture. “You don't + understand. I shall stay here.” + </p> + <p> + “But even if they don't theek you here, you can't live here forever. The + friend that you wrote about who wath tho good to you, you know, can't keep + you here alwayth; and are you thure you can alwayth trutht her?” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't a woman; it's a man.” She stopped short, and colored to the line + of her forehead. “Who said it was a woman?” she continued fiercely, as if + to cover her confusion with a burst of gratuitous anger. “Is that another + of your lies?” + </p> + <p> + Curson's lips, which for a moment had completely lost their smile, were + now drawn together in a prolonged whistle. He gazed curiously at her gown, + at her hat, at the bow of bright ribbon that tied her black hair, and + said, “Ah!” + </p> + <p> + “A poor man who has kept my secret,” she went on hurriedly—“a man as + friendless and lonely as myself. Yes,” disregarding Curson's cynical + smile, “a man who has shared everything—” + </p> + <p> + “Naturally,” suggested Curson. + </p> + <p> + “And turned himself out of his only shelter to give me a roof and + covering,” she continued mechanically, struggling with the new and + horrible fancy that his words awakened. + </p> + <p> + “And thlept every night at Indian Thpring to save your reputation,” said + Curson. “Of courthe.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa turned very white. Curson was prepared for an outburst of fury—perhaps + even another attack. But the crushed and beaten woman only gazed at him + with frightened and imploring eyes. “For God's sake, Dick, don't say + that!” + </p> + <p> + The amiable cynic was staggered. His good-humor and a certain chivalrous + instinct he could not repress got the better of him. He shrugged his + shoulders. “What I thay, and what you DO, Teretha, needn't make us + quarrel. I've no claim on you—I know it. Only—” a vivid sense + of the ridiculous, powerful in men of his stamp, completed her victory—“only + don't thay anything about my coming down here to cut you out from the—the—THE + SHERIFF.” He gave utterance to a short but unaffected laugh, made a slight + grimace, and turned to go. + </p> + <p> + Teresa did not join in his mirth. Awkward as it would have been if he had + taken a severer view of the subject, she was mortified even amidst her + fears and embarrassment at his levity. Just as she had become convinced + that his jealousy had made her over-conscious, his apparent good-humored + indifference gave that over-consciousness a guilty significance. Yet this + was lost in her sudden alarm as her companion, looking up, uttered an + exclamation, and placed his hand upon his revolver. With a sinking + conviction that the climax had come, Teresa turned her eyes. From the dim + aisles beyond, Low was approaching. The catastrophe seemed complete. + </p> + <p> + She had barely time to utter an imploring whisper: “In the name of God, + not a word to him.” But a change had already come over her companion. It + was no longer a parley with a foolish woman; he had to deal with a man + like himself. As Low's dark face and picturesque figure came nearer, Mr. + Curson's proposed method of dealing with him was made audible. + </p> + <p> + “Ith it a mulatto or a Thircuth, or both?” he asked, with affected + anxiety. + </p> + <p> + Low's Indian phlegm was impervious to such assault. He turned to Teresa, + without apparently noticing her companion. “I turned back,” he said + quietly, “as soon as I knew there were strangers here; I thought you might + need me.” She noticed for the first time that, in addition to his rifle, + he carried a revolver and hunting knife in his belt. + </p> + <p> + “Yeth,” returned Curson, with an ineffectual attempt to imitate Low's + phlegm; “but ath I didn't happen to be a sthranger to this lady, perhaps + it wathn't nethethary, particularly ath I had two friends—” + </p> + <p> + “Waiting at the edge of the wood with a led horse,” interrupted Low, + without addressing him, but apparently continuing his explanation to + Teresa. But she turned to Low with feverish anxiety. + </p> + <p> + “That's so—he is an old friend—” she gave a quick, imploring + glance at Curson—“an old friend who came to help me away—he is + very kind,” she stammered, turning alternately from the one to the other; + “but I told him there was no hurry—at least to-day—that you—were—very + good—too, and would hide me a little longer, until your plan—you + know YOUR plan,” she added, with a look of beseeching significance to Low—“could + be tried.” And then, with a helpless conviction that her excuses, motives, + and emotions were equally and perfectly transparent to both men, she + stopped in a tremble. + </p> + <p> + “Perhapth it 'th jutht ath well, then, that the gentleman came thtraight + here, and didn't tackle my two friendth when he pathed them,” observed + Curson, half sarcastically. + </p> + <p> + “I have not passed your friends, nor have I been near them,” said Low, + looking at him for the first time, with the same exasperating calm, “or + perhaps I should not be HERE or they THERE. I knew that one man entered + the wood a few moments ago, and that two men and four horses remained + outside.” + </p> + <p> + “That's true,” said Teresa to Curson excitedly—“that's true. He + knows all. He can see without looking, hear without listening. He—he—” + she stammered, colored, and stopped. + </p> + <p> + The two men had faced each other. Curson, after his first good-natured + impulse, had retained no wish to regain Teresa, whom he felt he no longer + loved, and yet who, for that very reason perhaps, had awakened his + chivalrous instincts. Low, equally on his side, was altogether unconscious + of any feeling which might grow into a passion, and prevent him from + letting her go with another if for her own safety. They were both men of a + certain taste and refinement. Yet, in spite of all this, some vague + instinct of the baser male animal remained with them, and they were moved + to a mutually aggressive attitude in the presence of the female. + </p> + <p> + One word more, and the opening chapter of a sylvan Iliad might have begun. + But this modern Helen saw it coming, and arrested it with an inspiration + of feminine genius. Without being observed, she disengaged her knife from + her bosom and let it fall as if by accident. It struck the ground with the + point of its keen blade, bounded and rolled between them. The two men + started and looked at each other with a foolish air. Curson laughed. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon she can take care of herthelf,” he said, extending his hand to + Low. “I'm off. But if I'm wanted SHE'LL know where to find me.” Low took + the proffered hand, but neither of the two men looked at Teresa. The + reserve of antagonism once broken, a few words of caution, advice, and + encouragement passed between them, in apparent obliviousness of her + presence or her personal responsibility. As Curson at last nodded a + farewell to her, Low insisted upon accompanying him as far as the horses, + and in another moment she was again alone. + </p> + <p> + She had saved a quarrel between them at the sacrifice of herself, for her + vanity was still keen enough to feel that this exhibition of her old + weakness had degraded her in their eyes, and, worse, had lost the respect + her late restraint had won from Low. They had treated her like a child or + a crazy woman, perhaps even now were exchanging criticisms upon her—perhaps + pitying her! Yet she had prevented a quarrel, a fight; possibly the death + of either one or the other of these men who despised her, for none better + knew than she the trivial beginning and desperate end of these encounters. + Would they—would Low ever realize it, and forgive her? Her small, + dark hands went up to her eyes and she sank upon the ground. She looked + through tear-veiled lashes upon the mute and giant witnesses of her deceit + and passion, and tried to draw, from their immovable calm, strength and + consolation as before. But even they seemed to stand apart, reserved and + forbidding. + </p> + <p> + When Low returned she hoped to gather from his eyes and manner what had + passed between him and her former lover. But beyond a mere gentle + abstraction at times he retained his usual calm. She was at last forced to + allude to it herself with simulated recklessness. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I didn't get a very good character from my last place?” she + said, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you,” he replied, in evident sincerity. + </p> + <p> + She bit her lip and was silent. But as they were returning home, she said + gently, “I hope you were not angry with me for the lie I told when I spoke + of 'your plan.' I could not give the real reason for not returning with—with—that + man. But it's not all a lie. I have a plan—if you haven't. When you + are ready to go to Sacramento to take your place, dress me as an Indian + boy, paint my face, and let me go with you. You can leave me—there—you + know.” + </p> + <p> + “It's not a bad idea,” he responded gravely. “We will see.” + </p> + <p> + On the next day, and the next, the rencontre seemed to be forgotten. The + herbarium was already filled with rare specimens. Teresa had even overcome + her feminine repugnance to “bugs” and creeping things so far as to assist + in his entomological collection. He had drawn from a sacred cache in the + hollow of a tree the few worn text-books from which he had studied. + </p> + <p> + “They seem very precious,” she said, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “Very,” he replied gravely. “There was one with plates that the ants ate + up, and it will be six months before I can afford to buy another.” + </p> + <p> + Teresa glanced hurriedly over his well-worn buckskin suit, at his calico + shirt with its pattern almost obliterated by countless washings, and + became thoughtful. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you couldn't buy one at Indian Spring?” she said innocently. + </p> + <p> + For once Low was startled out of his phlegm. “Indian Spring!” he + ejaculated; “perhaps not even in San Francisco. These came from the + States.” + </p> + <p> + “How did you get them?” persisted Teresa. + </p> + <p> + “I bought them for skins I got over the ridge.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't mean that—but no matter. Then you mean to sell that + bearskin, don't you?” she added. + </p> + <p> + Low had, in fact, already sold it, the proceeds having been invested in a + gold ring for Miss Nellie, which she scrupulously did not wear except in + his presence. In his singular truthfulness he would have frankly confessed + it to Teresa, but the secret was not his own. He contented himself with + saying that he had disposed of it at Indian Spring. + </p> + <p> + Teresa started, and communicated unconsciously some of her nervousness to + her companion. They gazed in each other's eyes with a troubled expression. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think it was wise to sell that particular skin, which might be + identified?” she asked timidly. + </p> + <p> + Low knitted his arched brows, but felt a strange sense of relief. “Perhaps + not,” he said carelessly; “but it's too late now to mend matters.” + </p> + <p> + That afternoon she wrote several letters, and tore them up. One, however, + she retained, and handed it to Low to post at Indian Spring, whither he + was going. She called his attention to the superscription, being the same + as the previous letter, and added, with affected gayety, “But if the + answer isn't as prompt, perhaps it will be pleasanter than the last.” Her + quick feminine eye noticed a little excitement in his manner and a more + studious attention to his dress. Only a few days before she would not have + allowed this to pass without some mischievous allusion to his mysterious + sweetheart; it troubled her greatly now to find that she could not bring + herself to this household pleasantry, and that her lip trembled and her + eye grew moist as he parted from her. + </p> + <p> + The afternoon passed slowly; he had said he might not return to supper + until late, nevertheless a strange restlessness took possession of her as + the day wore on. She put aside her work, the darning of his stockings, and + rambled aimlessly through the woods. She had wandered she knew not how + far, when she was suddenly seized with the same vague sense of a foreign + presence which she had felt before. Could it be Curson again, with a word + of warning? No! she knew it was not he; so subtle had her sense become + that she even fancied that she detected in the invisible aura projected by + the unknown no significance or relation to herself or Low, and felt no + fear. Nevertheless she deemed it wisest to seek the protection of her + sylvan bower, and hurried swiftly thither. + </p> + <p> + But not so quickly nor directly that she did not once or twice pause in + her flight to examine the new-comer from behind a friendly trunk. He was a + stranger—a young fellow with a brown mustache, wearing heavy Mexican + spurs in his riding-boots, whose tinkling he apparently did not care to + conceal. He had perceived her, and was evidently pursuing her, but so + awkwardly and timidly that she eluded him with ease. When she had reached + the security of the hollow tree and pulled the curtain of bark before the + narrow opening, with her eye to the interstices, she waited his coming. He + arrived breathlessly in the open space before the tree where the bear once + lay; the dazed, bewildered, and half-awed expression of his face, as he + glanced around him and through the openings of the forest aisles, brought + a faint smile to her saddened face. At last he called in a + half-embarrassed voice:— + </p> + <p> + “Miss Nellie!” + </p> + <p> + The smile faded from Teresa's cheek. Who was “Miss Nellie?” She pressed + her ear to the opening. “Miss Wynn!” the voice again called, but was lost + in the echoless woods. Devoured with a new gratuitous curiosity, in + another moment Teresa felt she would have disclosed herself at any risk, + but the stranger rose and began to retrace his steps. Long after his + tinkling spurs were lost in the distance, Teresa remained like a statue, + staring at the place where he had stood. Then she suddenly turned like a + mad woman, glanced down at the gown she was wearing, tore it from her back + as if it had been a polluted garment, and stamped upon it in a convulsion + of rage. And then, with her beautiful bare arms clasped together over her + head, she threw herself upon her couch in a tempest of tears. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <p> + When Miss Nellie reached the first mining extension of Indian Spring, + which surrounded it like a fosse, she descended for one instant into one + of its trenches, opened her parasol, removed her duster, hid it under a + bowlder, and with a few shivers and cat-like strokes of her soft hands not + only obliterated all material traces of the stolen cream of Carquinez + Woods, but assumed a feline demureness quite inconsistent with any moral + dereliction. Unfortunately, she forgot to remove at the same time a + certain ring from her third finger, which she had put on with her duster + and had worn at no other time. With this slight exception, the benignant + fate which always protected that young person brought her in contact with + the Burnham girls at one end of the main street as the returning coach to + Excelsior entered the other, and enabled her to take leave of them before + the coach office with a certain ostentation of parting which struck Mr. + Jack Brace, who was lingering at the doorway, into a state of utter + bewilderment. + </p> + <p> + Here was Miss Nellie Wynn, the belle of Excelsior, calm, quiet, + self-possessed, her chaste cambric skirts and dainty shoes as fresh as + when she had left her father's house; but where was the woman of the brown + duster, and where the yellow-dressed apparition of the woods? He was + feebly repeating to himself his mental adjuration of a few hours before + when he caught her eye, and was taken with a blush and a fit of coughing. + Could he have been such an egregious fool, and was it not plainly written + on his embarrassed face for her to read? + </p> + <p> + “Are we going down together?” asked Miss Nellie with an exceptionally + gracious smile. + </p> + <p> + There was neither affectation nor coquetry in this advance. The girl had + no idea of Brace's suspicion of her, nor did any uneasy desire to placate + or deceive a possible rival of Low's prompt her graciousness. She simply + wished to shake off in this encounter the already stale excitement of the + past two hours, as she had shaken the dust of the woods from her clothes. + It was characteristic of her irresponsible nature and transient + susceptibilities that she actually enjoyed the relief of change; more than + that, I fear, she looked upon this infidelity to a past dubious pleasure + as a moral principle. A mild, open flirtation with a recognized man like + Brace, after her secret passionate tryst with a nameless nomad like Low, + was an ethical equipoise that seemed proper to one of her religious + education. + </p> + <p> + Brace was only too happy to profit by Miss Nellie's condescension; he at + once secured the seat by her side, and spent the four hours and a half of + their return journey to Excelsior in blissful but timid communion with + her. If he did not dare to confess his past suspicions, he was equally + afraid to venture upon the boldness he had premeditated a few hours + before. He was therefore obliged to take a middle course of slightly + egotistical narration of his own personal adventures, with which he + beguiled the young girl's ear. This he only departed from once, to + describe to her a valuable grizzly bearskin which he had seen that day for + sale at Indian Spring, with a view to divining her possible acceptance of + it for a “buggy robe;” and once to comment upon a ring which she had + inadvertently disclosed in pulling off her glove. + </p> + <p> + “It's only an old family keepsake,” she added, with easy mendacity; and + affecting to recognize in Mr. Brace's curiosity a not unnatural excuse for + toying with her charming fingers, she hid them in chaste and virginal + seclusion in her lap, until she could recover the ring and resume her + glove. + </p> + <p> + A week passed—a week of peculiar and desiccating heat for even those + dry Sierra table-lands. The long days were filled with impalpable dust and + acrid haze suspended in the motionless air; the nights were breathless and + dewless; the cold wind which usually swept down from the snow line was + laid to sleep over a dark monotonous level, whose horizon was pricked with + the eating fires of burning forest crests. The lagging coach of Indian + Spring drove up at Excelsior, and precipitated its passengers with an + accompanying cloud of dust before the Excelsior Hotel. As they emerged + from the coach, Mr. Brace, standing in the doorway, closely scanned their + begrimed and almost unrecognizable faces. They were the usual type of + travelers: a single professional man in dusty black, a few traders in + tweeds and flannels, a sprinkling of miners in red and gray shirts, a + Chinaman, a negro, and a Mexican packer or muleteer. This latter for a + moment mingled with the crowd in the bar-room, and even penetrated the + corridor and dining-room of the hotel, as if impelled by a certain + semi-civilized curiosity, and then strolled with a lazy, dragging step—half + impeded by the enormous leather leggings, chains, and spurs, peculiar to + his class—down the main street. The darkness was gathering, but the + muleteer indulged in the same childish scrutiny of the dimly lighted + shops, magazines, and saloons, and even of the occasional groups of + citizens at the street corners. Apparently young, as far as the outlines + of his figure could be seen, he seemed to show even more than the usual + concern of masculine Excelsior in the charms of womankind. The few female + figures about at that hour, or visible at window or veranda, received his + marked attention; he respectfully followed the two auburn-haired daughters + of Deacon Johnson on their way to choir meeting to the door of the church. + Not content with that act of discreet gallantry, after they had entered he + managed to slip unperceived behind them. + </p> + <p> + The memorial of the Excelsior gamblers' generosity was a modern building, + large and pretentious, for even Mr. Wynn's popularity, and had been + good-humoredly known, in the characteristic language of the generous + donors, as one of the “biggest religious bluffs” on record. Its groined + rafters, which were so new and spicy that they still suggested their + native forest aisles, seldom covered more than a hundred devotees, and in + the rambling choir, with its bare space for the future organ, the few + choristers, gathered round a small harmonium, were lost in the deepening + shadow of that summer evening. The muleteer remained hidden in the + obscurity of the vestibule. After a few moments' desultory conversation, + in which it appeared that the unexpected absence of Miss Nellie Wynn, + their leader, would prevent their practicing, the choristers withdrew. The + stranger, who had listened eagerly, drew back in the darkness as they + passed out, and remained for a few moments a vague and motionless figure + in the silent church. Then coming cautiously to the window, the flapping + broad-brimmed hat was put aside, and the faint light of the dying day + shone in the black eyes of Teresa! Despite her face, darkened with dye and + disfigured with dust, the matted hair piled and twisted around her head, + the strange dress and boyish figure, one swift glance from under her + raised lashes betrayed her identity. + </p> + <p> + She turned aside mechanically into the first pew, picked up and opened a + hymn-book. Her eyes became riveted on a name written on the title-page, + “Nellie Wynn.” HER name, and HER book. The instinct that had guided her + here was right; the slight gossip of her fellow-passengers was right; this + was the clergyman's daughter, whose praise filled all mouths. This was the + unknown girl the stranger was seeking, but who in turn perhaps had been + seeking Low—the girl who absorbed his fancy—the secret of his + absences, his preoccupation, his coldness! This was the girl whom to see, + perhaps in his arms, she was now periling her liberty and her life unknown + to him! A slight odor, some faint perfume of its owner, came from the + book; it was the same she had noticed in the dress Low had given her. She + flung the volume to the ground, and, throwing her arms over the back of + the pew before her, buried her face in her hands. + </p> + <p> + In that light and attitude she might have seemed some rapt acolyte + abandoned to self-communion. But whatever yearning her soul might have had + for higher sympathy or deeper consolation, I fear that the spiritual + Tabernacle of Excelsior and the Reverend Mr. Wynn did not meet that + requirement. She only felt the dry, oven-like heat of that vast shell, + empty of sentiment and beauty, hollow in its pretense and dreary in its + desolation. She only saw in it a chief altar for the glorification of this + girl who had absorbed even the pure worship of her companion, and + converted and degraded his sublime paganism to her petty creed. With a + woman's withering contempt for her own art displayed in another woman, she + thought how she herself could have touched him with the peace that the + majesty of their woodland aisles—so unlike this pillared sham—had + taught her own passionate heart, had she but dared. Mingling with this + imperfect theology, she felt she could have proved to him also that a + brunette and a woman of her experience was better than an immature blonde. + She began to loathe herself for coming hither, and dreaded to meet his + face. Here a sudden thought struck her. What if he had not come here? What + if she had been mistaken? What if her rash interpretation of his absence + from the wood that night was simple madness? What if he should return—if + he had already returned? She rose to her feet, whitening yet joyful with + the thought. She could return at once; what was the girl to her now? Yet + there was time to satisfy herself if he were at HER house. She had been + told where it was; she could find it in the dark; an open door or window + would betray some sign or sound of the occupants. She rose, replaced her + hat over her eyes, knotted her flaunting scarf around her throat, groped + her way to the door, and glided into the outer darkness. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> + <p> + It was quite dark when Mr. Jack Brace stopped before Father Wynn's open + door. The windows were also invitingly open to the wayfarer, as were the + pastoral counsels of Father Wynn, delivered to some favored guest within, + in a tone of voice loud enough for a pulpit. Jack Brace paused. The + visitor was the convalescent sheriff, Jim Dunn, who had publicly + commemorated his recovery by making his first call upon the father of his + inamorata. The Reverend Mr. Wynn had been expatiating upon the unremitting + heat of a possible precursor of forest fires, and exhibiting some catholic + knowledge of the designs of a Deity in that regard, and what should be the + policy of the Legislature, when Mr. Brace concluded to enter. Mr. Wynn and + the wounded man, who occupied an arm-chair by the window, were the only + occupants of the room. But in spite of the former's ostentatious greeting, + Brace could see that his visit was inopportune and unwelcome. The sheriff + nodded a quick, impatient recognition, which, had it not been accompanied + by an anathema on the heat, might have been taken as a personal insult. + Neither spoke of Miss Nellie, although it was patent to Brace that they + were momentarily expecting her. All of which went far to strengthen a + certain wavering purpose in his mind. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, ha! strong language, Mr. Dunn,” said Father Wynn, referring to the + sheriff's adjuration, “but 'out of the fullness of the heart the mouth + speaketh.' Job, sir, cursed, we are told, and even expressed himself in + vigorous Hebrew regarding his birthday. Ha, ha! I'm not opposed to that. + When I have often wrestled with the spirit I confess I have sometimes + said, 'D—n you.' Yes, sir, 'D—n you.'” + </p> + <p> + There was something so unutterably vile in the reverend gentleman's + utterance and emphasis of this oath that the two men, albeit both easy and + facile blasphemers, felt shocked; as the purest of actresses is apt to + overdo the rakishness of a gay Lothario, Father Wynn's immaculate + conception of an imprecation was something terrible. But he added, “The + law ought to interfere with the reckless use of camp-fires in the woods in + such weather by packers and prospectors.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't so much the work of white men,” broke in Brace, “as it is of + Greasers, Chinamen, and Diggers, especially Diggers. There's that blasted + Low, ranges the whole Carquinez Woods as if they were his. I reckon he + ain't particular just where he throws his matches.” + </p> + <p> + “But he's not a Digger; he's a Cherokee, and only a half-breed at that,” + interpolated Wynn. “Unless,” he added, with the artful suggestion of the + betrayed trust of a too credulous Christian, “he deceived me in this as in + other things.” + </p> + <p> + In what other things Low had deceived him he did not say; but, to the + astonishment of both men, Dunn growled a dissent to Brace's proposition. + Either from some secret irritation with that possible rival, or impatience + at the prolonged absence of Nellie, he had “had enough of that sort of + hog-wash ladled out to him for genuine liquor.” As to the Carquinez Woods, + he [Dunn] “didn't know why Low hadn't as much right there as if he'd + grabbed it under a preemption law and didn't live there.” With this hint + at certain speculations of Father Wynn in public lands for a homestead, he + added that “If they [Brace and Wynn] could bring him along any older + American settler than an Indian, they might rake down his [Dunn's] pile.” + Unprepared for this turn in the conversation, Wynn hastened to explain + that he did not refer to the pure aborigine, whose gradual extinction no + one regretted more than himself, but to the mongrel, who inherited only + the vices of civilization. “There should be a law, sir, against the + mingling of races. There are men, sir, who violate the laws of the Most + High by living with Indian women—squaw men, sir, as they are + called.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn rose with a face livid with weakness and passion. “Who dares say + that? They are a d—d sight better than sneaking Northern + Abolitionists, who married their daughters to buck niggers like—” + But a spasm of pain withheld this Parthian shot at the politics of his two + companions, and he sank back helplessly in his chair. + </p> + <p> + An awkward silence ensued. The three men looked at each other in + embarrassment and confusion. Dunn felt that he had given way to a + gratuitous passion; Wynn had a vague presentiment that he had said + something that imperiled his daughter's prospects; and Brace was divided + between an angry retort and the secret purpose already alluded to. + </p> + <p> + “It's all the blasted heat,” said Dunn, with a forced smile, pushing away + the whisky which Wynn had ostentatiously placed before him. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said Wynn hastily; “only it's a pity Nellie ain't here to + give you her smelling-salts. She ought to be back now,” he added, no + longer mindful of Brace's presence; “the coach is over-due now, though I + reckon the heat made Yuba Bill take it easy at the up grade.” + </p> + <p> + “If you mean the coach from Indian Spring,” said Brace quietly, “it's in + already; but Miss Nellie didn't come on it.” + </p> + <p> + “May be she got out at the Crossing,” said Wynn cheerfully; “she sometimes + does.” + </p> + <p> + “She didn't take the coach at Indian Spring,” returned Brace, “because I + saw it leave, and passed it on Buckskin ten minutes ago, coming up the + hills.” + </p> + <p> + “She's stopped over at Burnham's,” said Wynn reflectively. Then, in + response to the significant silence of his guests, he added, in a tone of + chagrin which his forced heartiness could not disguise, “Well, boys, it's + a disappointment all round; but we must take the lesson as it comes. I'll + go over to the coach office and see if she's sent any word. Make + yourselves at home until I return.” + </p> + <p> + When the door had closed behind him, Brace arose and took his hat as if to + go. With his hand on the lock, he turned to his rival, who, half hidden in + the gathering darkness, still seemed unable to comprehend his ill-luck. + </p> + <p> + “If you're waiting for that bald-headed fraud to come back with the truth + about his daughter,” said Brace coolly, “you'd better send for your things + and take up your lodgings here.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” said Dunn sternly. + </p> + <p> + “I mean that she's not at the Burnhams'; I mean that he either does or + does not know WHERE she is, and that in either case he is not likely to + give you information. But I can.” + </p> + <p> + “You can?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Then, where is she?” + </p> + <p> + “In the Carquinez Woods, in the arms of the man you were just defending—Low, + the half-breed.” + </p> + <p> + The room had become so dark that from the road nothing could be + distinguished. Only the momentary sound of struggling feet was heard. + </p> + <p> + “Sit down,” said Brace's voice, “and don't be a fool. You're too weak, and + it ain't a fair fight. Let go your hold. I'm not lying—I wish to God + I was!” + </p> + <p> + There was silence, and Brace resumed, “We've been rivals, I know. May be I + thought my chance as good as yours. If what I say ain't truth, we'll stand + as we stood before; and if you're on the shoot, I'm your man when you + like, where you like, or on sight if you choose. But I can't bear to see + another man played upon as I've been played upon—given dead away as + I've been. It ain't on the square. + </p> + <p> + “There,” he continued, after a pause, “that's right, now steady. Listen. A + week ago that girl went down just like this to Indian Spring. It was given + out, like this, that she went to the Burnhams'. I don't mind saying, Dunn, + that I went down myself, all on the square, thinking I might get a show to + talk to her, just as YOU might have done, you know, if you had my chance. + I didn't come across her anywhere. But two men that I met thought they + recognized her in a disguise going into the woods. Not suspecting + anything, I went after her; saw her at a distance in the middle of the + woods in another dress that I can swear to, and was just coming up to her + when she vanished—went like a squirrel up a tree, or down like a + gopher in the ground, but vanished.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all?” said Dunn's voice. “And just because you were a d—d + fool, or had taken a little too much whisky, you thought—” + </p> + <p> + “Steady. That's just what I said to myself,” interrupted Brace coolly, + “particularly when I saw her that same afternoon in another dress, saying + 'Good-by' to the Burnhams, as fresh as a rose and as cold as those + snow-peaks. Only one thing—she had a ring on her finger she never + wore before, and didn't expect me to see.” + </p> + <p> + “What if she did? She might have bought it. I reckon she hasn't to consult + you,” broke in Dunn's voice sternly. + </p> + <p> + “She didn't buy it,” continued Brace quietly. “Low gave that Jew trader a + bearskin in exchange for it, and presented it to her. I found that out two + days afterwards. I found out that out of the whole afternoon she spent + less than an hour with the Burnhams. I found out that she bought a duster + like the disguise the two men saw her in. I found the yellow dress she + wore that day hanging up in Low's cabin—the place where I saw her go—THE + RENDEZVOUS WHERE SHE MEETS HIM. Oh, you're listenin', are you? Stop! SIT + DOWN! + </p> + <p> + “I discovered it by accident,” continued the voice of Brace when all was + again quiet; “it was hidden as only a squirrel or an Injin can hide when + they improve upon nature. When I was satisfied that the girl had been in + the woods, I was determined to find out where she vanished, and went there + again. Prospecting around, I picked up at the foot of one of the biggest + trees this yer old memorandum-book, with grasses and herbs stuck in it. I + remembered that I'd heard old Wynn say that Low, like the d—d Digger + that he was, collected these herbs; only he pretended it was for science. + I reckoned the book was his and that he mightn't be far away. I lay low + and waited. Bimeby I saw a lizard running down the root. When he got sight + of me he stopped.” + </p> + <p> + “D—n the lizard! What's that got to do with where she is now?” + </p> + <p> + “Everything. That lizard had a piece of sugar in his mouth. Where did it + come from? I made him drop it, and calculated he'd go back for more. He + did. He scooted up that tree and slipped in under some hanging strips of + bark. I shoved 'em aside, and found an opening to the hollow where they do + their housekeeping.” + </p> + <p> + “But you didn't see her there—and how do you know she is there now?” + </p> + <p> + “I determined to make it sure. When she left to-day, I started an hour + ahead of her, and hid myself at the edge of the woods. An hour after the + coach arrived at Indian Spring, she came there in a brown duster and was + joined by him. I'd have followed them, but the d—d hound has the + ears of a squirrel, and though I was five hundred yards from him he was on + his guard.” + </p> + <p> + “Guard be blessed! Wasn't you armed? Why didn't you go for him?” said + Dunn, furiously. + </p> + <p> + “I reckoned I'd leave that for you,” said Brace coolly. “If he'd killed + me, and if he'd even covered me with his rifle, he'd been sure to let + daylight through me at double the distance. I shouldn't have been any + better off, nor you either. If I'd killed HIM, it would have been your + duty as sheriff to put me in jail; and I reckon it wouldn't have broken + your heart, Jim Dunn, to have got rid of TWO rivals instead of one. Hullo! + Where are you going?” + </p> + <p> + “Going?” said Dunn hoarsely. “Going to the Carquinez Woods, by God! to + kill him before her. I'LL risk it, if you daren't. Let me succeed, and you + can hang ME and take the girl yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “Sit down, sit down. Don't be a fool, Jim Dunn! You wouldn't keep the + saddle a hundred yards. Did I say I wouldn't help you? No. If you're + willing, we'll run the risk together, but it must be in my way. Hear me. + I'll drive you down there in a buggy before daylight, and we'll surprise + them in the cabin or as they leave the wood. But you must come as if to + arrest him for some offense—say, as an escaped Digger from the + Reservation, a dangerous tramp, a destroyer of public property in the + forests, a suspected road agent, or anything to give you the right to hunt + him. The exposure of him and Nellie, don't you see, must be accidental. If + he resists, kill him on the spot, and nobody'll blame you; if he goes + peaceably with you, and you once get him in Excelsior jail, when the story + gets out that he's taken the belle of Excelsior for his squaw, if you'd + the angels for your posse you couldn't keep the boys from hanging him to + the first tree. What's that?” + </p> + <p> + He walked to the window, and looked out cautiously. + </p> + <p> + “If it was the old man coming back and listening,” he said, after a pause, + “it can't he helped. He'll hear it soon enough, if he don't suspect + something already.” + </p> + <p> + “Look yer, Brace,” broke in Dunn hoarsely. “D—d if I understand you + or you me. That dog Low has got to answer to ME, not to the LAW! I'll take + my risk of killing him, on sight and on the square. I don't reckon to + handicap myself with a warrant, and I am not going to draw him out with a + lie. You hear me? That's me all the time!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you calkilate to go down thar,” said Brace contemptuously, “yell out + for him and Nellie, and let him line you on a rest from the first tree as + if you were a grizzly.” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause. “What's that you were saying just now about a bearskin + he sold?” asked Dunn slowly, as if reflecting. + </p> + <p> + “He exchanged a bearskin,” replied Brace, “with a single hole right over + the heart. He's a dead shot, I tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “D—n his shooting,” said Dunn. “I'm not thinking of that. How long + ago did he bring in that bearskin?” + </p> + <p> + “About two weeks, I reckon. Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing! Look yer, Brace, you mean well—thar's my hand. I'll go + down with you there, but not as the sheriff. I'm going there as Jim Dunn, + and you can come along as a white man, to see things fixed on the square. + Come!” + </p> + <p> + Brace hesitated. “You'll think better of my plan before you get there; but + I've said I'd stand by you, and I will. Come, then. There's no time to + lose.” + </p> + <p> + They passed out into the darkness together. + </p> + <p> + “What are you waiting for?” said Dunn impatiently, as Brace, who was + supporting him by the arm, suddenly halted at the corner of the house. + </p> + <p> + “Some one was listening—did you not see him? Was it the old man?” + asked Brace hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “Blast the old man! It was only one of them Mexican packers chock-full of + whisky, and trying to hold up the house. What are you thinking of? We + shall be late.” + </p> + <p> + In spite of his weakness, the wounded man hurriedly urged Brace forward, + until they reached the latter's lodgings. To his surprise, the horse and + buggy were already before the door. + </p> + <p> + “Then you reckoned to go, any way?” said Dunn, with a searching look at + his companion. + </p> + <p> + “I calkilated SOMEBODY would go,” returned Brace, evasively, patting the + impatient Buckskin; “but come in and take a drink before we leave.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn started out of a momentary abstraction, put his hand on his hip, and + mechanically entered the house. They had scarcely raised the glasses to + their lips when a sudden rattle of wheels was heard in the street. Brace + set down his glass and ran to the window. + </p> + <p> + “It's the mare bolted,” he said, with an oath. “We've kept her too long + standing. Follow me,” and he dashed down the staircase into the street. + Dunn followed with difficulty; when he reached the door he was already + confronted by his breathless companion. “She's gone off on a run, and I'll + swear there was a man in the buggy!” He stopped and examined the + halter-strap, still fastened to the fence. “Cut! by God!” + </p> + <p> + Dunn turned pale with passion. “Who's got another horse and buggy?” he + demanded. + </p> + <p> + “The new blacksmith in Main Street; but we won't get it by borrowing,” + said Brace. + </p> + <p> + “How then?” asked Dunn savagely. + </p> + <p> + “Seize it, as the sheriff of Yuba and his deputy, pursuing a confederate + of the Injin Low—THE HORSE THIEF!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <p> + The brief hour of darkness that preceded the dawn was that night + intensified by a dense smoke, which, after blotting out horizon and sky, + dropped a thick veil on the high road and the silent streets of Indian + Spring. As the buggy containing Sheriff Dunn and Brace dashed through the + obscurity, Brace suddenly turned to his companion. + </p> + <p> + “Some one ahead!” + </p> + <p> + The two men bent forward over the dashboard. Above the steady plunging of + their own horse-hoofs they could hear the quicker irregular beat of other + hoofs in the darkness before them. + </p> + <p> + “It's that horse thief!” said Dunn, in a savage whisper. “Bear to the + right, and hand me the whip.” + </p> + <p> + A dozen cuts of the cruel lash, and their maddened horse, bounding at each + stroke, broke into a wild canter. The frail vehicle swayed from side to + side at each spring of the elastic shafts. Steadying himself by one hand + on the low rail, Dunn drew his revolver with the other. “Sing out to him + to pull up, or we'll fire. My voice is clean gone,” he added, in a husky + whisper. + </p> + <p> + They were so near that they could distinguish the bulk of a vehicle + careering from side to side in the blackness ahead. Dunn deliberately + raised his weapon. “Sing out!” he repeated impatiently. But Brace, who was + still keeping in the shadow, suddenly grasped his companion's arm. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! It's NOT Buckskin,” he whispered hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure?” + </p> + <p> + “DON'T YOU SEE WE'RE GAINING ON HIM?” replied the other contemptuously. + Dunn grasped his companion's hand and pressed it silently. Even in that + supreme moment this horseman's tribute to the fugitive Buckskin + forestalled all baser considerations of pursuit and capture! + </p> + <p> + In twenty seconds they were abreast of the stranger, crowding his horse + and buggy nearly into the ditch; Brace keenly watchful, Dunn suppressed + and pale. In half a minute they were leading him a length; and when their + horse again settled down to his steady work, the stranger was already lost + in the circling dust that followed them. But the victors seemed + disappointed. The obscurity had completely hidden all but the vague + outlines of the mysterious driver. + </p> + <p> + “He's not our game, anyway,” whispered Dunn. “Drive on.” + </p> + <p> + “But if it was some friend of his,” suggested Brace uneasily, “what would + you do?” + </p> + <p> + “What I SAID I'd do,” responded Dunn savagely. “I don't want five minutes + to do it in, either; we'll be half an hour ahead of that d—d fool, + whoever he is. Look here; all you've got to do is to put me in the trail + to that cabin. Stand back of me, out of gun-shot, alone, if you like, as + my deputy, or with any number you can pick up as my posse. If he gets by + me as Nellie's lover, you may shoot him or take him as a horse thief, if + you like.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you won't shoot him on sight?” + </p> + <p> + “Not till I've had a word with him.” + </p> + <p> + “But—” + </p> + <p> + “I've chirped,” said the sheriff gravely. “Drive on.” + </p> + <p> + For a few moments only the plunging hoofs and rattling wheels were heard. + A dull, lurid glow began to define the horizon. They were silent until an + abatement of the smoke, the vanishing of the gloomy horizon line, and a + certain impenetrability in the darkness ahead showed them they were + nearing the Carquinez Woods. But they were surprised on entering them to + find the dim aisles alight with a faint mystic Aurora. The tops of the + towering spires above them had caught the gleam of the distant forest + fires, and reflected it as from a gilded dome. + </p> + <p> + “It would be hot work if the Carquinez Woods should conclude to take a + hand in this yer little game that's going on over on the Divide yonder,” + said Brace, securing his horse and glancing at the spires overhead. “I + reckon I'd rather take a back seat at Injin Spring when the show + commences.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn did not reply, but, buttoning his coat, placed one hand on his + companion's shoulder, and sullenly bade him “lead the way.” Advancing + slowly and with difficulty the desperate man might have been taken for a + peaceful invalid returning from an early morning stroll. His right hand + was buried thoughtfully in the side pocket of his coat. Only Brace knew + that it rested on the handle of his pistol. + </p> + <p> + From time to time the latter stopped and consulted the faint trail with a + minuteness that showed recent careful study. Suddenly he paused. “I made a + blaze hereabouts to show where to leave the trail. There it is,” he added, + pointing to a slight notch cut in the trunk of an adjoining tree. + </p> + <p> + “But we've just passed one,” said Dunn, “if that's what you are looking + after, a hundred yards back.” + </p> + <p> + Brace uttered an oath, and ran back in the direction signified by his + companion. Presently he returned with a smile of triumph. + </p> + <p> + “They've suspected something. It's a clever trick, but it won't hold + water. That blaze which was done to muddle you was cut with an axe; this + which I made was done with a bowie-knife. It's the real one. We're not far + off now. Come on.” + </p> + <p> + They proceeded cautiously, at right angles with the “blazed” tree, for ten + minutes more. The heat was oppressive; drops of perspiration rolled from + the forehead of the sheriff, and at times, when he attempted to steady his + uncertain limbs, his hands shrank from the heated, blistering bark he + touched with ungloved palms. + </p> + <p> + “Here we are,” said Brace, pausing at last. “Do you see that biggest tree, + with the root stretching out halfway across to the opposite one?” + </p> + <p> + “No, it's further to the right and abreast of the dead brush,” interrupted + Dunn quickly, with a sudden revelation that this was the spot where he had + found the dead bear in the night Teresa escaped. + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” responded Brace, in astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “And the opening is on the other side, opposite the dead brush,” said + Dunn. + </p> + <p> + “Then you know it?” said Brace suspiciously. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon!” responded Dunn, grimly. “That's enough! Fall back!” + </p> + <p> + To the surprise of his companion, he lifted his head erect, and with a + strong, firm step walked directly to the tree. Reaching it, he planted + himself squarely before the opening. + </p> + <p> + “Halloo!” he said. + </p> + <p> + There was no reply. A squirrel scampered away close to his feet. Brace, + far in the distance, after an ineffectual attempt to distinguish his + companion through the intervening trunks, took off his coat, leaned + against a tree, and lit a cigar. + </p> + <p> + “Come out of that cabin!” continued Dunn, in a clear, resonant voice. + “Come out before I drag you out!” + </p> + <p> + “All right, 'Captain Scott.' Don't shoot, and I'll come down,” said a + voice as clear and as high as his own. The hanging strips of bark were + dashed aside, and a woman leaped lightly to the ground. + </p> + <p> + Dunn staggered back. “Teresa! by the Eternal!” + </p> + <p> + It was Teresa! the old Teresa! Teresa, a hundred times more vicious, + reckless, hysterical, extravagant, and outrageous than before. Teresa, + staring with tooth and eye, sunburnt and embrowned, her hair hanging down + her shoulders, and her shawl drawn tightly around her neck. + </p> + <p> + “Teresa it is! the same old gal! Here we are again! Return of the favorite + in her original character! For two weeks only! Houp la! Tshk!” and, + catching her yellow skirt with her fingers, she pirouetted before the + astounded man, and ended in a pose. Recovering himself with an effort, + Dunn dashed forward and seized her by the wrist. + </p> + <p> + “Answer me, woman! Is that Low's cabin?” + </p> + <p> + “It is.” + </p> + <p> + “Who occupies it besides?” + </p> + <p> + “I do.” + </p> + <p> + “And who else?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” drawled Teresa slowly, with an extravagant affectation of modesty, + “nobody else but us, I reckon. Two's company, you know, and three's none.” + </p> + <p> + “Stop! Will you swear that there isn't a young girl, his—his + sweetheart—concealed there with you?” + </p> + <p> + The fire in Teresa's eye was genuine as she answered steadily, “Well, it + ain't my style to put up with that sort of thing; at least, it wasn't over + at Yolo, and you know it, Jim Dunn, or I wouldn't be here.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes,” said Dunn hurriedly. “But I'm a d—d fool, or worse, the + fool of a fool. Tell me, Teresa, is this man Low your lover?” + </p> + <p> + Teresa lowered her eyes as if in maidenly confusion. “Well, if I'd known + that YOU had any feeling of your own about it—if you'd spoken sooner—” + </p> + <p> + “Answer me, you devil!” + </p> + <p> + “He is.” + </p> + <p> + “And he has been with you here—yesterday—to-night?” + </p> + <p> + “He has.” + </p> + <p> + “Enough.” He laughed a weak, foolish laugh, and, turning pale, suddenly + lapsed against a tree. He would have fallen, but with a quick instinct + Teresa sprang to his side, and supported him gently to a root. The action + over, they both looked astounded. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon that wasn't much like either you or me,” said Dunn slowly, “was + it? But if you'd let me drop then you'd have stretched out the biggest + fool in the Sierras.” He paused, and looked at her curiously. “What's come + over you; blessed if I seem to know you now.” + </p> + <p> + She was very pale again, and quiet; that was all. + </p> + <p> + “Teresa! d—n it, look here! When I was laid up yonder in Excelsior I + said I wanted to get well for only two things. One was to hunt you down, + the other to marry Nellie Wynn. When I came here I thought that last thing + could never be. I came here expecting to find her here with Low, and kill + him—perhaps kill her too. I never once thought of you; not once. You + might have risen up before me—between me and him—and I'd have + passed you by. And now that I find it's all a mistake, and it was you, not + her, I was looking for, why—” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” she interrupted bitterly, “you'll just take me, of course, to save + your time and earn your salary. I'm ready.” + </p> + <p> + “But I'M not, just yet,” he said faintly. “Help me up.” + </p> + <p> + She mechanically assisted him to his feet. + </p> + <p> + “Now stand where you are,” he added, “and don't move beyond this tree till + I return.” + </p> + <p> + He straightened himself with an effort, clenched his fists until the nails + were nearly buried in his palms, and strode with a firm, steady step in + the direction he had come. In a few moments he returned and stood before + her. + </p> + <p> + “I've sent away my deputy—the man who brought me here, the fool who + thought you were Nellie. He knows now he made a mistake. But who it was he + mistook for Nellie he does not know, nor shall ever know, nor shall any + living being know, other than myself. And when I leave the wood to-day I + shall know it no longer. You are safe here as far as I am concerned, but I + cannot screen you from others prying. Let Low take you away from here as + soon as he can.” + </p> + <p> + “Let him take me away? Ah, yes. For what?” + </p> + <p> + “To save you,” said Dunn. “Look here, Teresa! Without knowing it, you + lifted me out of hell just now, and because of the wrong I might have done + her—for HER sake, I spare you and shirk my duty.” + </p> + <p> + “For her sake!” gasped the woman—“for her sake! Oh, yes! Go on.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Dunn gloomily, “I reckon perhaps you'd as lieve left me in + hell, for all the love you bear me. And may be you've grudge enough agin + me still to wish I'd found her and him together.” + </p> + <p> + “You think so?” she said, turning her head away. + </p> + <p> + “There, d—n it! I didn't mean to make you cry. May be you wouldn't, + then. Only tell that fellow to take you out of this, and not run away the + next time he sees a man coming.” + </p> + <p> + “He didn't run,” said Teresa, with flashing eyes. “I—I—I sent + him away,” she stammered. Then, suddenly turning with fury upon him, she + broke out, “Run! Run from you! Ha, ha! You said just now I'd a grudge + against you. Well, listen, Jim Dunn. I'd only to bring you in range of + that young man's rifle, and you'd have dropped in your tracks like—” + </p> + <p> + “Like that bar, the other night,” said Dunn, with a short laugh. “So THAT + was your little game?” He checked his laugh suddenly—a cloud passed + over his face. “Look here, Teresa,” he said, with an assumption of + carelessness that was as transparent as it was utterly incompatible with + his frank, open selfishness. “What became of that bar? The skin—eh? + That was worth something?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Teresa quietly. “Low exchanged it and got a ring for me from + that trader Isaacs. It was worth more, you bet. And the ring didn't fit + either—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” interrupted Dunn, with an almost childish eagerness. + </p> + <p> + “And I made him take it back, and get the value in money. I hear that + Isaacs sold it again and made another profit; but that's like those + traders.” The disingenuous candor of Teresa's manner was in exquisite + contrast to Dunn. He rose and grasped her hand so heartily she was forced + to turn her eyes away. + </p> + <p> + “Good-by!” he said. + </p> + <p> + “You look tired,” she murmured, with a sudden gentleness that surprised + him; “let me go with you a part of the way.” + </p> + <p> + “It isn't safe for you just now,” he said, thinking of the possible + consequences of the alarm Brace had raised. + </p> + <p> + “Not the way YOU came,” she replied; “but one known only to myself.” + </p> + <p> + He hesitated only a moment. “All right, then,” he said finally, “let us go + at once. It's suffocating here, and I seem to feel this dead bark crinkle + under my feet.” + </p> + <p> + She cast a rapid glance around her, and then seemed to sound with her eyes + the far-off depths of the aisles, beginning to grow pale with the + advancing day, but still holding a strange quiver of heat in the air. When + she had finished her half-abstracted scrutiny of the distance, she cast + one backward glance at her own cabin and stopped. + </p> + <p> + “Will you wait a moment for me?” she asked gently. + </p> + <p> + “Yes—but—no tricks, Teresa! It isn't worth the time.” + </p> + <p> + She looked him squarely in the eyes without a word. + </p> + <p> + “Enough,” he said; “go!” + </p> + <p> + She was absent for some moments. He was beginning to become uneasy, when + she made her appearance again, clad in her old faded black dress. Her face + was very pale, and her eyes were swollen, but she placed his hand on her + shoulder, and bidding him not to fear to lean upon her, for she was quite + strong, led the way. + </p> + <p> + “You look more like yourself now, and yet—blast it all!—you + don't either,” said Dunn, looking down upon her. “You've changed in some + way. What is it? Is it on account of that Injin? Couldn't you have found a + white man in his place?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon he's neither worse nor better for that,” she replied bitterly; + “and perhaps he wasn't as particular in his taste as a white man might + have been. But,” she added, with a sudden spasm of her old rage, “it's a + lie; he's NOT an Indian, no more than I am. Not unless being born of a + mother who scarcely knew him, of a father who never even saw him, and + being brought up among white men and wild beasts—less cruel than + they were—could make him one!” + </p> + <p> + Dunn looked at her in surprise not unmixed with admiration. “If Nellie,” + he thought, “could but love ME like that!” But he only said: + </p> + <p> + “For all that, he's an Injin. Why, look at his name. It ain't Low. It's + L'Eau Dormante, Sleeping Water, an Injin name.” + </p> + <p> + “And what does that prove?” returned Teresa. “Only that Indians clap a + nick-name on any stranger, white or red, who may camp with them. Why, even + his own father, a white man, the wretch who begot him and abandoned him,—HE + had an Indian name—Loup Noir.” + </p> + <p> + “What name did you say?” + </p> + <p> + “Le Loup Noir, the Black Wolf. I suppose you'd call him an Indian, too? + Eh! What's the matter? We're walking too fast. Stop a moment and rest. + There—there, lean on me!” + </p> + <p> + She was none too soon; for, after holding him upright a moment, his limbs + failed, and stooping gently she was obliged to support him half reclining + against a tree. + </p> + <p> + “Its the heat!” he said. “Give me some whisky from my flask. Never mind + the water,” he added faintly, with a forced laugh, after he had taken a + draught at the strong spirit. “Tell me more about the other water—the + Sleeping Water—you know. How do you know all this about him and his—father?” + </p> + <p> + “Partly from him and partly from Curson, who wrote to me about him,” she + answered with some hesitation. + </p> + <p> + But Dunn did not seem to notice this incongruity of correspondence with a + former lover. “And HE told you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; and I saw the name on an old memorandum book he has, which he says + belonged to his father. It's full of old accounts of some trading post on + the frontier. It's been missing for a day or two, but it will turn up. But + I can swear I saw it.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn attempted to rise to his feet. “Put your hand in my pocket,” he said + in a hurried whisper. “No, there!—bring out a book. There, I haven't + looked at it yet. Is that it?” he added, handing her the book Brace had + given him a few hours before. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Teresa, in surprise. “Where did you find it?” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind! Now let me see it, quick. Open it, for my sight is failing. + There—thank you—that's all!” + </p> + <p> + “Take more whisky,” said Teresa, with a strange anxiety creeping over her. + “You are faint again.” + </p> + <p> + “Wait! Listen, Teresa—lower—put your ear lower. Listen! I came + near killing that chap Low to-day. Wouldn't it have been ridiculous?” + </p> + <p> + He tried to smile, but his head fell back. He had fainted. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <p> + For the first time in her life Teresa lost her presence of mind in an + emergency. She could only sit staring at the helpless man, scarcely + conscious of his condition, her mind filled with a sudden prophetic + intuition of the significance of his last words. In the light of that new + revelation she looked into his pale, haggard face for some resemblance to + Low, but in vain. Yet her swift feminine instinct met the objection. “It's + the mother's blood that would show,” she murmured, “not this man's.” + </p> + <p> + Recovering herself, she began to chafe his hands and temples, and + moistened his lips with the spirit. When his respiration returned with a + faint color to his cheeks, she pressed his hands eagerly and leaned over + him. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Of what?” he whispered faintly. + </p> + <p> + “That Low is really your son?” + </p> + <p> + “Who said so?” he asked, opening his round eyes upon her. + </p> + <p> + “You did yourself, a moment ago,” she said quickly. “Don't you remember?” + </p> + <p> + “Did I?” + </p> + <p> + “You did. Is it not so?” + </p> + <p> + He smiled faintly. “I reckon.” + </p> + <p> + She held her breath in expectation. But only the ludicrousness of the + discovery seemed paramount to his weakened faculties. “Isn't it just about + the ridiculousest thing all round?” he said, with a feeble chuckle. “First + YOU nearly kill me before you know I am Low's father; then I'm just + spoilin' to kill him before I know he's my son; then that god-forsaken + fool Jack Brace mistakes you for Nellie and Nellie for you. Ain't it just + the biggest thing for the boys to get hold of? But we must keep it dark + until after I marry Nellie, don't you see? Then we'll have a good time all + round, and I'll stand the drinks. Think of it, Teresha! You don' no me, I + do' no you, nobody knowsh anybody elsh. I try kill Lo'. Lo' wants kill + Nellie. No thath no ri—'” but the potent liquor, overtaking his + exhausted senses, thickened, impeded, and at last stopped his speech. His + head slipped to her shoulder, and he became once more unconscious. + </p> + <p> + Teresa breathed again. In that brief moment she had abandoned herself to a + wild inspiration of hope which she could scarcely define. Not that it was + entirely a wild inspiration; she tried to reason calmly. What if she + revealed the truth to him? What if she told the wretched man before her + that she had deceived him; that she had overheard his conversation with + Brace; that she had stolen Brace's horse to bring Low warning; that, + failing to find Low in his accustomed haunts, or at the campfire, she had + left a note for him pinned to the herbarium, imploring him to fly with his + companion from the danger that was coming; and that, remaining on watch, + she had seen them both—Brace and Dunn—approaching, and had + prepared to meet them at the cabin? Would this miserable and maddened man + understand her self-abnegation? Would he forgive Low and Nellie?—she + did not ask for herself. Or would the revelation turn his brain, if it did + not kill him outright? She looked at the sunken orbits of his eyes and + hectic on his cheek, and shuddered. + </p> + <p> + Why was this added to the agony she already suffered? She had been willing + to stand between them with her life, her liberty, and even—the hot + blood dyed her cheek at the thought—with the added shame of being + thought the cast-off mistress of that man's son. Yet all this she had + taken upon herself in expiation of something—she knew not clearly + what; no, for nothing—only for HIM. And yet this very situation + offered her that gleam of hope which had thrilled her; a hope so wild in + its improbability, so degrading in its possibility, that at first she knew + not whether despair was not preferable to its shame. And yet was it + unreasonable? She was no longer passionate; she would be calm and think it + out fairly. + </p> + <p> + She would go to Low at once. She would find him somewhere—and even + if with that girl, what mattered?—and she would tell him all. When + he knew that the life and death of his father lay in the scale, would he + let his brief, foolish passion for Nellie stand in the way? Even if he + were not influenced by filial affection or mere compassion, would his + pride let him stoop to a rivalry with the man who had deserted his youth? + Could he take Dunn's promised bride, who must have coquetted with him to + have brought him to this miserable plight? Was this like the calm, proud + young god she knew? Yet she had an uneasy instinct that calm, proud young + gods and goddesses did things like this, and felt the weakness of her + reasoning flush her own conscious cheek. + </p> + <p> + “Teresa!” + </p> + <p> + She started. Dunn was awake, and was gazing at her curiously. + </p> + <p> + “I was reckoning it was the only square thing for Low to stop this + promiscuous picnicking here and marry you out and out.” + </p> + <p> + “Marry me!” said Teresa in a voice that, with all her efforts, she could + not make cynical. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he repeated, “after I've married Nellie; tote you down to San + Angeles, and there take my name like a man, and give it to you. Nobody'll + ask after TERESA, sure—you bet your life. And if they do, and he + can't stop their jaw, just you call on the old man. It's mighty queer, + ain't it, Teresa, to think of your being my daughter-in-law?” + </p> + <p> + It seemed here as if he was about to lapse again into unconsciousness over + the purely ludicrous aspect of the subject, but he haply recovered his + seriousness. “He'll have as much money from me as he wants to go into + business with. What's his line of business, Teresa?” asked this + prospective father-in-law, in a large, liberal way. + </p> + <p> + “He is a botanist!” said Teresa, with a sudden childish animation that + seemed to keep up the grim humor of the paternal suggestion; “and oh, he + is too poor to buy books! I sent for one or two for him myself, the other + day—” she hesitated—“it was all the money I had, but it wasn't + enough for him to go on with his studies.” + </p> + <p> + Dunn looked at her sparkling eyes and glowing cheeks, and became + thoughtful. “Curson must have been a d—d fool,” he said finally. + </p> + <p> + Teresa remained silent. She was beginning to be impatient and uneasy, + fearing some mischance that might delay her dreaded, yet longed-for + meeting with Low. Yet she could not leave this sick and exhausted man, HIS + FATHER, now bound to her by more than mere humanity. + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't you manage,” she said gently, “to lean on me a few steps + further, until I could bring you to a cooler spot and nearer assistance?” + </p> + <p> + He nodded. She lifted him almost like a child to his feet. A spasm of pain + passed over his face. “How far is it?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Not more than ten minutes,” she replied. + </p> + <p> + “I can make a spurt for that time,” he said coolly, and began to walk + slowly but steadily on. Only his face, which was white and set, and the + convulsive grip of his hand on her arm betrayed the effort. At the end of + ten minutes she stopped. They stood before the splintered, + lightning-scarred shaft in the opening of the woods, where Low had built + her first camp-fire. She carefully picked up the herbarium, but her quick + eye had already detected in the distance, before she had allowed Dunn to + enter the opening with her, that her note was gone. Low had been there + before them; he had been warned, as his absence from the cabin showed; he + would not return there. They were free from interruption—but where + had he gone? + </p> + <p> + The sick man drew a long breath of relief as she seated him in the + clover-grown hollow where she had slept the second night of her stay. + “It's cooler than those cursed woods,” he said. “I suppose it's because + it's a little like a grave. What are you going to do now?” he added, as + she brought a cup of water and placed it at his side. + </p> + <p> + “I am going to leave you here for a little while,” she said cheerfully, + but with a pale face and nervous hands. “I'm going to leave you while I + seek Low.” + </p> + <p> + The sick man raised his head. “I'm good for a spurt, Teresa, like that + I've just got through, but I don't think I'm up to a family party. + Couldn't you issue cards later on?” + </p> + <p> + “You don't understand,” she said. “I'm going to get Low to send some one + of your friends to you here. I don't think he'll begrudge leaving HER a + moment for that,” she added to herself bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “What's that you're saying?” he queried, with the nervous quickness of an + invalid. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing—but that I'm going now.” She turned her face aside to hide + her moistened eyes. “Wish me good luck, won't you?” she asked, half sadly, + half pettishly. + </p> + <p> + “Come here!” + </p> + <p> + She came and bent over him. He suddenly raised his hands, and, drawing her + face down to his own, kissed her forehead. + </p> + <p> + “Give that to HIM,” he whispered, “from ME.” + </p> + <p> + She turned and fled, happily for her sentiment, not hearing the feeble + laugh that followed, as Dunn, in sheer imbecility, again referred to the + extravagant ludicrousness of the situation. “It is about the biggest thing + in the way of a sell all round,” he repeated, lying on his back, + confidentially to the speck of smoke-obscured sky above him. He pictured + himself repeating it, not to Nellie—her severe propriety might at + last overlook the fact, but would not tolerate the joke—but to her + father! It would be one of those characteristic Californian jokes Father + Wynn would admire. + </p> + <p> + To his exhaustion fever presently succeeded, and he began to grow + restless. The heat too seemed to invade his retreat, and from time to time + the little patch of blue sky was totally obscured by clouds of smoke. He + amused himself with watching a lizard who was investigating a folded piece + of paper, whose elasticity gave the little creature lively apprehensions + of its vitality. At last he could stand the stillness of his retreat and + his supine position no longer, and rolled himself out of the bed of leaves + that Teresa had so carefully prepared for him. He rose to his feet stiff + and sore, and, supporting himself by the nearest tree, moved a few steps + from the dead ashes of the camp-fire. The movement frightened the lizard, + who abandoned the paper and fled. With a satirical recollection of Brace + and his “ridiculous” discovery through the medium of this animal, he + stooped and picked up the paper. “Like as not,” he said to himself, with + grim irony, “these yer lizards are in the discovery business. P'r'aps this + may lead to another mystery,” and he began to unfold the paper with a + smile. But the smile ceased as his eye suddenly caught his own name. + </p> + <p> + A dozen lines were written in pencil on what seemed to be a blank leaf + originally torn from some book. He trembled so that he was obliged to sit + down to read these words:— + </p> + <p> + “When you get this keep away from the woods. Dunn and another man are in + deadly pursuit of you and your companion. I overheard their plan to + surprise you in our cabin. DON'T GO THERE, and I will delay them and put + them off the scent. Don't mind me. God bless you, and if you never see me + again think sometimes of + </p> + <p> + “TERESA.” + </p> + <p> + His trembling ceased; he did not start, but rose in an abstracted way, and + made a few deliberate steps in the direction Teresa had gone. Even then he + was so confused that he was obliged to refer to the paper again, but with + so little effect that he could only repeat the last words, “think + sometimes of Teresa.” He was conscious that this was not all; he had a + full conviction of being deceived, and knew that he held the proof in his + hand, but he could not formulate it beyond that sentence. “Teresa”—yes, + he would think of her. She would explain it. And here she was returning. + </p> + <p> + In that brief interval her face and manner had again changed. Her face was + pale and quite breathless. She cast a swift glance at Dunn and the paper + he mechanically held out, walked up to him, and tore it from his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said hoarsely, “what are you going to do about it?” + </p> + <p> + He attempted to speak, but his voice failed him. Even then he was + conscious that if he had spoken he would have only repeated, “think + sometimes of Teresa.” He looked longingly but helplessly at the spot where + she had thrown the paper, as if it had contained his unuttered words. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she went on to herself, as if he was a mute, indifferent spectator—“yes, + they're gone. That ends it all. The game's played out. Well!” suddenly + turning upon him, “now you know it all. Your Nellie WAS here with him, and + is with him now. Do you hear? Make the most of it; you've lost them—but + here I am.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said eagerly—“yes, Teresa.” + </p> + <p> + She stopped, stared at him; then taking him by the hand led him like a + child back to his couch. “Well,” she said, in half-savage explanation, “I + told you the truth when I said the girl wasn't at the cabin last night, + and that I didn't know her. What are you glowerin' at? No! I haven't lied + to you, I swear to God, except in one thing. Did you know what that was? + To save him I took upon me a shame I don't deserve. I let you think I was + his mistress. You think so now, don't you? Well, before God to-day—and + He may take me when He likes—I'm no more to him than a sister! I + reckon your Nellie can't say as much.” + </p> + <p> + She turned away, and with the quick, impatient stride of some caged animal + made the narrow circuit of the opening, stopping a moment mechanically + before the sick man, and again, without looking at him, continuing her + monotonous round. The heat had become excessive, but she held her shawl + with both hands drawn tightly over her shoulders. Suddenly a wood-duck + darted out of the covert blindly into the opening, struck against the + blasted trunk, fell half stunned near her feet, and then, recovering, + fluttered away. She had scarcely completed another circuit before the + irruption was followed by a whirring bevy of quail, a flight of jays, and + a sudden tumult of wings swept through the wood like a tornado. She turned + inquiringly to Dunn, who had risen to his feet, but the next moment she + caught convulsively at his wrist; a wolf had just dashed through the + underbrush not a dozen yards away, and on either side of them they could + hear the scamper and rustle of hurrying feet like the outburst of a summer + shower. A cold wind arose from the opposite direction, as if to contest + this wild exodus, but it was followed by a blast of sickening heat. Teresa + sank at Dunn's feet in an agony of terror. + </p> + <p> + “Don't let them touch me!” she gasped; “keep them off! Tell me, for God's + sake, what has happened!” + </p> + <p> + He laid his hand firmly on her arm, and lifted her in his turn to her feet + like a child. In that supreme moment of physical danger, his strength, + reason, and manhood returned in their plenitude of power. He pointed + coolly to the trail she had quitted, and said, + </p> + <p> + “The Carquinez Woods are on fire!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + <p> + The nest of the tuneful Burnhams, although in the suburbs of Indian + Spring, was not in ordinary weather and seasons hidden from the longing + eyes of the youth of that settlement. That night, however, it was veiled + in the smoke that encompassed the great highway leading to Excelsior. It + is presumed that the Burnham brood had long since folded their wings, for + there was no sign of life nor movement in the house as a rapidly-driven + horse and buggy pulled up before it. Fortunately, the paternal Burnham was + an early bird, in the habit of picking up the first stirring mining worm, + and a resounding knock brought him half dressed to the street door. He was + startled at seeing Father Wynn before him, a trifle flushed and + abstracted. + </p> + <p> + “Ah ha! up betimes, I see, and ready. No sluggards here—ha, ha!” he + said heartily, slamming the door behind him, and by a series of pokes in + the ribs genially backing his host into his own sitting-room. “I'm up, + too, and am here to see Nellie. She's here, eh—of course?” he added, + darting a quick look at Burnham. + </p> + <p> + But Mr. Burnham was one of those large, liberal Western husbands who + classified his household under the general title of “woman folk,” for the + integers of which he was not responsible. He hesitated, and then + propounded over the balusters to the upper story the direct query— + </p> + <p> + “You don't happen to have Nellie Wynn up there, do ye?” + </p> + <p> + There was an interval of inquiry proceeding from half a dozen reluctant + throats, more or less cottony and muffled, in those various degrees of + grievance and mental distress which indicate too early roused young + womanhood. The eventual reply seemed to be affirmative, albeit accompanied + with a suppressed giggle, as if the young lady had just been discovered as + an answer to an amusing conundrum. + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said Wynn, with an apparent accession of boisterous + geniality. “Tell her I must see her, and I've only got a few minutes to + spare. Tell her to slip on anything and come down; there's no one here but + myself, and I've shut the front door on Brother Burnham. Ha, ha!” and + suiting the action to the word, he actually bundled the admiring Brother + Burnham out on his own doorstep. There was a light pattering on the + staircase, and Nellie Wynn, pink with sleep, very tall, very slim, hastily + draped in a white counterpane with a blue border and a general classic + suggestion, slipped into the parlor. At the same moment her father shut + the door behind her, placed one hand on the knob, and with the other + seized her wrist. + </p> + <p> + “Where were you yesterday?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + Nellie looked at him, shrugged her shoulders, and said, “Here.” + </p> + <p> + “You were in the Carquinez Woods with Low Dorman; you went there in + disguise; you've met him there before. He is your clandestine lover; you + have taken pledges of affection from him; you have—” + </p> + <p> + “Stop!” she said. + </p> + <p> + He stopped. + </p> + <p> + “Did he tell you this?” she asked, with an expression of disdain. + </p> + <p> + “No; I overheard it. Dunn and Brace were at the house waiting for you. + When the coach did not bring you, I went to the office to inquire. As I + left our door I thought I saw somebody listening at the parlor windows. It + was only a drunken Mexican muleteer leaning against the house; but if HE + heard nothing, I did. Nellie, I heard Brace tell Dunn that he had tracked + you in your disguise to the woods—do you hear? that when you + pretended to be here with the girls you were with Low—alone; that + you wear a ring that Low got of a trader here; that there was a cabin in + the woods—” + </p> + <p> + “Stop!” she repeated. + </p> + <p> + Wynn again paused. + </p> + <p> + “And what did YOU do?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “I heard they were starting down there to surprise you and him together, + and I harnessed up and got ahead of them in my buggy.” + </p> + <p> + “And found me here,” she said, looking full into his eyes. + </p> + <p> + He understood her and returned the look. He recognized the full importance + of the culminating fact conveyed in her words, and was obliged to content + himself with its logical and worldly significance. It was too late now to + take her to task for mere filial disobedience; they must become allies. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said hurriedly; “but if you value your reputation, if you wish + to silence both these men, answer me fully.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Did you go to the cabin in the woods yesterday?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you ever go there with Low?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I do not know even where it is.” + </p> + <p> + Wynn felt that she was telling the truth. Nellie knew it; but as she would + have been equally satisfied with an equally efficacious falsehood, her + face remained unchanged. + </p> + <p> + “And when did he leave you?” + </p> + <p> + “At nine o'clock, here. He went to the hotel.” + </p> + <p> + “He saved his life, then, for Dunn is on his way to the woods to kill + him.” + </p> + <p> + The jeopardy of her lover did not seem to affect the young girl with + alarm, although her eyes betrayed some interest. + </p> + <p> + “Then Dunn has gone to the woods?” she said thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + “He has,” replied Wynn. + </p> + <p> + “Is that all?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “I want to know what you are going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I WAS going back to bed.” + </p> + <p> + “This is no time for trifling, girl.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think not,” she said, with a yawn; “it's too early, or too + late.” + </p> + <p> + Wynn grasped her wrist more tightly. “Hear me! Put whatever face you like + on this affair, you are compromised—and compromised with a man you + can't marry.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know that I ever wanted to marry Low, if you mean him,” she said + quietly. + </p> + <p> + “And Dunn wouldn't marry you now.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not so sure of that, either.” + </p> + <p> + “Nellie,” said Wynn excitedly, “do you want to drive me mad? Have you + nothing to say—nothing to suggest?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you want me to help you, do you! Why didn't you say that first? Well, + go and bring Dunn here.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you mad? The man has gone already in pursuit of your lover, believing + you with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Then he will the more readily come and talk with me without him. Will you + take the invitation—yes or no?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but—” + </p> + <p> + “Enough. On your way there you will stop at the hotel and give Low a + letter from me.” + </p> + <p> + “Nellie!” + </p> + <p> + “You shall read it, of course,” she said scornfully, “for it will be your + text for the conversation you will have with him. Will you please take + your hand from the lock and open the door?” + </p> + <p> + Wynn mechanically opened the door. The young girl flew up-stairs. In a + very few moments she returned with two notes: one contained a few lines of + formal invitation to Dunn; the other read as follows: + </p> + <p> + “DEAR MR. DORMAN,—My father will tell you how deeply I regret that + our recent botanical excursions in the Carquinez Woods have been a source + of serious misapprehensions to those who had a claim to my consideration, + and that I shall be obliged to discontinue them for the future. At the + same time he wishes me to express my gratitude for your valuable + instruction and assistance in that pleasing study, even though approaching + events may compel me to relinquish it for other duties. May I beg you to + accept the inclosed ring as a slight recognition of my obligations to you? + </p> + <p> + “Your grateful pupil, + </p> + <p> + “NELLIE WYNN.” + </p> + <p> + When he had finished reading the letter, she handed him a ring, which he + took mechanically. He raised his eyes to hers with perfectly genuine + admiration. “You're a good girl, Nellie,” he said, and, in a moment of + parental forgetfulness, unconsciously advanced his lips towards her cheek. + But she drew back in time to recall him to a sense of that human weakness. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I'll have time for a nap yet,” she said, as a gentle hint to + her embarrassed parent. He nodded and turned towards the door. + </p> + <p> + “If I were you,” she continued, repressing a yawn, “I'd manage to be seen + on good terms with Low at the hotel; so perhaps you need not give the + letter to him until the last thing. Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + The sitting-room door opened and closed behind her as she slipped + up-stairs, and her father, without the formality of leave-taking, quietly + let himself out by the front door. + </p> + <p> + When he drove into the high road again, however, an overlooked possibility + threatened for a moment to indefinitely postpone his amiable intentions + regarding Low. The hotel was at the further end of the settlement towards + the Carquinez Woods, and as Wynn had nearly reached it he was recalled to + himself by the sounds of hoofs and wheels rapidly approaching from the + direction of the Excelsior turnpike. Wynn made no doubt it was the sheriff + and Brace. To avoid recognition at that moment, he whipped up his horse, + intending to keep the lead until he could turn into the first cross-road. + But the coming travelers had the fleetest horse, and finding it impossible + to distance them he drove close to the ditch, pulling up suddenly as the + strange vehicle was abreast of him, and forcing them to pass him at full + speed, with the result already chronicled. When they had vanished in the + darkness, Mr. Wynn, with a heart overflowing with Christian thankfulness + and universal benevolence, wheeled round, and drove back to the hotel he + had already passed. To pull up at the veranda with a stentorian shout, to + thump loudly at the deserted bar, to hilariously beat the panels of the + landlord's door, and commit a jocose assault and battery upon that + half-dresssed and half-awakened man, was eminently characteristic of Wynn, + and part of his amiable plans that morning. + </p> + <p> + “Something to wash this wood smoke from my throat, Brother Carter, and + about as much again to prop open your eyes,” he said, dragging Carter + before the bar, “and glasses round for as many of the boys as are up and + stirring after a hard-working Christian's rest. How goes the honest + publican's trade, and who have we here?” + </p> + <p> + “Thar's Judge Robinson and two lawyers from Sacramento, Dick Curson over + from Yolo,” said Carter, “and that ar young Injin yarb doctor from the + Carquinez Woods. I reckon he's jist up—I noticed a light under his + door as I passed.” + </p> + <p> + “He's my man for a friendly chat before breakfast,” said Wynn. “You + needn't come up. I'll find the way. I don't want a light; I reckon my eyes + ain't as bright nor as young as his, but they'll see almost as far in the + dark—he! he!” And, nodding to Brother Carter, he strode along the + passage, and with no other introduction than a playful and preliminary + “Boo!” burst into one of the rooms. Low, who by the light of a single + candle was bending over the plates of a large quarto, merely raised his + eyes and looked at the intruder. The young man's natural imperturbability, + always exasperating to Wynn, seemed accented that morning by contrast with + his own over-acted animation. + </p> + <p> + “Ah ha!—wasting the midnight oil instead of imbibing the morning + dews,” said Father Wynn archly, illustrating his metaphor with a movement + of his hand to his lips. “What have we here?” + </p> + <p> + “An anonymous gift,” replied Low simply, recognizing the father of Nellie + by rising from his chair. “It's a volume I've longed to possess, but never + could afford to buy. I cannot imagine who sent it to me.” + </p> + <p> + Wynn was for a moment startled by the thought that this recipient of + valuable gifts might have influential friends. But a glance at the bare + room, which looked like a camp, and the strange, unconventional garb of + its occupant, restored his former convictions. There might be a promise of + intelligence, but scarcely of prosperity, in the figure before him. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! We must not forget that we are watched over in the night season,” he + said, laying his hand on Low's shoulder, with an illustration of celestial + guardianship that would have been impious but for its palpable + grotesqueness. “No, sir, we know not what a day may bring forth.” + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, Low's practical mind did not go beyond a mere human + interpretation. It was enough, however, to put a new light in his eye and + a faint color in his cheek. + </p> + <p> + “Could it have been Miss Nellie?” he asked, with half-boyish hesitation. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Wynn was too much of a Christian not to bow before what appeared to + him the purely providential interposition of this suggestion. Seizing it + and Low at the same moment, he playfully forced him down again in his + chair. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you rascal!” he said, with infinite archness; “that's your game, is + it? You want to trap poor Father Wynn. You want to make him say 'No.' You + want to tempt him to commit himself. No, sir!—never, sir!—no, + no!” + </p> + <p> + Firmly convinced that the present was Nellie's, and that her father only + good-humoredly guessed it, the young man's simple, truthful nature was + embarrassed. He longed to express his gratitude, but feared to betray the + young girl's trust. The Reverend Mr. Wynn speedily relieved his mind. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he continued, bestriding a chair, and familiarly confronting Low + over its back. “No, sir—no! And you want me to say 'No,' don't you, + regarding the little walks of Nellie and a certain young man in the + Carquinez Woods?—ha, ha! You'd like me to say that I knew nothing of + the botanizings, and the herb collectings, and the picknickings there—he, + he!—you sly dog! Perhaps you'd like to tempt Father Wynn further, + and make him swear he knows nothing of his daughter disguising herself in + a duster and meeting another young man—isn't it another young man?—all + alone, eh? Perhaps you want poor old Father Wynn to say No. No, sir, + nothing of the kind ever occurred. Ah, you young rascal!” + </p> + <p> + Slightly troubled, in spite of Wynn's hearty manner, Low, with his usual + directness, however, said, “I do not want anyone to deny that I have seen + Miss Nellie.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, certainly,” said Wynn, abandoning his method, considerably + disconcerted by Low's simplicity, and a certain natural reserve that shook + off his familiarity. “Certainly it's a noble thing to be able to put your + hand on your heart and say to the world, 'Come on, all of you! Observe me; + I have nothing to conceal. I walk with Miss Wynn in the woods as her + instructor—her teacher, in fact. We cull a flower here and there; we + pluck an herb fresh from the hands of the Creator. We look, so to speak, + from Nature to Nature's God.' Yes, my young friend, we should be the first + to repel the foul calumny that could misinterpret our most innocent + actions.” + </p> + <p> + “Calumny?” repeated Low, starting to his feet. “What calumny?” + </p> + <p> + “My friend, my noble young friend, I recognize your indignation. I know + your worth. When I said to Nellie, my only child, my perhaps too simple + offspring—a mere wildflower like yourself—when I said to her, + 'Go, my child, walk in the woods with this young man, hand in hand. Let + him instruct you from the humblest roots, for he has trodden in the ways + of the Almighty. Gather wisdom from his lips, and knowledge from his + simple woodman's craft. Make, in fact, a collection not only of herbs, but + of moral axioms and experience'—I knew I could trust you, and, + trusting you, my young friend, I felt I could trust the world. Perhaps I + was weak, foolish. But I thought only of her welfare. I even recall how + that to preserve the purity of her garments, I bade her don a simple + duster; that, to secure her from the trifling companionship of others, I + bade her keep her own counsel, and seek you at seasons known but to + yourselves.” + </p> + <p> + “But . . . did Nellie . . . understand you?” interrupted Low hastily. + </p> + <p> + “I see you read her simple nature. Understand me? No, not at first! Her + maidenly instinct—perhaps her duty to another—took the alarm. + I remember her words. 'But what will Dunn say?' she asked. 'Will he not be + jealous?'” + </p> + <p> + “Dunn! jealous! I don't understand,” said Low, fixing his eyes on Wynn. + </p> + <p> + “That's just what I said to Nellie. 'Jealous!' I said. 'What, Dunn, your + affianced husband, jealous of a mere friend—a teacher, a guide, a + philosopher. It is impossible.' Well, sir, she was right. He is jealous. + And, more than that, he has imparted his jealousy to others! In other + words, he has made a scandal!” + </p> + <p> + Low's eyes flashed. “Where is your daughter now?” he said sternly. + </p> + <p> + “At present in bed, suffering from a nervous attack brought on by these + unjust suspicions. She appreciates your anxiety, and, knowing that you + could not see her, told me to give you this.” He handed Low the ring and + the letter. + </p> + <p> + The climax had been forced, and, it must be confessed, was by no means the + one Mr. Wynn had fully arranged in his own inner consciousness. He had + intended to take an ostentatious leave of Low in the bar-room, deliver the + letter with archness, and escape before a possible explosion. He + consequently backed towards the door for an emergency. But he was again at + fault. That unaffected stoical fortitude in acute suffering, which was the + one remaining pride and glory of Low's race, was yet to be revealed to + Wynn's civilized eyes. + </p> + <p> + The young man took the letter, and read it without changing a muscle, + folded the ring in it, and dropped it into his haversack. Then he picked + up his blanket, threw it over his shoulder, took his trusty rifle in his + hand, and turned towards Wynn as if coldly surprised that he was still + standing there. + </p> + <p> + “Are you—are you—going?” stammered Wynn. + </p> + <p> + “Are you NOT?” replied Low dryly, leaning on his rifle for a moment as if + waiting for Wynn to precede him. The preacher looked at him a moment, + mumbled something, and then shambled feebly and ineffectively down the + staircase before Low, with a painful suggestion to the ordinary observer + of being occasionally urged thereto by the moccasin of the young man + behind him. + </p> + <p> + On reaching the lower hall, however, he endeavored to create a diversion + in his favor by dashing into the bar-room and clapping the occupants on + the back with indiscriminate playfulness. But here again he seemed to be + disappointed. To his great discomfiture, a large man not only returned his + salutation with powerful levity, but with equal playfulness seized him in + his arms, and after an ingenious simulation of depositing him in the + horse-trough set him down in affected amazement. “Bleth't if I didn't + think from the weight of your hand it wath my old friend, Thacramento + Bill,” said Curson apologetically, with a wink at the bystanders. “That'th + the way Bill alwayth uthed to tackle hith friendth, till he wath one day + bounthed by a prithe-fighter in Frithco, whom he had mithtaken for a + mithionary.” As Mr. Curson's reputation was of a quality that made any + form of apology from him instantly acceptable, the amused spectators made + way for him as, recognizing Low, who was just leaving the hotel, he turned + coolly from them and walked towards him. + </p> + <p> + “Halloo!” he said, extending his hand. “You're the man I'm waiting for. + Did you get a book from the exthpreth offithe latht night?” + </p> + <p> + “I did. Why?” + </p> + <p> + “It'th all right. Ath I'm rethponthible for it, I only wanted to know.” + </p> + <p> + “Did YOU send it?” asked Low, quickly fixing his eyes on his face. + </p> + <p> + “Well, not exactly ME. But it'th not worth making a mythtery of it. + Teretha gave me a commithion to buy it and thend it to you anonymouthly. + That'th a woman'th nonthenth, for how could thee get a retheipt for it?” + </p> + <p> + “Then it was HER present,” said Low gloomily. + </p> + <p> + “Of courthe. It wathn't mine, my boy. I'd have thent you a Tharp'th rifle + in plathe of that muthle loader you carry, or thomething thenthible. But, + I thay! what'th up? You look ath if you had been running all night.” + </p> + <p> + Low grasped his hand. “Thank you,” he said hurriedly; “but it's nothing. + Only I must be back to the woods early. Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + But Curson retained Low's hand in his own powerful grip. + </p> + <p> + “I'll go with you a bit further,” he said. “In fact, I've got thomething + to thay to you; only don't be in thuch a hurry; the woodth can wait till + you get there.” Quietly compelling Low to alter his own characteristic + Indian stride to keep pace with his, he went on: “I don't mind thaying I + rather cottoned to you from the time you acted like a white man—no + offenthe—to Teretha. She thayth you were left when a child lying + round, jutht ath promithcuouthly ath she wath; and if I can do anything + towardth putting you on the trail of your people, I'll do it. I know thome + of the voyageurth who traded with the Cherokeeth, and your father wath + one-wathn't he?” He glanced at Low's utterly abstracted and immobile face. + “I thay, you don't theem to take a hand in thith game, pardner. What'th + the row? Ith anything wrong over there?” and he pointed to the Carquinez + Woods, which were just looming out of the morning horizon in the distance. + </p> + <p> + Low stopped. The last words of his companion seemed to recall him to + himself. He raised his eyes automatically to the woods and started. + </p> + <p> + “There IS something wrong over there,” he said breathlessly. “Look!” + </p> + <p> + “I thee nothing,” said Curson, beginning to doubt Low's sanity; “nothing + more than I thaw an hour ago.” + </p> + <p> + “Look again. Don't you see that smoke rising straight up? It isn't blown + over there from the Divide; it's new smoke! The fire is in the woods!” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon that'th so,” muttered Curson, shading his eyes with his hand. + “But, hullo! wait a minute! We'll get hortheth. I say!” he shouted, + forgetting his lisp in his excitement—“stop!” But Low had already + lowered his head and darted forward like an arrow. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments he had left not only his companion but the last + straggling houses of the outskirts far behind him, and had struck out in a + long, swinging trot for the disused “cut-off.” Already he fancied he heard + the note of clamor in Indian Spring, and thought he distinguished the + sound of hurrying hoofs on the great highway. But the sunken trail hid it + from his view. From the column of smoke now plainly visible in the growing + morning light he tried to locate the scene of the conflagration. It was + evidently not a fire advancing regularly from the outer skirt of the wood, + communicated to it from the Divide; it was a local outburst near its + centre. It was not in the direction of his cabin in the tree. There was no + immediate danger to Teresa, unless fear drove her beyond the confines of + the wood into the hands of those who might recognize her. The screaming of + jays and ravens above his head quickened his speed, as it heralded the + rapid advance of the flames; and the unexpected apparition of a bounding + body, flattened and flying over the yellow plain, told him that even the + secure retreat of the mountain wild-cat had been invaded. A sudden + recollection of Teresa's uncontrollable terror that first night smote him + with remorse and redoubled his efforts. Alone in the track of these + frantic and bewildered beasts, to what madness might she not be driven! + </p> + <p> + The sharp crack of a rifle from the high road turned his course + momentarily in that direction. The smoke was curling lazily over the heads + of the party of men in the road, while the huge hulk of a grizzly was + disappearing in the distance. A battue of the escaping animals had + commenced! In the bitterness of his heart he caught at the horrible + suggestion, and resolved to save her from them or die with her there. + </p> + <p> + How fast he ran, or the time it took him to reach the woods, has never + been known. Their outlines were already hidden when he entered them. To a + sense less keen, a courage less desperate, and a purpose less unaltered + than Low's, the wood would have been impenetrable. The central fire was + still confined to the lofty tree tops, but the downward rush of wind from + time to time drove the smoke into the aisles in blinding and suffocating + volumes. To simulate the creeping animals, and fall to the ground on hands + and knees, feel his way through the underbrush when the smoke was densest, + or take advantage of its momentary lifting, and without uncertainty, + mistake, or hesitation glide from tree to tree in one undeviating course, + was possible only to an experienced woodsman. To keep his reason and + insight so clear as to be able in the midst of this bewildering confusion + to shape that course so as to intersect the wild and unknown tract of an + inexperienced, frightened wanderer belonged to Low, and Low alone. He was + making his way against the wind towards the fire. He had reasoned that she + was either in comparative safety to windward of it, or he should meet her + being driven towards him by it, or find her succumbed and fainting at its + feet. To do this he must penetrate the burning belt, and then pass under + the blazing dome. He was already upon it; he could see the falling fire + dropping like rain or blown like gorgeous blossoms of the conflagration + across his path. The space was lit up brilliantly. The vast shafts of dull + copper cast no shadow below, but there was no sign nor token of any human + being. For a moment the young man was at fault. It was true this hidden + heart of the forest bore no undergrowth; the cool matted carpet of the + aisles seemed to quench the glowing fragments as they fell. Escape might + be difficult, but not impossible, yet every moment was precious. He leaned + against a tree, and sent his voice like a clarion before him: “Teresa!” + There was no reply. He called again. A faint cry at his back from the + trail he had just traversed made him turn. Only a few paces behind him, + blinded and staggering, but following like a beaten and wounded animal, + Teresa, halted, knelt, clasped her hands, and dumbly held them out before + her. “Teresa!” he cried again, and sprang to her side. + </p> + <p> + She caught him by the knees, and lifted her face imploringly to his. + </p> + <p> + “Say that again!” she cried, passionately. “Tell me it was Teresa you + called, and no other! You have come back for me! You would not let me die + here alone!” + </p> + <p> + He lifted her tenderly in his arms, and cast a rapid glance around him. It + might have been his fancy, but there seemed a dull glow in the direction + he had come. + </p> + <p> + “You do not speak!” she said. “Tell me! You did not come here to seek + her?” + </p> + <p> + “Whom?” he said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Nellie!” + </p> + <p> + With a sharp cry he let her slip to the ground. All the pent-up agony, + rage, and mortification of the last hour broke from him in that + inarticulate outburst. Then, catching her hands again, he dragged her to + his level. + </p> + <p> + “Hear me!” he cried, disregarding the whirling smoke and the fiery baptism + that sprinkled them—“hear me! If you value your life, if you value + your soul, and if you do not want me to cast you to the beasts like + Jezebel of old, never—never take that accursed name again upon your + lips. Seek her—HER? Yes! Seek her to tie her like a witch's daughter + of hell to that blazing tree!” He stopped. “Forgive me,” he said in a + changed voice. “I'm mad, and forgetting myself and you. Come.” + </p> + <p> + Without noticing the expression of half-savage delight that had passed + across her face, he lifted her in his arms. + </p> + <p> + “Which way are you going?” she asked, passing her hands vaguely across his + breast, as if to reassure herself of his identity. + </p> + <p> + “To our camp by the scarred tree,” he replied. + </p> + <p> + “Not there, not there,” she said, hurriedly. “I was driven from there just + now. I thought the fire began there until I came here.” + </p> + <p> + Then it was as he feared. Obeying the same mysterious law that had + launched this fatal fire like a thunderbolt from the burning mountain + crest five miles away into the heart of the Carquinez Woods, it had again + leaped a mile beyond, and was hemming them between two narrowing lines of + fire. But Low was not daunted. Retracing his steps through the blinding + smoke, he strode off at right angles to the trail near the point where he + had entered the wood. It was the spot where he had first lifted Nellie in + his arms to carry her to the hidden spring. If any recollection of it + crossed his mind at that moment, it was only shown in his redoubled + energy. He did not glide through the thick underbrush, as on that day, but + seemed to take a savage pleasure in breaking through it with sheer brute + force. Once Teresa insisted upon relieving him of the burden of her + weight, but after a few steps she staggered blindly against him, and would + fain have recourse once more to his strong arms. And so, alternately + staggering, bending, crouching, or bounding and crashing on, but always in + one direction, they burst through the jealous rampart, and came upon the + sylvan haunt of the hidden spring. The great angle of the half-fallen tree + acted as a harrier to the wind and drifting smoke, and the cool spring + sparkled and bubbled in the almost translucent air. He laid her down + beside the water, and bathed her face and hands. As he did so his quick + eye caught sight of a woman's handkerchief lying at the foot of the + disrupted root. Dropping Teresa's hand, he walked towards it, and with the + toe of his moccasin gave it one vigorous kick into the ooze at the + overflow of the spring. He turned to Teresa, but she evidently had not + noticed the act. + </p> + <p> + “Where are you?” she asked, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + Something in her movement struck him! He came towards her, and bending + down looked into her face. “Teresa! Good God!—look at me! What has + happened?” + </p> + <p> + She raised her eyes to his. There was a slight film across them; the lids + were blackened; the beautiful lashes gone forever! + </p> + <p> + “I see you a little now, I think,” she said, with a smile, passing her + hands vaguely over his face. “It must have happened when he fainted, and I + had to drag him through the blazing brush; both my hands were full, and I + could not cover my eyes.” + </p> + <p> + “Drag whom?” said Low, quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Dunn.” + </p> + <p> + “Dunn! He here?” said Low, hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; didn't you read the note I left on the herbarium? Didn't you come to + the camp-fire?” she asked hurriedly, clasping his hands. “Tell me + quickly!” + </p> + <p> + “No!” + </p> + <p> + “Then you were not there—then you didn't leave me to die?” + </p> + <p> + “No! I swear it, Teresa!” the stoicism that had upheld his own agony + breaking down before her strong emotion. + </p> + <p> + “Thank God!” She threw her arms around him, and hid her aching eyes in his + troubled breast. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me all, Teresa,” he whispered in her listening ear. “Don't move; + stay there, and tell me all.” + </p> + <p> + With her face buried in his bosom, as if speaking to his heart alone, she + told him part, but not all. With her eyes filled with tears, but a smile + on her lips, radiant with new-found happiness, she told him how she had + overheard the plans of Dunn and Brace, how she had stolen their conveyance + to warn him in time. But here she stopped, dreading to say a word that + would shatter the hope she was building upon his sudden revulsion of + feeling for Nellie. She could not bring herself to repeat their interview—that + would come later, when they were safe and out of danger; now not even the + secret of his birth must come between them with its distraction, to mar + their perfect communion. She faltered that Dunn had fainted from weakness, + and that she had dragged him out of danger. “He will never interfere with + us—I mean,” she said softly, “with ME again. I can promise you that + as well as if he had sworn it.” + </p> + <p> + “Let him pass, now,” said Low; “that will come later on,” he added, + unconsciously repeating her thought in a tone that made her heart sick. + “But tell me, Teresa, why did you go to Excelsior?” + </p> + <p> + She buried her head still deeper, as if to hide it. He felt her broken + heart beat against his own; he was conscious of a depth of feeling her + rival had never awakened in him. The possibility of Teresa loving him had + never occurred to his simple nature. He bent his head and kissed her. She + was frightened, and unloosed her clinging arms; but he retained her hand, + and said, “We will leave this accursed place, and you shall go with me as + you said you would; nor need you ever leave me, unless you wish it.” + </p> + <p> + She could hear the beating of her own heart through his words; she longed + to look at the eyes and lips that told her this, and read the meaning his + voice alone could not entirely convey. For the first time she felt the + loss of her sight. She did not know that it was, in this moment of + happiness, the last blessing vouchsafed to her miserable life. + </p> + <p> + A few moments of silence followed, broken only by the distant rumor of the + conflagration and the crash of falling boughs. + </p> + <p> + “It may be an hour yet,” he whispered, “before the fire has swept a path + for us to the road below. We are safe here, unless some sudden current + should draw the fire down upon us. You are not frightened?” She pressed + his hand; she was thinking of the pale face of Dunn, lying in the secure + retreat she had purchased for him at such a sacrifice. Yet the possibility + of danger to him now for a moment marred her present happiness and + security. “You think the fire will not go north of where you found me?” + she asked softly. + </p> + <p> + “I think not,” he said, “but I will reconnoitre. Stay where you are.” + </p> + <p> + They pressed hands, and parted. He leaped upon the slanting trunk and + ascended it rapidly. She waited in mute expectation. + </p> + <p> + There was a sudden movement of the root on which she sat, a deafening + crash, and she was thrown forward on her face. + </p> + <p> + The vast bulk of the leaning tree, dislodged from its aerial support by + the gradual sapping of the spring at its roots, or by the crumbling of the + bark from the heat, had slipped, made a half revolution, and, falling, + overbore the lesser trees in its path, and tore, in its resistless + momentum, a broad opening to the underbrush. + </p> + <p> + With a cry to Low, Teresa staggered to her feet. There was an interval of + hideous silence, but no reply. She called again. There was a sudden + deepening roar, the blast of a fiery furnace swept through the opening, a + thousand luminous points around her burst into fire, and in an instant she + was lost in a whirlwind of smoke and flame! From the onset of its fury to + its culmination twenty minutes did not elapse; but in that interval a + radius of two hundred yards around the hidden spring was swept of life and + light and motion. + </p> + <p> + For the rest of that day and part of the night a pall of smoke hung above + the scene of desolation. It lifted only towards the morning, when the + moon, rising high, picked out in black and silver the shrunken and silent + columns of those roofless vaults, shorn of base and capital. It flickered + on the still, overflowing pool of the hidden spring, and shone upon the + white face of Low, who, with a rootlet of the fallen tree holding him down + like an arm across his breast, seemed to be sleeping peacefully in the + sleeping water. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Contemporaneous history touched him as briefly, but not as gently. “It is + now definitely ascertained,” said “The Slumgullion Mirror,” “that Sheriff + Dunn met his fate in the Carquinez Woods in the performance of his duty; + that fearless man having received information of the concealment of a band + of horse thieves in their recesses. The desperadoes are presumed to have + escaped, as the only remains found are those of two wretched tramps, one + of whom is said to have been a digger, who supported himself upon roots + and herbs, and the other a degraded half-white woman. It is not + unreasonable to suppose that the fire originated through their + carelessness, although Father Wynn of the First Baptist Church, in his + powerful discourse of last Sunday, pointed at the warning and lesson of + such catastrophes. It may not be out of place here to say that the rumors + regarding an engagement between the pastor's accomplished daughter and the + late lamented sheriff are utterly without foundation, as it has been an on + dit for some time in all well-informed circles that the indefatigable Mr. + Brace, of Wells, Fargo and Co.'s Express, will shortly lead the lady to + the hymeneal altar.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Carquinez Woods, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODS *** + +***** This file should be named 2310-h.htm or 2310-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/2310/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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