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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2556-0.txt b/2556-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bf8299 --- /dev/null +++ b/2556-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6226 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other +Stories, 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: Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other Stories + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #2556] +Last Updated: March 5, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson and an Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + + +By Bret Harte + + + +From: “ARGONAUT EDITION” OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 12. + +P. F. COLLIER & SON + +NEW YORK + + + +CONTENTS + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + +THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + +AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + +DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + +WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT “JULES'” + +THE BOOM IN THE “CALAVERAS CLARION” + +THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + +LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + + + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + + +At nightfall it began to rain. The wind arose too, and also began to +buffet a small, struggling, nondescript figure, creeping along the trail +over the rocky upland meadow towards Rylands's rancho. At times its +head was hidden in what appeared to be wings thrown upward from its +shoulders; at times its broad-brimmed hat was cocked jauntily on one +side, and again the brim was fixed over the face like a visor. At one +moment a drifting misshapen mass of drapery, at the next its vague +garments, beaten back hard against the figure, revealed outlines far too +delicate for that rude enwrapping. For it was Mrs. Rylands herself, +in her husband's hat and her “hired man's” old blue army overcoat, +returning from the post-office two miles away. The wind continued its +aggression until she reached the front door of her newly plastered +farmhouse, and then a heavier blast shook the pines above the +low-pitched, shingled roof, and sent a shower of arrowy drops after her +like a Parthian parting, as she entered. She threw aside the overcoat +and hat, and somewhat inconsistently entered the sitting-room, to walk +to the window and look back upon the path she had just traversed. The +wind and the rain swept down a slope, half meadow, half clearing,--a +mile away,--to a fringe of sycamores. A mile further lay the stage road, +where, three hours later, her husband would alight on his return from +Sacramento. It would be a long wet walk for Joshua Rylands, as their +only horse had been borrowed by a neighbor. + +In that fading light Mrs. Rylands's oval cheek was shining still from +the raindrops, but there was something in the expression of her worried +face that might have as readily suggested tears. She was strikingly +handsome, yet quite as incongruous an ornament to her surroundings as +she had been to her outer wrappings a moment ago. Even the clothes she +now stood in hinted an inadaptibility to the weather--the house--the +position she occupied in it. A figured silk dress, spoiled rather than +overworn, was still of a quality inconsistent with her evident habits, +and the lace-edged petticoat that peeped beneath it was draggled with +mud and unaccustomed usage. Her glossy black hair, which had been tossed +into curls in some foreign fashion, was now wind-blown into a burlesque +of it. This incongruity was still further accented by the appearance of +the room she had entered. It was coldly and severely furnished, making +the chill of the yet damp white plaster unpleasantly obvious. A black +harmonium organ stood in one corner, set out with black and white +hymn-books; a trestle-like table contained a large Bible; half a dozen +black, horsehair-cushioned chairs stood, geometrically distant, against +the walls, from which hung four engravings of “Paradise Lost” in black +mourning frames; some dried ferns and autumn leaves stood in a vase on +the mantelpiece, as if the chill of the room had prematurely blighted +them. The coldly glittering grate below was also decorated with withered +sprays, as if an attempt had been made to burn them, but was frustrated +through damp. Suddenly recalled to a sense of her wet boots and the +new carpet, she hurriedly turned away, crossed the hall into the +dining-room, and thence passed into the kitchen. The “hired girl,” a +large-boned Missourian, a daughter of a neighboring woodman, was peeling +potatoes at the table. Mrs. Rylands drew a chair before the kitchen +stove, and put her wet feet on the hob. + +“I'll bet a cooky, Mess Rylands, you've done forgot the vanillar,” said +the girl, with a certain domestic and confidential familiarity. + +Mrs. Rylands started guiltily. She made a miserable feint of looking in +her lap and on the table. “I'm afraid I did, Jane, if I didn't bring it +in HERE.” + +“That you didn't,” returned Jane. “And I reckon ye forgot that 'ar +pepper-sauce for yer husband.” + +Mrs. Rylands looked up with piteous contrition. “I really don't know +what's the matter with me. I certainly went into the shop, and had it on +my list,--and--really”-- + +Jane evidently knew her mistress, and smiled with superior toleration. +“It's kinder bewilderin' goin' in them big shops, and lookin' round them +stuffed shelves.” The shop at the cross roads and post-office was 14 +x 14, but Jane was nurtured on the plains. “Anyhow,” she added +good-humoredly, “the expressman is sure to look in as he goes by, and +you've time to give him the order.” + +“But is he SURE to come?” asked Mrs. Rylands anxiously. “Mr. Rylands +will be so put out without his pepper-sauce.” + +“He's sure to come ef he knows you're here. Ye kin always kalkilate on +that.” + +“Why?” said Mrs. Rylands abstractedly. + +“Why? 'cause he just can't keep his eyes off ye! That's why he comes +every day,--'tain't jest for trade!” + +This was quite true, not only of the expressman, but of the butcher +and baker, and the “candlestick-maker,” had there been so advanced a +vocation at the cross roads. All were equally and curiously attracted +by her picturesque novelty. Mrs. Rylands knew this herself, but without +vanity or coquettishness. Possibly that was why the other woman told +her. She only slightly deepened the lines of discontent in her cheek and +said abstractedly, “Well, when he comes, YOU ask him.” + +She dried her shoes, put on a pair of slippers that had a faded splendor +about them, and went up to her bedroom. Here she hesitated for some time +between the sewing-machine and her knitting-needles, but finally settled +upon the latter, and a pair of socks for her husband which she had begun +a year ago. But she presently despaired of finishing them before +he returned, three hours hence, and so applied herself to the +sewing-machine. For a little while its singing hum was heard between the +blasts that shook the house, but the thread presently snapped, and the +machine was put aside somewhat impatiently, with a discontented drawing +of the lines around her handsome mouth. Then she began to “tidy” the +room, putting a great many things away and bringing out a great many +more, a process that was necessarily slow, owing to her falling into +attitudes of minute inspection of certain articles of dress, with +intervals of trying them on, and observing their effect in her mirror. +This kind of interruption also occurred while she was putting away some +books that were lying about on chairs and tables, stopping midway to +open their pages, becoming interested, and quite finishing one chapter, +with the book held close against the window to catch the fading light of +day. The feminine reader will gather from this that Mrs. Rylands, though +charming, was not facile in domestic duties. She had just glanced at the +clock, and lit the candle to again set herself to work, and thus bridge +over the two hours more of waiting, when there came a tap at the door. +She opened it to Jane. + +“There's an entire stranger downstairs, ez hez got a lame hoss and wants +to borry a fresh one.” + +“We have none, you know,” said Mrs. Rylands, a little impatiently. + +“Thet's what I told him. Then he wanted to know ef he could lie by here +till he could get one or fix up his own hoss.” + +“As you like; you know if you can manage it,” said Mrs. Rylands, a +little uneasily. “When Mr. Rylands comes you can arrange it between you. +Where is he now?” + +“In the kitchen.” + +“The kitchen!” echoed Mrs. Rylands. + +“Yes, ma'am, I showed him into the parlor, but he kinder shivered his +shoulders, and reckoned ez how he'd go inter the kitchen. Ye see, ma'am, +he was all wet, and his shiny big boots was sloppy. But he ain't one o' +the stuck-up kind, and he's willin' to make hisself cowf'ble before the +kitchen stove.” + +“Well, then, he don't want ME,” said Mrs. Rylands, with a relieved +voice. + +“Yes'm,” said Jane, apparently equally relieved. “Only, I thought I'd +just tell you.” + +A few minutes later, in crossing the upper hall, Mrs. Rylands heard +Jane's voice from the kitchen raised in rustic laughter. Had she been +satirically inclined, she might have understood Jane's willingness to +relieve her mistress of the duty of entertaining the stranger; had +she been philosophical, she might have considered the girl's dreary, +monotonous life at the rancho, and made allowance for her joy at this +rare interruption of it. But I fear that Mrs. Rylands was neither +satirical nor philosophical, and presently, when Jane reentered, with +color in her alkaline face, and light in her huckleberry eyes, and said +she was going over to the cattle-sheds in the “far pasture,” to see +if the hired man didn't know of some horse that could be got for the +stranger, Mrs. Rylands felt a little bitterness in the thought that the +girl would have scarcely volunteered to go all that distance in the rain +for HER. Yet, in a few moments she forgot all about it, and even the +presence of her guest in the house, and in one of her fitful abstracted +employments passed through the dining-room into the kitchen, and had +opened the door with an “Oh, Jane!” before she remembered her absence. + +The kitchen, lit by a single candle, could be only partly seen by her +as she stood with her hand on the lock, although she herself was plainly +visible. There was a pause, and then a quiet, self-possessed, yet +amused, voice answered:-- + +“My name isn't Jane, and if you're the lady of the house, I reckon yours +wasn't ALWAYS Rylands.” + +At the sound of the voice Mrs. Rylands threw the door wide open, and as +her eyes fell upon the speaker--her unknown guest--she recoiled with a +little cry, and a white, startled face. Yet the stranger was young and +handsome, dressed with a scrupulousness and elegance which even the +stress of travel had not deranged, and he was looking at her with +a smile of recognition, mingled with that careless audacity and +self-possession which seemed to be the characteristic of his face. + +“Jack Hamlin!” she gasped. + +“That's me, all the time,” he responded easily, “and YOU'RE Nell +Montgomery!” + +“How did you know I was here? Who told you?” she said impetuously. + +“Nobody! never was so surprised in my life! When you opened that door +just now you might have knocked me down with a feather.” Yet he spoke +lazily, with an amused face, and looked at her without changing his +position. + +“But you MUST have known SOMETHING! It was no mere accident,” she went +on vehemently, glancing around the room. + +“That's where you slip up, Nell,” said Hamlin imperturbably. “It WAS an +accident and a bad one. My horse lamed himself coming down the grade. I +sighted the nearest shanty, where I thought I might get another horse. +It happened to be this.” For the first time he changed his attitude, and +leaned back contemplatively in his chair. + +She came towards him quickly. “You didn't use to lie, Jack,” she said +hesitatingly. + +“Couldn't afford it in my business,--and can't now,” said Jack +cheerfully. “But,” he added curiously, as if recognizing something in +his companion's agitation, and lifting his brown lashes to her, the +window, and the ceiling, “what's all this about? What's your little game +here?” + +“I'm married,” she said, with nervous intensity,--“married, and this is +my husband's house!” + +“Not married straight out!--regularly fixed?” + +“Yes,” she said hurriedly. + +“One of the boys? Don't remember any Rylands. SPELTER used to be very +sweet on you,--but Spelter mightn't have been his real name?” + +“None of our lot! No one you ever knew; a--a straight out, square man,” + she said quickly. + +“I say, Nell, look here! You ought to have shown up your cards without +even a call. You ought to have told him that you danced at the Casino.” + +“I did.” + +“Before he asked you to marry him?” + +“Before.” + +Jack got up from his chair, put his hands in his pockets, and looked +at her curiously. This Nell Montgomery, this music-hall “dance and song +girl,” this girl of whom so much had been SAID and so little PROVED! +Well, this was becoming interesting. + +“You don't understand,” she said, with nervous feverishness; “you +remember after that row I had with Jim, that night the manager gave us a +supper,--when he treated me like a dog?” + +“He did that,” interrupted Jack. + +“I felt fit for anything,” she said, with a half-hysterical laugh, that +seemed voiced, however, to check some slumbering memory. “I'd have cut +my throat or his, it didn't matter which”-- + +“It mattered something to us, Nell,” put in Jack again, with polite +parenthesis; “don't leave US out in the cold.” + +“I started from 'Frisco that night on the boat ready to fling myself +into anything--or the river!” she went on hurriedly. “There was a man +in the cabin who noticed me, and began to hang around. I thought he +knew who I was,--had seen me on the posters; and as I didn't feel like +foolin', I told him so. But he wasn't that kind. He said he saw I was in +trouble and wanted me to tell him all.” + +Mr. Hamlin regarded her cheerfully. “And you told him,” he said, “how +you had once run away from your childhood's happy home to go on the +stage! How you always regretted it, and would have gone back but that +the doors were shut forever against you! How you longed to leave, but +the wicked men and women around you always”-- + +“I didn't!” she burst out, with sudden passion; “you know I didn't. I +told him everything: who I was, what I had done, what I expected to do +again. I pointed out the men--who were sitting there, whispering and +grinning at us, as if they were in the front row of the theatre--and +said I knew them all, and they knew me. I never spared myself a thing. +I said what people said of me, and didn't even care to say it wasn't +true!” + +“Oh, come!” protested Jack, in perfunctory politeness. + +“He said he liked me for telling the truth, and not being ashamed to do +it! He said the sin was in the false shame and the hypocrisy; for that's +the sort of man he is, you see, and that's like him always! He asked if +I would marry him--out of hand--and do my best to be his lawful wife. +He said he wanted me to think it over and sleep on it, and to-morrow he +would come and see me for an answer. I slipped off the boat at 'Frisco, +and went alone to a hotel where I wasn't known. In the morning I didn't +know whether he'd keep his word or I'd keep mine. But he came! He said +he'd marry me that very day, and take me to his farm in Santa Clara. +I agreed. I thought it would take me out of everybody's knowledge, +and they'd think me dead! We were married that day, before a regular +clergyman. I was married under my own name,”--she stopped and looked +at Jack, with a hysterical laugh,--“but he made me write underneath it, +'known as Nell Montgomery;' for he said HE wasn't ashamed of it, nor +should I be.” + +“Does he wear long hair and stick straws in it?” said Hamlin gravely. +“Does he 'hear voices' and have 'visions'?” + +“He's a shrewd, sensible, hard-working man,--no more mad than you are, +nor as mad as I was the day I married him. He's lived up to everything +he's said.” She stopped, hesitated in her quick, nervous speech; her lip +quivered slightly, but she recalled herself, and looking imploringly, +yet hopelessly, at Jack, gasped, “And that's what's the matter!” + +Jack fixed his eyes keenly upon her. “And you?” he said curtly. + +“I?” she repeated wonderingly. + +“Yes, what have YOU done?” he said, with sudden sharpness. + +The wonder was so apparent in her eyes that his keen glance softened. +“Why,” she said bewilderingly, “I have been his dog, his slave,--as far +as he would let me. I have done everything; I have not been out of the +house until he almost drove me out. I have never wanted to go anywhere +or see any one; but he has always insisted upon it. I would have been +willing to slave here, day and night, and have been happy. But he said +I must not seem to be ashamed of my past, when he is not. I would have +worn common homespun clothes and calico frocks, and been glad of it, but +he insists upon my wearing my best things, even my theatre things; and +as he can't afford to buy more, I wear these things I had. I know they +look beastly here, and that I'm a laughing-stock, and when I go out +I wear almost anything to try and hide them; but,” her lip quivered +dangerously again, “he wants me to do it, and it pleases him.” + +Jack looked down. After a pause he lifted his lashes towards her +draggled skirt, and said in an easier, conversational tone, “Yes! I +thought I knew that dress. I gave it to you for that walking scene in +'High Life,' didn't I?” + +“No,” she said quickly, “it was the blue one with silver +trimming,--don't you remember? I tried to turn it the first year I was +married, but it never looked the same.” + +“It was sweetly pretty,” said Jack encouragingly, “and with that blue +hat lined with silver, it was just fetching! Somehow I don't quite +remember this one,” and he looked at it critically. + +“I had it at the races in '58, and that supper Judge Boompointer gave us +at 'Frisco where Colonel Fish upset the table trying to get at Jim. Do +you know,” she said, with a little laugh, “it's got the stains of the +champagne on it yet; it never would come off. See!” and she held the +candle with great animation to the breadth of silk before her. + +“And there's more of it on the sleeve,” said Jack; “isn't there?” + +Mrs. Rylands looked reproachfully at Jack. + +“That isn't champagne; don't you know what it is?” + +“No!” + +“It's blood,” she said gravely; “when that Mexican cut poor Ned so +bad,--don't you remember? I held his head upon my arm while you bandaged +him.” She heaved a little sigh, and then added, with a faint laugh, +“That's the worst thing about the clothes of a girl in the profession, +they get spoiled or stained before they wear out.” + +This large truth did not seem to impress Mr. Hamlin. “Why did you leave +Santa Clara?” he said abruptly, in his previous critical tone. + +“Because of the folks there. They were standoffish and ugly. You see, +Josh”-- + +“Who?” + +“Josh Rylands!--HIM! He told everybody who I was, even those who had +never seen me in the bills,--how good I was to marry him, how he had +faith in me and wasn't ashamed,--until they didn't believe we were +married at all. So they looked another way when they met us, and didn't +call. And all the while I was glad they didn't, but he wouldn't believe +it, and allowed I was pining on account of it.” + +“And were you?” + +“I swear to God, Jack, I'd have been content, and more, to have been +just there with him, seein' nobody, letting every one believe I was dead +and gone, but he said it was wrong, and weak! Maybe it was,” she added, +with a shy, interrogating look at Jack, of which, however, he took no +notice. “Then when he found they wouldn't call, what do you think he +did?” + +“Beat you, perhaps,” suggested Jack cheerfully. + +“He never did a thing to me that wasn't straight out, square, and kind,” + she said, half indignantly, half hopelessly. “He thought if HIS kind +of people wouldn't see me, I might like to see my own sort. So without +saying anything to me, he brought down, of all things! Tinkie Clifford, +she that used to dance in the cheap variety shows at 'Frisco, and her +particular friend, Captain Sykes. It would have just killed you, Jack,” + she said, with a sudden hysteric burst of laughter, “to have seen Josh, +in his square, straight-out way, trying to be civil and help things +along. But,” she went on, as suddenly relapsing into her former attitude +of worried appeal, “I couldn't stand it, and when she got to talking +free and easy before Josh, and Captain Sykes to guzzling champagne, +she and me had a row. She allowed I was putting on airs, and I made her +walk, in spite of Josh.” + +“And Josh seemed to like it,” said Hamlin carelessly. “Has he seen her +since?” + +“No; I reckon he's cured of asking that kind of company for me. And then +we came here. But I persuaded him not to begin by going round telling +people who I was,--as he did the last time,--but to leave it to folks to +find out if they wanted to, and he gave in. Then he let me fix up this +house and furnish it my own way, and I did!” + +“Do you mean to say that YOU fixed up that family vault of a +sitting-room?” said Jack, in horror. + +“Yes, I didn't want any fancy furniture or looking-glasses, and such +like, to attract folks, nor anything to look like the old times. I don't +think any of the boys would care to come here. And I got rid of a lot of +sporting travelers, 'wild-cat' managers, and that kind of tramp in this +way. But”--She hesitated, and her face fell again. + +“But what?” said Jack. + +“I don't think that Josh likes it either. He brought home the other day +'My Johnny is a Shoemakiyure,' and wanted me to try it on the organ. But +it reminded me how we used to get just sick of singing it on and off the +boards, and I couldn't touch it. He wanted me to go to the circus that +was touring over at the cross roads, but it was the old Flanigin's +circus, you know, the one Gussie Riggs used to ride in, with its old +clown and its old ringmaster and the old 'wheezes,' and I chucked it.” + +“Look here,” said Jack, rising and surveying Mrs. Rylands critically. +“If you go on at this gait, I'll tell you what that man of yours will +do. He'll bolt with some of your old friends!” + +She turned a quick, scared face upon him for an instant. But only for +an instant. Her hysteric little laugh returned, at once, followed by her +weary, worried look. “No, Jack, you don't know him! If it was only that! +He cares only for me in his own way,--and,” she stammered as she went +on, “I've no luck in making him happy.” + +She stopped. The wind shook the house and fired a volley of rain +against the windows. She took advantage of it to draw a torn lace-edged +handkerchief from her pocket behind, and keeping the tail of her eyes in +a frightened fashion on Jack, applied the handkerchief furtively, first +to her nose, and then to her eyes. + +“Don't do that,” said Jack fastidiously, “it's wet enough outside.” + Nevertheless, he stood up and gazed at her. + +“Well,” he began. + +She timidly drew nearer to him, and took a seat on the kitchen table, +looking up wistfully into his eyes. + +“Well,” resumed Jack argumentatively, “if he won't 'chuck' you, why +don't you 'chuck' HIM?” + +She turned quite white, and suddenly dropped her eyes. “Yes,” she said, +almost inaudibly, “lots of girls would do that.” + +“I don't mean go back to your old life,” continued Jack. “I reckon +you've had enough of that. But get into some business, you know, like +other women. A bonnet shop, or a candy shop for children, see? I'll +help start you. I've got a couple of hundred, if not in my own pocket +in somebody's else, just burning to be used! And then you can look about +you; and perhaps some square business man will turn up and you can marry +him. You know you can't live this way, nohow. It's killing you; it ain't +fair on you, nor on Rylands either.” + +“No,” she said quickly, “it ain't fair on HIM. I know it, I know it +isn't, I know it isn't,” she repeated, “only”--She stopped. + +“Only what?” said Jack impatiently. + +She did not speak. After a pause she picked up the rolling-pin from +the table and began absently rolling it down her lap to her knee, as +if pressing out the stained silk skirt. “Only,” she stammered, slowly +rolling the pin handles in her open palms, “I--I can't leave Josh.” + +“Why can't you?” said Jack quickly. + +“Because--because--I,” she went on, with a quivering lip, working the +rolling-pin heavily down her knee as if she were crushing her answer out +of it,--“because--I--love him!” + +There was a pause, a dash of rain against the window, and another dash +from her eyes upon her hands, the rolling-pin, and the skirts she had +gathered up hastily, as she cried, “O Jack! Jack! I never loved anybody +like him! I never knew what love was! I never knew a man like him +before! There never WAS one before!” + +To this large, comprehensive, and passionate statement Mr. Jack Hamlin +made no reply. An audacity so supreme had conquered his. He walked to +the window, looked out upon the dark, rain-filmed pane that, however, +reflected no equal change in his own dark eyes, and then returned and +walked round the kitchen table. When he was at her back, without looking +at her, he reached out his hand, took her passive one that lay on the +table in his, grasped it heartily for a single moment, laid it gently +down, and returned around the table, where he again confronted her +cheerfully face to face. + +“You'll make the riffle yet,” he said quietly. “Just now I don't see +what I could do, or where I could chip in your little game; but if I DO, +or you do, count me in and let me know. You know where to write,--my old +address at Sacramento.” He walked to the corner, took up his still wet +serape, threw it over his shoulders, and picked up his broad-brimmed +riding-hat. + +“You're not going, Jack?” she said hesitatingly, as she rubbed her wet +eyes into a consciousness of his movements. “You'll wait to see HIM? +He'll be here in an hour.” + +“I've been here too long already,” said Jack. “And the less you say +about my calling, even accidentally, the better. Nobody will believe +it,--YOU didn't yourself. In fact, unless you see how I can help you, +the sooner you consider us all dead and buried, the sooner your luck +will change. Tell your girl I've found my own horse so much better that +I have pushed on with him, and give her that.” + +He threw a gold coin on the table. + +“But your horse is still lame,” she said wonderingly. “What will you do +in this storm?” + +“Get into the cover of the next wood and camp out. I've done it before.” + +“But, Jack!” + +He suddenly made a slight gesture of warning. His quick ear had caught +the approach of footsteps along the wet gravel outside. A mischievous +light slid into his dark eyes as he coolly moved backward to the door +and, holding it open, said, in a remarkably clear and distinct voice:-- + +“Yes, as you say, society is becoming very mixed and frivolous +everywhere, and you'd scarcely know San Francisco now. So delighted, +however, to have made your acquaintance, and regret my business prevents +my waiting to see your good husband. So odd that I should have known +your Aunt Jemima! But, as you say, the world is very small, after all. I +shall tell the deacon how well you are looking,--in spite of the kitchen +smoke in your eyes. Good-by! A thousand thanks for your hospitality.” + +And Jack, bowing profoundly to the ground, backed out upon Jane, the +hired man, and the expressman, treading, I grieve to say, with some +deliberation upon the toes of the two latter, in order, possibly, that +in their momentary pain and discomposure they might not scan too closely +the face of this ingenious gentleman, as he melted into the night and +the storm. + +Jane entered, with a slight toss of her head. + +“Here's your expressman,--ef you're wantin' him NOW.” + +Mrs. Rylands was too preoccupied to notice her handmaiden's significant +emphasis, as she indicated a fresh-looking, bashful young fellow, whose +confusion was evidently heightened by the unexpected egress of Mr. +Hamlin, and the point-blank presence of the handsome Mrs. Rylands. + +“Oh, certainly,” said Mrs. Rylands quickly. “So kind of him to oblige +us. Give him the order, Jane, please.” + +She turned to escape from the kitchen and these new intruders, when her +eye fell upon the coin left by Mr. Hamlin. “The gentleman wished you to +take that for your trouble, Jane,” she said hastily, pointing to it, and +passed out. + +Jane cast a withering look after her retreating skirts, and picking the +coin from the table, turned to the hired man. “Run to the stable after +that dandified young feller, Dick, and hand that back to him. Ye kin say +that Jane Mackinnon don't run arrants fur money, nor play gooseberry to +other folks fur fun.” + + +PART II + + +Mr. Joshua Rylands had, according to the vocabulary of his class, “found +grace” at the age of sixteen, while still in the spiritual state of +“original sin” and the political one of Missouri. He had not indeed +found it by persistent youthful seeking or spiritual insight, but +somewhat violently and turbulently at a camp-meeting. A village boy, +naturally gentle and impressible, with an original character,--limited, +however, in education and experience,--he had, after his first rustic +debauch with some vulgar companions, fallen upon the camp-meeting in +reckless audacity; and instead of being handed over to the district +constable, was taken in and placed upon “the anxious bench,” “rastled +with,” and exhorted by a strong revivalist preacher, “convicted of sin,” + and--converted! It is doubtful if the shame of a public arrest and legal +punishment would have impressed his youthful spirit as much as did this +spiritual examination and trial, in which he himself became accuser. +Howbeit, its effect, though punitive, was also exemplary. He at once +cast off his evil companions; remaining faithful to his conversion, in +spite of their later “backslidings.” When, after the Western fashion, +the time came for him to forsake his father's farm and seek a new +“quarter section” on some more remote frontier, he carried into that +secluded, lonely, half-monkish celibacy of pioneer life--which has been +the foundation of so much strong Western character--more than the usual +religious feeling. At once industrious and adventurous, he lived by “the +Word,” as he called it, and Nature as he knew it,--tempted by none of +the vices or sentiments of civilization. When he finally joined the +Californian emigration, it was not as a gold-seeker, but as a discoverer +of new agricultural fields; if the hardship was as great and the rewards +fewer, he nevertheless knew that he retained his safer isolation and +independence of spirit. Vice and civilization were to him synonymous +terms; it was the natural condition of the worldly and unregenerate. +Such was the man who chanced to meet “Nell Montgomery, the Pearl of the +Variety Stage,” on the Sacramento boat, in one of his forced visits +to civilization. Without knowing her in her profession, her frank +exposition of herself did not startle him; he recognized it, accepted +it, and strove to convert it. And as long as this daughter of Folly +forsook her evil ways for him, it was a triumph in which there was no +shame, and might be proclaimed from the housetop. When his neighbors +thought differently, and avoided them, he saw no inconsistency in +bringing his wife's old friends to divert her: she might in time convert +THEM. He had no more fear of her returning to their ways than he had +of himself “backsliding.” Narrow as was his creed, he had none of the +harshness nor pessimism of the bigot. With the keenest self-scrutiny, +his credulity regarding others was touching. + +The storm was still raging when he alighted that evening from the up +coach at the trail nearest his house. Although incumbered with a +heavy carpet-bag, he started resignedly on his two-mile tramp without +begrudging the neighborly act of his wife which had deprived him of +his horse. It was “like her” to do these things in her good-humored +abstraction, an abstraction, however, that sometimes worried him, from +the fear that it indicated some unhappiness with her present lot. He was +longing to rejoin her after his absence of three days, the longest time +they had been separated since their marriage, and he hurried on with +a certain lover-like excitement, quite new to his usually calm and +temperate blood. + +Struggling with the storm and darkness, but always with the happy +consciousness of drawing nearer to her in that struggle, he labored on, +finding his perilous way over the indistinguishable trail by certain +landmarks in the distance, visible only to his pioneer eye. That heavier +shadow to the right was not the hillside, but the SLOPE to the distant +hill; that low, regular line immediately before him was not a fence or +wall, but the line of distant gigantic woods, a mile from his home. Yet +as he began to descend the slope towards the wood, he stopped and rubbed +his eyes. There was distinctly a light in it. His first idea was that he +had lost the trail and was nearing the woodman Mackinnon's cabin. But a +more careful scrutiny revealed to him that it was really the wood, and +the light was a camp-fire. It was a rough night for camping out, but +they were probably some belated prospectors. + +When he had reached the fringe of woodland, he could see quite plainly +that the fire was built beside one of the large pines, and that the +little encampment, which looked quite comfortable and secluded from the +storm-beaten trail, was occupied apparently by a single figure. By the +good glow of the leaping fire, that figure standing erect before it, +elegantly shaped, in the graceful folds of a serape, looked singularly +romantic and picturesque, and reminded Joshua Rylands--whose ideas of +art were purely reminiscent of boyish reading--of some picture in a +novel. The heavy black columns of the pines, glancing out of the concave +shadow, also seemed a fitting background to what might have been a scene +in a play. So strongly was he impressed by it that but for his anxiety +to reach his home, still a mile distant, and the fact that he was +already late, he would have penetrated the wood and the seclusion of the +stranger with an offer of hospitality for the night. The man, however, +was evidently capable of taking care of himself, and the outline of a +tethered horse was faintly visible under another tree. It might be +a surveyor or engineer,--the only men of a better class who were +itinerant. + +But another and even greater surprise greeted him as he toiled up the +rocky slope towards his farmhouse. The windows of the sitting-room, +which were usually blank and black by night, were glittering with +unfamiliar light. Like most farmers, he seldom used the room except for +formal company, his wife usually avoiding it, and even he himself now +preferred the dining-room or the kitchen. His first suggestion that his +wife had visitors gave him a sense of pleasure on her account, mingled, +however, with a slight uneasiness of his own which he could not account +for. More than that, as he approached nearer he could hear the swell of +the organ above the roar of the swaying pines, and the cadences were +not of a devotional character. He hesitated for a moment, as he had +hesitated at the fire in the woods; yet it was surely his own house! He +hurried to the door, opened it; not only the light of the sitting-room +streamed into the hall, but the ruddier glow of an actual fire in the +disused grate! The familiar dark furniture had been rearranged to catch +some of the glow and relieve its sombreness. And his wife, rising from +the music-stool, was the room's only occupant! + +Mrs. Rylands gazed anxiously and timidly at her husband's astonished +face, as he threw off his waterproof and laid down his carpet-bag. Her +own face was a little flurried with excitement, and his, half hidden in +his tawny beard, and, possibly owing to his self-introspective nature, +never spontaneously sympathetic, still expressed only wonder! Mrs. +Rylands was a little frightened. It is sometimes dangerous to meddle +with a man's habits, even when he has grown weary of them. + +“I thought,” she began hesitatingly, “that it would be more cheerful for +you in here, this stormy evening. I thought you might like to put your +wet things to dry in the kitchen, and we could sit here together, after +supper, alone.” + +I am afraid that Mrs. Rylands did not offer all her thoughts. Ever +since Mr. Hamlin's departure she had been uneasy and excited, sometimes +falling into fits of dejection, and again lighting up into hysterical +levity; at other times carefully examining her wardrobe, and then with a +sudden impulse rushing downstairs again to give orders for her husband's +supper, and to make the extraordinary changes in the sitting-room +already noted. Only a few moments before he arrived, she had covertly +brought down a piece of music, and put aside the hymn-books, and taken, +with a little laugh, a pack of cards from her pocket, which she placed +behind the already dismantled vase on the chimney. + +“I reckoned you had company, Ellen,” he said gravely, kissing her. + +“No,” she said quickly. “That is,” she stopped with a sudden surge of +color in her face that startled her, “there was--a man--here, in the +kitchen--who had a lame horse, and who wanted to get a fresh one. But +he went away an hour ago. And he wasn't in this room--at least, after it +was fixed up. So I've had no company.” + +She felt herself again blushing at having blushed, and a little +terrified. There was no reason for it. But for Jack's warning, she would +have been quite ready to tell her husband all. She had never blushed +before him over her past life; why she should now blush over seeing +Jack, of all people! made her utter a little hysterical laugh. I am +afraid that this experienced little woman took it for granted that her +husband knew that if Jack or any man had been there as a clandestine +lover, she would not have blushed at all. Yet with all her experience, +she did not know that she had blushed simply because it was to Jack that +she had confessed that she loved the man before her. Her husband noted +the blush as part of her general excitement. He permitted her to drag +him into the room and seat him before the hearth, where she sank down on +one knee to pull off his heavy rubber boots. But he waved her aside at +this, pulled them off with his own hands, and let her take them to the +kitchen and bring back his slippers. By this time a smile had lighted +up his hard face. The room was certainly more comfortable and cheerful. +Still he was a little worried; was there not in these changes a falling +away from the grace of self-abnegation which she had so sedulously +practiced? + +When supper was served by Jane, in the dull dining-room, Mr. Rylands, +had he not been more engaged in these late domestic changes, might +have noticed that the Missouri girl waited upon him with a certain +commiserating air that was remarkable by its contrast with the frigid +ceremonious politeness with which she attended her mistress. It had not +escaped Mrs. Rylands, however, who ever since Jack's abrupt departure +had noticed this change in the girl's demeanor to herself, and with +a woman's intuitive insight of another woman, had fathomed it. The +comfortable tete-a-tete with Jack, which Jane had looked forward to, +Mrs. Rylands had anticipated herself, and then sent him off! When Joshua +thanked his wife for remembering the pepper-sauce, and Mrs. Rylands +pathetically admitted her forgetfulness, the head-toss which Jane +gave as she left the room was too marked to be overlooked by him. Mrs. +Rylands gave a hysterical little laugh. “I am afraid Jane doesn't like +my sending away the expressman just after I had also dismissed the +stranger whom she had taken a fancy to, and left her without company,” + she said unwisely. + +Mr. Rylands did not laugh. “I reckon,” he returned slowly, “that Jane +must feel kinder lonely; she bears all the burden of our bein' outer the +world, without any of our glory in the cause of it.” + +Nevertheless, when supper was over, and the pair were seated in the +sitting-room before the fire, this episode was forgotten. Mrs. Rylands +produced her husband's pipe and tobacco-pouch. He looked around the +formal walls and hesitated. He had been in the habit of smoking in the +kitchen. + +“Why not here?” said Mrs. Rylands, with a sudden little note of +decision. “Why should we keep this room only for company that don't +come? I call it silly.” + +This struck Mr. Rylands as logical. Besides, undoubtedly the fire had +mellowed the room. After a puff or two he looked at his wife musingly. +“Couldn't you make yourself one of them cigarettys, as they call 'em? +Here's the tobacco, and I'll get you the paper.” + +“I COULD,” she said tentatively. Then suddenly, “What made you think of +it? You never saw ME smoke!” + +“No,” said Rylands, “but that lady, your old friend, Miss Clifford, +does, and I thought you might be hankering after it.” + +“How do you know Tinkie Clifford smokes?” said Mrs. Rylands quickly. + +“She lit a cigaretty that day she called.” + +“I hate it,” said Mrs. Rylands shortly. + +Mr. Rylands nodded approval, and puffed meditatively. + +“Josh, have you seen that girl since?” + +“No,” said Joshua. + +“Nor any other girl like her?” + +“No,” said Joshua wonderingly. “You see I only got to know her on your +account, Ellen, that she might see you.” + +“Well, don't you do it any more! None of 'em! Promise me!” She leaned +forward eagerly in her chair. + +“But Ellen,”--her husband began gravely. + +“I know what you're going to say, but they can't do me any good, and you +can't do them any good as you did ME, so there!” + +Mr. Rylands was silent, and smiled meditatively. + +“Josh!” + +“Yes.” + +“When you met me that night on the Sacramento boat, and looked at me, +did you--did I,” she hesitated,--“did you look at me because I had been +crying?” + +“I thought you were troubled in spirit, and looked so.” + +“I suppose I looked worried, of course; I had no time to change or even +fix my hair; I had on that green dress, and it NEVER was becoming. And +you only spoke to me on account of my awful looks?” + +“I saw only your wrestling soul, Ellen, and I thought you needed comfort +and help.” + +She was silent for a moment, and then, leaning forward, picked up the +poker and began to thrust it absently between the bars. + +“And if it had been some other girl crying and looking awful, you'd have +spoken to her all the same?” + +This was a new idea to Mr. Rylands, but with most men logic is supreme. +“I suppose I would,” he said slowly. + +“And married her?” She rattled the bars of the grate with the poker as +if to drown the inevitable reply. + +Mr. Rylands loved the woman before him, but it pleased him to think that +he loved truth better. “If it had been necessary to her salvation, yes,” + he said. + +“Not Tinkie?” she said suddenly. + +“SHE never would have been in your contrite condition.” + +“Much you know! Girls like that can cry as well as laugh, just as they +want to. Well! I suppose I DID look horrid.” Nevertheless, she seemed +to gain some gratification from her husband's reply, and changed +the subject as if fearful of losing that satisfaction by further +questioning. + +“I tried some of those songs you brought, but I don't think they go +well with the harmonium,” she said, pointing to some music on its rack, +“except one. Just listen.” She rose, and with the same nervous quickness +she had shown before, went to the instrument and began to sing and play. +There was a hopeless incongruity between the character of the instrument +and the spirit of the song. Mrs. Rylands's voice was rather forced and +crudely trained, but Joshua Rylands, sitting there comfortably slippered +by the fire and conscious of the sheeted rain against the window, felt +it good. Presently he arose, and lounging heavily over to the fair +performer, leaned down and imprinted a kiss on the labyrinthine fringes +of her hair. At which Mrs. Rylands caught blindly at his hand nearest +her, and without lifting her other hand from the keys, or her eyes from +the music, said tentatively:-- + +“You know there's a chorus just here! Why can't you try it with me?” + +Mr. Rylands hesitated a moment, then, with a preliminary cough, lifted a +voice as crude as hers, but powerful through much camp-meeting exercise, +and roared a chorus which was remarkable chiefly for requiring that +archness and playfulness in execution which he lacked. As the whole +house seemed to dilate with the sound, and the wind outside to withhold +its fury, Mr. Rylands felt that physical delight which children feel +in personal outcry, and was grateful to his wife for the opportunity. +Laying his hand affectionately on her shoulder, he noticed for the first +time that she was in a kind of evening-dress, and that her delicate +white shoulder shone through the black lace that enveloped it. + +For an instant Mr. Rylands was shocked at this unwonted exposure. He +had never seen his wife in evening-dress before. It was true they were +alone, and in their own sitting-room, but the room was still invested +with that formality and publicity which seemed to accent this +indiscretion. The simple-minded frontier man's mind went back to Jane, +to the hired man, to the expressman, the stranger, all of whom might +have noticed it also. + +“You have a new dress,” he said slowly, “have you worn it all day?” + +“No,” she said, with a timid smile. “I only put it on just before you +came. It's the one I used to wear in the ballroom scene in 'Gay Times in +'Frisco.' You don't know it, I know. I thought I would wear it tonight, +and then,” she suddenly grasped his hand, “you'll let me put all these +things away forever! Won't you, Josh? I've seen such nice pretty calico +at the store to-day, and I can make up one or two home dresses, like +Jane's, only better fitting, of course. In fact, I asked them to send +the roll up here to-morrow for you to see.” + +Mr. Rylands felt relieved. Perhaps his views had changed about the moral +effect of her retaining these symbols of her past, for he consented to +the calico dresses, not, however, without an inward suspicion that she +would not look so well in them, and that the one she had on was more +becoming. + +Meantime she tried another piece of music. It was equally incongruous +and slightly Bacchantic. + +“There used to be a mighty pretty dance went to that,” she said, nodding +her head in time with the music, and assisting the heavily spasmodic +attempts of the instrument with the pleasant levity of her voice. “I +used to do it.” + +“Ye might try it now, Ellen,” suggested her husband, with a +half-frightened, half-amused tolerance. + +“YOU play, then,” said Mrs. Rylands quickly, offering her seat to him. + +Mr. Rylands sat down to the harmonium, as Mrs. Rylands briskly moved +the table and chairs against the wall. Mr. Rylands played slowly and +strenuously, as from a conscientious regard of the instrument. Mrs. +Rylands stood in the centre of the floor, making a rather pretty, +animated picture, as she again stimulated the heavy harmonium swell not +only with her voice but her hands and feet. Presently she began to skip. + +I should warn the reader here that this was before the “shawl” or +“skirt” dancing was in vogue, and I am afraid that pretty Mrs. Rylands's +performances would now be voted slow. Her silk skirt and frilled +petticoat were lifted just over her small ankles and tiny bronze-kid +shoes. In the course of a pirouette or two, there was a slight further +revelation of blue silk stockings and some delicate embroidery, but +really nothing more than may be seen in the sweep of a modern waltz. +Suddenly the music ceased. Mr. Rylands had left the harmonium and walked +over to the hearth. Mrs. Rylands stopped, and came towards him with a +flushed, anxious face. + +“It don't seem to go right, does it?” she said, with her nervous laugh. +“I suppose I'm getting too old now, and I don't quite remember it.” + +“Better forget it altogether,” he replied gravely. He stopped at seeing +a singular change in her face, and added awkwardly, “When I told you I +didn't want you to be ashamed of your past, nor to try to forget what +you were, I didn't mean such things as that!” + +“What did you mean?” she said timidly. + +The truth was that Mr. Rylands did not know. He had known this sort of +thing only in the abstract. He had never had the least acquaintance with +the class to which his wife had belonged, nor known anything of their +methods. It was a revelation to him now, in the woman he loved, and who +was his wife. He was not shocked so much as he was frightened. + +“You shall have the dress to-morrow, Ellen,” he said gently, “and +you can put away these gewgaws. You don't need to look like Tinkie +Clifford.” + +He did not see the look of triumph that lit up her eye, but added, “Go +on and play.” + +She sat down obediently to the instrument. He watched her for a few +moments from the toe of her kid slipper on the pedals to the swell +of her shoulders above the keyboard, with a strange, abstracted face. +Presently she stopped and came over to him. + +“And when I've got these nice calico frocks, and you can't tell me from +Jane, and I'm a good housekeeper, and settle down to be a farmer's wife, +maybe I'll have a secret to tell you.” + +“A secret?” he repeated gravely. “Why not now?” + +Her face was quite aglow with excitement and a certain timid mischief as +she laughed: “Not while you are so solemn. It can wait.” + +He looked at his watch. “I must give some orders to Jim about the stock +before he turns in,” he said. + +“He's gone to the stables already,” said Mrs. Rylands. + +“No matter; I can go there and find him.” + +“Shall I bring your boots?” she said quickly. + +“I'll put them on when I pass through the kitchen. I won't be long away. +Now go to bed. You are looking tired,” he said gently, as he gazed at +the drawn lines about her eyes and mouth. Her former pretty color +struck him also as having changed of late, and as being irregular and +inharmonious. + +As Mrs. Rylands obediently ascended the stairs she heaved a faint sigh, +her only recognition of her husband's criticism. He turned and passed +quickly into the kitchen. He wanted to be alone to collect his thoughts. +But he was surprised to find Jane still there, sitting bolt upright in +a chair in the corner. Apparently she had been expecting him, for as he +entered she stood up, and wiped her cheek and mouth with one hand, as if +to compress her lips the more tightly. + +“I reckoned,” she began, “that unless you war for forgettin' everythin' +in these yer goings on, ye'd be passin' through here to tend to your +stock. I've got a word to say to ye, Mr. Rylands. When I first kem over +here to help, I got word from the folks around that your wife afore +you married her was just one o' them bally dancers. Well, that was YOUR +lookout, not mine! Jane Mackinnon ain't the kind to take everybody's +sayin' as gospil, but she kalkilates to treat folks ez she finds 'em. +When she finds 'em lyin' and deceivin'; when she finds em purtendin' one +thing and doin' another; when she finds 'em makin' fools tumble to 'em; +playing soots on their own husbands, and turnin' an honest house into a +music-hall and a fandango shop, she kicks! You hear me! Jane Mackinnon +kicks!” + +“What do you mean?” said Mr. Rylands sternly. + +“I mean,” said Miss Mackinnon, striking her hips with the back of her +hands smartly, and accenting each word that dropped like a bullet from +her mouth with an additional blow,--“I--mean--that--your--wife--had +one--of--her--old--hangers-on--from--'Frisco--here--in--this +very--kitchen--all--the--arternoon; there! I mean that whiles she was +waitin' here for you, she was canoodlin' and cryin' over old times with +him! I saw her myself through the winder. That's what I mean, Mr. Joshua +Rylands.” + +“It's false! She had some poor stranger here with a lame horse. She told +me so herself.” + +Jane Mackinnon laughed shrilly. + +“Did she tell you that the poor stranger was young and pretty-faced, +with black moustarches? that his store clothes must have cost a fortin, +saying nothing of his gold-lined, broadcloth sarrapper? Did she say that +his horse was so lame that when I went to get another he wouldn't WAIT +for it? Did she tell you WHO he was?” + +“No, she did not know,” said Rylands sternly, but with a whitening face. + +“Well, I'll tell you! The gambler, the shooter!--the man whose name +is black enough to stain any woman he knows. Jim recognized him like +a shot; he sez, the moment he clapped eyes on him at the door, 'Dod +blasted, if it ain't Jack Hamlin!'” + +Little as Mr. Rylands knew of the world, he had heard that name. But it +was not THAT he was thinking of. He was thinking of the camp-fire in the +wood, the handsome figure before it, the tethered horse. He was thinking +of the lighted sitting-room, the fire, his wife's bare shoulders, her +slippers, stockings, and the dance. He saw it all,--a lightning-flash to +his dull imagination. The room seemed to expand and then grow smaller, +the figure of Jane to sway backwards and forwards before him. He +murmured the name of God with lips that were voiceless, caught at the +kitchen table to steady himself, held it till he felt his arms grow +rigid, and then recovered himself,--white, cold, and sane. + +“Speak a word of this to HER,” he said deliberately, “enter her room +while I'm gone, even leave the kitchen before I come back, and I'll +throw you into the road. Tell that hired man, if he dares to breathe it +to a soul I'll strangle him.” + +The unlooked-for rage of this quiet, God-fearing man, and dupe, as she +believed, was terrible, but convincing. She shrank back into the corner +as he coolly drew on his boots and waterproof, and without another word +left the house. + +He knew what he was going to do as well as if it had been ordained for +him. He knew he would find the young man in the wood; for whatever were +the truth of the other stories, he and the visitor were identical; he +had seen him with his own eyes. He would confront him face to face and +know all; and until then, he could not see his wife again. He walked on +rapidly, but without feverishness or mental confusion. He saw his duty +plainly,--if Ellen had “backslidden,” he must give her another trial. +These were his articles of faith. He should not put her away; but she +should nevermore be wife to him. It was HE who had tempted her, it was +true; perhaps God would forgive her for that reason, but HE could never +love her again. + +The fury of the storm had somewhat abated as he reached the wood. The +fire was still there, but no longer a leaping flame. A dull glow in +the darkness of the forest aisles was all that indicated its position. +Rylands at once plunged in that direction; he was near enough to see the +red embers when he heard a sharp click, and a voice called:-- + +“Hold up!” + +Mr. Hamlin was a light sleeper. The crackle of underbrush had been +enough to disturb him. The voice was his; the click was the cocking of +his revolver. + +Rylands was no coward, but halted diplomatically. + +“Now, then,” said Mr. Hamlin's voice, “a little more this way, IN THE +LIGHT, if you please!” + +Rylands moved as directed, and saw Mr. Hamlin lying before the fire, +resting easily on one hand, with his revolver in the other. + +“Thank you!” said Jack. “Excuse my precautions, but it is night, and +this is, for the present, my bedroom.” + +“My name is Rylands; you called at my house this afternoon and saw my +wife,” said Rylands slowly. + +“I did,” said Hamlin. “It was mighty kind of you to return my call so +soon, but I didn't expect it.” + +“I reckon not. But I know who you are, and that you are an old associate +of hers, in the days of her sin and unregeneration. I want you to answer +me, before God and man, what was your purpose in coming there to-day?” + +“Look here! I don't think it's necessary to drag in strangers to hear my +answer,” said Jack, lying down again, “but I came to borrow a horse.” + +“Is that the truth?” + +Jack got upon his feet very solemnly, put on his hat, drew down his +waistcoat, and approached Mr. Rylands with his hands in his pockets. + +“Mr. Rylands,” he said, with great suavity of manner, “this is the +second time today that I have had the honor of having my word doubted by +your family. Your wife was good enough to question my assertion that I +didn't know that she was living here, but that was a woman's vanity. You +have no such excuse. There is my horse yonder, lame, as you may see. I +didn't lame him for the sake of seeing your wife nor you.” + +There was that in Mr. Hamlin's audacity and perfect self-possession +which, even while it irritated, never suggested deceit. He was too +reckless of consequence to lie. Mr. Rylands was staggered and half +convinced. Nevertheless, he hesitated. + +“Dare you tell me everything that happened between my wife and you?” + +“Dare you listen?” said Mr. Hamlin quietly. + +Mr. Rylands turned a little white. After a moment he said:-- + +“Yes.” + +“Good!” said Mr. Hamlin. “I like your grit, though I don't mind telling +you it's the ONLY thing I like about you. Sit down. Well, I haven't seen +Nell Montgomery for three years until I met her as your wife, at your +house. She was surprised as I was, and frightened as I wasn't. She spent +the whole interview in telling me the history of her marriage and her +life with you, and nothing more. I cannot say that it was remarkably +entertaining, or that she was as amusing as your wife as she was as Nell +Montgomery, the variety actress. When she had finished, I came away.” + +Mr. Rylands, who had seated himself, made a movement as if to rise. But +Mr. Hamlin laid his hand on his knee. + +“I asked you if you dared to listen. I have something myself to say of +that interview. I found your wife wearing the old dresses that other men +had given her, and she said she wore them because she thought it pleased +you. I found that you, who are questioning my calling upon her, had +already got the worst of her old chums to visit her without asking her +consent; I found that instead of being the first one to lie for her +and hide her, you were the first one to tell anybody her history, just +because you thought it was to the glory of God generally, and of Joshua +Rylands in particular.” + +“A man's motives are his own,” stammered Rylands. + +“Sorry you didn't see it when you questioned mine just now,” said Jack +coolly. + +“Then she complained to you?” said Rylands hesitatingly. + +“I didn't say that,” said Jack shortly. + +“But you found her unhappy?” + +“Damnably.” + +“And you advised her”--said Rylands tentatively. + +“I advised her to chuck you and try to get a better husband.” He paused, +and then added, with a disgusted laugh, “but she didn't tumble to it, +for a d----d silly reason.” + +“What reason?” said Rylands hurriedly. + +“Said she LOVED you,” returned Jack, kicking a brand back into the fire. +Mr. Rylands's white cheeks flamed out suddenly like the brand. Seeing +which, Jack turned upon him deliberately. + +“Mr. Joshua Rylands, I've seen many fools in my time. I've seen men +holding four aces backed down because they thought they KNEW the other +man had a royal flush! I've seen a man sell his claim for a wild-cat +share, with the gold lying a foot below him in the ground he walked on. +I've seen a dead shot shoot wild because he THOUGHT he saw something in +the other man's eye. I've seen a heap of God-forsaken fools, but I never +saw one before who claimed God as a pal. You've got a wife a d----d +sight truer to you for what you call her 'sin,' than you've ever been +to her, with all your d----d salvation! And as you couldn't make her +otherwise, though you've tried to hard enough, it seems to me that for +square downright chuckle-headedness, you can take the cake! Good-night! +Now, run away and play! You're making me tired.” + +“One moment,” said Mr. Rylands awkwardly and hurriedly. “I may have +wronged you; I was mistaken. Won't you come back with me and accept +my--our--hospitality?” + +“Not much,” said Jack. “I left your house because I thought it better +for you and her that no one should know of my being there.” + +“But you were already recognized,” said Mr. Rylands. “It was Jane who +lied about you, and your return with me will confute her slanders.” + +“Who?” asked Jack. + +“Jane, our hired girl.” + +Mr. Hamlin uttered an indescribable laugh. + +“That's just as well! You simply tell Jane you SAW me; that I was +greatly shocked at what she said, but that I forgive her. I don't think +she'll say any more.” + + +Strange to add, Mr. Hamlin's surmise was correct. Mr. Rylands found Jane +still in the kitchen alone, terrified, remorseful, yet ever after +silent on the subject. Stranger still, the hired man became equally +uncommunicative. Mrs. Rylands, attributing her husband's absence only +to care of the stock, had gone to bed in a feverish condition, and Mr. +Rylands did not deem it prudent to tell her of his interview. The next +day she sent for the doctor, and it was deemed necessary for her to +keep her bed for a few days. Her husband was singularly attentive and +considerate during that time, and it was probable that Mrs. Rylands +seized that opportunity to tell him the secret she spoke of the night +before. Whatever it was,--for it was not generally known for a few +months later,--it seemed to draw them closer together, imparted a +protecting dignity to Joshua Rylands, which took the place of his +former selfish austerity, gave them a future to talk of confidentially, +hopefully, and sometimes foolishly, which took the place of their more +foolish past, and when the roll of calico came from the cross roads, it +contained also a quantity of fine linen, laces, small caps, and other +trifles, somewhat in contrast to the more homely materials ordered. + +And when three months were past, the sitting-room was often lit up and +made cheerful, particularly on that supreme occasion when, with a great +deal of enthusiasm, all the women of the countryside flocked to see Mrs. +Rylands and her first baby. And a more considerate and devoted couple +than the father and mother they had never known. + + + + +THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + + +In the early days of the Californian immigration, on the extremest point +of the sandy peninsula, where the bay of San Francisco debouches into +the Pacific, there stood a semaphore telegraph. Tossing its black arms +against the sky,--with its back to the Golden Gate and that vast expanse +of sea whose nearest shore was Japan,--it signified to another semaphore +further inland the “rigs” of incoming vessels, by certain uncouth signs, +which were again passed on to Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, where they +reappeared on a third semaphore, and read to the initiated “schooner,” + “brig” “ship,” or “steamer.” But all homesick San Francisco had learned +the last sign, and on certain days of the month every eye was turned to +welcome those gaunt arms widely extended at right angles, which meant +“sidewheel steamer” (the only steamer which carried the mails) and +“letters from home.” In the joyful reception accorded to that herald of +glad tidings, very few thought of the lonely watcher on the sand dunes +who dispatched them, or even knew of that desolate Station. + +For desolate it was beyond description. The Presidio, with its +voiceless, dismounted cannon and empty embrasures hidden in a hollow, +and the Mission Dolores, with its crumbling walls and belfry tower lost +in another, made the ultima thule of all San Francisco wandering. The +Cliff house and Fort Point did not then exist; from Black Point the +curving line of shore of “Yerba Buena”--or San Francisco--showed only +a stretch of glittering wind-swept sand dunes, interspersed with +straggling gullies of half-buried black “scrub oak.” The long six +months' summer sun fiercely beat upon it from the cloudless sky above; +the long six months' trade winds fiercely beat upon it from the west; +the monotonous roll-call of the long Pacific surges regularly beat upon +it from the sea. Almost impossible to face by day through sliding sands +and buffeting winds, at night it was impracticable through the dense +sea-fog that stole softly through the Golden Gate at sunset. Thence, +until morning, sea and shore were a trackless waste, bounded only by the +warning thunders of the unseen sea. The station itself, a rudely built +cabin, with two windows,--one furnished with a telescope,--looked like +a heap of driftwood, or a stranded wreck left by the retiring sea; the +semaphore--the only object for leagues--lifted above the undulating +dunes, took upon itself various shapes, more or less gloomy, according +to the hour or weather,--a blasted tree, the masts and clinging spars +of a beached ship, a dismantled gallows; or, with the background of a +golden sunset across the Gate, and its arms extended at right angles, +to a more hopeful fancy it might have seemed the missionary Cross, which +the enthusiast Portala lifted on that heathen shore a hundred years +before. + +Not that Dick Jarman--the solitary station keeper--ever indulged this +fancy. An escaped convict from one of her Britannic Majesty's penal +colonies, a “stowaway” in the hold of an Australian ship, he had landed +penniless in San Francisco, fearful of contact with his more honest +countrymen already there, and liable to detection at any moment. Luckily +for him, the English immigration consisted mainly of gold-seekers en +route to Sacramento and the southern mines. He was prudent enough to +resist the temptation to follow them, and accepted the post of semaphore +keeper,--the first work offered him,--which the meanest immigrant, +filled with dreams of gold, would have scorned. His employers asked him +no questions, and demanded no references; his post could be scarcely +deemed one of trust,--there was no property for him to abscond with but +the telescope; he was removed from temptation and evil company in his +lonely waste; his duties were as mechanical as the instrument he worked, +and interruption of them would be instantly known at San Francisco. For +this he would receive his board and lodging and seventy-five dollars a +month,--a sum to be ridiculed in those “flush days,” but which seemed to +the broken-spirited and half-famished stowaway a princely independence. + +And then there was rest and security! He was free from that torturing +anxiety and fear of detection which had haunted him night and day for +three months. The ceaseless vigilance and watchful dread he had known +since his escape, he could lay aside now. The rude cabin on the sand +dune was to him as the long-sought cave to some hunted animal. It seemed +impossible that any one would seek him there. He was spared alike the +contact of his enemies or the shame of recognizing even a friendly face, +until by each he would be forgotten. From his coign of vantage on that +desolate waste, and with the aid of his telescope, no stranger could +approach within two or three miles of his cabin without undergoing his +scrutiny. And at the worst, if he was pursued here, before him was the +trackless shore and the boundless sea! + +And at times there was a certain satisfaction in watching, unseen and in +perfect security, the decks of passing ships. With the aid of his glass +he could mingle again with the world from which he was debarred, and +gloomily wonder who among those passengers knew their solitary watcher, +or had heard of his deeds; it might have made him gloomier had he known +that in those eager faces turned towards the golden haven there was +little thought of anything but themselves. He tried to read in faces on +board the few outgoing ships the record of their success with a strange +envy. They were returning home! HOME! For sometimes--but seldom--he +thought of his own home and his past. It was a miserable past of forgery +and embezzlement that had culminated a career of youthful dissipation +and self-indulgence, and shut him out, forever, from the staid old +English cathedral town where he was born. He knew that his relations +believed and wished him dead. He thought of this past with little +pleasure, but with little remorse. Like most of his stamp, he believed +it was ill-luck, chance, somebody else's fault, but never his own +responsible action. He would not repent; he would be wiser only. And he +would not be retaken--alive! + +Two or three months passed in this monotonous duty, in which he partly +recovered his strength and his nerves. He lost his furtive, restless, +watchful look; the bracing sea air and the burning sun put into his face +the healthy tan and the uplifted frankness of a sailor. His eyes grew +keener from long scanning of the horizon; he knew where to look +for sails, from the creeping coastwise schooner to the far-rounding +merchantman from Cape Horn. He knew the faint line of haze that +indicated the steamer long before her masts and funnels became visible. +He saw no soul except the solitary boatman of the little “plunger,” + who landed his weekly provisions at a small cove hard by. The boatman +thought his secretiveness and reticence only the surliness of his +nation, and cared little for a man who never asked for the news, and to +whom he brought no letters. The long nights which wrapped the cabin in +sea-fog, and at first seemed to heighten the exile's sense of security, +by degrees, however, became monotonous, and incited an odd restlessness, +which he was wont to oppose by whiskey,--allowed as a part of his +stores,--which, while it dulled his sensibilities, he, however, never +permitted to interfere with his mechanical duties. + +He had been there five months, and the hills on the opposite shore +between Tamalpais were already beginning to show their russet yellow +sides. One bright morning he was watching the little fleet of Italian +fishing-boats hovering in the bay. This was always a picturesque +spectacle, perhaps the only one that relieved the general monotony of +his outlook. The quaint lateen sails of dull red, or yellow, showing +against the sparkling waters, and the red caps or handkerchiefs of the +fishermen, might have attracted even a more abstracted man. Suddenly one +of the larger boats tacked, and made directly for the little cove +where his weekly plunger used to land. In an instant he was alert +and suspicious. But a close examination of the boat through his glass +satisfied him that it contained, in addition to the crew, only two or +three women, apparently the family of the fishermen. As it ran up on +the beach and the entire party disembarked he could see it was merely +a careless, peaceable invasion, and he thought no more about it. The +strangers wandered about the sands, gesticulating and laughing; they +brought a pot ashore, built a fire, and cooked a homely meal. He +could see that from time to time the semaphore--evidently a novelty to +them--had attracted their attention; and having occasion to signal the +arrival of a bark, the working of the uncouth arms of the instrument +drew the children in half-frightened curiosity towards it, although the +others held aloof, as if fearful of trespassing upon some work of the +government, no doubt secretly guarded by the police. A few mornings +later he was surprised to see upon the beach, near the same locality, +a small heap of lumber which had evidently been landed in the early +morning fog. The next day an old tent appeared on the spot, and the +men, evidently fishermen, began the erection of a rude cabin beside it. +Jarman had been long enough there to know that it was government land, +and that these manifestly humble “squatters” upon it would not be +interfered with for some time to come. He began to be uneasy again; it +was true they were fully half a mile from him, and they were foreigners; +but might not their reckless invasion of the law attract others, in +this lawless country, to do the same? It ought to be stopped. For once +Richard Jarman sided with legal authority. + +But when the cabin was completed, it was evident from what he saw of its +rude structure that it was only a temporary shelter for the fisherman's +family and the stores, and refitting of the fishing-boat, more +convenient to them than the San Francisco wharves. The beach was +utilized for the mending of nets and sails, and thus became half +picturesque. In spite of the keen northwestern trades, the cloudless, +sunshiny mornings tempted these southerners back to their native al +fresco existence; they not only basked in the sun, but many of their +household duties, and even the mysteries of their toilet, were performed +in the open air. They did not seem to care to penetrate into the +desolate region behind them; their half-amphibious habit kept them near +the water's edge, and Richard Jarman, after taking his limited walks +for the first few mornings in another direction, found it no longer +necessary to avoid the locality, and even forgot their propinquity. + +But one morning, as the fog was clearing away and the sparkle of the +distant sea was beginning to show from his window, he rose from his +belated breakfast to fetch water from the “breaker” outside, which had +to be replenished weekly from Sancelito, as there was no spring in his +vicinity. As he opened the door, he was inexpressibly startled by the +figure of a young woman standing in front of it, who, however, half +fearfully, half laughingly withdrew before him. But his own manifest +disturbance apparently gave her courage. + +“I jess was looking at that thing,” she said bashfully, pointing to the +semaphore. + +He was still more astonished, for, looking at her dark eyes and olive +complexion, he had expected her to speak Italian or broken English. And, +possibly because for a long time he had seen and known little of women, +he was quite struck with her good looks. He hesitated, stammered, and +then said:-- + +“Won't you come in?” + +She drew back still farther and made a rapid gesture of negation with +her head, her hand, and even her whole lithe figure. Then she said, with +a decided American intonation:-- + +“No, sir.” + +“Why not?” said Jarman mechanically. + +The girl sidled up against the cabin, keeping her eyes fixed on Jarman +with a certain youthful shrewdness. + +“Oh, you know!” she said. + +“I really do not. Tell me why.” + +She drew herself up against the wall a little proudly, though still +youthfully, with her hands behind her. + +“I ain't that kind of girl,” she said simply. + +The blood rushed to Jarman's checks. Dissipated and abandoned as his +life had been, small respecter of women as he was, he was shocked and +shamed. Knowing too, as he did, how absorbed he was in other things, he +was indignant, because not guilty. + +“Do as you please, then,” he said shortly, and reentered the cabin. But +the next moment he saw his error in betraying an irritation that was +open to misconstruction. He came out again, scarcely looking at the +girl, who was lounging away. + +“Do you want me to explain to you how the thing works?” he said +indifferently. “I can't show you unless a ship comes in.” + +The girl's eyes brightened softly as she turned to him. + +“Do tell me,” she said, with an anticipatory smile and flash of white +teeth. “Won't you?” + +She certainly was very pretty and simple, in spite of her late speech. +Jarman briefly explained to her the movements of the semaphore arms and +their different significance. She listened with her capped head a little +on one side like an attentive bird, and her arms unconsciously imitating +the signs. Certainly, for all that she SPOKE like an American, her +gesticulation was Italian. + +“And then,” she said triumphantly when he paused, “when the sailors see +that sign up they know they are coming in the harbor.” + +Jarman smiled, as he had not smiled since he had been there. He +corrected this mistake of her eager haste to show her intelligence, and, +taking the telescope, pointed out the other semaphore,--a thin black +outline on a distant inland hill. He then explained how HIS signs were +repeated by that instrument to San Francisco. + +“My! Why, I always allowed that was only the cross stuck up in the Lone +Mountain Cemetery,” she said. + +“You are a Catholic?” + +“I reckon.” + +“And you are an Italian?” + +“Father is, but mother was a 'Merikan, same as me. Mother's dead.” + +“And your father is the fisherman yonder?” + +“Yes,--but,” with a look of pride, “he's got the biggest boat of any.” + +“And only you and your family are ashore here?” + +“Yes, and sometimes Mark.” She laughed an odd little laugh. + +“Mark? Who's he?” he asked quickly. + +He had not noticed the sudden coquettish pose and half-affected +bashfulness of the girl; he was thinking only of the possibility of +detection by strangers. + +“Oh, he is Marco Franti, but I call him 'Mark.' It's the same name, you +know, and it makes him mad,” said the girl, with the same suggestion of +archness and coquetry. + +But all this was lost on Jarman. + +“Oh, another Italian,” he said, relieved. She turned away a little +awkwardly when he added, “But you haven't told me YOUR name, you know.” + +“Cara.” + +“Cara,--that's 'dear' in Italian, isn't it?” he said, with a +reminiscence of the opera and a half smile. + +“Yes,” she said a little scornfully, “but it means Carlotta,--Charlotte, +you know. Some girls call me Charley,” she said hurriedly. + +“I see--Cara--or Carlotta Franti.” + +To his surprise she burst into a peal of laughter. + +“I reckon not YET. Franti is Mark's name, not mine. Mine is +Murano,--Carlotta Murano. Good-by.” She moved away, then stopped +suddenly and said, “I'm comin' again some time when the thing is +working,” and with a nod of her head, ran away. He looked after her; +could see the outlines of her youthful figure in her slim cotton +gown,--limp and clinging in the damp sea air, and the sudden revelation +of her bare ankles thrust stockingless into canvas shoes. + +He went back into his cabin, when presently his attention was engrossed +by an incoming vessel. He made the signals, half expecting, almost +hoping, that the girl would return to watch him. But her figure was +already lost in the sand dunes. Yet he fancied he still heard the echoes +of her voice and his own in this cabin which had so long been dumb and +voiceless, and he now started at every sound. For the first time he +became aware of the dreadful disorder and untidiness of its uninvaded +privacy. He could scarcely believe he had been living with his stove, +his bed, and cooking utensils all in one corner of the barnlike room, +and he began to put them “to rights” in a rough, hard formality, +strongly suggestive of his convict experience. He rolled up his blankets +into a hard cylinder at the head of his cot. He scraped out his kettles +and saucepans, and even “washed down” the floor, afterwards sprinkling +clean dry sand, hot with the noonday sunshine, on its half-dried boards. +In arranging these domestic details he had to change the position of a +little mirror; and glancing at it for the first time in many days, he +was dissatisfied with his straggling beard,--grown during his voyage +from Australia,--and although he had retained it as a disguise, he at +once shaved it off, leaving only a mustache, and revealing a face from +which a healthier life and out-of-door existence had removed the last +traces of vice and dissipation. But he did not know it. + +All the next day he thought of his fair visitor, and found himself often +repeating her odd remark that she was “not that kind of girl,” with a +smile that was alternately significant or vacant. Evidently she could +take care of herself, he thought, although her very good looks no doubt +had exposed her to the rude attentions of fishermen or the common drift +of San Francisco wharves. Perhaps this was why her father brought her +here. When the day passed and she came not, he began vaguely to wonder +if he had been rude to her. Perhaps he had taken her simple remark too +seriously; perhaps she had expected he would only laugh, and had found +him dull and stupid. Perhaps he had thrown away an opportunity. An +opportunity for what? To renew his old life and habits? No, no! The +horrors of his recent imprisonment and escape were still too fresh in +his memory; he was not safe yet. Then he wondered if he had not grown +spiritless and pigeon-livered in his solitude and loneliness. The next +day he searched for her with his glass, and saw her playing with one +of the children on the beach,--a very picture of child or nymphlike +innocence. Perhaps it was because she was not “that kind of girl” that +she had attracted him. He laughed bitterly. Yes; that was very funny; +he, an escaped convict, drawn towards honest, simple innocence! Yet he +knew--he was positive--he had not thought of any ill when he spoke to +her. He took a singular, a ridiculous pride in and credit to himself for +that. He repeated it incessantly to himself. Then what made her angry? +Himself! The devil! Did he carry, then, the record of his past life +forever in his face--in his speech--in his manners? The thought made +him sullen. The next day he would not look towards the shore; it was +wonderful what excitement and satisfaction he got out of that strange +act of self-denial; it made the day seem full that had been so vacant +before; yet he could not tell why or wherefore. He felt injured, but he +rather liked it. Yet in the night he was struck with the idea that she +might have gone back to San Francisco, and he lay awake longing for +the morning light to satisfy him. Yet when the fog cleared, and from +a nearer point, behind a sand dune, he discovered, by the aid of his +glass, that she was seated on the sun-warmed sands combing out her long +hair like a mermaid, he immediately returned to the cabin, and that +morning looked no more that way. In the afternoon, there being no sails +in sight, he turned aside from the bay and walked westward towards the +ocean, halting only at the league-long line of foam which marked the +breaking Pacific surges. Here he was surprised to see a little child, +half-naked, following barefooted the creeping line of spume, or running +after the detached and quivering scraps of foam that chased each other +over the wet sand, and only a little further on, to come upon Cara +herself, sitting with her elbows on her knees and her round chin in her +hands, apparently gazing over the waste of waters before her. A sudden +and inexplicable shyness overtook him. He hesitated, and stepped +half-hidden in a gully between the sand dunes. + +As yet he had not been observed; the young girl called to the child and, +suddenly rising, threw off her red cap and shawl and quietly began to +disrobe herself. A couple of coarse towels were at her feet. Jarman +instantly comprehended that she was going to bathe with the child. She +undoubtedly knew as well as he did that she was safe in that solitude; +that no one could intrude upon her privacy from the bay shore, nor from +the desolate inland trail to the sea, without her knowledge. Of his +own contiguity she had evidently taken no thought, believing him safely +housed in his cabin beside the semaphore. She lifted her hands, and with +a sudden movement shook out her long hair and let it fall down her back +at the same moment that her unloosened blouse began to slip from her +shoulders. Richard Jarman turned quickly and walked noiselessly and +rapidly away, until the little hillock had shut out the beach. + +His retreat was as sudden, unreasoning, and unpremeditated as his +intrusion. It was not like himself, he knew, and yet it was as perfectly +instinctive and natural as if he had intruded upon a sister. In the +South Seas he had seen native girls diving beside the vessels for coins, +but they had provoked no such instinct as that which possessed him now. +More than that, he swept a quick, wrathful glance along the horizon on +either side, and then, mounting a remote hillock which still hid him +from the beach, he sat there and kept watch and ward. From time to time +the strong sea-breeze brought him the sound of infantine screams and +shouts of girlish laughter from the unseen shore; he only looked the +more keenly and suspiciously for any wandering trespasser, and did not +turn his head. He lay there nearly half an hour, and when the sounds had +ceased, rose and made his way slowly back to the cabin. He had not gone +many yards before he heard the twitter of voices and smothered laughter +behind him. He turned; it was Cara and the child,--a girl of six or +seven. Cara's face was rosy,--possibly from her bath, and possibly +from some shame-faced consciousness. He slackened his pace, and as they +ranged beside him said, “Good-morning!” + +“Lord!” said Cara, stifling another laugh, “we didn't know you were +around; we thought you were always 'tending your telegraph, didn't we, +Lucy?” (to the child, who was convulsed with mirth and sheepishness). +“Why, we've been taking a wash in the sea.” She tried to gather up her +long hair, which had been left to stray over her shoulders and dry in +the sunlight, and even made a slight pretense of trying to conceal the +wet towels they were carrying. + +Jarman did not laugh. “If you had told me,” he said gravely, “I could +have kept watch for you with my glass while you were there. I could see +further than you.” + +“Tould you see US?” asked the little girl, with hopeful vivacity. + +“No!” said Jarman, with masterly evasion. “There are little sandhills +between this and the beach.” + +“Then how tould other people see us?” persisted the child. + +Jarman could see that the older girl was evidently embarrassed, and +changed the subject. “I sometimes go out,” he said, “when I can see +there are no vessels in sight, and I take ray glass with me. I can +always get back in time to make signals. I thought, in fact,” he said, +glancing at Cara's brightening face, “that I might get as far as +your house on the shore some day.” To his surprise, her embarrassment +suddenly seemed to increase, although she had looked relieved before, +and she did not reply. After a moment she said abruptly:-- + +“Did you ever see the sea-lions?” + +“No,” said Jarman. + +“Not the big ones on Seal Rock, beyond the cliffs?” continued the girl, +in real astonishment. + +“No,” repeated Jarman. “I never walked in that direction.” He vaguely +remembered that they were a curiosity which sometimes attracted parties +thither, and for that reason he had avoided the spot. + +“Why, I have sailed all around the rock in father's boat,” continued +Cara, with importance. “That's the best way to see 'em, and folks from +Frisco sometimes takes a sail out there just on purpose,--it's too sandy +to walk or drive there. But it's only a step from here. Look here!” she +said suddenly, and frankly opening her fine eyes upon him. “I'm going +to take Lucy there to-morrow, and I'll show you.” Jarman felt his cheeks +flush quickly with a pleasure that embarrassed him. “It won't take +long,” added Cara, mistaking his momentary hesitation, “and you can +leave your telegraph alone. Nobody will be there, so no one will see you +and nobody know it.” + +He would have gone then, anyway, he knew, yet in his absurd +self-consciousness he was glad that her last suggestion had relieved him +of a sense of reckless compliance. He assented eagerly, when with a wave +of her hand, a flash of her white teeth, and the same abruptness she had +shown at their last parting, she caught Lucy by the arm and darted away +in a romping race to her dwelling. Jarman started after her. He had +not wanted to go to her father's house particularly, but why was SHE +evidently as averse to it? With the subtle pleasure that this admission +gave him there was a faint stirring of suspicion. + +It was gone when he found her and Lucy the next morning, radiant with +the sunshine, before his door. The restraint of their previous meetings +had been removed in some mysterious way, and they chatted gayly as they +walked towards the cliffs. She asked him frankly many questions about +himself, why he had come there, and if he “wasn't lonely;” she answered +frankly--I fear much more frankly than he answered her--the many +questions he asked her about herself and her friends. When they reached +the cliffs they descended to the beach, which they found deserted. +Before them--it seemed scarce a pistol shot from the shore arose a high, +broad rock, beaten at its base by the long Pacific surf, on which a +number of shapeless animals were uncouthly disporting. This was Seal +Rock, the goal of their journey. + +Yet after a few moments they no longer looked at it, but seated on the +sand, with Lucy gathering shells at the water's edge, they continued +their talk. Presently the talk became eager confidences, and +then,--there were long and dangerous lapses of silence, when both were +fain to make perfunctory talk with Lucy on the beach. After one of those +silences Jarman said:-- + +“Do you know I rather thought yesterday you didn't want me to come to +your father's house. Why was that?” + +“Because Marco was there,” said the girl frankly. + +“What had HE to do with it?” said Jarman abruptly. + +“He wants to marry me.” + +“And do you want to marry HIM?” said Jarman quickly. + +“No,” said the girl passionately. + +“Why don't you get rid of him, then?” + +“I can't, he's hiding here,--he's father's friend.” + +“Hiding? What's he been doing?” + +“Stealing. Stealing gold-dust from miners. I never cared for him anyway. +And I hate a thief!” + +She looked up quickly. Jarman had risen to his feet, his face turned to +sea. + +“What are you looking at?” she said wonderingly. + +“A ship,” said Jarman, in a strange, hoarse voice. “I must hurry back +and signal. I'm afraid I haven't even time to walk with you,--I must run +for it. Good-by!” + +He turned without offering his hand and ran hurriedly in the direction +of the semaphore. + +Cara, discomfited, turned her black eyes to the sea. But it seemed empty +as before, no sail, no ship on the horizon line, only a little schooner +slowly beating out of the Gate. Ah, well! It no doubt was there,--that +sail,--though she could not see it; how keen and far-seeing his +handsome, honest eyes were! She heaved a little sigh, and, calling Lucy +to her side, began to make her way homeward. But she kept her eyes on +the semaphore; it seemed to her the next thing to seeing him,--this man +she was beginning to love. She waited for the gaunt arms to move with +the signal of the vessel he had seen. But, strange to say, it was +motionless. He must have been mistaken. + +All this, however, was driven from her mind in the excitement that she +found on her return thrilling her own family. They had been warned that +a police boat with detectives on board had been dispatched from San +Francisco to the cove. Luckily, they had managed to convey the fugitive +Franti on board a coastwise schooner,--Cara started as she remembered +the one she had seen beating out of the Gate,--and he was now safe from +pursuit. Cara felt relieved; at the same time she felt a strange joy +at her heart, which sent the conscious blood to her cheek. She was not +thinking of the escaped Marco, but of Jarman. Later, when the police +boat arrived,--whether the detectives had been forewarned of Marco's +escape or not,--they contented themselves with a formal search of the +little fishing-hut and departed. But their boat remained lying off the +shore. + +That night Cara tossed sleeplessly on her bed; she was sorry she had +ever spoken of Marco to Jarman. It was unnecessary now; perhaps he +disbelieved her and thought she loved Marco; perhaps that was the reason +of his strange and abrupt leave-taking that afternoon. She longed for +the next day, she could tell him everything now. + +Towards morning she slept fitfully, but was awakened by the sound of +voices on the sands outside the hut. Its flimsy structure, already +warped by the fierce day-long sun, allowed her through chinks and +crevices not only to recognize the voices of the detectives, but to hear +distinctly what they said. Suddenly the name of Jarman struck upon her +ear. She sat upright in bed, breathless. + +“Are you sure it's the same man?” asked a second voice. + +“Perfectly,” answered the first. “He was tracked to 'Frisco, but +disappeared the day he landed. We knew from our agents that he never +left the bay. And when we found that somebody answering his description +got the post of telegraph operator out here, we knew that we had spotted +our man and the L250 sterling offered for his capture.” + +“But that was five months ago. Why didn't you take him then?” + +“Couldn't! For we couldn't hold him without the extradition papers from +Australia. We sent for 'em; they're due to-day or to-morrow on the mail +steamer.” + +“But he might have got away at any time?” + +“He couldn't without our knowing it. Don't you see? Every time the +signals went up, we in San Francisco knew he was at his post. We had him +safe, out here on these sandhills, as if he'd been under lock and key in +'Frisco. He was his own keeper, and reported to us.” + +“But since you're here and expect the papers to-morrow, why don't you +'cop' him now?” + +“Because there isn't a judge in San Francisco that would hold him +a moment unless he had those extradition papers before him. He'd be +discharged, and escape.” + +“Then what are you going to do?” + +“As soon as the steamer is signaled in 'Frisco, we'll board her in the +bay, get the papers, and drop down upon him.” + +“I see; and as HE'S the signal man, the darned fool”-- + +“Will give the signal himself.” + +The laugh that followed was so cruel that the young girl shuddered. But +the next moment she slipped from the bed, erect, pale, and determined. + +The voices seemed gradually to retreat. She dressed herself hurriedly, +and passed noiselessly through the room of her still sleeping parent, +and passed out. A gray fog was lifting slowly over the sands and sea, +and the police boat was gone. She no longer hesitated, but ran quickly +in the direction of Jarman's cabin. As she ran, her mind seemed to be +swept clear of all illusion and fancy; she saw plainly everything that +had happened; she knew the mystery of Jarman's presence here,--the +secret of his life,--the dreadful cruelty of her remark to him,--the man +that she knew now she loved. The sun was painting the black arms of the +semaphore as she toiled over the last stretch of sand and knocked +loudly at the door. There was no reply. She knocked again; the cabin was +silent. Had he already fled?--and without seeing her and knowing all! +She tried the handle of the door; it yielded; she stepped boldly into +the room, with his name upon her lips. He was lying fully dressed upon +his couch. She ran eagerly to his side and stopped. It needed only a +single glance at his congested face, his lips parted with his heavy +breath, to see that the man was hopelessly, helplessly drunk! + +Yet even then, without knowing that it was her thoughtless speech which +had driven him to seek this foolish oblivion of remorse and sorrow, +she saw only his HELPLESSNESS. She tried in vain to rouse him; he +only muttered a few incoherent words and sank back again. She looked +despairingly around. Something must be done; the steamer might be +visible at any moment. Ah, yes,--the telescope! She seized it and swept +the horizon. There was a faint streak of haze against the line of sea +and sky, abreast the Golden Gate. He had once told her what it meant. +It WAS the steamer! A sudden thought leaped into her clear and active +brain. If the police boat should chance to see that haze too, and saw +no warning signal from the semaphore, they would suspect something. That +signal must be made, BUT NOT THE RIGHT ONE! She remembered quickly +how he had explained to her the difference between the signals for a +coasting steamer and the one that brought the mails. At that distance +the police boat could not detect whether the semaphore's arms were +extended to perfect right angles for the mail steamer, or if the left +arm slightly deflected for a coasting steamer. She ran out to the +windlass and seized the crank. For a moment it defied her strength; she +redoubled her efforts: it began to creak and groan, the great arms were +slowly uplifted, and the signal made. + +But the familiar sounds of the moving machinery had pierced through +Jarman's sluggish consciousness as no other sound in heaven or earth +could have done, and awakened him to the one dominant sense he had +left,--the habit of duty. She heard him roll from the bed with an oath, +stumble to the door, and saw him dash forward with an affrighted face, +and plunge his head into a bucket of water. He emerged from it pale and +dripping, but with the full light of reason and consciousness in his +eyes. He started when he saw her; even then she would have fled, but he +caught her firmly by the wrist. + +Then with a hurried, trembling voice she told him all and everything. He +listened in silence, and only at the end raised her hand gravely to his +lips. + +“And now,” she added tremulously, “you must fly--quick--at once; or it +will be too late!” + +But Richard Jarman walked slowly to the door of his cabin, still holding +her hand, and said quietly, pointing to his only chair:-- + +“Sit down; we must talk first.” + +What they said was never known, but a few moments later they left the +cabin, Jarman carrying in a small bag all his possessions, and Cara +leaning on his arm. An hour later the priest of the Mission Dolores was +called upon to unite in matrimony a frank, honest-looking sailor and an +Italian gypsy-looking girl. There were many hasty unions in those days, +and the Holy Church was only too glad to be able to give them its +legal indorsement. But the good Padre was a little sorry for the honest +sailor, and gave the girl some serious advice. + +The San Francisco papers the next morning threw some dubious light upon +the matter in a paragraph headed, “Another Police Fiasco.” + +“We understand that the indefatigable police of San Francisco, after +ascertaining that Marco Franti, the noted gold-dust thief, was hiding on +the shore near the Presidio, proceeded there with great solemnity, and +arrived, as usual, a few hours after their man had escaped. But the +climax of incapacity was reached when, as it is alleged, the sweetheart +of the absconding Franti, and daughter of a brother fisherman, eloped +still later, and joined her lover under the very noses of the police. +The attempt of the detectives to excuse themselves at headquarters by +reporting that they were also on the track of an alleged escaped Sydney +Duck was received with the derision and skepticism it deserved, as it +seemed that these worthies mistook the mail steamer, which they should +have boarded to get certain extradition papers, for a coasting steamer.” + +***** + +It was not until four years later that Murano was delighted to recognize +in the husband of his long-lost daughter a very rich cattle-owner in +Southern California, called Jarman; but he never knew that he had been +an escaped convict from Sydney, who had lately received a full pardon +through the instrumentality of divers distinguished people in Australia. + + + + +AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + + +It is to be feared that the hero of this chronicle began life as an +impostor. He was offered to the credulous and sympathetic family of a +San Francisco citizen as a lamb, who, unless bought as a playmate +for the children, would inevitably pass into the butcher's hands. +A combination of refined sensibility and urban ignorance of nature +prevented them from discerning certain glaring facts that betrayed his +caprid origin. So a ribbon was duly tied round his neck, and in pleasing +emulation of the legendary “Mary,” he was taken to school by the +confiding children. Here, alas the fraud was discovered, and history was +reversed by his being turned out by the teacher, because he was NOT “a +lamb at school.” Nevertheless, the kind-hearted mother of the family +persisted in retaining him, on the plea that he might yet become +“useful.” To her husband's feeble suggestion of “gloves,” she returned +a scornful negative, and spoke of the weakly infant of a neighbor, who +might later receive nourishment from this providential animal. But even +this hope was destroyed by the eventual discovery of his sex. Nothing +remained now but to accept him as an ordinary kid, and to find amusement +in his accomplishments,--eating, climbing, and butting. It must be +confessed that these were of a superior quality; a capacity to eat +everything from a cambric handkerchief to an election poster, an +agility which brought him even to the roofs of houses, and a power of +overturning by a single push the chubbiest child who opposed him, made +him a fearful joy to the nursery. This last quality was incautiously +developed in him by a negro boy-servant, who, later, was hurriedly +propelled down a flight of stairs by his too proficient scholar. +Having once tasted victory, “Billy” needed no further incitement to his +performances. The small wagon which he sometimes consented to draw for +the benefit of the children never hindered his attempts to butt the +passer-by. On the contrary, on well-known scientific principles he added +the impact of the bodies of the children projected over his head in his +charge, and the infelicitous pedestrian found himself not only knocked +off his legs by Billy, but bombarded by the whole nursery. + +Delightful as was this recreation to juvenile limbs, it was felt to be +dangerous to the adult public. Indignant protestations were made, and +as Billy could not be kept in the house, he may be said to have at +last butted himself out of that sympathetic family and into a hard and +unfeeling world. One morning he broke his tether in the small back yard. +For several days thereafter he displayed himself in guilty freedom on +the tops of adjacent walls and outhouses. The San Francisco suburb +where his credulous protectors lived was still in a volcanic state +of disruption, caused by the grading of new streets through rocks and +sandhills. In consequence the roofs of some houses were on the level +of the doorsteps of others, and were especially adapted to Billy's +performances. One afternoon, to the admiring and perplexed eyes of the +nursery, he was discovered standing on the apex of a neighbor's new +Elizabethan chimney, on a space scarcely larger than the crown of a hat, +calmly surveying the world beneath him. High infantile voices appealed +to him in vain; baby arms were outstretched to him in hopeless +invitation; he remained exalted and obdurate, like Milton's hero, +probably by his own merit “raised to that bad eminence.” Indeed, there +was already something Satanic in his budding horns and pointed mask as +the smoke curled softly around him. Then he appropriately vanished, +and San Francisco knew him no more. At the same time, however, one Owen +M'Ginnis, a neighboring sandhill squatter, also disappeared, leaving San +Francisco for the southern mines, and he was said to have taken Billy +with him,--for no conceivable reason except for companionship. Howbeit, +it was the turning-point of Billy's career; such restraint as kindness, +civilization, or even policemen had exercised upon his nature was gone. +He retained, I fear, a certain wicked intelligence, picked up in San +Francisco with the newspapers and theatrical and election posters he +had consumed. He reappeared at Rocky Canyon among the miners as an +exceedingly agile chamois, with the low cunning of a satyr. That was all +that civilization had done for him! + +If Mr. M'Ginnis had fondly conceived that he would make Billy “useful,” + as well as companionable, he was singularly mistaken. Horses and mules +were scarce in Rocky Canyon, and he attempted to utilize Billy by making +him draw a small cart, laden with auriferous earth, from his claim to +the river. Billy, rapidly gaining strength, was quite equal to the task, +but alas! not his inborn propensity. An incautious gesture from the +first passing miner Billy chose to construe into the usual challenge. +Lowering his head, from which his budding horns had been already pruned +by his master, he instantly went for his challenger, cart and all. Again +the scientific law already pointed out prevailed. With the shock of +the onset the entire contents of the cart arose and poured over the +astonished miner, burying him from sight. In any other but a Californian +mining-camp such a propensity in a draught animal would have been +condemned, on account of the damage and suffering it entailed, but in +Rocky Canyon it proved unprofitable to the owner from the very +amusement and interest it excited. Miners lay in wait for Billy with +a “greenhorn,” or new-comer, whom they would put up to challenge the +animal by some indiscreet gesture. In this way hardly a cartload of +“pay-gravel” ever arrived safely at its destination, and the unfortunate +M'Ginnis was compelled to withdraw Billy as a beast of burden. It +was whispered that so great had his propensity become, under repeated +provocation, that M'Ginnis himself was no longer safe. Going ahead +of his cart one day to remove a fallen bough from the trail, Billy +construed the act of stooping into a playful challenge from his +master,--with the inevitable result. + +The next day M'Ginnis appeared with a wheelbarrow, but without Billy. +From that day he was relegated to the rocky crags above the camp, from +whence he was only lured occasionally by the mischievous miners, who +wished to exhibit his peculiar performances. For although Billy had +ample food and sustenance among the crags, he had still a civilized +longing for posters; and whenever a circus, a concert, or a political +meeting was “billed” in the settlement, he was on hand while the paste +was yet fresh and succulent. In this way it was averred that he +once removed a gigantic theatre bill setting forth the charms of the +“Sacramento Pet,” and being caught in the act by the advance agent, was +pursued through the main street, carrying the damp bill on his horns, +eventually affixing it, after his own peculiar fashion, on the back of +Judge Boompointer, who was standing in front of his own court-house. + +In connection with the visits of this young lady another story +concerning Billy survives in the legends of Rocky Canyon. Colonel +Starbottle was at that time passing through the settlement on election +business, and it was part of his chivalrous admiration for the sex to +pay a visit to the pretty actress. The single waiting-room of the little +hotel gave upon the veranda, which was also level with the street. After +a brief yet gallant interview, in which he oratorically expressed +the gratitude of the settlement with old-fashioned Southern courtesy, +Colonel Starbottle lifted the chubby little hand of the “Pet” to his +lips, and, with a low bow, backed out upon the veranda. But the Pet was +astounded by his instant reappearance, and by his apparently casting +himself passionately and hurriedly at her feet! It is needless to say +that he was followed closely by Billy, who from the street had casually +noticed him, and construed his novel exit into an ungentlemanly +challenge. + +Billy's visits, however, became less frequent, and as Rocky Canyon +underwent the changes incidental to mining settlements, he was presently +forgotten in the invasion of a few Southwestern families, and the +adoption of amusements less practical and turbulent than he had +afforded. It was alleged that he was still seen in the more secluded +fastnesses of the mountains, having reverted to a wild state, and it was +suggested by one or two of the more adventurous that he might yet become +edible, and a fair object of chase. A traveler through the Upper Pass of +the canyon related how he had seen a savage-looking, hairy animal like +a small elk perched upon inaccessible rocks, but always out of gunshot. +But these and other legends were set at naught and overthrown by an +unexpected incident. + +The Pioneer Coach was toiling up the long grade towards Skinners Pass +when Yuba Bill suddenly pulled up, with his feet on the brake. + +“Jimminy!” he ejaculated, drawing a deep breath. + +The startled passenger beside him on the box followed the direction of +his eyes. Through an opening in the wayside pines he could see, a few +hundred yards away, a cuplike hollow in the hillside of the vividest +green. In the centre a young girl of fifteen or sixteen was dancing and +keeping step to the castanet “click” of a pair of “bones,” such as negro +minstrels use, held in her hands above her head. But, more singular +still, a few paces before her a large goat, with its neck roughly +wreathed with flowers and vines, was taking ungainly bounds and leaps +in imitation of its companion. The wild background of the Sierras, the +pastoral hollow, the incongruousness of the figures, and the vivid color +of the girl's red flannel petticoat showing beneath her calico skirt, +that had been pinned around her waist, made a striking picture, which +by this time had attracted all eyes. Perhaps the dancing of the girl +suggested a negro “break-down” rather than any known sylvan measure; but +all this, and even the clatter of the bones, was made gracious by the +distance. + +“Esmeralda! by the living Harry!” shouted the excited passenger on the +box. + +Yuba Bill took his feet off the brake, and turned a look of deep scorn +upon his companion as he gathered the reins again. + +“It's that blanked goat, outer Rocky Canyon beyond, and Polly Harkness! +How did she ever come to take up with HIM?” + +Nevertheless, as soon as the coach reached Rocky Canyon, the story was +quickly told by the passengers, corroborated by Yuba Bill, and highly +colored by the observer on the box-seat. Harkness was known to be a +new-comer who lived with his wife and only daughter on the other side of +Skinners Pass. He was a “logger” and charcoal-burner, who had eaten his +way into the serried ranks of pines below the pass, and established in +these efforts an almost insurmountable cordon of fallen trees, stripped +bark, and charcoal pits around the clearing where his rude log +hut stood,--which kept his seclusion unbroken. He was said to be a +half-savage mountaineer from Georgia, in whose rude fastnesses he had +distilled unlawful whiskey, and that his tastes and habits unfitted him +for civilization. His wife chewed and smoked; he was believed to make a +fiery brew of his own from acorns and pine nuts; he seldom came to Rocky +Canyon except for provisions; his logs were slipped down a “shoot” or +slide to the river, where they voyaged once a month to a distant mill, +but HE did not accompany them. The daughter, seldom seen at Rocky +Canyon, was a half-grown girl, brown as autumn fern, wild-eyed, +disheveled, in a homespun skirt, sunbonnet, and boy's brogans. Such were +the plain facts which skeptical Rocky Canyon opposed to the passengers' +legends. Nevertheless, some of the younger miners found it not out of +their way to go over Skinners Pass on the journey to the river, but with +what success was not told. It was said, however, that a celebrated New +York artist, making a tour of California, was on the coach one day going +through the pass, and preserved the memory of what he saw there in a +well-known picture entitled “Dancing Nymph and Satyr,” said by competent +critics to be “replete with the study of Greek life.” This did not +affect Rocky Canyon, where the study of mythology was presumably +displaced by an experience of more wonderful flesh-and-blood people, but +later it was remembered with some significance. + +Among the improvements already noted, a zinc and wooden chapel had been +erected in the main street, where a certain popular revivalist preacher +of a peculiar Southwestern sect regularly held exhortatory services. His +rude emotional power over his ignorant fellow-sectarians was well known, +while curiosity drew others. His effect upon the females of his flock +was hysterical and sensational. Women prematurely aged by frontier +drudgery and child-bearing, girls who had known only the rigors and +pains of a half-equipped, ill-nourished youth in their battling with the +hard realities of nature around them, all found a strange fascination in +the extravagant glories and privileges of the unseen world he pictured +to them, which they might have found in the fairy tales and nursery +legends of civilized children, had they known them. Personally he was +not attractive; his thin pointed face, and bushy hair rising on +either side of his square forehead in two rounded knots, and his long, +straggling, wiry beard dropping from a strong neck and shoulders, +were indeed of a common Southwestern type; yet in him they suggested +something more. This was voiced by a miner who attended his first +service, and as the Reverend Mr. Withholder rose in the pulpit, the +former was heard to audibly ejaculate, “Dod blasted!--if it ain't +Billy!” But when on the following Sunday, to everybody's astonishment, +Polly Harkness, in a new white muslin frock and broad-brimmed Leghorn +hat, appeared before the church door with the real Billy, and exchanged +conversation with the preacher, the likeness was appalling. + +I grieve to say that the goat was at once christened by Rocky Canyon as +“The Reverend Billy,” and the minister himself was Billy's “brother.” + More than that, when an attempt was made by outsiders, during +the service, to inveigle the tethered goat into his old butting +performances, and he took not the least notice of their insults and +challenges, the epithet “blanked hypocrite” was added to his title. + +Had he really reformed? Had his pastoral life with his nymph-like +mistress completely cured him of his pugnacious propensity, or had +he simply found it was inconsistent with his dancing, and seriously +interfered with his “fancy steps”? Had he found tracts and hymn-books +were as edible as theatre posters? These were questions that Rocky +canyon discussed lightly, although there was always the more serious +mystery of the relations of the Reverend Mr. Withholder, Polly Harkness, +and the goat towards each other. The appearance of Polly at church was +no doubt due to the minister's active canvass of the districts. But had +he ever heard of Polly's dancing with the goat? And where in this plain, +angular, badly dressed Polly was hidden that beautiful vision of the +dancing nymph which had enthralled so many? And when had Billy ever +given any suggestion of his Terpsichorean abilities--before or since? +Were there any “points” of the kind to be discerned in him now? None! +Was it not more probable that the Reverend Mr. Withholder had himself +been dancing with Polly, and been mistaken for the goat? Passengers who +could have been so deceived with regard to Polly's beauty might have as +easily mistaken the minister for Billy. About this time another incident +occurred which increased the mystery. + +The only male in the settlement who apparently dissented from the +popular opinion regarding Polly was a new-comer, Jack Filgee. While +discrediting her performance with the goat,--which he had never +seen,--he was evidently greatly prepossessed with the girl herself. +Unfortunately, he was equally addicted to drinking, and as he was +exceedingly shy and timid when sober, and quite unpresentable at other +times, his wooing, if it could be so called, progressed but slowly. +Yet when he found that Polly went to church, he listened so far to the +exhortations of the Reverend Mr. Withholder as to promise to come +to “Bible class” immediately after the Sunday service. It was a hot +afternoon, and Jack, who had kept sober for two days, incautiously +fortified himself for the ordeal by taking a drink before arriving. He +was nervously early, and immediately took a seat in the empty church +near the open door. The quiet of the building, the drowsy buzzing of +flies, and perhaps the soporific effect of the liquor caused his eyes +to close and his head to fall forward on his breast repeatedly. He +was recovering himself for the fourth time when he suddenly received a +violent cuff on the ear, and was knocked backward off the bench on which +he was sitting. That was all he knew. + +He picked himself up with a certain dignity, partly new to him, and +partly the result of his condition, and staggered, somewhat bruised and +disheveled, to the nearest saloon. Here a few frequenters who had +seen him pass, who knew his errand and the devotion to Polly which had +induced it, exhibited a natural concern. + +“How's things down at the gospel shop?” said one. “Look as ef you'd been +wrastlin' with the Sperit, Jack!” + +“Old man must hev exhorted pow'ful,” said another, glancing at his +disordered Sunday attire. + +“Ain't be'n hevin' a row with Polly? I'm told she slings an awful left.” + +Jack, instead of replying, poured out a dram of whiskey, drank it, +and putting down his glass, leaned heavily against the counter as he +surveyed his questioners with a sorrow chastened by reproachful dignity. + +“I'm a stranger here, gentlemen,” he said slowly “ye've known me only a +little; but ez ye've seen me both blind drunk and sober, I reckon ye've +caught on to my gin'ral gait! Now I wanter put it to you, ez fair-minded +men, ef you ever saw me strike a parson?” + +“No,” said a chorus of sympathetic voices. The barkeeper, however, with +a swift recollection of Polly and the Reverend Withholder, and some +possible contingent jealousy in Jack, added prudently, “Not yet.” + +The chorus instantly added reflectively, “Well, no not yet.” + +“Did ye ever,” continued Jack solemnly, “know me to cuss, sass, +bully-rag, or say anything agin parsons, or the church?” + +“No,” said the crowd, overthrowing prudence in curiosity, “ye never +did,--we swear it! And now, what's up?” + +“I ain't what you call 'a member in good standin','” he went on, +artistically protracting his climax. “I ain't be'n convicted o' sin; +I ain't 'a meek an' lowly follower;' I ain't be'n exactly what I orter +be'n; I hevn't lived anywhere up to my lights; but is thet a reason why +a parson should strike me?” + +“Why? What? When did he? Who did?” asked the eager crowd, with one +voice. + +Jack then painfully related how he had been invited by the Reverend +Mr. Withholder to attend the Bible class. How he had arrived early, +and found the church empty. How he had taken a seat near the door to +be handy when the parson came. How he just felt “kinder kam and good,” + listenin' to the flies buzzing, and must have fallen asleep,--only he +pulled himself up every time,--though, after all, it warn't no crime to +fall asleep in an empty church! How “all of a suddent” the parson came +in, “give him a clip side o' the head,” and knocked him off the bench, +and left him there! + +“But what did he SAY?” queried the crowd. + +“Nuthin'. Afore I could get up, he got away.” + +“Are you sure it was him?” they asked. “You know you SAY you was +asleep.” + +“Am I sure?” repeated Jack scornfully. “Don't I know thet face and +beard? Didn't I feel it hangin' over me?” + +“What are you going to do about it?” continued the crowd eagerly. + +“Wait till he comes out--and you'll see,” said Jack, with dignity. + +This was enough for the crowd; they gathered excitedly at the door, +where Jack was already standing, looking towards the church. The moments +dragged slowly; it might be a long meeting. Suddenly the church door +opened and a figure appeared, looking up and down the street. Jack +colored--he recognized Polly--and stepped out into the road. The crowd +delicately, but somewhat disappointedly, drew back in the saloon. They +did not care to interfere in THAT sort of thing. + +Polly saw him, and came hurriedly towards him. She was holding something +in her hand. + +“I picked this up on the church floor,” she said shyly, “so I reckoned +you HAD be'n there,--though the parson said you hadn't,--and I just +excused myself and ran out to give it ye. It's yourn, ain't it?” + She held up a gold specimen pin, which he had put on in honor of the +occasion. “I had a harder time, though, to git this yer,--it's yourn +too,--for Billy was laying down in the yard, back o' the church, and +just comf'bly swallerin' it.” + +“Who?” said Jack quickly. + +“Billy,--my goat.” + +Jack drew a long breath, and glanced back at the saloon. “Ye ain't goin' +back to class now, are ye?” he said hurriedly. “Ef you ain't, I'll--I'll +see ye home.” + +“I don't mind,” said Polly demurely, “if it ain't takin' ye outer y'ur +way.” + +Jack offered his arm, and hurrying past the saloon, the happy pair were +soon on the road to Skinners Pass. + + +Jack did not, I regret to say, confess his blunder, but left the +Reverend Mr. Withholder to remain under suspicion of having committed an +unprovoked assault and battery. It was characteristic of Rocky Canyon, +however, that this suspicion, far from injuring his clerical reputation, +incited a respect that had been hitherto denied him. A man who could +hit out straight from the shoulder had, in the language of the critics, +“suthin' in him.” Oddly enough, the crowd that had at first sympathized +with Jack now began to admit provocations. His subsequent silence, a +disposition when questioned on the subject to smile inanely, and, later, +when insidiously asked if he had ever seen Polly dancing with the goat, +his bursting into uproarious laughter completely turned the current of +opinion against him. The public mind, however, soon became engrossed by +a more interesting incident. + +The Reverend Mr. Withholder had organized a series of Biblical tableaux +at Skinnerstown for the benefit of his church. Illustrations were to be +given of “Rebecca at the Well,” “The Finding of Moses,” “Joseph and +his Brethren;” but Rocky Canyon was more particularly excited by the +announcement that Polly Harkness would personate “Jephthah's Daughter.” + On the evening of the performance, however, it was found that this +tableau had been withdrawn and another substituted, for reasons not +given. Rocky Canyon, naturally indignant at this omission to represent +native talent, indulged in a hundred wild surmises. But it was generally +believed that Jack Filgee's revengeful animosity to the Reverend Mr. +Withholder was at the bottom of it. Jack, as usual, smiled inanely, but +nothing was to be got from him. It was not until a few days later, when +another incident crowned the climax of these mysteries, that a full +disclosure came from his lips. + +One morning a flaming poster was displayed at Rocky Canyon, with a +charming picture of the “Sacramento Pet” in the briefest of skirts, +disporting with a tambourine before a goat garlanded with flowers, who +bore, however, an undoubted likeness to Billy. The text in enormous +letters, and bristling with points of admiration, stated that the “Pet” + would appear as “Esmeralda,” assisted by a performing goat, especially +trained by the gifted actress. The goat would dance, play cards, and +perform those tricks of magic familiar to the readers of Victor Hugo's +beautiful story of the “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and finally knock +down and overthrow the designing seducer, Captain Phoebus. The marvelous +spectacle would be produced under the patronage of the Hon. Colonel +Starbottle and the Mayor of Skinnerstown. + +As all Rocky Canyon gathered open-mouthed around the poster, Jack +demurely joined the group. Every eye was turned upon him. + +“It don't look as if yer Polly was in THIS show, any more than she +was in the tablows,” said one, trying to conceal his curiosity under a +slight sneer. “She don't seem to be doin' any dancin'!” + +“She never DID any dancin',” said Jack, with a smile. + +“Never DID! Then what was all these yarns about her dancin' up at the +pass?” + +“It was the Sacramento Pet who did all the dancin'; Polly only LENT +the goat. Ye see, the Pet kinder took a shine to Billy arter he bowled +Starbottle over thet day at the hotel, and she thought she might teach +him tricks. So she DID, doing all her teachin' and stage-rehearsin' up +there at the pass, so's to be outer sight, and keep this thing dark. She +bribed Polly to lend her the goat and keep her secret, and Polly never +let on a word to anybody but me.” + +“Then it was the Pet that Yuba Bill saw dancin' from the coach?” + +“Yes.” + +“And that yer artist from New York painted as an 'Imp and Satire'?” + +“Yes.” + +“Then that's how Polly didn't show up in them tablows at Skinnerstown? +It was Withholder who kinder smelt a rat, eh? and found out it was only +a theayter gal all along that did the dancin'?” + +“Well, you see,” said Jack, with affected hesitation, “thet's another +yarn. I don't know mebbe ez I oughter tell it. Et ain't got anything +to do with this advertisement o' the Pet, and might be rough on old man +Withholder! Ye mustn't ask me, boys.” + +But there was that in his eye, and above all in this lazy +procrastination of the true humorist when he is approaching his climax, +which rendered the crowd clamorous and unappeasable. They WOULD have the +story! + +Seeing which, Jack leaned back against a rock with great gravity, put +his hands in his pockets, looked discontentedly at the ground, and +began: “You see, boys, old Parson Withholder had heard all these yarns +about Polly and thet trick-goat, and he kinder reckoned that she might +do for some one of his tablows. So he axed her if she'd mind standin' +with the goat and a tambourine for Jephthah's Daughter, at about the +time when old Jeph comes home, sailin' in and vowin' he'll kill the +first thing he sees,--jest as it is in the Bible story. Well, Polly +didn't like to say it wasn't HER that performed with the goat, but the +Pet, for thet would give the Pet dead away; so Polly agrees to come thar +with the goat and rehearse the tablow. Well, Polly's thar, a little +shy; and Billy,--you bet HE'S all there, and ready for the fun; but the +darned fool who plays Jephthah ain't worth shucks, and when HE comes +in he does nothin' but grin at Polly and seem skeert at the goat. This +makes old Withholder jest wild, and at last he goes on the platform +hisself to show them how the thing oughter be done. So he comes bustlin' +and prancin' in, and ketches sight o' Polly dancin' in with the goat to +welcome him; and then he clasps his hands--so--and drops on his knees, +and hangs down his head--so--and sez, 'Me chyld! me vow! Oh, +heavens!' But jest then Billy--who's gettin' rather tired o' all this +foolishness--kinder slues round on his hind legs, and ketches sight o' +the parson!” Jack paused a moment, and thrusting his hands still deeper +in his pockets, said lazily, “I don't know if you fellers have noticed +how much old Withholder looks like Billy?” + +There was a rapid and impatient chorus of “Yes! yes!” and “Go on!” + +“Well,” continued Jack, “when Billy sees Withholder kneelin' thar +with his head down, he gives a kind o' joyous leap and claps his hoofs +together, ez much ez to say, 'I'm on in this scene,' drops his own head, +and jest lights out for the parson!” + +“And butts him clean through the side scenes into the street,” + interrupted a delighted auditor. + +But Jack's face never changed. “Ye think so?” he said gravely. “But +thet's jest whar ye slip up; and thet's jest whar Billy slipped up!” he +added slowly. “Mebbe ye've noticed, too, thet the parson's built kinder +solid about the head and shoulders. It mought hev be'n thet, or thet +Billy didn't get a fair start, but thet goat went down on his fore legs +like a shot, and the parson gave one heave, and jest scooted him off the +platform! Then the parson reckoned thet this yer 'tablow' had better +be left out, as thar didn't seem to be any other man who could play +Jephthah, and it wasn't dignified for HIM to take the part. But the +parson allowed thet it might be a great moral lesson to Billy!” + +And it WAS, for from that moment Billy never attempted to butt again. +He performed with great docility later on in the Pet's engagement at +Skinnerstown; he played a distinguished role throughout the provinces; +he had had the advantages of Art from “the Pet,” and of Simplicity from +Polly, but only Rocky Canyon knew that his real education had come with +his first rehearsal with the Reverend Mr. Withholder. + + + + +DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + + +There was surprise and sometimes disappointment in Rough and Ready, when +it was known that Dick Spindler intended to give a “family” Christmas +party at his own house. That he should take an early opportunity to +celebrate his good fortune and show hospitality was only expected from +the man who had just made a handsome “strike” on his claim; but that it +should assume so conservative, old-fashioned, and respectable a form was +quite unlooked-for by Rough and Ready, and was thought by some a trifle +pretentious. There were not half-a-dozen families in Rough and Ready; +nobody ever knew before that Spindler had any relations, and this +“ringing in” of strangers to the settlement seemed to indicate at least +a lack of public spirit. “He might,” urged one of his critics, “hev +given the boys,--that had worked alongside o' him in the ditches by day, +and slung lies with him around the camp-fire by night,--he might hev +given them a square 'blow out,' and kep' the leavin's for his old +Spindler crew, just as other families do. Why, when old man Scudder had +his house-raisin' last year, his family lived for a week on what was +left over, arter the boys had waltzed through the house that night,--and +the Scudders warn't strangers, either.” It was also evident that there +was an uneasy feeling that Spindler's action indicated an unhallowed +leaning towards the minority of respectability and exclusiveness, and +a desertion--without the excuse of matrimony--of the convivial and +independent bachelor majority of Rough and Ready. + +“Ef he was stuck after some gal and was kinder looking ahead, I'd hev +understood it,” argued another critic. + +“Don't ye be too sure he ain't,” said Uncle Jim Starbuck gloomily. +“Ye'll find that some blamed woman is at the bottom of this yer 'family' +gathering. That and trouble ez almost all they're made for!” + +There happened to be some truth in this dark prophecy, but none of the +kind that the misogynist supposed. In fact, Spindler had called a +few evenings before at the house of the Rev. Mr. Saltover, and Mrs. +Saltover, having one of her “Saleratus headaches,” had turned him over +to her widow sister, Mrs. Huldy Price, who obediently bestowed upon +him that practical and critical attention which she divided with the +stocking she was darning. She was a woman of thirty-five, of singular +nerve and practical wisdom, who had once smuggled her wounded husband +home from a border affray, calmly made coffee for his deceived pursuers +while he lay hidden in the loft, walked four miles for that medical +assistance which arrived too late to save him, buried him secretly in +his own “quarter section,” with only one other witness and mourner, and +so saved her position and property in that wild community, who believed +he had fled. There was very little of this experience to be traced in +her round, fresh-colored brunette cheek, her calm black eyes, set in +a prickly hedge of stiff lashes, her plump figure, or her frank, +courageous laugh. The latter appeared as a smile when she welcomed Mr. +Spindler. “She hadn't seen him for a coon's age,” but “reckoned he was +busy fixin' up his new house.” + +“Well, yes,” said Spindler, with a slight hesitation, “ye see, I'm +reckonin' to hev a kinder Christmas gatherin' of my”--he was about to +say “folks,” but dismissed it for “relations,” and finally settled upon +“relatives” as being more correct in a preacher's house. + +Mrs. Price thought it a very good idea. Christmas was the natural season +for the family to gather to “see who's here and who's there, who's +gettin' on and who isn't, and who's dead and buried. It was lucky +for them who were so placed that they could do so and be joyful.” + Her invincible philosophy probably carried her past any dangerous +recollections of the lonely grave in Kansas, and holding up the stocking +to the light, she glanced cheerfully along its level to Mr. Spindler's +embarrassed face by the fire. + +“Well, I can't say much ez to that,” responded Spindler, still +awkwardly, “for you see I don't know much about it anyway.” + +“How long since you've seen 'em?” asked Mrs. Price, apparently +addressing herself to the stocking. + +Spindler gave a weak laugh. “Well, you see, ef it comes to that, I've +never seen 'em!” + +Mrs. Price put the stocking in her lap and opened her direct eyes +on Spindler. “Never seen 'em?” she repeated. “Then, they're not near +relations?” + +“There are three cousins,” said Spindler, checking them off on his +fingers, “a half-uncle, a kind of brother-in-law,--that is, the brother +of my sister-in-law's second husband,--and a niece. That's six.” + +“But if you've not seen them, I suppose they've corresponded with you?” + said Mrs. Price. + +“They've nearly all of 'em written to me for money, seeing my name +in the paper ez hevin' made a strike,” returned Spindler simply; “and +hevin' sent it, I jest know their addresses.” + +“Oh!” said Mrs. Price, returning to the stocking. + +Something in the tone of her ejaculation increased Spindler's +embarrassment, but it also made him desperate. “You see, Mrs. Price,” + he blurted out, “I oughter tell ye that I reckon they are the folks that +'hevn't got on,' don't you see, and so it seemed only the square thing +for me, ez had 'got on,' to give them a sort o' Christmas festival. +Suthin', don't ye know, like what your brother-in-law was sayin' last +Sunday in the pulpit about this yer peace and goodwill 'twixt man and +man.” + +Mrs. Price looked again at the man before her. His sallow, perplexed +face exhibited some doubt, yet a certain determination, regarding +the prospect the quotation had opened to him. “A very good idea, Mr. +Spindler, and one that does you great credit,” she said gravely. + +“I'm mighty glad to hear you say so, Mrs. Price,” he said, with an +accent of great relief, “for I reckoned to ask you a great favor! You +see,” he fell into his former hesitation, “that is--the fact is--that +this sort o' thing is rather suddent to me,--a little outer my line, +don't you see, and I was goin' to ask ye ef you'd mind takin' the hull +thing in hand and runnin it for me.” + +“Running it for you,” said Mrs. Price, with a quick eye-shot from under +the edge of her lashes. “Man alive! What are you thinking of?” + +“Bossin' the whole job for me,” hurried on Spindler, with nervous +desperation. “Gettin' together all the things and makin' ready for +'em,--orderin' in everythin' that's wanted, and fixin' up the rooms,--I +kin step out while you're doin' it,--and then helpin' me receivin' 'em, +and sittin' at the head o' the table, you know,--like ez ef you was the +mistress.” + +“But,” said Mrs. Price, with her frank laugh, “that's the duty of one of +your relations,--your niece, for instance,--or cousin, if one of them is +a woman.” + +“But,” persisted Spindler, “you see, they're strangers to me; I don't +know 'em, and I do you. You'd make it easy for 'em,--and for me,--don't +you see? Kinder introduce 'em,--don't you know? A woman of your gin'ral +experience would smooth down all them little difficulties,” continued +Spindler, with a vague recollection of the Kansas story, “and put +everybody on velvet. Don't say 'No,' Mrs. Price! I'm just kalkilatin' on +you.” + +Sincerity and persistency in a man goes a great way with even the best +of women. Mrs. Price, who had at first received Spindler's request as an +amusing originality, now began to incline secretly towards it. And, of +course, began to suggest objections. + +“I'm afraid it won't do,” she said thoughtfully, awakening to the fact +that it would do and could be done. “You see, I've promised to spend +Christmas at Sacramento with my nieces from Baltimore. And then there's +Mrs. Saltover and my sister to consult.” + +But here Spindler's simple face showed such signs of distress that the +widow declared she would “think it over,”--a process which the sanguine +Spindler seemed to consider so nearly akin to talking it over that Mrs. +Price began to believe it herself, as he hopefully departed. + +She “thought it over” sufficiently to go to Sacramento and excuse +herself to her nieces. But here she permitted herself to “talk it over,” + to the infinite delight of those Baltimore girls, who thought this +extravaganza of Spindler's “so Californian and eccentric!” So that it +was not strange that presently the news came back to Rough and Ready, +and his old associates learned for the first time that he had never seen +his relatives, and that they would be doubly strangers. This did not +increase his popularity; neither, I grieve to say, did the intelligence +that his relatives were probably poor, and that the Reverend Mr. +Saltover had approved of his course, and had likened it to the rich +man's feast, to which the halt and blind were invited. Indeed, the +allusion was supposed to add hypocrisy and a bid for popularity to +Spindler's defection, for it was argued that he might have feasted +“Wall-eyed Joe” or “Tangle-foot Billy,”--who had once been “chawed” by +a bear while prospecting,--if he had been sincere. Howbeit, Spindler's +faith was oblivious to these criticisms, in his joy at Mr. Saltover's +adhesion to his plans and the loan of Mrs. Price as a hostess. In +fact, he proposed to her that the invitation should also convey that +information in the expression, “by the kind permission of the Rev. Mr. +Saltover,” as a guarantee of good faith, but the widow would have none +of it. The invitations were duly written and dispatched. + +“Suppose,” suggested Spindler, with a sudden lugubrious +apprehension,--“suppose they shouldn't come?” + +“Have no fear of that,” said Mrs. Price, with a frank laugh. + +“Or ef they was dead,” continued Spindler. + +“They couldn't all be dead,” said the widow cheerfully. + +“I've written to another cousin by marriage,” said Spindler dubiously, +“in case of accident; I didn't think of him before, because he was +rich.” + +“And have you ever seen him either, Mr. Spindler?” asked the widow, with +a slight mischievousness. + +“Lordy! No!” he responded, with unaffected concern. + +Only one mistake was made by Mrs. Price in her arrangements for the +party. She had noticed what the simple-minded Spindler could never have +conceived,--the feeling towards him held by his old associates, and had +tactfully suggested that a general invitation should be extended to them +in the evening. + +“You can have refreshments, you know, too, after the dinner, and games +and music.” + +“But,” said the unsophisticated host, “won't the boys think I'm playing +it rather low down on them, so to speak, givin' 'em a kind o' second +table, as ef it was the tailings after a strike?” + +“Nonsense,” said Mrs. Price, with decision. “It's quite fashionable in +San Francisco, and just the thing to do.” + +To this decision Spindler, in his blind faith in the widow's management, +weakly yielded. An announcement in the “Weekly Banner” that, “On +Christmas evening Richard Spindler, Esq., proposed to entertain his +friends and fellow citizens at an 'at home,' in his own residence,” + not only widened the breach between him and the “boys,” but awakened an +active resentment that only waited for an outlet. It was understood that +they were all coming; but that they should have “some fun out of it” + which might not coincide with Spindler's nor his relatives' sense of +humor seemed a foregone conclusion. + +Unfortunately, too, subsequent events lent themselves to this irony of +the situation. + +He was so obviously sincere in his intent, and, above all, seemed to +place such a pathetic reliance on her judgment, that she hesitated to +let him know the shock his revelation had given her. And what might his +other relations prove to be? Good Lord! Yet, oddly enough, she was so +prepossessed by him, and so fascinated by his very Quixotism, that it +was perhaps for these complex reasons that she said a little stiffly:-- + +“One of these cousins, I see, is a lady, and then there is your niece. +Do you know anything about them, Mr. Spindler?” + +His face grew serious. “No more than I know of the others,” he said +apologetically. After a moment's hesitation he went on: “Now you speak +of it, it seems to me I've heard that my niece was di-vorced. But,” he +added, brightening up, “I've heard that she was popular.” + +Mrs. Price gave a short laugh, and was silent for a few minutes. Then +this sublime little woman looked up at him. What he might have seen in +her eyes was more than he expected, or, I fear, deserved. “Cheer up, Mr. +Spindler,” she said manfully. “I'll see you through this thing, don't +you mind! But don't you say anything about--about--this Vigilance +Committee business to anybody. Nor about your niece--it was your niece, +wasn't it?--being divorced. Charley (the late Mr. Price) had a queer +sort of sister, who--but that's neither here nor there! And your niece +mayn't come, you know; or if she does, you ain't bound to bring her out +to the general company.” + +At parting, Spindler, in sheer gratefulness, pressed her hand, and +lingered so long over it that a little color sprang into the widow's +brown cheek. Perhaps a fresh courage sprang into her heart, too, for +she went to Sacramento the next day, previously enjoining Spindler on no +account to show any answers he might receive. At Sacramento her nieces +flew to her with confidences. + +“We so wanted to see you, Aunt Huldy, for we've heard something so +delightful about your funny Christmas Party!” Mrs. Price's heart sank, +but her eyes snapped. “Only think of it! One of Mr. Spindler's long-lost +relatives--a Mr. Wragg--lives in this hotel, and papa knows him. He's +a sort of half-uncle, I believe, and he's just furious that Spindler +should have invited him. He showed papa the letter; said it was +the greatest piece of insolence in the world; that Spindler was an +ostentatious fool, who had made a little money and wanted to use him +to get into society; and the fun of the whole thing was that this +half-uncle and whole brute is himself a parvenu,--a vulgar, ostentatious +creature, who was only a”-- + +“Never mind what he was, Kate,” interrupted Mrs. Price hastily. “I call +his conduct a shame.” + +“So do we,” said both girls eagerly. After a pause Kate clasped her +knees with her locked fingers, and rocking backwards and forwards, said, +“Milly and I have got an idea, and don't you say 'No' to it. We've had +it ever since that brute talked in that way. Now, through him, we know +more about this Mr. Spindler's family connections than you do; and we +know all the trouble you and he'll have in getting up this party. You +understand? Now, we first want to know what Spindler's like. Is he a +savage, bearded creature, like the miners we saw on the boat?” + +Mrs. Price said that, on the contrary, he was very gentle, soft-spoken, +and rather good-looking. + +“Young or old?” + +“Young,--in fact, a mere boy, as you may judge from his actions,” + returned Mrs. Price, with a suggestive matronly air. + +Kate here put up a long-handled eyeglass to her fine gray eyes, fitted +it ostentatiously over her aquiline nose, and then said, in a voice of +simulated horror, “Aunt Huldy,--this revelation is shocking!” + +Mrs. Price laughed her usual frank laugh, albeit her brown cheek took +upon it a faint tint of Indian red. “If that's the wonderful idea you +girls have got, I don't see how it's going to help matters,” she said +dryly. + +“No, that's not it? We really have an idea. Now look here.” + +Mrs. Price “looked here.” This process seemed to the superficial +observer to be merely submitting her waist and shoulders to the arms of +her nieces, and her ears to their confidential and coaxing voices. + +Twice she said “it couldn't be thought of,” and “it was impossible;” + once addressed Kate as “You limb!” and finally said that she “wouldn't +promise, but might write!” + +***** + +It was two days before Christmas. There was nothing in the air, sky, +or landscape of that Sierran slope to suggest the season to the Eastern +stranger. A soft rain had been dropping for a week on laurel, pine, and +buckeye, and the blades of springing grasses and shyly opening flowers. +Sedate and silent hillsides that had grown dumb and parched towards the +end of the dry season became gently articulate again; there were murmurs +in hushed and forgotten canyons, the leap and laugh of water among the +dry bones of dusty creeks, and the full song of the larger forks and +rivers. Southwest winds brought the warm odor of the pine sap swelling +in the forest, or the faint, far-off spice of wild mustard springing +in the lower valleys. But, as if by some irony of Nature, this gentle +invasion of spring in the wild wood brought only disturbance and +discomfort to the haunts and works of man. The ditches were overflowed, +the fords of the Fork impassable, the sluicing adrift, and the trails +and wagon roads to Rough and Ready knee-deep in mud. The stage-coach +from Sacramento, entering the settlement by the mountain highway, its +wheels and panels clogged and crusted with an unctuous pigment like mud +and blood, passed out of it through the overflowed and dangerous ford, +and emerged in spotless purity, leaving its stains behind with Rough +and Ready. A week of enforced idleness on the river “Bar” had driven +the miners to the more comfortable recreation of the saloon bar, its +mirrors, its florid paintings, its armchairs, and its stove. The steam +of their wet boots and the smoke of their pipes hung over the latter +like the sacrificial incense from an altar. But the attitude of the men +was more critical and censorious than contented, and showed little of +the gentleness of the weather or season. + +“Did you hear if the stage brought down any more relations of +Spindler's?” + +The barkeeper, to whom this question was addressed, shifted his lounging +position against the bar and said, “I reckon not, ez far ez I know.” + +“And that old bloat of a second cousin--that crimson beak--what kem +down yesterday,--he ain't bin hangin' round here today for his reg'lar +pizon?” + +“No,” said the barkeeper thoughtfully, “I reckon Spindler's got him +locked up, and is settin' on him to keep him sober till after Christmas, +and prevent you boys gettin' at him.” + +“He'll have the jimjams before that,” returned the first speaker; “and +how about that dead beat of a half-nephew who borrowed twenty dollars of +Yuba Bill on the way down, and then wanted to get off at Shootersvilie, +but Bill wouldn't let him, and scooted him down to Spindler's and +collected the money from Spindler himself afore he'd give him up?” + +“He's up thar with the rest of the menagerie,” said the barkeeper, “but +I reckon that Mrs. Price hez bin feedin' him up. And ye know the old +woman--that fifty-fifth cousin by marriage--whom Joe Chandler swears he +remembers ez an old cook for a Chinese restaurant in Stockton,--darn my +skin ef that Mrs. Price hasn't rigged her out in some fancy duds of her +own, and made her look quite decent.” + +A deep groan here broke from Uncle Jim Starbuck. + +“Didn't I tell ye?” he said, turning appealingly to the others. “It's +that darned widow that's at the bottom of it all! She first put Spindler +up to givin' the party, and now, darn my skin, ef she ain't goin to fix +up these ragamuffins and drill 'em so we can't get any fun outer 'em +after all! And it's bein' a woman that's bossin' the job, and not +Spindler, we've got to draw things mighty fine and not cut up too rough, +or some of the boys will kick.” + +“You bet,” said a surly but decided voice in the crowd. + +“And,” said another voice, “Mrs. Price didn't live in 'Bleeding Kansas' +for nothing.” + +“Wot's the programme you've settled on, Uncle Jim?” said the barkeeper +lightly, to check what seemed to promise a dangerous discussion. + +“Well,” said Starbuck, “we kalkilate to gather early Christmas night in +Hooper's Hollow and rig ourselves up Injun fashion, and then start for +Spindler's with pitch-pine torches, and have a 'torchlight dance' around +the house; them who does the dancin' and yellin' outside takin' their +turn at goin' in and hevin' refreshment. Jake Cooledge, of Boston, sez +if anybody objects to it, we've only got to say we're 'Mummers of the +Olden Times,' sabe? Then, later, we'll have 'Them Sabbath Evening Bells' +performed on prospectin' pans by the band. Then, at the finish, Jake +Cooledge is goin' to give one of his surkastic speeches,--kinder +welcomin' Spindler's family to the Free Openin' o' Spindler's Almshouse +and Reformatory.” He paused, possibly for that approbation which, +however, did not seem to come spontaneously. “It ain't much,” he added +apologetically, “for we're hampered by women; but we'll add to the +programme ez we see how things pan out. Ye see, from what we can hear, +all of Spindler's relations ain't on hand yet! We've got to wait, like +in elckshun times, for 'returns from the back counties.' Hello! What's +that?” + +It was the swish and splutter of hoofs on the road before the door. The +Sacramento coach! In an instant every man was expectant, and Starbuck +darted outside on the platform. Then there was the usual greeting and +bustle, the hurried ingress of thirsty passengers into the saloon, and a +pause. Uncle Jim returned, excitedly and pantingly. “Look yer, boys! Ef +this ain't the richest thing out! They say there's two more relations o' +Spindler's on the coach, come down as express freight, consigned,--d'ye +hear?--consigned to Spindler!” + +“Stiffs, in coffins?” suggested an eager voice. + +“I didn't get to hear more. But here they are.” + +There was the sudden irruption of a laughing, curious crowd into the +bar-room, led by Yuba Bill, the driver. Then the crowd parted, and +out of their midst stepped two children, a boy and a girl, the oldest +apparently of not more than six years, holding each other's hands. They +were coarsely yet cleanly dressed, and with a certain uniform precision +that suggested formal charity. But more remarkable than all, around the +neck of each was a little steel chain, from which depended the regular +check and label of the powerful Express Company, Wells; Fargo & Co., and +the words: “To Richard Spindler.” “Fragile.” “With great care.” “Collect +on delivery.” Occasionally their little hands went up automatically and +touched their labels, as if to show them. They surveyed the crowd, the +floor, the gilded bar, and Yuba Bill without fear and without wonder. +There was a pathetic suggestion that they were accustomed to this +observation. + +“Now, Bobby,” said Yuba Bill, leaning back against the bar, with an air +half-paternal, half-managerial, “tell these gents how you came here.” + +“By Wellth, Fargoth Expreth,” lisped Bobby. + +“Whar from?” + +“Wed Hill, Owegon.” + +“Red Hill, Oregon? Why, it's a thousand miles from here,” said a +bystander. + +“I reckon,” said Yuba Bill coolly, “they kem by stage to Portland, by +steamer to 'Frisco, steamer again to Stockton, and then by stage over +the whole line. Allers by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, from agent to +agent, and from messenger to messenger. Fact! They ain't bin tetched or +handled by any one but the Kempany's agents; they ain't had a line or +direction except them checks around their necks! And they've wanted for +nothin' else. Why, I've carried heaps o' treasure before, gentlemen, +and once a hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks, but I never carried +anythin' that was watched and guarded as them kids! Why, the division +inspector at Stockton wanted to go with 'em over the line; but Jim +Bracy, the messenger, said he'd call it a reflection on himself and +resign, ef they didn't give 'em to him with the other packages! Ye had a +pretty good time, Bobby, didn't ye? Plenty to eat and drink, eh?” + +The two children laughed a little weak laugh, turned each other +bashfully around, and then looked up shyly at Yuba Bill and said, +“Yeth.” + +“Do you know where you are goin'?” asked Starbuck, in a constrained +voice. + +It was the little girl who answered quickly and eagerly:-- + +“Yes, to Krissmass and Sandy Claus.” + +“To what?” asked Starbuck. + +Here the boy interposed with a superior air:-- + +“Thee meanth Couthin Dick. He'th got Krithmath.” + +“Where's your mother?” + +“Dead.” + +“And your father?” + +“In orthpittal.” + +There was a laugh somewhere on the outskirts of the crowd. Every one +faced angrily in that direction, but the laugher had disappeared. Yuba +Bill, however, sent his voice after him. “Yes, in hospital! Funny, ain't +it?--amoosin' place! Try it. Step over here, and in five minutes, by the +living Hoky, I'll qualify you for admission, and not charge you a cent!” + He stopped, gave a sweeping glance of dissatisfaction around him, and +then, leaning back against the bar, beckoned to some one near the door, +and said in a disgusted tone, “You tell these galoots how it happened, +Bracy. They make me sick!” + +Thus appealed to, Bracy, the express messenger, stepped forward in Yuba +Bill's place. + +“It's nothing particular, gentlemen,” he said, with a laugh, “only +it seems that some man called Spindler, who lives about here, sent an +invitation to the father of these children to bring his family to a +Christmas party. It wasn't a bad sort of thing for Spindler to do, +considering that they were his poor relations, though they didn't know +him from Adam,--was it?” He paused; several of the bystanders cleared +their throats, but said nothing. “At least,” resumed Bracy, “that's what +the boys up at Red Hill, Oregon, thought, when they heard of it. Well, +as the father was in hospital with a broken leg, and the mother only a +few weeks dead, the boys thought it mighty rough on these poor kids if +they were done out of their fun because they had no one to bring them. +The boys couldn't afford to go themselves, but they got a little money +together, and then got the idea of sendin' 'em by express. Our agent at +Red Hill tumbled to the idea at once; but he wouldn't take any money in +advance, and said he would send 'em 'C. O. D.' like any other package. +And he did, and here they are! That's all! And now, gentlemen, as I've +got to deliver them personally to this Spindler, and get his receipt and +take off their checks, I reckon we must toddle. Come, Bill, help take +'em up!” + +“Hold on!” said a dozen voices. A dozen hands were thrust into a dozen +pockets; I grieve to say some were regretfully withdrawn empty, for it +was a hard season in Rough and Ready. But the expressman stepped before +them, with warning, uplifted hand. + +“Not a cent, boys,--not a cent! Wells, Fargo's Express Company don't +undertake to carry bullion with those kids, at least on the same +contract!” He laughed, and then looking around him, said confidentially +in a lower voice, which, however, was quite audible to the children, +“There's as much as three bags of silver in quarter and half dollars in +my treasure box in the coach that has been poured, yes, just showered +upon them, ever since they started, and have been passed over from agent +to agent and messenger to messenger,--enough to pay their passage from +here to China! It's time to say quits now. But bet your life, they are +not going to that Christmas party poor!” + +He caught up the boy, as Yuba Bill lifted the little girl to his +shoulder, and both passed out. Then one by one the loungers in the +bar-room silently and awkwardly followed, and when the barkeeper turned +back from putting away his decanters and glasses, to his astonishment +the room was empty. + +***** + +Spindler's house, or “Spindler's Splurge,” as Rough and Ready chose to +call it, stood above the settlement, on a deforested hillside, which, +however, revenged itself by producing not enough vegetation to cover +even the few stumps that were ineradicable. A large wooden structure +in the pseudo-classic style affected by Westerners, with an incongruous +cupola, it was oddly enough relieved by a still more incongruous veranda +extending around its four sides, upheld by wooden Doric columns, which +were already picturesquely covered with flowering vines and sun-loving +roses. Mr. Spindler had trusted the furnishing of its interior to the +same contractor who had upholstered the gilded bar-room of the Eureka +Saloon, and who had apparently bestowed the same design and material, +impartially, on each. There were gilded mirrors all over the house and +chilly marble-topped tables, gilt plaster Cupids in the corners, and +stuccoed lions “in the way” everywhere. The tactful hands of Mrs. Price +had screened some of these with seasonable laurels, fir boughs, and +berries, and had imparted a slight Christmas flavor to the house. But +the greater part of her time had been employed in trying to subdue the +eccentricities of Spindler's amazing relations; in tranquilizing Mrs. +“Aunt” Martha Spindler,--the elderly cook before alluded to,--who was +inclined to regard the gilded splendors of the house as indicative +of dangerous immorality; in restraining “Cousin” Morley Hewlett +from considering the dining-room buffet as a bar for “intermittent +refreshment;” and in keeping the weak-minded nephew, Phinney Spindler, +from shooting at bottles from the veranda, wearing his uncle's clothes, +or running up an account in his uncle's name for various articles at +the general stores. Yet the unlooked-for arrival of the two children had +been the one great compensation and diversion for her. She wrote at once +to her nieces a brief account of her miraculous deliverance. “I think +these poor children dropped from the skies here to make our Christmas +party possible, to say nothing of the sympathy they have created in +Rough and Ready for Spindler. He is going to keep them as long as +he can, and is writing to the father. Think of the poor little tots +traveling a thousand miles to 'Krissmass,' as they call it!--though they +were so well cared for by the messengers that their little bodies were +positively stuffed like quails. So, you see, dear, we will be able to +get along without airing your famous idea. I'm sorry, for I know you're +just dying to see it all.” + +Whatever Kate's “idea” might have been, there certainly seemed now no +need of any extraneous aid to Mrs. Price's management. Christmas came at +last, and the dinner passed off without serious disaster. But the ordeal +of the reception of Rough and Ready was still to come. For Mrs. Price +well knew that although “the boys” were more subdued, and, indeed, +inclined to sympathize with their host's uncouth endeavor, there was +still much in the aspect of Spindler's relations to excite their sense +of the ludicrous. + +But here Fortune again favored the house of Spindler with a dramatic +surprise, even greater than the advent of the children had been. In the +change that had come over Rough and Ready, “the boys” had decided, out +of deference to the women and children, to omit the first part of their +programme, and had approached and entered the house as soberly and +quietly as ordinary guests. But before they had shaken hands with the +host and hostess, and seen the relations, the clatter of wheels was +heard before the open door, and its lights flashed upon a carriage and +pair,--an actual private carriage,--the like of which had not been seen +since the governor of the State had come down to open the new ditch! +Then there was a pause, the flash of the carriage lamps upon white silk, +the light tread of a satin foot on the veranda and in the hall, and the +entrance of a vision of loveliness! Middle-aged men and old dwellers +of cities remembered their youth; younger men bethought themselves of +Cinderella and the Prince! There was a thrill and a hush as this last +guest--a beautiful girl, radiant with youth and adornment--put a dainty +glass to her sparkling eye and advanced familiarly, with outstretched +hand, to Dick Spindler. Mrs. Price gave a single gasp, and drew back +speechless. + +“Uncle Dick,” said a laughing contralto voice, which, indeed, somewhat +recalled Mrs. Price's own, in its courageous frankness, “I am so +delighted to come, even if a little late, and so sorry that Mr. M'Kenna +could not come on account of business.” + +Everybody listened eagerly, but none more eagerly and surprisingly than +the host himself. M'Kenna! The rich cousin who had never answered the +invitation! And Uncle Dick! This, then, was his divorced niece! Yet even +in his astonishment he remembered that of course no one but himself and +Mrs. Price knew it,--and that lady had glanced discreetly away. + +“Yes,” continued the half-niece brightly. “I came from Sacramento with +some friends to Shootersville, and from thence I drove here; and though +I must return to-night, I could not forego the pleasure of coming, if +it was only for an hour or two, to answer the invitation of the uncle I +have not seen for years.” She paused, and, raising her glasses, turned a +politely questioning eye towards Mrs. Price. “One of our relations?” she +said smilingly to Spindler. + +“No,” said Spindler, with some embarrassment, “a--a friend!” + +The half-niece extended her hand. Mrs. Price took it. + +But the fair stranger,--what she did and said were the only things +remembered in Rough and Ready on that festive occasion; no one thought +of the other relations; no one recalled them nor their eccentricities; +Spindler himself was forgotten. People only recollected how Spindler's +lovely niece lavished her smiles and courtesies on every one, and +brought to her feet particularly the misogynist Starbuck and the +sarcastic Cooledge, oblivious of his previous speech; how she sat at +the piano and sang like an angel, hushing the most hilarious and excited +into sentimental and even maudlin silence; how, graceful as a nymph, she +led with “Uncle Dick” a Virginia reel until the whole assembly joined, +eager for a passing touch of her dainty hand in its changes; how, when +two hours had passed,--all too swiftly for the guests,--they stood with +bared heads and glistening eyes on the veranda to see the fairy coach +whirl the fairy princess away! How--but this incident was never known to +Rough and Ready. + +It happened in the sacred dressing-room, where Mrs. Price was cloaking +with her own hands the departing half-niece of Mr. Spindler. Taking that +opportunity to seize the lovely relative by the shoulders and shake her +violently, she said: “Oh, yes, and it's all very well for you, Kate, you +limb! For you're going away, and will never see Rough and Ready and poor +Spindler again. But what am I to do, miss? How am I to face it out? +For you know I've got to tell him at least that you're no half-niece of +his!” + +“Have you?” said the young lady. + +“Have I?” repeated the widow impatiently. “Have I? Of course I have! +What are you thinking of?” + +“I was thinking, aunty,” said the girl audaciously, “that from what +I've seen and heard to-night, if I'm not his half-niece now, it's only a +question of time! So you'd better wait. Good-night, dear.” + +And, really,--it turned out that she was right! + + + + +WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT “JULES'” + + +When the waters were up at “Jules'” there was little else up on that +monotonous level. For the few inhabitants who calmly and methodically +moved to higher ground, camping out in tents until the flood +had subsided, left no distracting wreckage behind them. A dozen +half-submerged log cabins dotted the tranquil surface of the waters, +without ripple or disturbance, looking in the moonlight more like the +ruins of centuries than of a few days. There was no current to sap their +slight foundations or sweep them away; nothing stirred that silent lake +but the occasional shot-like indentations of a passing raindrop, or, +still more rarely, a raft, made of a single log, propelled by some +citizen on a tour of inspection of his cabin roof-tree, where some of +his goods were still stored. There was no sense of terror in this bland +obliteration of the little settlement; the ruins of a single burnt-up +cabin would have been more impressive than this stupid and even +grotesquely placid effect of the rival destroying element. People took +it naturally; the water went as it had come,--slowly, impassively, +noiselessly; a few days of fervid Californian sunshine dried the cabins, +and in a week or two the red dust lay again as thickly before their +doors as the winter mud had lain. The waters of Rattlesnake Creek +dropped below its banks, the stage-coach from Marysville no longer made +a detour of the settlement. There was even a singular compensation to +this amicable invasion; the inhabitants sometimes found gold in those +breaches in the banks made by the overflow. To wait for the “old +Rattlesnake sluicing” was a vernal hope of the trusting miner. + +The history of “Jules',” however, was once destined to offer a singular +interruption of this peaceful and methodical process. The winter of +1859-60 was an exceptional one. But little rain had fallen in the +valleys, although the snow lay deep in the high Sierras. Passes were +choked, ravines filled, and glaciers found on their slopes. And when the +tardy rains came with the withheld southwesterly “trades,” the regular +phenomenon recurred; Jules' Flat silently, noiselessly, and peacefully +went under water; the inhabitants moved to the higher ground, perhaps +a little more expeditiously from an impatience born of the delay. The +stagecoach from Marysville made its usual detour and stopped before the +temporary hotel, express offices, and general store of “Jules',” under +canvas, bark, and the limp leaves of a spreading alder. It deposited a +single passenger,--Miles Hemmingway, of San Francisco, but originally of +Boston,--the young secretary of a mining company, dispatched to report +upon the alleged auriferous value of “Jules'.” Of this he had been by +no means impressed as he looked down upon the submerged cabins from the +box-seat of the coach and listened to the driver's lazy recital of +the flood, and of the singularly patient acceptance of it by the +inhabitants. + +It was the old story of the southwestern miner's indolence and +incompetency,--utterly distasteful to his northern habits of thought +and education. Here was their old fatuous endurance of Nature's wild +caprices, without that struggle against them which brought others +strength and success; here was the old philosophy which accepted the +prairie fire and cyclone, and survived them without advancement, +yet without repining. Perhaps in different places and surroundings a +submission so stoic might have impressed him; in gentlemen who tucked +their dirty trousers in their muddy boots and lived only for the gold +they dug, it did not seem to him heroic. Nor was he mollified as +he stood beside the rude refreshment bar--a few planks laid on +trestles--and drank his coffee beneath the dripping canvas roof, with an +odd recollection of his boyhood and an inclement Sunday-school picnic. +Yet these men had been living in this shiftless fashion for three weeks! +It exasperated him still more to think that he might have to wait there +a few days longer for the water to subside sufficiently for him to make +his examination and report. As he took a proffered seat on a candle-box, +which tilted under him, and another survey of the feeble makeshifts +around him, his irascibility found vent. + +“Why, in the name of God, didn't you, after you had been flooded out +ONCE, build your cabins PERMANENTLY on higher ground?” + +Although the tone of his voice was more disturbing than his question, it +pleased one of the loungers to affect to take it literally. + +“Well, ez you've put it that way,--'in the name of God!'”--returned the +man lazily, “it mout hev struck us that ez HE was bossin' the job, so +to speak, and handlin' things round here generally, we might leave it to +Him. It wasn't OUR flood to monkey with.” + +“And as He didn't coven-ant, so to speak, to look arter this higher +ground 'speshally, and make an Ararat of it for us, ez far ez we +could see, we didn't see any reason for SETTLIN' yer,” put in a second +speaker, with equal laziness. + +The secretary saw his mistake instantly, and had experience enough +of Western humor not to prolong the disadvantage of his unfortunate +adjuration. He colored slightly and said, with a smile, “You know what +I mean; you could have protected yourselves better. A levee on the bank +would have kept you clear of the highest watermark.” + +“Hey you ever heard WHAT the highest watermark was?” said the first +speaker, turning to another of the loungers without looking at the +secretary. + +“Never heard it,--didn't know there was a limit before,” responded the +man. + +The first speaker turned back to the secretary. “Did you ever know what +happened at 'Bulger's,' on the North Fork? They had one o' them levees.” + +“No. What happened?” asked the secretary impatiently. + +“They was fixed suthin' like us,” returned the first speaker. “THEY +allowed they'd build a levee above THEIR highest watermark, and did. It +worked like a charm at first; but the water hed to go somewhere, and it +kinder collected at the first bend. Then it sorter raised itself on its +elbows one day, and looked over the levee down upon whar some of the +boys was washin' quite comf'ble. Then it paid no sorter attention to the +limit o' that high watermark, but went six inches better! Not slow and +quiet like ez it useter to, ez it does HERE, kinder fillin' up from +below, but went over with a rush and a current, hevin' of course the +whole height of the levee to fall on t'other side where the boys were +sluicing.” He paused, and amidst a profound silence added, “They say +that 'Bulger's' was scattered promiscuous-like all along the fort for +five miles. I only know that one of his mules and a section of sluicing +was picked up at Red Flat, eight miles away!” + +Mr. Hemmingway felt that there WAS an answer to this, but, being wise, +also felt that it would be unavailing. He smiled politely and said +nothing, at which the first speaker turned to him:-- + +“Thar ain't anything to see to-day, but to-morrow, ez things go, the +water oughter be droppin'. Mebbe you'd like to wash up now and clean +yourself,” he added, with a glance at Hemmingway's small portmanteau. +“Ez we thought you'd likely be crowded here, we've rigged up a corner +for you at Stanton's shanty with the women.” + +The young man's cheek flushed slightly at some possible irony in this, +and he protested with considerable stress that he was quite ready “to +rough it” where he was. + +“I reckon it's already fixed,” returned the man decisively, “so you'd +better come and I'll show you the way.” + +“One moment,” said Hemmingway, with a smile; “my credentials are +addressed to the manager of the Boone Ditch Company at 'Jules'.' Perhaps +I ought to see him first.” + +“All right; he's Stanton.” + +“And”--hesitated the secretary, “YOU, who appear to understand the +locality so well,--I trust I may have the pleasure”-- + +“Oh, I'm Jules.” + +The secretary was a little startled and amused. So “Jules” was a person, +and not a place! + +“Then you're a pioneer?” asked Hemmingway, a little less dictatorially, +as they passed out under the dripping trees. + +“I struck this creek in the fall of '49, comin' over Livermore's +Pass with Stanton,” returned Jules, with great brevity of speech and +deliberate tardiness of delivery. “Sent for my wife and two children the +next year; wife died same winter, change bein' too sudden for her, and +contractin' chills and fever at Sweetwater. When I kem here first thar +wasn't six inches o' water in the creek; out there was a heap of it over +there where you see them yallowish-green patches and strips o' brush +and grass; all that war water then, and all that growth hez sprung up +since.” + +Hemmingway looked around him. The “higher ground” where they stood was +in reality only a mound-like elevation above the dead level of the flat, +and the few trees were merely recent young willows and alders. The area +of actual depression was much greater than he had imagined, and its +resemblance to the bed of some prehistoric inland sea struck him +forcibly. A previous larger inundation than Jules' brief experience had +ever known had been by no means improbable. His cheek reddened at his +previous hasty indictment of the settlers' ignorance and shiftlessness, +and the thought that he had probably committed his employers to his +own rash confidence and superiority of judgment. However, there was no +evidence that this diluvial record was not of the remote past. He smiled +again with greater security as he thought of the geological changes that +had since tempered these cataclysms, and the amelioration brought by +settlement and cultivation. Nevertheless, he would make a thorough +examination to-morrow. + +Stanton's cabin was the furthest of these temporary habitations, and +was partly on the declivity which began to slope to the river's bank. It +was, like the others, a rough shanty of unplaned boards, but, unlike the +others, it had a base of logs laid lengthwise on the ground and parallel +with each other, on which the flooring and structure were securely +fastened. This gave it the appearance of a box slid on runners, or a +Noah's Ark whose bulk had been reduced. Jules explained that the logs, +laid in that manner, kept the shanty warmer and free from damp. In reply +to Hemmingway's suggestion that it was a great waste of material, Jules +simply replied that the logs were the “flotsam and jetsam” of the creek +from the overflowed mills below. + +Hemmingway again smiled. It was again the old story of Western waste +and prodigality. Accompanied by Jules, however, he climbed up the huge, +slippery logs which made a platform before the door, and entered. + +The single room was unequally divided; the larger part containing three +beds, by day rolled in a single pile in one corner to make room for a +table and chairs. A few dresses hanging from nails on the wall showed +that it was the women's room. The smaller compartment was again +subdivided by a hanging blanket, behind which was a rude bunk or berth +against the wall, a table made of a packing-box, containing a tin basin +and a can of water. This was his apartment. + +“The women-folks are down the creek, bakin', to-day,” said Jules +explanatorily; “but I reckon that one of 'em will be up here in a jiffy +to make supper, so you just take it easy till they come. I've got to +meander over to the claim afore I turn in, but you just lie by to-night +and take a rest.” + +He turned away, leaving Hemmingway standing in the doorway still +distraught and hesitating. Nor did the young man recognize the delicacy +of Jules' leave-taking until he had unstrapped his portmanteau and found +himself alone, free to make his toilet, unembarrassed by company. But +even then he would have preferred the rough companionship of the miners +in the common dormitory of the general store to this intrusion upon +the half-civilization of the women, their pitiable little comforts and +secret makeshifts. His disgust of his own indecision which brought him +there naturally recoiled in the direction of his host and hostesses, and +after a hurried ablution, a change of linen, and an attempt to remove +the stains of travel from his clothes, he strode out impatiently into +the open air again. + +It was singularly mild even for the season. The southwest trades blew +softly, and whispered to him of San Francisco and the distant Pacific, +with its long, steady swell. He turned again to the overflowed Flat +beneath him, and the sluggish yellow water that scarcely broke a ripple +against the walls of the half-submerged cabins. And this was the water +for whose going down they were waiting with an immobility as tranquil +as the waters themselves! What marvelous incompetency,--or what infinite +patience! He knew, of course, their expected compensation in this +“ground sluicing” at Nature's own hand; the long rifts in the banks of +the creek which so often showed “the color” in the sparkling scales of +river gold disclosed by the action of the water; the heaps of reddish +mud left after its subsidence around the walls of the cabins,--a deposit +that often contained a treasure a dozen times more valuable than the +cabin itself! And then he heard behind him a laugh, a short and panting +breath, and turning, beheld a young woman running towards him. + +In his first astounded sight of her, in her limp nankeen sunbonnet, +thrown back from her head by the impetus of her flight, he saw only too +much hair, two much white teeth, too much eye-flash, and, above +all,--as it appeared to him,--too much confidence in the power of these +qualities. Even as she ran, it seemed to him that she was pulling down +ostentatiously the rolled-up sleeves of her pink calico gown over her +shapely arms. I am inclined to think that the young gentleman's temper +was at fault, and his conclusion hasty; a calmer observer would have +detected nothing of this in her frankly cheerful voice. Nevertheless, +her evident pleasure in the meeting seemed to him only obtrusive +coquetry. + +“Lordy! I reckoned to git here afore you'd get through fixin' up, and in +time to do a little prinkin' myself, and here you're out already.” She +laughed, glancing at his clean shirt and damp hair. “But all the same, +we kin have a talk, and you kin tell me all the news afore the other +wimmen get up here. It's a coon's age since I was at Sacramento and +saw anybody or anything.” She stopped and, instinctively detecting some +vague reticence in the man before her, said, still laughing, “You're Mr. +Hemmingway, ain't you?” + +Hemmingway took off his hat quickly, with a slight start at his +forgetfulness. “I beg your pardon; yes, certainly.” + +“Aunty Stanton thought it was 'Hummingbird,'” said the girl, with a +laugh, “but I reckoned not. I'm Jinney Jules, you know; folks call me +'J. J.' It wouldn't do for a Hummingbird and a Jay Jay to be in the same +camp, would it? It would be just TOO funny!” + +Hemmingway did not find the humor of this so singularly exhaustive, but +he was already beginning to be ashamed of his attitude towards her. “I'm +very sorry to be giving you all this trouble by my intrusion, for I was +quite willing to stay at the store yonder. Indeed,” he added, with +a burst of frankness quite as sincere as her own, “if you think your +father will not be offended, I would gladly go there now.” + +If he still believed in her coquetry and vanity, he would have been +undeceived and crushed by the equal and sincere frankness with which she +met this ungallant speech. + +“No! I reckon he wouldn't care, if you'd be as comf'ble and fit for +to-morrow. But ye WOULDN'T,” she said reflectively. “The boys thar +sit up late over euchre, and swear a heap, and Simpson, who'd sleep +alongside of ye, snores pow'ful, I've heard. Aunty Stanton kin do her +level at that, too, and they say”--with a laugh--“that I kin, too, but +you're away off in that corner, and it won't reach you. So, takin' it +all, by the large, you'd better stay whar ye are. We wimmen, that is, +the most of us, will be off and away down to Rattlesnake Bar shoppin' +afore sun up, so ye'll sleep ez long ez ye want to, and find yer +breakfast ready when ye wake. So I'll jest set to and get ye some +supper, and ye kin tell me all the doin's in Sacramento and 'Frisco +while I'm workin'.” + +In spite of her unconscious rebuff to his own vanity, Hemmingway felt a +sense of relief and less constraint in his relations to this decidedly +provincial hostess. + +“Can I help you in any way?” he asked eagerly. + +“Well, ye MIGHT bring me an armful o' wood from the pile under the +alders, ef ye ain't afraid o' dirtyin' your coat,” she said tentatively. + +Mr. Hemmingway was not afraid; he declared himself delighted. He brought +a generous armful of small cut willow boughs, and deposited them before +a small stove, which seemed a temporary substitute for the usual large +adobe chimney that generally occupied the entire gable of a miner's +cabin. An elbow and short length of stovepipe carried the smoke through +the cabin side. But he also noticed that his fair companion had used +the interval to put on a pair of white cuffs and a collar. However, she +brushed the green moss from his sleeve with some toweling, and although +this operation brought her so near to him that her breath--as soft and +warm as the southwest trades--stirred his hair, it was evident that this +contiguity was only frontier familiarity, as far removed from conscious +coquetry as it was, perhaps, from educated delicacy. + +“The boys gin'rally kem to take up enough wood for me to begin with,” + she said, “but I reckon they didn't know I was comin' up so soon.” + +Hemmingway's distrust returned a little at this obvious suggestion that +he was only a substitute for their general gallantry, but he smiled and +said somewhat bluntly, “I don't suppose you lack for admirers here.” + +The girl, however, took him literally. “Lordy, no! Me and Mamie Robinson +are the only girls for fifteen miles along the creek. ADMIRIN'! I call +it jest PESTERIN' sometimes! I reckon I'll hev to keep a dog!” + +Hemmingway shivered. Yes, she was not only conscious, but spoilt +already. He pictured to himself the uncouth gallantries of the +settlement, the provincial badinage, the feeble rivalries of the young +men whom he had seen at the general store. Undoubtedly this was what she +was expecting in HIM! + +“Well,” she said, turning from the fire she had kindled, “while I'm +settin' the table, tell me what's a-doin' in Sacramento! I reckon you've +got heaps of lady friends thar,--I'm told there's lots of fashions just +from the States.” + +“I'm afraid I don't know enough of them to interest you,” he said dryly. + +“Go on and talk,” she replied. “Why, when Tom Flynn kem back from +Sacramento, and he warn't thar more nor a week, he jest slung yarns +about his doin's thar to last the hull rainy season.” + +Half amused and half annoyed, Hemmingway seated himself on the little +platform beside the open door, and began a conscientious description of +the progress of Sacramento, its new buildings, hotels, and theatres, +as it had struck him on his last visit. For a while he was somewhat +entertained by the girl's vivacity and eager questioning, but presently +it began to pall. He continued, however, with a grim sense of duty, and +partly as a reason for watching her in her household duties. Certainly +she was graceful! Her tall, lithe, but beautifully moulded figure, +even in its characteristic southwestern indolence, fell into poses as +picturesque as they were unconscious. She lifted the big molasses-can +from its shelf on the rafters with the attitude of a Greek water-bearer. +She upheaved the heavy flour-sack to the same secure shelf with the +upraised palms of an Egyptian caryatid. Suddenly she interrupted +Hemmingway's perfunctory talk with a hearty laugh. He started, looked +up from his seat on the platform, and saw that she was standing over him +and regarding him with a kind of mischievous pity. + +“Look here,” she said, “I reckon that'll do! You kin pull up short! I +kin see what's the matter with you; you're jest plumb tired, tuckered +out, and want to turn in! So jest you sit that quiet until I get supper +ready and never mind me.” In vain Hemmingway protested, with a rising +color. The girl only shook her head. “Don't tell me! You ain't keering +to talk, and you're only playin' Sacramento statistics on me,” she +retorted, with unfeigned cheerfulness. “Anyhow, here's the wimmen +comin', and supper is ready.” + +There was a sound of weary, resigned ejaculations and pantings, and +three gaunt women in lustreless alpaca gowns appeared before the cabin. +They seemed prematurely aged and worn with labor, anxiety, and ill +nourishment. Doubtless somewhere in these ruins a flower like Jay Jules +had once flourished; doubtless somewhere in that graceful nymph herself +the germ of this dreary maturity was hidden. Hemmingway welcomed them +with a seriousness equal to their own. The supper was partaken with the +kind of joyless formality which in the southwest is supposed to indicate +deep respect, even the cheerful Jay falling under the influence, and it +was with a feeling of relief that at last the young man retired to his +fenced-off corner for solitude and repose. He gathered, however, +that before “sun up” the next morning the elder women were going to +Rattlesnake Bar for the weekly shopping, leaving Jay as before to +prepare his breakfast and then join them later. It was already a change +in his sentiments to find himself looking forward to that tete-a-tete +with the young girl, as a chance of redeeming his character in her +eyes. He was beginning to feel he had been stupid, unready, and withal +prejudiced. He undressed himself in his seclusion, broken only by the +monotonous voices in the adjoining apartment. From time to time he +heard fragments and scraps of their conversation, always in reference to +affairs of the household and settlement, but never of himself,--not even +the suggestion of a prudent lowering of their voices,--and fell asleep. +He woke up twice in the night with a sensation of cold so marked and +distinct from his experience of the early evening, that he was fain to +pile his clothes over his blankets to keep warm. He fell asleep again, +coming once more to consciousness with a sense of a slight jar, but +relapsing again into slumber for he knew not how long. Then he was +fully awakened by a voice calling him, and, opening his eyes, beheld the +blanket partition put aside, and the face of Jay thrust forward. To +his surprise it wore a look of excited astonishment dominated by +irrepressible laughter. + +“Get up quick as you kin,” she said gaspingly; “this is about the +killingest thing that ever happened!” + +She disappeared, but he could still hear her laughing, and to his utter +astonishment with her disappearance the floor seemed to change its +level. A giddy feeling seized him; he put his feet to the floor; it +was unmistakably wet and oozing. He hurriedly clothed himself, still +accompanied by the strange feeling of oscillation and giddiness, and +passed though the opening into the next room. Again his step produced +the same effect upon the floor, and he actually stumbled against her +shaking figure, as she wiped the tears of uncontrollable mirth from her +eyes with her apron. The contact seemed to upset her remaining gravity. +She dropped into a chair, and, pointing to the open door, gasped, “Look +thar! Lordy! How's that for high?” threw her apron over her head, and +gave way to an uproarious fit of laughter. + +Hemmingway turned to the open door. A lake was before him on the level +of the cabin. He stepped forward on the platform; the water was right +and left, all around him. The platform dipped slightly to his step. The +cabin was afloat,--afloat upon its base of logs like a raft, the whole +structure upheld by the floor on which the logs were securely fastened. +The high ground had disappeared--the river--its banks the green area +beyond. They, and THEY alone, were afloat upon an inland sea. + +He turned an astounded and serious face upon her mirth. “When did it +happen?” he demanded. She checked her laugh, more from a sense of polite +deference to his mood than any fear, and said quietly, “That gets me. +Everything was all right two hours ago when the wimmen left. It was +too early to get your breakfast and rouse ye out, and I felt asleep, I +reckon, until I felt a kind o' slump and a jar.” Hemmingway remembered +his own half-conscious sensation. “Then I got up and saw we was adrift. +I didn't waken ye, for I thought it was only a sort of wave that would +pass. It wasn't until I saw we were movin' and the hull rising ground +gettin' away, that I thought o' callin' ye.” + +He thought of the vanished general store, of her father, the workers on +the bank, the helpless women on their way to the Bar, and turned almost +savagely on her. + +“But the others,--where are they?” he said indignantly. “Do you call +that a laughing matter?” + +She stopped at the sound of his voice as at a blow. Her face hardened +into immobility, yet when she replied it was with the deliberate +indolence of her father. “The wimmen are up on the hills by this time. +The boys hev bin drowned out many times afore this and got clear off, +on sluice boxes and timber, without squealing. Tom Flynn went down +ten miles to Sayer's once on two bar'ls, and I never heard that HE was +cryin' when they picked him up.” + +A flush came to Hemmingway's cheek, but with it a gleam of intelligence. +Of course the inundation was known to them FIRST, and there was the +wreckage to support them. They had clearly saved themselves. If they had +abandoned the cabin, it was because they knew its security, perhaps had +even seen it safely adrift. + +“Has this ever happened to the cabin before?” he asked, as he thought of +its peculiar base. + +“No.” + +He looked at the water again. There was a decided current. The overflow +was evidently no part of the original inundation. He put his hand in +the water. It was icy cold. Yes, he understood it now. It was the sudden +melting of snow in the Sierras which had brought this volume down the +canyon. But was there more still to come? + +“Have you anything like a long pole or stick in the cabin?” + +“Nary,” said the girl, opening her big eyes and shaking her head with +a simulation of despair, which was, however, flatly contradicted by her +laughing mouth. + +“Nor any cord or twine?” he continued. + +She handed him a ball of coarse twine. + +“May I take a couple of these hooks?” he asked, pointing to some rough +iron hooks in the rafters, on which bacon and jerked beef were hanging. + +She nodded. He dislodged the hooks, greased them with the bacon rind, +and affixed them to the twine. + +“Fishin'?” she asked demurely. + +“Exactly,” he replied gravely. + +He threw the line in the water. It slackened at about six feet, +straightened, and became taut at an angle, and then dragged. After one +or two sharp jerks he pulled it up. A few leaves and grasses were caught +in the hooks. He examined them attentively. + +“We're not in the creek,” he said, “nor in the old overflow. There's no +mud or gravel on the hooks, and these grasses don't grow near water.” + +“Now, that's mighty cute of you,” she said admiringly, as she knelt +beside him on the platform. “Let's see what you've caught. Look yer!” + she added, suddenly lifting a limp stalk, “that's 'old man,' and thar +ain't a scrap of it grows nearer than Springer's Rise,--four miles from +home.” + +“Are you sure?” he asked quickly. + +“Sure as pop! I used to go huntin' it for smellidge.” + +“For what?” he said, with a bewildered smile. + +“For this,”--she thrust the leaves to his nose and then to her own +pink nostrils; “for--for”--she hesitated, and then with a mischievous +simulation of correctness added, “for the perfume.” + +He looked at her admiringly. For all her five feet ten inches, what +a mere child she was, after all! What a fool he was to have taken a +resentful attitude towards her! How charming and graceful she looked, +kneeling there beside him! + +“Tell me,” he said suddenly, in a gentler voice, “what were you laughing +at just now?” + +Her brown eyes wavered for a moment, and then brimmed with merriment. +She threw herself sideways, in a leaning posture, supporting herself on +one arm, while with her other hand she slowly drew out her apron string, +as she said, in a demure voice:-- + +“Well, I reckoned it was jest too killin' to think of you, who didn't +want to talk to me, and would hev given your hull pile to hev skipped +out o' this, jest stuck here alongside o' me, whether you would or no, +for Lord knows how long!” + +“But that was last night,” he said, in a tone of raillery. “I was tired, +and you said so yourself, you know. But I'm ready to talk now. What +shall I tell you?” + +“Anything,” said the girl, with a laugh. + +“What I am thinking of?” he said, with frankly admiring eyes. + +“Yes.” + +“Everything?” + +“Yes, everything.” She stopped, and leaning forward, suddenly caught +the brim of his soft felt hat, and drawing it down smartly over his +audacious eyes, said, “Everything BUT THAT.” + +It was with some difficulty and some greater embarrassment that he +succeeded in getting his eyes free again. When he did so, she had risen +and entered the cabin. Disconcerted as he was, he was relieved to see +that her expression of amusement was unchanged. Was her act a piece +of rustic coquetry, or had she resented his advances? Nor did her next +words settle the question. + +“Ye kin do yer nice talk and philanderin' after we've settled whar we +are, what we're goin', and what's goin' to happen. Jest now it 'pears +to me that ez these yere logs are the only thing betwixt us and 'kingdom +come,' ye'd better be hustlin' round with a few spikes to clinch 'em to +the floor.” + +She handed him a hammer and a few spikes. He obediently set to work, +with little confidence, however, in the security of the fastening. There +was neither rope nor chain for lashing the logs together; a stronger +current and a collision with some submerged stump or wreckage would +loosen them and wreck the cabin. But he said nothing. It was the girl +who broke the silence. + +“What's your front name?” + +“Miles.” + +“MILES,--that's a funny name. I reckon that's why you war so FAR OFF and +DISTANT at first.” + +Mr. Hemmingway thought this very witty, and said so. “But,” he added, +“when I was a little nearer a moment ago, you stopped me.” + +“But you was moving faster than the shanty was. I reckon you don't take +that gait with your lady friends at Sacramento! However, you kin talk +now.” + +“But you forget I don't know 'where we are,' nor 'what's going to +happen.'” + +“But I do,” she said quietly. “In a couple of hours we'll be picked up, +so you'll be free again.” + +Something in the confidence of her manner made him go to the door again +and look out. There was scarcely any current now, and the cabin seemed +motionless. Even the wind, which might have acted upon it, was +wanting. They were apparently in the same position as before, but his +sounding-line showed that the water was slightly falling. He came back +and imparted the fact with a certain confidence born of her previous +praise of his knowledge. To his surprise she only laughed and said +lazily, “We'll be all right, and you'll be free, in about two hours.” + +“I see no sign of it,” he said, looking through the door again. + +“That's because you're looking in the water and the sky and the mud for +it,” she said, with a laugh. “I reckon you've been trained to watch them +things a heap better than to study the folks about here.” + +“I daresay you're right,” said Hemmingway cheerfully, “but I don't +clearly see what the folks about here have to do with our situation just +now.” + +“You'll see,” she said, with a smile of mischievous mystery. “All the +same,” she added, with a sudden and dangerous softness in her eyes, “I +ain't sayin' that YOU ain't kinder right neither.” + +An hour ago he would have laughed at the thought that a mere look and +sentence like this from the girl could have made his heart beat. “Then I +may go on and talk?” + +She smiled, but her eyes said, “Yes,” plainly. + +He turned to take a chair near her. Suddenly the cabin trembled, there +was a sound of scraping, a bump, and then the whole structure tilted to +one side and they were both thrown violently towards the corner, with a +swift inrush of water. Hemmingway quickly caught the girl by the waist; +she clung to him instinctively, yet still laughing, as with a desperate +effort he succeeded in dragging her to the upper side of the slanting +cabin, and momentarily restoring its equilibrium. They remained for an +instant breathless. But in that instant he had drawn her face to his and +kissed her. + +She disengaged herself gently with neither excitement nor emotion, and +pointing to the open door said, “Look there!” + +Two of the logs which formed the foundation of their floor were quietly +floating in the water before the cabin! The submerged obstacle or snag +which had torn them from their fastening was still holding the cabin +fast. Hemmingway saw the danger. He ran along the narrow ledge to the +point of contact and unhesitatingly leaped into the icy cold water. It +reached his armpits before his feet struck the obstacle,--evidently a +stump with a projecting branch. Bracing himself against it, he shoved +off the cabin. But when he struck out to follow it, he found that the +log nearest him was loose and his grasp might tear it away. At the +same moment, however, a pink calico arm fluttered above his head, and a +strong grasp seized his coat collar. The cabin half revolved as the girl +dragged him into the open door. + +“You bantam!” she said, with a laugh, “why didn't you let ME do that? +I'm taller than you! But,” she added, looking at his dripping clothes +and dragging out a blanket from the corner, “I couldn't dry myself +as quick as you kin!” To her surprise, however, Hemmingway tossed the +blanket aside, and pointing to the floor, which was already filmed with +water, ran to the still warm stove, detached it from its pipe, and threw +it overboard. The sack of flour, bacon, molasses, and sugar, and all the +heavier articles followed it into the stream. Relieved of their weight +the cabin base rose an inch or two higher. Then he sat down and said, +“There! that may keep us afloat for that 'couple of hours' you speak of. +So I suppose I may talk now!” + +“Ye haven't no time,” she said, in a graver voice. “It won't be as long +as a couple of hours now. Look over thar!” + +He looked where she pointed across the gray expanse of water. At first +he could see nothing. Presently he saw a mere dot on its face which at +times changed to a single black line. + +“It's a log, like these,” he said. + +“It's no log. It's an Injun dug-out*--comin' for me.” + + * A canoe made from a hollowed log. + +“Your father?” he said joyfully. + +She smiled pityingly. “It's Tom Flynn. Father's got suthin' else to look +arter. Tom Flynn hasn't.” + +“And who's Tom Flynn?” he asked, with an odd sensation. + +“The man I'm engaged to,” she said gravely, with a slight color. + +The rose that blossomed on her cheek faded in his. There was a moment of +silence. Then he said frankly, “I owe you some apology. Forgive my folly +and impertinence a moment ago. How could I have known this?” + +“You took no more than you deserved, or that Tom would have objected +to,” she said, with a little laugh. “You've been mighty kind and handy.” + +She held out her hand; their fingers closed together in a frank +pressure. Then his mind went back to his work, which he had +forgotten,--to his first impressions of the camp and of her. They both +stood silent, watching the canoe, now quite visible, and the man that +was paddling it, with an intensity that both felt was insincere. + +“I'm afraid,” he said, with a forced laugh, “that I was a little too +hasty in disposing of your goods and possessions. We could have kept +afloat a little longer.” + +“It's all the same,” she said, with a slight laugh; “it's jest as well +we didn't look too comf'ble--to HIM.” + +He did not reply; he did not dare to look at her. Yes! It was the same +coquette he had seen last night. His first impressions were correct. + +The canoe came on rapidly now, propelled by a powerful arm. In a few +moments it was alongside, and its owner leaped on the platform. It was +the gentleman with his trousers tucked in his boots, the second voice +in the gloomy discussion in the general store last evening. He nodded +simply to the girl, and shook Hemmingway's hand warmly. + +Then he made a hurried apology for his delay: it was so difficult to +find “the lay” of the drifted cabin. He had struck out first for the +most dangerous spot,--the “old clearing,” on the right bank, with its +stumps and new growths,--and it seemed he was right. And all the rest +were safe, and “nobody was hurt.” + +“All the same, Tom,” she said, when they were seated and paddling off +again, “you don't know HOW NEAR YOU CAME TO LOSING ME.” Then she +raised her beautiful eyes and looked significantly, not at HIM, but at +Hemmingway. + +When the water was down at “Jules'” the next day, they found certain +curious changes and some gold, and the secretary was able to make a +favorable report. But he made none whatever of his impressions “when +the water was up at 'Jules','” though he often wondered if they were +strictly trustworthy. + + + + +THE BOOM IN THE “CALAVERAS CLARION” + + +The editorial sanctum of the “Calaveras Clarion” opened upon the +“composing-room” of that paper on the one side, and gave apparently upon +the rest of Calaveras County upon the other. For, situated on the very +outskirts of the settlement and the summit of a very steep hill, the +pines sloped away from the editorial windows to the long valley of the +South Fork and--infinity. The little wooden building had invaded Nature +without subduing it. It was filled night and day with the murmur of +pines and their fragrance. Squirrels scampered over its roof when it was +not preoccupied by woodpeckers, and a printer's devil had once seen a +nest-building blue jay enter the composing window, flutter before one +of the slanting type-cases with an air of deliberate selection, and then +fly off with a vowel in its bill. + +Amidst these sylvan surroundings the temporary editor of the “Clarion” + sat at his sanctum, reading the proofs of an editorial. As he was +occupying that position during a six weeks' absence of the bona fide +editor and proprietor, he was consequently reading the proof with some +anxiety and responsibility. It had been suggested to him by certain +citizens that the “Clarion” needed a firmer and more aggressive policy +towards the Bill before the Legislature for the wagon road to the South +Fork. Several Assembly men had been “got at” by the rival settlement of +Liberty Hill, and a scathing exposure and denunciation of such methods +was necessary. The interests of their own township were also to be +“whooped up.” All this had been vigorously explained to him, and he had +grasped the spirit, if not always the facts, of his informants. It is +to be feared, therefore, that he was perusing his article more with +reference to its vigor than his own convictions. And yet he was not so +greatly absorbed as to be unmindful of the murmur of the pines +without, his half-savage environment, and the lazy talk of his sole +companions,--the foreman and printer in the adjoining room. + +“Bet your life! I've always said that a man INSIDE a newspaper office +could hold his own agin any outsider that wanted to play rough or tried +to raid the office! Thar's the press, and thar's the printin' ink and +roller! Folks talk a heap o' the power o' the Press!--I tell ye, ye +don't half know it. Why, when old Kernel Fish was editin' the 'Sierra +Banner,' one o' them bullies that he'd lampooned in the 'Banner' fought +his way past the Kernel in the office, into the composin'-room, to +wreck everythin' and 'pye' all the types. Spoffrel--ye don't remember +Spoffrel?--little red-haired man?--was foreman. Spoffrel fended him off +with the roller and got one good dab inter his eyes that blinded him, +and then Spoffrel sorter skirmished him over to the press,--a plain +lever just like ours,--whar the locked-up form of the inside was still +a-lyin'! Then, quick as lightnin', Spoffrel tilts him over agin it, and +HE throws out his hand and ketches hold o' the form to steady himself, +when Spoffrel just runs the form and the hand under the press and down +with the lever! And that held the feller fast as grim death! And when +at last he begs off, and Spoff lets him loose, the hull o' that 'ere +lampooning article he objected to was printed right onto the skin o' his +hand! Fact, and it wouldn't come off, either.” + +“Gosh, but I'd like to hev seen it,” said the printer. “There ain't any +chance, I reckon, o' such a sight here. The boss don't take no risks +lampoonin', and he” (the editor knew he was being indicated by some +unseen gesture of the unseen workman) “ain't that style.” + +“Ye never kin tell,” said the foreman didactically, “what might happen! +I've known editors to get into a fight jest for a little innercent +bedevilin' o' the opposite party. Sometimes for a misprint. Old man +Pritchard of the 'Argus' oncet had a hole blown through his arm because +his proofreader had called Colonel Starbottle's speech an 'ignominious' +defense, when the old man hed written 'ingenuous' defense.” + +The editor paused in his proof-reading. He had just come upon the +sentence: “We cannot congratulate Liberty Hill--in its superior +elevation--upon the ignominious silence of the representative of all +Calaveras when this infamous Bill was introduced.” He referred to his +copy. Yes! He had certainly written “ignominious,”--that was what his +informants had suggested. But was he sure they were right? He had a +vague recollection, also, that the representative alluded to--Senator +Bradley--had fought two duels, and was a “good” though somewhat +impulsive shot! He might alter the word to “ingenuous” or “ingenious,” + either would be finely sarcastic, but then--there was his foreman, who +would detect it! He would wait until he had finished the entire article. +In that occupation he became oblivious of the next room, of a silence, +a whispered conversation, which ended with a rapping at the door and the +appearance of the foreman in the doorway. + +“There's a man in the office who wants to see the editor,” he said. + +“Show him in,” replied the editor briefly. He was, however, conscious +that there was a singular significance in his foreman's manner, and an +eager apparition of the other printer over the foreman's shoulder. + +“He's carryin' a shot-gun, and is a man twice as big as you be,” said +the foreman gravely. + +The editor quickly recalled his own brief and as yet blameless record +in the “Clarion.” “Perhaps,” he said tentatively, with a gentle smile, +“he's looking for Captain Brush” (the absent editor). + +“I told him all that,” said the foreman grimly, “and he said he wanted +to see the man in charge.” + +In proportion as the editor's heart sank his outward crest arose. “Show +him in,” he said loftily. + +“We KIN keep him out,” suggested the foreman, lingering a moment; “me +and him,” indicating the expectant printer behind him, “is enough for +that.” + +“Show him up,” repeated the editor firmly. + +The foreman withdrew; the editor seated himself and again took up +his proof. The doubtful word “ignominious” seemed to stand out of the +paragraph before him; it certainly WAS a strong expression! He was about +to run his pencil through it when he heard the heavy step of his visitor +approaching. A sudden instinct of belligerency took possession of him, +and he wrathfully threw the pencil down. + +The burly form of the stranger blocked the doorway. He was dressed like +a miner, but his build and general physiognomy were quite distinct +from the local variety. His upper lip and chin were clean-shaven, still +showing the blue-black roots of the beard which covered the rest of his +face and depended in a thick fleece under his throat. He carried a small +bundle tied up in a silk handkerchief in one hand, and a “shot-gun” in +the other, perilously at half-cock. Entering the sanctum, he put down +his bundle and quietly closed the door behind him. He then drew an empty +chair towards him and dropped heavily into it with his gun on his +knees. The editor's heart dropped almost as heavily, although he quite +composedly held out his hand. + +“Shall I relieve you of your gun?” + +“Thank ye, lad--noa. It's moor coomfortable wi' me, and it's main +dangersome to handle on the half-cock. That's why I didn't leave 'im on +the horse outside!” + +At the sound of his voice and occasional accent a flash of intelligence +relieved the editor's mind. He remembered that twenty miles away, in +the illimitable vista from his windows, lay a settlement of English +north-country miners, who, while faithfully adopting the methods, +customs, and even slang of the Californians, retained many of their +native peculiarities. The gun he carried on his knee, however, was +evidently part of the Californian imitation. + +“Can I do anything for you?” said the editor blandly. + +“Ay! I've coom here to bill ma woife.” + +“I--don't think I understand,” hesitated the editor, with a smile. + +“I've coom here to get ye to put into your paaper a warnin', a notiss, +that onless she returns to my house in four weeks, I'll have nowt to do +wi' her again.” + +“Oh!” said the editor, now perfectly reassured, “you want an +advertisement? That's the business of the foreman; I'll call him.” He +was rising from his seat when the stranger laid a heavy hand on his +shoulder and gently forced him down again. + +“Noa, lad! I don't want noa foreman nor understrappers to take this job. +I want to talk it over wi' you. Sabe? My woife she bin up and awaa these +six months. We had a bit of difference, that ain't here nor there, but +she skedaddled outer my house. I want to give her fair warning, and let +her know I ain't payin' any debts o' hers arter this notiss, and I ain't +takin' her back arter four weeks from date.” + +“I see,” said the editor glibly. “What's your wife's name?” + +“Eliza Jane Dimmidge.” + +“Good,” continued the editor, scribbling on the paper before him; +“something like this will do: 'Whereas my wife, Eliza Jane Dimmidge, +having left my bed and board without just cause or provocation, this +is to give notice that I shall not be responsible for any debts of her +contracting on or after this date.'” + +“Ye must be a lawyer,” said Mr. Dimmidge admiringly. + +It was an old enough form of advertisement, and the remark showed +incontestably that Mr. Dimmidge was not a native; but the editor smiled +patronizingly and went on: “'And I further give notice that if she does +not return within the period of four weeks from this date, I shall take +such proceedings for relief as the law affords.'” + +“Coom, lad, I didn't say THAT.” + +“But you said you wouldn't take her back.” + +“Ay.” + +“And you can't prevent her without legal proceedings. She's your wife. +But you needn't take proceedings, you know. It's only a warning.” + +Mr. Dimmidge nodded approvingly. “That's so.” + +“You'll want it published for four weeks, until date?” asked the editor. + +“Mebbe longer, lad.” + +The editor wrote “till forbid” in the margin of the paper and smiled. + +“How big will it be?” said Mr. Dimmidge. + +The editor took up a copy of the “Clarion” and indicated about an inch +of space. Mr. Dimmidge's face fell. + +“I want it bigger,--in large letters, like a play-card,” he said. +“That's no good for a warning.” + +“You can have half a column or a whole column if you like,” said the +editor airily. + +“I'll take a whole one,” said Mr. Dimmidge simply. + +The editor laughed. “Why! it would cost you a hundred dollars.” + +“I'll take it,” repeated Mr. Dimmidge. + +“But,” said the editor gravely, “the same notice in a small space will +serve your purpose and be quite legal.” + +“Never you mind that, lad! It's the looks of the thing I'm arter, and +not the expense. I'll take that column.” + +The editor called in the foreman and showed him the copy. “Can you +display that so as to fill a column?” + +The foreman grasped the situation promptly. It would be big business for +the paper. “Yes,” he said meditatively, “that bold-faced election type +will do it.” + +Mr. Dimmidge's face brightened. The expression “bold-faced” pleased him. +“That's it! I told you. I want to bill her in a portion of the paper.” + +“I might put in a cut,” said the foreman suggestively; “something like +this.” He took a venerable woodcut from the case. I grieve to say it was +one which, until the middle of the present century, was common enough in +the newspaper offices in the Southwest. It showed the running figure of +a negro woman carrying her personal property in a knotted handkerchief +slung from a stick over her shoulder, and was supposed to represent “a +fugitive slave.” + +Mr. Dimmidge's eyes brightened. “I'll take that, too. It's a little +dark-complected for Mrs. P., but it will do. Now roon away, lad,” he +said to the foreman, as he quietly pushed him into the outer office +again and closed the door. Then, facing the surprised editor, he said, +“Theer's another notiss I want ye to put in your paper; but that's +atween US. Not a word to THEM,” he indicated the banished foreman with a +jerk of his thumb. “Sabe? I want you to put this in another part o' your +paper, quite innocent-like, ye know.” He drew from his pocket a gray +wallet, and taking out a slip of paper read from it gravely, “'If this +should meet the eye of R. B., look out for M. J. D. He is on your track. +When this you see write a line to E. J. D., Elktown Post Office.' I want +this to go in as 'Personal and Private'--sabe?--like them notisses in +the big 'Frisco papers.” + +“I see,” said the editor, laying it aside. “It shall go in the same +issue in another column.” + +Apparently Mr. Dimmidge expected something more than this reply, for +after a moment's hesitation he said with an odd smile: + +“Ye ain't seein' the meanin' o' that, lad?” + +“No,” said the editor lightly; “but I suppose R. B. does, and it isn't +intended that any one else should.” + +“Mebbe it is, and mebbe it isn't,” said Mr. Dimmidge, with a +self-satisfied air. “I don't mind saying atween us that R. B. is the man +as I've suspicioned as havin' something to do with my wife goin' away; +and ye see, if he writes to E. J. D.--that's my wife's initials--at +Elktown, I'LL get that letter and so make sure.” + +“But suppose your wife goes there first, or sends?” + +“Then I'll ketch her or her messenger. Ye see?” + +The editor did not see fit to oppose any argument to this phenomenal +simplicity, and Mr. Dimmidge, after settling his bill with the foreman, +and enjoining the editor to the strictest secrecy regarding the origin +of the “personal notice,” took up his gun and departed, leaving the +treasury of the “Clarion” unprecedentedly enriched, and the editor to +his proofs. + +The paper duly appeared the next morning with the column advertisement, +the personal notice, and the weighty editorial on the wagon road. There +was a singular demand for the paper, the edition was speedily exhausted, +and the editor was proportionately flattered, although he was surprised +to receive neither praise nor criticism from his subscribers. Before +evening, however, he learned to his astonishment that the excitement was +caused by the column advertisement. Nobody knew Mr. Dimmidge, nor his +domestic infelicities, and the editor and foreman, being equally in the +dark, took refuge in a mysterious and impressive evasion of all inquiry. +Never since the last San Francisco Vigilance Committee had the office +been so besieged. The editor, foreman, and even the apprentice, were +buttonholed and “treated” at the bar, but to no effect. All that could +be learned was that it was a bona fide advertisement, for which one +hundred dollars had been received! There were great discussions and +conflicting theories as to whether the value of the wife, or the +husband's anxiety to get rid of her, justified the enormous expense and +ostentatious display. She was supposed to be an exceedingly beautiful +woman by some, by others a perfect Sycorax; in one breath Mr. Dimmidge +was a weak, uxorious spouse, wasting his substance on a creature who did +not care for him, and in another a maddened, distracted, henpecked man, +content to purchase peace and rest at any price. Certainly, never was +advertisement more effective in its publicity, or cheaper in proportion +to the circulation it commanded. It was copied throughout the whole +Pacific slope; mighty San Francisco papers described its size and +setting under the attractive headline, “How they Advertise a Wife in the +Mountains!” It reappeared in the Eastern journals, under the title of +“Whimsicalities of the Western Press.” It was believed to have crossed +to England as a specimen of “Transatlantic Savagery.” The real editor +of the “Clarion” awoke one morning, in San Francisco, to find his paper +famous. Its advertising columns were eagerly sought for; he at once +advanced the rates. People bought successive issues to gaze upon this +monumental record of extravagance. A singular idea, which, however, +brought further fortune to the paper, was advanced by an astute critic +at the Eureka Saloon. “My opinion, gentlemen, is that the whole blamed +thing is a bluff! There ain't no Mr. Dimmidge; there ain't no Mrs. +Dimmidge; there ain't no desertion! The whole rotten thing is an +ADVERTISEMENT o' suthin'! Ye'll find afore ye get through with it +that that there wife won't come back until that blamed husband buys +Somebody's Soap, or treats her to Somebody's particular Starch or Patent +Medicine! Ye jest watch and see!” The idea was startling, and seized +upon the mercantile mind. The principal merchant of the town, and +purveyor to the mining settlements beyond, appeared the next morning at +the office of the “Clarion.” “Ye wouldn't mind puttin' this 'ad' in +a column alongside o' the Dimmidge one, would ye?” The young editor +glanced at it, and then, with a serpent-like sagacity, veiled, however, +by the suavity of the dove, pointed out that the original advertiser +might think it called his bona fides into question and withdraw his +advertisement. “But if we secured you by an offer of double the amount +per column?” urged the merchant. “That,” responded the locum tenens, +“was for the actual editor and proprietor in San Francisco to determine. +He would telegraph.” He did so. The response was, “Put it in.” Whereupon +in the next issue, side by side with Mr. Dimmidge's protracted warning, +appeared a column with the announcement, in large letters, “WE HAVEN'T +LOST ANY WIFE, but WE are prepared to furnish the following goods at +a lower rate than any other advertiser in the county,” followed by the +usual price list of the merchant's wares. There was an unprecedented +demand for that issue. The reputation of the “Clarion,” both as a shrewd +advertising medium and a comic paper, was established at once. For a few +days the editor waited with some apprehension for a remonstrance from +the absent Dimmidge, but none came. Whether Mr. Dimmidge recognized that +this new advertisement gave extra publicity to his own, or that he was +already on the track of the fugitive, the editor did not know. The +few curious citizens who had, early in the excitement, penetrated +the settlement of the English miners twenty miles away in search of +information, found that Mr. Dimmidge had gone away, and that Mrs. +Dimmidge had NEVER resided there with him! + +Six weeks passed. The limit of Mr. Dimmidge's advertisement had been +reached, and, as it was not renewed, it had passed out of the pages +of the “Clarion,” and with it the merchant's advertisement in the next +column. The excitement had subsided, although its influence was still +felt in the circulation of the paper and its advertising popularity. The +temporary editor was also nearing the limit of his incumbency, but had +so far participated in the good fortune of the “Clarion” as to receive +an offer from one of the San Francisco dailies. + +It was a warm night, and he was alone in his sanctum. The rest of the +building was dark and deserted, and his solitary light, flashing out +through the open window, fell upon the nearer pines and was lost in the +dark, indefinable slope below. He had reached the sanctum by the +rear, and a door which he also left open to enjoy the freshness of +the aromatic air. Nor did it in the least mar his privacy. Rather the +solitude of the great woods without seemed to enter through that +door and encompassed him with its protecting loneliness. There was +occasionally a faint “peep” in the scant eaves, or a “pat-pat,” ending +in a frightened scurry across the roof, or the slow flap of a heavy +wing in the darkness below. These gentle disturbances did not, however, +interrupt his work on “The True Functions of the County Newspaper,” the +editorial on which he was engaged. + +Presently a more distinct rustling against the straggling blackberry +bushes beside the door attracted his attention. It was followed by a +light tapping against the side of the house. The editor started and +turned quickly towards the open door. Two outside steps led to the +ground. Standing upon the lower one was a woman. The upper part of her +figure, illuminated by the light from the door, was thrown into greater +relief by the dark background of the pines. Her face was unknown to +him, but it was a pleasant one, marked by a certain good-humored +determination. + +“May I come in?” she said confidently. + +“Certainly,” said the editor. “I am working here alone because it is +so quiet.” He thought he would precipitate some explanation from her by +excusing himself. + +“That's the reason why I came,” she said, with a quiet smile. + +She came up the next step and entered the room. She was plainly but +neatly dressed, and now that her figure was revealed he saw that she was +wearing a linsey-woolsey riding-skirt, and carried a serviceable rawhide +whip in her cotton-gauntleted hand. She took the chair he offered her +and sat down sideways on it, her whip hand now also holding up her +skirt, and permitting a hem of clean white petticoat and a smart, +well-shaped boot to be seen. + +“I don't remember to have had the pleasure of seeing you in Calaveras +before,” said the editor tentatively. + +“No. I never was here before,” she said composedly, “but you've heard +enough of me, I reckon. I'm Mrs. Dimmidge.” She threw one hand over +the back of the chair, and with the other tapped her riding-whip on the +floor. + +The editor started. Mrs. Dimmidge! Then she was not a myth. An absurd +similarity between her attitude with the whip and her husband's entrance +with his gun six weeks before forced itself upon him and made her an +invincible presence. + +“Then you have returned to your husband?” he said hesitatingly. + +“Not much!” she returned, with a slight curl of her lip. + +“But you read his advertisement?” + +“I saw that column of fool nonsense he put in your paper--ef that's +what you mean,” she said with decision, “but I didn't come here to see +HIM--but YOU.” + +The editor looked at her with a forced smile, but a vague misgiving. He +was alone at night in a deserted part of the settlement, with a plump, +self-possessed woman who had a contralto voice, a horsewhip, and--he +could not help feeling--an evident grievance. + +“To see me?” he repeated, with a faint attempt at gallantry. “You are +paying me a great compliment, but really”-- + +“When I tell you I've come three thousand miles from Kansas straight +here without stopping, ye kin reckon it's so,” she replied firmly. + +“Three thousand miles!” echoed the editor wonderingly. + +“Yes. Three thousand miles from my own folks' home in Kansas, where six +years ago I married Mr. Dimmidge,--a British furriner as could scarcely +make himself understood in any Christian language! Well, he got round +me and dad, allowin' he was a reg'lar out-and-out profeshnal miner,--had +lived in mines ever since he was a boy; and so, not knowin' what kind o' +mines, and dad just bilin' over with the gold fever, we were married and +kem across the plains to Californy. He was a good enough man to look at, +but it warn't three months before I discovered that he allowed a wife +was no better nor a nigger slave, and he the master. That made me open +my eyes; but then, as he didn't drink, and didn't gamble, and didn't +swear, and was a good provider and laid by money, why I shifted along +with him as best I could. We drifted down the first year to Sonora, at +Red Dog, where there wasn't another woman. Well, I did the nigger slave +business,--never stirring out o' the settlement, never seein' a town +or a crowd o' decent people,--and he did the lord and master! We played +that game for two years, and I got tired. But when at last he allowed +he'd go up to Elktown Hill, where there was a passel o' his countrymen +at work, with never a sign o' any other folks, and leave me alone at Red +Dog until he fixed up a place for me at Elktown Hill,--I kicked! I gave +him fair warning! I did as other nigger slaves did,--I ran away!” + +A recollection of the wretched woodcut which Mr. Dimmidge had selected +to personify his wife flashed upon the editor with a new meaning. +Yet perhaps she had not seen it, and had only read a copy of the +advertisement. What could she want? The “Calaveras Clarion,” although a +“Palladium” and a “Sentinel upon the Heights of Freedom” in reference to +wagon roads, was not a redresser of domestic wrongs,--except through its +advertising columns! Her next words intensified that suggestion. + +“I've come here to put an advertisement in your paper.” + +The editor heaved a sigh of relief, as once before. “Certainly,” he said +briskly. “But that's another department of the paper, and the printers +have gone home. Come to-morrow morning early.” + +“To-morrow morning I shall be miles away,” she said decisively, +“and what I want done has got to be done NOW! I don't want to see no +printers; I don't want ANYBODY to know I've been here but you. That's +why I kem here at night, and rode all the way from Sawyer's Station, +and wouldn't take the stage-coach. And when we've settled about the +advertisement, I'm going to mount my horse, out thar in the bushes, and +scoot outer the settlement.” + +“Very good,” said the editor resignedly. “Of course I can deliver your +instructions to the foreman. And now--let me see--I suppose you wish to +intimate in a personal notice to your husband that you've returned.” + +“Nothin' o' the kind!” said Mrs. Dimmidge coolly. “I want to placard him +as he did me. I've got it all written out here. Sabe?” + +She took from her pocket a folded paper, and spreading it out on the +editor's desk, with a certain pride of authorship read as follows:-- + +“Whereas my husband, Micah J. Dimmidge, having given out that I have +left his bed and board,--the same being a bunk in a log cabin and pork +and molasses three times a day,--and having advertised that he'd pay +no debts of MY contractin',--which, as thar ain't any, might be easier +collected than debts of his own contractin',--this is to certify that +unless he returns from Elktown Hill to his only home in Sonora in one +week from date, payin' the cost of this advertisement, I'll know the +reason why.--Eliza Jane Dimmidge.” + +“Thar,” she added, drawing a long breath, “put that in a column of the +'Clarion,' same size as the last, and let it work, and that's all I want +of you.” + +“A column?” repeated the editor. “Do you know the cost is very +expensive, and I COULD put it in a single paragraph?” + +“I reckon I kin pay the same as Mr. Dimmidge did for HIS,” said the lady +complacently. “I didn't see your paper myself, but the paper as copied +it--one of them big New York dailies--said that it took up a whole +column.” + +The editor breathed more freely; she had not seen the infamous woodcut +which her husband had selected. At the same moment he was struck with a +sense of retribution, justice, and compensation. + +“Would you,” he asked hesitatingly,--“would you like it illustrated--by +a cut?” + +“With which?” + +“Wait a moment; I'll show you.” + +He went into the dark composing-room, lit a candle, and rummaging in a +drawer sacred to weather-beaten, old-fashioned electrotyped advertising +symbols of various trades, finally selected one and brought it to Mrs. +Dimmidge. It represented a bare and exceedingly stalwart arm wielding a +large hammer. + +“Your husband being a miner,--a quartz miner,--would that do?” he asked. +(It had been previously used to advertise a blacksmith, a gold-beater, +and a stone-mason.) + +The lady examined it critically. + +“It does look a little like Micah's arm,” she said meditatively. +“Well--you kin put it in.” + +The editor was so well pleased with his success that he must needs make +another suggestion. “I suppose,” he said ingenuously, “that you don't +want to answer the 'Personal'?” + +“'Personal'?” she repeated quickly, “what's that? I ain't seen no +'Personal.'” The editor saw his blunder. She, of course, had never seen +Mr. Dimmidge's artful “Personal;” THAT the big dailies naturally had not +noticed nor copied. But it was too late to withdraw now. He brought +out a file of the “Clarion,” and snipping out the paragraph with his +scissors, laid it before the lady. + +She stared at it with wrinkled brows and a darkening face. + +“And THIS was in the same paper?--put in by Mr. Dimmidge?” she asked +breathlessly. + +The editor, somewhat alarmed, stammered “Yes.” But the next moment he +was reassured. The wrinkles disappeared, a dozen dimples broke out where +they had been, and the determined, matter-of-fact Mrs. Dimmidge burst +into a fit of rosy merriment. Again and again she laughed, shaking +the building, startling the sedate, melancholy woods beyond, until the +editor himself laughed in sheer vacant sympathy. + +“Lordy!” she said at last, gasping, and wiping the laughter from her wet +eyes. “I never thought of THAT.” + +“No,” explained the editor smilingly; “of course you didn't. Don't you +see, the papers that copied the big advertisement never saw that little +paragraph, or if they did, they never connected the two together.” + +“Oh, it ain't that,” said Mrs. Dimmidge, trying to regain her composure +and holding her sides. “It's that blessed DEAR old dunderhead of a +Dimmidge I'm thinking of. That gets me. I see it all now. Only, sakes +alive! I never thought THAT of him. Oh, it's just too much!” and she +again relapsed behind her handkerchief. + +“Then I suppose you don't want to reply to it,” said the editor. + +Her laughter instantly ceased. “Don't I?” she said, wiping her face into +its previous complacent determination. “Well, young man, I reckon that's +just what I WANT to do! Now, wait a moment; let's see what he said,” + she went on, taking up and reperusing the “Personal” paragraph. “Well, +then,” she went on, after a moment's silent composition with moving +lips, “you just put these lines in.” + +The editor took up his pencil. + +“To Mr. J. D. Dimmidge.--Hope you're still on R. B.'s tracks. Keep +there!--E. J. D.” + +The editor wrote down the line, and then, remembering Mr. Dimmidge's +voluntary explanation of HIS “Personal,” waited with some confidence for +a like frankness from Mrs. Dimmidge. But he was mistaken. + +“You think that he--R. B.--or Mr. Dimmidge--will understand this?” he at +last asked tentatively. “Is it enough?” + +“Quite enough,” said Mrs. Dimmidge emphatically. She took a roll of +greenbacks from her pocket, selected a hundred-dollar bill and then a +five, and laid them before the editor. “Young man,” she said, with a +certain demure gravity, “you've done me a heap o' good. I never spent +money with more satisfaction than this. I never thought much o' the +'power o' the Press,' as you call it, afore. But this has been a right +comfortable visit, and I'm glad I ketched you alone. But you understand +one thing: this yer visit, and WHO I am, is betwixt you and me only.” + +“Of course I must say that the advertisement was AUTHORIZED,” returned +the editor. “I'm only the temporary editor. The proprietor is away.” + +“So much the better,” said the lady complacently. “You just say you +found it on your desk with the money; but don't you give me away.” + +“I can promise you that the secret of your personal visit is safe with +me,” said the young man, with a bow, as Mrs. Dimmidge rose. “Let me see +you to your horse,” he added. “It's quite dark in the woods.” + +“I can see well enough alone, and it's just as well you shouldn't know +HOW I kem or HOW I went away. Enough for you to know that I'll be miles +away before that paper comes out. So stay where you are.” + +She pressed his hand frankly and firmly, gathered up her riding-skirt, +slipped backwards to the door, and the next moment rustled away into the +darkness. + +Early the next morning the editor handed Mrs. Dimmidge's advertisement, +and the woodcut he had selected, to his foreman. He was purposely brief +in his directions, so as to avoid inquiry, and retired to his sanctum. +In the space of a few moments the foreman entered with a slight +embarrassment of manner. + +“You'll excuse my speaking to you, sir,” he said, with a singular +mixture of humility and cunning. “It's no business of mine, I know; but +I thought I ought to tell you that this yer kind o' thing won't pay any +more,--it's about played out!” + +“I don't think I understand you,” said the editor loftily, but with +an inward misgiving. “You don't mean to say that a regular, actual +advertisement”-- + +“Of course, I know all that,” said the foreman, with a peculiar smile; +“and I'm ready to back you up in it, and so's the boy; but it won't +pay.” + +“It HAS paid a hundred and five dollars,” said the editor, taking the +notes from his pocket; “so I'd advise you to simply attend to your duty +and set it up.” + +A look of surprise, followed, however, by a kind of pitying smile, +passed over the foreman's face. “Of course, sir, THAT'S all right, and +you know your own business; but if you think that the new advertisement +will pay this time as the other one did, and whoop up another column +from an advertiser, I'm afraid you'll slip up. It's a little 'off color' +now,--not 'up to date,'--if it ain't a regular 'back number,' as you'll +see.” + +“Meantime I'll dispense with your advice,” said the editor curtly, “and +I think you had better let our subscribers and advertisers do the same, +or the 'Clarion' might also be obliged to dispense with your SERVICES.” + +“I ain't no blab,” said the foreman, in an aggrieved manner, “and I +don't intend to give the show away even if it don't PAY. But I thought +I'd tell you, because I know the folks round here better than you do.” + +He was right. No sooner had the advertisement appeared than the editor +found that everybody believed it to be a sheer invention of his own to +“once more boom” the “Clarion.” If they had doubted MR. Dimmidge, they +utterly rejected MRS. Dimmidge as an advertiser! It was a stale joke +that nobody would follow up; and on the heels of this came a letter from +the editor-in-chief. + + +MY DEAR BOY,--You meant well, I know, but the second Dimmidge “ad” was +a mistake. Still, it was a big bluff of yours to show the money, and I +send you back your hundred dollars, hoping you won't “do it again.” + Of course you'll have to keep the advertisement in the paper for two +issues, just as if it were a real thing, and it's lucky that there's +just now no pressure in our columns. You might have told a better story +than that hogwash about your finding the “ad” and a hundred dollars +lying loose on your desk one morning. It was rather thin, and I don't +wonder the foreman kicked. + + +The young editor was in despair. At first he thought of writing to Mrs. +Dimmidge at the Elktown Post-Office, asking her to relieve him of his +vow of secrecy; but his pride forbade. There was a humorous concern, not +without a touch of pity, in the faces of his contributors as he passed; +a few affected to believe in the new advertisement, and asked him vague, +perfunctory questions about it. His position was trying, and he was not +sorry when the term of his engagement expired the next week, and he left +Calaveras to take his new position on the San Francisco paper. + +He was standing in the saloon of the Sacramento boat when he felt a +sudden heavy pressure on his shoulder, and looking round sharply, beheld +not only the black-bearded face of Mr. Dimmidge, lit up by a smile, but +beside it the beaming, buxom face of Mrs. Dimmidge, overflowing with +good-humor. Still a little sore from his past experience, he was about +to address them abruptly, when he was utterly vanquished by the hearty +pressure of their hands and the unmistakable look of gratitude in their +eyes. + +“I was just saying to 'Lizy Jane,” began Mr. Dimmidge breathlessly, +“if I could only meet that young man o' the 'Clarion' what brought us +together again”-- + +“You'd be willin' to pay four times the amount we both paid him,” + interpolated the laughing Mrs. Dimmidge. + +“But I didn't bring you together,” burst out the dazed young man, “and +I'd like to know, in the name of Heaven, what brought you together now?” + +“Don't you see, lad,” said the imperturbable Mr. Dimmidge, “'Lizy Jane +and myself had qua'lled, and we just unpacked our fool nonsense in your +paper and let the hull world know it! And we both felt kinder skeert and +shamed like, and it looked such small hogwash, and of so little account, +for all the talk it made, that we kinder felt lonely as two separated +fools that really ought to share their foolishness together.” + +“And that ain't all,” said Mrs. Dimmidge, with a sly glance at her +spouse, “for I found out from that 'Personal' you showed me that this +particular old fool was actooally jealous!--JEALOUS!” + +“And then?” said the editor impatiently. + +“And then I KNEW he loved me all the time.” + + + + +THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + + +Even to the eye of the most inexperienced traveler there was no doubt +that Buena Vista was a “played-out” mining camp. There, seamed and +scarred by hydraulic engines, was the old hillside, over whose denuded +surface the grass had begun to spring again in fitful patches; there +were the abandoned heaps of tailings already blackened by sun and rain, +and worn into mounds like ruins of masonry; there were the waterless +ditches, like giant graves, and the pools of slumgullion, now dried into +shining, glazed cement. There were two or three wooden “stores,” from +which the windows and doors had been taken and conveyed to the newer +settlement of Wynyard's Gulch. Four or five buildings that still were +inhabited--the blacksmith's shop, the post-office, a pioneer's +cabin, and the old hotel and stage-office--only accented the general +desolation. The latter building had a remoteness of prosperity far +beyond the others, having been a wayside Spanish-American posada, with +adobe walls of two feet in thickness, that shamed the later shells of +half-inch plank, which were slowly warping and cracking like dried pods +in the oven-like heat. + +The proprietor of this building, Colonel Swinger, had been looked +upon by the community as a person quite as remote, old-fashioned, and +inconsistent with present progress as the house itself. He was an old +Virginian, who had emigrated from his decaying plantation on the James +River only to find the slaves, which he had brought with him, freed men +when they touched Californian soil; to be driven by Northern progress +and “smartness” out of the larger cities into the mountains, to fix +himself at last, with the hopeless fatuity of his race, upon an already +impoverished settlement; to sink his scant capital in hopeless shafts +and ledges, and finally to take over the decaying hostelry of Buena +Vista, with its desultory custom and few, lingering, impecunious guests. +Here, too, his old Virginian ideas of hospitality were against his +financial success; he could not dun nor turn from his door those +unfortunate prospectors whom the ebbing fortunes of Buena Vista had left +stranded by his side. + +Colonel Swinger was sitting in a wicker-work rocking-chair on the +veranda of his hotel--sipping a mint julep which he held in his hand, +while he gazed into the dusty distance. Nothing could have convinced him +that he was not performing a serious part of his duty as hotel-keeper +in this attitude, even though there were no travelers expected, and the +road at this hour of the day was deserted. On a bench at his side Larry +Hawkins stretched his lazy length,--one foot dropped on the veranda, +and one arm occasionally groping under the bench for his own tumbler +of refreshment. Apart from this community of occupation, there was +apparently no interchange of sentiment between the pair. The silence +had continued for some moments, when the colonel put down his glass and +gazed earnestly into the distance. + +“Seein' anything?” remarked the man on the bench, who had sleepily +regarded him. + +“No,” said the colonel, “that is--it's only Dick Ruggles crossin' the +road.” + +“Thought you looked a little startled, ez if you'd seen that ar +wanderin' stranger.” + +“When I see that wandering stranger, sah,” said the colonel decisively, +“I won't be sittin' long in this yer chyar. I'll let him know in about +ten seconds that I don't harbor any vagrants prowlin' about like poor +whites or free niggers on my propahty, sah!” + +“All the same, I kinder wish ye did see him, for you'd be settled in +YOUR mind and I'd be easier in MINE, ef you found out what he was doin' +round yer, or ye had to admit that it wasn't no LIVIN' man.” + +“What do you mean?” said the colonel, testily facing around in his +chair. + +His companion also altered his attitude by dropping his other foot +to the floor, sitting up, and leaning lazily forward with his hands +clasped. + +“Look yer, colonel. When you took this place, I felt I didn't have no +call to tell ye all I know about it, nor to pizen yer mind by any darned +fool yarns I mout hev heard. Ye know it was one o' them old Spanish +haciendas?” + +“I know,” said the colonel loftily, “that it was held by a grant from +Charles the Fifth of Spain, just as my propahty on the James River was +given to my people by King James of England, sah!” + +“That ez as may be,” returned his companion, in lazy indifference; +“though I reckon that Charles the Fifth of Spain and King James of +England ain't got much to do with what I'm goin' to tell ye. Ye see, I +was here long afore YOUR time, or any of the boys that hev now cleared +out; and at that time the hacienda belonged to a man named Juan +Sobriente. He was that kind o' fool that he took no stock in mining. +When the boys were whoopin' up the place and finding the color +everywhere, and there was a hundred men working down there in the gulch, +he was either ridin' round lookin' up the wild horses he owned, or +sittin' with two or three lazy peons and Injins that was fed and looked +arter by the priests. Gosh! now I think of it, it was mighty like YOU +when you first kem here with your niggers. That's curious, too, ain't +it?” + +He had stopped, gazing with an odd, superstitious wonderment at the +colonel, as if overcome by this not very remarkable coincidence. +The colonel, overlooking or totally oblivious to its somewhat +uncomplimentary significance, simply said, “Go on. What about him?” + +“Well, ez I was sayin', he warn't in it nohow, but kept on his reg'lar +way when the boom was the biggest. Some of the boys allowed it was +mighty oncivil for him to stand off like that, and others--when he +refused a big pile for his hacienda and the garden, that ran right into +the gold-bearing ledge--war for lynching him and driving him outer the +settlement. But as he had a pretty darter or niece livin' with him, +and, except for his partickler cussedness towards mining, was kinder +peaceable and perlite, they thought better of it. Things went along like +this, until one day the boys noticed--particklerly the boys that had +slipped up on their luck--that old man Sobriente was gettin' rich,--had +stocked a ranch over on the Divide, and had given some gold candlesticks +to the mission church. That would have been only human nature and +business, ef he'd had any during them flush times; but he hadn't. This +kinder puzzled them. They tackled the peons,--his niggers,--but it was +all 'No sabe.' They tackled another man,--a kind of half-breed Kanaka, +who, except the priest, was the only man who came to see him, and was +supposed to be mighty sweet on the darter or niece,--but they didn't +even get the color outer HIM. Then the first thing we knowed was that +old Sobriente was found dead in the well!” + +“In the well, sah!” said the colonel, starting up. “The well on my +propahty?” + +“No,” said his companion. “The old well that was afterwards shut up. +Yours was dug by the last tenant, Jack Raintree, who allowed that he +didn't want to 'take any Sobriente in his reg'lar whiskey and water.' +Well, the half-breed Kanaka cleared out after the old man's death, and +so did that darter or niece; and the church, to whom old Sobriente had +left this house, let it to Raintree for next to nothin'.” + +“I don't see what all that has got to do with that wandering tramp,” + said the colonel, who was by no means pleased with this history of his +property. + +“I'll tell ye. A few days after Raintree took it over, he was lookin' +round the garden, which old Sobriente had always kept shut up agin +strangers, and he finds a lot of dried-up 'slumgullion' * scattered all +about the borders and beds, just as if the old man had been using it for +fertilizing. Well, Raintree ain't no fool; he allowed the old man wasn't +one, either; and he knew that slumgullion wasn't worth no more than mud +for any good it would do the garden. So he put this yer together with +Sobriente's good luck, and allowed to himself that the old coyote had +been secretly gold-washin' all the while he seemed to be standin' off +agin it! But where was the mine? Whar did he get the gold? That's what +got Raintree. He hunted all over the garden, prospected every part of +it,--ye kin see the holes yet,--but he never even got the color!” + + * That is, a viscid cement-like refuse of gold-washing. + +He paused, and then, as the colonel made an impatient gesture, he went +on. + +“Well, one night just afore you took the place, and when Raintree was +gettin' just sick of it, he happened to be walkin' in the garden. He was +puzzlin' his brain agin to know how old Sobriente made his pile, when +all of a suddenst he saw suthin' a-movin' in the brush beside the house. +He calls out, thinkin' it was one of the boys, but got no answer. Then +he goes to the bushes, and a tall figger, all in black, starts out afore +him. He couldn't see any face, for its head was covered with a hood, but +he saw that it held suthin' like a big cross clasped agin its breast. +This made him think it was one them priests, until he looks agin and +sees that it wasn't no cross it was carryin,' but a PICKAXE! He makes +a jump towards it, but it vanished! He traipsed over the hull +garden,--went though ev'ry bush,--but it was clean gone. Then the hull +thing flashed upon him with a cold shiver. The old man bein' found dead +in the well! the goin' away of the half-breed and the girl! the findin' +o' that slumgullion! The old man HAD made a strike in that garden, the +half-breed had discovered his secret and murdered him, throwin' him down +the well! It war no LIVIN' man that he had seen, but the ghost of old +Sobriente!” + +The colonel emptied the remaining contents of his glass at a single +gulp, and sat up. “It's my opinion, sah, that Raintree had that night +more than his usual allowance of corn-juice on board; and it's only +a wonder, sah, that he didn't see a few pink alligators and sky-blue +snakes at the same time. But what's this got to do with that wanderin' +tramp?” + +“They're all the same thing, colonel, and in my opinion that there tramp +ain't no more alive than that figger was.” + +“But YOU were the one that saw this tramp with your own eyes,” retorted +the colonel quickly, “and you never before allowed it was a spirit!” + +“Exactly! I saw it whar a minit afore nothin' had been standin', and a +minit after nothin' stood,” said Larry Hawkins, with a certain serious +emphasis; “but I warn't goin' to say it to ANYBODY, and I warn't goin' +to give you and the hacienda away. And ez nobody knew Raintree's story, +I jest shut up my head. But you kin bet your life that the man I saw +warn't no livin' man!” + +“We'll see, sah!” said the colonel, rising from his chair with his +fingers in the armholes of his nankeen waistcoat, “ef he ever intrudes +on my property again. But look yar! don't ye go sayin' anything of this +to Polly,--you know what women are!” + +A faint color came into Larry's face; an animation quite different to +the lazy deliberation of his previous monologue shone in his eyes, as +he said, with a certain rough respect he had not shown before to his +companion, “That's why I'm tellin' ye, so that ef SHE happened to see +anything and got skeert, ye'd know how to reason her out of it.” + +“'Sh!” said the colonel, with a warning gesture. + +A young girl had just appeared in the doorway, and now stood leaning +against the central pillar that supported it, with one hand above her +head, in a lazy attitude strongly suggestive of the colonel's Southern +indolence, yet with a grace entirely her own. Indeed, it overcame the +negligence of her creased and faded yellow cotton frock and unbuttoned +collar, and suggested--at least to the eyes of ONE man--the curving and +clinging of the jasmine vine against the outer column of the veranda. +Larry Hawkins rose awkwardly to his feet. + +“Now what are you two men mumblin' and confidin' to each other? You look +for all the world like two old women gossips,” she said, with languid +impertinence. + +It was easy to see that a privileged and recognized autocrat spoke. +No one had ever questioned Polly Swinger's right to interrupting, +interfering, and saucy criticisms. Secure in the hopeless or chivalrous +admiration of the men around her, she had repaid it with a frankness +that scorned any coquetry; with an indifference to the ordinary feminine +effect or provocation in dress or bearing that was as natural as it was +invincible. No one had ever known Polly to “fix up” for anybody, yet +no one ever doubted the effect, if she had. No one had ever rebuked her +charming petulance, or wished to. + +Larry gave a weak, vague laugh. Colonel Swinger as ineffectively assumed +a mock parental severity. “When you see two gentlemen, miss, discussin' +politics together, it ain't behavin' like a lady to interrupt. Better +run away and tidy yourself before the stage comes.” + +The young lady replied to the last innuendo by taking two spirals of +soft hair, like “corn silk,” from her oval cheek, wetting them with +her lips, and tucking them behind her ears. Her father's ungentlemanly +suggestion being thus disposed of, she returned to her first charge. + +“It ain't no politics; you ain't been swearing enough for THAT! Come, +now! It's the mysterious stranger ye've been talking about!” + +Both men stared at her with unaffected concern. + +“What do YOU know about any mysterious stranger?” demanded her father. + +“Do you suppose you men kin keep a secret,” scoffed Polly. “Why, Dick +Ruggles told me how skeert ye all were over an entire stranger, and he +advised me not to wander down the road after dark. I asked him if he +thought I was a pickaninny to be frightened by bogies, and that if +he hadn't a better excuse for wantin' 'to see me home' from the Injin +spring, he might slide.” + +Larry laughed again, albeit a little bitterly, for it seemed to him that +the excuse was fully justified; but the colonel said promptly, “Dick's +a fool, and you might have told him there were worse things to be met on +the road than bogies. Run away now, and see that the niggers are on hand +when the stage comes.” + +Two hours later the stage came with a clatter of hoofs and a cloud of +red dust, which precipitated itself and a dozen thirsty travelers +upon the veranda before the hotel bar-room; it brought also the usual +“express” newspapers and much talk to Colonel Swinger, who always +received his guests in a lofty personal fashion at the door, as he might +have done in his old Virginian home; but it brought likewise--marvelous +to relate--an ACTUAL GUEST, who had two trunks and asked for a room! He +was evidently a stranger to the ways of Buena Vista, and particularly +to those of Colonel Swinger, and at first seemed inclined to resent the +social attitude of his host, and his frank and free curiosity. When he, +however, found that Colonel Swinger was even better satisfied to give +an account of HIS OWN affairs, his family, pedigree, and his present +residence, he began to betray some interest. The colonel told him +all the news, and would no doubt have even expatiated on his ghostly +visitant, had he not prudently concluded that his guest might decline to +remain in a haunted inn. The stranger had spoken of staying a week; he +had some private mining speculations to watch at Wynyard's Gulch,--the +next settlement, but he did not care to appear openly at the “Gulch +Hotel.” He was a man of thirty, with soft, pleasing features and a +singular litheness of movement, which, combined with a nut-brown, gypsy +complexion, at first suggested a foreigner. But his dialect, to the +colonel's ears, was distinctly that of New England, and to this was +added a puritanical and sanctimonious drawl. “He looked,” said the +colonel in after years, “like a blank light mulatter, but talked like a +blank Yankee parson.” For all that, he was acceptable to his host, who +may have felt that his reminiscences of his plantation on the James +River were palling on Buena Vista ears, and was glad of his new auditor. +It was an advertisement, too, of the hotel, and a promise of its future +fortunes. “Gentlemen having propahty interests at the Gulch, sah, prefer +to stay at Buena Vista with another man of propahty, than to trust to +those new-fangled papah-collared, gingerbread booths for traders that +they call 'hotels' there,” he had remarked to some of “the boys.” In his +preoccupation with the new guest, he also became a little neglectful +of his old chum and dependent, Larry Hawkins. Nor was this the only +circumstance that filled the head of that shiftless loyal retainer +of the colonel with bitterness and foreboding. Polly Swinger--the +scornfully indifferent, the contemptuously inaccessible, the coldly +capricious and petulant--was inclined to be polite to the stranger! + +The fact was that Polly, after the fashion of her sex, took it into +her pretty head, against all consistency and logic, suddenly to make +an exception to her general attitude towards mankind in favor of one +individual. The reason-seeking masculine reader will rashly conclude +that this individual was the CAUSE as well as the object; but I am +satisfied that every fair reader of these pages will instinctively know +better. Miss Polly had simply selected the new guest, Mr. Starbuck, to +show OTHERS, particularly Larry Hawkins, what she COULD do if she were +inclined to be civil. For two days she “fixed up” her distracting hair +at him so that its silken floss encircled her head like a nimbus; she +tucked her oval chin into a white fichu instead of a buttonless collar; +she appeared at dinner in a newly starched yellow frock! She talked +to him with “company manners;” said she would “admire to go to San +Francisco,” and asked if he knew her old friends the Fauquier girls +from “Faginia.” The colonel was somewhat disturbed; he was glad that his +daughter had become less negligent of her personal appearance; he could +not but see, with the others, how it enhanced her graces; but he was, +with the others, not entirely satisfied with her reasons. And he could +not help observing--what was more or less patent to ALL--that Starbuck +was far from being equally responsive to her attentions, and at times +was indifferent and almost uncivil. Nobody seemed to be satisfied with +Polly's transformation but herself. + +But eventually she was obliged to assert herself. The third evening +after Starbuck's arrival she was going over to the cabin of Aunt Chloe, +who not only did the washing for Buena Vista, but assisted Polly in +dressmaking. It was not far, and the night was moonlit. As she crossed +the garden she saw Starbuck moving in the manzanita bushes beyond; a +mischievous light came into her eyes; she had not EXPECTED to meet him, +but she had seen him go out, and there were always POSSIBILITIES. To her +surprise, however, he merely lifted his hat as she passed, and +turned abruptly in another direction. This was more than the little +heart-breaker of Buena Vista was accustomed to! + +“Oh, Mr. Starbuck!” she called, in her laziest voice. + +He turned almost impatiently. + +“Since you're so civil and pressing, I thought I'd tell you I was just +runnin' over to Aunt Chloe's,” she said dryly. + +“I should think it was hardly the proper thing for a young lady to do +at this time of night,” he said superciliously. “But you know best,--you +know the people here.” + +Polly's cheeks and eyes flamed. “Yes, I reckon I do,” she said crisply; +“it's only a STRANGER here would think of being rude. Good-night, Mr. +Starbuck!” + +She tripped away after this Parthian shot, yet feeling, even in her +triumph, that the conceited fool seemed actually relieved at her +departure! And for the first time she now thought that she had seen +something in his face that she did not like! But her lazy independence +reasserted itself soon, and half an hour later, when she had left Aunt +Chloe's cabin, she had regained her self-esteem. Yet, to avoid meeting +him again, she took a longer route home, across the dried ditch and over +the bluff, scarred by hydraulics, and so fell, presently, upon the old +garden at the point where it adjoined the abandoned diggings. She was +quite sure she had escaped a meeting with Starbuck, and was gliding +along under the shadow of the pear-trees, when she suddenly stopped. An +indescribable terror overcame her as she stared at a spot in the garden, +perfectly illuminated by the moonlight not fifty yards from where she +stood. For she saw on its surface a human head--a man's head!--seemingly +on the level of the ground, staring in her direction. A hysterical laugh +sprang from her lips, and she caught at the branches above her or +she would have fallen! Yet in that moment the head had vanished! The +moonlight revealed the empty garden,--the ground she had gazed at,--but +nothing more! + +She had never been superstitious. As a child she had heard the negroes +talk of “the hants,”--that is, “the HAUNTS” or spirits,--but had +believed it a part of their ignorance, and unworthy a white child,--the +daughter of their master! She had laughed with Dick Ruggles over the +illusions of Larry, and had shared her father's contemptuous disbelief +of the wandering visitant being anything but a living man; yet she would +have screamed for assistance now, only for the greater fear of making +her weakness known to Mr. Starbuck, and being dependent upon him for +help. And with it came the sudden conviction that HE had seen this awful +vision, too. This would account for his impatience of her presence and +his rudeness. She felt faint and giddy. Yet after the first shock had +passed, her old independence and pride came to her relief. She would go +to the spot and examine it. If it were some trick or illusion, she would +show her superiority and have the laugh on Starbuck. She set her white +teeth, clenched her little hands, and started out into the moonlight. +But alas! for women's weakness. The next moment she uttered a scream and +almost fell into the arms of Mr. Starbuck, who had stepped out of the +shadows beside her. + +“So you see you HAVE been frightened,” he said, with a strange, forced +laugh; “but I warned you about going out alone!” + +Even in her fright she could not help seeing that he, too, seemed pale +and agitated, at which she recovered her tongue and her self-possession. + +“Anybody would be frightened by being dogged about under the trees,” she +said pertly. + +“But you called out before you saw me,” he said bluntly, “as if +something had frightened you. That was WHY I came towards you.” + +She knew it was the truth; but as she would not confess to her vision, +she fibbed outrageously. + +“Frightened,” she said, with pale but lofty indignation. “What was there +to frighten me? I'm not a baby, to think I see a bogie in the dark!” + This was said in the faint hope that HE had seen something too. If it +had been Larry or her father who had met her, she would have confessed +everything. + +“You had better go in,” he said curtly. “I will see you safe inside the +house.” + +She demurred at this, but as she could not persist in her first bold +intention of examining the locality of the vision without admitting its +existence, she permitted him to walk with her to the house, and then at +once fled to her own room. Larry and her father noticed their entrance +together and their agitated manner, and were uneasy. Yet the colonel's +paternal pride and Larry's lover's respect kept the two men from +communicating their thoughts to each other. + +“The confounded pup has been tryin' to be familiar, and Polly's set him +down,” thought Larry, with glowing satisfaction. + +“He's been trying some of his sanctimonious Yankee abolition talk on +Polly, and she shocked him!” thought the colonel exultingly. + +But poor Polly had other things to think of in the silence of her room. +Another woman would have unburdened herself to a confidante; but +Polly was too loyal to her father to shatter his beliefs, and too +high-spirited to take another and a lesser person into her confidence. +She was certain that Aunt Chloe would be full of sympathetic belief and +speculations, but she would not trust a nigger with what she couldn't +tell her own father. For Polly really and truly believed that she had +seen a ghost, no doubt the ghost of the murdered Sobriente, according +to Larry's story. WHY he should appear with only his head above ground +puzzled her, although it suggested the Catholic idea of purgatory, and +he was a Catholic! Perhaps he would have risen entirely but for that +stupid Starbuck's presence; perhaps he had a message for HER alone. The +idea pleased Polly, albeit it was a “fearful joy” and attended with some +cold shivering. Naturally, as a gentleman, he would appear to HER--the +daughter of a gentleman--the successor to his house--rather than to +a Yankee stranger. What was she to do? For once her calm nerves were +strangely thrilled; she could not think of undressing and going to +bed, and two o'clock surprised her, still meditating, and occasionally +peeping from her window upon the moonlit but vacant garden. If she saw +him again, would she dare to go down alone? Suddenly she started to +her feet with a beating heart! There was the unmistakable sound of a +stealthy footstep in the passage, coming towards her room. Was it he? In +spite of her high resolves she felt that if the door opened she should +scream! She held her breath--the footsteps came nearer--were before her +door--and PASSED! + +Then it was that the blood rushed back to her cheek with a flush of +indignation. Her room was at the end of the passage; there was nothing +beyond but a private staircase, long disused, except by herself, as a +short cut through the old patio to the garden. No one else knew of +it, and no one else had the right of access to it! This insolent human +intrusion--as she was satisfied it was now--overcame her fear, and +she glided to the door. Opening it softly, she could hear the stealthy +footsteps descending. She darted back, threw a shawl over her head and +shoulders, and taking the small Derringer pistol which it had always +been part of her ostentatious independence to place at her bed-head, +she as stealthily followed the intruder. But the footsteps had died +away before she reached the patio, and she saw only the small deserted, +grass-grown courtyard, half hidden in shadows, in whose centre stood the +fateful and long sealed-up well! A shudder came over her at again being +brought into contact with the cause of her frightful vision, but as her +eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she saw something more real and +appalling! The well was no longer sealed! Fragments of bricks and boards +lay around it! One end of a rope, coiled around it like a huge snake, +descended its foul depths; and as she gazed with staring eyes, the +head and shoulders of a man emerged slowly from it! But it was NOT the +ghostly apparition of last evening, and her terror changed to scorn and +indignation as she recognized the face of Starbuck! + +Their eyes met; an oath broke from his lips. He made a movement to +spring from the well, but as the girl started back, the pistol held +in her hand was discharged aimlessly in the air, and the report echoed +throughout the courtyard. With a curse Starbuck drew back, instantly +disappeared in the well, and Polly fell fainting on the steps. When she +came to, her father and Larry were at her side. They had been alarmed +at the report, and had rushed quickly to the patio, but not in time to +prevent the escape of Starbuck and his accomplice. By the time she had +recovered her consciousness, they had learned the full extent of that +extraordinary revelation which she had so innocently precipitated. +Sobriente's well had really concealed a rich gold ledge,--actually +tunneled and galleried by him secretly in the past,--and its only other +outlet was an opening in the garden hidden by a stone which turned on a +swivel. Its existence had been unknown to Sobriente's successor, but +was known to the Kanaka who had worked with Sobriente, who fled with +his daughter after the murder, but who no doubt was afraid to return +and work the mine. He had imparted the secret to Starbuck, another +half-breed, son of a Yankee missionary and Hawaiian wife, who had +evidently conceived this plan of seeking Buena Vista with an accomplice, +and secretly removing such gold as was still accessible. The accomplice, +afterwards identified by Larry as the wandering tramp, failed to +discover the secret entrance FROM the garden, and Starbuck was +consequently obliged to attempt it from the hotel--for which purpose +he had introduced himself as a boarder--by opening the disused well +secretly at night. These facts were obtained from papers found in the +otherwise valueless trunks, weighted with stones for ballast, which +Starbuck had brought to the hotel to take away his stolen treasure in, +but which he was obliged to leave in his hurried flight. The attempt +would have doubtless succeeded but for Polly's courageous and timely +interference! + +And now that they had told her ALL, they only wanted to know what had +first excited HER suspicions, and driven her to seek the well as the +object of Starbuck's machinations? THEY had noticed her manner when she +entered the house that night, and Starbuck's evident annoyance. Had she +taxed him with her suspicions, and so discovered a clue? + +It was a terrible temptation to Polly to pose as a more perfect heroine, +and one may not blame her if she did not rise entirely superior to it. +Her previous belief, that the head of the accomplice at the opening of +the garden was that of a GHOST, she now felt was certainly in the way, +as was also her conduct to Starbuck, whom she believed to be equally +frightened, and whom she never once suspected! So she said, with a +certain lofty simplicity, that there were SOME THINGS which she really +did not care to talk about, and Larry and her father left her that night +with the firm conviction that the rascal Starbuck had tried to tempt her +to fly with him and his riches, and had been crushingly foiled. Polly +never denied this, and once, in later days, when admiringly taxed with +it by Larry, she admitted with dove-like simplicity that she MAY have +been too foolishly polite to her father's guest for the sake of her +father's hotel. + +However, all this was of small account to the thrilling news of a new +discovery and working of the “old gold ledge” at Buena Vista! As the +three kept their secret from the world, the discovery was accepted in +the neighborhood as the result of careful examination and prospecting on +the part of Colonel Swinger and his partner Larry Hawkins. And when +the latter gentleman afterwards boldly proposed to Polly Swinger, she +mischievously declared that she accepted him only that the secret might +not go “out of the family.” + + + + +LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + + +It was at best merely a rocky trail winding along a shelf of the eastern +slope of the Santa Cruz range, yet the only road between the sea and the +inland valley. The hoof-prints of a whole century of zigzagging mules +were impressed on the soil, regularly soaked by winter rains and dried +by summer suns during that period; the occasional ruts of heavy, +rude, wooden wheels--long obsolete--were still preserved and visible. +Weather-worn boulders and ledges, lying in the unclouded glare of an +August sky, radiated a quivering heat that was intolerable, even while +above them the masts of gigantic pines rocked their tops in the cold +southwestern trades from the unseen ocean beyond. A red, burning dust +lay everywhere, as if the heat were slowly and visibly precipitating +itself. + +The creaking of wheels and axles, the muffled plunge of hoofs, and the +cough of a horse in the dust thus stirred presently broke the profound +woodland silence. Then a dirty white canvas-covered emigrant wagon +slowly arose with the dust along the ascent. It was travel-stained and +worn, and with its rawboned horses seemed to have reached the last +stage of its journey and fitness. The only occupants, a man and a girl, +appeared to be equally jaded and exhausted, with the added querulousness +of discontent in their sallow and badly nourished faces. Their voices, +too, were not unlike the creaking they had been pitched to overcome, and +there was an absence of reserve and consciousness in their speech, which +told pathetically of an equal absence of society. + +“It's no user talkin'! I tell ye, ye hain't got no more sense than a +coyote! I'm sick and tired of it, doggoned if I ain't! Ye ain't no more +use nor a hossfly,--and jest ez hinderin'! It was along o' you that we +lost the stock at Laramie, and ef ye'd bin at all decent and takin', +we'd hev had kempany that helped, instead of laggin' on yere alone!” + +“What did ye bring me for?” retorted the girl shrilly. “I might hev +stayed with Aunt Marty. I wasn't hankerin' to come.” + +“Bring ye for?” repeated her father contemptuously; “I reckoned ye might +he o' some account here, whar wimmin folks is skeerce, in the way o' +helpin',--and mebbe gettin' yer married to some likely feller. Mighty +much chance o' that, with yer yaller face and skin and bones.” + +“Ye can't blame me for takin' arter you, dad,” she said, with a shrill +laugh, but no other resentment of his brutality. + +“Ye want somebody to take arter you--with a club,” he retorted angrily. +“Ye hear! Wot's that ye're doin' now?” + +She had risen and walked to the tail of the wagon. “Goin' to get out and +walk. I'm tired o' bein' jawed at.” + +She jumped into the road. The act was neither indignant nor vengeful; +the frequency of such scenes had blunted their sting. She was probably +“tired” of the quarrel, and ended it rudely. Her father, however, let +fly a Parthian arrow. + +“Ye needn't think I'm goin' to wait for ye, ez I hev! Ye've got to keep +tetch with the team, or get left. And a good riddance of bad rubbidge.” + +In reply the girl dived into the underwood beside the trail, picked a +wild berry or two, stripped a wand of young hazel she had broken off, +and switching it at her side, skipped along on the outskirts of the +wood and ambled after the wagon. Seen in the full, merciless glare of a +Californian sky, she justified her father's description; thin and bony, +her lank frame outstripped the body of her ragged calico dress, which +was only kept on her shoulders by straps,--possibly her father's +cast-off braces. A boy's soft felt hat covered her head, and shadowed +her only notable feature, a pair of large dark eyes, looking larger for +the hollow temples which narrowed the frame in which they were set. + +So long as the wagon crawled up the ascent the girl knew she could +easily keep up with it, or even distance the tired horses. She made one +or two incursions into the wood, returning like an animal from quest of +food, with something in her mouth, which she was tentatively chewing, +and once only with some inedible mandrono berries, plucked solely for +their brilliant coloring. It was very hot and singularly close; the +higher current of air had subsided, and, looking up, a singular haze +seemed to have taken its place between the treetops. Suddenly she heard +a strange, rumbling sound; an odd giddiness overtook her, and she was +obliged to clutch at a sapling to support herself; she laughed vacantly, +though a little frightened, and looked vaguely towards the summit of the +road; but the wagon had already disappeared. A strange feeling of +nausea then overcame her; she spat out the leaves she had been chewing, +disgustedly. But the sensation as quickly passed, and she once more +sought the trail and began slowly to follow the tracks of the wagon. The +air blew freshly, the treetops began again to rock over her head, and +the incident was forgotten. + +Presently she paused; she must have missed the trail, for the wagon +tracks had ended abruptly before a large boulder that lay across the +mountain trail. She dipped into the woods again; here there were other +wagon tracks that confused her. It was like her dogged, stupid father +to miss the trail; she felt a gleam of malicious satisfaction at his +discomfiture. Sooner or later, he would have to retrace his steps and +virtually come back for her! She took up a position where two rough +wheel ruts and tracks intersected each other, one of which must be +the missing trail. She noticed, too, the broader hoof-prints of cattle +without the following wheel ruts, and instead of traces, the long smooth +trails made by the dragging of logs, and knew by these tokens that she +must be near the highway or some woodman's hut or ranch. She began to be +thirsty, and was glad, presently, when her quick, rustic ear caught +the tinkling of water. Yet it was not so easy to discover, and she was +getting footsore and tired again before she found it, some distance +away, in a gully coming from a fissure in a dislocated piece of outcrop. +It was beautifully clear, cold, and sparkling, with a slightly sweetish +taste, yet unlike the brackish “alkali” of the plains. It refreshed and +soothed her greatly, so much that, reclining against a tree, but where +she would be quite visible from the trail, her eyes closed dreamily, and +presently she slept. + +When she awoke, the shafts of sunlight were striking almost level into +her eyes. She must have slept two hours. Her father had not returned; +she knew the passage of the wagon would have awakened her. She began to +feel strange, but not yet alarmed; it was only the uncertainty that made +her uneasy. Had her father really gone on by some other trail? Or had he +really hurried on and left her, as he said he would? The thought +brought an odd excitement to her rather than any fear. A sudden sense of +freedom, as if some galling chain had dropped from her, sent a singular +thrill through her frame. Yet she felt confused with her independence, +not knowing what to do with it, and momentarily dazzled with the +possible gift. + +At this moment she heard voices, and the figures of two men appeared on +the trail. + +They were talking earnestly, and walking as if familiar with the spot, +yet gazing around them as if at some novelty of the aspect. + +“And look there,” said one; “there has been some serious disturbance of +that outcrop,” pointing in the direction of the spring; “the lower +part has distinctly subsided.” He spoke with a certain authority, and +dominance of position, and was evidently the superior, as he was the +elder of the two, although both were roughly dressed. + +“Yes, it does kinder look as if it had lost its holt, like the ledge +yonder.” + +“And you see I am right; the movement was from east to west,” continued +the elder man. + +The girl could not comprehend what they said, and even thought them +a little silly. But she advanced towards them; at which they stopped +short, staring at her. With feminine instinct she addressed the more +important one:-- + +“Ye ain't passed no wagon nor team goin' on, hev ye?” + +“What sort of wagon?” said the man. + +“Em'grant wagon, two yaller hosses. Old man--my dad--drivin'.” She added +the latter kinship as a protecting influence against strangers, in spite +of her previous independence. + +The men glanced at each other. + +“How long ago?” + +The girl suddenly remembered that she had slept two hours. + +“Sens noon,” she said hesitatingly. + +“Since the earthquake?” + +“Wot's that?” + +The man came impatiently towards her. “How did you come here?” + +“Got outer the wagon to walk. I reckon dad missed the trail, and hez got +off somewhere where I can't find him.” + +“What trail was he on,--where was he going?” + +“Sank Hozay,* I reckon. He was goin' up the grade--side o' the hill; he +must hev turned off where there's a big rock hangin' over.” + + * San Jose. + +“Did you SEE him turn off?” + +“No.” + +The second man, who was in hearing distance, had turned away, and was +ostentatiously examining the sky and the treetops; the man who had +spoken to her joined him, and they said something in a low voice. They +turned again and came slowly towards her. She, from some obscure sense +of imitation, stared at the treetops and the sky as the second man had +done. But the first man now laid his hand kindly on her shoulder and +said, “Sit down.” + +Then they told her there had been an earthquake so strong that it had +thrown down a part of the hillside, including the wagon trail. That a +wagon team and driver, such as she had described, had been carried down +with it, crushed to fragments, and buried under a hundred feet of rock +in the gulch below. A party had gone down to examine, but it would be +weeks perhaps before they found it, and she must be prepared for the +worst. She looked at them vaguely and with tearless eyes. + +“Then ye reckon dad's dead?” + +“We fear it.” + +“Then wot's a-goin' to become o' me?” she said simply. + +They glanced again at each other. “Have you no friends in California?” + said the elder man. + +“Nary one.” + +“What was your father going to do?” + +“Dunno. I reckon HE didn't either.” + +“You may stay here for the present,” said the elder man meditatively. +“Can you milk?” + +The girl nodded. “And I suppose you know something about looking after +stock?” he continued. + +The girl remembered that her father thought she didn't, but this was no +time for criticism, and she again nodded. + +“Come with me,” said the older man, rising. “I suppose,” he added, +glancing at her ragged frock, “everything you have is in the wagon.” + +She nodded, adding with the same cold naivete, “It ain't much!” + +They walked on, the girl following; at times straying furtively on +either side, as if meditating an escape in the woods,--which indeed +had once or twice been vaguely in her thoughts,--but chiefly to avoid +further questioning and not to hear what the men said to each other. For +they were evidently speaking of her, and she could not help hearing +the younger repeat her words, “Wot's agoin' to become o' me?” with +considerable amusement, and the addition: “She'll take care of herself, +you bet! I call that remark o' hers the richest thing out.” + +“And I call the state of things that provoked it--monstrous!” said the +elder man grimly. “You don't know the lives of these people.” + +Presently they came to an open clearing in the forest, yet so incomplete +that many of the felled trees, partly lopped of their boughs, still +lay where they had fallen. There was a cabin or dwelling of unplaned, +unpainted boards; very simple in structure, yet made in a workmanlike +fashion, quite unlike the usual log cabin she had seen. This made her +think that the elder man was a “towny,” and not a frontiersman like the +other. + +As they approached the cabin the elder man stopped, and turning to her, +said:-- + +“Do you know Indians?” + +The girl started, and then recovering herself with a quick laugh: +“G'lang!--there ain't any Injins here!” + +“Not the kind YOU mean; these are very peaceful. There's a squaw here +whom you will”--he stopped, hesitated as he looked critically at the +girl, and then corrected himself--“who will help you.” + +He pushed open the cabin door and showed an interior, equally simple but +well joined and fitted,--a marvel of neatness and finish to the frontier +girl's eye. There were shelves and cupboards and other conveniences, yet +with no ostentation of refinement to frighten her rustic sensibilities. + +Then he pushed open another door leading into a shed and called “Waya.” + A stout, undersized Indian woman, fitted with a coarse cotton gown, but +cleaner and more presentable than the girl's one frock, appeared in the +doorway. “This is Waya, who attends to the cooking and cleaning,” he +said; “and by the way, what is your name?” + +“Libby Jones.” + +He took a small memorandum book and a “stub” of pencil from his pocket. +“Elizabeth Jones,” he said, writing it down. The girl interposed a long +red hand. + +“No,” she interrupted sharply, “not Elizabeth, but Libby, short for +Lib'rty.” + +“Liberty?” + +“Yes.” + +“Liberty Jones, then. Well, Waya, this is Miss Jones, who will look +after the cows and calves--and the dairy.” Then glancing at her torn +dress, he added: “You'll find some clean things in there, until I can +send up something from San Jose. Waya will show you.” + +Without further speech he turned away with the other man. When they were +some distance from the cabin, the younger remarked:-- + +“More like a boy than a girl, ain't she?” + +“So much the better for her work,” returned the elder grimly. + +“I reckon! I was only thinkin' she didn't han'some much either as a boy +or girl, eh, doctor?” he pursued. + +“Well! as THAT won't make much difference to the cows, calves, or the +dairy, it needn't trouble US,” returned the doctor dryly. But here a +sudden outburst of laughter from the cabin made them both turn in that +direction. They were in time to see Liberty Jones dancing out of the +cabin door in a large cotton pinafore, evidently belonging to the +squaw, who was following her with half-laughing, half-frightened +expostulations. The two men stopped and gazed at the spectacle. + +“Don't seem to be takin' the old man's death very pow'fully,” said the +younger, with a laugh. + +“Quite as much as he deserved, I daresay,” said the doctor curtly. “If +the accident had happened to HER, he would have whined and whimpered to +us for the sake of getting something, but have been as much relieved, +you may be certain. SHE'S too young and too natural to be a hypocrite +yet.” + +Suddenly the laughter ceased and Liberty Jones's voice arose, shrill +but masterful: “Thar, that'll do! Quit now! You jest get back to your +scrubbin'--d'ye hear? I'm boss o' this shanty, you bet!” + +The doctor turned with a grim smile to his companion. “That's the only +thing that bothered me, and I've been waiting for. She's settled it. +She'll do. Come.” + +They turned away briskly through the wood. At the end of half an hour's +walk they found the team that had brought them there in waiting, and +drove towards San Jose. It was nearly ten miles before they passed +another habitation or trace of clearing. And by this time night had +fallen upon the cabin they had left, and upon the newly made orphan and +her Indian companion, alone and contented in that trackless solitude. + +***** + +Liberty Jones had been a year at the cabin. In that time she had learned +that her employer's name was Doctor Ruysdael, that he had a lucrative +practice in San Jose, but had also “taken up” a league or two of wild +forest land in the Santa Cruz range, which he preserved and held after +a fashion of his own, which gave him the reputation of being a “crank” + among the very few neighbors his vast possessions permitted, and the +equally few friends his singular tastes allowed him. It was believed +that a man owning such an enormous quantity of timber land, who should +refuse to set up a sawmill and absolutely forbid the felling of trees; +who should decline to connect it with the highway to Santa Cruz, and +close it against improvement and speculation, had given sufficient +evidence of his insanity; but when to this was added the rumor that he +himself was not only devoid of the human instinct of hunting the wild +animals with which his domain abounded, but that he held it so sacred to +their use as to forbid the firing of a gun within his limits, and that +these restrictions were further preserved and “policed” by the scattered +remnants of a band of aborigines,--known as “digger Injins,”--it was +seriously hinted that his eccentricity had acquired a political and +moral significance, and demanded legislative interference. But the +doctor was a rich man, a necessity to his patients, a good marksman, +and, it was rumored, did not include his fellow men among the animals he +had a distaste for killing. + +Of all this, however, Liberty knew little and cared less. The solitude +appealed to her sense of freedom; she did not “hanker” after a society +she had never known. At the end of the first week, when the doctor +communicated to her briefly, by letter, the convincing proofs of the +death of her father and his entombment beneath the sunken cliff, she +accepted the fact without comment or apparent emotion. Two months +later, when her only surviving relative, “Aunt Marty,” of Missouri, +acknowledged the news--communicated by Doctor Ruysdael--with Scriptural +quotations and the cheerful hope that it “would be a lesson to her” + and she would “profit in her new place,” she left her aunt's letter +unanswered. + +She looked after the cows and calves with an interest that was almost +possessory, patronized and played with the squaw,--yet made her feel +her inferiority,--and moved among the peaceful aborigines with +the domination of a white woman and a superior. She tolerated the +half-monthly visits of “Jim Hoskins,” the young companion of the doctor, +who she learned was the doctor's factor and overseer of the property, +who lived seven miles away on an agricultural clearing, and whose +control of her actions was evidently limited by the doctor,--for the +doctor's sake alone. Nor was Mr. Hoskins inclined to exceed those +limits. He looked upon her as something abnormal,--a “crank” as +remarkable in her way as her patron was in his, neuter of sex and vague +of race, and he simply restricted his supervision to the bringing +and taking of messages. She remained sole queen of the domain. A rare +straggler from the main road, penetrating this seclusion, might have +scarcely distinguished her from Waya, in her coarse cotton gown and +slouched hat, except for the free stride which contrasted with her +companion's waddle. Once, in following an estrayed calf, she had +crossed the highway and been saluted by a passing teamster in the digger +dialect; yet the mistake left no sting in her memory. And, like the +digger, she shrank from that civilization which had only proved a hard +taskmaster. + +The sole touch of human interest she had in her surroundings was in the +rare visits of the doctor and his brief but sincere commendation of +her rude and rustic work. It is possible that the strange, middle-aged, +gray-haired, intellectual man, whose very language was at times +mysterious and unintelligible to her, and whose suggestion of power awed +her, might have touched some untried filial chord in her being. Although +she felt that, save for absolute freedom, she was little more to him +than she had been to her father, yet he had never told her she had +“no sense,” that she was “a hindrance,” and he had even praised her +performance of her duties. Eagerly as she looked for his coming, in +his actual presence she felt a singular uneasiness of which she was not +entirely ashamed, and if she was relieved at his departure, it none +the less left her to a delightful memory of him, a warm sense of his +approval, and a fierce ambition to be worthy of it, for which she would +have sacrificed herself or the other miserable retainers about her, as a +matter of course. She had driven Waya and the other squaws far along +the sparse tableland pasture in search of missing stock; she herself +had lain out all night on the rocks beside an ailing heifer. Yet, while +satisfied to earn his praise for the performance of her duty, for some +feminine reason she thought more frequently of a casual remark he had +made on his last visit: “You are stronger and more healthy in this +air,” he had said, looking critically into her face. “We have got that +abominable alkali out of your system, and wholesome food will do the +rest.” She was not sure she had quite understood him, but she remembered +that she had felt her face grow hot when he spoke,--perhaps because she +had not understood him. + +His next visit was a day or two delayed, and in her anxiety she had +ventured as far as the highway to earnestly watch for his coming. From +her hiding-place in the underwood she could see the team and Jim Hoskins +already waiting for him. Presently she saw him drive up to the trail +in a carryall with a party of ladies and gentlemen. He alighted, bade +“Good-by” to the party, and the team turned to retrace its course. But +in that single moment she had been struck and bewildered by what +seemed to her the dazzlingly beautiful apparel of the women, and their +prettiness. She felt a sudden consciousness of her own coarse, shapeless +calico gown, her straggling hair, and her felt hat, and a revulsion +of feeling seized her. She crept like a wounded animal out of the +underwood, and then ran swiftly and almost fiercely back towards the +cabin. She ran so fast that for a time she almost kept pace with the +doctor and Hoskins in the wagon on the distant trail. Then she dived +into the underwood again, and making a short cut through the +forest, came at the end of two hours within hailing distance of the +cabin,--footsore and exhausted, in spite of the strange excitement that +had driven her back. Here she thought she heard voices--his voice +among the rest--calling her, but the same singular revulsion of feeling +hurried her vaguely on again, even while she experienced a foolish +savage delight in not answering the summons. In this erratic wandering +she came upon the spring she had found on her first entrance in the +forest a year ago, and drank feverishly a second time at its trickling +source. She could see that since her first visit it had worn a great +hollow below the tree roots and now formed a shining, placid pool. As +she stooped to look at it, she suddenly observed that it reflected her +whole figure as in a cruel mirror,--her slouched hat and loosened +hair, her coarse and shapeless gown, her hollow cheeks and dry yellow +skin,--in all their hopeless, uncompromising details. She uttered a +quick, angry, half-reproachful cry, and turned again to fly. But she had +not gone far before she came upon the hurrying figures and anxious faces +of the doctor and Hoskins. She stopped, trembling and irresolute. + +“Ah,” said the doctor, in a tone of frank relief. “Here you are! I was +getting worried about you. Waya said you had been gone since morning!” + He stopped and looked at her attentively. “Is anything the matter?” + +His evident concern sent a warm glow over her chilly frame, and yet the +strange sensation remained. “No--no!” she stammered. + +Doctor Ruysdael turned to Hoskins. “Go back and tell Waya I've found +her.” + +Libby felt that the doctor only wanted to get rid of his companion, and +became awed again. + +“Has anybody been bothering you?” + +“No.” + +“Have the diggers frightened you?” + +“No”--with a gesture of contempt. + +“Have you and Waya quarreled?” + +“Nary”--with a faint, tremulous smile. + +He still stared at her, and then dropped his blue eyes musingly. “Are +you lonely here? Would you rather go to San Jose?” + +Like a flash the figures of the two smartly dressed women started up +before her again, with every detail of their fresh and wholesome finery +as cruelly distinct as had been her own shapeless ugliness in the mirror +of the spring. “No! NO!” she broke out vehemently and passionately. +“Never!” + +He smiled gently. “Look here! I'll send you up some books. You +read--don't you?” She nodded quickly. “Some magazines and papers. Odd I +never thought of it before,” he added half musingly. “Come along to the +cabin. And,” he stopped again and said decisively, “the next time you +want anything, don't wait for me to come, but write.” + +A few days after he left she received a package of books,--an odd +collection of novels, magazines, and illustrated journals of the period. +She received them eagerly as an evidence of his concern for her, but it +is to be feared that her youthful nature found little satisfaction in +the gratification of fancy. Many of the people she read of were strange +to her; many of the incidents related seemed to her mere lies; some +tales which treated of people in her own sphere she found profoundly +uninteresting. In one of the cheaper magazines she chanced upon a +fashion plate; she glanced eagerly through all the others for a like +revelation until she got a dozen together, when she promptly relegated +the remaining literature to a corner and oblivion. The text accompanying +the plates was in a jargon not always clear, but her instinct supplied +the rest. She dispatched by Hoskins a note to Doctor Ruysdael: “Please +send me some brite kalikers and things for sewing. You told me to ask.” + A few days later brought the response in a good-sized parcel. + +Yet this did not keep her from her care of the stock nor her rambles in +the forest; she was quick to utilize her rediscovery of the spring for +watering the cattle; it was not so far afield as the half-dried creek in +the canyon, and was a quiet sylvan spot. She ate her frugal midday meal +there and drank of its waters, and, secure in her seclusion, bathed +there and made her rude toilet when the cows were driven home. But she +did not again look into its mirrored surface when it was tranquil! + +And so a month passed. But when Doctor Ruysdael was again due at the +cabin, a letter was brought by Hoskins, with the news that he was called +away on professional business down the coast, and could not come until +two weeks later. In the disappointment that overcame her, she did not at +first notice that Hoskins was gazing at her with a singular expression, +which was really one of undisguised admiration. Never having seen this +before in the eyes of any man who looked at her, she referred it to some +vague “larking” or jocularity, for which she was in no mood. + +“Say, Libby! you're gettin' to be a right smart-lookin' gal. Seems to +agree with ye up here,” said Hoskins with an awkward laugh. “Darned ef +ye ain't lookin' awful purty!” + +“G'long!” said Liberty Jones, more than ever convinced of his badinage. + +“Fact,” said Hoskins energetically. “Why, Doc would tell ye so, too. See +ef he don't!” + +At this Liberty Jones felt her face grow hot. “You jess get!” she said, +turning away in as much embarrassment as anger. Yet he hovered near +her with awkward attentions that pleased while it still angered her. +He offered to go with her to look up the cows; she flatly declined, yet +with a strange satisfaction in his evident embarrassment. This may have +lent some animation to her face, for he drew a long breath and said:-- + +“Don't go pertendin' ye don't know yer purty. Say, let me and you walk +a bit and have a talk together.” But Libby had another idea in her mind +and curtly dismissed him. Then she ran swiftly to the spring, for the +words “The Doc will tell ye so, too” were ringing in her ears. The +doctor who came with the two beautifully dressed women! HE--would tell +her she was pretty! She had not dared to look at herself in that crystal +mirror since that dreadful day two months ago. She would now. + +It was a pretty place in the cool shade of the giant trees, and the +hoof-marks of cattle drinking from the run beneath the pool had not +disturbed the margin of that tranquil sylvan basin. For a moment she +stood tremulous and uncertain, and then going up to the shining mirror, +dropped on her knees before it with her thin red hands clasped on her +lap. Unconsciously she had taken the attitude of prayer; perhaps there +was something like it in her mind. + +And then the light glanced full on the figure that she saw there! + +It fell on a full oval face and throat guileless of fleck or stain, +smooth as a child's and glowing with health; on large dark eyes, no +longer sunk in their orbits, but filled with an eager, happy light; on +bared arms now shapely in contour and cushioned with firm flesh; on a +dazzling smile, the like of which had never been on the face of Liberty +Jones before! + +She rose to her feet, and yet lingered as if loath to part from this +delightful vision. Then a fear overcame her that it was some trick of +the water, and she sped swiftly back to the house to consult the little +mirror which hung in her sleeping-room, but which she had never glanced +at since the momentous day of the spring. She took it shyly into the +sunshine, and found that it corroborated the reflection of the spring. +That night she worked until late at the calico Doctor Ruysdael had sent +her, and went to bed happy. The next day brought her Hoskins again with +a feeble excuse of inquiring if she had a letter for the doctor, and +she was surprised to find that he was reinforced by a stranger from +Hoskins's farm, who was equally awkward and vaguely admiring. But the +appearance of the TWO men produced a singular phase in her impressions +and experience. She was no longer indignant at Hoskins, but she found +relief in accepting the compliments of the stranger in preference, +and felt a delight in Hoskins's discomfiture. Waya, promoted to +the burlesque of a chaperone, grinned with infinite delight and +understanding. + +When at last the day came for the doctor's arrival, he was duly met by +Hoskins, and as duly informed by that impressible subordinate of the +great change in Liberty's appearance. But the doctor was far from being +equally impressed with his factor's story, and indeed showed much more +interest in the appearance of the stock which they met along the road. +Once the doctor got out of the wagon to inspect a cow, and particularly +the coat of a rough draught horse that had been turned out and put under +Liberty's care. “His skin is like velvet,” said the doctor. “The girl +evidently understands stock, and knows how to keep them in condition.” + +“I reckon she's beginning to understand herself, too,” said Hoskins. +“Golly! wait till ye see HER.” + +The doctor DID see her, but with what feelings he did not as frankly +express. She was not at the cabin when they arrived, but presently +appeared from the direction of the spring where, for reasons of her +own, she had evidently made her toilet. Doctor Ruysdael was astounded; +Hoskins's praise was not exaggerated; and there was an added charm +that Hoskins was not prepared for. She had put on a gown of her own +making,--the secret toil of many a long night,--amateurishly fashioned +from some cheap yellow calico the doctor had sent her, yet fitting her +wonderfully, and showing every curve of her graceful figure. Unaccented +by a corset,--an article she had never known,--even the lines of the +stiff, unyielding calico had a fashion that was nymph-like and suited +her unfettered limbs. Doctor Ruysdael was profoundly moved. Though a +philosopher, he was practical. He found himself suddenly confronted not +only by a beautiful girl, but a problem! It was impossible to keep +the existence of this woodland nymph from the knowledge of his +distant neighbors; it was equally impossible for him to assume the +responsibility of keeping a goddess like this in her present position. +He had noticed her previous improvement, but had never dreamed that pure +and wholesome living could in two months work such a miracle. And he +was to a certain degree responsible, HE had created her,--a beautiful +Frankenstein, whose lustrous, appealing eyes were even now menacing his +security and position. + +Perhaps she saw trouble and perplexity in the face where she had +expected admiration and pleasure, for a slight chill went over her as +he quickly praised the appearance of the stock and spoke of her own +improvement. But when they were alone, he turned to her abruptly. + +“You said you had no wish to go to San Jose?” + +“No.” Yet she was conscious that her greatest objection had been +removed, and she colored faintly. + +“Listen to me,” he said dryly. “You deserve a better position than +this,--a better home and surroundings than you have here. You are older, +too,--a woman almost,--and you must look ahead.” + +A look of mingled fright, reproach, and appeal came into her eloquent +face. “Yer wantin' to send me away?” she stammered. + +“No,” he said frankly. “It is you who are GROWING away. This is no +longer the place for you.” + +“But I want to stay. I don't wanter go. I am--I WAS happy here.” + +“But I'm thinking of giving up this place. It takes up too much of my +time. You must be provided”-- + +“YOU are going away?” she said passionately. + +“Yes.” + +“Take me with you. I'll go anywhere!--to San Jose---wherever you go. +Don't turn me off as dad did, for I'll foller you as I never followed +dad. I'll go with you--or I'll die!” + +There was neither fear nor shame in her words; it was the outspoken +instinct of the animal he had been rearing; he was convinced and +appalled by it. + +“I am returning to San Jose at once,” he said gravely. “You shall go +with me--FOR THE PRESENT! Get yourself ready!” + +He took her to San Jose, and temporarily to the house of a patient,--a +widow lady,--while he tried, alone, to grapple with the problem that now +confronted him. But that problem became more complicated at the end of +the third day, by Liberty Jones falling suddenly and alarmingly ill. +The symptoms were so grave that the doctor, in his anxiety, called in +a brother physician in consultation. When the examination was over, the +two men withdrew and stared at each other. + +“Of course there is no doubt that the symptoms all point to slow +arsenical poisoning,” said the consulting doctor. + +“Yes,” said Ruysdael quickly, “yet it is utterly inexplicable, both as +to motive and opportunity.” + +“Humph!” said the other grimly, “young ladies take arsenic in minute +doses to improve the complexion and promote tissue, forgetting that the +effects are cumulative when they stop suddenly. Your young friend has +'sworn off' too quickly.” + +“But it is impossible,” said Doctor Ruysdael impatiently. “She is a mere +child--a country girl--ignorant of such habits.” + +“Humph! the peasants in the Tyrol try it on themselves after noticing +the effect on the coats of cattle.” + +Doctor Ruysdael started. A recollection of the sleek draught horse +flashed upon him. He rose and hastily re-entered the patient's room. In +a few moments he returned. “Do you think I could remove her at once to +the mountains?” he said gravely. + +“Yes, with care and a return to graduated doses of the same poison; you +know it's the only remedy just now,” answered the other. + +By noon the next day the doctor and his patient had returned to the +cabin, but Ruysdael himself carried the helpless Liberty Jones to the +spring and deposited her gently beside it. “You may drink now,” he said +gravely. + +The girl did so eagerly, apparently imbibing new strength from the +sparkling water. The doctor meanwhile coolly filled a phial from the +same source, and made a hasty test of the contents by the aid of some +other phials from his case. The result seemed to satisfy him. Then he +said gravely: + +“And THIS is the spring you had discovered?” + +The girl nodded. + +“And you and the cattle have daily used it?” + +She nodded again wonderingly. Then she caught his hand appealingly. + +“You won't send me away?” + +He smiled oddly as he glanced from the waters of the hill to the +brimming eyes. “No.” + +“No-r,” tremulously, “go away--yourself?” + +The doctor looked this time only into her eyes. There was a tremendous +idea in his own, which seemed in some way to have solved that dreadful +problem. + +“No! We will stay here TOGETHER.” + +***** + +Six months later there was a paragraph in the San Francisco press: “The +wonderful Arsenical Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountain, known as 'Liberty +Spring,' discovered by Doctor Ruysdael, has proved such a remarkable +success that we understand the temporary huts for patients are to be +shortly replaced by a magnificent Spa Hotel worthy of the spot, and the +eligible villa sites it has brought into the market. It will be a source +of pleasure to all to know that the beautiful nymph--a worthy successor +to the far-famed 'Elise' of the German 'Brunnen'--who has administered +the waters to so many grateful patients will still be in attendance, +although it is rumored that she is shortly to become the wife of the +distinguished discoverer.” + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other +Stories, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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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: Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other Stories + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #2556] +Last Updated: March 5, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; An Anonymous Volunteer; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + </h1> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <h3> + From: “ARGONAUT EDITION” OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 12.<br /> <br /> + P. F. COLLIER & SON<br /> <br /> NEW YORK <br /> <br /> + </h3> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT “JULES'” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE BOOM IN THE “CALAVERAS CLARION” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + </h2> + <p> + At nightfall it began to rain. The wind arose too, and also began to + buffet a small, struggling, nondescript figure, creeping along the trail + over the rocky upland meadow towards Rylands's rancho. At times its head + was hidden in what appeared to be wings thrown upward from its shoulders; + at times its broad-brimmed hat was cocked jauntily on one side, and again + the brim was fixed over the face like a visor. At one moment a drifting + misshapen mass of drapery, at the next its vague garments, beaten back + hard against the figure, revealed outlines far too delicate for that rude + enwrapping. For it was Mrs. Rylands herself, in her husband's hat and her + “hired man's” old blue army overcoat, returning from the post-office two + miles away. The wind continued its aggression until she reached the front + door of her newly plastered farmhouse, and then a heavier blast shook the + pines above the low-pitched, shingled roof, and sent a shower of arrowy + drops after her like a Parthian parting, as she entered. She threw aside + the overcoat and hat, and somewhat inconsistently entered the + sitting-room, to walk to the window and look back upon the path she had + just traversed. The wind and the rain swept down a slope, half meadow, + half clearing,—a mile away,—to a fringe of sycamores. A mile + further lay the stage road, where, three hours later, her husband would + alight on his return from Sacramento. It would be a long wet walk for + Joshua Rylands, as their only horse had been borrowed by a neighbor. + </p> + <p> + In that fading light Mrs. Rylands's oval cheek was shining still from the + raindrops, but there was something in the expression of her worried face + that might have as readily suggested tears. She was strikingly handsome, + yet quite as incongruous an ornament to her surroundings as she had been + to her outer wrappings a moment ago. Even the clothes she now stood in + hinted an inadaptibility to the weather—the house—the position + she occupied in it. A figured silk dress, spoiled rather than overworn, + was still of a quality inconsistent with her evident habits, and the + lace-edged petticoat that peeped beneath it was draggled with mud and + unaccustomed usage. Her glossy black hair, which had been tossed into + curls in some foreign fashion, was now wind-blown into a burlesque of it. + This incongruity was still further accented by the appearance of the room + she had entered. It was coldly and severely furnished, making the chill of + the yet damp white plaster unpleasantly obvious. A black harmonium organ + stood in one corner, set out with black and white hymn-books; a + trestle-like table contained a large Bible; half a dozen black, + horsehair-cushioned chairs stood, geometrically distant, against the + walls, from which hung four engravings of “Paradise Lost” in black + mourning frames; some dried ferns and autumn leaves stood in a vase on the + mantelpiece, as if the chill of the room had prematurely blighted them. + The coldly glittering grate below was also decorated with withered sprays, + as if an attempt had been made to burn them, but was frustrated through + damp. Suddenly recalled to a sense of her wet boots and the new carpet, + she hurriedly turned away, crossed the hall into the dining-room, and + thence passed into the kitchen. The “hired girl,” a large-boned + Missourian, a daughter of a neighboring woodman, was peeling potatoes at + the table. Mrs. Rylands drew a chair before the kitchen stove, and put her + wet feet on the hob. + </p> + <p> + “I'll bet a cooky, Mess Rylands, you've done forgot the vanillar,” said + the girl, with a certain domestic and confidential familiarity. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Rylands started guiltily. She made a miserable feint of looking in + her lap and on the table. “I'm afraid I did, Jane, if I didn't bring it in + HERE.” + </p> + <p> + “That you didn't,” returned Jane. “And I reckon ye forgot that 'ar + pepper-sauce for yer husband.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Rylands looked up with piteous contrition. “I really don't know + what's the matter with me. I certainly went into the shop, and had it on + my list,—and—really”— + </p> + <p> + Jane evidently knew her mistress, and smiled with superior toleration. + “It's kinder bewilderin' goin' in them big shops, and lookin' round them + stuffed shelves.” The shop at the cross roads and post-office was 14 x 14, + but Jane was nurtured on the plains. “Anyhow,” she added good-humoredly, + “the expressman is sure to look in as he goes by, and you've time to give + him the order.” + </p> + <p> + “But is he SURE to come?” asked Mrs. Rylands anxiously. “Mr. Rylands will + be so put out without his pepper-sauce.” + </p> + <p> + “He's sure to come ef he knows you're here. Ye kin always kalkilate on + that.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” said Mrs. Rylands abstractedly. + </p> + <p> + “Why? 'cause he just can't keep his eyes off ye! That's why he comes every + day,—'tain't jest for trade!” + </p> + <p> + This was quite true, not only of the expressman, but of the butcher and + baker, and the “candlestick-maker,” had there been so advanced a vocation + at the cross roads. All were equally and curiously attracted by her + picturesque novelty. Mrs. Rylands knew this herself, but without vanity or + coquettishness. Possibly that was why the other woman told her. She only + slightly deepened the lines of discontent in her cheek and said + abstractedly, “Well, when he comes, YOU ask him.” + </p> + <p> + She dried her shoes, put on a pair of slippers that had a faded splendor + about them, and went up to her bedroom. Here she hesitated for some time + between the sewing-machine and her knitting-needles, but finally settled + upon the latter, and a pair of socks for her husband which she had begun a + year ago. But she presently despaired of finishing them before he + returned, three hours hence, and so applied herself to the sewing-machine. + For a little while its singing hum was heard between the blasts that shook + the house, but the thread presently snapped, and the machine was put aside + somewhat impatiently, with a discontented drawing of the lines around her + handsome mouth. Then she began to “tidy” the room, putting a great many + things away and bringing out a great many more, a process that was + necessarily slow, owing to her falling into attitudes of minute inspection + of certain articles of dress, with intervals of trying them on, and + observing their effect in her mirror. This kind of interruption also + occurred while she was putting away some books that were lying about on + chairs and tables, stopping midway to open their pages, becoming + interested, and quite finishing one chapter, with the book held close + against the window to catch the fading light of day. The feminine reader + will gather from this that Mrs. Rylands, though charming, was not facile + in domestic duties. She had just glanced at the clock, and lit the candle + to again set herself to work, and thus bridge over the two hours more of + waiting, when there came a tap at the door. She opened it to Jane. + </p> + <p> + “There's an entire stranger downstairs, ez hez got a lame hoss and wants + to borry a fresh one.” + </p> + <p> + “We have none, you know,” said Mrs. Rylands, a little impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “Thet's what I told him. Then he wanted to know ef he could lie by here + till he could get one or fix up his own hoss.” + </p> + <p> + “As you like; you know if you can manage it,” said Mrs. Rylands, a little + uneasily. “When Mr. Rylands comes you can arrange it between you. Where is + he now?” + </p> + <p> + “In the kitchen.” + </p> + <p> + “The kitchen!” echoed Mrs. Rylands. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, ma'am, I showed him into the parlor, but he kinder shivered his + shoulders, and reckoned ez how he'd go inter the kitchen. Ye see, ma'am, + he was all wet, and his shiny big boots was sloppy. But he ain't one o' + the stuck-up kind, and he's willin' to make hisself cowf'ble before the + kitchen stove.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then, he don't want ME,” said Mrs. Rylands, with a relieved voice. + </p> + <p> + “Yes'm,” said Jane, apparently equally relieved. “Only, I thought I'd just + tell you.” + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later, in crossing the upper hall, Mrs. Rylands heard Jane's + voice from the kitchen raised in rustic laughter. Had she been satirically + inclined, she might have understood Jane's willingness to relieve her + mistress of the duty of entertaining the stranger; had she been + philosophical, she might have considered the girl's dreary, monotonous + life at the rancho, and made allowance for her joy at this rare + interruption of it. But I fear that Mrs. Rylands was neither satirical nor + philosophical, and presently, when Jane reentered, with color in her + alkaline face, and light in her huckleberry eyes, and said she was going + over to the cattle-sheds in the “far pasture,” to see if the hired man + didn't know of some horse that could be got for the stranger, Mrs. Rylands + felt a little bitterness in the thought that the girl would have scarcely + volunteered to go all that distance in the rain for HER. Yet, in a few + moments she forgot all about it, and even the presence of her guest in the + house, and in one of her fitful abstracted employments passed through the + dining-room into the kitchen, and had opened the door with an “Oh, Jane!” + before she remembered her absence. + </p> + <p> + The kitchen, lit by a single candle, could be only partly seen by her as + she stood with her hand on the lock, although she herself was plainly + visible. There was a pause, and then a quiet, self-possessed, yet amused, + voice answered:— + </p> + <p> + “My name isn't Jane, and if you're the lady of the house, I reckon yours + wasn't ALWAYS Rylands.” + </p> + <p> + At the sound of the voice Mrs. Rylands threw the door wide open, and as + her eyes fell upon the speaker—her unknown guest—she recoiled + with a little cry, and a white, startled face. Yet the stranger was young + and handsome, dressed with a scrupulousness and elegance which even the + stress of travel had not deranged, and he was looking at her with a smile + of recognition, mingled with that careless audacity and self-possession + which seemed to be the characteristic of his face. + </p> + <p> + “Jack Hamlin!” she gasped. + </p> + <p> + “That's me, all the time,” he responded easily, “and YOU'RE Nell + Montgomery!” + </p> + <p> + “How did you know I was here? Who told you?” she said impetuously. + </p> + <p> + “Nobody! never was so surprised in my life! When you opened that door just + now you might have knocked me down with a feather.” Yet he spoke lazily, + with an amused face, and looked at her without changing his position. + </p> + <p> + “But you MUST have known SOMETHING! It was no mere accident,” she went on + vehemently, glancing around the room. + </p> + <p> + “That's where you slip up, Nell,” said Hamlin imperturbably. “It WAS an + accident and a bad one. My horse lamed himself coming down the grade. I + sighted the nearest shanty, where I thought I might get another horse. It + happened to be this.” For the first time he changed his attitude, and + leaned back contemplatively in his chair. + </p> + <p> + She came towards him quickly. “You didn't use to lie, Jack,” she said + hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't afford it in my business,—and can't now,” said Jack + cheerfully. “But,” he added curiously, as if recognizing something in his + companion's agitation, and lifting his brown lashes to her, the window, + and the ceiling, “what's all this about? What's your little game here?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm married,” she said, with nervous intensity,—“married, and this + is my husband's house!” + </p> + <p> + “Not married straight out!—regularly fixed?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “One of the boys? Don't remember any Rylands. SPELTER used to be very + sweet on you,—but Spelter mightn't have been his real name?” + </p> + <p> + “None of our lot! No one you ever knew; a—a straight out, square + man,” she said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “I say, Nell, look here! You ought to have shown up your cards without + even a call. You ought to have told him that you danced at the Casino.” + </p> + <p> + “I did.” + </p> + <p> + “Before he asked you to marry him?” + </p> + <p> + “Before.” + </p> + <p> + Jack got up from his chair, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at + her curiously. This Nell Montgomery, this music-hall “dance and song + girl,” this girl of whom so much had been SAID and so little PROVED! Well, + this was becoming interesting. + </p> + <p> + “You don't understand,” she said, with nervous feverishness; “you remember + after that row I had with Jim, that night the manager gave us a supper,—when + he treated me like a dog?” + </p> + <p> + “He did that,” interrupted Jack. + </p> + <p> + “I felt fit for anything,” she said, with a half-hysterical laugh, that + seemed voiced, however, to check some slumbering memory. “I'd have cut my + throat or his, it didn't matter which”— + </p> + <p> + “It mattered something to us, Nell,” put in Jack again, with polite + parenthesis; “don't leave US out in the cold.” + </p> + <p> + “I started from 'Frisco that night on the boat ready to fling myself into + anything—or the river!” she went on hurriedly. “There was a man in + the cabin who noticed me, and began to hang around. I thought he knew who + I was,—had seen me on the posters; and as I didn't feel like + foolin', I told him so. But he wasn't that kind. He said he saw I was in + trouble and wanted me to tell him all.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hamlin regarded her cheerfully. “And you told him,” he said, “how you + had once run away from your childhood's happy home to go on the stage! How + you always regretted it, and would have gone back but that the doors were + shut forever against you! How you longed to leave, but the wicked men and + women around you always”— + </p> + <p> + “I didn't!” she burst out, with sudden passion; “you know I didn't. I told + him everything: who I was, what I had done, what I expected to do again. I + pointed out the men—who were sitting there, whispering and grinning + at us, as if they were in the front row of the theatre—and said I + knew them all, and they knew me. I never spared myself a thing. I said + what people said of me, and didn't even care to say it wasn't true!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, come!” protested Jack, in perfunctory politeness. + </p> + <p> + “He said he liked me for telling the truth, and not being ashamed to do + it! He said the sin was in the false shame and the hypocrisy; for that's + the sort of man he is, you see, and that's like him always! He asked if I + would marry him—out of hand—and do my best to be his lawful + wife. He said he wanted me to think it over and sleep on it, and to-morrow + he would come and see me for an answer. I slipped off the boat at 'Frisco, + and went alone to a hotel where I wasn't known. In the morning I didn't + know whether he'd keep his word or I'd keep mine. But he came! He said + he'd marry me that very day, and take me to his farm in Santa Clara. I + agreed. I thought it would take me out of everybody's knowledge, and + they'd think me dead! We were married that day, before a regular + clergyman. I was married under my own name,”—she stopped and looked + at Jack, with a hysterical laugh,—“but he made me write underneath + it, 'known as Nell Montgomery;' for he said HE wasn't ashamed of it, nor + should I be.” + </p> + <p> + “Does he wear long hair and stick straws in it?” said Hamlin gravely. + “Does he 'hear voices' and have 'visions'?” + </p> + <p> + “He's a shrewd, sensible, hard-working man,—no more mad than you + are, nor as mad as I was the day I married him. He's lived up to + everything he's said.” She stopped, hesitated in her quick, nervous + speech; her lip quivered slightly, but she recalled herself, and looking + imploringly, yet hopelessly, at Jack, gasped, “And that's what's the + matter!” + </p> + <p> + Jack fixed his eyes keenly upon her. “And you?” he said curtly. + </p> + <p> + “I?” she repeated wonderingly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, what have YOU done?” he said, with sudden sharpness. + </p> + <p> + The wonder was so apparent in her eyes that his keen glance softened. + “Why,” she said bewilderingly, “I have been his dog, his slave,—as + far as he would let me. I have done everything; I have not been out of the + house until he almost drove me out. I have never wanted to go anywhere or + see any one; but he has always insisted upon it. I would have been willing + to slave here, day and night, and have been happy. But he said I must not + seem to be ashamed of my past, when he is not. I would have worn common + homespun clothes and calico frocks, and been glad of it, but he insists + upon my wearing my best things, even my theatre things; and as he can't + afford to buy more, I wear these things I had. I know they look beastly + here, and that I'm a laughing-stock, and when I go out I wear almost + anything to try and hide them; but,” her lip quivered dangerously again, + “he wants me to do it, and it pleases him.” + </p> + <p> + Jack looked down. After a pause he lifted his lashes towards her draggled + skirt, and said in an easier, conversational tone, “Yes! I thought I knew + that dress. I gave it to you for that walking scene in 'High Life,' didn't + I?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said quickly, “it was the blue one with silver trimming,—don't + you remember? I tried to turn it the first year I was married, but it + never looked the same.” + </p> + <p> + “It was sweetly pretty,” said Jack encouragingly, “and with that blue hat + lined with silver, it was just fetching! Somehow I don't quite remember + this one,” and he looked at it critically. + </p> + <p> + “I had it at the races in '58, and that supper Judge Boompointer gave us + at 'Frisco where Colonel Fish upset the table trying to get at Jim. Do you + know,” she said, with a little laugh, “it's got the stains of the + champagne on it yet; it never would come off. See!” and she held the + candle with great animation to the breadth of silk before her. + </p> + <p> + “And there's more of it on the sleeve,” said Jack; “isn't there?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Rylands looked reproachfully at Jack. + </p> + <p> + “That isn't champagne; don't you know what it is?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” + </p> + <p> + “It's blood,” she said gravely; “when that Mexican cut poor Ned so bad,—don't + you remember? I held his head upon my arm while you bandaged him.” She + heaved a little sigh, and then added, with a faint laugh, “That's the + worst thing about the clothes of a girl in the profession, they get + spoiled or stained before they wear out.” + </p> + <p> + This large truth did not seem to impress Mr. Hamlin. “Why did you leave + Santa Clara?” he said abruptly, in his previous critical tone. + </p> + <p> + “Because of the folks there. They were standoffish and ugly. You see, + Josh”— + </p> + <p> + “Who?” + </p> + <p> + “Josh Rylands!—HIM! He told everybody who I was, even those who had + never seen me in the bills,—how good I was to marry him, how he had + faith in me and wasn't ashamed,—until they didn't believe we were + married at all. So they looked another way when they met us, and didn't + call. And all the while I was glad they didn't, but he wouldn't believe + it, and allowed I was pining on account of it.” + </p> + <p> + “And were you?” + </p> + <p> + “I swear to God, Jack, I'd have been content, and more, to have been just + there with him, seein' nobody, letting every one believe I was dead and + gone, but he said it was wrong, and weak! Maybe it was,” she added, with a + shy, interrogating look at Jack, of which, however, he took no notice. + “Then when he found they wouldn't call, what do you think he did?” + </p> + <p> + “Beat you, perhaps,” suggested Jack cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “He never did a thing to me that wasn't straight out, square, and kind,” + she said, half indignantly, half hopelessly. “He thought if HIS kind of + people wouldn't see me, I might like to see my own sort. So without saying + anything to me, he brought down, of all things! Tinkie Clifford, she that + used to dance in the cheap variety shows at 'Frisco, and her particular + friend, Captain Sykes. It would have just killed you, Jack,” she said, + with a sudden hysteric burst of laughter, “to have seen Josh, in his + square, straight-out way, trying to be civil and help things along. But,” + she went on, as suddenly relapsing into her former attitude of worried + appeal, “I couldn't stand it, and when she got to talking free and easy + before Josh, and Captain Sykes to guzzling champagne, she and me had a + row. She allowed I was putting on airs, and I made her walk, in spite of + Josh.” + </p> + <p> + “And Josh seemed to like it,” said Hamlin carelessly. “Has he seen her + since?” + </p> + <p> + “No; I reckon he's cured of asking that kind of company for me. And then + we came here. But I persuaded him not to begin by going round telling + people who I was,—as he did the last time,—but to leave it to + folks to find out if they wanted to, and he gave in. Then he let me fix up + this house and furnish it my own way, and I did!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to say that YOU fixed up that family vault of a + sitting-room?” said Jack, in horror. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I didn't want any fancy furniture or looking-glasses, and such like, + to attract folks, nor anything to look like the old times. I don't think + any of the boys would care to come here. And I got rid of a lot of + sporting travelers, 'wild-cat' managers, and that kind of tramp in this + way. But”—She hesitated, and her face fell again. + </p> + <p> + “But what?” said Jack. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think that Josh likes it either. He brought home the other day + 'My Johnny is a Shoemakiyure,' and wanted me to try it on the organ. But + it reminded me how we used to get just sick of singing it on and off the + boards, and I couldn't touch it. He wanted me to go to the circus that was + touring over at the cross roads, but it was the old Flanigin's circus, you + know, the one Gussie Riggs used to ride in, with its old clown and its old + ringmaster and the old 'wheezes,' and I chucked it.” + </p> + <p> + “Look here,” said Jack, rising and surveying Mrs. Rylands critically. “If + you go on at this gait, I'll tell you what that man of yours will do. + He'll bolt with some of your old friends!” + </p> + <p> + She turned a quick, scared face upon him for an instant. But only for an + instant. Her hysteric little laugh returned, at once, followed by her + weary, worried look. “No, Jack, you don't know him! If it was only that! + He cares only for me in his own way,—and,” she stammered as she went + on, “I've no luck in making him happy.” + </p> + <p> + She stopped. The wind shook the house and fired a volley of rain against + the windows. She took advantage of it to draw a torn lace-edged + handkerchief from her pocket behind, and keeping the tail of her eyes in a + frightened fashion on Jack, applied the handkerchief furtively, first to + her nose, and then to her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Don't do that,” said Jack fastidiously, “it's wet enough outside.” + Nevertheless, he stood up and gazed at her. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he began. + </p> + <p> + She timidly drew nearer to him, and took a seat on the kitchen table, + looking up wistfully into his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” resumed Jack argumentatively, “if he won't 'chuck' you, why don't + you 'chuck' HIM?” + </p> + <p> + She turned quite white, and suddenly dropped her eyes. “Yes,” she said, + almost inaudibly, “lots of girls would do that.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't mean go back to your old life,” continued Jack. “I reckon you've + had enough of that. But get into some business, you know, like other + women. A bonnet shop, or a candy shop for children, see? I'll help start + you. I've got a couple of hundred, if not in my own pocket in somebody's + else, just burning to be used! And then you can look about you; and + perhaps some square business man will turn up and you can marry him. You + know you can't live this way, nohow. It's killing you; it ain't fair on + you, nor on Rylands either.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said quickly, “it ain't fair on HIM. I know it, I know it isn't, + I know it isn't,” she repeated, “only”—She stopped. + </p> + <p> + “Only what?” said Jack impatiently. + </p> + <p> + She did not speak. After a pause she picked up the rolling-pin from the + table and began absently rolling it down her lap to her knee, as if + pressing out the stained silk skirt. “Only,” she stammered, slowly rolling + the pin handles in her open palms, “I—I can't leave Josh.” + </p> + <p> + “Why can't you?” said Jack quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Because—because—I,” she went on, with a quivering lip, + working the rolling-pin heavily down her knee as if she were crushing her + answer out of it,—“because—I—love him!” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause, a dash of rain against the window, and another dash + from her eyes upon her hands, the rolling-pin, and the skirts she had + gathered up hastily, as she cried, “O Jack! Jack! I never loved anybody + like him! I never knew what love was! I never knew a man like him before! + There never WAS one before!” + </p> + <p> + To this large, comprehensive, and passionate statement Mr. Jack Hamlin + made no reply. An audacity so supreme had conquered his. He walked to the + window, looked out upon the dark, rain-filmed pane that, however, + reflected no equal change in his own dark eyes, and then returned and + walked round the kitchen table. When he was at her back, without looking + at her, he reached out his hand, took her passive one that lay on the + table in his, grasped it heartily for a single moment, laid it gently + down, and returned around the table, where he again confronted her + cheerfully face to face. + </p> + <p> + “You'll make the riffle yet,” he said quietly. “Just now I don't see what + I could do, or where I could chip in your little game; but if I DO, or you + do, count me in and let me know. You know where to write,—my old + address at Sacramento.” He walked to the corner, took up his still wet + serape, threw it over his shoulders, and picked up his broad-brimmed + riding-hat. + </p> + <p> + “You're not going, Jack?” she said hesitatingly, as she rubbed her wet + eyes into a consciousness of his movements. “You'll wait to see HIM? He'll + be here in an hour.” + </p> + <p> + “I've been here too long already,” said Jack. “And the less you say about + my calling, even accidentally, the better. Nobody will believe it,—YOU + didn't yourself. In fact, unless you see how I can help you, the sooner + you consider us all dead and buried, the sooner your luck will change. + Tell your girl I've found my own horse so much better that I have pushed + on with him, and give her that.” + </p> + <p> + He threw a gold coin on the table. + </p> + <p> + “But your horse is still lame,” she said wonderingly. “What will you do in + this storm?” + </p> + <p> + “Get into the cover of the next wood and camp out. I've done it before.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Jack!” + </p> + <p> + He suddenly made a slight gesture of warning. His quick ear had caught the + approach of footsteps along the wet gravel outside. A mischievous light + slid into his dark eyes as he coolly moved backward to the door and, + holding it open, said, in a remarkably clear and distinct voice:— + </p> + <p> + “Yes, as you say, society is becoming very mixed and frivolous everywhere, + and you'd scarcely know San Francisco now. So delighted, however, to have + made your acquaintance, and regret my business prevents my waiting to see + your good husband. So odd that I should have known your Aunt Jemima! But, + as you say, the world is very small, after all. I shall tell the deacon + how well you are looking,—in spite of the kitchen smoke in your + eyes. Good-by! A thousand thanks for your hospitality.” + </p> + <p> + And Jack, bowing profoundly to the ground, backed out upon Jane, the hired + man, and the expressman, treading, I grieve to say, with some deliberation + upon the toes of the two latter, in order, possibly, that in their + momentary pain and discomposure they might not scan too closely the face + of this ingenious gentleman, as he melted into the night and the storm. + </p> + <p> + Jane entered, with a slight toss of her head. + </p> + <p> + “Here's your expressman,—ef you're wantin' him NOW.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Rylands was too preoccupied to notice her handmaiden's significant + emphasis, as she indicated a fresh-looking, bashful young fellow, whose + confusion was evidently heightened by the unexpected egress of Mr. Hamlin, + and the point-blank presence of the handsome Mrs. Rylands. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, certainly,” said Mrs. Rylands quickly. “So kind of him to oblige us. + Give him the order, Jane, please.” + </p> + <p> + She turned to escape from the kitchen and these new intruders, when her + eye fell upon the coin left by Mr. Hamlin. “The gentleman wished you to + take that for your trouble, Jane,” she said hastily, pointing to it, and + passed out. + </p> + <p> + Jane cast a withering look after her retreating skirts, and picking the + coin from the table, turned to the hired man. “Run to the stable after + that dandified young feller, Dick, and hand that back to him. Ye kin say + that Jane Mackinnon don't run arrants fur money, nor play gooseberry to + other folks fur fun.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART" id="link2H_PART"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART II + </h2> + <p> + Mr. Joshua Rylands had, according to the vocabulary of his class, “found + grace” at the age of sixteen, while still in the spiritual state of + “original sin” and the political one of Missouri. He had not indeed found + it by persistent youthful seeking or spiritual insight, but somewhat + violently and turbulently at a camp-meeting. A village boy, naturally + gentle and impressible, with an original character,—limited, + however, in education and experience,—he had, after his first rustic + debauch with some vulgar companions, fallen upon the camp-meeting in + reckless audacity; and instead of being handed over to the district + constable, was taken in and placed upon “the anxious bench,” “rastled + with,” and exhorted by a strong revivalist preacher, “convicted of sin,” + and—converted! It is doubtful if the shame of a public arrest and + legal punishment would have impressed his youthful spirit as much as did + this spiritual examination and trial, in which he himself became accuser. + Howbeit, its effect, though punitive, was also exemplary. He at once cast + off his evil companions; remaining faithful to his conversion, in spite of + their later “backslidings.” When, after the Western fashion, the time came + for him to forsake his father's farm and seek a new “quarter section” on + some more remote frontier, he carried into that secluded, lonely, + half-monkish celibacy of pioneer life—which has been the foundation + of so much strong Western character—more than the usual religious + feeling. At once industrious and adventurous, he lived by “the Word,” as + he called it, and Nature as he knew it,—tempted by none of the vices + or sentiments of civilization. When he finally joined the Californian + emigration, it was not as a gold-seeker, but as a discoverer of new + agricultural fields; if the hardship was as great and the rewards fewer, + he nevertheless knew that he retained his safer isolation and independence + of spirit. Vice and civilization were to him synonymous terms; it was the + natural condition of the worldly and unregenerate. Such was the man who + chanced to meet “Nell Montgomery, the Pearl of the Variety Stage,” on the + Sacramento boat, in one of his forced visits to civilization. Without + knowing her in her profession, her frank exposition of herself did not + startle him; he recognized it, accepted it, and strove to convert it. And + as long as this daughter of Folly forsook her evil ways for him, it was a + triumph in which there was no shame, and might be proclaimed from the + housetop. When his neighbors thought differently, and avoided them, he saw + no inconsistency in bringing his wife's old friends to divert her: she + might in time convert THEM. He had no more fear of her returning to their + ways than he had of himself “backsliding.” Narrow as was his creed, he had + none of the harshness nor pessimism of the bigot. With the keenest + self-scrutiny, his credulity regarding others was touching. + </p> + <p> + The storm was still raging when he alighted that evening from the up coach + at the trail nearest his house. Although incumbered with a heavy + carpet-bag, he started resignedly on his two-mile tramp without begrudging + the neighborly act of his wife which had deprived him of his horse. It was + “like her” to do these things in her good-humored abstraction, an + abstraction, however, that sometimes worried him, from the fear that it + indicated some unhappiness with her present lot. He was longing to rejoin + her after his absence of three days, the longest time they had been + separated since their marriage, and he hurried on with a certain + lover-like excitement, quite new to his usually calm and temperate blood. + </p> + <p> + Struggling with the storm and darkness, but always with the happy + consciousness of drawing nearer to her in that struggle, he labored on, + finding his perilous way over the indistinguishable trail by certain + landmarks in the distance, visible only to his pioneer eye. That heavier + shadow to the right was not the hillside, but the SLOPE to the distant + hill; that low, regular line immediately before him was not a fence or + wall, but the line of distant gigantic woods, a mile from his home. Yet as + he began to descend the slope towards the wood, he stopped and rubbed his + eyes. There was distinctly a light in it. His first idea was that he had + lost the trail and was nearing the woodman Mackinnon's cabin. But a more + careful scrutiny revealed to him that it was really the wood, and the + light was a camp-fire. It was a rough night for camping out, but they were + probably some belated prospectors. + </p> + <p> + When he had reached the fringe of woodland, he could see quite plainly + that the fire was built beside one of the large pines, and that the little + encampment, which looked quite comfortable and secluded from the + storm-beaten trail, was occupied apparently by a single figure. By the + good glow of the leaping fire, that figure standing erect before it, + elegantly shaped, in the graceful folds of a serape, looked singularly + romantic and picturesque, and reminded Joshua Rylands—whose ideas of + art were purely reminiscent of boyish reading—of some picture in a + novel. The heavy black columns of the pines, glancing out of the concave + shadow, also seemed a fitting background to what might have been a scene + in a play. So strongly was he impressed by it that but for his anxiety to + reach his home, still a mile distant, and the fact that he was already + late, he would have penetrated the wood and the seclusion of the stranger + with an offer of hospitality for the night. The man, however, was + evidently capable of taking care of himself, and the outline of a tethered + horse was faintly visible under another tree. It might be a surveyor or + engineer,—the only men of a better class who were itinerant. + </p> + <p> + But another and even greater surprise greeted him as he toiled up the + rocky slope towards his farmhouse. The windows of the sitting-room, which + were usually blank and black by night, were glittering with unfamiliar + light. Like most farmers, he seldom used the room except for formal + company, his wife usually avoiding it, and even he himself now preferred + the dining-room or the kitchen. His first suggestion that his wife had + visitors gave him a sense of pleasure on her account, mingled, however, + with a slight uneasiness of his own which he could not account for. More + than that, as he approached nearer he could hear the swell of the organ + above the roar of the swaying pines, and the cadences were not of a + devotional character. He hesitated for a moment, as he had hesitated at + the fire in the woods; yet it was surely his own house! He hurried to the + door, opened it; not only the light of the sitting-room streamed into the + hall, but the ruddier glow of an actual fire in the disused grate! The + familiar dark furniture had been rearranged to catch some of the glow and + relieve its sombreness. And his wife, rising from the music-stool, was the + room's only occupant! + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Rylands gazed anxiously and timidly at her husband's astonished face, + as he threw off his waterproof and laid down his carpet-bag. Her own face + was a little flurried with excitement, and his, half hidden in his tawny + beard, and, possibly owing to his self-introspective nature, never + spontaneously sympathetic, still expressed only wonder! Mrs. Rylands was a + little frightened. It is sometimes dangerous to meddle with a man's + habits, even when he has grown weary of them. + </p> + <p> + “I thought,” she began hesitatingly, “that it would be more cheerful for + you in here, this stormy evening. I thought you might like to put your wet + things to dry in the kitchen, and we could sit here together, after + supper, alone.” + </p> + <p> + I am afraid that Mrs. Rylands did not offer all her thoughts. Ever since + Mr. Hamlin's departure she had been uneasy and excited, sometimes falling + into fits of dejection, and again lighting up into hysterical levity; at + other times carefully examining her wardrobe, and then with a sudden + impulse rushing downstairs again to give orders for her husband's supper, + and to make the extraordinary changes in the sitting-room already noted. + Only a few moments before he arrived, she had covertly brought down a + piece of music, and put aside the hymn-books, and taken, with a little + laugh, a pack of cards from her pocket, which she placed behind the + already dismantled vase on the chimney. + </p> + <p> + “I reckoned you had company, Ellen,” he said gravely, kissing her. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said quickly. “That is,” she stopped with a sudden surge of + color in her face that startled her, “there was—a man—here, in + the kitchen—who had a lame horse, and who wanted to get a fresh one. + But he went away an hour ago. And he wasn't in this room—at least, + after it was fixed up. So I've had no company.” + </p> + <p> + She felt herself again blushing at having blushed, and a little terrified. + There was no reason for it. But for Jack's warning, she would have been + quite ready to tell her husband all. She had never blushed before him over + her past life; why she should now blush over seeing Jack, of all people! + made her utter a little hysterical laugh. I am afraid that this + experienced little woman took it for granted that her husband knew that if + Jack or any man had been there as a clandestine lover, she would not have + blushed at all. Yet with all her experience, she did not know that she had + blushed simply because it was to Jack that she had confessed that she + loved the man before her. Her husband noted the blush as part of her + general excitement. He permitted her to drag him into the room and seat + him before the hearth, where she sank down on one knee to pull off his + heavy rubber boots. But he waved her aside at this, pulled them off with + his own hands, and let her take them to the kitchen and bring back his + slippers. By this time a smile had lighted up his hard face. The room was + certainly more comfortable and cheerful. Still he was a little worried; + was there not in these changes a falling away from the grace of + self-abnegation which she had so sedulously practiced? + </p> + <p> + When supper was served by Jane, in the dull dining-room, Mr. Rylands, had + he not been more engaged in these late domestic changes, might have + noticed that the Missouri girl waited upon him with a certain + commiserating air that was remarkable by its contrast with the frigid + ceremonious politeness with which she attended her mistress. It had not + escaped Mrs. Rylands, however, who ever since Jack's abrupt departure had + noticed this change in the girl's demeanor to herself, and with a woman's + intuitive insight of another woman, had fathomed it. The comfortable + tete-a-tete with Jack, which Jane had looked forward to, Mrs. Rylands had + anticipated herself, and then sent him off! When Joshua thanked his wife + for remembering the pepper-sauce, and Mrs. Rylands pathetically admitted + her forgetfulness, the head-toss which Jane gave as she left the room was + too marked to be overlooked by him. Mrs. Rylands gave a hysterical little + laugh. “I am afraid Jane doesn't like my sending away the expressman just + after I had also dismissed the stranger whom she had taken a fancy to, and + left her without company,” she said unwisely. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands did not laugh. “I reckon,” he returned slowly, “that Jane must + feel kinder lonely; she bears all the burden of our bein' outer the world, + without any of our glory in the cause of it.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, when supper was over, and the pair were seated in the + sitting-room before the fire, this episode was forgotten. Mrs. Rylands + produced her husband's pipe and tobacco-pouch. He looked around the formal + walls and hesitated. He had been in the habit of smoking in the kitchen. + </p> + <p> + “Why not here?” said Mrs. Rylands, with a sudden little note of decision. + “Why should we keep this room only for company that don't come? I call it + silly.” + </p> + <p> + This struck Mr. Rylands as logical. Besides, undoubtedly the fire had + mellowed the room. After a puff or two he looked at his wife musingly. + “Couldn't you make yourself one of them cigarettys, as they call 'em? + Here's the tobacco, and I'll get you the paper.” + </p> + <p> + “I COULD,” she said tentatively. Then suddenly, “What made you think of + it? You never saw ME smoke!” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Rylands, “but that lady, your old friend, Miss Clifford, does, + and I thought you might be hankering after it.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know Tinkie Clifford smokes?” said Mrs. Rylands quickly. + </p> + <p> + “She lit a cigaretty that day she called.” + </p> + <p> + “I hate it,” said Mrs. Rylands shortly. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands nodded approval, and puffed meditatively. + </p> + <p> + “Josh, have you seen that girl since?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Joshua. + </p> + <p> + “Nor any other girl like her?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Joshua wonderingly. “You see I only got to know her on your + account, Ellen, that she might see you.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, don't you do it any more! None of 'em! Promise me!” She leaned + forward eagerly in her chair. + </p> + <p> + “But Ellen,”—her husband began gravely. + </p> + <p> + “I know what you're going to say, but they can't do me any good, and you + can't do them any good as you did ME, so there!” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands was silent, and smiled meditatively. + </p> + <p> + “Josh!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “When you met me that night on the Sacramento boat, and looked at me, did + you—did I,” she hesitated,—“did you look at me because I had + been crying?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you were troubled in spirit, and looked so.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I looked worried, of course; I had no time to change or even + fix my hair; I had on that green dress, and it NEVER was becoming. And you + only spoke to me on account of my awful looks?” + </p> + <p> + “I saw only your wrestling soul, Ellen, and I thought you needed comfort + and help.” + </p> + <p> + She was silent for a moment, and then, leaning forward, picked up the + poker and began to thrust it absently between the bars. + </p> + <p> + “And if it had been some other girl crying and looking awful, you'd have + spoken to her all the same?” + </p> + <p> + This was a new idea to Mr. Rylands, but with most men logic is supreme. “I + suppose I would,” he said slowly. + </p> + <p> + “And married her?” She rattled the bars of the grate with the poker as if + to drown the inevitable reply. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands loved the woman before him, but it pleased him to think that + he loved truth better. “If it had been necessary to her salvation, yes,” + he said. + </p> + <p> + “Not Tinkie?” she said suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “SHE never would have been in your contrite condition.” + </p> + <p> + “Much you know! Girls like that can cry as well as laugh, just as they + want to. Well! I suppose I DID look horrid.” Nevertheless, she seemed to + gain some gratification from her husband's reply, and changed the subject + as if fearful of losing that satisfaction by further questioning. + </p> + <p> + “I tried some of those songs you brought, but I don't think they go well + with the harmonium,” she said, pointing to some music on its rack, “except + one. Just listen.” She rose, and with the same nervous quickness she had + shown before, went to the instrument and began to sing and play. There was + a hopeless incongruity between the character of the instrument and the + spirit of the song. Mrs. Rylands's voice was rather forced and crudely + trained, but Joshua Rylands, sitting there comfortably slippered by the + fire and conscious of the sheeted rain against the window, felt it good. + Presently he arose, and lounging heavily over to the fair performer, + leaned down and imprinted a kiss on the labyrinthine fringes of her hair. + At which Mrs. Rylands caught blindly at his hand nearest her, and without + lifting her other hand from the keys, or her eyes from the music, said + tentatively:— + </p> + <p> + “You know there's a chorus just here! Why can't you try it with me?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands hesitated a moment, then, with a preliminary cough, lifted a + voice as crude as hers, but powerful through much camp-meeting exercise, + and roared a chorus which was remarkable chiefly for requiring that + archness and playfulness in execution which he lacked. As the whole house + seemed to dilate with the sound, and the wind outside to withhold its + fury, Mr. Rylands felt that physical delight which children feel in + personal outcry, and was grateful to his wife for the opportunity. Laying + his hand affectionately on her shoulder, he noticed for the first time + that she was in a kind of evening-dress, and that her delicate white + shoulder shone through the black lace that enveloped it. + </p> + <p> + For an instant Mr. Rylands was shocked at this unwonted exposure. He had + never seen his wife in evening-dress before. It was true they were alone, + and in their own sitting-room, but the room was still invested with that + formality and publicity which seemed to accent this indiscretion. The + simple-minded frontier man's mind went back to Jane, to the hired man, to + the expressman, the stranger, all of whom might have noticed it also. + </p> + <p> + “You have a new dress,” he said slowly, “have you worn it all day?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said, with a timid smile. “I only put it on just before you + came. It's the one I used to wear in the ballroom scene in 'Gay Times in + 'Frisco.' You don't know it, I know. I thought I would wear it tonight, + and then,” she suddenly grasped his hand, “you'll let me put all these + things away forever! Won't you, Josh? I've seen such nice pretty calico at + the store to-day, and I can make up one or two home dresses, like Jane's, + only better fitting, of course. In fact, I asked them to send the roll up + here to-morrow for you to see.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands felt relieved. Perhaps his views had changed about the moral + effect of her retaining these symbols of her past, for he consented to the + calico dresses, not, however, without an inward suspicion that she would + not look so well in them, and that the one she had on was more becoming. + </p> + <p> + Meantime she tried another piece of music. It was equally incongruous and + slightly Bacchantic. + </p> + <p> + “There used to be a mighty pretty dance went to that,” she said, nodding + her head in time with the music, and assisting the heavily spasmodic + attempts of the instrument with the pleasant levity of her voice. “I used + to do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Ye might try it now, Ellen,” suggested her husband, with a + half-frightened, half-amused tolerance. + </p> + <p> + “YOU play, then,” said Mrs. Rylands quickly, offering her seat to him. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands sat down to the harmonium, as Mrs. Rylands briskly moved the + table and chairs against the wall. Mr. Rylands played slowly and + strenuously, as from a conscientious regard of the instrument. Mrs. + Rylands stood in the centre of the floor, making a rather pretty, animated + picture, as she again stimulated the heavy harmonium swell not only with + her voice but her hands and feet. Presently she began to skip. + </p> + <p> + I should warn the reader here that this was before the “shawl” or “skirt” + dancing was in vogue, and I am afraid that pretty Mrs. Rylands's + performances would now be voted slow. Her silk skirt and frilled petticoat + were lifted just over her small ankles and tiny bronze-kid shoes. In the + course of a pirouette or two, there was a slight further revelation of + blue silk stockings and some delicate embroidery, but really nothing more + than may be seen in the sweep of a modern waltz. Suddenly the music + ceased. Mr. Rylands had left the harmonium and walked over to the hearth. + Mrs. Rylands stopped, and came towards him with a flushed, anxious face. + </p> + <p> + “It don't seem to go right, does it?” she said, with her nervous laugh. “I + suppose I'm getting too old now, and I don't quite remember it.” + </p> + <p> + “Better forget it altogether,” he replied gravely. He stopped at seeing a + singular change in her face, and added awkwardly, “When I told you I + didn't want you to be ashamed of your past, nor to try to forget what you + were, I didn't mean such things as that!” + </p> + <p> + “What did you mean?” she said timidly. + </p> + <p> + The truth was that Mr. Rylands did not know. He had known this sort of + thing only in the abstract. He had never had the least acquaintance with + the class to which his wife had belonged, nor known anything of their + methods. It was a revelation to him now, in the woman he loved, and who + was his wife. He was not shocked so much as he was frightened. + </p> + <p> + “You shall have the dress to-morrow, Ellen,” he said gently, “and you can + put away these gewgaws. You don't need to look like Tinkie Clifford.” + </p> + <p> + He did not see the look of triumph that lit up her eye, but added, “Go on + and play.” + </p> + <p> + She sat down obediently to the instrument. He watched her for a few + moments from the toe of her kid slipper on the pedals to the swell of her + shoulders above the keyboard, with a strange, abstracted face. Presently + she stopped and came over to him. + </p> + <p> + “And when I've got these nice calico frocks, and you can't tell me from + Jane, and I'm a good housekeeper, and settle down to be a farmer's wife, + maybe I'll have a secret to tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “A secret?” he repeated gravely. “Why not now?” + </p> + <p> + Her face was quite aglow with excitement and a certain timid mischief as + she laughed: “Not while you are so solemn. It can wait.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at his watch. “I must give some orders to Jim about the stock + before he turns in,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “He's gone to the stables already,” said Mrs. Rylands. + </p> + <p> + “No matter; I can go there and find him.” + </p> + <p> + “Shall I bring your boots?” she said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “I'll put them on when I pass through the kitchen. I won't be long away. + Now go to bed. You are looking tired,” he said gently, as he gazed at the + drawn lines about her eyes and mouth. Her former pretty color struck him + also as having changed of late, and as being irregular and inharmonious. + </p> + <p> + As Mrs. Rylands obediently ascended the stairs she heaved a faint sigh, + her only recognition of her husband's criticism. He turned and passed + quickly into the kitchen. He wanted to be alone to collect his thoughts. + But he was surprised to find Jane still there, sitting bolt upright in a + chair in the corner. Apparently she had been expecting him, for as he + entered she stood up, and wiped her cheek and mouth with one hand, as if + to compress her lips the more tightly. + </p> + <p> + “I reckoned,” she began, “that unless you war for forgettin' everythin' in + these yer goings on, ye'd be passin' through here to tend to your stock. + I've got a word to say to ye, Mr. Rylands. When I first kem over here to + help, I got word from the folks around that your wife afore you married + her was just one o' them bally dancers. Well, that was YOUR lookout, not + mine! Jane Mackinnon ain't the kind to take everybody's sayin' as gospil, + but she kalkilates to treat folks ez she finds 'em. When she finds 'em + lyin' and deceivin'; when she finds em purtendin' one thing and doin' + another; when she finds 'em makin' fools tumble to 'em; playing soots on + their own husbands, and turnin' an honest house into a music-hall and a + fandango shop, she kicks! You hear me! Jane Mackinnon kicks!” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” said Mr. Rylands sternly. + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” said Miss Mackinnon, striking her hips with the back of her + hands smartly, and accenting each word that dropped like a bullet from her + mouth with an additional blow,—“I—mean—that—your—wife—had + one—of—her—old—hangers-on—from—'Frisco—here—in—this + very—kitchen—all—the—arternoon; there! I mean that + whiles she was waitin' here for you, she was canoodlin' and cryin' over + old times with him! I saw her myself through the winder. That's what I + mean, Mr. Joshua Rylands.” + </p> + <p> + “It's false! She had some poor stranger here with a lame horse. She told + me so herself.” + </p> + <p> + Jane Mackinnon laughed shrilly. + </p> + <p> + “Did she tell you that the poor stranger was young and pretty-faced, with + black moustarches? that his store clothes must have cost a fortin, saying + nothing of his gold-lined, broadcloth sarrapper? Did she say that his + horse was so lame that when I went to get another he wouldn't WAIT for it? + Did she tell you WHO he was?” + </p> + <p> + “No, she did not know,” said Rylands sternly, but with a whitening face. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll tell you! The gambler, the shooter!—the man whose name + is black enough to stain any woman he knows. Jim recognized him like a + shot; he sez, the moment he clapped eyes on him at the door, 'Dod blasted, + if it ain't Jack Hamlin!'” + </p> + <p> + Little as Mr. Rylands knew of the world, he had heard that name. But it + was not THAT he was thinking of. He was thinking of the camp-fire in the + wood, the handsome figure before it, the tethered horse. He was thinking + of the lighted sitting-room, the fire, his wife's bare shoulders, her + slippers, stockings, and the dance. He saw it all,—a lightning-flash + to his dull imagination. The room seemed to expand and then grow smaller, + the figure of Jane to sway backwards and forwards before him. He murmured + the name of God with lips that were voiceless, caught at the kitchen table + to steady himself, held it till he felt his arms grow rigid, and then + recovered himself,—white, cold, and sane. + </p> + <p> + “Speak a word of this to HER,” he said deliberately, “enter her room while + I'm gone, even leave the kitchen before I come back, and I'll throw you + into the road. Tell that hired man, if he dares to breathe it to a soul + I'll strangle him.” + </p> + <p> + The unlooked-for rage of this quiet, God-fearing man, and dupe, as she + believed, was terrible, but convincing. She shrank back into the corner as + he coolly drew on his boots and waterproof, and without another word left + the house. + </p> + <p> + He knew what he was going to do as well as if it had been ordained for + him. He knew he would find the young man in the wood; for whatever were + the truth of the other stories, he and the visitor were identical; he had + seen him with his own eyes. He would confront him face to face and know + all; and until then, he could not see his wife again. He walked on + rapidly, but without feverishness or mental confusion. He saw his duty + plainly,—if Ellen had “backslidden,” he must give her another trial. + These were his articles of faith. He should not put her away; but she + should nevermore be wife to him. It was HE who had tempted her, it was + true; perhaps God would forgive her for that reason, but HE could never + love her again. + </p> + <p> + The fury of the storm had somewhat abated as he reached the wood. The fire + was still there, but no longer a leaping flame. A dull glow in the + darkness of the forest aisles was all that indicated its position. Rylands + at once plunged in that direction; he was near enough to see the red + embers when he heard a sharp click, and a voice called:— + </p> + <p> + “Hold up!” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hamlin was a light sleeper. The crackle of underbrush had been enough + to disturb him. The voice was his; the click was the cocking of his + revolver. + </p> + <p> + Rylands was no coward, but halted diplomatically. + </p> + <p> + “Now, then,” said Mr. Hamlin's voice, “a little more this way, IN THE + LIGHT, if you please!” + </p> + <p> + Rylands moved as directed, and saw Mr. Hamlin lying before the fire, + resting easily on one hand, with his revolver in the other. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you!” said Jack. “Excuse my precautions, but it is night, and this + is, for the present, my bedroom.” + </p> + <p> + “My name is Rylands; you called at my house this afternoon and saw my + wife,” said Rylands slowly. + </p> + <p> + “I did,” said Hamlin. “It was mighty kind of you to return my call so + soon, but I didn't expect it.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon not. But I know who you are, and that you are an old associate + of hers, in the days of her sin and unregeneration. I want you to answer + me, before God and man, what was your purpose in coming there to-day?” + </p> + <p> + “Look here! I don't think it's necessary to drag in strangers to hear my + answer,” said Jack, lying down again, “but I came to borrow a horse.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that the truth?” + </p> + <p> + Jack got upon his feet very solemnly, put on his hat, drew down his + waistcoat, and approached Mr. Rylands with his hands in his pockets. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Rylands,” he said, with great suavity of manner, “this is the second + time today that I have had the honor of having my word doubted by your + family. Your wife was good enough to question my assertion that I didn't + know that she was living here, but that was a woman's vanity. You have no + such excuse. There is my horse yonder, lame, as you may see. I didn't lame + him for the sake of seeing your wife nor you.” + </p> + <p> + There was that in Mr. Hamlin's audacity and perfect self-possession which, + even while it irritated, never suggested deceit. He was too reckless of + consequence to lie. Mr. Rylands was staggered and half convinced. + Nevertheless, he hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “Dare you tell me everything that happened between my wife and you?” + </p> + <p> + “Dare you listen?” said Mr. Hamlin quietly. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands turned a little white. After a moment he said:— + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Good!” said Mr. Hamlin. “I like your grit, though I don't mind telling + you it's the ONLY thing I like about you. Sit down. Well, I haven't seen + Nell Montgomery for three years until I met her as your wife, at your + house. She was surprised as I was, and frightened as I wasn't. She spent + the whole interview in telling me the history of her marriage and her life + with you, and nothing more. I cannot say that it was remarkably + entertaining, or that she was as amusing as your wife as she was as Nell + Montgomery, the variety actress. When she had finished, I came away.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rylands, who had seated himself, made a movement as if to rise. But + Mr. Hamlin laid his hand on his knee. + </p> + <p> + “I asked you if you dared to listen. I have something myself to say of + that interview. I found your wife wearing the old dresses that other men + had given her, and she said she wore them because she thought it pleased + you. I found that you, who are questioning my calling upon her, had + already got the worst of her old chums to visit her without asking her + consent; I found that instead of being the first one to lie for her and + hide her, you were the first one to tell anybody her history, just because + you thought it was to the glory of God generally, and of Joshua Rylands in + particular.” + </p> + <p> + “A man's motives are his own,” stammered Rylands. + </p> + <p> + “Sorry you didn't see it when you questioned mine just now,” said Jack + coolly. + </p> + <p> + “Then she complained to you?” said Rylands hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't say that,” said Jack shortly. + </p> + <p> + “But you found her unhappy?” + </p> + <p> + “Damnably.” + </p> + <p> + “And you advised her”—said Rylands tentatively. + </p> + <p> + “I advised her to chuck you and try to get a better husband.” He paused, + and then added, with a disgusted laugh, “but she didn't tumble to it, for + a d——d silly reason.” + </p> + <p> + “What reason?” said Rylands hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “Said she LOVED you,” returned Jack, kicking a brand back into the fire. + Mr. Rylands's white cheeks flamed out suddenly like the brand. Seeing + which, Jack turned upon him deliberately. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Joshua Rylands, I've seen many fools in my time. I've seen men + holding four aces backed down because they thought they KNEW the other man + had a royal flush! I've seen a man sell his claim for a wild-cat share, + with the gold lying a foot below him in the ground he walked on. I've seen + a dead shot shoot wild because he THOUGHT he saw something in the other + man's eye. I've seen a heap of God-forsaken fools, but I never saw one + before who claimed God as a pal. You've got a wife a d——d + sight truer to you for what you call her 'sin,' than you've ever been to + her, with all your d——d salvation! And as you couldn't make + her otherwise, though you've tried to hard enough, it seems to me that for + square downright chuckle-headedness, you can take the cake! Good-night! + Now, run away and play! You're making me tired.” + </p> + <p> + “One moment,” said Mr. Rylands awkwardly and hurriedly. “I may have + wronged you; I was mistaken. Won't you come back with me and accept my—our—hospitality?” + </p> + <p> + “Not much,” said Jack. “I left your house because I thought it better for + you and her that no one should know of my being there.” + </p> + <p> + “But you were already recognized,” said Mr. Rylands. “It was Jane who lied + about you, and your return with me will confute her slanders.” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” asked Jack. + </p> + <p> + “Jane, our hired girl.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hamlin uttered an indescribable laugh. + </p> + <p> + “That's just as well! You simply tell Jane you SAW me; that I was greatly + shocked at what she said, but that I forgive her. I don't think she'll say + any more.” + </p> + <p> + Strange to add, Mr. Hamlin's surmise was correct. Mr. Rylands found Jane + still in the kitchen alone, terrified, remorseful, yet ever after silent + on the subject. Stranger still, the hired man became equally + uncommunicative. Mrs. Rylands, attributing her husband's absence only to + care of the stock, had gone to bed in a feverish condition, and Mr. + Rylands did not deem it prudent to tell her of his interview. The next day + she sent for the doctor, and it was deemed necessary for her to keep her + bed for a few days. Her husband was singularly attentive and considerate + during that time, and it was probable that Mrs. Rylands seized that + opportunity to tell him the secret she spoke of the night before. Whatever + it was,—for it was not generally known for a few months later,—it + seemed to draw them closer together, imparted a protecting dignity to + Joshua Rylands, which took the place of his former selfish austerity, gave + them a future to talk of confidentially, hopefully, and sometimes + foolishly, which took the place of their more foolish past, and when the + roll of calico came from the cross roads, it contained also a quantity of + fine linen, laces, small caps, and other trifles, somewhat in contrast to + the more homely materials ordered. + </p> + <p> + And when three months were past, the sitting-room was often lit up and + made cheerful, particularly on that supreme occasion when, with a great + deal of enthusiasm, all the women of the countryside flocked to see Mrs. + Rylands and her first baby. And a more considerate and devoted couple than + the father and mother they had never known. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + </h2> + <p> + In the early days of the Californian immigration, on the extremest point + of the sandy peninsula, where the bay of San Francisco debouches into the + Pacific, there stood a semaphore telegraph. Tossing its black arms against + the sky,—with its back to the Golden Gate and that vast expanse of + sea whose nearest shore was Japan,—it signified to another semaphore + further inland the “rigs” of incoming vessels, by certain uncouth signs, + which were again passed on to Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, where they + reappeared on a third semaphore, and read to the initiated “schooner,” + “brig” “ship,” or “steamer.” But all homesick San Francisco had learned + the last sign, and on certain days of the month every eye was turned to + welcome those gaunt arms widely extended at right angles, which meant + “sidewheel steamer” (the only steamer which carried the mails) and + “letters from home.” In the joyful reception accorded to that herald of + glad tidings, very few thought of the lonely watcher on the sand dunes who + dispatched them, or even knew of that desolate Station. + </p> + <p> + For desolate it was beyond description. The Presidio, with its voiceless, + dismounted cannon and empty embrasures hidden in a hollow, and the Mission + Dolores, with its crumbling walls and belfry tower lost in another, made + the ultima thule of all San Francisco wandering. The Cliff house and Fort + Point did not then exist; from Black Point the curving line of shore of + “Yerba Buena”—or San Francisco—showed only a stretch of + glittering wind-swept sand dunes, interspersed with straggling gullies of + half-buried black “scrub oak.” The long six months' summer sun fiercely + beat upon it from the cloudless sky above; the long six months' trade + winds fiercely beat upon it from the west; the monotonous roll-call of the + long Pacific surges regularly beat upon it from the sea. Almost impossible + to face by day through sliding sands and buffeting winds, at night it was + impracticable through the dense sea-fog that stole softly through the + Golden Gate at sunset. Thence, until morning, sea and shore were a + trackless waste, bounded only by the warning thunders of the unseen sea. + The station itself, a rudely built cabin, with two windows,—one + furnished with a telescope,—looked like a heap of driftwood, or a + stranded wreck left by the retiring sea; the semaphore—the only + object for leagues—lifted above the undulating dunes, took upon + itself various shapes, more or less gloomy, according to the hour or + weather,—a blasted tree, the masts and clinging spars of a beached + ship, a dismantled gallows; or, with the background of a golden sunset + across the Gate, and its arms extended at right angles, to a more hopeful + fancy it might have seemed the missionary Cross, which the enthusiast + Portala lifted on that heathen shore a hundred years before. + </p> + <p> + Not that Dick Jarman—the solitary station keeper—ever indulged + this fancy. An escaped convict from one of her Britannic Majesty's penal + colonies, a “stowaway” in the hold of an Australian ship, he had landed + penniless in San Francisco, fearful of contact with his more honest + countrymen already there, and liable to detection at any moment. Luckily + for him, the English immigration consisted mainly of gold-seekers en route + to Sacramento and the southern mines. He was prudent enough to resist the + temptation to follow them, and accepted the post of semaphore keeper,—the + first work offered him,—which the meanest immigrant, filled with + dreams of gold, would have scorned. His employers asked him no questions, + and demanded no references; his post could be scarcely deemed one of + trust,—there was no property for him to abscond with but the + telescope; he was removed from temptation and evil company in his lonely + waste; his duties were as mechanical as the instrument he worked, and + interruption of them would be instantly known at San Francisco. For this + he would receive his board and lodging and seventy-five dollars a month,—a + sum to be ridiculed in those “flush days,” but which seemed to the + broken-spirited and half-famished stowaway a princely independence. + </p> + <p> + And then there was rest and security! He was free from that torturing + anxiety and fear of detection which had haunted him night and day for + three months. The ceaseless vigilance and watchful dread he had known + since his escape, he could lay aside now. The rude cabin on the sand dune + was to him as the long-sought cave to some hunted animal. It seemed + impossible that any one would seek him there. He was spared alike the + contact of his enemies or the shame of recognizing even a friendly face, + until by each he would be forgotten. From his coign of vantage on that + desolate waste, and with the aid of his telescope, no stranger could + approach within two or three miles of his cabin without undergoing his + scrutiny. And at the worst, if he was pursued here, before him was the + trackless shore and the boundless sea! + </p> + <p> + And at times there was a certain satisfaction in watching, unseen and in + perfect security, the decks of passing ships. With the aid of his glass he + could mingle again with the world from which he was debarred, and gloomily + wonder who among those passengers knew their solitary watcher, or had + heard of his deeds; it might have made him gloomier had he known that in + those eager faces turned towards the golden haven there was little thought + of anything but themselves. He tried to read in faces on board the few + outgoing ships the record of their success with a strange envy. They were + returning home! HOME! For sometimes—but seldom—he thought of + his own home and his past. It was a miserable past of forgery and + embezzlement that had culminated a career of youthful dissipation and + self-indulgence, and shut him out, forever, from the staid old English + cathedral town where he was born. He knew that his relations believed and + wished him dead. He thought of this past with little pleasure, but with + little remorse. Like most of his stamp, he believed it was ill-luck, + chance, somebody else's fault, but never his own responsible action. He + would not repent; he would be wiser only. And he would not be retaken—alive! + </p> + <p> + Two or three months passed in this monotonous duty, in which he partly + recovered his strength and his nerves. He lost his furtive, restless, + watchful look; the bracing sea air and the burning sun put into his face + the healthy tan and the uplifted frankness of a sailor. His eyes grew + keener from long scanning of the horizon; he knew where to look for sails, + from the creeping coastwise schooner to the far-rounding merchantman from + Cape Horn. He knew the faint line of haze that indicated the steamer long + before her masts and funnels became visible. He saw no soul except the + solitary boatman of the little “plunger,” who landed his weekly provisions + at a small cove hard by. The boatman thought his secretiveness and + reticence only the surliness of his nation, and cared little for a man who + never asked for the news, and to whom he brought no letters. The long + nights which wrapped the cabin in sea-fog, and at first seemed to heighten + the exile's sense of security, by degrees, however, became monotonous, and + incited an odd restlessness, which he was wont to oppose by whiskey,—allowed + as a part of his stores,—which, while it dulled his sensibilities, + he, however, never permitted to interfere with his mechanical duties. + </p> + <p> + He had been there five months, and the hills on the opposite shore between + Tamalpais were already beginning to show their russet yellow sides. One + bright morning he was watching the little fleet of Italian fishing-boats + hovering in the bay. This was always a picturesque spectacle, perhaps the + only one that relieved the general monotony of his outlook. The quaint + lateen sails of dull red, or yellow, showing against the sparkling waters, + and the red caps or handkerchiefs of the fishermen, might have attracted + even a more abstracted man. Suddenly one of the larger boats tacked, and + made directly for the little cove where his weekly plunger used to land. + In an instant he was alert and suspicious. But a close examination of the + boat through his glass satisfied him that it contained, in addition to the + crew, only two or three women, apparently the family of the fishermen. As + it ran up on the beach and the entire party disembarked he could see it + was merely a careless, peaceable invasion, and he thought no more about + it. The strangers wandered about the sands, gesticulating and laughing; + they brought a pot ashore, built a fire, and cooked a homely meal. He + could see that from time to time the semaphore—evidently a novelty + to them—had attracted their attention; and having occasion to signal + the arrival of a bark, the working of the uncouth arms of the instrument + drew the children in half-frightened curiosity towards it, although the + others held aloof, as if fearful of trespassing upon some work of the + government, no doubt secretly guarded by the police. A few mornings later + he was surprised to see upon the beach, near the same locality, a small + heap of lumber which had evidently been landed in the early morning fog. + The next day an old tent appeared on the spot, and the men, evidently + fishermen, began the erection of a rude cabin beside it. Jarman had been + long enough there to know that it was government land, and that these + manifestly humble “squatters” upon it would not be interfered with for + some time to come. He began to be uneasy again; it was true they were + fully half a mile from him, and they were foreigners; but might not their + reckless invasion of the law attract others, in this lawless country, to + do the same? It ought to be stopped. For once Richard Jarman sided with + legal authority. + </p> + <p> + But when the cabin was completed, it was evident from what he saw of its + rude structure that it was only a temporary shelter for the fisherman's + family and the stores, and refitting of the fishing-boat, more convenient + to them than the San Francisco wharves. The beach was utilized for the + mending of nets and sails, and thus became half picturesque. In spite of + the keen northwestern trades, the cloudless, sunshiny mornings tempted + these southerners back to their native al fresco existence; they not only + basked in the sun, but many of their household duties, and even the + mysteries of their toilet, were performed in the open air. They did not + seem to care to penetrate into the desolate region behind them; their + half-amphibious habit kept them near the water's edge, and Richard Jarman, + after taking his limited walks for the first few mornings in another + direction, found it no longer necessary to avoid the locality, and even + forgot their propinquity. + </p> + <p> + But one morning, as the fog was clearing away and the sparkle of the + distant sea was beginning to show from his window, he rose from his + belated breakfast to fetch water from the “breaker” outside, which had to + be replenished weekly from Sancelito, as there was no spring in his + vicinity. As he opened the door, he was inexpressibly startled by the + figure of a young woman standing in front of it, who, however, half + fearfully, half laughingly withdrew before him. But his own manifest + disturbance apparently gave her courage. + </p> + <p> + “I jess was looking at that thing,” she said bashfully, pointing to the + semaphore. + </p> + <p> + He was still more astonished, for, looking at her dark eyes and olive + complexion, he had expected her to speak Italian or broken English. And, + possibly because for a long time he had seen and known little of women, he + was quite struck with her good looks. He hesitated, stammered, and then + said:— + </p> + <p> + “Won't you come in?” + </p> + <p> + She drew back still farther and made a rapid gesture of negation with her + head, her hand, and even her whole lithe figure. Then she said, with a + decided American intonation:— + </p> + <p> + “No, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” said Jarman mechanically. + </p> + <p> + The girl sidled up against the cabin, keeping her eyes fixed on Jarman + with a certain youthful shrewdness. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you know!” she said. + </p> + <p> + “I really do not. Tell me why.” + </p> + <p> + She drew herself up against the wall a little proudly, though still + youthfully, with her hands behind her. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't that kind of girl,” she said simply. + </p> + <p> + The blood rushed to Jarman's checks. Dissipated and abandoned as his life + had been, small respecter of women as he was, he was shocked and shamed. + Knowing too, as he did, how absorbed he was in other things, he was + indignant, because not guilty. + </p> + <p> + “Do as you please, then,” he said shortly, and reentered the cabin. But + the next moment he saw his error in betraying an irritation that was open + to misconstruction. He came out again, scarcely looking at the girl, who + was lounging away. + </p> + <p> + “Do you want me to explain to you how the thing works?” he said + indifferently. “I can't show you unless a ship comes in.” + </p> + <p> + The girl's eyes brightened softly as she turned to him. + </p> + <p> + “Do tell me,” she said, with an anticipatory smile and flash of white + teeth. “Won't you?” + </p> + <p> + She certainly was very pretty and simple, in spite of her late speech. + Jarman briefly explained to her the movements of the semaphore arms and + their different significance. She listened with her capped head a little + on one side like an attentive bird, and her arms unconsciously imitating + the signs. Certainly, for all that she SPOKE like an American, her + gesticulation was Italian. + </p> + <p> + “And then,” she said triumphantly when he paused, “when the sailors see + that sign up they know they are coming in the harbor.” + </p> + <p> + Jarman smiled, as he had not smiled since he had been there. He corrected + this mistake of her eager haste to show her intelligence, and, taking the + telescope, pointed out the other semaphore,—a thin black outline on + a distant inland hill. He then explained how HIS signs were repeated by + that instrument to San Francisco. + </p> + <p> + “My! Why, I always allowed that was only the cross stuck up in the Lone + Mountain Cemetery,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “You are a Catholic?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon.” + </p> + <p> + “And you are an Italian?” + </p> + <p> + “Father is, but mother was a 'Merikan, same as me. Mother's dead.” + </p> + <p> + “And your father is the fisherman yonder?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—but,” with a look of pride, “he's got the biggest boat of + any.” + </p> + <p> + “And only you and your family are ashore here?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and sometimes Mark.” She laughed an odd little laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Mark? Who's he?” he asked quickly. + </p> + <p> + He had not noticed the sudden coquettish pose and half-affected + bashfulness of the girl; he was thinking only of the possibility of + detection by strangers. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he is Marco Franti, but I call him 'Mark.' It's the same name, you + know, and it makes him mad,” said the girl, with the same suggestion of + archness and coquetry. + </p> + <p> + But all this was lost on Jarman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, another Italian,” he said, relieved. She turned away a little + awkwardly when he added, “But you haven't told me YOUR name, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Cara.” + </p> + <p> + “Cara,—that's 'dear' in Italian, isn't it?” he said, with a + reminiscence of the opera and a half smile. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said a little scornfully, “but it means Carlotta,—Charlotte, + you know. Some girls call me Charley,” she said hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “I see—Cara—or Carlotta Franti.” + </p> + <p> + To his surprise she burst into a peal of laughter. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon not YET. Franti is Mark's name, not mine. Mine is Murano,—Carlotta + Murano. Good-by.” She moved away, then stopped suddenly and said, “I'm + comin' again some time when the thing is working,” and with a nod of her + head, ran away. He looked after her; could see the outlines of her + youthful figure in her slim cotton gown,—limp and clinging in the + damp sea air, and the sudden revelation of her bare ankles thrust + stockingless into canvas shoes. + </p> + <p> + He went back into his cabin, when presently his attention was engrossed by + an incoming vessel. He made the signals, half expecting, almost hoping, + that the girl would return to watch him. But her figure was already lost + in the sand dunes. Yet he fancied he still heard the echoes of her voice + and his own in this cabin which had so long been dumb and voiceless, and + he now started at every sound. For the first time he became aware of the + dreadful disorder and untidiness of its uninvaded privacy. He could + scarcely believe he had been living with his stove, his bed, and cooking + utensils all in one corner of the barnlike room, and he began to put them + “to rights” in a rough, hard formality, strongly suggestive of his convict + experience. He rolled up his blankets into a hard cylinder at the head of + his cot. He scraped out his kettles and saucepans, and even “washed down” + the floor, afterwards sprinkling clean dry sand, hot with the noonday + sunshine, on its half-dried boards. In arranging these domestic details he + had to change the position of a little mirror; and glancing at it for the + first time in many days, he was dissatisfied with his straggling beard,—grown + during his voyage from Australia,—and although he had retained it as + a disguise, he at once shaved it off, leaving only a mustache, and + revealing a face from which a healthier life and out-of-door existence had + removed the last traces of vice and dissipation. But he did not know it. + </p> + <p> + All the next day he thought of his fair visitor, and found himself often + repeating her odd remark that she was “not that kind of girl,” with a + smile that was alternately significant or vacant. Evidently she could take + care of herself, he thought, although her very good looks no doubt had + exposed her to the rude attentions of fishermen or the common drift of San + Francisco wharves. Perhaps this was why her father brought her here. When + the day passed and she came not, he began vaguely to wonder if he had been + rude to her. Perhaps he had taken her simple remark too seriously; perhaps + she had expected he would only laugh, and had found him dull and stupid. + Perhaps he had thrown away an opportunity. An opportunity for what? To + renew his old life and habits? No, no! The horrors of his recent + imprisonment and escape were still too fresh in his memory; he was not + safe yet. Then he wondered if he had not grown spiritless and + pigeon-livered in his solitude and loneliness. The next day he searched + for her with his glass, and saw her playing with one of the children on + the beach,—a very picture of child or nymphlike innocence. Perhaps + it was because she was not “that kind of girl” that she had attracted him. + He laughed bitterly. Yes; that was very funny; he, an escaped convict, + drawn towards honest, simple innocence! Yet he knew—he was positive—he + had not thought of any ill when he spoke to her. He took a singular, a + ridiculous pride in and credit to himself for that. He repeated it + incessantly to himself. Then what made her angry? Himself! The devil! Did + he carry, then, the record of his past life forever in his face—in + his speech—in his manners? The thought made him sullen. The next day + he would not look towards the shore; it was wonderful what excitement and + satisfaction he got out of that strange act of self-denial; it made the + day seem full that had been so vacant before; yet he could not tell why or + wherefore. He felt injured, but he rather liked it. Yet in the night he + was struck with the idea that she might have gone back to San Francisco, + and he lay awake longing for the morning light to satisfy him. Yet when + the fog cleared, and from a nearer point, behind a sand dune, he + discovered, by the aid of his glass, that she was seated on the sun-warmed + sands combing out her long hair like a mermaid, he immediately returned to + the cabin, and that morning looked no more that way. In the afternoon, + there being no sails in sight, he turned aside from the bay and walked + westward towards the ocean, halting only at the league-long line of foam + which marked the breaking Pacific surges. Here he was surprised to see a + little child, half-naked, following barefooted the creeping line of spume, + or running after the detached and quivering scraps of foam that chased + each other over the wet sand, and only a little further on, to come upon + Cara herself, sitting with her elbows on her knees and her round chin in + her hands, apparently gazing over the waste of waters before her. A sudden + and inexplicable shyness overtook him. He hesitated, and stepped + half-hidden in a gully between the sand dunes. + </p> + <p> + As yet he had not been observed; the young girl called to the child and, + suddenly rising, threw off her red cap and shawl and quietly began to + disrobe herself. A couple of coarse towels were at her feet. Jarman + instantly comprehended that she was going to bathe with the child. She + undoubtedly knew as well as he did that she was safe in that solitude; + that no one could intrude upon her privacy from the bay shore, nor from + the desolate inland trail to the sea, without her knowledge. Of his own + contiguity she had evidently taken no thought, believing him safely housed + in his cabin beside the semaphore. She lifted her hands, and with a sudden + movement shook out her long hair and let it fall down her back at the same + moment that her unloosened blouse began to slip from her shoulders. + Richard Jarman turned quickly and walked noiselessly and rapidly away, + until the little hillock had shut out the beach. + </p> + <p> + His retreat was as sudden, unreasoning, and unpremeditated as his + intrusion. It was not like himself, he knew, and yet it was as perfectly + instinctive and natural as if he had intruded upon a sister. In the South + Seas he had seen native girls diving beside the vessels for coins, but + they had provoked no such instinct as that which possessed him now. More + than that, he swept a quick, wrathful glance along the horizon on either + side, and then, mounting a remote hillock which still hid him from the + beach, he sat there and kept watch and ward. From time to time the strong + sea-breeze brought him the sound of infantine screams and shouts of + girlish laughter from the unseen shore; he only looked the more keenly and + suspiciously for any wandering trespasser, and did not turn his head. He + lay there nearly half an hour, and when the sounds had ceased, rose and + made his way slowly back to the cabin. He had not gone many yards before + he heard the twitter of voices and smothered laughter behind him. He + turned; it was Cara and the child,—a girl of six or seven. Cara's + face was rosy,—possibly from her bath, and possibly from some + shame-faced consciousness. He slackened his pace, and as they ranged + beside him said, “Good-morning!” + </p> + <p> + “Lord!” said Cara, stifling another laugh, “we didn't know you were + around; we thought you were always 'tending your telegraph, didn't we, + Lucy?” (to the child, who was convulsed with mirth and sheepishness). + “Why, we've been taking a wash in the sea.” She tried to gather up her + long hair, which had been left to stray over her shoulders and dry in the + sunlight, and even made a slight pretense of trying to conceal the wet + towels they were carrying. + </p> + <p> + Jarman did not laugh. “If you had told me,” he said gravely, “I could have + kept watch for you with my glass while you were there. I could see further + than you.” + </p> + <p> + “Tould you see US?” asked the little girl, with hopeful vivacity. + </p> + <p> + “No!” said Jarman, with masterly evasion. “There are little sandhills + between this and the beach.” + </p> + <p> + “Then how tould other people see us?” persisted the child. + </p> + <p> + Jarman could see that the older girl was evidently embarrassed, and + changed the subject. “I sometimes go out,” he said, “when I can see there + are no vessels in sight, and I take ray glass with me. I can always get + back in time to make signals. I thought, in fact,” he said, glancing at + Cara's brightening face, “that I might get as far as your house on the + shore some day.” To his surprise, her embarrassment suddenly seemed to + increase, although she had looked relieved before, and she did not reply. + After a moment she said abruptly:— + </p> + <p> + “Did you ever see the sea-lions?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Jarman. + </p> + <p> + “Not the big ones on Seal Rock, beyond the cliffs?” continued the girl, in + real astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “No,” repeated Jarman. “I never walked in that direction.” He vaguely + remembered that they were a curiosity which sometimes attracted parties + thither, and for that reason he had avoided the spot. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I have sailed all around the rock in father's boat,” continued Cara, + with importance. “That's the best way to see 'em, and folks from Frisco + sometimes takes a sail out there just on purpose,—it's too sandy to + walk or drive there. But it's only a step from here. Look here!” she said + suddenly, and frankly opening her fine eyes upon him. “I'm going to take + Lucy there to-morrow, and I'll show you.” Jarman felt his cheeks flush + quickly with a pleasure that embarrassed him. “It won't take long,” added + Cara, mistaking his momentary hesitation, “and you can leave your + telegraph alone. Nobody will be there, so no one will see you and nobody + know it.” + </p> + <p> + He would have gone then, anyway, he knew, yet in his absurd + self-consciousness he was glad that her last suggestion had relieved him + of a sense of reckless compliance. He assented eagerly, when with a wave + of her hand, a flash of her white teeth, and the same abruptness she had + shown at their last parting, she caught Lucy by the arm and darted away in + a romping race to her dwelling. Jarman started after her. He had not + wanted to go to her father's house particularly, but why was SHE evidently + as averse to it? With the subtle pleasure that this admission gave him + there was a faint stirring of suspicion. + </p> + <p> + It was gone when he found her and Lucy the next morning, radiant with the + sunshine, before his door. The restraint of their previous meetings had + been removed in some mysterious way, and they chatted gayly as they walked + towards the cliffs. She asked him frankly many questions about himself, + why he had come there, and if he “wasn't lonely;” she answered frankly—I + fear much more frankly than he answered her—the many questions he + asked her about herself and her friends. When they reached the cliffs they + descended to the beach, which they found deserted. Before them—it + seemed scarce a pistol shot from the shore arose a high, broad rock, + beaten at its base by the long Pacific surf, on which a number of + shapeless animals were uncouthly disporting. This was Seal Rock, the goal + of their journey. + </p> + <p> + Yet after a few moments they no longer looked at it, but seated on the + sand, with Lucy gathering shells at the water's edge, they continued their + talk. Presently the talk became eager confidences, and then,—there + were long and dangerous lapses of silence, when both were fain to make + perfunctory talk with Lucy on the beach. After one of those silences + Jarman said:— + </p> + <p> + “Do you know I rather thought yesterday you didn't want me to come to your + father's house. Why was that?” + </p> + <p> + “Because Marco was there,” said the girl frankly. + </p> + <p> + “What had HE to do with it?” said Jarman abruptly. + </p> + <p> + “He wants to marry me.” + </p> + <p> + “And do you want to marry HIM?” said Jarman quickly. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the girl passionately. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you get rid of him, then?” + </p> + <p> + “I can't, he's hiding here,—he's father's friend.” + </p> + <p> + “Hiding? What's he been doing?” + </p> + <p> + “Stealing. Stealing gold-dust from miners. I never cared for him anyway. + And I hate a thief!” + </p> + <p> + She looked up quickly. Jarman had risen to his feet, his face turned to + sea. + </p> + <p> + “What are you looking at?” she said wonderingly. + </p> + <p> + “A ship,” said Jarman, in a strange, hoarse voice. “I must hurry back and + signal. I'm afraid I haven't even time to walk with you,—I must run + for it. Good-by!” + </p> + <p> + He turned without offering his hand and ran hurriedly in the direction of + the semaphore. + </p> + <p> + Cara, discomfited, turned her black eyes to the sea. But it seemed empty + as before, no sail, no ship on the horizon line, only a little schooner + slowly beating out of the Gate. Ah, well! It no doubt was there,—that + sail,—though she could not see it; how keen and far-seeing his + handsome, honest eyes were! She heaved a little sigh, and, calling Lucy to + her side, began to make her way homeward. But she kept her eyes on the + semaphore; it seemed to her the next thing to seeing him,—this man + she was beginning to love. She waited for the gaunt arms to move with the + signal of the vessel he had seen. But, strange to say, it was motionless. + He must have been mistaken. + </p> + <p> + All this, however, was driven from her mind in the excitement that she + found on her return thrilling her own family. They had been warned that a + police boat with detectives on board had been dispatched from San + Francisco to the cove. Luckily, they had managed to convey the fugitive + Franti on board a coastwise schooner,—Cara started as she remembered + the one she had seen beating out of the Gate,—and he was now safe + from pursuit. Cara felt relieved; at the same time she felt a strange joy + at her heart, which sent the conscious blood to her cheek. She was not + thinking of the escaped Marco, but of Jarman. Later, when the police boat + arrived,—whether the detectives had been forewarned of Marco's + escape or not,—they contented themselves with a formal search of the + little fishing-hut and departed. But their boat remained lying off the + shore. + </p> + <p> + That night Cara tossed sleeplessly on her bed; she was sorry she had ever + spoken of Marco to Jarman. It was unnecessary now; perhaps he disbelieved + her and thought she loved Marco; perhaps that was the reason of his + strange and abrupt leave-taking that afternoon. She longed for the next + day, she could tell him everything now. + </p> + <p> + Towards morning she slept fitfully, but was awakened by the sound of + voices on the sands outside the hut. Its flimsy structure, already warped + by the fierce day-long sun, allowed her through chinks and crevices not + only to recognize the voices of the detectives, but to hear distinctly + what they said. Suddenly the name of Jarman struck upon her ear. She sat + upright in bed, breathless. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure it's the same man?” asked a second voice. + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly,” answered the first. “He was tracked to 'Frisco, but + disappeared the day he landed. We knew from our agents that he never left + the bay. And when we found that somebody answering his description got the + post of telegraph operator out here, we knew that we had spotted our man + and the L250 sterling offered for his capture.” + </p> + <p> + “But that was five months ago. Why didn't you take him then?” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn't! For we couldn't hold him without the extradition papers from + Australia. We sent for 'em; they're due to-day or to-morrow on the mail + steamer.” + </p> + <p> + “But he might have got away at any time?” + </p> + <p> + “He couldn't without our knowing it. Don't you see? Every time the signals + went up, we in San Francisco knew he was at his post. We had him safe, out + here on these sandhills, as if he'd been under lock and key in 'Frisco. He + was his own keeper, and reported to us.” + </p> + <p> + “But since you're here and expect the papers to-morrow, why don't you + 'cop' him now?” + </p> + <p> + “Because there isn't a judge in San Francisco that would hold him a moment + unless he had those extradition papers before him. He'd be discharged, and + escape.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “As soon as the steamer is signaled in 'Frisco, we'll board her in the + bay, get the papers, and drop down upon him.” + </p> + <p> + “I see; and as HE'S the signal man, the darned fool”— + </p> + <p> + “Will give the signal himself.” + </p> + <p> + The laugh that followed was so cruel that the young girl shuddered. But + the next moment she slipped from the bed, erect, pale, and determined. + </p> + <p> + The voices seemed gradually to retreat. She dressed herself hurriedly, and + passed noiselessly through the room of her still sleeping parent, and + passed out. A gray fog was lifting slowly over the sands and sea, and the + police boat was gone. She no longer hesitated, but ran quickly in the + direction of Jarman's cabin. As she ran, her mind seemed to be swept clear + of all illusion and fancy; she saw plainly everything that had happened; + she knew the mystery of Jarman's presence here,—the secret of his + life,—the dreadful cruelty of her remark to him,—the man that + she knew now she loved. The sun was painting the black arms of the + semaphore as she toiled over the last stretch of sand and knocked loudly + at the door. There was no reply. She knocked again; the cabin was silent. + Had he already fled?—and without seeing her and knowing all! She + tried the handle of the door; it yielded; she stepped boldly into the + room, with his name upon her lips. He was lying fully dressed upon his + couch. She ran eagerly to his side and stopped. It needed only a single + glance at his congested face, his lips parted with his heavy breath, to + see that the man was hopelessly, helplessly drunk! + </p> + <p> + Yet even then, without knowing that it was her thoughtless speech which + had driven him to seek this foolish oblivion of remorse and sorrow, she + saw only his HELPLESSNESS. She tried in vain to rouse him; he only + muttered a few incoherent words and sank back again. She looked + despairingly around. Something must be done; the steamer might be visible + at any moment. Ah, yes,—the telescope! She seized it and swept the + horizon. There was a faint streak of haze against the line of sea and sky, + abreast the Golden Gate. He had once told her what it meant. It WAS the + steamer! A sudden thought leaped into her clear and active brain. If the + police boat should chance to see that haze too, and saw no warning signal + from the semaphore, they would suspect something. That signal must be + made, BUT NOT THE RIGHT ONE! She remembered quickly how he had explained + to her the difference between the signals for a coasting steamer and the + one that brought the mails. At that distance the police boat could not + detect whether the semaphore's arms were extended to perfect right angles + for the mail steamer, or if the left arm slightly deflected for a coasting + steamer. She ran out to the windlass and seized the crank. For a moment it + defied her strength; she redoubled her efforts: it began to creak and + groan, the great arms were slowly uplifted, and the signal made. + </p> + <p> + But the familiar sounds of the moving machinery had pierced through + Jarman's sluggish consciousness as no other sound in heaven or earth could + have done, and awakened him to the one dominant sense he had left,—the + habit of duty. She heard him roll from the bed with an oath, stumble to + the door, and saw him dash forward with an affrighted face, and plunge his + head into a bucket of water. He emerged from it pale and dripping, but + with the full light of reason and consciousness in his eyes. He started + when he saw her; even then she would have fled, but he caught her firmly + by the wrist. + </p> + <p> + Then with a hurried, trembling voice she told him all and everything. He + listened in silence, and only at the end raised her hand gravely to his + lips. + </p> + <p> + “And now,” she added tremulously, “you must fly—quick—at once; + or it will be too late!” + </p> + <p> + But Richard Jarman walked slowly to the door of his cabin, still holding + her hand, and said quietly, pointing to his only chair:— + </p> + <p> + “Sit down; we must talk first.” + </p> + <p> + What they said was never known, but a few moments later they left the + cabin, Jarman carrying in a small bag all his possessions, and Cara + leaning on his arm. An hour later the priest of the Mission Dolores was + called upon to unite in matrimony a frank, honest-looking sailor and an + Italian gypsy-looking girl. There were many hasty unions in those days, + and the Holy Church was only too glad to be able to give them its legal + indorsement. But the good Padre was a little sorry for the honest sailor, + and gave the girl some serious advice. + </p> + <p> + The San Francisco papers the next morning threw some dubious light upon + the matter in a paragraph headed, “Another Police Fiasco.” + </p> + <p> + “We understand that the indefatigable police of San Francisco, after + ascertaining that Marco Franti, the noted gold-dust thief, was hiding on + the shore near the Presidio, proceeded there with great solemnity, and + arrived, as usual, a few hours after their man had escaped. But the climax + of incapacity was reached when, as it is alleged, the sweetheart of the + absconding Franti, and daughter of a brother fisherman, eloped still + later, and joined her lover under the very noses of the police. The + attempt of the detectives to excuse themselves at headquarters by + reporting that they were also on the track of an alleged escaped Sydney + Duck was received with the derision and skepticism it deserved, as it + seemed that these worthies mistook the mail steamer, which they should + have boarded to get certain extradition papers, for a coasting steamer.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + It was not until four years later that Murano was delighted to recognize + in the husband of his long-lost daughter a very rich cattle-owner in + Southern California, called Jarman; but he never knew that he had been an + escaped convict from Sydney, who had lately received a full pardon through + the instrumentality of divers distinguished people in Australia. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + </h2> + <p> + It is to be feared that the hero of this chronicle began life as an + impostor. He was offered to the credulous and sympathetic family of a San + Francisco citizen as a lamb, who, unless bought as a playmate for the + children, would inevitably pass into the butcher's hands. A combination of + refined sensibility and urban ignorance of nature prevented them from + discerning certain glaring facts that betrayed his caprid origin. So a + ribbon was duly tied round his neck, and in pleasing emulation of the + legendary “Mary,” he was taken to school by the confiding children. Here, + alas the fraud was discovered, and history was reversed by his being + turned out by the teacher, because he was NOT “a lamb at school.” + Nevertheless, the kind-hearted mother of the family persisted in retaining + him, on the plea that he might yet become “useful.” To her husband's + feeble suggestion of “gloves,” she returned a scornful negative, and spoke + of the weakly infant of a neighbor, who might later receive nourishment + from this providential animal. But even this hope was destroyed by the + eventual discovery of his sex. Nothing remained now but to accept him as + an ordinary kid, and to find amusement in his accomplishments,—eating, + climbing, and butting. It must be confessed that these were of a superior + quality; a capacity to eat everything from a cambric handkerchief to an + election poster, an agility which brought him even to the roofs of houses, + and a power of overturning by a single push the chubbiest child who + opposed him, made him a fearful joy to the nursery. This last quality was + incautiously developed in him by a negro boy-servant, who, later, was + hurriedly propelled down a flight of stairs by his too proficient scholar. + Having once tasted victory, “Billy” needed no further incitement to his + performances. The small wagon which he sometimes consented to draw for the + benefit of the children never hindered his attempts to butt the passer-by. + On the contrary, on well-known scientific principles he added the impact + of the bodies of the children projected over his head in his charge, and + the infelicitous pedestrian found himself not only knocked off his legs by + Billy, but bombarded by the whole nursery. + </p> + <p> + Delightful as was this recreation to juvenile limbs, it was felt to be + dangerous to the adult public. Indignant protestations were made, and as + Billy could not be kept in the house, he may be said to have at last + butted himself out of that sympathetic family and into a hard and + unfeeling world. One morning he broke his tether in the small back yard. + For several days thereafter he displayed himself in guilty freedom on the + tops of adjacent walls and outhouses. The San Francisco suburb where his + credulous protectors lived was still in a volcanic state of disruption, + caused by the grading of new streets through rocks and sandhills. In + consequence the roofs of some houses were on the level of the doorsteps of + others, and were especially adapted to Billy's performances. One + afternoon, to the admiring and perplexed eyes of the nursery, he was + discovered standing on the apex of a neighbor's new Elizabethan chimney, + on a space scarcely larger than the crown of a hat, calmly surveying the + world beneath him. High infantile voices appealed to him in vain; baby + arms were outstretched to him in hopeless invitation; he remained exalted + and obdurate, like Milton's hero, probably by his own merit “raised to + that bad eminence.” Indeed, there was already something Satanic in his + budding horns and pointed mask as the smoke curled softly around him. Then + he appropriately vanished, and San Francisco knew him no more. At the same + time, however, one Owen M'Ginnis, a neighboring sandhill squatter, also + disappeared, leaving San Francisco for the southern mines, and he was said + to have taken Billy with him,—for no conceivable reason except for + companionship. Howbeit, it was the turning-point of Billy's career; such + restraint as kindness, civilization, or even policemen had exercised upon + his nature was gone. He retained, I fear, a certain wicked intelligence, + picked up in San Francisco with the newspapers and theatrical and election + posters he had consumed. He reappeared at Rocky Canyon among the miners as + an exceedingly agile chamois, with the low cunning of a satyr. That was + all that civilization had done for him! + </p> + <p> + If Mr. M'Ginnis had fondly conceived that he would make Billy “useful,” as + well as companionable, he was singularly mistaken. Horses and mules were + scarce in Rocky Canyon, and he attempted to utilize Billy by making him + draw a small cart, laden with auriferous earth, from his claim to the + river. Billy, rapidly gaining strength, was quite equal to the task, but + alas! not his inborn propensity. An incautious gesture from the first + passing miner Billy chose to construe into the usual challenge. Lowering + his head, from which his budding horns had been already pruned by his + master, he instantly went for his challenger, cart and all. Again the + scientific law already pointed out prevailed. With the shock of the onset + the entire contents of the cart arose and poured over the astonished + miner, burying him from sight. In any other but a Californian mining-camp + such a propensity in a draught animal would have been condemned, on + account of the damage and suffering it entailed, but in Rocky Canyon it + proved unprofitable to the owner from the very amusement and interest it + excited. Miners lay in wait for Billy with a “greenhorn,” or new-comer, + whom they would put up to challenge the animal by some indiscreet gesture. + In this way hardly a cartload of “pay-gravel” ever arrived safely at its + destination, and the unfortunate M'Ginnis was compelled to withdraw Billy + as a beast of burden. It was whispered that so great had his propensity + become, under repeated provocation, that M'Ginnis himself was no longer + safe. Going ahead of his cart one day to remove a fallen bough from the + trail, Billy construed the act of stooping into a playful challenge from + his master,—with the inevitable result. + </p> + <p> + The next day M'Ginnis appeared with a wheelbarrow, but without Billy. From + that day he was relegated to the rocky crags above the camp, from whence + he was only lured occasionally by the mischievous miners, who wished to + exhibit his peculiar performances. For although Billy had ample food and + sustenance among the crags, he had still a civilized longing for posters; + and whenever a circus, a concert, or a political meeting was “billed” in + the settlement, he was on hand while the paste was yet fresh and + succulent. In this way it was averred that he once removed a gigantic + theatre bill setting forth the charms of the “Sacramento Pet,” and being + caught in the act by the advance agent, was pursued through the main + street, carrying the damp bill on his horns, eventually affixing it, after + his own peculiar fashion, on the back of Judge Boompointer, who was + standing in front of his own court-house. + </p> + <p> + In connection with the visits of this young lady another story concerning + Billy survives in the legends of Rocky Canyon. Colonel Starbottle was at + that time passing through the settlement on election business, and it was + part of his chivalrous admiration for the sex to pay a visit to the pretty + actress. The single waiting-room of the little hotel gave upon the + veranda, which was also level with the street. After a brief yet gallant + interview, in which he oratorically expressed the gratitude of the + settlement with old-fashioned Southern courtesy, Colonel Starbottle lifted + the chubby little hand of the “Pet” to his lips, and, with a low bow, + backed out upon the veranda. But the Pet was astounded by his instant + reappearance, and by his apparently casting himself passionately and + hurriedly at her feet! It is needless to say that he was followed closely + by Billy, who from the street had casually noticed him, and construed his + novel exit into an ungentlemanly challenge. + </p> + <p> + Billy's visits, however, became less frequent, and as Rocky Canyon + underwent the changes incidental to mining settlements, he was presently + forgotten in the invasion of a few Southwestern families, and the adoption + of amusements less practical and turbulent than he had afforded. It was + alleged that he was still seen in the more secluded fastnesses of the + mountains, having reverted to a wild state, and it was suggested by one or + two of the more adventurous that he might yet become edible, and a fair + object of chase. A traveler through the Upper Pass of the canyon related + how he had seen a savage-looking, hairy animal like a small elk perched + upon inaccessible rocks, but always out of gunshot. But these and other + legends were set at naught and overthrown by an unexpected incident. + </p> + <p> + The Pioneer Coach was toiling up the long grade towards Skinners Pass when + Yuba Bill suddenly pulled up, with his feet on the brake. + </p> + <p> + “Jimminy!” he ejaculated, drawing a deep breath. + </p> + <p> + The startled passenger beside him on the box followed the direction of his + eyes. Through an opening in the wayside pines he could see, a few hundred + yards away, a cuplike hollow in the hillside of the vividest green. In the + centre a young girl of fifteen or sixteen was dancing and keeping step to + the castanet “click” of a pair of “bones,” such as negro minstrels use, + held in her hands above her head. But, more singular still, a few paces + before her a large goat, with its neck roughly wreathed with flowers and + vines, was taking ungainly bounds and leaps in imitation of its companion. + The wild background of the Sierras, the pastoral hollow, the + incongruousness of the figures, and the vivid color of the girl's red + flannel petticoat showing beneath her calico skirt, that had been pinned + around her waist, made a striking picture, which by this time had + attracted all eyes. Perhaps the dancing of the girl suggested a negro + “break-down” rather than any known sylvan measure; but all this, and even + the clatter of the bones, was made gracious by the distance. + </p> + <p> + “Esmeralda! by the living Harry!” shouted the excited passenger on the + box. + </p> + <p> + Yuba Bill took his feet off the brake, and turned a look of deep scorn + upon his companion as he gathered the reins again. + </p> + <p> + “It's that blanked goat, outer Rocky Canyon beyond, and Polly Harkness! + How did she ever come to take up with HIM?” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, as soon as the coach reached Rocky Canyon, the story was + quickly told by the passengers, corroborated by Yuba Bill, and highly + colored by the observer on the box-seat. Harkness was known to be a + new-comer who lived with his wife and only daughter on the other side of + Skinners Pass. He was a “logger” and charcoal-burner, who had eaten his + way into the serried ranks of pines below the pass, and established in + these efforts an almost insurmountable cordon of fallen trees, stripped + bark, and charcoal pits around the clearing where his rude log hut stood,—which + kept his seclusion unbroken. He was said to be a half-savage mountaineer + from Georgia, in whose rude fastnesses he had distilled unlawful whiskey, + and that his tastes and habits unfitted him for civilization. His wife + chewed and smoked; he was believed to make a fiery brew of his own from + acorns and pine nuts; he seldom came to Rocky Canyon except for + provisions; his logs were slipped down a “shoot” or slide to the river, + where they voyaged once a month to a distant mill, but HE did not + accompany them. The daughter, seldom seen at Rocky Canyon, was a + half-grown girl, brown as autumn fern, wild-eyed, disheveled, in a + homespun skirt, sunbonnet, and boy's brogans. Such were the plain facts + which skeptical Rocky Canyon opposed to the passengers' legends. + Nevertheless, some of the younger miners found it not out of their way to + go over Skinners Pass on the journey to the river, but with what success + was not told. It was said, however, that a celebrated New York artist, + making a tour of California, was on the coach one day going through the + pass, and preserved the memory of what he saw there in a well-known + picture entitled “Dancing Nymph and Satyr,” said by competent critics to + be “replete with the study of Greek life.” This did not affect Rocky + Canyon, where the study of mythology was presumably displaced by an + experience of more wonderful flesh-and-blood people, but later it was + remembered with some significance. + </p> + <p> + Among the improvements already noted, a zinc and wooden chapel had been + erected in the main street, where a certain popular revivalist preacher of + a peculiar Southwestern sect regularly held exhortatory services. His rude + emotional power over his ignorant fellow-sectarians was well known, while + curiosity drew others. His effect upon the females of his flock was + hysterical and sensational. Women prematurely aged by frontier drudgery + and child-bearing, girls who had known only the rigors and pains of a + half-equipped, ill-nourished youth in their battling with the hard + realities of nature around them, all found a strange fascination in the + extravagant glories and privileges of the unseen world he pictured to + them, which they might have found in the fairy tales and nursery legends + of civilized children, had they known them. Personally he was not + attractive; his thin pointed face, and bushy hair rising on either side of + his square forehead in two rounded knots, and his long, straggling, wiry + beard dropping from a strong neck and shoulders, were indeed of a common + Southwestern type; yet in him they suggested something more. This was + voiced by a miner who attended his first service, and as the Reverend Mr. + Withholder rose in the pulpit, the former was heard to audibly ejaculate, + “Dod blasted!—if it ain't Billy!” But when on the following Sunday, + to everybody's astonishment, Polly Harkness, in a new white muslin frock + and broad-brimmed Leghorn hat, appeared before the church door with the + real Billy, and exchanged conversation with the preacher, the likeness was + appalling. + </p> + <p> + I grieve to say that the goat was at once christened by Rocky Canyon as + “The Reverend Billy,” and the minister himself was Billy's “brother.” More + than that, when an attempt was made by outsiders, during the service, to + inveigle the tethered goat into his old butting performances, and he took + not the least notice of their insults and challenges, the epithet “blanked + hypocrite” was added to his title. + </p> + <p> + Had he really reformed? Had his pastoral life with his nymph-like mistress + completely cured him of his pugnacious propensity, or had he simply found + it was inconsistent with his dancing, and seriously interfered with his + “fancy steps”? Had he found tracts and hymn-books were as edible as + theatre posters? These were questions that Rocky canyon discussed lightly, + although there was always the more serious mystery of the relations of the + Reverend Mr. Withholder, Polly Harkness, and the goat towards each other. + The appearance of Polly at church was no doubt due to the minister's + active canvass of the districts. But had he ever heard of Polly's dancing + with the goat? And where in this plain, angular, badly dressed Polly was + hidden that beautiful vision of the dancing nymph which had enthralled so + many? And when had Billy ever given any suggestion of his Terpsichorean + abilities—before or since? Were there any “points” of the kind to be + discerned in him now? None! Was it not more probable that the Reverend Mr. + Withholder had himself been dancing with Polly, and been mistaken for the + goat? Passengers who could have been so deceived with regard to Polly's + beauty might have as easily mistaken the minister for Billy. About this + time another incident occurred which increased the mystery. + </p> + <p> + The only male in the settlement who apparently dissented from the popular + opinion regarding Polly was a new-comer, Jack Filgee. While discrediting + her performance with the goat,—which he had never seen,—he was + evidently greatly prepossessed with the girl herself. Unfortunately, he + was equally addicted to drinking, and as he was exceedingly shy and timid + when sober, and quite unpresentable at other times, his wooing, if it + could be so called, progressed but slowly. Yet when he found that Polly + went to church, he listened so far to the exhortations of the Reverend Mr. + Withholder as to promise to come to “Bible class” immediately after the + Sunday service. It was a hot afternoon, and Jack, who had kept sober for + two days, incautiously fortified himself for the ordeal by taking a drink + before arriving. He was nervously early, and immediately took a seat in + the empty church near the open door. The quiet of the building, the drowsy + buzzing of flies, and perhaps the soporific effect of the liquor caused + his eyes to close and his head to fall forward on his breast repeatedly. + He was recovering himself for the fourth time when he suddenly received a + violent cuff on the ear, and was knocked backward off the bench on which + he was sitting. That was all he knew. + </p> + <p> + He picked himself up with a certain dignity, partly new to him, and partly + the result of his condition, and staggered, somewhat bruised and + disheveled, to the nearest saloon. Here a few frequenters who had seen him + pass, who knew his errand and the devotion to Polly which had induced it, + exhibited a natural concern. + </p> + <p> + “How's things down at the gospel shop?” said one. “Look as ef you'd been + wrastlin' with the Sperit, Jack!” + </p> + <p> + “Old man must hev exhorted pow'ful,” said another, glancing at his + disordered Sunday attire. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't be'n hevin' a row with Polly? I'm told she slings an awful left.” + </p> + <p> + Jack, instead of replying, poured out a dram of whiskey, drank it, and + putting down his glass, leaned heavily against the counter as he surveyed + his questioners with a sorrow chastened by reproachful dignity. + </p> + <p> + “I'm a stranger here, gentlemen,” he said slowly “ye've known me only a + little; but ez ye've seen me both blind drunk and sober, I reckon ye've + caught on to my gin'ral gait! Now I wanter put it to you, ez fair-minded + men, ef you ever saw me strike a parson?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said a chorus of sympathetic voices. The barkeeper, however, with a + swift recollection of Polly and the Reverend Withholder, and some possible + contingent jealousy in Jack, added prudently, “Not yet.” + </p> + <p> + The chorus instantly added reflectively, “Well, no not yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Did ye ever,” continued Jack solemnly, “know me to cuss, sass, bully-rag, + or say anything agin parsons, or the church?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the crowd, overthrowing prudence in curiosity, “ye never did,—we + swear it! And now, what's up?” + </p> + <p> + “I ain't what you call 'a member in good standin','” he went on, + artistically protracting his climax. “I ain't be'n convicted o' sin; I + ain't 'a meek an' lowly follower;' I ain't be'n exactly what I orter be'n; + I hevn't lived anywhere up to my lights; but is thet a reason why a parson + should strike me?” + </p> + <p> + “Why? What? When did he? Who did?” asked the eager crowd, with one voice. + </p> + <p> + Jack then painfully related how he had been invited by the Reverend Mr. + Withholder to attend the Bible class. How he had arrived early, and found + the church empty. How he had taken a seat near the door to be handy when + the parson came. How he just felt “kinder kam and good,” listenin' to the + flies buzzing, and must have fallen asleep,—only he pulled himself + up every time,—though, after all, it warn't no crime to fall asleep + in an empty church! How “all of a suddent” the parson came in, “give him a + clip side o' the head,” and knocked him off the bench, and left him there! + </p> + <p> + “But what did he SAY?” queried the crowd. + </p> + <p> + “Nuthin'. Afore I could get up, he got away.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure it was him?” they asked. “You know you SAY you was asleep.” + </p> + <p> + “Am I sure?” repeated Jack scornfully. “Don't I know thet face and beard? + Didn't I feel it hangin' over me?” + </p> + <p> + “What are you going to do about it?” continued the crowd eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Wait till he comes out—and you'll see,” said Jack, with dignity. + </p> + <p> + This was enough for the crowd; they gathered excitedly at the door, where + Jack was already standing, looking towards the church. The moments dragged + slowly; it might be a long meeting. Suddenly the church door opened and a + figure appeared, looking up and down the street. Jack colored—he + recognized Polly—and stepped out into the road. The crowd + delicately, but somewhat disappointedly, drew back in the saloon. They did + not care to interfere in THAT sort of thing. + </p> + <p> + Polly saw him, and came hurriedly towards him. She was holding something + in her hand. + </p> + <p> + “I picked this up on the church floor,” she said shyly, “so I reckoned you + HAD be'n there,—though the parson said you hadn't,—and I just + excused myself and ran out to give it ye. It's yourn, ain't it?” She held + up a gold specimen pin, which he had put on in honor of the occasion. “I + had a harder time, though, to git this yer,—it's yourn too,—for + Billy was laying down in the yard, back o' the church, and just comf'bly + swallerin' it.” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” said Jack quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Billy,—my goat.” + </p> + <p> + Jack drew a long breath, and glanced back at the saloon. “Ye ain't goin' + back to class now, are ye?” he said hurriedly. “Ef you ain't, I'll—I'll + see ye home.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't mind,” said Polly demurely, “if it ain't takin' ye outer y'ur + way.” + </p> + <p> + Jack offered his arm, and hurrying past the saloon, the happy pair were + soon on the road to Skinners Pass. + </p> + <p> + Jack did not, I regret to say, confess his blunder, but left the Reverend + Mr. Withholder to remain under suspicion of having committed an unprovoked + assault and battery. It was characteristic of Rocky Canyon, however, that + this suspicion, far from injuring his clerical reputation, incited a + respect that had been hitherto denied him. A man who could hit out + straight from the shoulder had, in the language of the critics, “suthin' + in him.” Oddly enough, the crowd that had at first sympathized with Jack + now began to admit provocations. His subsequent silence, a disposition + when questioned on the subject to smile inanely, and, later, when + insidiously asked if he had ever seen Polly dancing with the goat, his + bursting into uproarious laughter completely turned the current of opinion + against him. The public mind, however, soon became engrossed by a more + interesting incident. + </p> + <p> + The Reverend Mr. Withholder had organized a series of Biblical tableaux at + Skinnerstown for the benefit of his church. Illustrations were to be given + of “Rebecca at the Well,” “The Finding of Moses,” “Joseph and his + Brethren;” but Rocky Canyon was more particularly excited by the + announcement that Polly Harkness would personate “Jephthah's Daughter.” On + the evening of the performance, however, it was found that this tableau + had been withdrawn and another substituted, for reasons not given. Rocky + Canyon, naturally indignant at this omission to represent native talent, + indulged in a hundred wild surmises. But it was generally believed that + Jack Filgee's revengeful animosity to the Reverend Mr. Withholder was at + the bottom of it. Jack, as usual, smiled inanely, but nothing was to be + got from him. It was not until a few days later, when another incident + crowned the climax of these mysteries, that a full disclosure came from + his lips. + </p> + <p> + One morning a flaming poster was displayed at Rocky Canyon, with a + charming picture of the “Sacramento Pet” in the briefest of skirts, + disporting with a tambourine before a goat garlanded with flowers, who + bore, however, an undoubted likeness to Billy. The text in enormous + letters, and bristling with points of admiration, stated that the “Pet” + would appear as “Esmeralda,” assisted by a performing goat, especially + trained by the gifted actress. The goat would dance, play cards, and + perform those tricks of magic familiar to the readers of Victor Hugo's + beautiful story of the “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and finally knock down + and overthrow the designing seducer, Captain Phoebus. The marvelous + spectacle would be produced under the patronage of the Hon. Colonel + Starbottle and the Mayor of Skinnerstown. + </p> + <p> + As all Rocky Canyon gathered open-mouthed around the poster, Jack demurely + joined the group. Every eye was turned upon him. + </p> + <p> + “It don't look as if yer Polly was in THIS show, any more than she was in + the tablows,” said one, trying to conceal his curiosity under a slight + sneer. “She don't seem to be doin' any dancin'!” + </p> + <p> + “She never DID any dancin',” said Jack, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “Never DID! Then what was all these yarns about her dancin' up at the + pass?” + </p> + <p> + “It was the Sacramento Pet who did all the dancin'; Polly only LENT the + goat. Ye see, the Pet kinder took a shine to Billy arter he bowled + Starbottle over thet day at the hotel, and she thought she might teach him + tricks. So she DID, doing all her teachin' and stage-rehearsin' up there + at the pass, so's to be outer sight, and keep this thing dark. She bribed + Polly to lend her the goat and keep her secret, and Polly never let on a + word to anybody but me.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it was the Pet that Yuba Bill saw dancin' from the coach?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “And that yer artist from New York painted as an 'Imp and Satire'?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Then that's how Polly didn't show up in them tablows at Skinnerstown? It + was Withholder who kinder smelt a rat, eh? and found out it was only a + theayter gal all along that did the dancin'?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you see,” said Jack, with affected hesitation, “thet's another + yarn. I don't know mebbe ez I oughter tell it. Et ain't got anything to do + with this advertisement o' the Pet, and might be rough on old man + Withholder! Ye mustn't ask me, boys.” + </p> + <p> + But there was that in his eye, and above all in this lazy procrastination + of the true humorist when he is approaching his climax, which rendered the + crowd clamorous and unappeasable. They WOULD have the story! + </p> + <p> + Seeing which, Jack leaned back against a rock with great gravity, put his + hands in his pockets, looked discontentedly at the ground, and began: “You + see, boys, old Parson Withholder had heard all these yarns about Polly and + thet trick-goat, and he kinder reckoned that she might do for some one of + his tablows. So he axed her if she'd mind standin' with the goat and a + tambourine for Jephthah's Daughter, at about the time when old Jeph comes + home, sailin' in and vowin' he'll kill the first thing he sees,—jest + as it is in the Bible story. Well, Polly didn't like to say it wasn't HER + that performed with the goat, but the Pet, for thet would give the Pet + dead away; so Polly agrees to come thar with the goat and rehearse the + tablow. Well, Polly's thar, a little shy; and Billy,—you bet HE'S + all there, and ready for the fun; but the darned fool who plays Jephthah + ain't worth shucks, and when HE comes in he does nothin' but grin at Polly + and seem skeert at the goat. This makes old Withholder jest wild, and at + last he goes on the platform hisself to show them how the thing oughter be + done. So he comes bustlin' and prancin' in, and ketches sight o' Polly + dancin' in with the goat to welcome him; and then he clasps his hands—so—and + drops on his knees, and hangs down his head—so—and sez, 'Me + chyld! me vow! Oh, heavens!' But jest then Billy—who's gettin' + rather tired o' all this foolishness—kinder slues round on his hind + legs, and ketches sight o' the parson!” Jack paused a moment, and + thrusting his hands still deeper in his pockets, said lazily, “I don't + know if you fellers have noticed how much old Withholder looks like + Billy?” + </p> + <p> + There was a rapid and impatient chorus of “Yes! yes!” and “Go on!” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” continued Jack, “when Billy sees Withholder kneelin' thar with his + head down, he gives a kind o' joyous leap and claps his hoofs together, ez + much ez to say, 'I'm on in this scene,' drops his own head, and jest + lights out for the parson!” + </p> + <p> + “And butts him clean through the side scenes into the street,” interrupted + a delighted auditor. + </p> + <p> + But Jack's face never changed. “Ye think so?” he said gravely. “But thet's + jest whar ye slip up; and thet's jest whar Billy slipped up!” he added + slowly. “Mebbe ye've noticed, too, thet the parson's built kinder solid + about the head and shoulders. It mought hev be'n thet, or thet Billy + didn't get a fair start, but thet goat went down on his fore legs like a + shot, and the parson gave one heave, and jest scooted him off the + platform! Then the parson reckoned thet this yer 'tablow' had better be + left out, as thar didn't seem to be any other man who could play Jephthah, + and it wasn't dignified for HIM to take the part. But the parson allowed + thet it might be a great moral lesson to Billy!” + </p> + <p> + And it WAS, for from that moment Billy never attempted to butt again. He + performed with great docility later on in the Pet's engagement at + Skinnerstown; he played a distinguished role throughout the provinces; he + had had the advantages of Art from “the Pet,” and of Simplicity from + Polly, but only Rocky Canyon knew that his real education had come with + his first rehearsal with the Reverend Mr. Withholder. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + </h2> + <p> + There was surprise and sometimes disappointment in Rough and Ready, when + it was known that Dick Spindler intended to give a “family” Christmas + party at his own house. That he should take an early opportunity to + celebrate his good fortune and show hospitality was only expected from the + man who had just made a handsome “strike” on his claim; but that it should + assume so conservative, old-fashioned, and respectable a form was quite + unlooked-for by Rough and Ready, and was thought by some a trifle + pretentious. There were not half-a-dozen families in Rough and Ready; + nobody ever knew before that Spindler had any relations, and this “ringing + in” of strangers to the settlement seemed to indicate at least a lack of + public spirit. “He might,” urged one of his critics, “hev given the boys,—that + had worked alongside o' him in the ditches by day, and slung lies with him + around the camp-fire by night,—he might hev given them a square + 'blow out,' and kep' the leavin's for his old Spindler crew, just as other + families do. Why, when old man Scudder had his house-raisin' last year, + his family lived for a week on what was left over, arter the boys had + waltzed through the house that night,—and the Scudders warn't + strangers, either.” It was also evident that there was an uneasy feeling + that Spindler's action indicated an unhallowed leaning towards the + minority of respectability and exclusiveness, and a desertion—without + the excuse of matrimony—of the convivial and independent bachelor + majority of Rough and Ready. + </p> + <p> + “Ef he was stuck after some gal and was kinder looking ahead, I'd hev + understood it,” argued another critic. + </p> + <p> + “Don't ye be too sure he ain't,” said Uncle Jim Starbuck gloomily. “Ye'll + find that some blamed woman is at the bottom of this yer 'family' + gathering. That and trouble ez almost all they're made for!” + </p> + <p> + There happened to be some truth in this dark prophecy, but none of the + kind that the misogynist supposed. In fact, Spindler had called a few + evenings before at the house of the Rev. Mr. Saltover, and Mrs. Saltover, + having one of her “Saleratus headaches,” had turned him over to her widow + sister, Mrs. Huldy Price, who obediently bestowed upon him that practical + and critical attention which she divided with the stocking she was + darning. She was a woman of thirty-five, of singular nerve and practical + wisdom, who had once smuggled her wounded husband home from a border + affray, calmly made coffee for his deceived pursuers while he lay hidden + in the loft, walked four miles for that medical assistance which arrived + too late to save him, buried him secretly in his own “quarter section,” + with only one other witness and mourner, and so saved her position and + property in that wild community, who believed he had fled. There was very + little of this experience to be traced in her round, fresh-colored + brunette cheek, her calm black eyes, set in a prickly hedge of stiff + lashes, her plump figure, or her frank, courageous laugh. The latter + appeared as a smile when she welcomed Mr. Spindler. “She hadn't seen him + for a coon's age,” but “reckoned he was busy fixin' up his new house.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes,” said Spindler, with a slight hesitation, “ye see, I'm + reckonin' to hev a kinder Christmas gatherin' of my”—he was about to + say “folks,” but dismissed it for “relations,” and finally settled upon + “relatives” as being more correct in a preacher's house. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price thought it a very good idea. Christmas was the natural season + for the family to gather to “see who's here and who's there, who's gettin' + on and who isn't, and who's dead and buried. It was lucky for them who + were so placed that they could do so and be joyful.” Her invincible + philosophy probably carried her past any dangerous recollections of the + lonely grave in Kansas, and holding up the stocking to the light, she + glanced cheerfully along its level to Mr. Spindler's embarrassed face by + the fire. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I can't say much ez to that,” responded Spindler, still awkwardly, + “for you see I don't know much about it anyway.” + </p> + <p> + “How long since you've seen 'em?” asked Mrs. Price, apparently addressing + herself to the stocking. + </p> + <p> + Spindler gave a weak laugh. “Well, you see, ef it comes to that, I've + never seen 'em!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price put the stocking in her lap and opened her direct eyes on + Spindler. “Never seen 'em?” she repeated. “Then, they're not near + relations?” + </p> + <p> + “There are three cousins,” said Spindler, checking them off on his + fingers, “a half-uncle, a kind of brother-in-law,—that is, the + brother of my sister-in-law's second husband,—and a niece. That's + six.” + </p> + <p> + “But if you've not seen them, I suppose they've corresponded with you?” + said Mrs. Price. + </p> + <p> + “They've nearly all of 'em written to me for money, seeing my name in the + paper ez hevin' made a strike,” returned Spindler simply; “and hevin' sent + it, I jest know their addresses.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said Mrs. Price, returning to the stocking. + </p> + <p> + Something in the tone of her ejaculation increased Spindler's + embarrassment, but it also made him desperate. “You see, Mrs. Price,” he + blurted out, “I oughter tell ye that I reckon they are the folks that + 'hevn't got on,' don't you see, and so it seemed only the square thing for + me, ez had 'got on,' to give them a sort o' Christmas festival. Suthin', + don't ye know, like what your brother-in-law was sayin' last Sunday in the + pulpit about this yer peace and goodwill 'twixt man and man.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price looked again at the man before her. His sallow, perplexed face + exhibited some doubt, yet a certain determination, regarding the prospect + the quotation had opened to him. “A very good idea, Mr. Spindler, and one + that does you great credit,” she said gravely. + </p> + <p> + “I'm mighty glad to hear you say so, Mrs. Price,” he said, with an accent + of great relief, “for I reckoned to ask you a great favor! You see,” he + fell into his former hesitation, “that is—the fact is—that + this sort o' thing is rather suddent to me,—a little outer my line, + don't you see, and I was goin' to ask ye ef you'd mind takin' the hull + thing in hand and runnin it for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Running it for you,” said Mrs. Price, with a quick eye-shot from under + the edge of her lashes. “Man alive! What are you thinking of?” + </p> + <p> + “Bossin' the whole job for me,” hurried on Spindler, with nervous + desperation. “Gettin' together all the things and makin' ready for 'em,—orderin' + in everythin' that's wanted, and fixin' up the rooms,—I kin step out + while you're doin' it,—and then helpin' me receivin' 'em, and + sittin' at the head o' the table, you know,—like ez ef you was the + mistress.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Mrs. Price, with her frank laugh, “that's the duty of one of + your relations,—your niece, for instance,—or cousin, if one of + them is a woman.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” persisted Spindler, “you see, they're strangers to me; I don't know + 'em, and I do you. You'd make it easy for 'em,—and for me,—don't + you see? Kinder introduce 'em,—don't you know? A woman of your + gin'ral experience would smooth down all them little difficulties,” + continued Spindler, with a vague recollection of the Kansas story, “and + put everybody on velvet. Don't say 'No,' Mrs. Price! I'm just kalkilatin' + on you.” + </p> + <p> + Sincerity and persistency in a man goes a great way with even the best of + women. Mrs. Price, who had at first received Spindler's request as an + amusing originality, now began to incline secretly towards it. And, of + course, began to suggest objections. + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid it won't do,” she said thoughtfully, awakening to the fact + that it would do and could be done. “You see, I've promised to spend + Christmas at Sacramento with my nieces from Baltimore. And then there's + Mrs. Saltover and my sister to consult.” + </p> + <p> + But here Spindler's simple face showed such signs of distress that the + widow declared she would “think it over,”—a process which the + sanguine Spindler seemed to consider so nearly akin to talking it over + that Mrs. Price began to believe it herself, as he hopefully departed. + </p> + <p> + She “thought it over” sufficiently to go to Sacramento and excuse herself + to her nieces. But here she permitted herself to “talk it over,” to the + infinite delight of those Baltimore girls, who thought this extravaganza + of Spindler's “so Californian and eccentric!” So that it was not strange + that presently the news came back to Rough and Ready, and his old + associates learned for the first time that he had never seen his + relatives, and that they would be doubly strangers. This did not increase + his popularity; neither, I grieve to say, did the intelligence that his + relatives were probably poor, and that the Reverend Mr. Saltover had + approved of his course, and had likened it to the rich man's feast, to + which the halt and blind were invited. Indeed, the allusion was supposed + to add hypocrisy and a bid for popularity to Spindler's defection, for it + was argued that he might have feasted “Wall-eyed Joe” or “Tangle-foot + Billy,”—who had once been “chawed” by a bear while prospecting,—if + he had been sincere. Howbeit, Spindler's faith was oblivious to these + criticisms, in his joy at Mr. Saltover's adhesion to his plans and the + loan of Mrs. Price as a hostess. In fact, he proposed to her that the + invitation should also convey that information in the expression, “by the + kind permission of the Rev. Mr. Saltover,” as a guarantee of good faith, + but the widow would have none of it. The invitations were duly written and + dispatched. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose,” suggested Spindler, with a sudden lugubrious apprehension,—“suppose + they shouldn't come?” + </p> + <p> + “Have no fear of that,” said Mrs. Price, with a frank laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Or ef they was dead,” continued Spindler. + </p> + <p> + “They couldn't all be dead,” said the widow cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “I've written to another cousin by marriage,” said Spindler dubiously, “in + case of accident; I didn't think of him before, because he was rich.” + </p> + <p> + “And have you ever seen him either, Mr. Spindler?” asked the widow, with a + slight mischievousness. + </p> + <p> + “Lordy! No!” he responded, with unaffected concern. + </p> + <p> + Only one mistake was made by Mrs. Price in her arrangements for the party. + She had noticed what the simple-minded Spindler could never have + conceived,—the feeling towards him held by his old associates, and + had tactfully suggested that a general invitation should be extended to + them in the evening. + </p> + <p> + “You can have refreshments, you know, too, after the dinner, and games and + music.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said the unsophisticated host, “won't the boys think I'm playing it + rather low down on them, so to speak, givin' 'em a kind o' second table, + as ef it was the tailings after a strike?” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense,” said Mrs. Price, with decision. “It's quite fashionable in San + Francisco, and just the thing to do.” + </p> + <p> + To this decision Spindler, in his blind faith in the widow's management, + weakly yielded. An announcement in the “Weekly Banner” that, “On Christmas + evening Richard Spindler, Esq., proposed to entertain his friends and + fellow citizens at an 'at home,' in his own residence,” not only widened + the breach between him and the “boys,” but awakened an active resentment + that only waited for an outlet. It was understood that they were all + coming; but that they should have “some fun out of it” which might not + coincide with Spindler's nor his relatives' sense of humor seemed a + foregone conclusion. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, too, subsequent events lent themselves to this irony of the + situation. + </p> + <p> + He was so obviously sincere in his intent, and, above all, seemed to place + such a pathetic reliance on her judgment, that she hesitated to let him + know the shock his revelation had given her. And what might his other + relations prove to be? Good Lord! Yet, oddly enough, she was so + prepossessed by him, and so fascinated by his very Quixotism, that it was + perhaps for these complex reasons that she said a little stiffly:— + </p> + <p> + “One of these cousins, I see, is a lady, and then there is your niece. Do + you know anything about them, Mr. Spindler?” + </p> + <p> + His face grew serious. “No more than I know of the others,” he said + apologetically. After a moment's hesitation he went on: “Now you speak of + it, it seems to me I've heard that my niece was di-vorced. But,” he added, + brightening up, “I've heard that she was popular.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price gave a short laugh, and was silent for a few minutes. Then this + sublime little woman looked up at him. What he might have seen in her eyes + was more than he expected, or, I fear, deserved. “Cheer up, Mr. Spindler,” + she said manfully. “I'll see you through this thing, don't you mind! But + don't you say anything about—about—this Vigilance Committee + business to anybody. Nor about your niece—it was your niece, wasn't + it?—being divorced. Charley (the late Mr. Price) had a queer sort of + sister, who—but that's neither here nor there! And your niece mayn't + come, you know; or if she does, you ain't bound to bring her out to the + general company.” + </p> + <p> + At parting, Spindler, in sheer gratefulness, pressed her hand, and + lingered so long over it that a little color sprang into the widow's brown + cheek. Perhaps a fresh courage sprang into her heart, too, for she went to + Sacramento the next day, previously enjoining Spindler on no account to + show any answers he might receive. At Sacramento her nieces flew to her + with confidences. + </p> + <p> + “We so wanted to see you, Aunt Huldy, for we've heard something so + delightful about your funny Christmas Party!” Mrs. Price's heart sank, but + her eyes snapped. “Only think of it! One of Mr. Spindler's long-lost + relatives—a Mr. Wragg—lives in this hotel, and papa knows him. + He's a sort of half-uncle, I believe, and he's just furious that Spindler + should have invited him. He showed papa the letter; said it was the + greatest piece of insolence in the world; that Spindler was an + ostentatious fool, who had made a little money and wanted to use him to + get into society; and the fun of the whole thing was that this half-uncle + and whole brute is himself a parvenu,—a vulgar, ostentatious + creature, who was only a”— + </p> + <p> + “Never mind what he was, Kate,” interrupted Mrs. Price hastily. “I call + his conduct a shame.” + </p> + <p> + “So do we,” said both girls eagerly. After a pause Kate clasped her knees + with her locked fingers, and rocking backwards and forwards, said, “Milly + and I have got an idea, and don't you say 'No' to it. We've had it ever + since that brute talked in that way. Now, through him, we know more about + this Mr. Spindler's family connections than you do; and we know all the + trouble you and he'll have in getting up this party. You understand? Now, + we first want to know what Spindler's like. Is he a savage, bearded + creature, like the miners we saw on the boat?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price said that, on the contrary, he was very gentle, soft-spoken, + and rather good-looking. + </p> + <p> + “Young or old?” + </p> + <p> + “Young,—in fact, a mere boy, as you may judge from his actions,” + returned Mrs. Price, with a suggestive matronly air. + </p> + <p> + Kate here put up a long-handled eyeglass to her fine gray eyes, fitted it + ostentatiously over her aquiline nose, and then said, in a voice of + simulated horror, “Aunt Huldy,—this revelation is shocking!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price laughed her usual frank laugh, albeit her brown cheek took upon + it a faint tint of Indian red. “If that's the wonderful idea you girls + have got, I don't see how it's going to help matters,” she said dryly. + </p> + <p> + “No, that's not it? We really have an idea. Now look here.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Price “looked here.” This process seemed to the superficial observer + to be merely submitting her waist and shoulders to the arms of her nieces, + and her ears to their confidential and coaxing voices. + </p> + <p> + Twice she said “it couldn't be thought of,” and “it was impossible;” once + addressed Kate as “You limb!” and finally said that she “wouldn't promise, + but might write!” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + It was two days before Christmas. There was nothing in the air, sky, or + landscape of that Sierran slope to suggest the season to the Eastern + stranger. A soft rain had been dropping for a week on laurel, pine, and + buckeye, and the blades of springing grasses and shyly opening flowers. + Sedate and silent hillsides that had grown dumb and parched towards the + end of the dry season became gently articulate again; there were murmurs + in hushed and forgotten canyons, the leap and laugh of water among the dry + bones of dusty creeks, and the full song of the larger forks and rivers. + Southwest winds brought the warm odor of the pine sap swelling in the + forest, or the faint, far-off spice of wild mustard springing in the lower + valleys. But, as if by some irony of Nature, this gentle invasion of + spring in the wild wood brought only disturbance and discomfort to the + haunts and works of man. The ditches were overflowed, the fords of the + Fork impassable, the sluicing adrift, and the trails and wagon roads to + Rough and Ready knee-deep in mud. The stage-coach from Sacramento, + entering the settlement by the mountain highway, its wheels and panels + clogged and crusted with an unctuous pigment like mud and blood, passed + out of it through the overflowed and dangerous ford, and emerged in + spotless purity, leaving its stains behind with Rough and Ready. A week of + enforced idleness on the river “Bar” had driven the miners to the more + comfortable recreation of the saloon bar, its mirrors, its florid + paintings, its armchairs, and its stove. The steam of their wet boots and + the smoke of their pipes hung over the latter like the sacrificial incense + from an altar. But the attitude of the men was more critical and + censorious than contented, and showed little of the gentleness of the + weather or season. + </p> + <p> + “Did you hear if the stage brought down any more relations of Spindler's?” + </p> + <p> + The barkeeper, to whom this question was addressed, shifted his lounging + position against the bar and said, “I reckon not, ez far ez I know.” + </p> + <p> + “And that old bloat of a second cousin—that crimson beak—what + kem down yesterday,—he ain't bin hangin' round here today for his + reg'lar pizon?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the barkeeper thoughtfully, “I reckon Spindler's got him locked + up, and is settin' on him to keep him sober till after Christmas, and + prevent you boys gettin' at him.” + </p> + <p> + “He'll have the jimjams before that,” returned the first speaker; “and how + about that dead beat of a half-nephew who borrowed twenty dollars of Yuba + Bill on the way down, and then wanted to get off at Shootersvilie, but + Bill wouldn't let him, and scooted him down to Spindler's and collected + the money from Spindler himself afore he'd give him up?” + </p> + <p> + “He's up thar with the rest of the menagerie,” said the barkeeper, “but I + reckon that Mrs. Price hez bin feedin' him up. And ye know the old woman—that + fifty-fifth cousin by marriage—whom Joe Chandler swears he remembers + ez an old cook for a Chinese restaurant in Stockton,—darn my skin ef + that Mrs. Price hasn't rigged her out in some fancy duds of her own, and + made her look quite decent.” + </p> + <p> + A deep groan here broke from Uncle Jim Starbuck. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't I tell ye?” he said, turning appealingly to the others. “It's that + darned widow that's at the bottom of it all! She first put Spindler up to + givin' the party, and now, darn my skin, ef she ain't goin to fix up these + ragamuffins and drill 'em so we can't get any fun outer 'em after all! And + it's bein' a woman that's bossin' the job, and not Spindler, we've got to + draw things mighty fine and not cut up too rough, or some of the boys will + kick.” + </p> + <p> + “You bet,” said a surly but decided voice in the crowd. + </p> + <p> + “And,” said another voice, “Mrs. Price didn't live in 'Bleeding Kansas' + for nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Wot's the programme you've settled on, Uncle Jim?” said the barkeeper + lightly, to check what seemed to promise a dangerous discussion. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Starbuck, “we kalkilate to gather early Christmas night in + Hooper's Hollow and rig ourselves up Injun fashion, and then start for + Spindler's with pitch-pine torches, and have a 'torchlight dance' around + the house; them who does the dancin' and yellin' outside takin' their turn + at goin' in and hevin' refreshment. Jake Cooledge, of Boston, sez if + anybody objects to it, we've only got to say we're 'Mummers of the Olden + Times,' sabe? Then, later, we'll have 'Them Sabbath Evening Bells' + performed on prospectin' pans by the band. Then, at the finish, Jake + Cooledge is goin' to give one of his surkastic speeches,—kinder + welcomin' Spindler's family to the Free Openin' o' Spindler's Almshouse + and Reformatory.” He paused, possibly for that approbation which, however, + did not seem to come spontaneously. “It ain't much,” he added + apologetically, “for we're hampered by women; but we'll add to the + programme ez we see how things pan out. Ye see, from what we can hear, all + of Spindler's relations ain't on hand yet! We've got to wait, like in + elckshun times, for 'returns from the back counties.' Hello! What's that?” + </p> + <p> + It was the swish and splutter of hoofs on the road before the door. The + Sacramento coach! In an instant every man was expectant, and Starbuck + darted outside on the platform. Then there was the usual greeting and + bustle, the hurried ingress of thirsty passengers into the saloon, and a + pause. Uncle Jim returned, excitedly and pantingly. “Look yer, boys! Ef + this ain't the richest thing out! They say there's two more relations o' + Spindler's on the coach, come down as express freight, consigned,—d'ye + hear?—consigned to Spindler!” + </p> + <p> + “Stiffs, in coffins?” suggested an eager voice. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't get to hear more. But here they are.” + </p> + <p> + There was the sudden irruption of a laughing, curious crowd into the + bar-room, led by Yuba Bill, the driver. Then the crowd parted, and out of + their midst stepped two children, a boy and a girl, the oldest apparently + of not more than six years, holding each other's hands. They were coarsely + yet cleanly dressed, and with a certain uniform precision that suggested + formal charity. But more remarkable than all, around the neck of each was + a little steel chain, from which depended the regular check and label of + the powerful Express Company, Wells; Fargo & Co., and the words: “To + Richard Spindler.” “Fragile.” “With great care.” “Collect on delivery.” + Occasionally their little hands went up automatically and touched their + labels, as if to show them. They surveyed the crowd, the floor, the gilded + bar, and Yuba Bill without fear and without wonder. There was a pathetic + suggestion that they were accustomed to this observation. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Bobby,” said Yuba Bill, leaning back against the bar, with an air + half-paternal, half-managerial, “tell these gents how you came here.” + </p> + <p> + “By Wellth, Fargoth Expreth,” lisped Bobby. + </p> + <p> + “Whar from?” + </p> + <p> + “Wed Hill, Owegon.” + </p> + <p> + “Red Hill, Oregon? Why, it's a thousand miles from here,” said a + bystander. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon,” said Yuba Bill coolly, “they kem by stage to Portland, by + steamer to 'Frisco, steamer again to Stockton, and then by stage over the + whole line. Allers by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, from agent to + agent, and from messenger to messenger. Fact! They ain't bin tetched or + handled by any one but the Kempany's agents; they ain't had a line or + direction except them checks around their necks! And they've wanted for + nothin' else. Why, I've carried heaps o' treasure before, gentlemen, and + once a hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks, but I never carried + anythin' that was watched and guarded as them kids! Why, the division + inspector at Stockton wanted to go with 'em over the line; but Jim Bracy, + the messenger, said he'd call it a reflection on himself and resign, ef + they didn't give 'em to him with the other packages! Ye had a pretty good + time, Bobby, didn't ye? Plenty to eat and drink, eh?” + </p> + <p> + The two children laughed a little weak laugh, turned each other bashfully + around, and then looked up shyly at Yuba Bill and said, “Yeth.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you know where you are goin'?” asked Starbuck, in a constrained voice. + </p> + <p> + It was the little girl who answered quickly and eagerly:— + </p> + <p> + “Yes, to Krissmass and Sandy Claus.” + </p> + <p> + “To what?” asked Starbuck. + </p> + <p> + Here the boy interposed with a superior air:— + </p> + <p> + “Thee meanth Couthin Dick. He'th got Krithmath.” + </p> + <p> + “Where's your mother?” + </p> + <p> + “Dead.” + </p> + <p> + “And your father?” + </p> + <p> + “In orthpittal.” + </p> + <p> + There was a laugh somewhere on the outskirts of the crowd. Every one faced + angrily in that direction, but the laugher had disappeared. Yuba Bill, + however, sent his voice after him. “Yes, in hospital! Funny, ain't it?—amoosin' + place! Try it. Step over here, and in five minutes, by the living Hoky, + I'll qualify you for admission, and not charge you a cent!” He stopped, + gave a sweeping glance of dissatisfaction around him, and then, leaning + back against the bar, beckoned to some one near the door, and said in a + disgusted tone, “You tell these galoots how it happened, Bracy. They make + me sick!” + </p> + <p> + Thus appealed to, Bracy, the express messenger, stepped forward in Yuba + Bill's place. + </p> + <p> + “It's nothing particular, gentlemen,” he said, with a laugh, “only it + seems that some man called Spindler, who lives about here, sent an + invitation to the father of these children to bring his family to a + Christmas party. It wasn't a bad sort of thing for Spindler to do, + considering that they were his poor relations, though they didn't know him + from Adam,—was it?” He paused; several of the bystanders cleared + their throats, but said nothing. “At least,” resumed Bracy, “that's what + the boys up at Red Hill, Oregon, thought, when they heard of it. Well, as + the father was in hospital with a broken leg, and the mother only a few + weeks dead, the boys thought it mighty rough on these poor kids if they + were done out of their fun because they had no one to bring them. The boys + couldn't afford to go themselves, but they got a little money together, + and then got the idea of sendin' 'em by express. Our agent at Red Hill + tumbled to the idea at once; but he wouldn't take any money in advance, + and said he would send 'em 'C. O. D.' like any other package. And he did, + and here they are! That's all! And now, gentlemen, as I've got to deliver + them personally to this Spindler, and get his receipt and take off their + checks, I reckon we must toddle. Come, Bill, help take 'em up!” + </p> + <p> + “Hold on!” said a dozen voices. A dozen hands were thrust into a dozen + pockets; I grieve to say some were regretfully withdrawn empty, for it was + a hard season in Rough and Ready. But the expressman stepped before them, + with warning, uplifted hand. + </p> + <p> + “Not a cent, boys,—not a cent! Wells, Fargo's Express Company don't + undertake to carry bullion with those kids, at least on the same + contract!” He laughed, and then looking around him, said confidentially in + a lower voice, which, however, was quite audible to the children, “There's + as much as three bags of silver in quarter and half dollars in my treasure + box in the coach that has been poured, yes, just showered upon them, ever + since they started, and have been passed over from agent to agent and + messenger to messenger,—enough to pay their passage from here to + China! It's time to say quits now. But bet your life, they are not going + to that Christmas party poor!” + </p> + <p> + He caught up the boy, as Yuba Bill lifted the little girl to his shoulder, + and both passed out. Then one by one the loungers in the bar-room silently + and awkwardly followed, and when the barkeeper turned back from putting + away his decanters and glasses, to his astonishment the room was empty. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Spindler's house, or “Spindler's Splurge,” as Rough and Ready chose to + call it, stood above the settlement, on a deforested hillside, which, + however, revenged itself by producing not enough vegetation to cover even + the few stumps that were ineradicable. A large wooden structure in the + pseudo-classic style affected by Westerners, with an incongruous cupola, + it was oddly enough relieved by a still more incongruous veranda extending + around its four sides, upheld by wooden Doric columns, which were already + picturesquely covered with flowering vines and sun-loving roses. Mr. + Spindler had trusted the furnishing of its interior to the same contractor + who had upholstered the gilded bar-room of the Eureka Saloon, and who had + apparently bestowed the same design and material, impartially, on each. + There were gilded mirrors all over the house and chilly marble-topped + tables, gilt plaster Cupids in the corners, and stuccoed lions “in the + way” everywhere. The tactful hands of Mrs. Price had screened some of + these with seasonable laurels, fir boughs, and berries, and had imparted a + slight Christmas flavor to the house. But the greater part of her time had + been employed in trying to subdue the eccentricities of Spindler's amazing + relations; in tranquilizing Mrs. “Aunt” Martha Spindler,—the elderly + cook before alluded to,—who was inclined to regard the gilded + splendors of the house as indicative of dangerous immorality; in + restraining “Cousin” Morley Hewlett from considering the dining-room + buffet as a bar for “intermittent refreshment;” and in keeping the + weak-minded nephew, Phinney Spindler, from shooting at bottles from the + veranda, wearing his uncle's clothes, or running up an account in his + uncle's name for various articles at the general stores. Yet the + unlooked-for arrival of the two children had been the one great + compensation and diversion for her. She wrote at once to her nieces a + brief account of her miraculous deliverance. “I think these poor children + dropped from the skies here to make our Christmas party possible, to say + nothing of the sympathy they have created in Rough and Ready for Spindler. + He is going to keep them as long as he can, and is writing to the father. + Think of the poor little tots traveling a thousand miles to 'Krissmass,' + as they call it!—though they were so well cared for by the + messengers that their little bodies were positively stuffed like quails. + So, you see, dear, we will be able to get along without airing your famous + idea. I'm sorry, for I know you're just dying to see it all.” + </p> + <p> + Whatever Kate's “idea” might have been, there certainly seemed now no need + of any extraneous aid to Mrs. Price's management. Christmas came at last, + and the dinner passed off without serious disaster. But the ordeal of the + reception of Rough and Ready was still to come. For Mrs. Price well knew + that although “the boys” were more subdued, and, indeed, inclined to + sympathize with their host's uncouth endeavor, there was still much in the + aspect of Spindler's relations to excite their sense of the ludicrous. + </p> + <p> + But here Fortune again favored the house of Spindler with a dramatic + surprise, even greater than the advent of the children had been. In the + change that had come over Rough and Ready, “the boys” had decided, out of + deference to the women and children, to omit the first part of their + programme, and had approached and entered the house as soberly and quietly + as ordinary guests. But before they had shaken hands with the host and + hostess, and seen the relations, the clatter of wheels was heard before + the open door, and its lights flashed upon a carriage and pair,—an + actual private carriage,—the like of which had not been seen since + the governor of the State had come down to open the new ditch! Then there + was a pause, the flash of the carriage lamps upon white silk, the light + tread of a satin foot on the veranda and in the hall, and the entrance of + a vision of loveliness! Middle-aged men and old dwellers of cities + remembered their youth; younger men bethought themselves of Cinderella and + the Prince! There was a thrill and a hush as this last guest—a + beautiful girl, radiant with youth and adornment—put a dainty glass + to her sparkling eye and advanced familiarly, with outstretched hand, to + Dick Spindler. Mrs. Price gave a single gasp, and drew back speechless. + </p> + <p> + “Uncle Dick,” said a laughing contralto voice, which, indeed, somewhat + recalled Mrs. Price's own, in its courageous frankness, “I am so delighted + to come, even if a little late, and so sorry that Mr. M'Kenna could not + come on account of business.” + </p> + <p> + Everybody listened eagerly, but none more eagerly and surprisingly than + the host himself. M'Kenna! The rich cousin who had never answered the + invitation! And Uncle Dick! This, then, was his divorced niece! Yet even + in his astonishment he remembered that of course no one but himself and + Mrs. Price knew it,—and that lady had glanced discreetly away. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” continued the half-niece brightly. “I came from Sacramento with + some friends to Shootersville, and from thence I drove here; and though I + must return to-night, I could not forego the pleasure of coming, if it was + only for an hour or two, to answer the invitation of the uncle I have not + seen for years.” She paused, and, raising her glasses, turned a politely + questioning eye towards Mrs. Price. “One of our relations?” she said + smilingly to Spindler. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Spindler, with some embarrassment, “a—a friend!” + </p> + <p> + The half-niece extended her hand. Mrs. Price took it. + </p> + <p> + But the fair stranger,—what she did and said were the only things + remembered in Rough and Ready on that festive occasion; no one thought of + the other relations; no one recalled them nor their eccentricities; + Spindler himself was forgotten. People only recollected how Spindler's + lovely niece lavished her smiles and courtesies on every one, and brought + to her feet particularly the misogynist Starbuck and the sarcastic + Cooledge, oblivious of his previous speech; how she sat at the piano and + sang like an angel, hushing the most hilarious and excited into + sentimental and even maudlin silence; how, graceful as a nymph, she led + with “Uncle Dick” a Virginia reel until the whole assembly joined, eager + for a passing touch of her dainty hand in its changes; how, when two hours + had passed,—all too swiftly for the guests,—they stood with + bared heads and glistening eyes on the veranda to see the fairy coach + whirl the fairy princess away! How—but this incident was never known + to Rough and Ready. + </p> + <p> + It happened in the sacred dressing-room, where Mrs. Price was cloaking + with her own hands the departing half-niece of Mr. Spindler. Taking that + opportunity to seize the lovely relative by the shoulders and shake her + violently, she said: “Oh, yes, and it's all very well for you, Kate, you + limb! For you're going away, and will never see Rough and Ready and poor + Spindler again. But what am I to do, miss? How am I to face it out? For + you know I've got to tell him at least that you're no half-niece of his!” + </p> + <p> + “Have you?” said the young lady. + </p> + <p> + “Have I?” repeated the widow impatiently. “Have I? Of course I have! What + are you thinking of?” + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking, aunty,” said the girl audaciously, “that from what I've + seen and heard to-night, if I'm not his half-niece now, it's only a + question of time! So you'd better wait. Good-night, dear.” + </p> + <p> + And, really,—it turned out that she was right! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT “JULES'” + </h2> + <p> + When the waters were up at “Jules'” there was little else up on that + monotonous level. For the few inhabitants who calmly and methodically + moved to higher ground, camping out in tents until the flood had subsided, + left no distracting wreckage behind them. A dozen half-submerged log + cabins dotted the tranquil surface of the waters, without ripple or + disturbance, looking in the moonlight more like the ruins of centuries + than of a few days. There was no current to sap their slight foundations + or sweep them away; nothing stirred that silent lake but the occasional + shot-like indentations of a passing raindrop, or, still more rarely, a + raft, made of a single log, propelled by some citizen on a tour of + inspection of his cabin roof-tree, where some of his goods were still + stored. There was no sense of terror in this bland obliteration of the + little settlement; the ruins of a single burnt-up cabin would have been + more impressive than this stupid and even grotesquely placid effect of the + rival destroying element. People took it naturally; the water went as it + had come,—slowly, impassively, noiselessly; a few days of fervid + Californian sunshine dried the cabins, and in a week or two the red dust + lay again as thickly before their doors as the winter mud had lain. The + waters of Rattlesnake Creek dropped below its banks, the stage-coach from + Marysville no longer made a detour of the settlement. There was even a + singular compensation to this amicable invasion; the inhabitants sometimes + found gold in those breaches in the banks made by the overflow. To wait + for the “old Rattlesnake sluicing” was a vernal hope of the trusting + miner. + </p> + <p> + The history of “Jules',” however, was once destined to offer a singular + interruption of this peaceful and methodical process. The winter of + 1859-60 was an exceptional one. But little rain had fallen in the valleys, + although the snow lay deep in the high Sierras. Passes were choked, + ravines filled, and glaciers found on their slopes. And when the tardy + rains came with the withheld southwesterly “trades,” the regular + phenomenon recurred; Jules' Flat silently, noiselessly, and peacefully + went under water; the inhabitants moved to the higher ground, perhaps a + little more expeditiously from an impatience born of the delay. The + stagecoach from Marysville made its usual detour and stopped before the + temporary hotel, express offices, and general store of “Jules',” under + canvas, bark, and the limp leaves of a spreading alder. It deposited a + single passenger,—Miles Hemmingway, of San Francisco, but originally + of Boston,—the young secretary of a mining company, dispatched to + report upon the alleged auriferous value of “Jules'.” Of this he had been + by no means impressed as he looked down upon the submerged cabins from the + box-seat of the coach and listened to the driver's lazy recital of the + flood, and of the singularly patient acceptance of it by the inhabitants. + </p> + <p> + It was the old story of the southwestern miner's indolence and + incompetency,—utterly distasteful to his northern habits of thought + and education. Here was their old fatuous endurance of Nature's wild + caprices, without that struggle against them which brought others strength + and success; here was the old philosophy which accepted the prairie fire + and cyclone, and survived them without advancement, yet without repining. + Perhaps in different places and surroundings a submission so stoic might + have impressed him; in gentlemen who tucked their dirty trousers in their + muddy boots and lived only for the gold they dug, it did not seem to him + heroic. Nor was he mollified as he stood beside the rude refreshment bar—a + few planks laid on trestles—and drank his coffee beneath the + dripping canvas roof, with an odd recollection of his boyhood and an + inclement Sunday-school picnic. Yet these men had been living in this + shiftless fashion for three weeks! It exasperated him still more to think + that he might have to wait there a few days longer for the water to + subside sufficiently for him to make his examination and report. As he + took a proffered seat on a candle-box, which tilted under him, and another + survey of the feeble makeshifts around him, his irascibility found vent. + </p> + <p> + “Why, in the name of God, didn't you, after you had been flooded out ONCE, + build your cabins PERMANENTLY on higher ground?” + </p> + <p> + Although the tone of his voice was more disturbing than his question, it + pleased one of the loungers to affect to take it literally. + </p> + <p> + “Well, ez you've put it that way,—'in the name of God!'”—returned + the man lazily, “it mout hev struck us that ez HE was bossin' the job, so + to speak, and handlin' things round here generally, we might leave it to + Him. It wasn't OUR flood to monkey with.” + </p> + <p> + “And as He didn't coven-ant, so to speak, to look arter this higher ground + 'speshally, and make an Ararat of it for us, ez far ez we could see, we + didn't see any reason for SETTLIN' yer,” put in a second speaker, with + equal laziness. + </p> + <p> + The secretary saw his mistake instantly, and had experience enough of + Western humor not to prolong the disadvantage of his unfortunate + adjuration. He colored slightly and said, with a smile, “You know what I + mean; you could have protected yourselves better. A levee on the bank + would have kept you clear of the highest watermark.” + </p> + <p> + “Hey you ever heard WHAT the highest watermark was?” said the first + speaker, turning to another of the loungers without looking at the + secretary. + </p> + <p> + “Never heard it,—didn't know there was a limit before,” responded + the man. + </p> + <p> + The first speaker turned back to the secretary. “Did you ever know what + happened at 'Bulger's,' on the North Fork? They had one o' them levees.” + </p> + <p> + “No. What happened?” asked the secretary impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “They was fixed suthin' like us,” returned the first speaker. “THEY + allowed they'd build a levee above THEIR highest watermark, and did. It + worked like a charm at first; but the water hed to go somewhere, and it + kinder collected at the first bend. Then it sorter raised itself on its + elbows one day, and looked over the levee down upon whar some of the boys + was washin' quite comf'ble. Then it paid no sorter attention to the limit + o' that high watermark, but went six inches better! Not slow and quiet + like ez it useter to, ez it does HERE, kinder fillin' up from below, but + went over with a rush and a current, hevin' of course the whole height of + the levee to fall on t'other side where the boys were sluicing.” He + paused, and amidst a profound silence added, “They say that 'Bulger's' was + scattered promiscuous-like all along the fort for five miles. I only know + that one of his mules and a section of sluicing was picked up at Red Flat, + eight miles away!” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hemmingway felt that there WAS an answer to this, but, being wise, + also felt that it would be unavailing. He smiled politely and said + nothing, at which the first speaker turned to him:— + </p> + <p> + “Thar ain't anything to see to-day, but to-morrow, ez things go, the water + oughter be droppin'. Mebbe you'd like to wash up now and clean yourself,” + he added, with a glance at Hemmingway's small portmanteau. “Ez we thought + you'd likely be crowded here, we've rigged up a corner for you at + Stanton's shanty with the women.” + </p> + <p> + The young man's cheek flushed slightly at some possible irony in this, and + he protested with considerable stress that he was quite ready “to rough + it” where he was. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon it's already fixed,” returned the man decisively, “so you'd + better come and I'll show you the way.” + </p> + <p> + “One moment,” said Hemmingway, with a smile; “my credentials are addressed + to the manager of the Boone Ditch Company at 'Jules'.' Perhaps I ought to + see him first.” + </p> + <p> + “All right; he's Stanton.” + </p> + <p> + “And”—hesitated the secretary, “YOU, who appear to understand the + locality so well,—I trust I may have the pleasure”— + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'm Jules.” + </p> + <p> + The secretary was a little startled and amused. So “Jules” was a person, + and not a place! + </p> + <p> + “Then you're a pioneer?” asked Hemmingway, a little less dictatorially, as + they passed out under the dripping trees. + </p> + <p> + “I struck this creek in the fall of '49, comin' over Livermore's Pass with + Stanton,” returned Jules, with great brevity of speech and deliberate + tardiness of delivery. “Sent for my wife and two children the next year; + wife died same winter, change bein' too sudden for her, and contractin' + chills and fever at Sweetwater. When I kem here first thar wasn't six + inches o' water in the creek; out there was a heap of it over there where + you see them yallowish-green patches and strips o' brush and grass; all + that war water then, and all that growth hez sprung up since.” + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway looked around him. The “higher ground” where they stood was in + reality only a mound-like elevation above the dead level of the flat, and + the few trees were merely recent young willows and alders. The area of + actual depression was much greater than he had imagined, and its + resemblance to the bed of some prehistoric inland sea struck him forcibly. + A previous larger inundation than Jules' brief experience had ever known + had been by no means improbable. His cheek reddened at his previous hasty + indictment of the settlers' ignorance and shiftlessness, and the thought + that he had probably committed his employers to his own rash confidence + and superiority of judgment. However, there was no evidence that this + diluvial record was not of the remote past. He smiled again with greater + security as he thought of the geological changes that had since tempered + these cataclysms, and the amelioration brought by settlement and + cultivation. Nevertheless, he would make a thorough examination to-morrow. + </p> + <p> + Stanton's cabin was the furthest of these temporary habitations, and was + partly on the declivity which began to slope to the river's bank. It was, + like the others, a rough shanty of unplaned boards, but, unlike the + others, it had a base of logs laid lengthwise on the ground and parallel + with each other, on which the flooring and structure were securely + fastened. This gave it the appearance of a box slid on runners, or a + Noah's Ark whose bulk had been reduced. Jules explained that the logs, + laid in that manner, kept the shanty warmer and free from damp. In reply + to Hemmingway's suggestion that it was a great waste of material, Jules + simply replied that the logs were the “flotsam and jetsam” of the creek + from the overflowed mills below. + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway again smiled. It was again the old story of Western waste and + prodigality. Accompanied by Jules, however, he climbed up the huge, + slippery logs which made a platform before the door, and entered. + </p> + <p> + The single room was unequally divided; the larger part containing three + beds, by day rolled in a single pile in one corner to make room for a + table and chairs. A few dresses hanging from nails on the wall showed that + it was the women's room. The smaller compartment was again subdivided by a + hanging blanket, behind which was a rude bunk or berth against the wall, a + table made of a packing-box, containing a tin basin and a can of water. + This was his apartment. + </p> + <p> + “The women-folks are down the creek, bakin', to-day,” said Jules + explanatorily; “but I reckon that one of 'em will be up here in a jiffy to + make supper, so you just take it easy till they come. I've got to meander + over to the claim afore I turn in, but you just lie by to-night and take a + rest.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away, leaving Hemmingway standing in the doorway still + distraught and hesitating. Nor did the young man recognize the delicacy of + Jules' leave-taking until he had unstrapped his portmanteau and found + himself alone, free to make his toilet, unembarrassed by company. But even + then he would have preferred the rough companionship of the miners in the + common dormitory of the general store to this intrusion upon the + half-civilization of the women, their pitiable little comforts and secret + makeshifts. His disgust of his own indecision which brought him there + naturally recoiled in the direction of his host and hostesses, and after a + hurried ablution, a change of linen, and an attempt to remove the stains + of travel from his clothes, he strode out impatiently into the open air + again. + </p> + <p> + It was singularly mild even for the season. The southwest trades blew + softly, and whispered to him of San Francisco and the distant Pacific, + with its long, steady swell. He turned again to the overflowed Flat + beneath him, and the sluggish yellow water that scarcely broke a ripple + against the walls of the half-submerged cabins. And this was the water for + whose going down they were waiting with an immobility as tranquil as the + waters themselves! What marvelous incompetency,—or what infinite + patience! He knew, of course, their expected compensation in this “ground + sluicing” at Nature's own hand; the long rifts in the banks of the creek + which so often showed “the color” in the sparkling scales of river gold + disclosed by the action of the water; the heaps of reddish mud left after + its subsidence around the walls of the cabins,—a deposit that often + contained a treasure a dozen times more valuable than the cabin itself! + And then he heard behind him a laugh, a short and panting breath, and + turning, beheld a young woman running towards him. + </p> + <p> + In his first astounded sight of her, in her limp nankeen sunbonnet, thrown + back from her head by the impetus of her flight, he saw only too much + hair, two much white teeth, too much eye-flash, and, above all,—as + it appeared to him,—too much confidence in the power of these + qualities. Even as she ran, it seemed to him that she was pulling down + ostentatiously the rolled-up sleeves of her pink calico gown over her + shapely arms. I am inclined to think that the young gentleman's temper was + at fault, and his conclusion hasty; a calmer observer would have detected + nothing of this in her frankly cheerful voice. Nevertheless, her evident + pleasure in the meeting seemed to him only obtrusive coquetry. + </p> + <p> + “Lordy! I reckoned to git here afore you'd get through fixin' up, and in + time to do a little prinkin' myself, and here you're out already.” She + laughed, glancing at his clean shirt and damp hair. “But all the same, we + kin have a talk, and you kin tell me all the news afore the other wimmen + get up here. It's a coon's age since I was at Sacramento and saw anybody + or anything.” She stopped and, instinctively detecting some vague + reticence in the man before her, said, still laughing, “You're Mr. + Hemmingway, ain't you?” + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway took off his hat quickly, with a slight start at his + forgetfulness. “I beg your pardon; yes, certainly.” + </p> + <p> + “Aunty Stanton thought it was 'Hummingbird,'” said the girl, with a laugh, + “but I reckoned not. I'm Jinney Jules, you know; folks call me 'J. J.' It + wouldn't do for a Hummingbird and a Jay Jay to be in the same camp, would + it? It would be just TOO funny!” + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway did not find the humor of this so singularly exhaustive, but he + was already beginning to be ashamed of his attitude towards her. “I'm very + sorry to be giving you all this trouble by my intrusion, for I was quite + willing to stay at the store yonder. Indeed,” he added, with a burst of + frankness quite as sincere as her own, “if you think your father will not + be offended, I would gladly go there now.” + </p> + <p> + If he still believed in her coquetry and vanity, he would have been + undeceived and crushed by the equal and sincere frankness with which she + met this ungallant speech. + </p> + <p> + “No! I reckon he wouldn't care, if you'd be as comf'ble and fit for + to-morrow. But ye WOULDN'T,” she said reflectively. “The boys thar sit up + late over euchre, and swear a heap, and Simpson, who'd sleep alongside of + ye, snores pow'ful, I've heard. Aunty Stanton kin do her level at that, + too, and they say”—with a laugh—“that I kin, too, but you're + away off in that corner, and it won't reach you. So, takin' it all, by the + large, you'd better stay whar ye are. We wimmen, that is, the most of us, + will be off and away down to Rattlesnake Bar shoppin' afore sun up, so + ye'll sleep ez long ez ye want to, and find yer breakfast ready when ye + wake. So I'll jest set to and get ye some supper, and ye kin tell me all + the doin's in Sacramento and 'Frisco while I'm workin'.” + </p> + <p> + In spite of her unconscious rebuff to his own vanity, Hemmingway felt a + sense of relief and less constraint in his relations to this decidedly + provincial hostess. + </p> + <p> + “Can I help you in any way?” he asked eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, ye MIGHT bring me an armful o' wood from the pile under the alders, + ef ye ain't afraid o' dirtyin' your coat,” she said tentatively. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hemmingway was not afraid; he declared himself delighted. He brought a + generous armful of small cut willow boughs, and deposited them before a + small stove, which seemed a temporary substitute for the usual large adobe + chimney that generally occupied the entire gable of a miner's cabin. An + elbow and short length of stovepipe carried the smoke through the cabin + side. But he also noticed that his fair companion had used the interval to + put on a pair of white cuffs and a collar. However, she brushed the green + moss from his sleeve with some toweling, and although this operation + brought her so near to him that her breath—as soft and warm as the + southwest trades—stirred his hair, it was evident that this + contiguity was only frontier familiarity, as far removed from conscious + coquetry as it was, perhaps, from educated delicacy. + </p> + <p> + “The boys gin'rally kem to take up enough wood for me to begin with,” she + said, “but I reckon they didn't know I was comin' up so soon.” + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway's distrust returned a little at this obvious suggestion that he + was only a substitute for their general gallantry, but he smiled and said + somewhat bluntly, “I don't suppose you lack for admirers here.” + </p> + <p> + The girl, however, took him literally. “Lordy, no! Me and Mamie Robinson + are the only girls for fifteen miles along the creek. ADMIRIN'! I call it + jest PESTERIN' sometimes! I reckon I'll hev to keep a dog!” + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway shivered. Yes, she was not only conscious, but spoilt already. + He pictured to himself the uncouth gallantries of the settlement, the + provincial badinage, the feeble rivalries of the young men whom he had + seen at the general store. Undoubtedly this was what she was expecting in + HIM! + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said, turning from the fire she had kindled, “while I'm + settin' the table, tell me what's a-doin' in Sacramento! I reckon you've + got heaps of lady friends thar,—I'm told there's lots of fashions + just from the States.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid I don't know enough of them to interest you,” he said dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Go on and talk,” she replied. “Why, when Tom Flynn kem back from + Sacramento, and he warn't thar more nor a week, he jest slung yarns about + his doin's thar to last the hull rainy season.” + </p> + <p> + Half amused and half annoyed, Hemmingway seated himself on the little + platform beside the open door, and began a conscientious description of + the progress of Sacramento, its new buildings, hotels, and theatres, as it + had struck him on his last visit. For a while he was somewhat entertained + by the girl's vivacity and eager questioning, but presently it began to + pall. He continued, however, with a grim sense of duty, and partly as a + reason for watching her in her household duties. Certainly she was + graceful! Her tall, lithe, but beautifully moulded figure, even in its + characteristic southwestern indolence, fell into poses as picturesque as + they were unconscious. She lifted the big molasses-can from its shelf on + the rafters with the attitude of a Greek water-bearer. She upheaved the + heavy flour-sack to the same secure shelf with the upraised palms of an + Egyptian caryatid. Suddenly she interrupted Hemmingway's perfunctory talk + with a hearty laugh. He started, looked up from his seat on the platform, + and saw that she was standing over him and regarding him with a kind of + mischievous pity. + </p> + <p> + “Look here,” she said, “I reckon that'll do! You kin pull up short! I kin + see what's the matter with you; you're jest plumb tired, tuckered out, and + want to turn in! So jest you sit that quiet until I get supper ready and + never mind me.” In vain Hemmingway protested, with a rising color. The + girl only shook her head. “Don't tell me! You ain't keering to talk, and + you're only playin' Sacramento statistics on me,” she retorted, with + unfeigned cheerfulness. “Anyhow, here's the wimmen comin', and supper is + ready.” + </p> + <p> + There was a sound of weary, resigned ejaculations and pantings, and three + gaunt women in lustreless alpaca gowns appeared before the cabin. They + seemed prematurely aged and worn with labor, anxiety, and ill nourishment. + Doubtless somewhere in these ruins a flower like Jay Jules had once + flourished; doubtless somewhere in that graceful nymph herself the germ of + this dreary maturity was hidden. Hemmingway welcomed them with a + seriousness equal to their own. The supper was partaken with the kind of + joyless formality which in the southwest is supposed to indicate deep + respect, even the cheerful Jay falling under the influence, and it was + with a feeling of relief that at last the young man retired to his + fenced-off corner for solitude and repose. He gathered, however, that + before “sun up” the next morning the elder women were going to Rattlesnake + Bar for the weekly shopping, leaving Jay as before to prepare his + breakfast and then join them later. It was already a change in his + sentiments to find himself looking forward to that tete-a-tete with the + young girl, as a chance of redeeming his character in her eyes. He was + beginning to feel he had been stupid, unready, and withal prejudiced. He + undressed himself in his seclusion, broken only by the monotonous voices + in the adjoining apartment. From time to time he heard fragments and + scraps of their conversation, always in reference to affairs of the + household and settlement, but never of himself,—not even the + suggestion of a prudent lowering of their voices,—and fell asleep. + He woke up twice in the night with a sensation of cold so marked and + distinct from his experience of the early evening, that he was fain to + pile his clothes over his blankets to keep warm. He fell asleep again, + coming once more to consciousness with a sense of a slight jar, but + relapsing again into slumber for he knew not how long. Then he was fully + awakened by a voice calling him, and, opening his eyes, beheld the blanket + partition put aside, and the face of Jay thrust forward. To his surprise + it wore a look of excited astonishment dominated by irrepressible + laughter. + </p> + <p> + “Get up quick as you kin,” she said gaspingly; “this is about the + killingest thing that ever happened!” + </p> + <p> + She disappeared, but he could still hear her laughing, and to his utter + astonishment with her disappearance the floor seemed to change its level. + A giddy feeling seized him; he put his feet to the floor; it was + unmistakably wet and oozing. He hurriedly clothed himself, still + accompanied by the strange feeling of oscillation and giddiness, and + passed though the opening into the next room. Again his step produced the + same effect upon the floor, and he actually stumbled against her shaking + figure, as she wiped the tears of uncontrollable mirth from her eyes with + her apron. The contact seemed to upset her remaining gravity. She dropped + into a chair, and, pointing to the open door, gasped, “Look thar! Lordy! + How's that for high?” threw her apron over her head, and gave way to an + uproarious fit of laughter. + </p> + <p> + Hemmingway turned to the open door. A lake was before him on the level of + the cabin. He stepped forward on the platform; the water was right and + left, all around him. The platform dipped slightly to his step. The cabin + was afloat,—afloat upon its base of logs like a raft, the whole + structure upheld by the floor on which the logs were securely fastened. + The high ground had disappeared—the river—its banks the green + area beyond. They, and THEY alone, were afloat upon an inland sea. + </p> + <p> + He turned an astounded and serious face upon her mirth. “When did it + happen?” he demanded. She checked her laugh, more from a sense of polite + deference to his mood than any fear, and said quietly, “That gets me. + Everything was all right two hours ago when the wimmen left. It was too + early to get your breakfast and rouse ye out, and I felt asleep, I reckon, + until I felt a kind o' slump and a jar.” Hemmingway remembered his own + half-conscious sensation. “Then I got up and saw we was adrift. I didn't + waken ye, for I thought it was only a sort of wave that would pass. It + wasn't until I saw we were movin' and the hull rising ground gettin' away, + that I thought o' callin' ye.” + </p> + <p> + He thought of the vanished general store, of her father, the workers on + the bank, the helpless women on their way to the Bar, and turned almost + savagely on her. + </p> + <p> + “But the others,—where are they?” he said indignantly. “Do you call + that a laughing matter?” + </p> + <p> + She stopped at the sound of his voice as at a blow. Her face hardened into + immobility, yet when she replied it was with the deliberate indolence of + her father. “The wimmen are up on the hills by this time. The boys hev bin + drowned out many times afore this and got clear off, on sluice boxes and + timber, without squealing. Tom Flynn went down ten miles to Sayer's once + on two bar'ls, and I never heard that HE was cryin' when they picked him + up.” + </p> + <p> + A flush came to Hemmingway's cheek, but with it a gleam of intelligence. + Of course the inundation was known to them FIRST, and there was the + wreckage to support them. They had clearly saved themselves. If they had + abandoned the cabin, it was because they knew its security, perhaps had + even seen it safely adrift. + </p> + <p> + “Has this ever happened to the cabin before?” he asked, as he thought of + its peculiar base. + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at the water again. There was a decided current. The overflow + was evidently no part of the original inundation. He put his hand in the + water. It was icy cold. Yes, he understood it now. It was the sudden + melting of snow in the Sierras which had brought this volume down the + canyon. But was there more still to come? + </p> + <p> + “Have you anything like a long pole or stick in the cabin?” + </p> + <p> + “Nary,” said the girl, opening her big eyes and shaking her head with a + simulation of despair, which was, however, flatly contradicted by her + laughing mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Nor any cord or twine?” he continued. + </p> + <p> + She handed him a ball of coarse twine. + </p> + <p> + “May I take a couple of these hooks?” he asked, pointing to some rough + iron hooks in the rafters, on which bacon and jerked beef were hanging. + </p> + <p> + She nodded. He dislodged the hooks, greased them with the bacon rind, and + affixed them to the twine. + </p> + <p> + “Fishin'?” she asked demurely. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly,” he replied gravely. + </p> + <p> + He threw the line in the water. It slackened at about six feet, + straightened, and became taut at an angle, and then dragged. After one or + two sharp jerks he pulled it up. A few leaves and grasses were caught in + the hooks. He examined them attentively. + </p> + <p> + “We're not in the creek,” he said, “nor in the old overflow. There's no + mud or gravel on the hooks, and these grasses don't grow near water.” + </p> + <p> + “Now, that's mighty cute of you,” she said admiringly, as she knelt beside + him on the platform. “Let's see what you've caught. Look yer!” she added, + suddenly lifting a limp stalk, “that's 'old man,' and thar ain't a scrap + of it grows nearer than Springer's Rise,—four miles from home.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure?” he asked quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Sure as pop! I used to go huntin' it for smellidge.” + </p> + <p> + “For what?” he said, with a bewildered smile. + </p> + <p> + “For this,”—she thrust the leaves to his nose and then to her own + pink nostrils; “for—for”—she hesitated, and then with a + mischievous simulation of correctness added, “for the perfume.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her admiringly. For all her five feet ten inches, what a mere + child she was, after all! What a fool he was to have taken a resentful + attitude towards her! How charming and graceful she looked, kneeling there + beside him! + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” he said suddenly, in a gentler voice, “what were you laughing + at just now?” + </p> + <p> + Her brown eyes wavered for a moment, and then brimmed with merriment. She + threw herself sideways, in a leaning posture, supporting herself on one + arm, while with her other hand she slowly drew out her apron string, as + she said, in a demure voice:— + </p> + <p> + “Well, I reckoned it was jest too killin' to think of you, who didn't want + to talk to me, and would hev given your hull pile to hev skipped out o' + this, jest stuck here alongside o' me, whether you would or no, for Lord + knows how long!” + </p> + <p> + “But that was last night,” he said, in a tone of raillery. “I was tired, + and you said so yourself, you know. But I'm ready to talk now. What shall + I tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “Anything,” said the girl, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + “What I am thinking of?” he said, with frankly admiring eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Everything?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, everything.” She stopped, and leaning forward, suddenly caught the + brim of his soft felt hat, and drawing it down smartly over his audacious + eyes, said, “Everything BUT THAT.” + </p> + <p> + It was with some difficulty and some greater embarrassment that he + succeeded in getting his eyes free again. When he did so, she had risen + and entered the cabin. Disconcerted as he was, he was relieved to see that + her expression of amusement was unchanged. Was her act a piece of rustic + coquetry, or had she resented his advances? Nor did her next words settle + the question. + </p> + <p> + “Ye kin do yer nice talk and philanderin' after we've settled whar we are, + what we're goin', and what's goin' to happen. Jest now it 'pears to me + that ez these yere logs are the only thing betwixt us and 'kingdom come,' + ye'd better be hustlin' round with a few spikes to clinch 'em to the + floor.” + </p> + <p> + She handed him a hammer and a few spikes. He obediently set to work, with + little confidence, however, in the security of the fastening. There was + neither rope nor chain for lashing the logs together; a stronger current + and a collision with some submerged stump or wreckage would loosen them + and wreck the cabin. But he said nothing. It was the girl who broke the + silence. + </p> + <p> + “What's your front name?” + </p> + <p> + “Miles.” + </p> + <p> + “MILES,—that's a funny name. I reckon that's why you war so FAR OFF + and DISTANT at first.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hemmingway thought this very witty, and said so. “But,” he added, + “when I was a little nearer a moment ago, you stopped me.” + </p> + <p> + “But you was moving faster than the shanty was. I reckon you don't take + that gait with your lady friends at Sacramento! However, you kin talk + now.” + </p> + <p> + “But you forget I don't know 'where we are,' nor 'what's going to + happen.'” + </p> + <p> + “But I do,” she said quietly. “In a couple of hours we'll be picked up, so + you'll be free again.” + </p> + <p> + Something in the confidence of her manner made him go to the door again + and look out. There was scarcely any current now, and the cabin seemed + motionless. Even the wind, which might have acted upon it, was wanting. + They were apparently in the same position as before, but his sounding-line + showed that the water was slightly falling. He came back and imparted the + fact with a certain confidence born of her previous praise of his + knowledge. To his surprise she only laughed and said lazily, “We'll be all + right, and you'll be free, in about two hours.” + </p> + <p> + “I see no sign of it,” he said, looking through the door again. + </p> + <p> + “That's because you're looking in the water and the sky and the mud for + it,” she said, with a laugh. “I reckon you've been trained to watch them + things a heap better than to study the folks about here.” + </p> + <p> + “I daresay you're right,” said Hemmingway cheerfully, “but I don't clearly + see what the folks about here have to do with our situation just now.” + </p> + <p> + “You'll see,” she said, with a smile of mischievous mystery. “All the + same,” she added, with a sudden and dangerous softness in her eyes, “I + ain't sayin' that YOU ain't kinder right neither.” + </p> + <p> + An hour ago he would have laughed at the thought that a mere look and + sentence like this from the girl could have made his heart beat. “Then I + may go on and talk?” + </p> + <p> + She smiled, but her eyes said, “Yes,” plainly. + </p> + <p> + He turned to take a chair near her. Suddenly the cabin trembled, there was + a sound of scraping, a bump, and then the whole structure tilted to one + side and they were both thrown violently towards the corner, with a swift + inrush of water. Hemmingway quickly caught the girl by the waist; she + clung to him instinctively, yet still laughing, as with a desperate effort + he succeeded in dragging her to the upper side of the slanting cabin, and + momentarily restoring its equilibrium. They remained for an instant + breathless. But in that instant he had drawn her face to his and kissed + her. + </p> + <p> + She disengaged herself gently with neither excitement nor emotion, and + pointing to the open door said, “Look there!” + </p> + <p> + Two of the logs which formed the foundation of their floor were quietly + floating in the water before the cabin! The submerged obstacle or snag + which had torn them from their fastening was still holding the cabin fast. + Hemmingway saw the danger. He ran along the narrow ledge to the point of + contact and unhesitatingly leaped into the icy cold water. It reached his + armpits before his feet struck the obstacle,—evidently a stump with + a projecting branch. Bracing himself against it, he shoved off the cabin. + But when he struck out to follow it, he found that the log nearest him was + loose and his grasp might tear it away. At the same moment, however, a + pink calico arm fluttered above his head, and a strong grasp seized his + coat collar. The cabin half revolved as the girl dragged him into the open + door. + </p> + <p> + “You bantam!” she said, with a laugh, “why didn't you let ME do that? I'm + taller than you! But,” she added, looking at his dripping clothes and + dragging out a blanket from the corner, “I couldn't dry myself as quick as + you kin!” To her surprise, however, Hemmingway tossed the blanket aside, + and pointing to the floor, which was already filmed with water, ran to the + still warm stove, detached it from its pipe, and threw it overboard. The + sack of flour, bacon, molasses, and sugar, and all the heavier articles + followed it into the stream. Relieved of their weight the cabin base rose + an inch or two higher. Then he sat down and said, “There! that may keep us + afloat for that 'couple of hours' you speak of. So I suppose I may talk + now!” + </p> + <p> + “Ye haven't no time,” she said, in a graver voice. “It won't be as long as + a couple of hours now. Look over thar!” + </p> + <p> + He looked where she pointed across the gray expanse of water. At first he + could see nothing. Presently he saw a mere dot on its face which at times + changed to a single black line. + </p> + <p> + “It's a log, like these,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “It's no log. It's an Injun dug-out*—comin' for me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * A canoe made from a hollowed log. +</pre> + <p> + “Your father?” he said joyfully. + </p> + <p> + She smiled pityingly. “It's Tom Flynn. Father's got suthin' else to look + arter. Tom Flynn hasn't.” + </p> + <p> + “And who's Tom Flynn?” he asked, with an odd sensation. + </p> + <p> + “The man I'm engaged to,” she said gravely, with a slight color. + </p> + <p> + The rose that blossomed on her cheek faded in his. There was a moment of + silence. Then he said frankly, “I owe you some apology. Forgive my folly + and impertinence a moment ago. How could I have known this?” + </p> + <p> + “You took no more than you deserved, or that Tom would have objected to,” + she said, with a little laugh. “You've been mighty kind and handy.” + </p> + <p> + She held out her hand; their fingers closed together in a frank pressure. + Then his mind went back to his work, which he had forgotten,—to his + first impressions of the camp and of her. They both stood silent, watching + the canoe, now quite visible, and the man that was paddling it, with an + intensity that both felt was insincere. + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid,” he said, with a forced laugh, “that I was a little too hasty + in disposing of your goods and possessions. We could have kept afloat a + little longer.” + </p> + <p> + “It's all the same,” she said, with a slight laugh; “it's jest as well we + didn't look too comf'ble—to HIM.” + </p> + <p> + He did not reply; he did not dare to look at her. Yes! It was the same + coquette he had seen last night. His first impressions were correct. + </p> + <p> + The canoe came on rapidly now, propelled by a powerful arm. In a few + moments it was alongside, and its owner leaped on the platform. It was the + gentleman with his trousers tucked in his boots, the second voice in the + gloomy discussion in the general store last evening. He nodded simply to + the girl, and shook Hemmingway's hand warmly. + </p> + <p> + Then he made a hurried apology for his delay: it was so difficult to find + “the lay” of the drifted cabin. He had struck out first for the most + dangerous spot,—the “old clearing,” on the right bank, with its + stumps and new growths,—and it seemed he was right. And all the rest + were safe, and “nobody was hurt.” + </p> + <p> + “All the same, Tom,” she said, when they were seated and paddling off + again, “you don't know HOW NEAR YOU CAME TO LOSING ME.” Then she raised + her beautiful eyes and looked significantly, not at HIM, but at + Hemmingway. + </p> + <p> + When the water was down at “Jules'” the next day, they found certain + curious changes and some gold, and the secretary was able to make a + favorable report. But he made none whatever of his impressions “when the + water was up at 'Jules','” though he often wondered if they were strictly + trustworthy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BOOM IN THE “CALAVERAS CLARION” + </h2> + <p> + The editorial sanctum of the “Calaveras Clarion” opened upon the + “composing-room” of that paper on the one side, and gave apparently upon + the rest of Calaveras County upon the other. For, situated on the very + outskirts of the settlement and the summit of a very steep hill, the pines + sloped away from the editorial windows to the long valley of the South + Fork and—infinity. The little wooden building had invaded Nature + without subduing it. It was filled night and day with the murmur of pines + and their fragrance. Squirrels scampered over its roof when it was not + preoccupied by woodpeckers, and a printer's devil had once seen a + nest-building blue jay enter the composing window, flutter before one of + the slanting type-cases with an air of deliberate selection, and then fly + off with a vowel in its bill. + </p> + <p> + Amidst these sylvan surroundings the temporary editor of the “Clarion” sat + at his sanctum, reading the proofs of an editorial. As he was occupying + that position during a six weeks' absence of the bona fide editor and + proprietor, he was consequently reading the proof with some anxiety and + responsibility. It had been suggested to him by certain citizens that the + “Clarion” needed a firmer and more aggressive policy towards the Bill + before the Legislature for the wagon road to the South Fork. Several + Assembly men had been “got at” by the rival settlement of Liberty Hill, + and a scathing exposure and denunciation of such methods was necessary. + The interests of their own township were also to be “whooped up.” All this + had been vigorously explained to him, and he had grasped the spirit, if + not always the facts, of his informants. It is to be feared, therefore, + that he was perusing his article more with reference to its vigor than his + own convictions. And yet he was not so greatly absorbed as to be unmindful + of the murmur of the pines without, his half-savage environment, and the + lazy talk of his sole companions,—the foreman and printer in the + adjoining room. + </p> + <p> + “Bet your life! I've always said that a man INSIDE a newspaper office + could hold his own agin any outsider that wanted to play rough or tried to + raid the office! Thar's the press, and thar's the printin' ink and roller! + Folks talk a heap o' the power o' the Press!—I tell ye, ye don't + half know it. Why, when old Kernel Fish was editin' the 'Sierra Banner,' + one o' them bullies that he'd lampooned in the 'Banner' fought his way + past the Kernel in the office, into the composin'-room, to wreck + everythin' and 'pye' all the types. Spoffrel—ye don't remember + Spoffrel?—little red-haired man?—was foreman. Spoffrel fended + him off with the roller and got one good dab inter his eyes that blinded + him, and then Spoffrel sorter skirmished him over to the press,—a + plain lever just like ours,—whar the locked-up form of the inside + was still a-lyin'! Then, quick as lightnin', Spoffrel tilts him over agin + it, and HE throws out his hand and ketches hold o' the form to steady + himself, when Spoffrel just runs the form and the hand under the press and + down with the lever! And that held the feller fast as grim death! And when + at last he begs off, and Spoff lets him loose, the hull o' that 'ere + lampooning article he objected to was printed right onto the skin o' his + hand! Fact, and it wouldn't come off, either.” + </p> + <p> + “Gosh, but I'd like to hev seen it,” said the printer. “There ain't any + chance, I reckon, o' such a sight here. The boss don't take no risks + lampoonin', and he” (the editor knew he was being indicated by some unseen + gesture of the unseen workman) “ain't that style.” + </p> + <p> + “Ye never kin tell,” said the foreman didactically, “what might happen! + I've known editors to get into a fight jest for a little innercent + bedevilin' o' the opposite party. Sometimes for a misprint. Old man + Pritchard of the 'Argus' oncet had a hole blown through his arm because + his proofreader had called Colonel Starbottle's speech an 'ignominious' + defense, when the old man hed written 'ingenuous' defense.” + </p> + <p> + The editor paused in his proof-reading. He had just come upon the + sentence: “We cannot congratulate Liberty Hill—in its superior + elevation—upon the ignominious silence of the representative of all + Calaveras when this infamous Bill was introduced.” He referred to his + copy. Yes! He had certainly written “ignominious,”—that was what his + informants had suggested. But was he sure they were right? He had a vague + recollection, also, that the representative alluded to—Senator + Bradley—had fought two duels, and was a “good” though somewhat + impulsive shot! He might alter the word to “ingenuous” or “ingenious,” + either would be finely sarcastic, but then—there was his foreman, + who would detect it! He would wait until he had finished the entire + article. In that occupation he became oblivious of the next room, of a + silence, a whispered conversation, which ended with a rapping at the door + and the appearance of the foreman in the doorway. + </p> + <p> + “There's a man in the office who wants to see the editor,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Show him in,” replied the editor briefly. He was, however, conscious that + there was a singular significance in his foreman's manner, and an eager + apparition of the other printer over the foreman's shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “He's carryin' a shot-gun, and is a man twice as big as you be,” said the + foreman gravely. + </p> + <p> + The editor quickly recalled his own brief and as yet blameless record in + the “Clarion.” “Perhaps,” he said tentatively, with a gentle smile, “he's + looking for Captain Brush” (the absent editor). + </p> + <p> + “I told him all that,” said the foreman grimly, “and he said he wanted to + see the man in charge.” + </p> + <p> + In proportion as the editor's heart sank his outward crest arose. “Show + him in,” he said loftily. + </p> + <p> + “We KIN keep him out,” suggested the foreman, lingering a moment; “me and + him,” indicating the expectant printer behind him, “is enough for that.” + </p> + <p> + “Show him up,” repeated the editor firmly. + </p> + <p> + The foreman withdrew; the editor seated himself and again took up his + proof. The doubtful word “ignominious” seemed to stand out of the + paragraph before him; it certainly WAS a strong expression! He was about + to run his pencil through it when he heard the heavy step of his visitor + approaching. A sudden instinct of belligerency took possession of him, and + he wrathfully threw the pencil down. + </p> + <p> + The burly form of the stranger blocked the doorway. He was dressed like a + miner, but his build and general physiognomy were quite distinct from the + local variety. His upper lip and chin were clean-shaven, still showing the + blue-black roots of the beard which covered the rest of his face and + depended in a thick fleece under his throat. He carried a small bundle + tied up in a silk handkerchief in one hand, and a “shot-gun” in the other, + perilously at half-cock. Entering the sanctum, he put down his bundle and + quietly closed the door behind him. He then drew an empty chair towards + him and dropped heavily into it with his gun on his knees. The editor's + heart dropped almost as heavily, although he quite composedly held out his + hand. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I relieve you of your gun?” + </p> + <p> + “Thank ye, lad—noa. It's moor coomfortable wi' me, and it's main + dangersome to handle on the half-cock. That's why I didn't leave 'im on + the horse outside!” + </p> + <p> + At the sound of his voice and occasional accent a flash of intelligence + relieved the editor's mind. He remembered that twenty miles away, in the + illimitable vista from his windows, lay a settlement of English + north-country miners, who, while faithfully adopting the methods, customs, + and even slang of the Californians, retained many of their native + peculiarities. The gun he carried on his knee, however, was evidently part + of the Californian imitation. + </p> + <p> + “Can I do anything for you?” said the editor blandly. + </p> + <p> + “Ay! I've coom here to bill ma woife.” + </p> + <p> + “I—don't think I understand,” hesitated the editor, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “I've coom here to get ye to put into your paaper a warnin', a notiss, + that onless she returns to my house in four weeks, I'll have nowt to do + wi' her again.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” said the editor, now perfectly reassured, “you want an + advertisement? That's the business of the foreman; I'll call him.” He was + rising from his seat when the stranger laid a heavy hand on his shoulder + and gently forced him down again. + </p> + <p> + “Noa, lad! I don't want noa foreman nor understrappers to take this job. I + want to talk it over wi' you. Sabe? My woife she bin up and awaa these six + months. We had a bit of difference, that ain't here nor there, but she + skedaddled outer my house. I want to give her fair warning, and let her + know I ain't payin' any debts o' hers arter this notiss, and I ain't + takin' her back arter four weeks from date.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said the editor glibly. “What's your wife's name?” + </p> + <p> + “Eliza Jane Dimmidge.” + </p> + <p> + “Good,” continued the editor, scribbling on the paper before him; + “something like this will do: 'Whereas my wife, Eliza Jane Dimmidge, + having left my bed and board without just cause or provocation, this is to + give notice that I shall not be responsible for any debts of her + contracting on or after this date.'” + </p> + <p> + “Ye must be a lawyer,” said Mr. Dimmidge admiringly. + </p> + <p> + It was an old enough form of advertisement, and the remark showed + incontestably that Mr. Dimmidge was not a native; but the editor smiled + patronizingly and went on: “'And I further give notice that if she does + not return within the period of four weeks from this date, I shall take + such proceedings for relief as the law affords.'” + </p> + <p> + “Coom, lad, I didn't say THAT.” + </p> + <p> + “But you said you wouldn't take her back.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay.” + </p> + <p> + “And you can't prevent her without legal proceedings. She's your wife. But + you needn't take proceedings, you know. It's only a warning.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dimmidge nodded approvingly. “That's so.” + </p> + <p> + “You'll want it published for four weeks, until date?” asked the editor. + </p> + <p> + “Mebbe longer, lad.” + </p> + <p> + The editor wrote “till forbid” in the margin of the paper and smiled. + </p> + <p> + “How big will it be?” said Mr. Dimmidge. + </p> + <p> + The editor took up a copy of the “Clarion” and indicated about an inch of + space. Mr. Dimmidge's face fell. + </p> + <p> + “I want it bigger,—in large letters, like a play-card,” he said. + “That's no good for a warning.” + </p> + <p> + “You can have half a column or a whole column if you like,” said the + editor airily. + </p> + <p> + “I'll take a whole one,” said Mr. Dimmidge simply. + </p> + <p> + The editor laughed. “Why! it would cost you a hundred dollars.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll take it,” repeated Mr. Dimmidge. + </p> + <p> + “But,” said the editor gravely, “the same notice in a small space will + serve your purpose and be quite legal.” + </p> + <p> + “Never you mind that, lad! It's the looks of the thing I'm arter, and not + the expense. I'll take that column.” + </p> + <p> + The editor called in the foreman and showed him the copy. “Can you display + that so as to fill a column?” + </p> + <p> + The foreman grasped the situation promptly. It would be big business for + the paper. “Yes,” he said meditatively, “that bold-faced election type + will do it.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dimmidge's face brightened. The expression “bold-faced” pleased him. + “That's it! I told you. I want to bill her in a portion of the paper.” + </p> + <p> + “I might put in a cut,” said the foreman suggestively; “something like + this.” He took a venerable woodcut from the case. I grieve to say it was + one which, until the middle of the present century, was common enough in + the newspaper offices in the Southwest. It showed the running figure of a + negro woman carrying her personal property in a knotted handkerchief slung + from a stick over her shoulder, and was supposed to represent “a fugitive + slave.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dimmidge's eyes brightened. “I'll take that, too. It's a little + dark-complected for Mrs. P., but it will do. Now roon away, lad,” he said + to the foreman, as he quietly pushed him into the outer office again and + closed the door. Then, facing the surprised editor, he said, “Theer's + another notiss I want ye to put in your paper; but that's atween US. Not a + word to THEM,” he indicated the banished foreman with a jerk of his thumb. + “Sabe? I want you to put this in another part o' your paper, quite + innocent-like, ye know.” He drew from his pocket a gray wallet, and taking + out a slip of paper read from it gravely, “'If this should meet the eye of + R. B., look out for M. J. D. He is on your track. When this you see write + a line to E. J. D., Elktown Post Office.' I want this to go in as + 'Personal and Private'—sabe?—like them notisses in the big + 'Frisco papers.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said the editor, laying it aside. “It shall go in the same issue + in another column.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently Mr. Dimmidge expected something more than this reply, for after + a moment's hesitation he said with an odd smile: + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't seein' the meanin' o' that, lad?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the editor lightly; “but I suppose R. B. does, and it isn't + intended that any one else should.” + </p> + <p> + “Mebbe it is, and mebbe it isn't,” said Mr. Dimmidge, with a + self-satisfied air. “I don't mind saying atween us that R. B. is the man + as I've suspicioned as havin' something to do with my wife goin' away; and + ye see, if he writes to E. J. D.—that's my wife's initials—at + Elktown, I'LL get that letter and so make sure.” + </p> + <p> + “But suppose your wife goes there first, or sends?” + </p> + <p> + “Then I'll ketch her or her messenger. Ye see?” + </p> + <p> + The editor did not see fit to oppose any argument to this phenomenal + simplicity, and Mr. Dimmidge, after settling his bill with the foreman, + and enjoining the editor to the strictest secrecy regarding the origin of + the “personal notice,” took up his gun and departed, leaving the treasury + of the “Clarion” unprecedentedly enriched, and the editor to his proofs. + </p> + <p> + The paper duly appeared the next morning with the column advertisement, + the personal notice, and the weighty editorial on the wagon road. There + was a singular demand for the paper, the edition was speedily exhausted, + and the editor was proportionately flattered, although he was surprised to + receive neither praise nor criticism from his subscribers. Before evening, + however, he learned to his astonishment that the excitement was caused by + the column advertisement. Nobody knew Mr. Dimmidge, nor his domestic + infelicities, and the editor and foreman, being equally in the dark, took + refuge in a mysterious and impressive evasion of all inquiry. Never since + the last San Francisco Vigilance Committee had the office been so + besieged. The editor, foreman, and even the apprentice, were buttonholed + and “treated” at the bar, but to no effect. All that could be learned was + that it was a bona fide advertisement, for which one hundred dollars had + been received! There were great discussions and conflicting theories as to + whether the value of the wife, or the husband's anxiety to get rid of her, + justified the enormous expense and ostentatious display. She was supposed + to be an exceedingly beautiful woman by some, by others a perfect Sycorax; + in one breath Mr. Dimmidge was a weak, uxorious spouse, wasting his + substance on a creature who did not care for him, and in another a + maddened, distracted, henpecked man, content to purchase peace and rest at + any price. Certainly, never was advertisement more effective in its + publicity, or cheaper in proportion to the circulation it commanded. It + was copied throughout the whole Pacific slope; mighty San Francisco papers + described its size and setting under the attractive headline, “How they + Advertise a Wife in the Mountains!” It reappeared in the Eastern journals, + under the title of “Whimsicalities of the Western Press.” It was believed + to have crossed to England as a specimen of “Transatlantic Savagery.” The + real editor of the “Clarion” awoke one morning, in San Francisco, to find + his paper famous. Its advertising columns were eagerly sought for; he at + once advanced the rates. People bought successive issues to gaze upon this + monumental record of extravagance. A singular idea, which, however, + brought further fortune to the paper, was advanced by an astute critic at + the Eureka Saloon. “My opinion, gentlemen, is that the whole blamed thing + is a bluff! There ain't no Mr. Dimmidge; there ain't no Mrs. Dimmidge; + there ain't no desertion! The whole rotten thing is an ADVERTISEMENT o' + suthin'! Ye'll find afore ye get through with it that that there wife + won't come back until that blamed husband buys Somebody's Soap, or treats + her to Somebody's particular Starch or Patent Medicine! Ye jest watch and + see!” The idea was startling, and seized upon the mercantile mind. The + principal merchant of the town, and purveyor to the mining settlements + beyond, appeared the next morning at the office of the “Clarion.” “Ye + wouldn't mind puttin' this 'ad' in a column alongside o' the Dimmidge one, + would ye?” The young editor glanced at it, and then, with a serpent-like + sagacity, veiled, however, by the suavity of the dove, pointed out that + the original advertiser might think it called his bona fides into question + and withdraw his advertisement. “But if we secured you by an offer of + double the amount per column?” urged the merchant. “That,” responded the + locum tenens, “was for the actual editor and proprietor in San Francisco + to determine. He would telegraph.” He did so. The response was, “Put it + in.” Whereupon in the next issue, side by side with Mr. Dimmidge's + protracted warning, appeared a column with the announcement, in large + letters, “WE HAVEN'T LOST ANY WIFE, but WE are prepared to furnish the + following goods at a lower rate than any other advertiser in the county,” + followed by the usual price list of the merchant's wares. There was an + unprecedented demand for that issue. The reputation of the “Clarion,” both + as a shrewd advertising medium and a comic paper, was established at once. + For a few days the editor waited with some apprehension for a remonstrance + from the absent Dimmidge, but none came. Whether Mr. Dimmidge recognized + that this new advertisement gave extra publicity to his own, or that he + was already on the track of the fugitive, the editor did not know. The few + curious citizens who had, early in the excitement, penetrated the + settlement of the English miners twenty miles away in search of + information, found that Mr. Dimmidge had gone away, and that Mrs. Dimmidge + had NEVER resided there with him! + </p> + <p> + Six weeks passed. The limit of Mr. Dimmidge's advertisement had been + reached, and, as it was not renewed, it had passed out of the pages of the + “Clarion,” and with it the merchant's advertisement in the next column. + The excitement had subsided, although its influence was still felt in the + circulation of the paper and its advertising popularity. The temporary + editor was also nearing the limit of his incumbency, but had so far + participated in the good fortune of the “Clarion” as to receive an offer + from one of the San Francisco dailies. + </p> + <p> + It was a warm night, and he was alone in his sanctum. The rest of the + building was dark and deserted, and his solitary light, flashing out + through the open window, fell upon the nearer pines and was lost in the + dark, indefinable slope below. He had reached the sanctum by the rear, and + a door which he also left open to enjoy the freshness of the aromatic air. + Nor did it in the least mar his privacy. Rather the solitude of the great + woods without seemed to enter through that door and encompassed him with + its protecting loneliness. There was occasionally a faint “peep” in the + scant eaves, or a “pat-pat,” ending in a frightened scurry across the + roof, or the slow flap of a heavy wing in the darkness below. These gentle + disturbances did not, however, interrupt his work on “The True Functions + of the County Newspaper,” the editorial on which he was engaged. + </p> + <p> + Presently a more distinct rustling against the straggling blackberry + bushes beside the door attracted his attention. It was followed by a light + tapping against the side of the house. The editor started and turned + quickly towards the open door. Two outside steps led to the ground. + Standing upon the lower one was a woman. The upper part of her figure, + illuminated by the light from the door, was thrown into greater relief by + the dark background of the pines. Her face was unknown to him, but it was + a pleasant one, marked by a certain good-humored determination. + </p> + <p> + “May I come in?” she said confidently. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said the editor. “I am working here alone because it is so + quiet.” He thought he would precipitate some explanation from her by + excusing himself. + </p> + <p> + “That's the reason why I came,” she said, with a quiet smile. + </p> + <p> + She came up the next step and entered the room. She was plainly but neatly + dressed, and now that her figure was revealed he saw that she was wearing + a linsey-woolsey riding-skirt, and carried a serviceable rawhide whip in + her cotton-gauntleted hand. She took the chair he offered her and sat down + sideways on it, her whip hand now also holding up her skirt, and + permitting a hem of clean white petticoat and a smart, well-shaped boot to + be seen. + </p> + <p> + “I don't remember to have had the pleasure of seeing you in Calaveras + before,” said the editor tentatively. + </p> + <p> + “No. I never was here before,” she said composedly, “but you've heard + enough of me, I reckon. I'm Mrs. Dimmidge.” She threw one hand over the + back of the chair, and with the other tapped her riding-whip on the floor. + </p> + <p> + The editor started. Mrs. Dimmidge! Then she was not a myth. An absurd + similarity between her attitude with the whip and her husband's entrance + with his gun six weeks before forced itself upon him and made her an + invincible presence. + </p> + <p> + “Then you have returned to your husband?” he said hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “Not much!” she returned, with a slight curl of her lip. + </p> + <p> + “But you read his advertisement?” + </p> + <p> + “I saw that column of fool nonsense he put in your paper—ef that's + what you mean,” she said with decision, “but I didn't come here to see HIM—but + YOU.” + </p> + <p> + The editor looked at her with a forced smile, but a vague misgiving. He + was alone at night in a deserted part of the settlement, with a plump, + self-possessed woman who had a contralto voice, a horsewhip, and—he + could not help feeling—an evident grievance. + </p> + <p> + “To see me?” he repeated, with a faint attempt at gallantry. “You are + paying me a great compliment, but really”— + </p> + <p> + “When I tell you I've come three thousand miles from Kansas straight here + without stopping, ye kin reckon it's so,” she replied firmly. + </p> + <p> + “Three thousand miles!” echoed the editor wonderingly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Three thousand miles from my own folks' home in Kansas, where six + years ago I married Mr. Dimmidge,—a British furriner as could + scarcely make himself understood in any Christian language! Well, he got + round me and dad, allowin' he was a reg'lar out-and-out profeshnal miner,—had + lived in mines ever since he was a boy; and so, not knowin' what kind o' + mines, and dad just bilin' over with the gold fever, we were married and + kem across the plains to Californy. He was a good enough man to look at, + but it warn't three months before I discovered that he allowed a wife was + no better nor a nigger slave, and he the master. That made me open my + eyes; but then, as he didn't drink, and didn't gamble, and didn't swear, + and was a good provider and laid by money, why I shifted along with him as + best I could. We drifted down the first year to Sonora, at Red Dog, where + there wasn't another woman. Well, I did the nigger slave business,—never + stirring out o' the settlement, never seein' a town or a crowd o' decent + people,—and he did the lord and master! We played that game for two + years, and I got tired. But when at last he allowed he'd go up to Elktown + Hill, where there was a passel o' his countrymen at work, with never a + sign o' any other folks, and leave me alone at Red Dog until he fixed up a + place for me at Elktown Hill,—I kicked! I gave him fair warning! I + did as other nigger slaves did,—I ran away!” + </p> + <p> + A recollection of the wretched woodcut which Mr. Dimmidge had selected to + personify his wife flashed upon the editor with a new meaning. Yet perhaps + she had not seen it, and had only read a copy of the advertisement. What + could she want? The “Calaveras Clarion,” although a “Palladium” and a + “Sentinel upon the Heights of Freedom” in reference to wagon roads, was + not a redresser of domestic wrongs,—except through its advertising + columns! Her next words intensified that suggestion. + </p> + <p> + “I've come here to put an advertisement in your paper.” + </p> + <p> + The editor heaved a sigh of relief, as once before. “Certainly,” he said + briskly. “But that's another department of the paper, and the printers + have gone home. Come to-morrow morning early.” + </p> + <p> + “To-morrow morning I shall be miles away,” she said decisively, “and what + I want done has got to be done NOW! I don't want to see no printers; I + don't want ANYBODY to know I've been here but you. That's why I kem here + at night, and rode all the way from Sawyer's Station, and wouldn't take + the stage-coach. And when we've settled about the advertisement, I'm going + to mount my horse, out thar in the bushes, and scoot outer the + settlement.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good,” said the editor resignedly. “Of course I can deliver your + instructions to the foreman. And now—let me see—I suppose you + wish to intimate in a personal notice to your husband that you've + returned.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothin' o' the kind!” said Mrs. Dimmidge coolly. “I want to placard him + as he did me. I've got it all written out here. Sabe?” + </p> + <p> + She took from her pocket a folded paper, and spreading it out on the + editor's desk, with a certain pride of authorship read as follows:— + </p> + <p> + “Whereas my husband, Micah J. Dimmidge, having given out that I have left + his bed and board,—the same being a bunk in a log cabin and pork and + molasses three times a day,—and having advertised that he'd pay no + debts of MY contractin',—which, as thar ain't any, might be easier + collected than debts of his own contractin',—this is to certify that + unless he returns from Elktown Hill to his only home in Sonora in one week + from date, payin' the cost of this advertisement, I'll know the reason + why.—Eliza Jane Dimmidge.” + </p> + <p> + “Thar,” she added, drawing a long breath, “put that in a column of the + 'Clarion,' same size as the last, and let it work, and that's all I want + of you.” + </p> + <p> + “A column?” repeated the editor. “Do you know the cost is very expensive, + and I COULD put it in a single paragraph?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon I kin pay the same as Mr. Dimmidge did for HIS,” said the lady + complacently. “I didn't see your paper myself, but the paper as copied it—one + of them big New York dailies—said that it took up a whole column.” + </p> + <p> + The editor breathed more freely; she had not seen the infamous woodcut + which her husband had selected. At the same moment he was struck with a + sense of retribution, justice, and compensation. + </p> + <p> + “Would you,” he asked hesitatingly,—“would you like it illustrated—by + a cut?” + </p> + <p> + “With which?” + </p> + <p> + “Wait a moment; I'll show you.” + </p> + <p> + He went into the dark composing-room, lit a candle, and rummaging in a + drawer sacred to weather-beaten, old-fashioned electrotyped advertising + symbols of various trades, finally selected one and brought it to Mrs. + Dimmidge. It represented a bare and exceedingly stalwart arm wielding a + large hammer. + </p> + <p> + “Your husband being a miner,—a quartz miner,—would that do?” + he asked. (It had been previously used to advertise a blacksmith, a + gold-beater, and a stone-mason.) + </p> + <p> + The lady examined it critically. + </p> + <p> + “It does look a little like Micah's arm,” she said meditatively. “Well—you + kin put it in.” + </p> + <p> + The editor was so well pleased with his success that he must needs make + another suggestion. “I suppose,” he said ingenuously, “that you don't want + to answer the 'Personal'?” + </p> + <p> + “'Personal'?” she repeated quickly, “what's that? I ain't seen no + 'Personal.'” The editor saw his blunder. She, of course, had never seen + Mr. Dimmidge's artful “Personal;” THAT the big dailies naturally had not + noticed nor copied. But it was too late to withdraw now. He brought out a + file of the “Clarion,” and snipping out the paragraph with his scissors, + laid it before the lady. + </p> + <p> + She stared at it with wrinkled brows and a darkening face. + </p> + <p> + “And THIS was in the same paper?—put in by Mr. Dimmidge?” she asked + breathlessly. + </p> + <p> + The editor, somewhat alarmed, stammered “Yes.” But the next moment he was + reassured. The wrinkles disappeared, a dozen dimples broke out where they + had been, and the determined, matter-of-fact Mrs. Dimmidge burst into a + fit of rosy merriment. Again and again she laughed, shaking the building, + startling the sedate, melancholy woods beyond, until the editor himself + laughed in sheer vacant sympathy. + </p> + <p> + “Lordy!” she said at last, gasping, and wiping the laughter from her wet + eyes. “I never thought of THAT.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” explained the editor smilingly; “of course you didn't. Don't you + see, the papers that copied the big advertisement never saw that little + paragraph, or if they did, they never connected the two together.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it ain't that,” said Mrs. Dimmidge, trying to regain her composure + and holding her sides. “It's that blessed DEAR old dunderhead of a + Dimmidge I'm thinking of. That gets me. I see it all now. Only, sakes + alive! I never thought THAT of him. Oh, it's just too much!” and she again + relapsed behind her handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + “Then I suppose you don't want to reply to it,” said the editor. + </p> + <p> + Her laughter instantly ceased. “Don't I?” she said, wiping her face into + its previous complacent determination. “Well, young man, I reckon that's + just what I WANT to do! Now, wait a moment; let's see what he said,” she + went on, taking up and reperusing the “Personal” paragraph. “Well, then,” + she went on, after a moment's silent composition with moving lips, “you + just put these lines in.” + </p> + <p> + The editor took up his pencil. + </p> + <p> + “To Mr. J. D. Dimmidge.—Hope you're still on R. B.'s tracks. Keep + there!—E. J. D.” + </p> + <p> + The editor wrote down the line, and then, remembering Mr. Dimmidge's + voluntary explanation of HIS “Personal,” waited with some confidence for a + like frankness from Mrs. Dimmidge. But he was mistaken. + </p> + <p> + “You think that he—R. B.—or Mr. Dimmidge—will understand + this?” he at last asked tentatively. “Is it enough?” + </p> + <p> + “Quite enough,” said Mrs. Dimmidge emphatically. She took a roll of + greenbacks from her pocket, selected a hundred-dollar bill and then a + five, and laid them before the editor. “Young man,” she said, with a + certain demure gravity, “you've done me a heap o' good. I never spent + money with more satisfaction than this. I never thought much o' the 'power + o' the Press,' as you call it, afore. But this has been a right + comfortable visit, and I'm glad I ketched you alone. But you understand + one thing: this yer visit, and WHO I am, is betwixt you and me only.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I must say that the advertisement was AUTHORIZED,” returned the + editor. “I'm only the temporary editor. The proprietor is away.” + </p> + <p> + “So much the better,” said the lady complacently. “You just say you found + it on your desk with the money; but don't you give me away.” + </p> + <p> + “I can promise you that the secret of your personal visit is safe with + me,” said the young man, with a bow, as Mrs. Dimmidge rose. “Let me see + you to your horse,” he added. “It's quite dark in the woods.” + </p> + <p> + “I can see well enough alone, and it's just as well you shouldn't know HOW + I kem or HOW I went away. Enough for you to know that I'll be miles away + before that paper comes out. So stay where you are.” + </p> + <p> + She pressed his hand frankly and firmly, gathered up her riding-skirt, + slipped backwards to the door, and the next moment rustled away into the + darkness. + </p> + <p> + Early the next morning the editor handed Mrs. Dimmidge's advertisement, + and the woodcut he had selected, to his foreman. He was purposely brief in + his directions, so as to avoid inquiry, and retired to his sanctum. In the + space of a few moments the foreman entered with a slight embarrassment of + manner. + </p> + <p> + “You'll excuse my speaking to you, sir,” he said, with a singular mixture + of humility and cunning. “It's no business of mine, I know; but I thought + I ought to tell you that this yer kind o' thing won't pay any more,—it's + about played out!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think I understand you,” said the editor loftily, but with an + inward misgiving. “You don't mean to say that a regular, actual + advertisement”— + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I know all that,” said the foreman, with a peculiar smile; + “and I'm ready to back you up in it, and so's the boy; but it won't pay.” + </p> + <p> + “It HAS paid a hundred and five dollars,” said the editor, taking the + notes from his pocket; “so I'd advise you to simply attend to your duty + and set it up.” + </p> + <p> + A look of surprise, followed, however, by a kind of pitying smile, passed + over the foreman's face. “Of course, sir, THAT'S all right, and you know + your own business; but if you think that the new advertisement will pay + this time as the other one did, and whoop up another column from an + advertiser, I'm afraid you'll slip up. It's a little 'off color' now,—not + 'up to date,'—if it ain't a regular 'back number,' as you'll see.” + </p> + <p> + “Meantime I'll dispense with your advice,” said the editor curtly, “and I + think you had better let our subscribers and advertisers do the same, or + the 'Clarion' might also be obliged to dispense with your SERVICES.” + </p> + <p> + “I ain't no blab,” said the foreman, in an aggrieved manner, “and I don't + intend to give the show away even if it don't PAY. But I thought I'd tell + you, because I know the folks round here better than you do.” + </p> + <p> + He was right. No sooner had the advertisement appeared than the editor + found that everybody believed it to be a sheer invention of his own to + “once more boom” the “Clarion.” If they had doubted MR. Dimmidge, they + utterly rejected MRS. Dimmidge as an advertiser! It was a stale joke that + nobody would follow up; and on the heels of this came a letter from the + editor-in-chief. + </p> + <p> + MY DEAR BOY,—You meant well, I know, but the second Dimmidge “ad” + was a mistake. Still, it was a big bluff of yours to show the money, and I + send you back your hundred dollars, hoping you won't “do it again.” Of + course you'll have to keep the advertisement in the paper for two issues, + just as if it were a real thing, and it's lucky that there's just now no + pressure in our columns. You might have told a better story than that + hogwash about your finding the “ad” and a hundred dollars lying loose on + your desk one morning. It was rather thin, and I don't wonder the foreman + kicked. + </p> + <p> + The young editor was in despair. At first he thought of writing to Mrs. + Dimmidge at the Elktown Post-Office, asking her to relieve him of his vow + of secrecy; but his pride forbade. There was a humorous concern, not + without a touch of pity, in the faces of his contributors as he passed; a + few affected to believe in the new advertisement, and asked him vague, + perfunctory questions about it. His position was trying, and he was not + sorry when the term of his engagement expired the next week, and he left + Calaveras to take his new position on the San Francisco paper. + </p> + <p> + He was standing in the saloon of the Sacramento boat when he felt a sudden + heavy pressure on his shoulder, and looking round sharply, beheld not only + the black-bearded face of Mr. Dimmidge, lit up by a smile, but beside it + the beaming, buxom face of Mrs. Dimmidge, overflowing with good-humor. + Still a little sore from his past experience, he was about to address them + abruptly, when he was utterly vanquished by the hearty pressure of their + hands and the unmistakable look of gratitude in their eyes. + </p> + <p> + “I was just saying to 'Lizy Jane,” began Mr. Dimmidge breathlessly, “if I + could only meet that young man o' the 'Clarion' what brought us together + again”— + </p> + <p> + “You'd be willin' to pay four times the amount we both paid him,” + interpolated the laughing Mrs. Dimmidge. + </p> + <p> + “But I didn't bring you together,” burst out the dazed young man, “and I'd + like to know, in the name of Heaven, what brought you together now?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't you see, lad,” said the imperturbable Mr. Dimmidge, “'Lizy Jane and + myself had qua'lled, and we just unpacked our fool nonsense in your paper + and let the hull world know it! And we both felt kinder skeert and shamed + like, and it looked such small hogwash, and of so little account, for all + the talk it made, that we kinder felt lonely as two separated fools that + really ought to share their foolishness together.” + </p> + <p> + “And that ain't all,” said Mrs. Dimmidge, with a sly glance at her spouse, + “for I found out from that 'Personal' you showed me that this particular + old fool was actooally jealous!—JEALOUS!” + </p> + <p> + “And then?” said the editor impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “And then I KNEW he loved me all the time.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + </h2> + <p> + Even to the eye of the most inexperienced traveler there was no doubt that + Buena Vista was a “played-out” mining camp. There, seamed and scarred by + hydraulic engines, was the old hillside, over whose denuded surface the + grass had begun to spring again in fitful patches; there were the + abandoned heaps of tailings already blackened by sun and rain, and worn + into mounds like ruins of masonry; there were the waterless ditches, like + giant graves, and the pools of slumgullion, now dried into shining, glazed + cement. There were two or three wooden “stores,” from which the windows + and doors had been taken and conveyed to the newer settlement of Wynyard's + Gulch. Four or five buildings that still were inhabited—the + blacksmith's shop, the post-office, a pioneer's cabin, and the old hotel + and stage-office—only accented the general desolation. The latter + building had a remoteness of prosperity far beyond the others, having been + a wayside Spanish-American posada, with adobe walls of two feet in + thickness, that shamed the later shells of half-inch plank, which were + slowly warping and cracking like dried pods in the oven-like heat. + </p> + <p> + The proprietor of this building, Colonel Swinger, had been looked upon by + the community as a person quite as remote, old-fashioned, and inconsistent + with present progress as the house itself. He was an old Virginian, who + had emigrated from his decaying plantation on the James River only to find + the slaves, which he had brought with him, freed men when they touched + Californian soil; to be driven by Northern progress and “smartness” out of + the larger cities into the mountains, to fix himself at last, with the + hopeless fatuity of his race, upon an already impoverished settlement; to + sink his scant capital in hopeless shafts and ledges, and finally to take + over the decaying hostelry of Buena Vista, with its desultory custom and + few, lingering, impecunious guests. Here, too, his old Virginian ideas of + hospitality were against his financial success; he could not dun nor turn + from his door those unfortunate prospectors whom the ebbing fortunes of + Buena Vista had left stranded by his side. + </p> + <p> + Colonel Swinger was sitting in a wicker-work rocking-chair on the veranda + of his hotel—sipping a mint julep which he held in his hand, while + he gazed into the dusty distance. Nothing could have convinced him that he + was not performing a serious part of his duty as hotel-keeper in this + attitude, even though there were no travelers expected, and the road at + this hour of the day was deserted. On a bench at his side Larry Hawkins + stretched his lazy length,—one foot dropped on the veranda, and one + arm occasionally groping under the bench for his own tumbler of + refreshment. Apart from this community of occupation, there was apparently + no interchange of sentiment between the pair. The silence had continued + for some moments, when the colonel put down his glass and gazed earnestly + into the distance. + </p> + <p> + “Seein' anything?” remarked the man on the bench, who had sleepily + regarded him. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the colonel, “that is—it's only Dick Ruggles crossin' the + road.” + </p> + <p> + “Thought you looked a little startled, ez if you'd seen that ar wanderin' + stranger.” + </p> + <p> + “When I see that wandering stranger, sah,” said the colonel decisively, “I + won't be sittin' long in this yer chyar. I'll let him know in about ten + seconds that I don't harbor any vagrants prowlin' about like poor whites + or free niggers on my propahty, sah!” + </p> + <p> + “All the same, I kinder wish ye did see him, for you'd be settled in YOUR + mind and I'd be easier in MINE, ef you found out what he was doin' round + yer, or ye had to admit that it wasn't no LIVIN' man.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” said the colonel, testily facing around in his chair. + </p> + <p> + His companion also altered his attitude by dropping his other foot to the + floor, sitting up, and leaning lazily forward with his hands clasped. + </p> + <p> + “Look yer, colonel. When you took this place, I felt I didn't have no call + to tell ye all I know about it, nor to pizen yer mind by any darned fool + yarns I mout hev heard. Ye know it was one o' them old Spanish haciendas?” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” said the colonel loftily, “that it was held by a grant from + Charles the Fifth of Spain, just as my propahty on the James River was + given to my people by King James of England, sah!” + </p> + <p> + “That ez as may be,” returned his companion, in lazy indifference; “though + I reckon that Charles the Fifth of Spain and King James of England ain't + got much to do with what I'm goin' to tell ye. Ye see, I was here long + afore YOUR time, or any of the boys that hev now cleared out; and at that + time the hacienda belonged to a man named Juan Sobriente. He was that kind + o' fool that he took no stock in mining. When the boys were whoopin' up + the place and finding the color everywhere, and there was a hundred men + working down there in the gulch, he was either ridin' round lookin' up the + wild horses he owned, or sittin' with two or three lazy peons and Injins + that was fed and looked arter by the priests. Gosh! now I think of it, it + was mighty like YOU when you first kem here with your niggers. That's + curious, too, ain't it?” + </p> + <p> + He had stopped, gazing with an odd, superstitious wonderment at the + colonel, as if overcome by this not very remarkable coincidence. The + colonel, overlooking or totally oblivious to its somewhat uncomplimentary + significance, simply said, “Go on. What about him?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, ez I was sayin', he warn't in it nohow, but kept on his reg'lar way + when the boom was the biggest. Some of the boys allowed it was mighty + oncivil for him to stand off like that, and others—when he refused a + big pile for his hacienda and the garden, that ran right into the + gold-bearing ledge—war for lynching him and driving him outer the + settlement. But as he had a pretty darter or niece livin' with him, and, + except for his partickler cussedness towards mining, was kinder peaceable + and perlite, they thought better of it. Things went along like this, until + one day the boys noticed—particklerly the boys that had slipped up + on their luck—that old man Sobriente was gettin' rich,—had + stocked a ranch over on the Divide, and had given some gold candlesticks + to the mission church. That would have been only human nature and + business, ef he'd had any during them flush times; but he hadn't. This + kinder puzzled them. They tackled the peons,—his niggers,—but + it was all 'No sabe.' They tackled another man,—a kind of half-breed + Kanaka, who, except the priest, was the only man who came to see him, and + was supposed to be mighty sweet on the darter or niece,—but they + didn't even get the color outer HIM. Then the first thing we knowed was + that old Sobriente was found dead in the well!” + </p> + <p> + “In the well, sah!” said the colonel, starting up. “The well on my + propahty?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said his companion. “The old well that was afterwards shut up. Yours + was dug by the last tenant, Jack Raintree, who allowed that he didn't want + to 'take any Sobriente in his reg'lar whiskey and water.' Well, the + half-breed Kanaka cleared out after the old man's death, and so did that + darter or niece; and the church, to whom old Sobriente had left this + house, let it to Raintree for next to nothin'.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't see what all that has got to do with that wandering tramp,” said + the colonel, who was by no means pleased with this history of his + property. + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell ye. A few days after Raintree took it over, he was lookin' + round the garden, which old Sobriente had always kept shut up agin + strangers, and he finds a lot of dried-up 'slumgullion' * scattered all + about the borders and beds, just as if the old man had been using it for + fertilizing. Well, Raintree ain't no fool; he allowed the old man wasn't + one, either; and he knew that slumgullion wasn't worth no more than mud + for any good it would do the garden. So he put this yer together with + Sobriente's good luck, and allowed to himself that the old coyote had been + secretly gold-washin' all the while he seemed to be standin' off agin it! + But where was the mine? Whar did he get the gold? That's what got + Raintree. He hunted all over the garden, prospected every part of it,—ye + kin see the holes yet,—but he never even got the color!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * That is, a viscid cement-like refuse of gold-washing. +</pre> + <p> + He paused, and then, as the colonel made an impatient gesture, he went on. + </p> + <p> + “Well, one night just afore you took the place, and when Raintree was + gettin' just sick of it, he happened to be walkin' in the garden. He was + puzzlin' his brain agin to know how old Sobriente made his pile, when all + of a suddenst he saw suthin' a-movin' in the brush beside the house. He + calls out, thinkin' it was one of the boys, but got no answer. Then he + goes to the bushes, and a tall figger, all in black, starts out afore him. + He couldn't see any face, for its head was covered with a hood, but he saw + that it held suthin' like a big cross clasped agin its breast. This made + him think it was one them priests, until he looks agin and sees that it + wasn't no cross it was carryin,' but a PICKAXE! He makes a jump towards + it, but it vanished! He traipsed over the hull garden,—went though + ev'ry bush,—but it was clean gone. Then the hull thing flashed upon + him with a cold shiver. The old man bein' found dead in the well! the + goin' away of the half-breed and the girl! the findin' o' that + slumgullion! The old man HAD made a strike in that garden, the half-breed + had discovered his secret and murdered him, throwin' him down the well! It + war no LIVIN' man that he had seen, but the ghost of old Sobriente!” + </p> + <p> + The colonel emptied the remaining contents of his glass at a single gulp, + and sat up. “It's my opinion, sah, that Raintree had that night more than + his usual allowance of corn-juice on board; and it's only a wonder, sah, + that he didn't see a few pink alligators and sky-blue snakes at the same + time. But what's this got to do with that wanderin' tramp?” + </p> + <p> + “They're all the same thing, colonel, and in my opinion that there tramp + ain't no more alive than that figger was.” + </p> + <p> + “But YOU were the one that saw this tramp with your own eyes,” retorted + the colonel quickly, “and you never before allowed it was a spirit!” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly! I saw it whar a minit afore nothin' had been standin', and a + minit after nothin' stood,” said Larry Hawkins, with a certain serious + emphasis; “but I warn't goin' to say it to ANYBODY, and I warn't goin' to + give you and the hacienda away. And ez nobody knew Raintree's story, I + jest shut up my head. But you kin bet your life that the man I saw warn't + no livin' man!” + </p> + <p> + “We'll see, sah!” said the colonel, rising from his chair with his fingers + in the armholes of his nankeen waistcoat, “ef he ever intrudes on my + property again. But look yar! don't ye go sayin' anything of this to + Polly,—you know what women are!” + </p> + <p> + A faint color came into Larry's face; an animation quite different to the + lazy deliberation of his previous monologue shone in his eyes, as he said, + with a certain rough respect he had not shown before to his companion, + “That's why I'm tellin' ye, so that ef SHE happened to see anything and + got skeert, ye'd know how to reason her out of it.” + </p> + <p> + “'Sh!” said the colonel, with a warning gesture. + </p> + <p> + A young girl had just appeared in the doorway, and now stood leaning + against the central pillar that supported it, with one hand above her + head, in a lazy attitude strongly suggestive of the colonel's Southern + indolence, yet with a grace entirely her own. Indeed, it overcame the + negligence of her creased and faded yellow cotton frock and unbuttoned + collar, and suggested—at least to the eyes of ONE man—the + curving and clinging of the jasmine vine against the outer column of the + veranda. Larry Hawkins rose awkwardly to his feet. + </p> + <p> + “Now what are you two men mumblin' and confidin' to each other? You look + for all the world like two old women gossips,” she said, with languid + impertinence. + </p> + <p> + It was easy to see that a privileged and recognized autocrat spoke. No one + had ever questioned Polly Swinger's right to interrupting, interfering, + and saucy criticisms. Secure in the hopeless or chivalrous admiration of + the men around her, she had repaid it with a frankness that scorned any + coquetry; with an indifference to the ordinary feminine effect or + provocation in dress or bearing that was as natural as it was invincible. + No one had ever known Polly to “fix up” for anybody, yet no one ever + doubted the effect, if she had. No one had ever rebuked her charming + petulance, or wished to. + </p> + <p> + Larry gave a weak, vague laugh. Colonel Swinger as ineffectively assumed a + mock parental severity. “When you see two gentlemen, miss, discussin' + politics together, it ain't behavin' like a lady to interrupt. Better run + away and tidy yourself before the stage comes.” + </p> + <p> + The young lady replied to the last innuendo by taking two spirals of soft + hair, like “corn silk,” from her oval cheek, wetting them with her lips, + and tucking them behind her ears. Her father's ungentlemanly suggestion + being thus disposed of, she returned to her first charge. + </p> + <p> + “It ain't no politics; you ain't been swearing enough for THAT! Come, now! + It's the mysterious stranger ye've been talking about!” + </p> + <p> + Both men stared at her with unaffected concern. + </p> + <p> + “What do YOU know about any mysterious stranger?” demanded her father. + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose you men kin keep a secret,” scoffed Polly. “Why, Dick + Ruggles told me how skeert ye all were over an entire stranger, and he + advised me not to wander down the road after dark. I asked him if he + thought I was a pickaninny to be frightened by bogies, and that if he + hadn't a better excuse for wantin' 'to see me home' from the Injin spring, + he might slide.” + </p> + <p> + Larry laughed again, albeit a little bitterly, for it seemed to him that + the excuse was fully justified; but the colonel said promptly, “Dick's a + fool, and you might have told him there were worse things to be met on the + road than bogies. Run away now, and see that the niggers are on hand when + the stage comes.” + </p> + <p> + Two hours later the stage came with a clatter of hoofs and a cloud of red + dust, which precipitated itself and a dozen thirsty travelers upon the + veranda before the hotel bar-room; it brought also the usual “express” + newspapers and much talk to Colonel Swinger, who always received his + guests in a lofty personal fashion at the door, as he might have done in + his old Virginian home; but it brought likewise—marvelous to relate—an + ACTUAL GUEST, who had two trunks and asked for a room! He was evidently a + stranger to the ways of Buena Vista, and particularly to those of Colonel + Swinger, and at first seemed inclined to resent the social attitude of his + host, and his frank and free curiosity. When he, however, found that + Colonel Swinger was even better satisfied to give an account of HIS OWN + affairs, his family, pedigree, and his present residence, he began to + betray some interest. The colonel told him all the news, and would no + doubt have even expatiated on his ghostly visitant, had he not prudently + concluded that his guest might decline to remain in a haunted inn. The + stranger had spoken of staying a week; he had some private mining + speculations to watch at Wynyard's Gulch,—the next settlement, but + he did not care to appear openly at the “Gulch Hotel.” He was a man of + thirty, with soft, pleasing features and a singular litheness of movement, + which, combined with a nut-brown, gypsy complexion, at first suggested a + foreigner. But his dialect, to the colonel's ears, was distinctly that of + New England, and to this was added a puritanical and sanctimonious drawl. + “He looked,” said the colonel in after years, “like a blank light + mulatter, but talked like a blank Yankee parson.” For all that, he was + acceptable to his host, who may have felt that his reminiscences of his + plantation on the James River were palling on Buena Vista ears, and was + glad of his new auditor. It was an advertisement, too, of the hotel, and a + promise of its future fortunes. “Gentlemen having propahty interests at + the Gulch, sah, prefer to stay at Buena Vista with another man of + propahty, than to trust to those new-fangled papah-collared, gingerbread + booths for traders that they call 'hotels' there,” he had remarked to some + of “the boys.” In his preoccupation with the new guest, he also became a + little neglectful of his old chum and dependent, Larry Hawkins. Nor was + this the only circumstance that filled the head of that shiftless loyal + retainer of the colonel with bitterness and foreboding. Polly Swinger—the + scornfully indifferent, the contemptuously inaccessible, the coldly + capricious and petulant—was inclined to be polite to the stranger! + </p> + <p> + The fact was that Polly, after the fashion of her sex, took it into her + pretty head, against all consistency and logic, suddenly to make an + exception to her general attitude towards mankind in favor of one + individual. The reason-seeking masculine reader will rashly conclude that + this individual was the CAUSE as well as the object; but I am satisfied + that every fair reader of these pages will instinctively know better. Miss + Polly had simply selected the new guest, Mr. Starbuck, to show OTHERS, + particularly Larry Hawkins, what she COULD do if she were inclined to be + civil. For two days she “fixed up” her distracting hair at him so that its + silken floss encircled her head like a nimbus; she tucked her oval chin + into a white fichu instead of a buttonless collar; she appeared at dinner + in a newly starched yellow frock! She talked to him with “company + manners;” said she would “admire to go to San Francisco,” and asked if he + knew her old friends the Fauquier girls from “Faginia.” The colonel was + somewhat disturbed; he was glad that his daughter had become less + negligent of her personal appearance; he could not but see, with the + others, how it enhanced her graces; but he was, with the others, not + entirely satisfied with her reasons. And he could not help observing—what + was more or less patent to ALL—that Starbuck was far from being + equally responsive to her attentions, and at times was indifferent and + almost uncivil. Nobody seemed to be satisfied with Polly's transformation + but herself. + </p> + <p> + But eventually she was obliged to assert herself. The third evening after + Starbuck's arrival she was going over to the cabin of Aunt Chloe, who not + only did the washing for Buena Vista, but assisted Polly in dressmaking. + It was not far, and the night was moonlit. As she crossed the garden she + saw Starbuck moving in the manzanita bushes beyond; a mischievous light + came into her eyes; she had not EXPECTED to meet him, but she had seen him + go out, and there were always POSSIBILITIES. To her surprise, however, he + merely lifted his hat as she passed, and turned abruptly in another + direction. This was more than the little heart-breaker of Buena Vista was + accustomed to! + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mr. Starbuck!” she called, in her laziest voice. + </p> + <p> + He turned almost impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “Since you're so civil and pressing, I thought I'd tell you I was just + runnin' over to Aunt Chloe's,” she said dryly. + </p> + <p> + “I should think it was hardly the proper thing for a young lady to do at + this time of night,” he said superciliously. “But you know best,—you + know the people here.” + </p> + <p> + Polly's cheeks and eyes flamed. “Yes, I reckon I do,” she said crisply; + “it's only a STRANGER here would think of being rude. Good-night, Mr. + Starbuck!” + </p> + <p> + She tripped away after this Parthian shot, yet feeling, even in her + triumph, that the conceited fool seemed actually relieved at her + departure! And for the first time she now thought that she had seen + something in his face that she did not like! But her lazy independence + reasserted itself soon, and half an hour later, when she had left Aunt + Chloe's cabin, she had regained her self-esteem. Yet, to avoid meeting him + again, she took a longer route home, across the dried ditch and over the + bluff, scarred by hydraulics, and so fell, presently, upon the old garden + at the point where it adjoined the abandoned diggings. She was quite sure + she had escaped a meeting with Starbuck, and was gliding along under the + shadow of the pear-trees, when she suddenly stopped. An indescribable + terror overcame her as she stared at a spot in the garden, perfectly + illuminated by the moonlight not fifty yards from where she stood. For she + saw on its surface a human head—a man's head!—seemingly on the + level of the ground, staring in her direction. A hysterical laugh sprang + from her lips, and she caught at the branches above her or she would have + fallen! Yet in that moment the head had vanished! The moonlight revealed + the empty garden,—the ground she had gazed at,—but nothing + more! + </p> + <p> + She had never been superstitious. As a child she had heard the negroes + talk of “the hants,”—that is, “the HAUNTS” or spirits,—but had + believed it a part of their ignorance, and unworthy a white child,—the + daughter of their master! She had laughed with Dick Ruggles over the + illusions of Larry, and had shared her father's contemptuous disbelief of + the wandering visitant being anything but a living man; yet she would have + screamed for assistance now, only for the greater fear of making her + weakness known to Mr. Starbuck, and being dependent upon him for help. And + with it came the sudden conviction that HE had seen this awful vision, + too. This would account for his impatience of her presence and his + rudeness. She felt faint and giddy. Yet after the first shock had passed, + her old independence and pride came to her relief. She would go to the + spot and examine it. If it were some trick or illusion, she would show her + superiority and have the laugh on Starbuck. She set her white teeth, + clenched her little hands, and started out into the moonlight. But alas! + for women's weakness. The next moment she uttered a scream and almost fell + into the arms of Mr. Starbuck, who had stepped out of the shadows beside + her. + </p> + <p> + “So you see you HAVE been frightened,” he said, with a strange, forced + laugh; “but I warned you about going out alone!” + </p> + <p> + Even in her fright she could not help seeing that he, too, seemed pale and + agitated, at which she recovered her tongue and her self-possession. + </p> + <p> + “Anybody would be frightened by being dogged about under the trees,” she + said pertly. + </p> + <p> + “But you called out before you saw me,” he said bluntly, “as if something + had frightened you. That was WHY I came towards you.” + </p> + <p> + She knew it was the truth; but as she would not confess to her vision, she + fibbed outrageously. + </p> + <p> + “Frightened,” she said, with pale but lofty indignation. “What was there + to frighten me? I'm not a baby, to think I see a bogie in the dark!” This + was said in the faint hope that HE had seen something too. If it had been + Larry or her father who had met her, she would have confessed everything. + </p> + <p> + “You had better go in,” he said curtly. “I will see you safe inside the + house.” + </p> + <p> + She demurred at this, but as she could not persist in her first bold + intention of examining the locality of the vision without admitting its + existence, she permitted him to walk with her to the house, and then at + once fled to her own room. Larry and her father noticed their entrance + together and their agitated manner, and were uneasy. Yet the colonel's + paternal pride and Larry's lover's respect kept the two men from + communicating their thoughts to each other. + </p> + <p> + “The confounded pup has been tryin' to be familiar, and Polly's set him + down,” thought Larry, with glowing satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + “He's been trying some of his sanctimonious Yankee abolition talk on + Polly, and she shocked him!” thought the colonel exultingly. + </p> + <p> + But poor Polly had other things to think of in the silence of her room. + Another woman would have unburdened herself to a confidante; but Polly was + too loyal to her father to shatter his beliefs, and too high-spirited to + take another and a lesser person into her confidence. She was certain that + Aunt Chloe would be full of sympathetic belief and speculations, but she + would not trust a nigger with what she couldn't tell her own father. For + Polly really and truly believed that she had seen a ghost, no doubt the + ghost of the murdered Sobriente, according to Larry's story. WHY he should + appear with only his head above ground puzzled her, although it suggested + the Catholic idea of purgatory, and he was a Catholic! Perhaps he would + have risen entirely but for that stupid Starbuck's presence; perhaps he + had a message for HER alone. The idea pleased Polly, albeit it was a + “fearful joy” and attended with some cold shivering. Naturally, as a + gentleman, he would appear to HER—the daughter of a gentleman—the + successor to his house—rather than to a Yankee stranger. What was + she to do? For once her calm nerves were strangely thrilled; she could not + think of undressing and going to bed, and two o'clock surprised her, still + meditating, and occasionally peeping from her window upon the moonlit but + vacant garden. If she saw him again, would she dare to go down alone? + Suddenly she started to her feet with a beating heart! There was the + unmistakable sound of a stealthy footstep in the passage, coming towards + her room. Was it he? In spite of her high resolves she felt that if the + door opened she should scream! She held her breath—the footsteps + came nearer—were before her door—and PASSED! + </p> + <p> + Then it was that the blood rushed back to her cheek with a flush of + indignation. Her room was at the end of the passage; there was nothing + beyond but a private staircase, long disused, except by herself, as a + short cut through the old patio to the garden. No one else knew of it, and + no one else had the right of access to it! This insolent human intrusion—as + she was satisfied it was now—overcame her fear, and she glided to + the door. Opening it softly, she could hear the stealthy footsteps + descending. She darted back, threw a shawl over her head and shoulders, + and taking the small Derringer pistol which it had always been part of her + ostentatious independence to place at her bed-head, she as stealthily + followed the intruder. But the footsteps had died away before she reached + the patio, and she saw only the small deserted, grass-grown courtyard, + half hidden in shadows, in whose centre stood the fateful and long + sealed-up well! A shudder came over her at again being brought into + contact with the cause of her frightful vision, but as her eyes became + accustomed to the darkness, she saw something more real and appalling! The + well was no longer sealed! Fragments of bricks and boards lay around it! + One end of a rope, coiled around it like a huge snake, descended its foul + depths; and as she gazed with staring eyes, the head and shoulders of a + man emerged slowly from it! But it was NOT the ghostly apparition of last + evening, and her terror changed to scorn and indignation as she recognized + the face of Starbuck! + </p> + <p> + Their eyes met; an oath broke from his lips. He made a movement to spring + from the well, but as the girl started back, the pistol held in her hand + was discharged aimlessly in the air, and the report echoed throughout the + courtyard. With a curse Starbuck drew back, instantly disappeared in the + well, and Polly fell fainting on the steps. When she came to, her father + and Larry were at her side. They had been alarmed at the report, and had + rushed quickly to the patio, but not in time to prevent the escape of + Starbuck and his accomplice. By the time she had recovered her + consciousness, they had learned the full extent of that extraordinary + revelation which she had so innocently precipitated. Sobriente's well had + really concealed a rich gold ledge,—actually tunneled and galleried + by him secretly in the past,—and its only other outlet was an + opening in the garden hidden by a stone which turned on a swivel. Its + existence had been unknown to Sobriente's successor, but was known to the + Kanaka who had worked with Sobriente, who fled with his daughter after the + murder, but who no doubt was afraid to return and work the mine. He had + imparted the secret to Starbuck, another half-breed, son of a Yankee + missionary and Hawaiian wife, who had evidently conceived this plan of + seeking Buena Vista with an accomplice, and secretly removing such gold as + was still accessible. The accomplice, afterwards identified by Larry as + the wandering tramp, failed to discover the secret entrance FROM the + garden, and Starbuck was consequently obliged to attempt it from the hotel—for + which purpose he had introduced himself as a boarder—by opening the + disused well secretly at night. These facts were obtained from papers + found in the otherwise valueless trunks, weighted with stones for ballast, + which Starbuck had brought to the hotel to take away his stolen treasure + in, but which he was obliged to leave in his hurried flight. The attempt + would have doubtless succeeded but for Polly's courageous and timely + interference! + </p> + <p> + And now that they had told her ALL, they only wanted to know what had + first excited HER suspicions, and driven her to seek the well as the + object of Starbuck's machinations? THEY had noticed her manner when she + entered the house that night, and Starbuck's evident annoyance. Had she + taxed him with her suspicions, and so discovered a clue? + </p> + <p> + It was a terrible temptation to Polly to pose as a more perfect heroine, + and one may not blame her if she did not rise entirely superior to it. Her + previous belief, that the head of the accomplice at the opening of the + garden was that of a GHOST, she now felt was certainly in the way, as was + also her conduct to Starbuck, whom she believed to be equally frightened, + and whom she never once suspected! So she said, with a certain lofty + simplicity, that there were SOME THINGS which she really did not care to + talk about, and Larry and her father left her that night with the firm + conviction that the rascal Starbuck had tried to tempt her to fly with him + and his riches, and had been crushingly foiled. Polly never denied this, + and once, in later days, when admiringly taxed with it by Larry, she + admitted with dove-like simplicity that she MAY have been too foolishly + polite to her father's guest for the sake of her father's hotel. + </p> + <p> + However, all this was of small account to the thrilling news of a new + discovery and working of the “old gold ledge” at Buena Vista! As the three + kept their secret from the world, the discovery was accepted in the + neighborhood as the result of careful examination and prospecting on the + part of Colonel Swinger and his partner Larry Hawkins. And when the latter + gentleman afterwards boldly proposed to Polly Swinger, she mischievously + declared that she accepted him only that the secret might not go “out of + the family.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + </h2> + <p> + It was at best merely a rocky trail winding along a shelf of the eastern + slope of the Santa Cruz range, yet the only road between the sea and the + inland valley. The hoof-prints of a whole century of zigzagging mules were + impressed on the soil, regularly soaked by winter rains and dried by + summer suns during that period; the occasional ruts of heavy, rude, wooden + wheels—long obsolete—were still preserved and visible. + Weather-worn boulders and ledges, lying in the unclouded glare of an + August sky, radiated a quivering heat that was intolerable, even while + above them the masts of gigantic pines rocked their tops in the cold + southwestern trades from the unseen ocean beyond. A red, burning dust lay + everywhere, as if the heat were slowly and visibly precipitating itself. + </p> + <p> + The creaking of wheels and axles, the muffled plunge of hoofs, and the + cough of a horse in the dust thus stirred presently broke the profound + woodland silence. Then a dirty white canvas-covered emigrant wagon slowly + arose with the dust along the ascent. It was travel-stained and worn, and + with its rawboned horses seemed to have reached the last stage of its + journey and fitness. The only occupants, a man and a girl, appeared to be + equally jaded and exhausted, with the added querulousness of discontent in + their sallow and badly nourished faces. Their voices, too, were not unlike + the creaking they had been pitched to overcome, and there was an absence + of reserve and consciousness in their speech, which told pathetically of + an equal absence of society. + </p> + <p> + “It's no user talkin'! I tell ye, ye hain't got no more sense than a + coyote! I'm sick and tired of it, doggoned if I ain't! Ye ain't no more + use nor a hossfly,—and jest ez hinderin'! It was along o' you that + we lost the stock at Laramie, and ef ye'd bin at all decent and takin', + we'd hev had kempany that helped, instead of laggin' on yere alone!” + </p> + <p> + “What did ye bring me for?” retorted the girl shrilly. “I might hev stayed + with Aunt Marty. I wasn't hankerin' to come.” + </p> + <p> + “Bring ye for?” repeated her father contemptuously; “I reckoned ye might + he o' some account here, whar wimmin folks is skeerce, in the way o' + helpin',—and mebbe gettin' yer married to some likely feller. Mighty + much chance o' that, with yer yaller face and skin and bones.” + </p> + <p> + “Ye can't blame me for takin' arter you, dad,” she said, with a shrill + laugh, but no other resentment of his brutality. + </p> + <p> + “Ye want somebody to take arter you—with a club,” he retorted + angrily. “Ye hear! Wot's that ye're doin' now?” + </p> + <p> + She had risen and walked to the tail of the wagon. “Goin' to get out and + walk. I'm tired o' bein' jawed at.” + </p> + <p> + She jumped into the road. The act was neither indignant nor vengeful; the + frequency of such scenes had blunted their sting. She was probably “tired” + of the quarrel, and ended it rudely. Her father, however, let fly a + Parthian arrow. + </p> + <p> + “Ye needn't think I'm goin' to wait for ye, ez I hev! Ye've got to keep + tetch with the team, or get left. And a good riddance of bad rubbidge.” + </p> + <p> + In reply the girl dived into the underwood beside the trail, picked a wild + berry or two, stripped a wand of young hazel she had broken off, and + switching it at her side, skipped along on the outskirts of the wood and + ambled after the wagon. Seen in the full, merciless glare of a Californian + sky, she justified her father's description; thin and bony, her lank frame + outstripped the body of her ragged calico dress, which was only kept on + her shoulders by straps,—possibly her father's cast-off braces. A + boy's soft felt hat covered her head, and shadowed her only notable + feature, a pair of large dark eyes, looking larger for the hollow temples + which narrowed the frame in which they were set. + </p> + <p> + So long as the wagon crawled up the ascent the girl knew she could easily + keep up with it, or even distance the tired horses. She made one or two + incursions into the wood, returning like an animal from quest of food, + with something in her mouth, which she was tentatively chewing, and once + only with some inedible mandrono berries, plucked solely for their + brilliant coloring. It was very hot and singularly close; the higher + current of air had subsided, and, looking up, a singular haze seemed to + have taken its place between the treetops. Suddenly she heard a strange, + rumbling sound; an odd giddiness overtook her, and she was obliged to + clutch at a sapling to support herself; she laughed vacantly, though a + little frightened, and looked vaguely towards the summit of the road; but + the wagon had already disappeared. A strange feeling of nausea then + overcame her; she spat out the leaves she had been chewing, disgustedly. + But the sensation as quickly passed, and she once more sought the trail + and began slowly to follow the tracks of the wagon. The air blew freshly, + the treetops began again to rock over her head, and the incident was + forgotten. + </p> + <p> + Presently she paused; she must have missed the trail, for the wagon tracks + had ended abruptly before a large boulder that lay across the mountain + trail. She dipped into the woods again; here there were other wagon tracks + that confused her. It was like her dogged, stupid father to miss the + trail; she felt a gleam of malicious satisfaction at his discomfiture. + Sooner or later, he would have to retrace his steps and virtually come + back for her! She took up a position where two rough wheel ruts and tracks + intersected each other, one of which must be the missing trail. She + noticed, too, the broader hoof-prints of cattle without the following + wheel ruts, and instead of traces, the long smooth trails made by the + dragging of logs, and knew by these tokens that she must be near the + highway or some woodman's hut or ranch. She began to be thirsty, and was + glad, presently, when her quick, rustic ear caught the tinkling of water. + Yet it was not so easy to discover, and she was getting footsore and tired + again before she found it, some distance away, in a gully coming from a + fissure in a dislocated piece of outcrop. It was beautifully clear, cold, + and sparkling, with a slightly sweetish taste, yet unlike the brackish + “alkali” of the plains. It refreshed and soothed her greatly, so much + that, reclining against a tree, but where she would be quite visible from + the trail, her eyes closed dreamily, and presently she slept. + </p> + <p> + When she awoke, the shafts of sunlight were striking almost level into her + eyes. She must have slept two hours. Her father had not returned; she knew + the passage of the wagon would have awakened her. She began to feel + strange, but not yet alarmed; it was only the uncertainty that made her + uneasy. Had her father really gone on by some other trail? Or had he + really hurried on and left her, as he said he would? The thought brought + an odd excitement to her rather than any fear. A sudden sense of freedom, + as if some galling chain had dropped from her, sent a singular thrill + through her frame. Yet she felt confused with her independence, not + knowing what to do with it, and momentarily dazzled with the possible + gift. + </p> + <p> + At this moment she heard voices, and the figures of two men appeared on + the trail. + </p> + <p> + They were talking earnestly, and walking as if familiar with the spot, yet + gazing around them as if at some novelty of the aspect. + </p> + <p> + “And look there,” said one; “there has been some serious disturbance of + that outcrop,” pointing in the direction of the spring; “the lower part + has distinctly subsided.” He spoke with a certain authority, and dominance + of position, and was evidently the superior, as he was the elder of the + two, although both were roughly dressed. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it does kinder look as if it had lost its holt, like the ledge + yonder.” + </p> + <p> + “And you see I am right; the movement was from east to west,” continued + the elder man. + </p> + <p> + The girl could not comprehend what they said, and even thought them a + little silly. But she advanced towards them; at which they stopped short, + staring at her. With feminine instinct she addressed the more important + one:— + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't passed no wagon nor team goin' on, hev ye?” + </p> + <p> + “What sort of wagon?” said the man. + </p> + <p> + “Em'grant wagon, two yaller hosses. Old man—my dad—drivin'.” + She added the latter kinship as a protecting influence against strangers, + in spite of her previous independence. + </p> + <p> + The men glanced at each other. + </p> + <p> + “How long ago?” + </p> + <p> + The girl suddenly remembered that she had slept two hours. + </p> + <p> + “Sens noon,” she said hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “Since the earthquake?” + </p> + <p> + “Wot's that?” + </p> + <p> + The man came impatiently towards her. “How did you come here?” + </p> + <p> + “Got outer the wagon to walk. I reckon dad missed the trail, and hez got + off somewhere where I can't find him.” + </p> + <p> + “What trail was he on,—where was he going?” + </p> + <p> + “Sank Hozay,* I reckon. He was goin' up the grade—side o' the hill; + he must hev turned off where there's a big rock hangin' over.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * San Jose. +</pre> + <p> + “Did you SEE him turn off?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + The second man, who was in hearing distance, had turned away, and was + ostentatiously examining the sky and the treetops; the man who had spoken + to her joined him, and they said something in a low voice. They turned + again and came slowly towards her. She, from some obscure sense of + imitation, stared at the treetops and the sky as the second man had done. + But the first man now laid his hand kindly on her shoulder and said, “Sit + down.” + </p> + <p> + Then they told her there had been an earthquake so strong that it had + thrown down a part of the hillside, including the wagon trail. That a + wagon team and driver, such as she had described, had been carried down + with it, crushed to fragments, and buried under a hundred feet of rock in + the gulch below. A party had gone down to examine, but it would be weeks + perhaps before they found it, and she must be prepared for the worst. She + looked at them vaguely and with tearless eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Then ye reckon dad's dead?” + </p> + <p> + “We fear it.” + </p> + <p> + “Then wot's a-goin' to become o' me?” she said simply. + </p> + <p> + They glanced again at each other. “Have you no friends in California?” + said the elder man. + </p> + <p> + “Nary one.” + </p> + <p> + “What was your father going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “Dunno. I reckon HE didn't either.” + </p> + <p> + “You may stay here for the present,” said the elder man meditatively. “Can + you milk?” + </p> + <p> + The girl nodded. “And I suppose you know something about looking after + stock?” he continued. + </p> + <p> + The girl remembered that her father thought she didn't, but this was no + time for criticism, and she again nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Come with me,” said the older man, rising. “I suppose,” he added, + glancing at her ragged frock, “everything you have is in the wagon.” + </p> + <p> + She nodded, adding with the same cold naivete, “It ain't much!” + </p> + <p> + They walked on, the girl following; at times straying furtively on either + side, as if meditating an escape in the woods,—which indeed had once + or twice been vaguely in her thoughts,—but chiefly to avoid further + questioning and not to hear what the men said to each other. For they were + evidently speaking of her, and she could not help hearing the younger + repeat her words, “Wot's agoin' to become o' me?” with considerable + amusement, and the addition: “She'll take care of herself, you bet! I call + that remark o' hers the richest thing out.” + </p> + <p> + “And I call the state of things that provoked it—monstrous!” said + the elder man grimly. “You don't know the lives of these people.” + </p> + <p> + Presently they came to an open clearing in the forest, yet so incomplete + that many of the felled trees, partly lopped of their boughs, still lay + where they had fallen. There was a cabin or dwelling of unplaned, + unpainted boards; very simple in structure, yet made in a workmanlike + fashion, quite unlike the usual log cabin she had seen. This made her + think that the elder man was a “towny,” and not a frontiersman like the + other. + </p> + <p> + As they approached the cabin the elder man stopped, and turning to her, + said:— + </p> + <p> + “Do you know Indians?” + </p> + <p> + The girl started, and then recovering herself with a quick laugh: “G'lang!—there + ain't any Injins here!” + </p> + <p> + “Not the kind YOU mean; these are very peaceful. There's a squaw here whom + you will”—he stopped, hesitated as he looked critically at the girl, + and then corrected himself—“who will help you.” + </p> + <p> + He pushed open the cabin door and showed an interior, equally simple but + well joined and fitted,—a marvel of neatness and finish to the + frontier girl's eye. There were shelves and cupboards and other + conveniences, yet with no ostentation of refinement to frighten her rustic + sensibilities. + </p> + <p> + Then he pushed open another door leading into a shed and called “Waya.” A + stout, undersized Indian woman, fitted with a coarse cotton gown, but + cleaner and more presentable than the girl's one frock, appeared in the + doorway. “This is Waya, who attends to the cooking and cleaning,” he said; + “and by the way, what is your name?” + </p> + <p> + “Libby Jones.” + </p> + <p> + He took a small memorandum book and a “stub” of pencil from his pocket. + “Elizabeth Jones,” he said, writing it down. The girl interposed a long + red hand. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she interrupted sharply, “not Elizabeth, but Libby, short for + Lib'rty.” + </p> + <p> + “Liberty?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Liberty Jones, then. Well, Waya, this is Miss Jones, who will look after + the cows and calves—and the dairy.” Then glancing at her torn dress, + he added: “You'll find some clean things in there, until I can send up + something from San Jose. Waya will show you.” + </p> + <p> + Without further speech he turned away with the other man. When they were + some distance from the cabin, the younger remarked:— + </p> + <p> + “More like a boy than a girl, ain't she?” + </p> + <p> + “So much the better for her work,” returned the elder grimly. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon! I was only thinkin' she didn't han'some much either as a boy or + girl, eh, doctor?” he pursued. + </p> + <p> + “Well! as THAT won't make much difference to the cows, calves, or the + dairy, it needn't trouble US,” returned the doctor dryly. But here a + sudden outburst of laughter from the cabin made them both turn in that + direction. They were in time to see Liberty Jones dancing out of the cabin + door in a large cotton pinafore, evidently belonging to the squaw, who was + following her with half-laughing, half-frightened expostulations. The two + men stopped and gazed at the spectacle. + </p> + <p> + “Don't seem to be takin' the old man's death very pow'fully,” said the + younger, with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Quite as much as he deserved, I daresay,” said the doctor curtly. “If the + accident had happened to HER, he would have whined and whimpered to us for + the sake of getting something, but have been as much relieved, you may be + certain. SHE'S too young and too natural to be a hypocrite yet.” + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the laughter ceased and Liberty Jones's voice arose, shrill but + masterful: “Thar, that'll do! Quit now! You jest get back to your + scrubbin'—d'ye hear? I'm boss o' this shanty, you bet!” + </p> + <p> + The doctor turned with a grim smile to his companion. “That's the only + thing that bothered me, and I've been waiting for. She's settled it. + She'll do. Come.” + </p> + <p> + They turned away briskly through the wood. At the end of half an hour's + walk they found the team that had brought them there in waiting, and drove + towards San Jose. It was nearly ten miles before they passed another + habitation or trace of clearing. And by this time night had fallen upon + the cabin they had left, and upon the newly made orphan and her Indian + companion, alone and contented in that trackless solitude. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Liberty Jones had been a year at the cabin. In that time she had learned + that her employer's name was Doctor Ruysdael, that he had a lucrative + practice in San Jose, but had also “taken up” a league or two of wild + forest land in the Santa Cruz range, which he preserved and held after a + fashion of his own, which gave him the reputation of being a “crank” among + the very few neighbors his vast possessions permitted, and the equally few + friends his singular tastes allowed him. It was believed that a man owning + such an enormous quantity of timber land, who should refuse to set up a + sawmill and absolutely forbid the felling of trees; who should decline to + connect it with the highway to Santa Cruz, and close it against + improvement and speculation, had given sufficient evidence of his + insanity; but when to this was added the rumor that he himself was not + only devoid of the human instinct of hunting the wild animals with which + his domain abounded, but that he held it so sacred to their use as to + forbid the firing of a gun within his limits, and that these restrictions + were further preserved and “policed” by the scattered remnants of a band + of aborigines,—known as “digger Injins,”—it was seriously + hinted that his eccentricity had acquired a political and moral + significance, and demanded legislative interference. But the doctor was a + rich man, a necessity to his patients, a good marksman, and, it was + rumored, did not include his fellow men among the animals he had a + distaste for killing. + </p> + <p> + Of all this, however, Liberty knew little and cared less. The solitude + appealed to her sense of freedom; she did not “hanker” after a society she + had never known. At the end of the first week, when the doctor + communicated to her briefly, by letter, the convincing proofs of the death + of her father and his entombment beneath the sunken cliff, she accepted + the fact without comment or apparent emotion. Two months later, when her + only surviving relative, “Aunt Marty,” of Missouri, acknowledged the news—communicated + by Doctor Ruysdael—with Scriptural quotations and the cheerful hope + that it “would be a lesson to her” and she would “profit in her new + place,” she left her aunt's letter unanswered. + </p> + <p> + She looked after the cows and calves with an interest that was almost + possessory, patronized and played with the squaw,—yet made her feel + her inferiority,—and moved among the peaceful aborigines with the + domination of a white woman and a superior. She tolerated the half-monthly + visits of “Jim Hoskins,” the young companion of the doctor, who she + learned was the doctor's factor and overseer of the property, who lived + seven miles away on an agricultural clearing, and whose control of her + actions was evidently limited by the doctor,—for the doctor's sake + alone. Nor was Mr. Hoskins inclined to exceed those limits. He looked upon + her as something abnormal,—a “crank” as remarkable in her way as her + patron was in his, neuter of sex and vague of race, and he simply + restricted his supervision to the bringing and taking of messages. She + remained sole queen of the domain. A rare straggler from the main road, + penetrating this seclusion, might have scarcely distinguished her from + Waya, in her coarse cotton gown and slouched hat, except for the free + stride which contrasted with her companion's waddle. Once, in following an + estrayed calf, she had crossed the highway and been saluted by a passing + teamster in the digger dialect; yet the mistake left no sting in her + memory. And, like the digger, she shrank from that civilization which had + only proved a hard taskmaster. + </p> + <p> + The sole touch of human interest she had in her surroundings was in the + rare visits of the doctor and his brief but sincere commendation of her + rude and rustic work. It is possible that the strange, middle-aged, + gray-haired, intellectual man, whose very language was at times mysterious + and unintelligible to her, and whose suggestion of power awed her, might + have touched some untried filial chord in her being. Although she felt + that, save for absolute freedom, she was little more to him than she had + been to her father, yet he had never told her she had “no sense,” that she + was “a hindrance,” and he had even praised her performance of her duties. + Eagerly as she looked for his coming, in his actual presence she felt a + singular uneasiness of which she was not entirely ashamed, and if she was + relieved at his departure, it none the less left her to a delightful + memory of him, a warm sense of his approval, and a fierce ambition to be + worthy of it, for which she would have sacrificed herself or the other + miserable retainers about her, as a matter of course. She had driven Waya + and the other squaws far along the sparse tableland pasture in search of + missing stock; she herself had lain out all night on the rocks beside an + ailing heifer. Yet, while satisfied to earn his praise for the performance + of her duty, for some feminine reason she thought more frequently of a + casual remark he had made on his last visit: “You are stronger and more + healthy in this air,” he had said, looking critically into her face. “We + have got that abominable alkali out of your system, and wholesome food + will do the rest.” She was not sure she had quite understood him, but she + remembered that she had felt her face grow hot when he spoke,—perhaps + because she had not understood him. + </p> + <p> + His next visit was a day or two delayed, and in her anxiety she had + ventured as far as the highway to earnestly watch for his coming. From her + hiding-place in the underwood she could see the team and Jim Hoskins + already waiting for him. Presently she saw him drive up to the trail in a + carryall with a party of ladies and gentlemen. He alighted, bade “Good-by” + to the party, and the team turned to retrace its course. But in that + single moment she had been struck and bewildered by what seemed to her the + dazzlingly beautiful apparel of the women, and their prettiness. She felt + a sudden consciousness of her own coarse, shapeless calico gown, her + straggling hair, and her felt hat, and a revulsion of feeling seized her. + She crept like a wounded animal out of the underwood, and then ran swiftly + and almost fiercely back towards the cabin. She ran so fast that for a + time she almost kept pace with the doctor and Hoskins in the wagon on the + distant trail. Then she dived into the underwood again, and making a short + cut through the forest, came at the end of two hours within hailing + distance of the cabin,—footsore and exhausted, in spite of the + strange excitement that had driven her back. Here she thought she heard + voices—his voice among the rest—calling her, but the same + singular revulsion of feeling hurried her vaguely on again, even while she + experienced a foolish savage delight in not answering the summons. In this + erratic wandering she came upon the spring she had found on her first + entrance in the forest a year ago, and drank feverishly a second time at + its trickling source. She could see that since her first visit it had worn + a great hollow below the tree roots and now formed a shining, placid pool. + As she stooped to look at it, she suddenly observed that it reflected her + whole figure as in a cruel mirror,—her slouched hat and loosened + hair, her coarse and shapeless gown, her hollow cheeks and dry yellow + skin,—in all their hopeless, uncompromising details. She uttered a + quick, angry, half-reproachful cry, and turned again to fly. But she had + not gone far before she came upon the hurrying figures and anxious faces + of the doctor and Hoskins. She stopped, trembling and irresolute. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said the doctor, in a tone of frank relief. “Here you are! I was + getting worried about you. Waya said you had been gone since morning!” He + stopped and looked at her attentively. “Is anything the matter?” + </p> + <p> + His evident concern sent a warm glow over her chilly frame, and yet the + strange sensation remained. “No—no!” she stammered. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Ruysdael turned to Hoskins. “Go back and tell Waya I've found her.” + </p> + <p> + Libby felt that the doctor only wanted to get rid of his companion, and + became awed again. + </p> + <p> + “Has anybody been bothering you?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Have the diggers frightened you?” + </p> + <p> + “No”—with a gesture of contempt. + </p> + <p> + “Have you and Waya quarreled?” + </p> + <p> + “Nary”—with a faint, tremulous smile. + </p> + <p> + He still stared at her, and then dropped his blue eyes musingly. “Are you + lonely here? Would you rather go to San Jose?” + </p> + <p> + Like a flash the figures of the two smartly dressed women started up + before her again, with every detail of their fresh and wholesome finery as + cruelly distinct as had been her own shapeless ugliness in the mirror of + the spring. “No! NO!” she broke out vehemently and passionately. “Never!” + </p> + <p> + He smiled gently. “Look here! I'll send you up some books. You read—don't + you?” She nodded quickly. “Some magazines and papers. Odd I never thought + of it before,” he added half musingly. “Come along to the cabin. And,” he + stopped again and said decisively, “the next time you want anything, don't + wait for me to come, but write.” + </p> + <p> + A few days after he left she received a package of books,—an odd + collection of novels, magazines, and illustrated journals of the period. + She received them eagerly as an evidence of his concern for her, but it is + to be feared that her youthful nature found little satisfaction in the + gratification of fancy. Many of the people she read of were strange to + her; many of the incidents related seemed to her mere lies; some tales + which treated of people in her own sphere she found profoundly + uninteresting. In one of the cheaper magazines she chanced upon a fashion + plate; she glanced eagerly through all the others for a like revelation + until she got a dozen together, when she promptly relegated the remaining + literature to a corner and oblivion. The text accompanying the plates was + in a jargon not always clear, but her instinct supplied the rest. She + dispatched by Hoskins a note to Doctor Ruysdael: “Please send me some + brite kalikers and things for sewing. You told me to ask.” A few days + later brought the response in a good-sized parcel. + </p> + <p> + Yet this did not keep her from her care of the stock nor her rambles in + the forest; she was quick to utilize her rediscovery of the spring for + watering the cattle; it was not so far afield as the half-dried creek in + the canyon, and was a quiet sylvan spot. She ate her frugal midday meal + there and drank of its waters, and, secure in her seclusion, bathed there + and made her rude toilet when the cows were driven home. But she did not + again look into its mirrored surface when it was tranquil! + </p> + <p> + And so a month passed. But when Doctor Ruysdael was again due at the + cabin, a letter was brought by Hoskins, with the news that he was called + away on professional business down the coast, and could not come until two + weeks later. In the disappointment that overcame her, she did not at first + notice that Hoskins was gazing at her with a singular expression, which + was really one of undisguised admiration. Never having seen this before in + the eyes of any man who looked at her, she referred it to some vague + “larking” or jocularity, for which she was in no mood. + </p> + <p> + “Say, Libby! you're gettin' to be a right smart-lookin' gal. Seems to + agree with ye up here,” said Hoskins with an awkward laugh. “Darned ef ye + ain't lookin' awful purty!” + </p> + <p> + “G'long!” said Liberty Jones, more than ever convinced of his badinage. + </p> + <p> + “Fact,” said Hoskins energetically. “Why, Doc would tell ye so, too. See + ef he don't!” + </p> + <p> + At this Liberty Jones felt her face grow hot. “You jess get!” she said, + turning away in as much embarrassment as anger. Yet he hovered near her + with awkward attentions that pleased while it still angered her. He + offered to go with her to look up the cows; she flatly declined, yet with + a strange satisfaction in his evident embarrassment. This may have lent + some animation to her face, for he drew a long breath and said:— + </p> + <p> + “Don't go pertendin' ye don't know yer purty. Say, let me and you walk a + bit and have a talk together.” But Libby had another idea in her mind and + curtly dismissed him. Then she ran swiftly to the spring, for the words + “The Doc will tell ye so, too” were ringing in her ears. The doctor who + came with the two beautifully dressed women! HE—would tell her she + was pretty! She had not dared to look at herself in that crystal mirror + since that dreadful day two months ago. She would now. + </p> + <p> + It was a pretty place in the cool shade of the giant trees, and the + hoof-marks of cattle drinking from the run beneath the pool had not + disturbed the margin of that tranquil sylvan basin. For a moment she stood + tremulous and uncertain, and then going up to the shining mirror, dropped + on her knees before it with her thin red hands clasped on her lap. + Unconsciously she had taken the attitude of prayer; perhaps there was + something like it in her mind. + </p> + <p> + And then the light glanced full on the figure that she saw there! + </p> + <p> + It fell on a full oval face and throat guileless of fleck or stain, smooth + as a child's and glowing with health; on large dark eyes, no longer sunk + in their orbits, but filled with an eager, happy light; on bared arms now + shapely in contour and cushioned with firm flesh; on a dazzling smile, the + like of which had never been on the face of Liberty Jones before! + </p> + <p> + She rose to her feet, and yet lingered as if loath to part from this + delightful vision. Then a fear overcame her that it was some trick of the + water, and she sped swiftly back to the house to consult the little mirror + which hung in her sleeping-room, but which she had never glanced at since + the momentous day of the spring. She took it shyly into the sunshine, and + found that it corroborated the reflection of the spring. That night she + worked until late at the calico Doctor Ruysdael had sent her, and went to + bed happy. The next day brought her Hoskins again with a feeble excuse of + inquiring if she had a letter for the doctor, and she was surprised to + find that he was reinforced by a stranger from Hoskins's farm, who was + equally awkward and vaguely admiring. But the appearance of the TWO men + produced a singular phase in her impressions and experience. She was no + longer indignant at Hoskins, but she found relief in accepting the + compliments of the stranger in preference, and felt a delight in Hoskins's + discomfiture. Waya, promoted to the burlesque of a chaperone, grinned with + infinite delight and understanding. + </p> + <p> + When at last the day came for the doctor's arrival, he was duly met by + Hoskins, and as duly informed by that impressible subordinate of the great + change in Liberty's appearance. But the doctor was far from being equally + impressed with his factor's story, and indeed showed much more interest in + the appearance of the stock which they met along the road. Once the doctor + got out of the wagon to inspect a cow, and particularly the coat of a + rough draught horse that had been turned out and put under Liberty's care. + “His skin is like velvet,” said the doctor. “The girl evidently + understands stock, and knows how to keep them in condition.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon she's beginning to understand herself, too,” said Hoskins. + “Golly! wait till ye see HER.” + </p> + <p> + The doctor DID see her, but with what feelings he did not as frankly + express. She was not at the cabin when they arrived, but presently + appeared from the direction of the spring where, for reasons of her own, + she had evidently made her toilet. Doctor Ruysdael was astounded; + Hoskins's praise was not exaggerated; and there was an added charm that + Hoskins was not prepared for. She had put on a gown of her own making,—the + secret toil of many a long night,—amateurishly fashioned from some + cheap yellow calico the doctor had sent her, yet fitting her wonderfully, + and showing every curve of her graceful figure. Unaccented by a corset,—an + article she had never known,—even the lines of the stiff, unyielding + calico had a fashion that was nymph-like and suited her unfettered limbs. + Doctor Ruysdael was profoundly moved. Though a philosopher, he was + practical. He found himself suddenly confronted not only by a beautiful + girl, but a problem! It was impossible to keep the existence of this + woodland nymph from the knowledge of his distant neighbors; it was equally + impossible for him to assume the responsibility of keeping a goddess like + this in her present position. He had noticed her previous improvement, but + had never dreamed that pure and wholesome living could in two months work + such a miracle. And he was to a certain degree responsible, HE had created + her,—a beautiful Frankenstein, whose lustrous, appealing eyes were + even now menacing his security and position. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps she saw trouble and perplexity in the face where she had expected + admiration and pleasure, for a slight chill went over her as he quickly + praised the appearance of the stock and spoke of her own improvement. But + when they were alone, he turned to her abruptly. + </p> + <p> + “You said you had no wish to go to San Jose?” + </p> + <p> + “No.” Yet she was conscious that her greatest objection had been removed, + and she colored faintly. + </p> + <p> + “Listen to me,” he said dryly. “You deserve a better position than this,—a + better home and surroundings than you have here. You are older, too,—a + woman almost,—and you must look ahead.” + </p> + <p> + A look of mingled fright, reproach, and appeal came into her eloquent + face. “Yer wantin' to send me away?” she stammered. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he said frankly. “It is you who are GROWING away. This is no longer + the place for you.” + </p> + <p> + “But I want to stay. I don't wanter go. I am—I WAS happy here.” + </p> + <p> + “But I'm thinking of giving up this place. It takes up too much of my + time. You must be provided”— + </p> + <p> + “YOU are going away?” she said passionately. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Take me with you. I'll go anywhere!—to San Jose—-wherever you + go. Don't turn me off as dad did, for I'll foller you as I never followed + dad. I'll go with you—or I'll die!” + </p> + <p> + There was neither fear nor shame in her words; it was the outspoken + instinct of the animal he had been rearing; he was convinced and appalled + by it. + </p> + <p> + “I am returning to San Jose at once,” he said gravely. “You shall go with + me—FOR THE PRESENT! Get yourself ready!” + </p> + <p> + He took her to San Jose, and temporarily to the house of a patient,—a + widow lady,—while he tried, alone, to grapple with the problem that + now confronted him. But that problem became more complicated at the end of + the third day, by Liberty Jones falling suddenly and alarmingly ill. The + symptoms were so grave that the doctor, in his anxiety, called in a + brother physician in consultation. When the examination was over, the two + men withdrew and stared at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Of course there is no doubt that the symptoms all point to slow arsenical + poisoning,” said the consulting doctor. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Ruysdael quickly, “yet it is utterly inexplicable, both as to + motive and opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + “Humph!” said the other grimly, “young ladies take arsenic in minute doses + to improve the complexion and promote tissue, forgetting that the effects + are cumulative when they stop suddenly. Your young friend has 'sworn off' + too quickly.” + </p> + <p> + “But it is impossible,” said Doctor Ruysdael impatiently. “She is a mere + child—a country girl—ignorant of such habits.” + </p> + <p> + “Humph! the peasants in the Tyrol try it on themselves after noticing the + effect on the coats of cattle.” + </p> + <p> + Doctor Ruysdael started. A recollection of the sleek draught horse flashed + upon him. He rose and hastily re-entered the patient's room. In a few + moments he returned. “Do you think I could remove her at once to the + mountains?” he said gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with care and a return to graduated doses of the same poison; you + know it's the only remedy just now,” answered the other. + </p> + <p> + By noon the next day the doctor and his patient had returned to the cabin, + but Ruysdael himself carried the helpless Liberty Jones to the spring and + deposited her gently beside it. “You may drink now,” he said gravely. + </p> + <p> + The girl did so eagerly, apparently imbibing new strength from the + sparkling water. The doctor meanwhile coolly filled a phial from the same + source, and made a hasty test of the contents by the aid of some other + phials from his case. The result seemed to satisfy him. Then he said + gravely: + </p> + <p> + “And THIS is the spring you had discovered?” + </p> + <p> + The girl nodded. + </p> + <p> + “And you and the cattle have daily used it?” + </p> + <p> + She nodded again wonderingly. Then she caught his hand appealingly. + </p> + <p> + “You won't send me away?” + </p> + <p> + He smiled oddly as he glanced from the waters of the hill to the brimming + eyes. “No.” + </p> + <p> + “No-r,” tremulously, “go away—yourself?” + </p> + <p> + The doctor looked this time only into her eyes. There was a tremendous + idea in his own, which seemed in some way to have solved that dreadful + problem. + </p> + <p> + “No! We will stay here TOGETHER.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Six months later there was a paragraph in the San Francisco press: “The + wonderful Arsenical Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountain, known as 'Liberty + Spring,' discovered by Doctor Ruysdael, has proved such a remarkable + success that we understand the temporary huts for patients are to be + shortly replaced by a magnificent Spa Hotel worthy of the spot, and the + eligible villa sites it has brought into the market. It will be a source + of pleasure to all to know that the beautiful nymph—a worthy + successor to the far-famed 'Elise' of the German 'Brunnen'—who has + administered the waters to so many grateful patients will still be in + attendance, although it is rumored that she is shortly to become the wife + of the distinguished discoverer.” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other +Stories, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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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: Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other Stories + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #2556] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson and an Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + + +By Bret Harte + + + +From: "ARGONAUT EDITION" OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 12. + +P. F. COLLIER & SON + +NEW YORK + + + +CONTENTS + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + +THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + +AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + +DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + +WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT "JULES'" + +THE BOOM IN THE "CALAVERAS CLARION" + +THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + +LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + + + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + + +At nightfall it began to rain. The wind arose too, and also began to +buffet a small, struggling, nondescript figure, creeping along the trail +over the rocky upland meadow towards Rylands's rancho. At times its +head was hidden in what appeared to be wings thrown upward from its +shoulders; at times its broad-brimmed hat was cocked jauntily on one +side, and again the brim was fixed over the face like a visor. At one +moment a drifting misshapen mass of drapery, at the next its vague +garments, beaten back hard against the figure, revealed outlines far too +delicate for that rude enwrapping. For it was Mrs. Rylands herself, +in her husband's hat and her "hired man's" old blue army overcoat, +returning from the post-office two miles away. The wind continued its +aggression until she reached the front door of her newly plastered +farmhouse, and then a heavier blast shook the pines above the +low-pitched, shingled roof, and sent a shower of arrowy drops after her +like a Parthian parting, as she entered. She threw aside the overcoat +and hat, and somewhat inconsistently entered the sitting-room, to walk +to the window and look back upon the path she had just traversed. The +wind and the rain swept down a slope, half meadow, half clearing,--a +mile away,--to a fringe of sycamores. A mile further lay the stage road, +where, three hours later, her husband would alight on his return from +Sacramento. It would be a long wet walk for Joshua Rylands, as their +only horse had been borrowed by a neighbor. + +In that fading light Mrs. Rylands's oval cheek was shining still from +the raindrops, but there was something in the expression of her worried +face that might have as readily suggested tears. She was strikingly +handsome, yet quite as incongruous an ornament to her surroundings as +she had been to her outer wrappings a moment ago. Even the clothes she +now stood in hinted an inadaptibility to the weather--the house--the +position she occupied in it. A figured silk dress, spoiled rather than +overworn, was still of a quality inconsistent with her evident habits, +and the lace-edged petticoat that peeped beneath it was draggled with +mud and unaccustomed usage. Her glossy black hair, which had been tossed +into curls in some foreign fashion, was now wind-blown into a burlesque +of it. This incongruity was still further accented by the appearance of +the room she had entered. It was coldly and severely furnished, making +the chill of the yet damp white plaster unpleasantly obvious. A black +harmonium organ stood in one corner, set out with black and white +hymn-books; a trestle-like table contained a large Bible; half a dozen +black, horsehair-cushioned chairs stood, geometrically distant, against +the walls, from which hung four engravings of "Paradise Lost" in black +mourning frames; some dried ferns and autumn leaves stood in a vase on +the mantelpiece, as if the chill of the room had prematurely blighted +them. The coldly glittering grate below was also decorated with withered +sprays, as if an attempt had been made to burn them, but was frustrated +through damp. Suddenly recalled to a sense of her wet boots and the +new carpet, she hurriedly turned away, crossed the hall into the +dining-room, and thence passed into the kitchen. The "hired girl," a +large-boned Missourian, a daughter of a neighboring woodman, was peeling +potatoes at the table. Mrs. Rylands drew a chair before the kitchen +stove, and put her wet feet on the hob. + +"I'll bet a cooky, Mess Rylands, you've done forgot the vanillar," said +the girl, with a certain domestic and confidential familiarity. + +Mrs. Rylands started guiltily. She made a miserable feint of looking in +her lap and on the table. "I'm afraid I did, Jane, if I didn't bring it +in HERE." + +"That you didn't," returned Jane. "And I reckon ye forgot that 'ar +pepper-sauce for yer husband." + +Mrs. Rylands looked up with piteous contrition. "I really don't know +what's the matter with me. I certainly went into the shop, and had it on +my list,--and--really"-- + +Jane evidently knew her mistress, and smiled with superior toleration. +"It's kinder bewilderin' goin' in them big shops, and lookin' round them +stuffed shelves." The shop at the cross roads and post-office was 14 +x 14, but Jane was nurtured on the plains. "Anyhow," she added +good-humoredly, "the expressman is sure to look in as he goes by, and +you've time to give him the order." + +"But is he SURE to come?" asked Mrs. Rylands anxiously. "Mr. Rylands +will be so put out without his pepper-sauce." + +"He's sure to come ef he knows you're here. Ye kin always kalkilate on +that." + +"Why?" said Mrs. Rylands abstractedly. + +"Why? 'cause he just can't keep his eyes off ye! That's why he comes +every day,--'tain't jest for trade!" + +This was quite true, not only of the expressman, but of the butcher +and baker, and the "candlestick-maker," had there been so advanced a +vocation at the cross roads. All were equally and curiously attracted +by her picturesque novelty. Mrs. Rylands knew this herself, but without +vanity or coquettishness. Possibly that was why the other woman told +her. She only slightly deepened the lines of discontent in her cheek and +said abstractedly, "Well, when he comes, YOU ask him." + +She dried her shoes, put on a pair of slippers that had a faded splendor +about them, and went up to her bedroom. Here she hesitated for some time +between the sewing-machine and her knitting-needles, but finally settled +upon the latter, and a pair of socks for her husband which she had begun +a year ago. But she presently despaired of finishing them before +he returned, three hours hence, and so applied herself to the +sewing-machine. For a little while its singing hum was heard between the +blasts that shook the house, but the thread presently snapped, and the +machine was put aside somewhat impatiently, with a discontented drawing +of the lines around her handsome mouth. Then she began to "tidy" the +room, putting a great many things away and bringing out a great many +more, a process that was necessarily slow, owing to her falling into +attitudes of minute inspection of certain articles of dress, with +intervals of trying them on, and observing their effect in her mirror. +This kind of interruption also occurred while she was putting away some +books that were lying about on chairs and tables, stopping midway to +open their pages, becoming interested, and quite finishing one chapter, +with the book held close against the window to catch the fading light of +day. The feminine reader will gather from this that Mrs. Rylands, though +charming, was not facile in domestic duties. She had just glanced at the +clock, and lit the candle to again set herself to work, and thus bridge +over the two hours more of waiting, when there came a tap at the door. +She opened it to Jane. + +"There's an entire stranger downstairs, ez hez got a lame hoss and wants +to borry a fresh one." + +"We have none, you know," said Mrs. Rylands, a little impatiently. + +"Thet's what I told him. Then he wanted to know ef he could lie by here +till he could get one or fix up his own hoss." + +"As you like; you know if you can manage it," said Mrs. Rylands, a +little uneasily. "When Mr. Rylands comes you can arrange it between you. +Where is he now?" + +"In the kitchen." + +"The kitchen!" echoed Mrs. Rylands. + +"Yes, ma'am, I showed him into the parlor, but he kinder shivered his +shoulders, and reckoned ez how he'd go inter the kitchen. Ye see, ma'am, +he was all wet, and his shiny big boots was sloppy. But he ain't one o' +the stuck-up kind, and he's willin' to make hisself cowf'ble before the +kitchen stove." + +"Well, then, he don't want ME," said Mrs. Rylands, with a relieved +voice. + +"Yes'm," said Jane, apparently equally relieved. "Only, I thought I'd +just tell you." + +A few minutes later, in crossing the upper hall, Mrs. Rylands heard +Jane's voice from the kitchen raised in rustic laughter. Had she been +satirically inclined, she might have understood Jane's willingness to +relieve her mistress of the duty of entertaining the stranger; had +she been philosophical, she might have considered the girl's dreary, +monotonous life at the rancho, and made allowance for her joy at this +rare interruption of it. But I fear that Mrs. Rylands was neither +satirical nor philosophical, and presently, when Jane reentered, with +color in her alkaline face, and light in her huckleberry eyes, and said +she was going over to the cattle-sheds in the "far pasture," to see +if the hired man didn't know of some horse that could be got for the +stranger, Mrs. Rylands felt a little bitterness in the thought that the +girl would have scarcely volunteered to go all that distance in the rain +for HER. Yet, in a few moments she forgot all about it, and even the +presence of her guest in the house, and in one of her fitful abstracted +employments passed through the dining-room into the kitchen, and had +opened the door with an "Oh, Jane!" before she remembered her absence. + +The kitchen, lit by a single candle, could be only partly seen by her +as she stood with her hand on the lock, although she herself was plainly +visible. There was a pause, and then a quiet, self-possessed, yet +amused, voice answered:-- + +"My name isn't Jane, and if you're the lady of the house, I reckon yours +wasn't ALWAYS Rylands." + +At the sound of the voice Mrs. Rylands threw the door wide open, and as +her eyes fell upon the speaker--her unknown guest--she recoiled with a +little cry, and a white, startled face. Yet the stranger was young and +handsome, dressed with a scrupulousness and elegance which even the +stress of travel had not deranged, and he was looking at her with +a smile of recognition, mingled with that careless audacity and +self-possession which seemed to be the characteristic of his face. + +"Jack Hamlin!" she gasped. + +"That's me, all the time," he responded easily, "and YOU'RE Nell +Montgomery!" + +"How did you know I was here? Who told you?" she said impetuously. + +"Nobody! never was so surprised in my life! When you opened that door +just now you might have knocked me down with a feather." Yet he spoke +lazily, with an amused face, and looked at her without changing his +position. + +"But you MUST have known SOMETHING! It was no mere accident," she went +on vehemently, glancing around the room. + +"That's where you slip up, Nell," said Hamlin imperturbably. "It WAS an +accident and a bad one. My horse lamed himself coming down the grade. I +sighted the nearest shanty, where I thought I might get another horse. +It happened to be this." For the first time he changed his attitude, and +leaned back contemplatively in his chair. + +She came towards him quickly. "You didn't use to lie, Jack," she said +hesitatingly. + +"Couldn't afford it in my business,--and can't now," said Jack +cheerfully. "But," he added curiously, as if recognizing something in +his companion's agitation, and lifting his brown lashes to her, the +window, and the ceiling, "what's all this about? What's your little game +here?" + +"I'm married," she said, with nervous intensity,--"married, and this is +my husband's house!" + +"Not married straight out!--regularly fixed?" + +"Yes," she said hurriedly. + +"One of the boys? Don't remember any Rylands. SPELTER used to be very +sweet on you,--but Spelter mightn't have been his real name?" + +"None of our lot! No one you ever knew; a--a straight out, square man," +she said quickly. + +"I say, Nell, look here! You ought to have shown up your cards without +even a call. You ought to have told him that you danced at the Casino." + +"I did." + +"Before he asked you to marry him?" + +"Before." + +Jack got up from his chair, put his hands in his pockets, and looked +at her curiously. This Nell Montgomery, this music-hall "dance and song +girl," this girl of whom so much had been SAID and so little PROVED! +Well, this was becoming interesting. + +"You don't understand," she said, with nervous feverishness; "you +remember after that row I had with Jim, that night the manager gave us a +supper,--when he treated me like a dog?" + +"He did that," interrupted Jack. + +"I felt fit for anything," she said, with a half-hysterical laugh, that +seemed voiced, however, to check some slumbering memory. "I'd have cut +my throat or his, it didn't matter which"-- + +"It mattered something to us, Nell," put in Jack again, with polite +parenthesis; "don't leave US out in the cold." + +"I started from 'Frisco that night on the boat ready to fling myself +into anything--or the river!" she went on hurriedly. "There was a man +in the cabin who noticed me, and began to hang around. I thought he +knew who I was,--had seen me on the posters; and as I didn't feel like +foolin', I told him so. But he wasn't that kind. He said he saw I was in +trouble and wanted me to tell him all." + +Mr. Hamlin regarded her cheerfully. "And you told him," he said, "how +you had once run away from your childhood's happy home to go on the +stage! How you always regretted it, and would have gone back but that +the doors were shut forever against you! How you longed to leave, but +the wicked men and women around you always"-- + +"I didn't!" she burst out, with sudden passion; "you know I didn't. I +told him everything: who I was, what I had done, what I expected to do +again. I pointed out the men--who were sitting there, whispering and +grinning at us, as if they were in the front row of the theatre--and +said I knew them all, and they knew me. I never spared myself a thing. +I said what people said of me, and didn't even care to say it wasn't +true!" + +"Oh, come!" protested Jack, in perfunctory politeness. + +"He said he liked me for telling the truth, and not being ashamed to do +it! He said the sin was in the false shame and the hypocrisy; for that's +the sort of man he is, you see, and that's like him always! He asked if +I would marry him--out of hand--and do my best to be his lawful wife. +He said he wanted me to think it over and sleep on it, and to-morrow he +would come and see me for an answer. I slipped off the boat at 'Frisco, +and went alone to a hotel where I wasn't known. In the morning I didn't +know whether he'd keep his word or I'd keep mine. But he came! He said +he'd marry me that very day, and take me to his farm in Santa Clara. +I agreed. I thought it would take me out of everybody's knowledge, +and they'd think me dead! We were married that day, before a regular +clergyman. I was married under my own name,"--she stopped and looked +at Jack, with a hysterical laugh,--"but he made me write underneath it, +'known as Nell Montgomery;' for he said HE wasn't ashamed of it, nor +should I be." + +"Does he wear long hair and stick straws in it?" said Hamlin gravely. +"Does he 'hear voices' and have 'visions'?" + +"He's a shrewd, sensible, hard-working man,--no more mad than you are, +nor as mad as I was the day I married him. He's lived up to everything +he's said." She stopped, hesitated in her quick, nervous speech; her lip +quivered slightly, but she recalled herself, and looking imploringly, +yet hopelessly, at Jack, gasped, "And that's what's the matter!" + +Jack fixed his eyes keenly upon her. "And you?" he said curtly. + +"I?" she repeated wonderingly. + +"Yes, what have YOU done?" he said, with sudden sharpness. + +The wonder was so apparent in her eyes that his keen glance softened. +"Why," she said bewilderingly, "I have been his dog, his slave,--as far +as he would let me. I have done everything; I have not been out of the +house until he almost drove me out. I have never wanted to go anywhere +or see any one; but he has always insisted upon it. I would have been +willing to slave here, day and night, and have been happy. But he said +I must not seem to be ashamed of my past, when he is not. I would have +worn common homespun clothes and calico frocks, and been glad of it, but +he insists upon my wearing my best things, even my theatre things; and +as he can't afford to buy more, I wear these things I had. I know they +look beastly here, and that I'm a laughing-stock, and when I go out +I wear almost anything to try and hide them; but," her lip quivered +dangerously again, "he wants me to do it, and it pleases him." + +Jack looked down. After a pause he lifted his lashes towards her +draggled skirt, and said in an easier, conversational tone, "Yes! I +thought I knew that dress. I gave it to you for that walking scene in +'High Life,' didn't I?" + +"No," she said quickly, "it was the blue one with silver +trimming,--don't you remember? I tried to turn it the first year I was +married, but it never looked the same." + +"It was sweetly pretty," said Jack encouragingly, "and with that blue +hat lined with silver, it was just fetching! Somehow I don't quite +remember this one," and he looked at it critically. + +"I had it at the races in '58, and that supper Judge Boompointer gave us +at 'Frisco where Colonel Fish upset the table trying to get at Jim. Do +you know," she said, with a little laugh, "it's got the stains of the +champagne on it yet; it never would come off. See!" and she held the +candle with great animation to the breadth of silk before her. + +"And there's more of it on the sleeve," said Jack; "isn't there?" + +Mrs. Rylands looked reproachfully at Jack. + +"That isn't champagne; don't you know what it is?" + +"No!" + +"It's blood," she said gravely; "when that Mexican cut poor Ned so +bad,--don't you remember? I held his head upon my arm while you bandaged +him." She heaved a little sigh, and then added, with a faint laugh, +"That's the worst thing about the clothes of a girl in the profession, +they get spoiled or stained before they wear out." + +This large truth did not seem to impress Mr. Hamlin. "Why did you leave +Santa Clara?" he said abruptly, in his previous critical tone. + +"Because of the folks there. They were standoffish and ugly. You see, +Josh"-- + +"Who?" + +"Josh Rylands!--HIM! He told everybody who I was, even those who had +never seen me in the bills,--how good I was to marry him, how he had +faith in me and wasn't ashamed,--until they didn't believe we were +married at all. So they looked another way when they met us, and didn't +call. And all the while I was glad they didn't, but he wouldn't believe +it, and allowed I was pining on account of it." + +"And were you?" + +"I swear to God, Jack, I'd have been content, and more, to have been +just there with him, seein' nobody, letting every one believe I was dead +and gone, but he said it was wrong, and weak! Maybe it was," she added, +with a shy, interrogating look at Jack, of which, however, he took no +notice. "Then when he found they wouldn't call, what do you think he +did?" + +"Beat you, perhaps," suggested Jack cheerfully. + +"He never did a thing to me that wasn't straight out, square, and kind," +she said, half indignantly, half hopelessly. "He thought if HIS kind +of people wouldn't see me, I might like to see my own sort. So without +saying anything to me, he brought down, of all things! Tinkie Clifford, +she that used to dance in the cheap variety shows at 'Frisco, and her +particular friend, Captain Sykes. It would have just killed you, Jack," +she said, with a sudden hysteric burst of laughter, "to have seen Josh, +in his square, straight-out way, trying to be civil and help things +along. But," she went on, as suddenly relapsing into her former attitude +of worried appeal, "I couldn't stand it, and when she got to talking +free and easy before Josh, and Captain Sykes to guzzling champagne, +she and me had a row. She allowed I was putting on airs, and I made her +walk, in spite of Josh." + +"And Josh seemed to like it," said Hamlin carelessly. "Has he seen her +since?" + +"No; I reckon he's cured of asking that kind of company for me. And then +we came here. But I persuaded him not to begin by going round telling +people who I was,--as he did the last time,--but to leave it to folks to +find out if they wanted to, and he gave in. Then he let me fix up this +house and furnish it my own way, and I did!" + +"Do you mean to say that YOU fixed up that family vault of a +sitting-room?" said Jack, in horror. + +"Yes, I didn't want any fancy furniture or looking-glasses, and such +like, to attract folks, nor anything to look like the old times. I don't +think any of the boys would care to come here. And I got rid of a lot of +sporting travelers, 'wild-cat' managers, and that kind of tramp in this +way. But"--She hesitated, and her face fell again. + +"But what?" said Jack. + +"I don't think that Josh likes it either. He brought home the other day +'My Johnny is a Shoemakiyure,' and wanted me to try it on the organ. But +it reminded me how we used to get just sick of singing it on and off the +boards, and I couldn't touch it. He wanted me to go to the circus that +was touring over at the cross roads, but it was the old Flanigin's +circus, you know, the one Gussie Riggs used to ride in, with its old +clown and its old ringmaster and the old 'wheezes,' and I chucked it." + +"Look here," said Jack, rising and surveying Mrs. Rylands critically. +"If you go on at this gait, I'll tell you what that man of yours will +do. He'll bolt with some of your old friends!" + +She turned a quick, scared face upon him for an instant. But only for +an instant. Her hysteric little laugh returned, at once, followed by her +weary, worried look. "No, Jack, you don't know him! If it was only that! +He cares only for me in his own way,--and," she stammered as she went +on, "I've no luck in making him happy." + +She stopped. The wind shook the house and fired a volley of rain +against the windows. She took advantage of it to draw a torn lace-edged +handkerchief from her pocket behind, and keeping the tail of her eyes in +a frightened fashion on Jack, applied the handkerchief furtively, first +to her nose, and then to her eyes. + +"Don't do that," said Jack fastidiously, "it's wet enough outside." +Nevertheless, he stood up and gazed at her. + +"Well," he began. + +She timidly drew nearer to him, and took a seat on the kitchen table, +looking up wistfully into his eyes. + +"Well," resumed Jack argumentatively, "if he won't 'chuck' you, why +don't you 'chuck' HIM?" + +She turned quite white, and suddenly dropped her eyes. "Yes," she said, +almost inaudibly, "lots of girls would do that." + +"I don't mean go back to your old life," continued Jack. "I reckon +you've had enough of that. But get into some business, you know, like +other women. A bonnet shop, or a candy shop for children, see? I'll +help start you. I've got a couple of hundred, if not in my own pocket +in somebody's else, just burning to be used! And then you can look about +you; and perhaps some square business man will turn up and you can marry +him. You know you can't live this way, nohow. It's killing you; it ain't +fair on you, nor on Rylands either." + +"No," she said quickly, "it ain't fair on HIM. I know it, I know it +isn't, I know it isn't," she repeated, "only"--She stopped. + +"Only what?" said Jack impatiently. + +She did not speak. After a pause she picked up the rolling-pin from +the table and began absently rolling it down her lap to her knee, as +if pressing out the stained silk skirt. "Only," she stammered, slowly +rolling the pin handles in her open palms, "I--I can't leave Josh." + +"Why can't you?" said Jack quickly. + +"Because--because--I," she went on, with a quivering lip, working the +rolling-pin heavily down her knee as if she were crushing her answer out +of it,--"because--I--love him!" + +There was a pause, a dash of rain against the window, and another dash +from her eyes upon her hands, the rolling-pin, and the skirts she had +gathered up hastily, as she cried, "O Jack! Jack! I never loved anybody +like him! I never knew what love was! I never knew a man like him +before! There never WAS one before!" + +To this large, comprehensive, and passionate statement Mr. Jack Hamlin +made no reply. An audacity so supreme had conquered his. He walked to +the window, looked out upon the dark, rain-filmed pane that, however, +reflected no equal change in his own dark eyes, and then returned and +walked round the kitchen table. When he was at her back, without looking +at her, he reached out his hand, took her passive one that lay on the +table in his, grasped it heartily for a single moment, laid it gently +down, and returned around the table, where he again confronted her +cheerfully face to face. + +"You'll make the riffle yet," he said quietly. "Just now I don't see +what I could do, or where I could chip in your little game; but if I DO, +or you do, count me in and let me know. You know where to write,--my old +address at Sacramento." He walked to the corner, took up his still wet +serape, threw it over his shoulders, and picked up his broad-brimmed +riding-hat. + +"You're not going, Jack?" she said hesitatingly, as she rubbed her wet +eyes into a consciousness of his movements. "You'll wait to see HIM? +He'll be here in an hour." + +"I've been here too long already," said Jack. "And the less you say +about my calling, even accidentally, the better. Nobody will believe +it,--YOU didn't yourself. In fact, unless you see how I can help you, +the sooner you consider us all dead and buried, the sooner your luck +will change. Tell your girl I've found my own horse so much better that +I have pushed on with him, and give her that." + +He threw a gold coin on the table. + +"But your horse is still lame," she said wonderingly. "What will you do +in this storm?" + +"Get into the cover of the next wood and camp out. I've done it before." + +"But, Jack!" + +He suddenly made a slight gesture of warning. His quick ear had caught +the approach of footsteps along the wet gravel outside. A mischievous +light slid into his dark eyes as he coolly moved backward to the door +and, holding it open, said, in a remarkably clear and distinct voice:-- + +"Yes, as you say, society is becoming very mixed and frivolous +everywhere, and you'd scarcely know San Francisco now. So delighted, +however, to have made your acquaintance, and regret my business prevents +my waiting to see your good husband. So odd that I should have known +your Aunt Jemima! But, as you say, the world is very small, after all. I +shall tell the deacon how well you are looking,--in spite of the kitchen +smoke in your eyes. Good-by! A thousand thanks for your hospitality." + +And Jack, bowing profoundly to the ground, backed out upon Jane, the +hired man, and the expressman, treading, I grieve to say, with some +deliberation upon the toes of the two latter, in order, possibly, that +in their momentary pain and discomposure they might not scan too closely +the face of this ingenious gentleman, as he melted into the night and +the storm. + +Jane entered, with a slight toss of her head. + +"Here's your expressman,--ef you're wantin' him NOW." + +Mrs. Rylands was too preoccupied to notice her handmaiden's significant +emphasis, as she indicated a fresh-looking, bashful young fellow, whose +confusion was evidently heightened by the unexpected egress of Mr. +Hamlin, and the point-blank presence of the handsome Mrs. Rylands. + +"Oh, certainly," said Mrs. Rylands quickly. "So kind of him to oblige +us. Give him the order, Jane, please." + +She turned to escape from the kitchen and these new intruders, when her +eye fell upon the coin left by Mr. Hamlin. "The gentleman wished you to +take that for your trouble, Jane," she said hastily, pointing to it, and +passed out. + +Jane cast a withering look after her retreating skirts, and picking the +coin from the table, turned to the hired man. "Run to the stable after +that dandified young feller, Dick, and hand that back to him. Ye kin say +that Jane Mackinnon don't run arrants fur money, nor play gooseberry to +other folks fur fun." + + +PART II + + +Mr. Joshua Rylands had, according to the vocabulary of his class, "found +grace" at the age of sixteen, while still in the spiritual state of +"original sin" and the political one of Missouri. He had not indeed +found it by persistent youthful seeking or spiritual insight, but +somewhat violently and turbulently at a camp-meeting. A village boy, +naturally gentle and impressible, with an original character,--limited, +however, in education and experience,--he had, after his first rustic +debauch with some vulgar companions, fallen upon the camp-meeting in +reckless audacity; and instead of being handed over to the district +constable, was taken in and placed upon "the anxious bench," "rastled +with," and exhorted by a strong revivalist preacher, "convicted of sin," +and--converted! It is doubtful if the shame of a public arrest and legal +punishment would have impressed his youthful spirit as much as did this +spiritual examination and trial, in which he himself became accuser. +Howbeit, its effect, though punitive, was also exemplary. He at once +cast off his evil companions; remaining faithful to his conversion, in +spite of their later "backslidings." When, after the Western fashion, +the time came for him to forsake his father's farm and seek a new +"quarter section" on some more remote frontier, he carried into that +secluded, lonely, half-monkish celibacy of pioneer life--which has been +the foundation of so much strong Western character--more than the usual +religious feeling. At once industrious and adventurous, he lived by "the +Word," as he called it, and Nature as he knew it,--tempted by none of +the vices or sentiments of civilization. When he finally joined the +Californian emigration, it was not as a gold-seeker, but as a discoverer +of new agricultural fields; if the hardship was as great and the rewards +fewer, he nevertheless knew that he retained his safer isolation and +independence of spirit. Vice and civilization were to him synonymous +terms; it was the natural condition of the worldly and unregenerate. +Such was the man who chanced to meet "Nell Montgomery, the Pearl of the +Variety Stage," on the Sacramento boat, in one of his forced visits +to civilization. Without knowing her in her profession, her frank +exposition of herself did not startle him; he recognized it, accepted +it, and strove to convert it. And as long as this daughter of Folly +forsook her evil ways for him, it was a triumph in which there was no +shame, and might be proclaimed from the housetop. When his neighbors +thought differently, and avoided them, he saw no inconsistency in +bringing his wife's old friends to divert her: she might in time convert +THEM. He had no more fear of her returning to their ways than he had +of himself "backsliding." Narrow as was his creed, he had none of the +harshness nor pessimism of the bigot. With the keenest self-scrutiny, +his credulity regarding others was touching. + +The storm was still raging when he alighted that evening from the up +coach at the trail nearest his house. Although incumbered with a +heavy carpet-bag, he started resignedly on his two-mile tramp without +begrudging the neighborly act of his wife which had deprived him of +his horse. It was "like her" to do these things in her good-humored +abstraction, an abstraction, however, that sometimes worried him, from +the fear that it indicated some unhappiness with her present lot. He was +longing to rejoin her after his absence of three days, the longest time +they had been separated since their marriage, and he hurried on with +a certain lover-like excitement, quite new to his usually calm and +temperate blood. + +Struggling with the storm and darkness, but always with the happy +consciousness of drawing nearer to her in that struggle, he labored on, +finding his perilous way over the indistinguishable trail by certain +landmarks in the distance, visible only to his pioneer eye. That heavier +shadow to the right was not the hillside, but the SLOPE to the distant +hill; that low, regular line immediately before him was not a fence or +wall, but the line of distant gigantic woods, a mile from his home. Yet +as he began to descend the slope towards the wood, he stopped and rubbed +his eyes. There was distinctly a light in it. His first idea was that he +had lost the trail and was nearing the woodman Mackinnon's cabin. But a +more careful scrutiny revealed to him that it was really the wood, and +the light was a camp-fire. It was a rough night for camping out, but +they were probably some belated prospectors. + +When he had reached the fringe of woodland, he could see quite plainly +that the fire was built beside one of the large pines, and that the +little encampment, which looked quite comfortable and secluded from the +storm-beaten trail, was occupied apparently by a single figure. By the +good glow of the leaping fire, that figure standing erect before it, +elegantly shaped, in the graceful folds of a serape, looked singularly +romantic and picturesque, and reminded Joshua Rylands--whose ideas of +art were purely reminiscent of boyish reading--of some picture in a +novel. The heavy black columns of the pines, glancing out of the concave +shadow, also seemed a fitting background to what might have been a scene +in a play. So strongly was he impressed by it that but for his anxiety +to reach his home, still a mile distant, and the fact that he was +already late, he would have penetrated the wood and the seclusion of the +stranger with an offer of hospitality for the night. The man, however, +was evidently capable of taking care of himself, and the outline of a +tethered horse was faintly visible under another tree. It might be +a surveyor or engineer,--the only men of a better class who were +itinerant. + +But another and even greater surprise greeted him as he toiled up the +rocky slope towards his farmhouse. The windows of the sitting-room, +which were usually blank and black by night, were glittering with +unfamiliar light. Like most farmers, he seldom used the room except for +formal company, his wife usually avoiding it, and even he himself now +preferred the dining-room or the kitchen. His first suggestion that his +wife had visitors gave him a sense of pleasure on her account, mingled, +however, with a slight uneasiness of his own which he could not account +for. More than that, as he approached nearer he could hear the swell of +the organ above the roar of the swaying pines, and the cadences were +not of a devotional character. He hesitated for a moment, as he had +hesitated at the fire in the woods; yet it was surely his own house! He +hurried to the door, opened it; not only the light of the sitting-room +streamed into the hall, but the ruddier glow of an actual fire in the +disused grate! The familiar dark furniture had been rearranged to catch +some of the glow and relieve its sombreness. And his wife, rising from +the music-stool, was the room's only occupant! + +Mrs. Rylands gazed anxiously and timidly at her husband's astonished +face, as he threw off his waterproof and laid down his carpet-bag. Her +own face was a little flurried with excitement, and his, half hidden in +his tawny beard, and, possibly owing to his self-introspective nature, +never spontaneously sympathetic, still expressed only wonder! Mrs. +Rylands was a little frightened. It is sometimes dangerous to meddle +with a man's habits, even when he has grown weary of them. + +"I thought," she began hesitatingly, "that it would be more cheerful for +you in here, this stormy evening. I thought you might like to put your +wet things to dry in the kitchen, and we could sit here together, after +supper, alone." + +I am afraid that Mrs. Rylands did not offer all her thoughts. Ever +since Mr. Hamlin's departure she had been uneasy and excited, sometimes +falling into fits of dejection, and again lighting up into hysterical +levity; at other times carefully examining her wardrobe, and then with a +sudden impulse rushing downstairs again to give orders for her husband's +supper, and to make the extraordinary changes in the sitting-room +already noted. Only a few moments before he arrived, she had covertly +brought down a piece of music, and put aside the hymn-books, and taken, +with a little laugh, a pack of cards from her pocket, which she placed +behind the already dismantled vase on the chimney. + +"I reckoned you had company, Ellen," he said gravely, kissing her. + +"No," she said quickly. "That is," she stopped with a sudden surge of +color in her face that startled her, "there was--a man--here, in the +kitchen--who had a lame horse, and who wanted to get a fresh one. But +he went away an hour ago. And he wasn't in this room--at least, after it +was fixed up. So I've had no company." + +She felt herself again blushing at having blushed, and a little +terrified. There was no reason for it. But for Jack's warning, she would +have been quite ready to tell her husband all. She had never blushed +before him over her past life; why she should now blush over seeing +Jack, of all people! made her utter a little hysterical laugh. I am +afraid that this experienced little woman took it for granted that her +husband knew that if Jack or any man had been there as a clandestine +lover, she would not have blushed at all. Yet with all her experience, +she did not know that she had blushed simply because it was to Jack that +she had confessed that she loved the man before her. Her husband noted +the blush as part of her general excitement. He permitted her to drag +him into the room and seat him before the hearth, where she sank down on +one knee to pull off his heavy rubber boots. But he waved her aside at +this, pulled them off with his own hands, and let her take them to the +kitchen and bring back his slippers. By this time a smile had lighted +up his hard face. The room was certainly more comfortable and cheerful. +Still he was a little worried; was there not in these changes a falling +away from the grace of self-abnegation which she had so sedulously +practiced? + +When supper was served by Jane, in the dull dining-room, Mr. Rylands, +had he not been more engaged in these late domestic changes, might +have noticed that the Missouri girl waited upon him with a certain +commiserating air that was remarkable by its contrast with the frigid +ceremonious politeness with which she attended her mistress. It had not +escaped Mrs. Rylands, however, who ever since Jack's abrupt departure +had noticed this change in the girl's demeanor to herself, and with +a woman's intuitive insight of another woman, had fathomed it. The +comfortable tete-a-tete with Jack, which Jane had looked forward to, +Mrs. Rylands had anticipated herself, and then sent him off! When Joshua +thanked his wife for remembering the pepper-sauce, and Mrs. Rylands +pathetically admitted her forgetfulness, the head-toss which Jane +gave as she left the room was too marked to be overlooked by him. Mrs. +Rylands gave a hysterical little laugh. "I am afraid Jane doesn't like +my sending away the expressman just after I had also dismissed the +stranger whom she had taken a fancy to, and left her without company," +she said unwisely. + +Mr. Rylands did not laugh. "I reckon," he returned slowly, "that Jane +must feel kinder lonely; she bears all the burden of our bein' outer the +world, without any of our glory in the cause of it." + +Nevertheless, when supper was over, and the pair were seated in the +sitting-room before the fire, this episode was forgotten. Mrs. Rylands +produced her husband's pipe and tobacco-pouch. He looked around the +formal walls and hesitated. He had been in the habit of smoking in the +kitchen. + +"Why not here?" said Mrs. Rylands, with a sudden little note of +decision. "Why should we keep this room only for company that don't +come? I call it silly." + +This struck Mr. Rylands as logical. Besides, undoubtedly the fire had +mellowed the room. After a puff or two he looked at his wife musingly. +"Couldn't you make yourself one of them cigarettys, as they call 'em? +Here's the tobacco, and I'll get you the paper." + +"I COULD," she said tentatively. Then suddenly, "What made you think of +it? You never saw ME smoke!" + +"No," said Rylands, "but that lady, your old friend, Miss Clifford, +does, and I thought you might be hankering after it." + +"How do you know Tinkie Clifford smokes?" said Mrs. Rylands quickly. + +"She lit a cigaretty that day she called." + +"I hate it," said Mrs. Rylands shortly. + +Mr. Rylands nodded approval, and puffed meditatively. + +"Josh, have you seen that girl since?" + +"No," said Joshua. + +"Nor any other girl like her?" + +"No," said Joshua wonderingly. "You see I only got to know her on your +account, Ellen, that she might see you." + +"Well, don't you do it any more! None of 'em! Promise me!" She leaned +forward eagerly in her chair. + +"But Ellen,"--her husband began gravely. + +"I know what you're going to say, but they can't do me any good, and you +can't do them any good as you did ME, so there!" + +Mr. Rylands was silent, and smiled meditatively. + +"Josh!" + +"Yes." + +"When you met me that night on the Sacramento boat, and looked at me, +did you--did I," she hesitated,--"did you look at me because I had been +crying?" + +"I thought you were troubled in spirit, and looked so." + +"I suppose I looked worried, of course; I had no time to change or even +fix my hair; I had on that green dress, and it NEVER was becoming. And +you only spoke to me on account of my awful looks?" + +"I saw only your wrestling soul, Ellen, and I thought you needed comfort +and help." + +She was silent for a moment, and then, leaning forward, picked up the +poker and began to thrust it absently between the bars. + +"And if it had been some other girl crying and looking awful, you'd have +spoken to her all the same?" + +This was a new idea to Mr. Rylands, but with most men logic is supreme. +"I suppose I would," he said slowly. + +"And married her?" She rattled the bars of the grate with the poker as +if to drown the inevitable reply. + +Mr. Rylands loved the woman before him, but it pleased him to think that +he loved truth better. "If it had been necessary to her salvation, yes," +he said. + +"Not Tinkie?" she said suddenly. + +"SHE never would have been in your contrite condition." + +"Much you know! Girls like that can cry as well as laugh, just as they +want to. Well! I suppose I DID look horrid." Nevertheless, she seemed +to gain some gratification from her husband's reply, and changed +the subject as if fearful of losing that satisfaction by further +questioning. + +"I tried some of those songs you brought, but I don't think they go +well with the harmonium," she said, pointing to some music on its rack, +"except one. Just listen." She rose, and with the same nervous quickness +she had shown before, went to the instrument and began to sing and play. +There was a hopeless incongruity between the character of the instrument +and the spirit of the song. Mrs. Rylands's voice was rather forced and +crudely trained, but Joshua Rylands, sitting there comfortably slippered +by the fire and conscious of the sheeted rain against the window, felt +it good. Presently he arose, and lounging heavily over to the fair +performer, leaned down and imprinted a kiss on the labyrinthine fringes +of her hair. At which Mrs. Rylands caught blindly at his hand nearest +her, and without lifting her other hand from the keys, or her eyes from +the music, said tentatively:-- + +"You know there's a chorus just here! Why can't you try it with me?" + +Mr. Rylands hesitated a moment, then, with a preliminary cough, lifted a +voice as crude as hers, but powerful through much camp-meeting exercise, +and roared a chorus which was remarkable chiefly for requiring that +archness and playfulness in execution which he lacked. As the whole +house seemed to dilate with the sound, and the wind outside to withhold +its fury, Mr. Rylands felt that physical delight which children feel +in personal outcry, and was grateful to his wife for the opportunity. +Laying his hand affectionately on her shoulder, he noticed for the first +time that she was in a kind of evening-dress, and that her delicate +white shoulder shone through the black lace that enveloped it. + +For an instant Mr. Rylands was shocked at this unwonted exposure. He +had never seen his wife in evening-dress before. It was true they were +alone, and in their own sitting-room, but the room was still invested +with that formality and publicity which seemed to accent this +indiscretion. The simple-minded frontier man's mind went back to Jane, +to the hired man, to the expressman, the stranger, all of whom might +have noticed it also. + +"You have a new dress," he said slowly, "have you worn it all day?" + +"No," she said, with a timid smile. "I only put it on just before you +came. It's the one I used to wear in the ballroom scene in 'Gay Times in +'Frisco.' You don't know it, I know. I thought I would wear it tonight, +and then," she suddenly grasped his hand, "you'll let me put all these +things away forever! Won't you, Josh? I've seen such nice pretty calico +at the store to-day, and I can make up one or two home dresses, like +Jane's, only better fitting, of course. In fact, I asked them to send +the roll up here to-morrow for you to see." + +Mr. Rylands felt relieved. Perhaps his views had changed about the moral +effect of her retaining these symbols of her past, for he consented to +the calico dresses, not, however, without an inward suspicion that she +would not look so well in them, and that the one she had on was more +becoming. + +Meantime she tried another piece of music. It was equally incongruous +and slightly Bacchantic. + +"There used to be a mighty pretty dance went to that," she said, nodding +her head in time with the music, and assisting the heavily spasmodic +attempts of the instrument with the pleasant levity of her voice. "I +used to do it." + +"Ye might try it now, Ellen," suggested her husband, with a +half-frightened, half-amused tolerance. + +"YOU play, then," said Mrs. Rylands quickly, offering her seat to him. + +Mr. Rylands sat down to the harmonium, as Mrs. Rylands briskly moved +the table and chairs against the wall. Mr. Rylands played slowly and +strenuously, as from a conscientious regard of the instrument. Mrs. +Rylands stood in the centre of the floor, making a rather pretty, +animated picture, as she again stimulated the heavy harmonium swell not +only with her voice but her hands and feet. Presently she began to skip. + +I should warn the reader here that this was before the "shawl" or +"skirt" dancing was in vogue, and I am afraid that pretty Mrs. Rylands's +performances would now be voted slow. Her silk skirt and frilled +petticoat were lifted just over her small ankles and tiny bronze-kid +shoes. In the course of a pirouette or two, there was a slight further +revelation of blue silk stockings and some delicate embroidery, but +really nothing more than may be seen in the sweep of a modern waltz. +Suddenly the music ceased. Mr. Rylands had left the harmonium and walked +over to the hearth. Mrs. Rylands stopped, and came towards him with a +flushed, anxious face. + +"It don't seem to go right, does it?" she said, with her nervous laugh. +"I suppose I'm getting too old now, and I don't quite remember it." + +"Better forget it altogether," he replied gravely. He stopped at seeing +a singular change in her face, and added awkwardly, "When I told you I +didn't want you to be ashamed of your past, nor to try to forget what +you were, I didn't mean such things as that!" + +"What did you mean?" she said timidly. + +The truth was that Mr. Rylands did not know. He had known this sort of +thing only in the abstract. He had never had the least acquaintance with +the class to which his wife had belonged, nor known anything of their +methods. It was a revelation to him now, in the woman he loved, and who +was his wife. He was not shocked so much as he was frightened. + +"You shall have the dress to-morrow, Ellen," he said gently, "and +you can put away these gewgaws. You don't need to look like Tinkie +Clifford." + +He did not see the look of triumph that lit up her eye, but added, "Go +on and play." + +She sat down obediently to the instrument. He watched her for a few +moments from the toe of her kid slipper on the pedals to the swell +of her shoulders above the keyboard, with a strange, abstracted face. +Presently she stopped and came over to him. + +"And when I've got these nice calico frocks, and you can't tell me from +Jane, and I'm a good housekeeper, and settle down to be a farmer's wife, +maybe I'll have a secret to tell you." + +"A secret?" he repeated gravely. "Why not now?" + +Her face was quite aglow with excitement and a certain timid mischief as +she laughed: "Not while you are so solemn. It can wait." + +He looked at his watch. "I must give some orders to Jim about the stock +before he turns in," he said. + +"He's gone to the stables already," said Mrs. Rylands. + +"No matter; I can go there and find him." + +"Shall I bring your boots?" she said quickly. + +"I'll put them on when I pass through the kitchen. I won't be long away. +Now go to bed. You are looking tired," he said gently, as he gazed at +the drawn lines about her eyes and mouth. Her former pretty color +struck him also as having changed of late, and as being irregular and +inharmonious. + +As Mrs. Rylands obediently ascended the stairs she heaved a faint sigh, +her only recognition of her husband's criticism. He turned and passed +quickly into the kitchen. He wanted to be alone to collect his thoughts. +But he was surprised to find Jane still there, sitting bolt upright in +a chair in the corner. Apparently she had been expecting him, for as he +entered she stood up, and wiped her cheek and mouth with one hand, as if +to compress her lips the more tightly. + +"I reckoned," she began, "that unless you war for forgettin' everythin' +in these yer goings on, ye'd be passin' through here to tend to your +stock. I've got a word to say to ye, Mr. Rylands. When I first kem over +here to help, I got word from the folks around that your wife afore +you married her was just one o' them bally dancers. Well, that was YOUR +lookout, not mine! Jane Mackinnon ain't the kind to take everybody's +sayin' as gospil, but she kalkilates to treat folks ez she finds 'em. +When she finds 'em lyin' and deceivin'; when she finds em purtendin' one +thing and doin' another; when she finds 'em makin' fools tumble to 'em; +playing soots on their own husbands, and turnin' an honest house into a +music-hall and a fandango shop, she kicks! You hear me! Jane Mackinnon +kicks!" + +"What do you mean?" said Mr. Rylands sternly. + +"I mean," said Miss Mackinnon, striking her hips with the back of her +hands smartly, and accenting each word that dropped like a bullet from +her mouth with an additional blow,--"I--mean--that--your--wife--had +one--of--her--old--hangers-on--from--'Frisco--here--in--this +very--kitchen--all--the--arternoon; there! I mean that whiles she was +waitin' here for you, she was canoodlin' and cryin' over old times with +him! I saw her myself through the winder. That's what I mean, Mr. Joshua +Rylands." + +"It's false! She had some poor stranger here with a lame horse. She told +me so herself." + +Jane Mackinnon laughed shrilly. + +"Did she tell you that the poor stranger was young and pretty-faced, +with black moustarches? that his store clothes must have cost a fortin, +saying nothing of his gold-lined, broadcloth sarrapper? Did she say that +his horse was so lame that when I went to get another he wouldn't WAIT +for it? Did she tell you WHO he was?" + +"No, she did not know," said Rylands sternly, but with a whitening face. + +"Well, I'll tell you! The gambler, the shooter!--the man whose name +is black enough to stain any woman he knows. Jim recognized him like +a shot; he sez, the moment he clapped eyes on him at the door, 'Dod +blasted, if it ain't Jack Hamlin!'" + +Little as Mr. Rylands knew of the world, he had heard that name. But it +was not THAT he was thinking of. He was thinking of the camp-fire in the +wood, the handsome figure before it, the tethered horse. He was thinking +of the lighted sitting-room, the fire, his wife's bare shoulders, her +slippers, stockings, and the dance. He saw it all,--a lightning-flash to +his dull imagination. The room seemed to expand and then grow smaller, +the figure of Jane to sway backwards and forwards before him. He +murmured the name of God with lips that were voiceless, caught at the +kitchen table to steady himself, held it till he felt his arms grow +rigid, and then recovered himself,--white, cold, and sane. + +"Speak a word of this to HER," he said deliberately, "enter her room +while I'm gone, even leave the kitchen before I come back, and I'll +throw you into the road. Tell that hired man, if he dares to breathe it +to a soul I'll strangle him." + +The unlooked-for rage of this quiet, God-fearing man, and dupe, as she +believed, was terrible, but convincing. She shrank back into the corner +as he coolly drew on his boots and waterproof, and without another word +left the house. + +He knew what he was going to do as well as if it had been ordained for +him. He knew he would find the young man in the wood; for whatever were +the truth of the other stories, he and the visitor were identical; he +had seen him with his own eyes. He would confront him face to face and +know all; and until then, he could not see his wife again. He walked on +rapidly, but without feverishness or mental confusion. He saw his duty +plainly,--if Ellen had "backslidden," he must give her another trial. +These were his articles of faith. He should not put her away; but she +should nevermore be wife to him. It was HE who had tempted her, it was +true; perhaps God would forgive her for that reason, but HE could never +love her again. + +The fury of the storm had somewhat abated as he reached the wood. The +fire was still there, but no longer a leaping flame. A dull glow in +the darkness of the forest aisles was all that indicated its position. +Rylands at once plunged in that direction; he was near enough to see the +red embers when he heard a sharp click, and a voice called:-- + +"Hold up!" + +Mr. Hamlin was a light sleeper. The crackle of underbrush had been +enough to disturb him. The voice was his; the click was the cocking of +his revolver. + +Rylands was no coward, but halted diplomatically. + +"Now, then," said Mr. Hamlin's voice, "a little more this way, IN THE +LIGHT, if you please!" + +Rylands moved as directed, and saw Mr. Hamlin lying before the fire, +resting easily on one hand, with his revolver in the other. + +"Thank you!" said Jack. "Excuse my precautions, but it is night, and +this is, for the present, my bedroom." + +"My name is Rylands; you called at my house this afternoon and saw my +wife," said Rylands slowly. + +"I did," said Hamlin. "It was mighty kind of you to return my call so +soon, but I didn't expect it." + +"I reckon not. But I know who you are, and that you are an old associate +of hers, in the days of her sin and unregeneration. I want you to answer +me, before God and man, what was your purpose in coming there to-day?" + +"Look here! I don't think it's necessary to drag in strangers to hear my +answer," said Jack, lying down again, "but I came to borrow a horse." + +"Is that the truth?" + +Jack got upon his feet very solemnly, put on his hat, drew down his +waistcoat, and approached Mr. Rylands with his hands in his pockets. + +"Mr. Rylands," he said, with great suavity of manner, "this is the +second time today that I have had the honor of having my word doubted by +your family. Your wife was good enough to question my assertion that I +didn't know that she was living here, but that was a woman's vanity. You +have no such excuse. There is my horse yonder, lame, as you may see. I +didn't lame him for the sake of seeing your wife nor you." + +There was that in Mr. Hamlin's audacity and perfect self-possession +which, even while it irritated, never suggested deceit. He was too +reckless of consequence to lie. Mr. Rylands was staggered and half +convinced. Nevertheless, he hesitated. + +"Dare you tell me everything that happened between my wife and you?" + +"Dare you listen?" said Mr. Hamlin quietly. + +Mr. Rylands turned a little white. After a moment he said:-- + +"Yes." + +"Good!" said Mr. Hamlin. "I like your grit, though I don't mind telling +you it's the ONLY thing I like about you. Sit down. Well, I haven't seen +Nell Montgomery for three years until I met her as your wife, at your +house. She was surprised as I was, and frightened as I wasn't. She spent +the whole interview in telling me the history of her marriage and her +life with you, and nothing more. I cannot say that it was remarkably +entertaining, or that she was as amusing as your wife as she was as Nell +Montgomery, the variety actress. When she had finished, I came away." + +Mr. Rylands, who had seated himself, made a movement as if to rise. But +Mr. Hamlin laid his hand on his knee. + +"I asked you if you dared to listen. I have something myself to say of +that interview. I found your wife wearing the old dresses that other men +had given her, and she said she wore them because she thought it pleased +you. I found that you, who are questioning my calling upon her, had +already got the worst of her old chums to visit her without asking her +consent; I found that instead of being the first one to lie for her +and hide her, you were the first one to tell anybody her history, just +because you thought it was to the glory of God generally, and of Joshua +Rylands in particular." + +"A man's motives are his own," stammered Rylands. + +"Sorry you didn't see it when you questioned mine just now," said Jack +coolly. + +"Then she complained to you?" said Rylands hesitatingly. + +"I didn't say that," said Jack shortly. + +"But you found her unhappy?" + +"Damnably." + +"And you advised her"--said Rylands tentatively. + +"I advised her to chuck you and try to get a better husband." He paused, +and then added, with a disgusted laugh, "but she didn't tumble to it, +for a d----d silly reason." + +"What reason?" said Rylands hurriedly. + +"Said she LOVED you," returned Jack, kicking a brand back into the fire. +Mr. Rylands's white cheeks flamed out suddenly like the brand. Seeing +which, Jack turned upon him deliberately. + +"Mr. Joshua Rylands, I've seen many fools in my time. I've seen men +holding four aces backed down because they thought they KNEW the other +man had a royal flush! I've seen a man sell his claim for a wild-cat +share, with the gold lying a foot below him in the ground he walked on. +I've seen a dead shot shoot wild because he THOUGHT he saw something in +the other man's eye. I've seen a heap of God-forsaken fools, but I never +saw one before who claimed God as a pal. You've got a wife a d----d +sight truer to you for what you call her 'sin,' than you've ever been +to her, with all your d----d salvation! And as you couldn't make her +otherwise, though you've tried to hard enough, it seems to me that for +square downright chuckle-headedness, you can take the cake! Good-night! +Now, run away and play! You're making me tired." + +"One moment," said Mr. Rylands awkwardly and hurriedly. "I may have +wronged you; I was mistaken. Won't you come back with me and accept +my--our--hospitality?" + +"Not much," said Jack. "I left your house because I thought it better +for you and her that no one should know of my being there." + +"But you were already recognized," said Mr. Rylands. "It was Jane who +lied about you, and your return with me will confute her slanders." + +"Who?" asked Jack. + +"Jane, our hired girl." + +Mr. Hamlin uttered an indescribable laugh. + +"That's just as well! You simply tell Jane you SAW me; that I was +greatly shocked at what she said, but that I forgive her. I don't think +she'll say any more." + + +Strange to add, Mr. Hamlin's surmise was correct. Mr. Rylands found Jane +still in the kitchen alone, terrified, remorseful, yet ever after +silent on the subject. Stranger still, the hired man became equally +uncommunicative. Mrs. Rylands, attributing her husband's absence only +to care of the stock, had gone to bed in a feverish condition, and Mr. +Rylands did not deem it prudent to tell her of his interview. The next +day she sent for the doctor, and it was deemed necessary for her to +keep her bed for a few days. Her husband was singularly attentive and +considerate during that time, and it was probable that Mrs. Rylands +seized that opportunity to tell him the secret she spoke of the night +before. Whatever it was,--for it was not generally known for a few +months later,--it seemed to draw them closer together, imparted a +protecting dignity to Joshua Rylands, which took the place of his +former selfish austerity, gave them a future to talk of confidentially, +hopefully, and sometimes foolishly, which took the place of their more +foolish past, and when the roll of calico came from the cross roads, it +contained also a quantity of fine linen, laces, small caps, and other +trifles, somewhat in contrast to the more homely materials ordered. + +And when three months were past, the sitting-room was often lit up and +made cheerful, particularly on that supreme occasion when, with a great +deal of enthusiasm, all the women of the countryside flocked to see Mrs. +Rylands and her first baby. And a more considerate and devoted couple +than the father and mother they had never known. + + + + +THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + + +In the early days of the Californian immigration, on the extremest point +of the sandy peninsula, where the bay of San Francisco debouches into +the Pacific, there stood a semaphore telegraph. Tossing its black arms +against the sky,--with its back to the Golden Gate and that vast expanse +of sea whose nearest shore was Japan,--it signified to another semaphore +further inland the "rigs" of incoming vessels, by certain uncouth signs, +which were again passed on to Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, where they +reappeared on a third semaphore, and read to the initiated "schooner," +"brig" "ship," or "steamer." But all homesick San Francisco had learned +the last sign, and on certain days of the month every eye was turned to +welcome those gaunt arms widely extended at right angles, which meant +"sidewheel steamer" (the only steamer which carried the mails) and +"letters from home." In the joyful reception accorded to that herald of +glad tidings, very few thought of the lonely watcher on the sand dunes +who dispatched them, or even knew of that desolate Station. + +For desolate it was beyond description. The Presidio, with its +voiceless, dismounted cannon and empty embrasures hidden in a hollow, +and the Mission Dolores, with its crumbling walls and belfry tower lost +in another, made the ultima thule of all San Francisco wandering. The +Cliff house and Fort Point did not then exist; from Black Point the +curving line of shore of "Yerba Buena"--or San Francisco--showed only +a stretch of glittering wind-swept sand dunes, interspersed with +straggling gullies of half-buried black "scrub oak." The long six +months' summer sun fiercely beat upon it from the cloudless sky above; +the long six months' trade winds fiercely beat upon it from the west; +the monotonous roll-call of the long Pacific surges regularly beat upon +it from the sea. Almost impossible to face by day through sliding sands +and buffeting winds, at night it was impracticable through the dense +sea-fog that stole softly through the Golden Gate at sunset. Thence, +until morning, sea and shore were a trackless waste, bounded only by the +warning thunders of the unseen sea. The station itself, a rudely built +cabin, with two windows,--one furnished with a telescope,--looked like +a heap of driftwood, or a stranded wreck left by the retiring sea; the +semaphore--the only object for leagues--lifted above the undulating +dunes, took upon itself various shapes, more or less gloomy, according +to the hour or weather,--a blasted tree, the masts and clinging spars +of a beached ship, a dismantled gallows; or, with the background of a +golden sunset across the Gate, and its arms extended at right angles, +to a more hopeful fancy it might have seemed the missionary Cross, which +the enthusiast Portala lifted on that heathen shore a hundred years +before. + +Not that Dick Jarman--the solitary station keeper--ever indulged this +fancy. An escaped convict from one of her Britannic Majesty's penal +colonies, a "stowaway" in the hold of an Australian ship, he had landed +penniless in San Francisco, fearful of contact with his more honest +countrymen already there, and liable to detection at any moment. Luckily +for him, the English immigration consisted mainly of gold-seekers en +route to Sacramento and the southern mines. He was prudent enough to +resist the temptation to follow them, and accepted the post of semaphore +keeper,--the first work offered him,--which the meanest immigrant, +filled with dreams of gold, would have scorned. His employers asked him +no questions, and demanded no references; his post could be scarcely +deemed one of trust,--there was no property for him to abscond with but +the telescope; he was removed from temptation and evil company in his +lonely waste; his duties were as mechanical as the instrument he worked, +and interruption of them would be instantly known at San Francisco. For +this he would receive his board and lodging and seventy-five dollars a +month,--a sum to be ridiculed in those "flush days," but which seemed to +the broken-spirited and half-famished stowaway a princely independence. + +And then there was rest and security! He was free from that torturing +anxiety and fear of detection which had haunted him night and day for +three months. The ceaseless vigilance and watchful dread he had known +since his escape, he could lay aside now. The rude cabin on the sand +dune was to him as the long-sought cave to some hunted animal. It seemed +impossible that any one would seek him there. He was spared alike the +contact of his enemies or the shame of recognizing even a friendly face, +until by each he would be forgotten. From his coign of vantage on that +desolate waste, and with the aid of his telescope, no stranger could +approach within two or three miles of his cabin without undergoing his +scrutiny. And at the worst, if he was pursued here, before him was the +trackless shore and the boundless sea! + +And at times there was a certain satisfaction in watching, unseen and in +perfect security, the decks of passing ships. With the aid of his glass +he could mingle again with the world from which he was debarred, and +gloomily wonder who among those passengers knew their solitary watcher, +or had heard of his deeds; it might have made him gloomier had he known +that in those eager faces turned towards the golden haven there was +little thought of anything but themselves. He tried to read in faces on +board the few outgoing ships the record of their success with a strange +envy. They were returning home! HOME! For sometimes--but seldom--he +thought of his own home and his past. It was a miserable past of forgery +and embezzlement that had culminated a career of youthful dissipation +and self-indulgence, and shut him out, forever, from the staid old +English cathedral town where he was born. He knew that his relations +believed and wished him dead. He thought of this past with little +pleasure, but with little remorse. Like most of his stamp, he believed +it was ill-luck, chance, somebody else's fault, but never his own +responsible action. He would not repent; he would be wiser only. And he +would not be retaken--alive! + +Two or three months passed in this monotonous duty, in which he partly +recovered his strength and his nerves. He lost his furtive, restless, +watchful look; the bracing sea air and the burning sun put into his face +the healthy tan and the uplifted frankness of a sailor. His eyes grew +keener from long scanning of the horizon; he knew where to look +for sails, from the creeping coastwise schooner to the far-rounding +merchantman from Cape Horn. He knew the faint line of haze that +indicated the steamer long before her masts and funnels became visible. +He saw no soul except the solitary boatman of the little "plunger," +who landed his weekly provisions at a small cove hard by. The boatman +thought his secretiveness and reticence only the surliness of his +nation, and cared little for a man who never asked for the news, and to +whom he brought no letters. The long nights which wrapped the cabin in +sea-fog, and at first seemed to heighten the exile's sense of security, +by degrees, however, became monotonous, and incited an odd restlessness, +which he was wont to oppose by whiskey,--allowed as a part of his +stores,--which, while it dulled his sensibilities, he, however, never +permitted to interfere with his mechanical duties. + +He had been there five months, and the hills on the opposite shore +between Tamalpais were already beginning to show their russet yellow +sides. One bright morning he was watching the little fleet of Italian +fishing-boats hovering in the bay. This was always a picturesque +spectacle, perhaps the only one that relieved the general monotony of +his outlook. The quaint lateen sails of dull red, or yellow, showing +against the sparkling waters, and the red caps or handkerchiefs of the +fishermen, might have attracted even a more abstracted man. Suddenly one +of the larger boats tacked, and made directly for the little cove +where his weekly plunger used to land. In an instant he was alert +and suspicious. But a close examination of the boat through his glass +satisfied him that it contained, in addition to the crew, only two or +three women, apparently the family of the fishermen. As it ran up on +the beach and the entire party disembarked he could see it was merely +a careless, peaceable invasion, and he thought no more about it. The +strangers wandered about the sands, gesticulating and laughing; they +brought a pot ashore, built a fire, and cooked a homely meal. He +could see that from time to time the semaphore--evidently a novelty to +them--had attracted their attention; and having occasion to signal the +arrival of a bark, the working of the uncouth arms of the instrument +drew the children in half-frightened curiosity towards it, although the +others held aloof, as if fearful of trespassing upon some work of the +government, no doubt secretly guarded by the police. A few mornings +later he was surprised to see upon the beach, near the same locality, +a small heap of lumber which had evidently been landed in the early +morning fog. The next day an old tent appeared on the spot, and the +men, evidently fishermen, began the erection of a rude cabin beside it. +Jarman had been long enough there to know that it was government land, +and that these manifestly humble "squatters" upon it would not be +interfered with for some time to come. He began to be uneasy again; it +was true they were fully half a mile from him, and they were foreigners; +but might not their reckless invasion of the law attract others, in +this lawless country, to do the same? It ought to be stopped. For once +Richard Jarman sided with legal authority. + +But when the cabin was completed, it was evident from what he saw of its +rude structure that it was only a temporary shelter for the fisherman's +family and the stores, and refitting of the fishing-boat, more +convenient to them than the San Francisco wharves. The beach was +utilized for the mending of nets and sails, and thus became half +picturesque. In spite of the keen northwestern trades, the cloudless, +sunshiny mornings tempted these southerners back to their native al +fresco existence; they not only basked in the sun, but many of their +household duties, and even the mysteries of their toilet, were performed +in the open air. They did not seem to care to penetrate into the +desolate region behind them; their half-amphibious habit kept them near +the water's edge, and Richard Jarman, after taking his limited walks +for the first few mornings in another direction, found it no longer +necessary to avoid the locality, and even forgot their propinquity. + +But one morning, as the fog was clearing away and the sparkle of the +distant sea was beginning to show from his window, he rose from his +belated breakfast to fetch water from the "breaker" outside, which had +to be replenished weekly from Sancelito, as there was no spring in his +vicinity. As he opened the door, he was inexpressibly startled by the +figure of a young woman standing in front of it, who, however, half +fearfully, half laughingly withdrew before him. But his own manifest +disturbance apparently gave her courage. + +"I jess was looking at that thing," she said bashfully, pointing to the +semaphore. + +He was still more astonished, for, looking at her dark eyes and olive +complexion, he had expected her to speak Italian or broken English. And, +possibly because for a long time he had seen and known little of women, +he was quite struck with her good looks. He hesitated, stammered, and +then said:-- + +"Won't you come in?" + +She drew back still farther and made a rapid gesture of negation with +her head, her hand, and even her whole lithe figure. Then she said, with +a decided American intonation:-- + +"No, sir." + +"Why not?" said Jarman mechanically. + +The girl sidled up against the cabin, keeping her eyes fixed on Jarman +with a certain youthful shrewdness. + +"Oh, you know!" she said. + +"I really do not. Tell me why." + +She drew herself up against the wall a little proudly, though still +youthfully, with her hands behind her. + +"I ain't that kind of girl," she said simply. + +The blood rushed to Jarman's checks. Dissipated and abandoned as his +life had been, small respecter of women as he was, he was shocked and +shamed. Knowing too, as he did, how absorbed he was in other things, he +was indignant, because not guilty. + +"Do as you please, then," he said shortly, and reentered the cabin. But +the next moment he saw his error in betraying an irritation that was +open to misconstruction. He came out again, scarcely looking at the +girl, who was lounging away. + +"Do you want me to explain to you how the thing works?" he said +indifferently. "I can't show you unless a ship comes in." + +The girl's eyes brightened softly as she turned to him. + +"Do tell me," she said, with an anticipatory smile and flash of white +teeth. "Won't you?" + +She certainly was very pretty and simple, in spite of her late speech. +Jarman briefly explained to her the movements of the semaphore arms and +their different significance. She listened with her capped head a little +on one side like an attentive bird, and her arms unconsciously imitating +the signs. Certainly, for all that she SPOKE like an American, her +gesticulation was Italian. + +"And then," she said triumphantly when he paused, "when the sailors see +that sign up they know they are coming in the harbor." + +Jarman smiled, as he had not smiled since he had been there. He +corrected this mistake of her eager haste to show her intelligence, and, +taking the telescope, pointed out the other semaphore,--a thin black +outline on a distant inland hill. He then explained how HIS signs were +repeated by that instrument to San Francisco. + +"My! Why, I always allowed that was only the cross stuck up in the Lone +Mountain Cemetery," she said. + +"You are a Catholic?" + +"I reckon." + +"And you are an Italian?" + +"Father is, but mother was a 'Merikan, same as me. Mother's dead." + +"And your father is the fisherman yonder?" + +"Yes,--but," with a look of pride, "he's got the biggest boat of any." + +"And only you and your family are ashore here?" + +"Yes, and sometimes Mark." She laughed an odd little laugh. + +"Mark? Who's he?" he asked quickly. + +He had not noticed the sudden coquettish pose and half-affected +bashfulness of the girl; he was thinking only of the possibility of +detection by strangers. + +"Oh, he is Marco Franti, but I call him 'Mark.' It's the same name, you +know, and it makes him mad," said the girl, with the same suggestion of +archness and coquetry. + +But all this was lost on Jarman. + +"Oh, another Italian," he said, relieved. She turned away a little +awkwardly when he added, "But you haven't told me YOUR name, you know." + +"Cara." + +"Cara,--that's 'dear' in Italian, isn't it?" he said, with a +reminiscence of the opera and a half smile. + +"Yes," she said a little scornfully, "but it means Carlotta,--Charlotte, +you know. Some girls call me Charley," she said hurriedly. + +"I see--Cara--or Carlotta Franti." + +To his surprise she burst into a peal of laughter. + +"I reckon not YET. Franti is Mark's name, not mine. Mine is +Murano,--Carlotta Murano. Good-by." She moved away, then stopped +suddenly and said, "I'm comin' again some time when the thing is +working," and with a nod of her head, ran away. He looked after her; +could see the outlines of her youthful figure in her slim cotton +gown,--limp and clinging in the damp sea air, and the sudden revelation +of her bare ankles thrust stockingless into canvas shoes. + +He went back into his cabin, when presently his attention was engrossed +by an incoming vessel. He made the signals, half expecting, almost +hoping, that the girl would return to watch him. But her figure was +already lost in the sand dunes. Yet he fancied he still heard the echoes +of her voice and his own in this cabin which had so long been dumb and +voiceless, and he now started at every sound. For the first time he +became aware of the dreadful disorder and untidiness of its uninvaded +privacy. He could scarcely believe he had been living with his stove, +his bed, and cooking utensils all in one corner of the barnlike room, +and he began to put them "to rights" in a rough, hard formality, +strongly suggestive of his convict experience. He rolled up his blankets +into a hard cylinder at the head of his cot. He scraped out his kettles +and saucepans, and even "washed down" the floor, afterwards sprinkling +clean dry sand, hot with the noonday sunshine, on its half-dried boards. +In arranging these domestic details he had to change the position of a +little mirror; and glancing at it for the first time in many days, he +was dissatisfied with his straggling beard,--grown during his voyage +from Australia,--and although he had retained it as a disguise, he at +once shaved it off, leaving only a mustache, and revealing a face from +which a healthier life and out-of-door existence had removed the last +traces of vice and dissipation. But he did not know it. + +All the next day he thought of his fair visitor, and found himself often +repeating her odd remark that she was "not that kind of girl," with a +smile that was alternately significant or vacant. Evidently she could +take care of herself, he thought, although her very good looks no doubt +had exposed her to the rude attentions of fishermen or the common drift +of San Francisco wharves. Perhaps this was why her father brought her +here. When the day passed and she came not, he began vaguely to wonder +if he had been rude to her. Perhaps he had taken her simple remark too +seriously; perhaps she had expected he would only laugh, and had found +him dull and stupid. Perhaps he had thrown away an opportunity. An +opportunity for what? To renew his old life and habits? No, no! The +horrors of his recent imprisonment and escape were still too fresh in +his memory; he was not safe yet. Then he wondered if he had not grown +spiritless and pigeon-livered in his solitude and loneliness. The next +day he searched for her with his glass, and saw her playing with one +of the children on the beach,--a very picture of child or nymphlike +innocence. Perhaps it was because she was not "that kind of girl" that +she had attracted him. He laughed bitterly. Yes; that was very funny; +he, an escaped convict, drawn towards honest, simple innocence! Yet he +knew--he was positive--he had not thought of any ill when he spoke to +her. He took a singular, a ridiculous pride in and credit to himself for +that. He repeated it incessantly to himself. Then what made her angry? +Himself! The devil! Did he carry, then, the record of his past life +forever in his face--in his speech--in his manners? The thought made +him sullen. The next day he would not look towards the shore; it was +wonderful what excitement and satisfaction he got out of that strange +act of self-denial; it made the day seem full that had been so vacant +before; yet he could not tell why or wherefore. He felt injured, but he +rather liked it. Yet in the night he was struck with the idea that she +might have gone back to San Francisco, and he lay awake longing for +the morning light to satisfy him. Yet when the fog cleared, and from +a nearer point, behind a sand dune, he discovered, by the aid of his +glass, that she was seated on the sun-warmed sands combing out her long +hair like a mermaid, he immediately returned to the cabin, and that +morning looked no more that way. In the afternoon, there being no sails +in sight, he turned aside from the bay and walked westward towards the +ocean, halting only at the league-long line of foam which marked the +breaking Pacific surges. Here he was surprised to see a little child, +half-naked, following barefooted the creeping line of spume, or running +after the detached and quivering scraps of foam that chased each other +over the wet sand, and only a little further on, to come upon Cara +herself, sitting with her elbows on her knees and her round chin in her +hands, apparently gazing over the waste of waters before her. A sudden +and inexplicable shyness overtook him. He hesitated, and stepped +half-hidden in a gully between the sand dunes. + +As yet he had not been observed; the young girl called to the child and, +suddenly rising, threw off her red cap and shawl and quietly began to +disrobe herself. A couple of coarse towels were at her feet. Jarman +instantly comprehended that she was going to bathe with the child. She +undoubtedly knew as well as he did that she was safe in that solitude; +that no one could intrude upon her privacy from the bay shore, nor from +the desolate inland trail to the sea, without her knowledge. Of his +own contiguity she had evidently taken no thought, believing him safely +housed in his cabin beside the semaphore. She lifted her hands, and with +a sudden movement shook out her long hair and let it fall down her back +at the same moment that her unloosened blouse began to slip from her +shoulders. Richard Jarman turned quickly and walked noiselessly and +rapidly away, until the little hillock had shut out the beach. + +His retreat was as sudden, unreasoning, and unpremeditated as his +intrusion. It was not like himself, he knew, and yet it was as perfectly +instinctive and natural as if he had intruded upon a sister. In the +South Seas he had seen native girls diving beside the vessels for coins, +but they had provoked no such instinct as that which possessed him now. +More than that, he swept a quick, wrathful glance along the horizon on +either side, and then, mounting a remote hillock which still hid him +from the beach, he sat there and kept watch and ward. From time to time +the strong sea-breeze brought him the sound of infantine screams and +shouts of girlish laughter from the unseen shore; he only looked the +more keenly and suspiciously for any wandering trespasser, and did not +turn his head. He lay there nearly half an hour, and when the sounds had +ceased, rose and made his way slowly back to the cabin. He had not gone +many yards before he heard the twitter of voices and smothered laughter +behind him. He turned; it was Cara and the child,--a girl of six or +seven. Cara's face was rosy,--possibly from her bath, and possibly +from some shame-faced consciousness. He slackened his pace, and as they +ranged beside him said, "Good-morning!" + +"Lord!" said Cara, stifling another laugh, "we didn't know you were +around; we thought you were always 'tending your telegraph, didn't we, +Lucy?" (to the child, who was convulsed with mirth and sheepishness). +"Why, we've been taking a wash in the sea." She tried to gather up her +long hair, which had been left to stray over her shoulders and dry in +the sunlight, and even made a slight pretense of trying to conceal the +wet towels they were carrying. + +Jarman did not laugh. "If you had told me," he said gravely, "I could +have kept watch for you with my glass while you were there. I could see +further than you." + +"Tould you see US?" asked the little girl, with hopeful vivacity. + +"No!" said Jarman, with masterly evasion. "There are little sandhills +between this and the beach." + +"Then how tould other people see us?" persisted the child. + +Jarman could see that the older girl was evidently embarrassed, and +changed the subject. "I sometimes go out," he said, "when I can see +there are no vessels in sight, and I take ray glass with me. I can +always get back in time to make signals. I thought, in fact," he said, +glancing at Cara's brightening face, "that I might get as far as +your house on the shore some day." To his surprise, her embarrassment +suddenly seemed to increase, although she had looked relieved before, +and she did not reply. After a moment she said abruptly:-- + +"Did you ever see the sea-lions?" + +"No," said Jarman. + +"Not the big ones on Seal Rock, beyond the cliffs?" continued the girl, +in real astonishment. + +"No," repeated Jarman. "I never walked in that direction." He vaguely +remembered that they were a curiosity which sometimes attracted parties +thither, and for that reason he had avoided the spot. + +"Why, I have sailed all around the rock in father's boat," continued +Cara, with importance. "That's the best way to see 'em, and folks from +Frisco sometimes takes a sail out there just on purpose,--it's too sandy +to walk or drive there. But it's only a step from here. Look here!" she +said suddenly, and frankly opening her fine eyes upon him. "I'm going +to take Lucy there to-morrow, and I'll show you." Jarman felt his cheeks +flush quickly with a pleasure that embarrassed him. "It won't take +long," added Cara, mistaking his momentary hesitation, "and you can +leave your telegraph alone. Nobody will be there, so no one will see you +and nobody know it." + +He would have gone then, anyway, he knew, yet in his absurd +self-consciousness he was glad that her last suggestion had relieved him +of a sense of reckless compliance. He assented eagerly, when with a wave +of her hand, a flash of her white teeth, and the same abruptness she had +shown at their last parting, she caught Lucy by the arm and darted away +in a romping race to her dwelling. Jarman started after her. He had +not wanted to go to her father's house particularly, but why was SHE +evidently as averse to it? With the subtle pleasure that this admission +gave him there was a faint stirring of suspicion. + +It was gone when he found her and Lucy the next morning, radiant with +the sunshine, before his door. The restraint of their previous meetings +had been removed in some mysterious way, and they chatted gayly as they +walked towards the cliffs. She asked him frankly many questions about +himself, why he had come there, and if he "wasn't lonely;" she answered +frankly--I fear much more frankly than he answered her--the many +questions he asked her about herself and her friends. When they reached +the cliffs they descended to the beach, which they found deserted. +Before them--it seemed scarce a pistol shot from the shore arose a high, +broad rock, beaten at its base by the long Pacific surf, on which a +number of shapeless animals were uncouthly disporting. This was Seal +Rock, the goal of their journey. + +Yet after a few moments they no longer looked at it, but seated on the +sand, with Lucy gathering shells at the water's edge, they continued +their talk. Presently the talk became eager confidences, and +then,--there were long and dangerous lapses of silence, when both were +fain to make perfunctory talk with Lucy on the beach. After one of those +silences Jarman said:-- + +"Do you know I rather thought yesterday you didn't want me to come to +your father's house. Why was that?" + +"Because Marco was there," said the girl frankly. + +"What had HE to do with it?" said Jarman abruptly. + +"He wants to marry me." + +"And do you want to marry HIM?" said Jarman quickly. + +"No," said the girl passionately. + +"Why don't you get rid of him, then?" + +"I can't, he's hiding here,--he's father's friend." + +"Hiding? What's he been doing?" + +"Stealing. Stealing gold-dust from miners. I never cared for him anyway. +And I hate a thief!" + +She looked up quickly. Jarman had risen to his feet, his face turned to +sea. + +"What are you looking at?" she said wonderingly. + +"A ship," said Jarman, in a strange, hoarse voice. "I must hurry back +and signal. I'm afraid I haven't even time to walk with you,--I must run +for it. Good-by!" + +He turned without offering his hand and ran hurriedly in the direction +of the semaphore. + +Cara, discomfited, turned her black eyes to the sea. But it seemed empty +as before, no sail, no ship on the horizon line, only a little schooner +slowly beating out of the Gate. Ah, well! It no doubt was there,--that +sail,--though she could not see it; how keen and far-seeing his +handsome, honest eyes were! She heaved a little sigh, and, calling Lucy +to her side, began to make her way homeward. But she kept her eyes on +the semaphore; it seemed to her the next thing to seeing him,--this man +she was beginning to love. She waited for the gaunt arms to move with +the signal of the vessel he had seen. But, strange to say, it was +motionless. He must have been mistaken. + +All this, however, was driven from her mind in the excitement that she +found on her return thrilling her own family. They had been warned that +a police boat with detectives on board had been dispatched from San +Francisco to the cove. Luckily, they had managed to convey the fugitive +Franti on board a coastwise schooner,--Cara started as she remembered +the one she had seen beating out of the Gate,--and he was now safe from +pursuit. Cara felt relieved; at the same time she felt a strange joy +at her heart, which sent the conscious blood to her cheek. She was not +thinking of the escaped Marco, but of Jarman. Later, when the police +boat arrived,--whether the detectives had been forewarned of Marco's +escape or not,--they contented themselves with a formal search of the +little fishing-hut and departed. But their boat remained lying off the +shore. + +That night Cara tossed sleeplessly on her bed; she was sorry she had +ever spoken of Marco to Jarman. It was unnecessary now; perhaps he +disbelieved her and thought she loved Marco; perhaps that was the reason +of his strange and abrupt leave-taking that afternoon. She longed for +the next day, she could tell him everything now. + +Towards morning she slept fitfully, but was awakened by the sound of +voices on the sands outside the hut. Its flimsy structure, already +warped by the fierce day-long sun, allowed her through chinks and +crevices not only to recognize the voices of the detectives, but to hear +distinctly what they said. Suddenly the name of Jarman struck upon her +ear. She sat upright in bed, breathless. + +"Are you sure it's the same man?" asked a second voice. + +"Perfectly," answered the first. "He was tracked to 'Frisco, but +disappeared the day he landed. We knew from our agents that he never +left the bay. And when we found that somebody answering his description +got the post of telegraph operator out here, we knew that we had spotted +our man and the L250 sterling offered for his capture." + +"But that was five months ago. Why didn't you take him then?" + +"Couldn't! For we couldn't hold him without the extradition papers from +Australia. We sent for 'em; they're due to-day or to-morrow on the mail +steamer." + +"But he might have got away at any time?" + +"He couldn't without our knowing it. Don't you see? Every time the +signals went up, we in San Francisco knew he was at his post. We had him +safe, out here on these sandhills, as if he'd been under lock and key in +'Frisco. He was his own keeper, and reported to us." + +"But since you're here and expect the papers to-morrow, why don't you +'cop' him now?" + +"Because there isn't a judge in San Francisco that would hold him +a moment unless he had those extradition papers before him. He'd be +discharged, and escape." + +"Then what are you going to do?" + +"As soon as the steamer is signaled in 'Frisco, we'll board her in the +bay, get the papers, and drop down upon him." + +"I see; and as HE'S the signal man, the darned fool"-- + +"Will give the signal himself." + +The laugh that followed was so cruel that the young girl shuddered. But +the next moment she slipped from the bed, erect, pale, and determined. + +The voices seemed gradually to retreat. She dressed herself hurriedly, +and passed noiselessly through the room of her still sleeping parent, +and passed out. A gray fog was lifting slowly over the sands and sea, +and the police boat was gone. She no longer hesitated, but ran quickly +in the direction of Jarman's cabin. As she ran, her mind seemed to be +swept clear of all illusion and fancy; she saw plainly everything that +had happened; she knew the mystery of Jarman's presence here,--the +secret of his life,--the dreadful cruelty of her remark to him,--the man +that she knew now she loved. The sun was painting the black arms of the +semaphore as she toiled over the last stretch of sand and knocked +loudly at the door. There was no reply. She knocked again; the cabin was +silent. Had he already fled?--and without seeing her and knowing all! +She tried the handle of the door; it yielded; she stepped boldly into +the room, with his name upon her lips. He was lying fully dressed upon +his couch. She ran eagerly to his side and stopped. It needed only a +single glance at his congested face, his lips parted with his heavy +breath, to see that the man was hopelessly, helplessly drunk! + +Yet even then, without knowing that it was her thoughtless speech which +had driven him to seek this foolish oblivion of remorse and sorrow, +she saw only his HELPLESSNESS. She tried in vain to rouse him; he +only muttered a few incoherent words and sank back again. She looked +despairingly around. Something must be done; the steamer might be +visible at any moment. Ah, yes,--the telescope! She seized it and swept +the horizon. There was a faint streak of haze against the line of sea +and sky, abreast the Golden Gate. He had once told her what it meant. +It WAS the steamer! A sudden thought leaped into her clear and active +brain. If the police boat should chance to see that haze too, and saw +no warning signal from the semaphore, they would suspect something. That +signal must be made, BUT NOT THE RIGHT ONE! She remembered quickly +how he had explained to her the difference between the signals for a +coasting steamer and the one that brought the mails. At that distance +the police boat could not detect whether the semaphore's arms were +extended to perfect right angles for the mail steamer, or if the left +arm slightly deflected for a coasting steamer. She ran out to the +windlass and seized the crank. For a moment it defied her strength; she +redoubled her efforts: it began to creak and groan, the great arms were +slowly uplifted, and the signal made. + +But the familiar sounds of the moving machinery had pierced through +Jarman's sluggish consciousness as no other sound in heaven or earth +could have done, and awakened him to the one dominant sense he had +left,--the habit of duty. She heard him roll from the bed with an oath, +stumble to the door, and saw him dash forward with an affrighted face, +and plunge his head into a bucket of water. He emerged from it pale and +dripping, but with the full light of reason and consciousness in his +eyes. He started when he saw her; even then she would have fled, but he +caught her firmly by the wrist. + +Then with a hurried, trembling voice she told him all and everything. He +listened in silence, and only at the end raised her hand gravely to his +lips. + +"And now," she added tremulously, "you must fly--quick--at once; or it +will be too late!" + +But Richard Jarman walked slowly to the door of his cabin, still holding +her hand, and said quietly, pointing to his only chair:-- + +"Sit down; we must talk first." + +What they said was never known, but a few moments later they left the +cabin, Jarman carrying in a small bag all his possessions, and Cara +leaning on his arm. An hour later the priest of the Mission Dolores was +called upon to unite in matrimony a frank, honest-looking sailor and an +Italian gypsy-looking girl. There were many hasty unions in those days, +and the Holy Church was only too glad to be able to give them its +legal indorsement. But the good Padre was a little sorry for the honest +sailor, and gave the girl some serious advice. + +The San Francisco papers the next morning threw some dubious light upon +the matter in a paragraph headed, "Another Police Fiasco." + +"We understand that the indefatigable police of San Francisco, after +ascertaining that Marco Franti, the noted gold-dust thief, was hiding on +the shore near the Presidio, proceeded there with great solemnity, and +arrived, as usual, a few hours after their man had escaped. But the +climax of incapacity was reached when, as it is alleged, the sweetheart +of the absconding Franti, and daughter of a brother fisherman, eloped +still later, and joined her lover under the very noses of the police. +The attempt of the detectives to excuse themselves at headquarters by +reporting that they were also on the track of an alleged escaped Sydney +Duck was received with the derision and skepticism it deserved, as it +seemed that these worthies mistook the mail steamer, which they should +have boarded to get certain extradition papers, for a coasting steamer." + +***** + +It was not until four years later that Murano was delighted to recognize +in the husband of his long-lost daughter a very rich cattle-owner in +Southern California, called Jarman; but he never knew that he had been +an escaped convict from Sydney, who had lately received a full pardon +through the instrumentality of divers distinguished people in Australia. + + + + +AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + + +It is to be feared that the hero of this chronicle began life as an +impostor. He was offered to the credulous and sympathetic family of a +San Francisco citizen as a lamb, who, unless bought as a playmate +for the children, would inevitably pass into the butcher's hands. +A combination of refined sensibility and urban ignorance of nature +prevented them from discerning certain glaring facts that betrayed his +caprid origin. So a ribbon was duly tied round his neck, and in pleasing +emulation of the legendary "Mary," he was taken to school by the +confiding children. Here, alas the fraud was discovered, and history was +reversed by his being turned out by the teacher, because he was NOT "a +lamb at school." Nevertheless, the kind-hearted mother of the family +persisted in retaining him, on the plea that he might yet become +"useful." To her husband's feeble suggestion of "gloves," she returned +a scornful negative, and spoke of the weakly infant of a neighbor, who +might later receive nourishment from this providential animal. But even +this hope was destroyed by the eventual discovery of his sex. Nothing +remained now but to accept him as an ordinary kid, and to find amusement +in his accomplishments,--eating, climbing, and butting. It must be +confessed that these were of a superior quality; a capacity to eat +everything from a cambric handkerchief to an election poster, an +agility which brought him even to the roofs of houses, and a power of +overturning by a single push the chubbiest child who opposed him, made +him a fearful joy to the nursery. This last quality was incautiously +developed in him by a negro boy-servant, who, later, was hurriedly +propelled down a flight of stairs by his too proficient scholar. +Having once tasted victory, "Billy" needed no further incitement to his +performances. The small wagon which he sometimes consented to draw for +the benefit of the children never hindered his attempts to butt the +passer-by. On the contrary, on well-known scientific principles he added +the impact of the bodies of the children projected over his head in his +charge, and the infelicitous pedestrian found himself not only knocked +off his legs by Billy, but bombarded by the whole nursery. + +Delightful as was this recreation to juvenile limbs, it was felt to be +dangerous to the adult public. Indignant protestations were made, and +as Billy could not be kept in the house, he may be said to have at +last butted himself out of that sympathetic family and into a hard and +unfeeling world. One morning he broke his tether in the small back yard. +For several days thereafter he displayed himself in guilty freedom on +the tops of adjacent walls and outhouses. The San Francisco suburb +where his credulous protectors lived was still in a volcanic state +of disruption, caused by the grading of new streets through rocks and +sandhills. In consequence the roofs of some houses were on the level +of the doorsteps of others, and were especially adapted to Billy's +performances. One afternoon, to the admiring and perplexed eyes of the +nursery, he was discovered standing on the apex of a neighbor's new +Elizabethan chimney, on a space scarcely larger than the crown of a hat, +calmly surveying the world beneath him. High infantile voices appealed +to him in vain; baby arms were outstretched to him in hopeless +invitation; he remained exalted and obdurate, like Milton's hero, +probably by his own merit "raised to that bad eminence." Indeed, there +was already something Satanic in his budding horns and pointed mask as +the smoke curled softly around him. Then he appropriately vanished, +and San Francisco knew him no more. At the same time, however, one Owen +M'Ginnis, a neighboring sandhill squatter, also disappeared, leaving San +Francisco for the southern mines, and he was said to have taken Billy +with him,--for no conceivable reason except for companionship. Howbeit, +it was the turning-point of Billy's career; such restraint as kindness, +civilization, or even policemen had exercised upon his nature was gone. +He retained, I fear, a certain wicked intelligence, picked up in San +Francisco with the newspapers and theatrical and election posters he +had consumed. He reappeared at Rocky Canyon among the miners as an +exceedingly agile chamois, with the low cunning of a satyr. That was all +that civilization had done for him! + +If Mr. M'Ginnis had fondly conceived that he would make Billy "useful," +as well as companionable, he was singularly mistaken. Horses and mules +were scarce in Rocky Canyon, and he attempted to utilize Billy by making +him draw a small cart, laden with auriferous earth, from his claim to +the river. Billy, rapidly gaining strength, was quite equal to the task, +but alas! not his inborn propensity. An incautious gesture from the +first passing miner Billy chose to construe into the usual challenge. +Lowering his head, from which his budding horns had been already pruned +by his master, he instantly went for his challenger, cart and all. Again +the scientific law already pointed out prevailed. With the shock of +the onset the entire contents of the cart arose and poured over the +astonished miner, burying him from sight. In any other but a Californian +mining-camp such a propensity in a draught animal would have been +condemned, on account of the damage and suffering it entailed, but in +Rocky Canyon it proved unprofitable to the owner from the very +amusement and interest it excited. Miners lay in wait for Billy with +a "greenhorn," or new-comer, whom they would put up to challenge the +animal by some indiscreet gesture. In this way hardly a cartload of +"pay-gravel" ever arrived safely at its destination, and the unfortunate +M'Ginnis was compelled to withdraw Billy as a beast of burden. It +was whispered that so great had his propensity become, under repeated +provocation, that M'Ginnis himself was no longer safe. Going ahead +of his cart one day to remove a fallen bough from the trail, Billy +construed the act of stooping into a playful challenge from his +master,--with the inevitable result. + +The next day M'Ginnis appeared with a wheelbarrow, but without Billy. +From that day he was relegated to the rocky crags above the camp, from +whence he was only lured occasionally by the mischievous miners, who +wished to exhibit his peculiar performances. For although Billy had +ample food and sustenance among the crags, he had still a civilized +longing for posters; and whenever a circus, a concert, or a political +meeting was "billed" in the settlement, he was on hand while the paste +was yet fresh and succulent. In this way it was averred that he +once removed a gigantic theatre bill setting forth the charms of the +"Sacramento Pet," and being caught in the act by the advance agent, was +pursued through the main street, carrying the damp bill on his horns, +eventually affixing it, after his own peculiar fashion, on the back of +Judge Boompointer, who was standing in front of his own court-house. + +In connection with the visits of this young lady another story +concerning Billy survives in the legends of Rocky Canyon. Colonel +Starbottle was at that time passing through the settlement on election +business, and it was part of his chivalrous admiration for the sex to +pay a visit to the pretty actress. The single waiting-room of the little +hotel gave upon the veranda, which was also level with the street. After +a brief yet gallant interview, in which he oratorically expressed +the gratitude of the settlement with old-fashioned Southern courtesy, +Colonel Starbottle lifted the chubby little hand of the "Pet" to his +lips, and, with a low bow, backed out upon the veranda. But the Pet was +astounded by his instant reappearance, and by his apparently casting +himself passionately and hurriedly at her feet! It is needless to say +that he was followed closely by Billy, who from the street had casually +noticed him, and construed his novel exit into an ungentlemanly +challenge. + +Billy's visits, however, became less frequent, and as Rocky Canyon +underwent the changes incidental to mining settlements, he was presently +forgotten in the invasion of a few Southwestern families, and the +adoption of amusements less practical and turbulent than he had +afforded. It was alleged that he was still seen in the more secluded +fastnesses of the mountains, having reverted to a wild state, and it was +suggested by one or two of the more adventurous that he might yet become +edible, and a fair object of chase. A traveler through the Upper Pass of +the canyon related how he had seen a savage-looking, hairy animal like +a small elk perched upon inaccessible rocks, but always out of gunshot. +But these and other legends were set at naught and overthrown by an +unexpected incident. + +The Pioneer Coach was toiling up the long grade towards Skinners Pass +when Yuba Bill suddenly pulled up, with his feet on the brake. + +"Jimminy!" he ejaculated, drawing a deep breath. + +The startled passenger beside him on the box followed the direction of +his eyes. Through an opening in the wayside pines he could see, a few +hundred yards away, a cuplike hollow in the hillside of the vividest +green. In the centre a young girl of fifteen or sixteen was dancing and +keeping step to the castanet "click" of a pair of "bones," such as negro +minstrels use, held in her hands above her head. But, more singular +still, a few paces before her a large goat, with its neck roughly +wreathed with flowers and vines, was taking ungainly bounds and leaps +in imitation of its companion. The wild background of the Sierras, the +pastoral hollow, the incongruousness of the figures, and the vivid color +of the girl's red flannel petticoat showing beneath her calico skirt, +that had been pinned around her waist, made a striking picture, which +by this time had attracted all eyes. Perhaps the dancing of the girl +suggested a negro "break-down" rather than any known sylvan measure; but +all this, and even the clatter of the bones, was made gracious by the +distance. + +"Esmeralda! by the living Harry!" shouted the excited passenger on the +box. + +Yuba Bill took his feet off the brake, and turned a look of deep scorn +upon his companion as he gathered the reins again. + +"It's that blanked goat, outer Rocky Canyon beyond, and Polly Harkness! +How did she ever come to take up with HIM?" + +Nevertheless, as soon as the coach reached Rocky Canyon, the story was +quickly told by the passengers, corroborated by Yuba Bill, and highly +colored by the observer on the box-seat. Harkness was known to be a +new-comer who lived with his wife and only daughter on the other side of +Skinners Pass. He was a "logger" and charcoal-burner, who had eaten his +way into the serried ranks of pines below the pass, and established in +these efforts an almost insurmountable cordon of fallen trees, stripped +bark, and charcoal pits around the clearing where his rude log +hut stood,--which kept his seclusion unbroken. He was said to be a +half-savage mountaineer from Georgia, in whose rude fastnesses he had +distilled unlawful whiskey, and that his tastes and habits unfitted him +for civilization. His wife chewed and smoked; he was believed to make a +fiery brew of his own from acorns and pine nuts; he seldom came to Rocky +Canyon except for provisions; his logs were slipped down a "shoot" or +slide to the river, where they voyaged once a month to a distant mill, +but HE did not accompany them. The daughter, seldom seen at Rocky +Canyon, was a half-grown girl, brown as autumn fern, wild-eyed, +disheveled, in a homespun skirt, sunbonnet, and boy's brogans. Such were +the plain facts which skeptical Rocky Canyon opposed to the passengers' +legends. Nevertheless, some of the younger miners found it not out of +their way to go over Skinners Pass on the journey to the river, but with +what success was not told. It was said, however, that a celebrated New +York artist, making a tour of California, was on the coach one day going +through the pass, and preserved the memory of what he saw there in a +well-known picture entitled "Dancing Nymph and Satyr," said by competent +critics to be "replete with the study of Greek life." This did not +affect Rocky Canyon, where the study of mythology was presumably +displaced by an experience of more wonderful flesh-and-blood people, but +later it was remembered with some significance. + +Among the improvements already noted, a zinc and wooden chapel had been +erected in the main street, where a certain popular revivalist preacher +of a peculiar Southwestern sect regularly held exhortatory services. His +rude emotional power over his ignorant fellow-sectarians was well known, +while curiosity drew others. His effect upon the females of his flock +was hysterical and sensational. Women prematurely aged by frontier +drudgery and child-bearing, girls who had known only the rigors and +pains of a half-equipped, ill-nourished youth in their battling with the +hard realities of nature around them, all found a strange fascination in +the extravagant glories and privileges of the unseen world he pictured +to them, which they might have found in the fairy tales and nursery +legends of civilized children, had they known them. Personally he was +not attractive; his thin pointed face, and bushy hair rising on +either side of his square forehead in two rounded knots, and his long, +straggling, wiry beard dropping from a strong neck and shoulders, +were indeed of a common Southwestern type; yet in him they suggested +something more. This was voiced by a miner who attended his first +service, and as the Reverend Mr. Withholder rose in the pulpit, the +former was heard to audibly ejaculate, "Dod blasted!--if it ain't +Billy!" But when on the following Sunday, to everybody's astonishment, +Polly Harkness, in a new white muslin frock and broad-brimmed Leghorn +hat, appeared before the church door with the real Billy, and exchanged +conversation with the preacher, the likeness was appalling. + +I grieve to say that the goat was at once christened by Rocky Canyon as +"The Reverend Billy," and the minister himself was Billy's "brother." +More than that, when an attempt was made by outsiders, during +the service, to inveigle the tethered goat into his old butting +performances, and he took not the least notice of their insults and +challenges, the epithet "blanked hypocrite" was added to his title. + +Had he really reformed? Had his pastoral life with his nymph-like +mistress completely cured him of his pugnacious propensity, or had +he simply found it was inconsistent with his dancing, and seriously +interfered with his "fancy steps"? Had he found tracts and hymn-books +were as edible as theatre posters? These were questions that Rocky +canyon discussed lightly, although there was always the more serious +mystery of the relations of the Reverend Mr. Withholder, Polly Harkness, +and the goat towards each other. The appearance of Polly at church was +no doubt due to the minister's active canvass of the districts. But had +he ever heard of Polly's dancing with the goat? And where in this plain, +angular, badly dressed Polly was hidden that beautiful vision of the +dancing nymph which had enthralled so many? And when had Billy ever +given any suggestion of his Terpsichorean abilities--before or since? +Were there any "points" of the kind to be discerned in him now? None! +Was it not more probable that the Reverend Mr. Withholder had himself +been dancing with Polly, and been mistaken for the goat? Passengers who +could have been so deceived with regard to Polly's beauty might have as +easily mistaken the minister for Billy. About this time another incident +occurred which increased the mystery. + +The only male in the settlement who apparently dissented from the +popular opinion regarding Polly was a new-comer, Jack Filgee. While +discrediting her performance with the goat,--which he had never +seen,--he was evidently greatly prepossessed with the girl herself. +Unfortunately, he was equally addicted to drinking, and as he was +exceedingly shy and timid when sober, and quite unpresentable at other +times, his wooing, if it could be so called, progressed but slowly. +Yet when he found that Polly went to church, he listened so far to the +exhortations of the Reverend Mr. Withholder as to promise to come +to "Bible class" immediately after the Sunday service. It was a hot +afternoon, and Jack, who had kept sober for two days, incautiously +fortified himself for the ordeal by taking a drink before arriving. He +was nervously early, and immediately took a seat in the empty church +near the open door. The quiet of the building, the drowsy buzzing of +flies, and perhaps the soporific effect of the liquor caused his eyes +to close and his head to fall forward on his breast repeatedly. He +was recovering himself for the fourth time when he suddenly received a +violent cuff on the ear, and was knocked backward off the bench on which +he was sitting. That was all he knew. + +He picked himself up with a certain dignity, partly new to him, and +partly the result of his condition, and staggered, somewhat bruised and +disheveled, to the nearest saloon. Here a few frequenters who had +seen him pass, who knew his errand and the devotion to Polly which had +induced it, exhibited a natural concern. + +"How's things down at the gospel shop?" said one. "Look as ef you'd been +wrastlin' with the Sperit, Jack!" + +"Old man must hev exhorted pow'ful," said another, glancing at his +disordered Sunday attire. + +"Ain't be'n hevin' a row with Polly? I'm told she slings an awful left." + +Jack, instead of replying, poured out a dram of whiskey, drank it, +and putting down his glass, leaned heavily against the counter as he +surveyed his questioners with a sorrow chastened by reproachful dignity. + +"I'm a stranger here, gentlemen," he said slowly "ye've known me only a +little; but ez ye've seen me both blind drunk and sober, I reckon ye've +caught on to my gin'ral gait! Now I wanter put it to you, ez fair-minded +men, ef you ever saw me strike a parson?" + +"No," said a chorus of sympathetic voices. The barkeeper, however, with +a swift recollection of Polly and the Reverend Withholder, and some +possible contingent jealousy in Jack, added prudently, "Not yet." + +The chorus instantly added reflectively, "Well, no not yet." + +"Did ye ever," continued Jack solemnly, "know me to cuss, sass, +bully-rag, or say anything agin parsons, or the church?" + +"No," said the crowd, overthrowing prudence in curiosity, "ye never +did,--we swear it! And now, what's up?" + +"I ain't what you call 'a member in good standin','" he went on, +artistically protracting his climax. "I ain't be'n convicted o' sin; +I ain't 'a meek an' lowly follower;' I ain't be'n exactly what I orter +be'n; I hevn't lived anywhere up to my lights; but is thet a reason why +a parson should strike me?" + +"Why? What? When did he? Who did?" asked the eager crowd, with one +voice. + +Jack then painfully related how he had been invited by the Reverend +Mr. Withholder to attend the Bible class. How he had arrived early, +and found the church empty. How he had taken a seat near the door to +be handy when the parson came. How he just felt "kinder kam and good," +listenin' to the flies buzzing, and must have fallen asleep,--only he +pulled himself up every time,--though, after all, it warn't no crime to +fall asleep in an empty church! How "all of a suddent" the parson came +in, "give him a clip side o' the head," and knocked him off the bench, +and left him there! + +"But what did he SAY?" queried the crowd. + +"Nuthin'. Afore I could get up, he got away." + +"Are you sure it was him?" they asked. "You know you SAY you was +asleep." + +"Am I sure?" repeated Jack scornfully. "Don't I know thet face and +beard? Didn't I feel it hangin' over me?" + +"What are you going to do about it?" continued the crowd eagerly. + +"Wait till he comes out--and you'll see," said Jack, with dignity. + +This was enough for the crowd; they gathered excitedly at the door, +where Jack was already standing, looking towards the church. The moments +dragged slowly; it might be a long meeting. Suddenly the church door +opened and a figure appeared, looking up and down the street. Jack +colored--he recognized Polly--and stepped out into the road. The crowd +delicately, but somewhat disappointedly, drew back in the saloon. They +did not care to interfere in THAT sort of thing. + +Polly saw him, and came hurriedly towards him. She was holding something +in her hand. + +"I picked this up on the church floor," she said shyly, "so I reckoned +you HAD be'n there,--though the parson said you hadn't,--and I just +excused myself and ran out to give it ye. It's yourn, ain't it?" +She held up a gold specimen pin, which he had put on in honor of the +occasion. "I had a harder time, though, to git this yer,--it's yourn +too,--for Billy was laying down in the yard, back o' the church, and +just comf'bly swallerin' it." + +"Who?" said Jack quickly. + +"Billy,--my goat." + +Jack drew a long breath, and glanced back at the saloon. "Ye ain't goin' +back to class now, are ye?" he said hurriedly. "Ef you ain't, I'll--I'll +see ye home." + +"I don't mind," said Polly demurely, "if it ain't takin' ye outer y'ur +way." + +Jack offered his arm, and hurrying past the saloon, the happy pair were +soon on the road to Skinners Pass. + + +Jack did not, I regret to say, confess his blunder, but left the +Reverend Mr. Withholder to remain under suspicion of having committed an +unprovoked assault and battery. It was characteristic of Rocky Canyon, +however, that this suspicion, far from injuring his clerical reputation, +incited a respect that had been hitherto denied him. A man who could +hit out straight from the shoulder had, in the language of the critics, +"suthin' in him." Oddly enough, the crowd that had at first sympathized +with Jack now began to admit provocations. His subsequent silence, a +disposition when questioned on the subject to smile inanely, and, later, +when insidiously asked if he had ever seen Polly dancing with the goat, +his bursting into uproarious laughter completely turned the current of +opinion against him. The public mind, however, soon became engrossed by +a more interesting incident. + +The Reverend Mr. Withholder had organized a series of Biblical tableaux +at Skinnerstown for the benefit of his church. Illustrations were to be +given of "Rebecca at the Well," "The Finding of Moses," "Joseph and +his Brethren;" but Rocky Canyon was more particularly excited by the +announcement that Polly Harkness would personate "Jephthah's Daughter." +On the evening of the performance, however, it was found that this +tableau had been withdrawn and another substituted, for reasons not +given. Rocky Canyon, naturally indignant at this omission to represent +native talent, indulged in a hundred wild surmises. But it was generally +believed that Jack Filgee's revengeful animosity to the Reverend Mr. +Withholder was at the bottom of it. Jack, as usual, smiled inanely, but +nothing was to be got from him. It was not until a few days later, when +another incident crowned the climax of these mysteries, that a full +disclosure came from his lips. + +One morning a flaming poster was displayed at Rocky Canyon, with a +charming picture of the "Sacramento Pet" in the briefest of skirts, +disporting with a tambourine before a goat garlanded with flowers, who +bore, however, an undoubted likeness to Billy. The text in enormous +letters, and bristling with points of admiration, stated that the "Pet" +would appear as "Esmeralda," assisted by a performing goat, especially +trained by the gifted actress. The goat would dance, play cards, and +perform those tricks of magic familiar to the readers of Victor Hugo's +beautiful story of the "Hunchback of Notre Dame," and finally knock +down and overthrow the designing seducer, Captain Phoebus. The marvelous +spectacle would be produced under the patronage of the Hon. Colonel +Starbottle and the Mayor of Skinnerstown. + +As all Rocky Canyon gathered open-mouthed around the poster, Jack +demurely joined the group. Every eye was turned upon him. + +"It don't look as if yer Polly was in THIS show, any more than she +was in the tablows," said one, trying to conceal his curiosity under a +slight sneer. "She don't seem to be doin' any dancin'!" + +"She never DID any dancin'," said Jack, with a smile. + +"Never DID! Then what was all these yarns about her dancin' up at the +pass?" + +"It was the Sacramento Pet who did all the dancin'; Polly only LENT +the goat. Ye see, the Pet kinder took a shine to Billy arter he bowled +Starbottle over thet day at the hotel, and she thought she might teach +him tricks. So she DID, doing all her teachin' and stage-rehearsin' up +there at the pass, so's to be outer sight, and keep this thing dark. She +bribed Polly to lend her the goat and keep her secret, and Polly never +let on a word to anybody but me." + +"Then it was the Pet that Yuba Bill saw dancin' from the coach?" + +"Yes." + +"And that yer artist from New York painted as an 'Imp and Satire'?" + +"Yes." + +"Then that's how Polly didn't show up in them tablows at Skinnerstown? +It was Withholder who kinder smelt a rat, eh? and found out it was only +a theayter gal all along that did the dancin'?" + +"Well, you see," said Jack, with affected hesitation, "thet's another +yarn. I don't know mebbe ez I oughter tell it. Et ain't got anything +to do with this advertisement o' the Pet, and might be rough on old man +Withholder! Ye mustn't ask me, boys." + +But there was that in his eye, and above all in this lazy +procrastination of the true humorist when he is approaching his climax, +which rendered the crowd clamorous and unappeasable. They WOULD have the +story! + +Seeing which, Jack leaned back against a rock with great gravity, put +his hands in his pockets, looked discontentedly at the ground, and +began: "You see, boys, old Parson Withholder had heard all these yarns +about Polly and thet trick-goat, and he kinder reckoned that she might +do for some one of his tablows. So he axed her if she'd mind standin' +with the goat and a tambourine for Jephthah's Daughter, at about the +time when old Jeph comes home, sailin' in and vowin' he'll kill the +first thing he sees,--jest as it is in the Bible story. Well, Polly +didn't like to say it wasn't HER that performed with the goat, but the +Pet, for thet would give the Pet dead away; so Polly agrees to come thar +with the goat and rehearse the tablow. Well, Polly's thar, a little +shy; and Billy,--you bet HE'S all there, and ready for the fun; but the +darned fool who plays Jephthah ain't worth shucks, and when HE comes +in he does nothin' but grin at Polly and seem skeert at the goat. This +makes old Withholder jest wild, and at last he goes on the platform +hisself to show them how the thing oughter be done. So he comes bustlin' +and prancin' in, and ketches sight o' Polly dancin' in with the goat to +welcome him; and then he clasps his hands--so--and drops on his knees, +and hangs down his head--so--and sez, 'Me chyld! me vow! Oh, +heavens!' But jest then Billy--who's gettin' rather tired o' all this +foolishness--kinder slues round on his hind legs, and ketches sight o' +the parson!" Jack paused a moment, and thrusting his hands still deeper +in his pockets, said lazily, "I don't know if you fellers have noticed +how much old Withholder looks like Billy?" + +There was a rapid and impatient chorus of "Yes! yes!" and "Go on!" + +"Well," continued Jack, "when Billy sees Withholder kneelin' thar +with his head down, he gives a kind o' joyous leap and claps his hoofs +together, ez much ez to say, 'I'm on in this scene,' drops his own head, +and jest lights out for the parson!" + +"And butts him clean through the side scenes into the street," +interrupted a delighted auditor. + +But Jack's face never changed. "Ye think so?" he said gravely. "But +thet's jest whar ye slip up; and thet's jest whar Billy slipped up!" he +added slowly. "Mebbe ye've noticed, too, thet the parson's built kinder +solid about the head and shoulders. It mought hev be'n thet, or thet +Billy didn't get a fair start, but thet goat went down on his fore legs +like a shot, and the parson gave one heave, and jest scooted him off the +platform! Then the parson reckoned thet this yer 'tablow' had better +be left out, as thar didn't seem to be any other man who could play +Jephthah, and it wasn't dignified for HIM to take the part. But the +parson allowed thet it might be a great moral lesson to Billy!" + +And it WAS, for from that moment Billy never attempted to butt again. +He performed with great docility later on in the Pet's engagement at +Skinnerstown; he played a distinguished role throughout the provinces; +he had had the advantages of Art from "the Pet," and of Simplicity from +Polly, but only Rocky Canyon knew that his real education had come with +his first rehearsal with the Reverend Mr. Withholder. + + + + +DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + + +There was surprise and sometimes disappointment in Rough and Ready, when +it was known that Dick Spindler intended to give a "family" Christmas +party at his own house. That he should take an early opportunity to +celebrate his good fortune and show hospitality was only expected from +the man who had just made a handsome "strike" on his claim; but that it +should assume so conservative, old-fashioned, and respectable a form was +quite unlooked-for by Rough and Ready, and was thought by some a trifle +pretentious. There were not half-a-dozen families in Rough and Ready; +nobody ever knew before that Spindler had any relations, and this +"ringing in" of strangers to the settlement seemed to indicate at least +a lack of public spirit. "He might," urged one of his critics, "hev +given the boys,--that had worked alongside o' him in the ditches by day, +and slung lies with him around the camp-fire by night,--he might hev +given them a square 'blow out,' and kep' the leavin's for his old +Spindler crew, just as other families do. Why, when old man Scudder had +his house-raisin' last year, his family lived for a week on what was +left over, arter the boys had waltzed through the house that night,--and +the Scudders warn't strangers, either." It was also evident that there +was an uneasy feeling that Spindler's action indicated an unhallowed +leaning towards the minority of respectability and exclusiveness, and +a desertion--without the excuse of matrimony--of the convivial and +independent bachelor majority of Rough and Ready. + +"Ef he was stuck after some gal and was kinder looking ahead, I'd hev +understood it," argued another critic. + +"Don't ye be too sure he ain't," said Uncle Jim Starbuck gloomily. +"Ye'll find that some blamed woman is at the bottom of this yer 'family' +gathering. That and trouble ez almost all they're made for!" + +There happened to be some truth in this dark prophecy, but none of the +kind that the misogynist supposed. In fact, Spindler had called a +few evenings before at the house of the Rev. Mr. Saltover, and Mrs. +Saltover, having one of her "Saleratus headaches," had turned him over +to her widow sister, Mrs. Huldy Price, who obediently bestowed upon +him that practical and critical attention which she divided with the +stocking she was darning. She was a woman of thirty-five, of singular +nerve and practical wisdom, who had once smuggled her wounded husband +home from a border affray, calmly made coffee for his deceived pursuers +while he lay hidden in the loft, walked four miles for that medical +assistance which arrived too late to save him, buried him secretly in +his own "quarter section," with only one other witness and mourner, and +so saved her position and property in that wild community, who believed +he had fled. There was very little of this experience to be traced in +her round, fresh-colored brunette cheek, her calm black eyes, set in +a prickly hedge of stiff lashes, her plump figure, or her frank, +courageous laugh. The latter appeared as a smile when she welcomed Mr. +Spindler. "She hadn't seen him for a coon's age," but "reckoned he was +busy fixin' up his new house." + +"Well, yes," said Spindler, with a slight hesitation, "ye see, I'm +reckonin' to hev a kinder Christmas gatherin' of my"--he was about to +say "folks," but dismissed it for "relations," and finally settled upon +"relatives" as being more correct in a preacher's house. + +Mrs. Price thought it a very good idea. Christmas was the natural season +for the family to gather to "see who's here and who's there, who's +gettin' on and who isn't, and who's dead and buried. It was lucky +for them who were so placed that they could do so and be joyful." +Her invincible philosophy probably carried her past any dangerous +recollections of the lonely grave in Kansas, and holding up the stocking +to the light, she glanced cheerfully along its level to Mr. Spindler's +embarrassed face by the fire. + +"Well, I can't say much ez to that," responded Spindler, still +awkwardly, "for you see I don't know much about it anyway." + +"How long since you've seen 'em?" asked Mrs. Price, apparently +addressing herself to the stocking. + +Spindler gave a weak laugh. "Well, you see, ef it comes to that, I've +never seen 'em!" + +Mrs. Price put the stocking in her lap and opened her direct eyes +on Spindler. "Never seen 'em?" she repeated. "Then, they're not near +relations?" + +"There are three cousins," said Spindler, checking them off on his +fingers, "a half-uncle, a kind of brother-in-law,--that is, the brother +of my sister-in-law's second husband,--and a niece. That's six." + +"But if you've not seen them, I suppose they've corresponded with you?" +said Mrs. Price. + +"They've nearly all of 'em written to me for money, seeing my name +in the paper ez hevin' made a strike," returned Spindler simply; "and +hevin' sent it, I jest know their addresses." + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Price, returning to the stocking. + +Something in the tone of her ejaculation increased Spindler's +embarrassment, but it also made him desperate. "You see, Mrs. Price," +he blurted out, "I oughter tell ye that I reckon they are the folks that +'hevn't got on,' don't you see, and so it seemed only the square thing +for me, ez had 'got on,' to give them a sort o' Christmas festival. +Suthin', don't ye know, like what your brother-in-law was sayin' last +Sunday in the pulpit about this yer peace and goodwill 'twixt man and +man." + +Mrs. Price looked again at the man before her. His sallow, perplexed +face exhibited some doubt, yet a certain determination, regarding +the prospect the quotation had opened to him. "A very good idea, Mr. +Spindler, and one that does you great credit," she said gravely. + +"I'm mighty glad to hear you say so, Mrs. Price," he said, with an +accent of great relief, "for I reckoned to ask you a great favor! You +see," he fell into his former hesitation, "that is--the fact is--that +this sort o' thing is rather suddent to me,--a little outer my line, +don't you see, and I was goin' to ask ye ef you'd mind takin' the hull +thing in hand and runnin it for me." + +"Running it for you," said Mrs. Price, with a quick eye-shot from under +the edge of her lashes. "Man alive! What are you thinking of?" + +"Bossin' the whole job for me," hurried on Spindler, with nervous +desperation. "Gettin' together all the things and makin' ready for +'em,--orderin' in everythin' that's wanted, and fixin' up the rooms,--I +kin step out while you're doin' it,--and then helpin' me receivin' 'em, +and sittin' at the head o' the table, you know,--like ez ef you was the +mistress." + +"But," said Mrs. Price, with her frank laugh, "that's the duty of one of +your relations,--your niece, for instance,--or cousin, if one of them is +a woman." + +"But," persisted Spindler, "you see, they're strangers to me; I don't +know 'em, and I do you. You'd make it easy for 'em,--and for me,--don't +you see? Kinder introduce 'em,--don't you know? A woman of your gin'ral +experience would smooth down all them little difficulties," continued +Spindler, with a vague recollection of the Kansas story, "and put +everybody on velvet. Don't say 'No,' Mrs. Price! I'm just kalkilatin' on +you." + +Sincerity and persistency in a man goes a great way with even the best +of women. Mrs. Price, who had at first received Spindler's request as an +amusing originality, now began to incline secretly towards it. And, of +course, began to suggest objections. + +"I'm afraid it won't do," she said thoughtfully, awakening to the fact +that it would do and could be done. "You see, I've promised to spend +Christmas at Sacramento with my nieces from Baltimore. And then there's +Mrs. Saltover and my sister to consult." + +But here Spindler's simple face showed such signs of distress that the +widow declared she would "think it over,"--a process which the sanguine +Spindler seemed to consider so nearly akin to talking it over that Mrs. +Price began to believe it herself, as he hopefully departed. + +She "thought it over" sufficiently to go to Sacramento and excuse +herself to her nieces. But here she permitted herself to "talk it over," +to the infinite delight of those Baltimore girls, who thought this +extravaganza of Spindler's "so Californian and eccentric!" So that it +was not strange that presently the news came back to Rough and Ready, +and his old associates learned for the first time that he had never seen +his relatives, and that they would be doubly strangers. This did not +increase his popularity; neither, I grieve to say, did the intelligence +that his relatives were probably poor, and that the Reverend Mr. +Saltover had approved of his course, and had likened it to the rich +man's feast, to which the halt and blind were invited. Indeed, the +allusion was supposed to add hypocrisy and a bid for popularity to +Spindler's defection, for it was argued that he might have feasted +"Wall-eyed Joe" or "Tangle-foot Billy,"--who had once been "chawed" by +a bear while prospecting,--if he had been sincere. Howbeit, Spindler's +faith was oblivious to these criticisms, in his joy at Mr. Saltover's +adhesion to his plans and the loan of Mrs. Price as a hostess. In +fact, he proposed to her that the invitation should also convey that +information in the expression, "by the kind permission of the Rev. Mr. +Saltover," as a guarantee of good faith, but the widow would have none +of it. The invitations were duly written and dispatched. + +"Suppose," suggested Spindler, with a sudden lugubrious +apprehension,--"suppose they shouldn't come?" + +"Have no fear of that," said Mrs. Price, with a frank laugh. + +"Or ef they was dead," continued Spindler. + +"They couldn't all be dead," said the widow cheerfully. + +"I've written to another cousin by marriage," said Spindler dubiously, +"in case of accident; I didn't think of him before, because he was +rich." + +"And have you ever seen him either, Mr. Spindler?" asked the widow, with +a slight mischievousness. + +"Lordy! No!" he responded, with unaffected concern. + +Only one mistake was made by Mrs. Price in her arrangements for the +party. She had noticed what the simple-minded Spindler could never have +conceived,--the feeling towards him held by his old associates, and had +tactfully suggested that a general invitation should be extended to them +in the evening. + +"You can have refreshments, you know, too, after the dinner, and games +and music." + +"But," said the unsophisticated host, "won't the boys think I'm playing +it rather low down on them, so to speak, givin' 'em a kind o' second +table, as ef it was the tailings after a strike?" + +"Nonsense," said Mrs. Price, with decision. "It's quite fashionable in +San Francisco, and just the thing to do." + +To this decision Spindler, in his blind faith in the widow's management, +weakly yielded. An announcement in the "Weekly Banner" that, "On +Christmas evening Richard Spindler, Esq., proposed to entertain his +friends and fellow citizens at an 'at home,' in his own residence," +not only widened the breach between him and the "boys," but awakened an +active resentment that only waited for an outlet. It was understood that +they were all coming; but that they should have "some fun out of it" +which might not coincide with Spindler's nor his relatives' sense of +humor seemed a foregone conclusion. + +Unfortunately, too, subsequent events lent themselves to this irony of +the situation. + +He was so obviously sincere in his intent, and, above all, seemed to +place such a pathetic reliance on her judgment, that she hesitated to +let him know the shock his revelation had given her. And what might his +other relations prove to be? Good Lord! Yet, oddly enough, she was so +prepossessed by him, and so fascinated by his very Quixotism, that it +was perhaps for these complex reasons that she said a little stiffly:-- + +"One of these cousins, I see, is a lady, and then there is your niece. +Do you know anything about them, Mr. Spindler?" + +His face grew serious. "No more than I know of the others," he said +apologetically. After a moment's hesitation he went on: "Now you speak +of it, it seems to me I've heard that my niece was di-vorced. But," he +added, brightening up, "I've heard that she was popular." + +Mrs. Price gave a short laugh, and was silent for a few minutes. Then +this sublime little woman looked up at him. What he might have seen in +her eyes was more than he expected, or, I fear, deserved. "Cheer up, Mr. +Spindler," she said manfully. "I'll see you through this thing, don't +you mind! But don't you say anything about--about--this Vigilance +Committee business to anybody. Nor about your niece--it was your niece, +wasn't it?--being divorced. Charley (the late Mr. Price) had a queer +sort of sister, who--but that's neither here nor there! And your niece +mayn't come, you know; or if she does, you ain't bound to bring her out +to the general company." + +At parting, Spindler, in sheer gratefulness, pressed her hand, and +lingered so long over it that a little color sprang into the widow's +brown cheek. Perhaps a fresh courage sprang into her heart, too, for +she went to Sacramento the next day, previously enjoining Spindler on no +account to show any answers he might receive. At Sacramento her nieces +flew to her with confidences. + +"We so wanted to see you, Aunt Huldy, for we've heard something so +delightful about your funny Christmas Party!" Mrs. Price's heart sank, +but her eyes snapped. "Only think of it! One of Mr. Spindler's long-lost +relatives--a Mr. Wragg--lives in this hotel, and papa knows him. He's +a sort of half-uncle, I believe, and he's just furious that Spindler +should have invited him. He showed papa the letter; said it was +the greatest piece of insolence in the world; that Spindler was an +ostentatious fool, who had made a little money and wanted to use him +to get into society; and the fun of the whole thing was that this +half-uncle and whole brute is himself a parvenu,--a vulgar, ostentatious +creature, who was only a"-- + +"Never mind what he was, Kate," interrupted Mrs. Price hastily. "I call +his conduct a shame." + +"So do we," said both girls eagerly. After a pause Kate clasped her +knees with her locked fingers, and rocking backwards and forwards, said, +"Milly and I have got an idea, and don't you say 'No' to it. We've had +it ever since that brute talked in that way. Now, through him, we know +more about this Mr. Spindler's family connections than you do; and we +know all the trouble you and he'll have in getting up this party. You +understand? Now, we first want to know what Spindler's like. Is he a +savage, bearded creature, like the miners we saw on the boat?" + +Mrs. Price said that, on the contrary, he was very gentle, soft-spoken, +and rather good-looking. + +"Young or old?" + +"Young,--in fact, a mere boy, as you may judge from his actions," +returned Mrs. Price, with a suggestive matronly air. + +Kate here put up a long-handled eyeglass to her fine gray eyes, fitted +it ostentatiously over her aquiline nose, and then said, in a voice of +simulated horror, "Aunt Huldy,--this revelation is shocking!" + +Mrs. Price laughed her usual frank laugh, albeit her brown cheek took +upon it a faint tint of Indian red. "If that's the wonderful idea you +girls have got, I don't see how it's going to help matters," she said +dryly. + +"No, that's not it? We really have an idea. Now look here." + +Mrs. Price "looked here." This process seemed to the superficial +observer to be merely submitting her waist and shoulders to the arms of +her nieces, and her ears to their confidential and coaxing voices. + +Twice she said "it couldn't be thought of," and "it was impossible;" +once addressed Kate as "You limb!" and finally said that she "wouldn't +promise, but might write!" + +***** + +It was two days before Christmas. There was nothing in the air, sky, +or landscape of that Sierran slope to suggest the season to the Eastern +stranger. A soft rain had been dropping for a week on laurel, pine, and +buckeye, and the blades of springing grasses and shyly opening flowers. +Sedate and silent hillsides that had grown dumb and parched towards the +end of the dry season became gently articulate again; there were murmurs +in hushed and forgotten canyons, the leap and laugh of water among the +dry bones of dusty creeks, and the full song of the larger forks and +rivers. Southwest winds brought the warm odor of the pine sap swelling +in the forest, or the faint, far-off spice of wild mustard springing +in the lower valleys. But, as if by some irony of Nature, this gentle +invasion of spring in the wild wood brought only disturbance and +discomfort to the haunts and works of man. The ditches were overflowed, +the fords of the Fork impassable, the sluicing adrift, and the trails +and wagon roads to Rough and Ready knee-deep in mud. The stage-coach +from Sacramento, entering the settlement by the mountain highway, its +wheels and panels clogged and crusted with an unctuous pigment like mud +and blood, passed out of it through the overflowed and dangerous ford, +and emerged in spotless purity, leaving its stains behind with Rough +and Ready. A week of enforced idleness on the river "Bar" had driven +the miners to the more comfortable recreation of the saloon bar, its +mirrors, its florid paintings, its armchairs, and its stove. The steam +of their wet boots and the smoke of their pipes hung over the latter +like the sacrificial incense from an altar. But the attitude of the men +was more critical and censorious than contented, and showed little of +the gentleness of the weather or season. + +"Did you hear if the stage brought down any more relations of +Spindler's?" + +The barkeeper, to whom this question was addressed, shifted his lounging +position against the bar and said, "I reckon not, ez far ez I know." + +"And that old bloat of a second cousin--that crimson beak--what kem +down yesterday,--he ain't bin hangin' round here today for his reg'lar +pizon?" + +"No," said the barkeeper thoughtfully, "I reckon Spindler's got him +locked up, and is settin' on him to keep him sober till after Christmas, +and prevent you boys gettin' at him." + +"He'll have the jimjams before that," returned the first speaker; "and +how about that dead beat of a half-nephew who borrowed twenty dollars of +Yuba Bill on the way down, and then wanted to get off at Shootersvilie, +but Bill wouldn't let him, and scooted him down to Spindler's and +collected the money from Spindler himself afore he'd give him up?" + +"He's up thar with the rest of the menagerie," said the barkeeper, "but +I reckon that Mrs. Price hez bin feedin' him up. And ye know the old +woman--that fifty-fifth cousin by marriage--whom Joe Chandler swears he +remembers ez an old cook for a Chinese restaurant in Stockton,--darn my +skin ef that Mrs. Price hasn't rigged her out in some fancy duds of her +own, and made her look quite decent." + +A deep groan here broke from Uncle Jim Starbuck. + +"Didn't I tell ye?" he said, turning appealingly to the others. "It's +that darned widow that's at the bottom of it all! She first put Spindler +up to givin' the party, and now, darn my skin, ef she ain't goin to fix +up these ragamuffins and drill 'em so we can't get any fun outer 'em +after all! And it's bein' a woman that's bossin' the job, and not +Spindler, we've got to draw things mighty fine and not cut up too rough, +or some of the boys will kick." + +"You bet," said a surly but decided voice in the crowd. + +"And," said another voice, "Mrs. Price didn't live in 'Bleeding Kansas' +for nothing." + +"Wot's the programme you've settled on, Uncle Jim?" said the barkeeper +lightly, to check what seemed to promise a dangerous discussion. + +"Well," said Starbuck, "we kalkilate to gather early Christmas night in +Hooper's Hollow and rig ourselves up Injun fashion, and then start for +Spindler's with pitch-pine torches, and have a 'torchlight dance' around +the house; them who does the dancin' and yellin' outside takin' their +turn at goin' in and hevin' refreshment. Jake Cooledge, of Boston, sez +if anybody objects to it, we've only got to say we're 'Mummers of the +Olden Times,' sabe? Then, later, we'll have 'Them Sabbath Evening Bells' +performed on prospectin' pans by the band. Then, at the finish, Jake +Cooledge is goin' to give one of his surkastic speeches,--kinder +welcomin' Spindler's family to the Free Openin' o' Spindler's Almshouse +and Reformatory." He paused, possibly for that approbation which, +however, did not seem to come spontaneously. "It ain't much," he added +apologetically, "for we're hampered by women; but we'll add to the +programme ez we see how things pan out. Ye see, from what we can hear, +all of Spindler's relations ain't on hand yet! We've got to wait, like +in elckshun times, for 'returns from the back counties.' Hello! What's +that?" + +It was the swish and splutter of hoofs on the road before the door. The +Sacramento coach! In an instant every man was expectant, and Starbuck +darted outside on the platform. Then there was the usual greeting and +bustle, the hurried ingress of thirsty passengers into the saloon, and a +pause. Uncle Jim returned, excitedly and pantingly. "Look yer, boys! Ef +this ain't the richest thing out! They say there's two more relations o' +Spindler's on the coach, come down as express freight, consigned,--d'ye +hear?--consigned to Spindler!" + +"Stiffs, in coffins?" suggested an eager voice. + +"I didn't get to hear more. But here they are." + +There was the sudden irruption of a laughing, curious crowd into the +bar-room, led by Yuba Bill, the driver. Then the crowd parted, and +out of their midst stepped two children, a boy and a girl, the oldest +apparently of not more than six years, holding each other's hands. They +were coarsely yet cleanly dressed, and with a certain uniform precision +that suggested formal charity. But more remarkable than all, around the +neck of each was a little steel chain, from which depended the regular +check and label of the powerful Express Company, Wells; Fargo & Co., and +the words: "To Richard Spindler." "Fragile." "With great care." "Collect +on delivery." Occasionally their little hands went up automatically and +touched their labels, as if to show them. They surveyed the crowd, the +floor, the gilded bar, and Yuba Bill without fear and without wonder. +There was a pathetic suggestion that they were accustomed to this +observation. + +"Now, Bobby," said Yuba Bill, leaning back against the bar, with an air +half-paternal, half-managerial, "tell these gents how you came here." + +"By Wellth, Fargoth Expreth," lisped Bobby. + +"Whar from?" + +"Wed Hill, Owegon." + +"Red Hill, Oregon? Why, it's a thousand miles from here," said a +bystander. + +"I reckon," said Yuba Bill coolly, "they kem by stage to Portland, by +steamer to 'Frisco, steamer again to Stockton, and then by stage over +the whole line. Allers by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, from agent to +agent, and from messenger to messenger. Fact! They ain't bin tetched or +handled by any one but the Kempany's agents; they ain't had a line or +direction except them checks around their necks! And they've wanted for +nothin' else. Why, I've carried heaps o' treasure before, gentlemen, +and once a hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks, but I never carried +anythin' that was watched and guarded as them kids! Why, the division +inspector at Stockton wanted to go with 'em over the line; but Jim +Bracy, the messenger, said he'd call it a reflection on himself and +resign, ef they didn't give 'em to him with the other packages! Ye had a +pretty good time, Bobby, didn't ye? Plenty to eat and drink, eh?" + +The two children laughed a little weak laugh, turned each other +bashfully around, and then looked up shyly at Yuba Bill and said, +"Yeth." + +"Do you know where you are goin'?" asked Starbuck, in a constrained +voice. + +It was the little girl who answered quickly and eagerly:-- + +"Yes, to Krissmass and Sandy Claus." + +"To what?" asked Starbuck. + +Here the boy interposed with a superior air:-- + +"Thee meanth Couthin Dick. He'th got Krithmath." + +"Where's your mother?" + +"Dead." + +"And your father?" + +"In orthpittal." + +There was a laugh somewhere on the outskirts of the crowd. Every one +faced angrily in that direction, but the laugher had disappeared. Yuba +Bill, however, sent his voice after him. "Yes, in hospital! Funny, ain't +it?--amoosin' place! Try it. Step over here, and in five minutes, by the +living Hoky, I'll qualify you for admission, and not charge you a cent!" +He stopped, gave a sweeping glance of dissatisfaction around him, and +then, leaning back against the bar, beckoned to some one near the door, +and said in a disgusted tone, "You tell these galoots how it happened, +Bracy. They make me sick!" + +Thus appealed to, Bracy, the express messenger, stepped forward in Yuba +Bill's place. + +"It's nothing particular, gentlemen," he said, with a laugh, "only +it seems that some man called Spindler, who lives about here, sent an +invitation to the father of these children to bring his family to a +Christmas party. It wasn't a bad sort of thing for Spindler to do, +considering that they were his poor relations, though they didn't know +him from Adam,--was it?" He paused; several of the bystanders cleared +their throats, but said nothing. "At least," resumed Bracy, "that's what +the boys up at Red Hill, Oregon, thought, when they heard of it. Well, +as the father was in hospital with a broken leg, and the mother only a +few weeks dead, the boys thought it mighty rough on these poor kids if +they were done out of their fun because they had no one to bring them. +The boys couldn't afford to go themselves, but they got a little money +together, and then got the idea of sendin' 'em by express. Our agent at +Red Hill tumbled to the idea at once; but he wouldn't take any money in +advance, and said he would send 'em 'C. O. D.' like any other package. +And he did, and here they are! That's all! And now, gentlemen, as I've +got to deliver them personally to this Spindler, and get his receipt and +take off their checks, I reckon we must toddle. Come, Bill, help take +'em up!" + +"Hold on!" said a dozen voices. A dozen hands were thrust into a dozen +pockets; I grieve to say some were regretfully withdrawn empty, for it +was a hard season in Rough and Ready. But the expressman stepped before +them, with warning, uplifted hand. + +"Not a cent, boys,--not a cent! Wells, Fargo's Express Company don't +undertake to carry bullion with those kids, at least on the same +contract!" He laughed, and then looking around him, said confidentially +in a lower voice, which, however, was quite audible to the children, +"There's as much as three bags of silver in quarter and half dollars in +my treasure box in the coach that has been poured, yes, just showered +upon them, ever since they started, and have been passed over from agent +to agent and messenger to messenger,--enough to pay their passage from +here to China! It's time to say quits now. But bet your life, they are +not going to that Christmas party poor!" + +He caught up the boy, as Yuba Bill lifted the little girl to his +shoulder, and both passed out. Then one by one the loungers in the +bar-room silently and awkwardly followed, and when the barkeeper turned +back from putting away his decanters and glasses, to his astonishment +the room was empty. + +***** + +Spindler's house, or "Spindler's Splurge," as Rough and Ready chose to +call it, stood above the settlement, on a deforested hillside, which, +however, revenged itself by producing not enough vegetation to cover +even the few stumps that were ineradicable. A large wooden structure +in the pseudo-classic style affected by Westerners, with an incongruous +cupola, it was oddly enough relieved by a still more incongruous veranda +extending around its four sides, upheld by wooden Doric columns, which +were already picturesquely covered with flowering vines and sun-loving +roses. Mr. Spindler had trusted the furnishing of its interior to the +same contractor who had upholstered the gilded bar-room of the Eureka +Saloon, and who had apparently bestowed the same design and material, +impartially, on each. There were gilded mirrors all over the house and +chilly marble-topped tables, gilt plaster Cupids in the corners, and +stuccoed lions "in the way" everywhere. The tactful hands of Mrs. Price +had screened some of these with seasonable laurels, fir boughs, and +berries, and had imparted a slight Christmas flavor to the house. But +the greater part of her time had been employed in trying to subdue the +eccentricities of Spindler's amazing relations; in tranquilizing Mrs. +"Aunt" Martha Spindler,--the elderly cook before alluded to,--who was +inclined to regard the gilded splendors of the house as indicative +of dangerous immorality; in restraining "Cousin" Morley Hewlett +from considering the dining-room buffet as a bar for "intermittent +refreshment;" and in keeping the weak-minded nephew, Phinney Spindler, +from shooting at bottles from the veranda, wearing his uncle's clothes, +or running up an account in his uncle's name for various articles at +the general stores. Yet the unlooked-for arrival of the two children had +been the one great compensation and diversion for her. She wrote at once +to her nieces a brief account of her miraculous deliverance. "I think +these poor children dropped from the skies here to make our Christmas +party possible, to say nothing of the sympathy they have created in +Rough and Ready for Spindler. He is going to keep them as long as +he can, and is writing to the father. Think of the poor little tots +traveling a thousand miles to 'Krissmass,' as they call it!--though they +were so well cared for by the messengers that their little bodies were +positively stuffed like quails. So, you see, dear, we will be able to +get along without airing your famous idea. I'm sorry, for I know you're +just dying to see it all." + +Whatever Kate's "idea" might have been, there certainly seemed now no +need of any extraneous aid to Mrs. Price's management. Christmas came at +last, and the dinner passed off without serious disaster. But the ordeal +of the reception of Rough and Ready was still to come. For Mrs. Price +well knew that although "the boys" were more subdued, and, indeed, +inclined to sympathize with their host's uncouth endeavor, there was +still much in the aspect of Spindler's relations to excite their sense +of the ludicrous. + +But here Fortune again favored the house of Spindler with a dramatic +surprise, even greater than the advent of the children had been. In the +change that had come over Rough and Ready, "the boys" had decided, out +of deference to the women and children, to omit the first part of their +programme, and had approached and entered the house as soberly and +quietly as ordinary guests. But before they had shaken hands with the +host and hostess, and seen the relations, the clatter of wheels was +heard before the open door, and its lights flashed upon a carriage and +pair,--an actual private carriage,--the like of which had not been seen +since the governor of the State had come down to open the new ditch! +Then there was a pause, the flash of the carriage lamps upon white silk, +the light tread of a satin foot on the veranda and in the hall, and the +entrance of a vision of loveliness! Middle-aged men and old dwellers +of cities remembered their youth; younger men bethought themselves of +Cinderella and the Prince! There was a thrill and a hush as this last +guest--a beautiful girl, radiant with youth and adornment--put a dainty +glass to her sparkling eye and advanced familiarly, with outstretched +hand, to Dick Spindler. Mrs. Price gave a single gasp, and drew back +speechless. + +"Uncle Dick," said a laughing contralto voice, which, indeed, somewhat +recalled Mrs. Price's own, in its courageous frankness, "I am so +delighted to come, even if a little late, and so sorry that Mr. M'Kenna +could not come on account of business." + +Everybody listened eagerly, but none more eagerly and surprisingly than +the host himself. M'Kenna! The rich cousin who had never answered the +invitation! And Uncle Dick! This, then, was his divorced niece! Yet even +in his astonishment he remembered that of course no one but himself and +Mrs. Price knew it,--and that lady had glanced discreetly away. + +"Yes," continued the half-niece brightly. "I came from Sacramento with +some friends to Shootersville, and from thence I drove here; and though +I must return to-night, I could not forego the pleasure of coming, if +it was only for an hour or two, to answer the invitation of the uncle I +have not seen for years." She paused, and, raising her glasses, turned a +politely questioning eye towards Mrs. Price. "One of our relations?" she +said smilingly to Spindler. + +"No," said Spindler, with some embarrassment, "a--a friend!" + +The half-niece extended her hand. Mrs. Price took it. + +But the fair stranger,--what she did and said were the only things +remembered in Rough and Ready on that festive occasion; no one thought +of the other relations; no one recalled them nor their eccentricities; +Spindler himself was forgotten. People only recollected how Spindler's +lovely niece lavished her smiles and courtesies on every one, and +brought to her feet particularly the misogynist Starbuck and the +sarcastic Cooledge, oblivious of his previous speech; how she sat at +the piano and sang like an angel, hushing the most hilarious and excited +into sentimental and even maudlin silence; how, graceful as a nymph, she +led with "Uncle Dick" a Virginia reel until the whole assembly joined, +eager for a passing touch of her dainty hand in its changes; how, when +two hours had passed,--all too swiftly for the guests,--they stood with +bared heads and glistening eyes on the veranda to see the fairy coach +whirl the fairy princess away! How--but this incident was never known to +Rough and Ready. + +It happened in the sacred dressing-room, where Mrs. Price was cloaking +with her own hands the departing half-niece of Mr. Spindler. Taking that +opportunity to seize the lovely relative by the shoulders and shake her +violently, she said: "Oh, yes, and it's all very well for you, Kate, you +limb! For you're going away, and will never see Rough and Ready and poor +Spindler again. But what am I to do, miss? How am I to face it out? +For you know I've got to tell him at least that you're no half-niece of +his!" + +"Have you?" said the young lady. + +"Have I?" repeated the widow impatiently. "Have I? Of course I have! +What are you thinking of?" + +"I was thinking, aunty," said the girl audaciously, "that from what +I've seen and heard to-night, if I'm not his half-niece now, it's only a +question of time! So you'd better wait. Good-night, dear." + +And, really,--it turned out that she was right! + + + + +WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT "JULES'" + + +When the waters were up at "Jules'" there was little else up on that +monotonous level. For the few inhabitants who calmly and methodically +moved to higher ground, camping out in tents until the flood +had subsided, left no distracting wreckage behind them. A dozen +half-submerged log cabins dotted the tranquil surface of the waters, +without ripple or disturbance, looking in the moonlight more like the +ruins of centuries than of a few days. There was no current to sap their +slight foundations or sweep them away; nothing stirred that silent lake +but the occasional shot-like indentations of a passing raindrop, or, +still more rarely, a raft, made of a single log, propelled by some +citizen on a tour of inspection of his cabin roof-tree, where some of +his goods were still stored. There was no sense of terror in this bland +obliteration of the little settlement; the ruins of a single burnt-up +cabin would have been more impressive than this stupid and even +grotesquely placid effect of the rival destroying element. People took +it naturally; the water went as it had come,--slowly, impassively, +noiselessly; a few days of fervid Californian sunshine dried the cabins, +and in a week or two the red dust lay again as thickly before their +doors as the winter mud had lain. The waters of Rattlesnake Creek +dropped below its banks, the stage-coach from Marysville no longer made +a detour of the settlement. There was even a singular compensation to +this amicable invasion; the inhabitants sometimes found gold in those +breaches in the banks made by the overflow. To wait for the "old +Rattlesnake sluicing" was a vernal hope of the trusting miner. + +The history of "Jules'," however, was once destined to offer a singular +interruption of this peaceful and methodical process. The winter of +1859-60 was an exceptional one. But little rain had fallen in the +valleys, although the snow lay deep in the high Sierras. Passes were +choked, ravines filled, and glaciers found on their slopes. And when the +tardy rains came with the withheld southwesterly "trades," the regular +phenomenon recurred; Jules' Flat silently, noiselessly, and peacefully +went under water; the inhabitants moved to the higher ground, perhaps +a little more expeditiously from an impatience born of the delay. The +stagecoach from Marysville made its usual detour and stopped before the +temporary hotel, express offices, and general store of "Jules'," under +canvas, bark, and the limp leaves of a spreading alder. It deposited a +single passenger,--Miles Hemmingway, of San Francisco, but originally of +Boston,--the young secretary of a mining company, dispatched to report +upon the alleged auriferous value of "Jules'." Of this he had been by +no means impressed as he looked down upon the submerged cabins from the +box-seat of the coach and listened to the driver's lazy recital of +the flood, and of the singularly patient acceptance of it by the +inhabitants. + +It was the old story of the southwestern miner's indolence and +incompetency,--utterly distasteful to his northern habits of thought +and education. Here was their old fatuous endurance of Nature's wild +caprices, without that struggle against them which brought others +strength and success; here was the old philosophy which accepted the +prairie fire and cyclone, and survived them without advancement, +yet without repining. Perhaps in different places and surroundings a +submission so stoic might have impressed him; in gentlemen who tucked +their dirty trousers in their muddy boots and lived only for the gold +they dug, it did not seem to him heroic. Nor was he mollified as +he stood beside the rude refreshment bar--a few planks laid on +trestles--and drank his coffee beneath the dripping canvas roof, with an +odd recollection of his boyhood and an inclement Sunday-school picnic. +Yet these men had been living in this shiftless fashion for three weeks! +It exasperated him still more to think that he might have to wait there +a few days longer for the water to subside sufficiently for him to make +his examination and report. As he took a proffered seat on a candle-box, +which tilted under him, and another survey of the feeble makeshifts +around him, his irascibility found vent. + +"Why, in the name of God, didn't you, after you had been flooded out +ONCE, build your cabins PERMANENTLY on higher ground?" + +Although the tone of his voice was more disturbing than his question, it +pleased one of the loungers to affect to take it literally. + +"Well, ez you've put it that way,--'in the name of God!'"--returned the +man lazily, "it mout hev struck us that ez HE was bossin' the job, so +to speak, and handlin' things round here generally, we might leave it to +Him. It wasn't OUR flood to monkey with." + +"And as He didn't coven-ant, so to speak, to look arter this higher +ground 'speshally, and make an Ararat of it for us, ez far ez we +could see, we didn't see any reason for SETTLIN' yer," put in a second +speaker, with equal laziness. + +The secretary saw his mistake instantly, and had experience enough +of Western humor not to prolong the disadvantage of his unfortunate +adjuration. He colored slightly and said, with a smile, "You know what +I mean; you could have protected yourselves better. A levee on the bank +would have kept you clear of the highest watermark." + +"Hey you ever heard WHAT the highest watermark was?" said the first +speaker, turning to another of the loungers without looking at the +secretary. + +"Never heard it,--didn't know there was a limit before," responded the +man. + +The first speaker turned back to the secretary. "Did you ever know what +happened at 'Bulger's,' on the North Fork? They had one o' them levees." + +"No. What happened?" asked the secretary impatiently. + +"They was fixed suthin' like us," returned the first speaker. "THEY +allowed they'd build a levee above THEIR highest watermark, and did. It +worked like a charm at first; but the water hed to go somewhere, and it +kinder collected at the first bend. Then it sorter raised itself on its +elbows one day, and looked over the levee down upon whar some of the +boys was washin' quite comf'ble. Then it paid no sorter attention to the +limit o' that high watermark, but went six inches better! Not slow and +quiet like ez it useter to, ez it does HERE, kinder fillin' up from +below, but went over with a rush and a current, hevin' of course the +whole height of the levee to fall on t'other side where the boys were +sluicing." He paused, and amidst a profound silence added, "They say +that 'Bulger's' was scattered promiscuous-like all along the fort for +five miles. I only know that one of his mules and a section of sluicing +was picked up at Red Flat, eight miles away!" + +Mr. Hemmingway felt that there WAS an answer to this, but, being wise, +also felt that it would be unavailing. He smiled politely and said +nothing, at which the first speaker turned to him:-- + +"Thar ain't anything to see to-day, but to-morrow, ez things go, the +water oughter be droppin'. Mebbe you'd like to wash up now and clean +yourself," he added, with a glance at Hemmingway's small portmanteau. +"Ez we thought you'd likely be crowded here, we've rigged up a corner +for you at Stanton's shanty with the women." + +The young man's cheek flushed slightly at some possible irony in this, +and he protested with considerable stress that he was quite ready "to +rough it" where he was. + +"I reckon it's already fixed," returned the man decisively, "so you'd +better come and I'll show you the way." + +"One moment," said Hemmingway, with a smile; "my credentials are +addressed to the manager of the Boone Ditch Company at 'Jules'.' Perhaps +I ought to see him first." + +"All right; he's Stanton." + +"And"--hesitated the secretary, "YOU, who appear to understand the +locality so well,--I trust I may have the pleasure"-- + +"Oh, I'm Jules." + +The secretary was a little startled and amused. So "Jules" was a person, +and not a place! + +"Then you're a pioneer?" asked Hemmingway, a little less dictatorially, +as they passed out under the dripping trees. + +"I struck this creek in the fall of '49, comin' over Livermore's +Pass with Stanton," returned Jules, with great brevity of speech and +deliberate tardiness of delivery. "Sent for my wife and two children the +next year; wife died same winter, change bein' too sudden for her, and +contractin' chills and fever at Sweetwater. When I kem here first thar +wasn't six inches o' water in the creek; out there was a heap of it over +there where you see them yallowish-green patches and strips o' brush +and grass; all that war water then, and all that growth hez sprung up +since." + +Hemmingway looked around him. The "higher ground" where they stood was +in reality only a mound-like elevation above the dead level of the flat, +and the few trees were merely recent young willows and alders. The area +of actual depression was much greater than he had imagined, and its +resemblance to the bed of some prehistoric inland sea struck him +forcibly. A previous larger inundation than Jules' brief experience had +ever known had been by no means improbable. His cheek reddened at his +previous hasty indictment of the settlers' ignorance and shiftlessness, +and the thought that he had probably committed his employers to his +own rash confidence and superiority of judgment. However, there was no +evidence that this diluvial record was not of the remote past. He smiled +again with greater security as he thought of the geological changes that +had since tempered these cataclysms, and the amelioration brought by +settlement and cultivation. Nevertheless, he would make a thorough +examination to-morrow. + +Stanton's cabin was the furthest of these temporary habitations, and +was partly on the declivity which began to slope to the river's bank. It +was, like the others, a rough shanty of unplaned boards, but, unlike the +others, it had a base of logs laid lengthwise on the ground and parallel +with each other, on which the flooring and structure were securely +fastened. This gave it the appearance of a box slid on runners, or a +Noah's Ark whose bulk had been reduced. Jules explained that the logs, +laid in that manner, kept the shanty warmer and free from damp. In reply +to Hemmingway's suggestion that it was a great waste of material, Jules +simply replied that the logs were the "flotsam and jetsam" of the creek +from the overflowed mills below. + +Hemmingway again smiled. It was again the old story of Western waste +and prodigality. Accompanied by Jules, however, he climbed up the huge, +slippery logs which made a platform before the door, and entered. + +The single room was unequally divided; the larger part containing three +beds, by day rolled in a single pile in one corner to make room for a +table and chairs. A few dresses hanging from nails on the wall showed +that it was the women's room. The smaller compartment was again +subdivided by a hanging blanket, behind which was a rude bunk or berth +against the wall, a table made of a packing-box, containing a tin basin +and a can of water. This was his apartment. + +"The women-folks are down the creek, bakin', to-day," said Jules +explanatorily; "but I reckon that one of 'em will be up here in a jiffy +to make supper, so you just take it easy till they come. I've got to +meander over to the claim afore I turn in, but you just lie by to-night +and take a rest." + +He turned away, leaving Hemmingway standing in the doorway still +distraught and hesitating. Nor did the young man recognize the delicacy +of Jules' leave-taking until he had unstrapped his portmanteau and found +himself alone, free to make his toilet, unembarrassed by company. But +even then he would have preferred the rough companionship of the miners +in the common dormitory of the general store to this intrusion upon +the half-civilization of the women, their pitiable little comforts and +secret makeshifts. His disgust of his own indecision which brought him +there naturally recoiled in the direction of his host and hostesses, and +after a hurried ablution, a change of linen, and an attempt to remove +the stains of travel from his clothes, he strode out impatiently into +the open air again. + +It was singularly mild even for the season. The southwest trades blew +softly, and whispered to him of San Francisco and the distant Pacific, +with its long, steady swell. He turned again to the overflowed Flat +beneath him, and the sluggish yellow water that scarcely broke a ripple +against the walls of the half-submerged cabins. And this was the water +for whose going down they were waiting with an immobility as tranquil +as the waters themselves! What marvelous incompetency,--or what infinite +patience! He knew, of course, their expected compensation in this +"ground sluicing" at Nature's own hand; the long rifts in the banks of +the creek which so often showed "the color" in the sparkling scales of +river gold disclosed by the action of the water; the heaps of reddish +mud left after its subsidence around the walls of the cabins,--a deposit +that often contained a treasure a dozen times more valuable than the +cabin itself! And then he heard behind him a laugh, a short and panting +breath, and turning, beheld a young woman running towards him. + +In his first astounded sight of her, in her limp nankeen sunbonnet, +thrown back from her head by the impetus of her flight, he saw only too +much hair, two much white teeth, too much eye-flash, and, above +all,--as it appeared to him,--too much confidence in the power of these +qualities. Even as she ran, it seemed to him that she was pulling down +ostentatiously the rolled-up sleeves of her pink calico gown over her +shapely arms. I am inclined to think that the young gentleman's temper +was at fault, and his conclusion hasty; a calmer observer would have +detected nothing of this in her frankly cheerful voice. Nevertheless, +her evident pleasure in the meeting seemed to him only obtrusive +coquetry. + +"Lordy! I reckoned to git here afore you'd get through fixin' up, and in +time to do a little prinkin' myself, and here you're out already." She +laughed, glancing at his clean shirt and damp hair. "But all the same, +we kin have a talk, and you kin tell me all the news afore the other +wimmen get up here. It's a coon's age since I was at Sacramento and +saw anybody or anything." She stopped and, instinctively detecting some +vague reticence in the man before her, said, still laughing, "You're Mr. +Hemmingway, ain't you?" + +Hemmingway took off his hat quickly, with a slight start at his +forgetfulness. "I beg your pardon; yes, certainly." + +"Aunty Stanton thought it was 'Hummingbird,'" said the girl, with a +laugh, "but I reckoned not. I'm Jinney Jules, you know; folks call me +'J. J.' It wouldn't do for a Hummingbird and a Jay Jay to be in the same +camp, would it? It would be just TOO funny!" + +Hemmingway did not find the humor of this so singularly exhaustive, but +he was already beginning to be ashamed of his attitude towards her. "I'm +very sorry to be giving you all this trouble by my intrusion, for I was +quite willing to stay at the store yonder. Indeed," he added, with +a burst of frankness quite as sincere as her own, "if you think your +father will not be offended, I would gladly go there now." + +If he still believed in her coquetry and vanity, he would have been +undeceived and crushed by the equal and sincere frankness with which she +met this ungallant speech. + +"No! I reckon he wouldn't care, if you'd be as comf'ble and fit for +to-morrow. But ye WOULDN'T," she said reflectively. "The boys thar +sit up late over euchre, and swear a heap, and Simpson, who'd sleep +alongside of ye, snores pow'ful, I've heard. Aunty Stanton kin do her +level at that, too, and they say"--with a laugh--"that I kin, too, but +you're away off in that corner, and it won't reach you. So, takin' it +all, by the large, you'd better stay whar ye are. We wimmen, that is, +the most of us, will be off and away down to Rattlesnake Bar shoppin' +afore sun up, so ye'll sleep ez long ez ye want to, and find yer +breakfast ready when ye wake. So I'll jest set to and get ye some +supper, and ye kin tell me all the doin's in Sacramento and 'Frisco +while I'm workin'." + +In spite of her unconscious rebuff to his own vanity, Hemmingway felt a +sense of relief and less constraint in his relations to this decidedly +provincial hostess. + +"Can I help you in any way?" he asked eagerly. + +"Well, ye MIGHT bring me an armful o' wood from the pile under the +alders, ef ye ain't afraid o' dirtyin' your coat," she said tentatively. + +Mr. Hemmingway was not afraid; he declared himself delighted. He brought +a generous armful of small cut willow boughs, and deposited them before +a small stove, which seemed a temporary substitute for the usual large +adobe chimney that generally occupied the entire gable of a miner's +cabin. An elbow and short length of stovepipe carried the smoke through +the cabin side. But he also noticed that his fair companion had used +the interval to put on a pair of white cuffs and a collar. However, she +brushed the green moss from his sleeve with some toweling, and although +this operation brought her so near to him that her breath--as soft and +warm as the southwest trades--stirred his hair, it was evident that this +contiguity was only frontier familiarity, as far removed from conscious +coquetry as it was, perhaps, from educated delicacy. + +"The boys gin'rally kem to take up enough wood for me to begin with," +she said, "but I reckon they didn't know I was comin' up so soon." + +Hemmingway's distrust returned a little at this obvious suggestion that +he was only a substitute for their general gallantry, but he smiled and +said somewhat bluntly, "I don't suppose you lack for admirers here." + +The girl, however, took him literally. "Lordy, no! Me and Mamie Robinson +are the only girls for fifteen miles along the creek. ADMIRIN'! I call +it jest PESTERIN' sometimes! I reckon I'll hev to keep a dog!" + +Hemmingway shivered. Yes, she was not only conscious, but spoilt +already. He pictured to himself the uncouth gallantries of the +settlement, the provincial badinage, the feeble rivalries of the young +men whom he had seen at the general store. Undoubtedly this was what she +was expecting in HIM! + +"Well," she said, turning from the fire she had kindled, "while I'm +settin' the table, tell me what's a-doin' in Sacramento! I reckon you've +got heaps of lady friends thar,--I'm told there's lots of fashions just +from the States." + +"I'm afraid I don't know enough of them to interest you," he said dryly. + +"Go on and talk," she replied. "Why, when Tom Flynn kem back from +Sacramento, and he warn't thar more nor a week, he jest slung yarns +about his doin's thar to last the hull rainy season." + +Half amused and half annoyed, Hemmingway seated himself on the little +platform beside the open door, and began a conscientious description of +the progress of Sacramento, its new buildings, hotels, and theatres, +as it had struck him on his last visit. For a while he was somewhat +entertained by the girl's vivacity and eager questioning, but presently +it began to pall. He continued, however, with a grim sense of duty, and +partly as a reason for watching her in her household duties. Certainly +she was graceful! Her tall, lithe, but beautifully moulded figure, +even in its characteristic southwestern indolence, fell into poses as +picturesque as they were unconscious. She lifted the big molasses-can +from its shelf on the rafters with the attitude of a Greek water-bearer. +She upheaved the heavy flour-sack to the same secure shelf with the +upraised palms of an Egyptian caryatid. Suddenly she interrupted +Hemmingway's perfunctory talk with a hearty laugh. He started, looked +up from his seat on the platform, and saw that she was standing over him +and regarding him with a kind of mischievous pity. + +"Look here," she said, "I reckon that'll do! You kin pull up short! I +kin see what's the matter with you; you're jest plumb tired, tuckered +out, and want to turn in! So jest you sit that quiet until I get supper +ready and never mind me." In vain Hemmingway protested, with a rising +color. The girl only shook her head. "Don't tell me! You ain't keering +to talk, and you're only playin' Sacramento statistics on me," she +retorted, with unfeigned cheerfulness. "Anyhow, here's the wimmen +comin', and supper is ready." + +There was a sound of weary, resigned ejaculations and pantings, and +three gaunt women in lustreless alpaca gowns appeared before the cabin. +They seemed prematurely aged and worn with labor, anxiety, and ill +nourishment. Doubtless somewhere in these ruins a flower like Jay Jules +had once flourished; doubtless somewhere in that graceful nymph herself +the germ of this dreary maturity was hidden. Hemmingway welcomed them +with a seriousness equal to their own. The supper was partaken with the +kind of joyless formality which in the southwest is supposed to indicate +deep respect, even the cheerful Jay falling under the influence, and it +was with a feeling of relief that at last the young man retired to his +fenced-off corner for solitude and repose. He gathered, however, +that before "sun up" the next morning the elder women were going to +Rattlesnake Bar for the weekly shopping, leaving Jay as before to +prepare his breakfast and then join them later. It was already a change +in his sentiments to find himself looking forward to that tete-a-tete +with the young girl, as a chance of redeeming his character in her +eyes. He was beginning to feel he had been stupid, unready, and withal +prejudiced. He undressed himself in his seclusion, broken only by the +monotonous voices in the adjoining apartment. From time to time he +heard fragments and scraps of their conversation, always in reference to +affairs of the household and settlement, but never of himself,--not even +the suggestion of a prudent lowering of their voices,--and fell asleep. +He woke up twice in the night with a sensation of cold so marked and +distinct from his experience of the early evening, that he was fain to +pile his clothes over his blankets to keep warm. He fell asleep again, +coming once more to consciousness with a sense of a slight jar, but +relapsing again into slumber for he knew not how long. Then he was +fully awakened by a voice calling him, and, opening his eyes, beheld the +blanket partition put aside, and the face of Jay thrust forward. To +his surprise it wore a look of excited astonishment dominated by +irrepressible laughter. + +"Get up quick as you kin," she said gaspingly; "this is about the +killingest thing that ever happened!" + +She disappeared, but he could still hear her laughing, and to his utter +astonishment with her disappearance the floor seemed to change its +level. A giddy feeling seized him; he put his feet to the floor; it +was unmistakably wet and oozing. He hurriedly clothed himself, still +accompanied by the strange feeling of oscillation and giddiness, and +passed though the opening into the next room. Again his step produced +the same effect upon the floor, and he actually stumbled against her +shaking figure, as she wiped the tears of uncontrollable mirth from her +eyes with her apron. The contact seemed to upset her remaining gravity. +She dropped into a chair, and, pointing to the open door, gasped, "Look +thar! Lordy! How's that for high?" threw her apron over her head, and +gave way to an uproarious fit of laughter. + +Hemmingway turned to the open door. A lake was before him on the level +of the cabin. He stepped forward on the platform; the water was right +and left, all around him. The platform dipped slightly to his step. The +cabin was afloat,--afloat upon its base of logs like a raft, the whole +structure upheld by the floor on which the logs were securely fastened. +The high ground had disappeared--the river--its banks the green area +beyond. They, and THEY alone, were afloat upon an inland sea. + +He turned an astounded and serious face upon her mirth. "When did it +happen?" he demanded. She checked her laugh, more from a sense of polite +deference to his mood than any fear, and said quietly, "That gets me. +Everything was all right two hours ago when the wimmen left. It was +too early to get your breakfast and rouse ye out, and I felt asleep, I +reckon, until I felt a kind o' slump and a jar." Hemmingway remembered +his own half-conscious sensation. "Then I got up and saw we was adrift. +I didn't waken ye, for I thought it was only a sort of wave that would +pass. It wasn't until I saw we were movin' and the hull rising ground +gettin' away, that I thought o' callin' ye." + +He thought of the vanished general store, of her father, the workers on +the bank, the helpless women on their way to the Bar, and turned almost +savagely on her. + +"But the others,--where are they?" he said indignantly. "Do you call +that a laughing matter?" + +She stopped at the sound of his voice as at a blow. Her face hardened +into immobility, yet when she replied it was with the deliberate +indolence of her father. "The wimmen are up on the hills by this time. +The boys hev bin drowned out many times afore this and got clear off, +on sluice boxes and timber, without squealing. Tom Flynn went down +ten miles to Sayer's once on two bar'ls, and I never heard that HE was +cryin' when they picked him up." + +A flush came to Hemmingway's cheek, but with it a gleam of intelligence. +Of course the inundation was known to them FIRST, and there was the +wreckage to support them. They had clearly saved themselves. If they had +abandoned the cabin, it was because they knew its security, perhaps had +even seen it safely adrift. + +"Has this ever happened to the cabin before?" he asked, as he thought of +its peculiar base. + +"No." + +He looked at the water again. There was a decided current. The overflow +was evidently no part of the original inundation. He put his hand in +the water. It was icy cold. Yes, he understood it now. It was the sudden +melting of snow in the Sierras which had brought this volume down the +canyon. But was there more still to come? + +"Have you anything like a long pole or stick in the cabin?" + +"Nary," said the girl, opening her big eyes and shaking her head with +a simulation of despair, which was, however, flatly contradicted by her +laughing mouth. + +"Nor any cord or twine?" he continued. + +She handed him a ball of coarse twine. + +"May I take a couple of these hooks?" he asked, pointing to some rough +iron hooks in the rafters, on which bacon and jerked beef were hanging. + +She nodded. He dislodged the hooks, greased them with the bacon rind, +and affixed them to the twine. + +"Fishin'?" she asked demurely. + +"Exactly," he replied gravely. + +He threw the line in the water. It slackened at about six feet, +straightened, and became taut at an angle, and then dragged. After one +or two sharp jerks he pulled it up. A few leaves and grasses were caught +in the hooks. He examined them attentively. + +"We're not in the creek," he said, "nor in the old overflow. There's no +mud or gravel on the hooks, and these grasses don't grow near water." + +"Now, that's mighty cute of you," she said admiringly, as she knelt +beside him on the platform. "Let's see what you've caught. Look yer!" +she added, suddenly lifting a limp stalk, "that's 'old man,' and thar +ain't a scrap of it grows nearer than Springer's Rise,--four miles from +home." + +"Are you sure?" he asked quickly. + +"Sure as pop! I used to go huntin' it for smellidge." + +"For what?" he said, with a bewildered smile. + +"For this,"--she thrust the leaves to his nose and then to her own +pink nostrils; "for--for"--she hesitated, and then with a mischievous +simulation of correctness added, "for the perfume." + +He looked at her admiringly. For all her five feet ten inches, what +a mere child she was, after all! What a fool he was to have taken a +resentful attitude towards her! How charming and graceful she looked, +kneeling there beside him! + +"Tell me," he said suddenly, in a gentler voice, "what were you laughing +at just now?" + +Her brown eyes wavered for a moment, and then brimmed with merriment. +She threw herself sideways, in a leaning posture, supporting herself on +one arm, while with her other hand she slowly drew out her apron string, +as she said, in a demure voice:-- + +"Well, I reckoned it was jest too killin' to think of you, who didn't +want to talk to me, and would hev given your hull pile to hev skipped +out o' this, jest stuck here alongside o' me, whether you would or no, +for Lord knows how long!" + +"But that was last night," he said, in a tone of raillery. "I was tired, +and you said so yourself, you know. But I'm ready to talk now. What +shall I tell you?" + +"Anything," said the girl, with a laugh. + +"What I am thinking of?" he said, with frankly admiring eyes. + +"Yes." + +"Everything?" + +"Yes, everything." She stopped, and leaning forward, suddenly caught +the brim of his soft felt hat, and drawing it down smartly over his +audacious eyes, said, "Everything BUT THAT." + +It was with some difficulty and some greater embarrassment that he +succeeded in getting his eyes free again. When he did so, she had risen +and entered the cabin. Disconcerted as he was, he was relieved to see +that her expression of amusement was unchanged. Was her act a piece +of rustic coquetry, or had she resented his advances? Nor did her next +words settle the question. + +"Ye kin do yer nice talk and philanderin' after we've settled whar we +are, what we're goin', and what's goin' to happen. Jest now it 'pears +to me that ez these yere logs are the only thing betwixt us and 'kingdom +come,' ye'd better be hustlin' round with a few spikes to clinch 'em to +the floor." + +She handed him a hammer and a few spikes. He obediently set to work, +with little confidence, however, in the security of the fastening. There +was neither rope nor chain for lashing the logs together; a stronger +current and a collision with some submerged stump or wreckage would +loosen them and wreck the cabin. But he said nothing. It was the girl +who broke the silence. + +"What's your front name?" + +"Miles." + +"MILES,--that's a funny name. I reckon that's why you war so FAR OFF and +DISTANT at first." + +Mr. Hemmingway thought this very witty, and said so. "But," he added, +"when I was a little nearer a moment ago, you stopped me." + +"But you was moving faster than the shanty was. I reckon you don't take +that gait with your lady friends at Sacramento! However, you kin talk +now." + +"But you forget I don't know 'where we are,' nor 'what's going to +happen.'" + +"But I do," she said quietly. "In a couple of hours we'll be picked up, +so you'll be free again." + +Something in the confidence of her manner made him go to the door again +and look out. There was scarcely any current now, and the cabin seemed +motionless. Even the wind, which might have acted upon it, was +wanting. They were apparently in the same position as before, but his +sounding-line showed that the water was slightly falling. He came back +and imparted the fact with a certain confidence born of her previous +praise of his knowledge. To his surprise she only laughed and said +lazily, "We'll be all right, and you'll be free, in about two hours." + +"I see no sign of it," he said, looking through the door again. + +"That's because you're looking in the water and the sky and the mud for +it," she said, with a laugh. "I reckon you've been trained to watch them +things a heap better than to study the folks about here." + +"I daresay you're right," said Hemmingway cheerfully, "but I don't +clearly see what the folks about here have to do with our situation just +now." + +"You'll see," she said, with a smile of mischievous mystery. "All the +same," she added, with a sudden and dangerous softness in her eyes, "I +ain't sayin' that YOU ain't kinder right neither." + +An hour ago he would have laughed at the thought that a mere look and +sentence like this from the girl could have made his heart beat. "Then I +may go on and talk?" + +She smiled, but her eyes said, "Yes," plainly. + +He turned to take a chair near her. Suddenly the cabin trembled, there +was a sound of scraping, a bump, and then the whole structure tilted to +one side and they were both thrown violently towards the corner, with a +swift inrush of water. Hemmingway quickly caught the girl by the waist; +she clung to him instinctively, yet still laughing, as with a desperate +effort he succeeded in dragging her to the upper side of the slanting +cabin, and momentarily restoring its equilibrium. They remained for an +instant breathless. But in that instant he had drawn her face to his and +kissed her. + +She disengaged herself gently with neither excitement nor emotion, and +pointing to the open door said, "Look there!" + +Two of the logs which formed the foundation of their floor were quietly +floating in the water before the cabin! The submerged obstacle or snag +which had torn them from their fastening was still holding the cabin +fast. Hemmingway saw the danger. He ran along the narrow ledge to the +point of contact and unhesitatingly leaped into the icy cold water. It +reached his armpits before his feet struck the obstacle,--evidently a +stump with a projecting branch. Bracing himself against it, he shoved +off the cabin. But when he struck out to follow it, he found that the +log nearest him was loose and his grasp might tear it away. At the +same moment, however, a pink calico arm fluttered above his head, and a +strong grasp seized his coat collar. The cabin half revolved as the girl +dragged him into the open door. + +"You bantam!" she said, with a laugh, "why didn't you let ME do that? +I'm taller than you! But," she added, looking at his dripping clothes +and dragging out a blanket from the corner, "I couldn't dry myself +as quick as you kin!" To her surprise, however, Hemmingway tossed the +blanket aside, and pointing to the floor, which was already filmed with +water, ran to the still warm stove, detached it from its pipe, and threw +it overboard. The sack of flour, bacon, molasses, and sugar, and all the +heavier articles followed it into the stream. Relieved of their weight +the cabin base rose an inch or two higher. Then he sat down and said, +"There! that may keep us afloat for that 'couple of hours' you speak of. +So I suppose I may talk now!" + +"Ye haven't no time," she said, in a graver voice. "It won't be as long +as a couple of hours now. Look over thar!" + +He looked where she pointed across the gray expanse of water. At first +he could see nothing. Presently he saw a mere dot on its face which at +times changed to a single black line. + +"It's a log, like these," he said. + +"It's no log. It's an Injun dug-out*--comin' for me." + + * A canoe made from a hollowed log. + +"Your father?" he said joyfully. + +She smiled pityingly. "It's Tom Flynn. Father's got suthin' else to look +arter. Tom Flynn hasn't." + +"And who's Tom Flynn?" he asked, with an odd sensation. + +"The man I'm engaged to," she said gravely, with a slight color. + +The rose that blossomed on her cheek faded in his. There was a moment of +silence. Then he said frankly, "I owe you some apology. Forgive my folly +and impertinence a moment ago. How could I have known this?" + +"You took no more than you deserved, or that Tom would have objected +to," she said, with a little laugh. "You've been mighty kind and handy." + +She held out her hand; their fingers closed together in a frank +pressure. Then his mind went back to his work, which he had +forgotten,--to his first impressions of the camp and of her. They both +stood silent, watching the canoe, now quite visible, and the man that +was paddling it, with an intensity that both felt was insincere. + +"I'm afraid," he said, with a forced laugh, "that I was a little too +hasty in disposing of your goods and possessions. We could have kept +afloat a little longer." + +"It's all the same," she said, with a slight laugh; "it's jest as well +we didn't look too comf'ble--to HIM." + +He did not reply; he did not dare to look at her. Yes! It was the same +coquette he had seen last night. His first impressions were correct. + +The canoe came on rapidly now, propelled by a powerful arm. In a few +moments it was alongside, and its owner leaped on the platform. It was +the gentleman with his trousers tucked in his boots, the second voice +in the gloomy discussion in the general store last evening. He nodded +simply to the girl, and shook Hemmingway's hand warmly. + +Then he made a hurried apology for his delay: it was so difficult to +find "the lay" of the drifted cabin. He had struck out first for the +most dangerous spot,--the "old clearing," on the right bank, with its +stumps and new growths,--and it seemed he was right. And all the rest +were safe, and "nobody was hurt." + +"All the same, Tom," she said, when they were seated and paddling off +again, "you don't know HOW NEAR YOU CAME TO LOSING ME." Then she +raised her beautiful eyes and looked significantly, not at HIM, but at +Hemmingway. + +When the water was down at "Jules'" the next day, they found certain +curious changes and some gold, and the secretary was able to make a +favorable report. But he made none whatever of his impressions "when +the water was up at 'Jules','" though he often wondered if they were +strictly trustworthy. + + + + +THE BOOM IN THE "CALAVERAS CLARION" + + +The editorial sanctum of the "Calaveras Clarion" opened upon the +"composing-room" of that paper on the one side, and gave apparently upon +the rest of Calaveras County upon the other. For, situated on the very +outskirts of the settlement and the summit of a very steep hill, the +pines sloped away from the editorial windows to the long valley of the +South Fork and--infinity. The little wooden building had invaded Nature +without subduing it. It was filled night and day with the murmur of +pines and their fragrance. Squirrels scampered over its roof when it was +not preoccupied by woodpeckers, and a printer's devil had once seen a +nest-building blue jay enter the composing window, flutter before one +of the slanting type-cases with an air of deliberate selection, and then +fly off with a vowel in its bill. + +Amidst these sylvan surroundings the temporary editor of the "Clarion" +sat at his sanctum, reading the proofs of an editorial. As he was +occupying that position during a six weeks' absence of the bona fide +editor and proprietor, he was consequently reading the proof with some +anxiety and responsibility. It had been suggested to him by certain +citizens that the "Clarion" needed a firmer and more aggressive policy +towards the Bill before the Legislature for the wagon road to the South +Fork. Several Assembly men had been "got at" by the rival settlement of +Liberty Hill, and a scathing exposure and denunciation of such methods +was necessary. The interests of their own township were also to be +"whooped up." All this had been vigorously explained to him, and he had +grasped the spirit, if not always the facts, of his informants. It is +to be feared, therefore, that he was perusing his article more with +reference to its vigor than his own convictions. And yet he was not so +greatly absorbed as to be unmindful of the murmur of the pines +without, his half-savage environment, and the lazy talk of his sole +companions,--the foreman and printer in the adjoining room. + +"Bet your life! I've always said that a man INSIDE a newspaper office +could hold his own agin any outsider that wanted to play rough or tried +to raid the office! Thar's the press, and thar's the printin' ink and +roller! Folks talk a heap o' the power o' the Press!--I tell ye, ye +don't half know it. Why, when old Kernel Fish was editin' the 'Sierra +Banner,' one o' them bullies that he'd lampooned in the 'Banner' fought +his way past the Kernel in the office, into the composin'-room, to +wreck everythin' and 'pye' all the types. Spoffrel--ye don't remember +Spoffrel?--little red-haired man?--was foreman. Spoffrel fended him off +with the roller and got one good dab inter his eyes that blinded him, +and then Spoffrel sorter skirmished him over to the press,--a plain +lever just like ours,--whar the locked-up form of the inside was still +a-lyin'! Then, quick as lightnin', Spoffrel tilts him over agin it, and +HE throws out his hand and ketches hold o' the form to steady himself, +when Spoffrel just runs the form and the hand under the press and down +with the lever! And that held the feller fast as grim death! And when +at last he begs off, and Spoff lets him loose, the hull o' that 'ere +lampooning article he objected to was printed right onto the skin o' his +hand! Fact, and it wouldn't come off, either." + +"Gosh, but I'd like to hev seen it," said the printer. "There ain't any +chance, I reckon, o' such a sight here. The boss don't take no risks +lampoonin', and he" (the editor knew he was being indicated by some +unseen gesture of the unseen workman) "ain't that style." + +"Ye never kin tell," said the foreman didactically, "what might happen! +I've known editors to get into a fight jest for a little innercent +bedevilin' o' the opposite party. Sometimes for a misprint. Old man +Pritchard of the 'Argus' oncet had a hole blown through his arm because +his proofreader had called Colonel Starbottle's speech an 'ignominious' +defense, when the old man hed written 'ingenuous' defense." + +The editor paused in his proof-reading. He had just come upon the +sentence: "We cannot congratulate Liberty Hill--in its superior +elevation--upon the ignominious silence of the representative of all +Calaveras when this infamous Bill was introduced." He referred to his +copy. Yes! He had certainly written "ignominious,"--that was what his +informants had suggested. But was he sure they were right? He had a +vague recollection, also, that the representative alluded to--Senator +Bradley--had fought two duels, and was a "good" though somewhat +impulsive shot! He might alter the word to "ingenuous" or "ingenious," +either would be finely sarcastic, but then--there was his foreman, who +would detect it! He would wait until he had finished the entire article. +In that occupation he became oblivious of the next room, of a silence, +a whispered conversation, which ended with a rapping at the door and the +appearance of the foreman in the doorway. + +"There's a man in the office who wants to see the editor," he said. + +"Show him in," replied the editor briefly. He was, however, conscious +that there was a singular significance in his foreman's manner, and an +eager apparition of the other printer over the foreman's shoulder. + +"He's carryin' a shot-gun, and is a man twice as big as you be," said +the foreman gravely. + +The editor quickly recalled his own brief and as yet blameless record +in the "Clarion." "Perhaps," he said tentatively, with a gentle smile, +"he's looking for Captain Brush" (the absent editor). + +"I told him all that," said the foreman grimly, "and he said he wanted +to see the man in charge." + +In proportion as the editor's heart sank his outward crest arose. "Show +him in," he said loftily. + +"We KIN keep him out," suggested the foreman, lingering a moment; "me +and him," indicating the expectant printer behind him, "is enough for +that." + +"Show him up," repeated the editor firmly. + +The foreman withdrew; the editor seated himself and again took up +his proof. The doubtful word "ignominious" seemed to stand out of the +paragraph before him; it certainly WAS a strong expression! He was about +to run his pencil through it when he heard the heavy step of his visitor +approaching. A sudden instinct of belligerency took possession of him, +and he wrathfully threw the pencil down. + +The burly form of the stranger blocked the doorway. He was dressed like +a miner, but his build and general physiognomy were quite distinct +from the local variety. His upper lip and chin were clean-shaven, still +showing the blue-black roots of the beard which covered the rest of his +face and depended in a thick fleece under his throat. He carried a small +bundle tied up in a silk handkerchief in one hand, and a "shot-gun" in +the other, perilously at half-cock. Entering the sanctum, he put down +his bundle and quietly closed the door behind him. He then drew an empty +chair towards him and dropped heavily into it with his gun on his +knees. The editor's heart dropped almost as heavily, although he quite +composedly held out his hand. + +"Shall I relieve you of your gun?" + +"Thank ye, lad--noa. It's moor coomfortable wi' me, and it's main +dangersome to handle on the half-cock. That's why I didn't leave 'im on +the horse outside!" + +At the sound of his voice and occasional accent a flash of intelligence +relieved the editor's mind. He remembered that twenty miles away, in +the illimitable vista from his windows, lay a settlement of English +north-country miners, who, while faithfully adopting the methods, +customs, and even slang of the Californians, retained many of their +native peculiarities. The gun he carried on his knee, however, was +evidently part of the Californian imitation. + +"Can I do anything for you?" said the editor blandly. + +"Ay! I've coom here to bill ma woife." + +"I--don't think I understand," hesitated the editor, with a smile. + +"I've coom here to get ye to put into your paaper a warnin', a notiss, +that onless she returns to my house in four weeks, I'll have nowt to do +wi' her again." + +"Oh!" said the editor, now perfectly reassured, "you want an +advertisement? That's the business of the foreman; I'll call him." He +was rising from his seat when the stranger laid a heavy hand on his +shoulder and gently forced him down again. + +"Noa, lad! I don't want noa foreman nor understrappers to take this job. +I want to talk it over wi' you. Sabe? My woife she bin up and awaa these +six months. We had a bit of difference, that ain't here nor there, but +she skedaddled outer my house. I want to give her fair warning, and let +her know I ain't payin' any debts o' hers arter this notiss, and I ain't +takin' her back arter four weeks from date." + +"I see," said the editor glibly. "What's your wife's name?" + +"Eliza Jane Dimmidge." + +"Good," continued the editor, scribbling on the paper before him; +"something like this will do: 'Whereas my wife, Eliza Jane Dimmidge, +having left my bed and board without just cause or provocation, this +is to give notice that I shall not be responsible for any debts of her +contracting on or after this date.'" + +"Ye must be a lawyer," said Mr. Dimmidge admiringly. + +It was an old enough form of advertisement, and the remark showed +incontestably that Mr. Dimmidge was not a native; but the editor smiled +patronizingly and went on: "'And I further give notice that if she does +not return within the period of four weeks from this date, I shall take +such proceedings for relief as the law affords.'" + +"Coom, lad, I didn't say THAT." + +"But you said you wouldn't take her back." + +"Ay." + +"And you can't prevent her without legal proceedings. She's your wife. +But you needn't take proceedings, you know. It's only a warning." + +Mr. Dimmidge nodded approvingly. "That's so." + +"You'll want it published for four weeks, until date?" asked the editor. + +"Mebbe longer, lad." + +The editor wrote "till forbid" in the margin of the paper and smiled. + +"How big will it be?" said Mr. Dimmidge. + +The editor took up a copy of the "Clarion" and indicated about an inch +of space. Mr. Dimmidge's face fell. + +"I want it bigger,--in large letters, like a play-card," he said. +"That's no good for a warning." + +"You can have half a column or a whole column if you like," said the +editor airily. + +"I'll take a whole one," said Mr. Dimmidge simply. + +The editor laughed. "Why! it would cost you a hundred dollars." + +"I'll take it," repeated Mr. Dimmidge. + +"But," said the editor gravely, "the same notice in a small space will +serve your purpose and be quite legal." + +"Never you mind that, lad! It's the looks of the thing I'm arter, and +not the expense. I'll take that column." + +The editor called in the foreman and showed him the copy. "Can you +display that so as to fill a column?" + +The foreman grasped the situation promptly. It would be big business for +the paper. "Yes," he said meditatively, "that bold-faced election type +will do it." + +Mr. Dimmidge's face brightened. The expression "bold-faced" pleased him. +"That's it! I told you. I want to bill her in a portion of the paper." + +"I might put in a cut," said the foreman suggestively; "something like +this." He took a venerable woodcut from the case. I grieve to say it was +one which, until the middle of the present century, was common enough in +the newspaper offices in the Southwest. It showed the running figure of +a negro woman carrying her personal property in a knotted handkerchief +slung from a stick over her shoulder, and was supposed to represent "a +fugitive slave." + +Mr. Dimmidge's eyes brightened. "I'll take that, too. It's a little +dark-complected for Mrs. P., but it will do. Now roon away, lad," he +said to the foreman, as he quietly pushed him into the outer office +again and closed the door. Then, facing the surprised editor, he said, +"Theer's another notiss I want ye to put in your paper; but that's +atween US. Not a word to THEM," he indicated the banished foreman with a +jerk of his thumb. "Sabe? I want you to put this in another part o' your +paper, quite innocent-like, ye know." He drew from his pocket a gray +wallet, and taking out a slip of paper read from it gravely, "'If this +should meet the eye of R. B., look out for M. J. D. He is on your track. +When this you see write a line to E. J. D., Elktown Post Office.' I want +this to go in as 'Personal and Private'--sabe?--like them notisses in +the big 'Frisco papers." + +"I see," said the editor, laying it aside. "It shall go in the same +issue in another column." + +Apparently Mr. Dimmidge expected something more than this reply, for +after a moment's hesitation he said with an odd smile: + +"Ye ain't seein' the meanin' o' that, lad?" + +"No," said the editor lightly; "but I suppose R. B. does, and it isn't +intended that any one else should." + +"Mebbe it is, and mebbe it isn't," said Mr. Dimmidge, with a +self-satisfied air. "I don't mind saying atween us that R. B. is the man +as I've suspicioned as havin' something to do with my wife goin' away; +and ye see, if he writes to E. J. D.--that's my wife's initials--at +Elktown, I'LL get that letter and so make sure." + +"But suppose your wife goes there first, or sends?" + +"Then I'll ketch her or her messenger. Ye see?" + +The editor did not see fit to oppose any argument to this phenomenal +simplicity, and Mr. Dimmidge, after settling his bill with the foreman, +and enjoining the editor to the strictest secrecy regarding the origin +of the "personal notice," took up his gun and departed, leaving the +treasury of the "Clarion" unprecedentedly enriched, and the editor to +his proofs. + +The paper duly appeared the next morning with the column advertisement, +the personal notice, and the weighty editorial on the wagon road. There +was a singular demand for the paper, the edition was speedily exhausted, +and the editor was proportionately flattered, although he was surprised +to receive neither praise nor criticism from his subscribers. Before +evening, however, he learned to his astonishment that the excitement was +caused by the column advertisement. Nobody knew Mr. Dimmidge, nor his +domestic infelicities, and the editor and foreman, being equally in the +dark, took refuge in a mysterious and impressive evasion of all inquiry. +Never since the last San Francisco Vigilance Committee had the office +been so besieged. The editor, foreman, and even the apprentice, were +buttonholed and "treated" at the bar, but to no effect. All that could +be learned was that it was a bona fide advertisement, for which one +hundred dollars had been received! There were great discussions and +conflicting theories as to whether the value of the wife, or the +husband's anxiety to get rid of her, justified the enormous expense and +ostentatious display. She was supposed to be an exceedingly beautiful +woman by some, by others a perfect Sycorax; in one breath Mr. Dimmidge +was a weak, uxorious spouse, wasting his substance on a creature who did +not care for him, and in another a maddened, distracted, henpecked man, +content to purchase peace and rest at any price. Certainly, never was +advertisement more effective in its publicity, or cheaper in proportion +to the circulation it commanded. It was copied throughout the whole +Pacific slope; mighty San Francisco papers described its size and +setting under the attractive headline, "How they Advertise a Wife in the +Mountains!" It reappeared in the Eastern journals, under the title of +"Whimsicalities of the Western Press." It was believed to have crossed +to England as a specimen of "Transatlantic Savagery." The real editor +of the "Clarion" awoke one morning, in San Francisco, to find his paper +famous. Its advertising columns were eagerly sought for; he at once +advanced the rates. People bought successive issues to gaze upon this +monumental record of extravagance. A singular idea, which, however, +brought further fortune to the paper, was advanced by an astute critic +at the Eureka Saloon. "My opinion, gentlemen, is that the whole blamed +thing is a bluff! There ain't no Mr. Dimmidge; there ain't no Mrs. +Dimmidge; there ain't no desertion! The whole rotten thing is an +ADVERTISEMENT o' suthin'! Ye'll find afore ye get through with it +that that there wife won't come back until that blamed husband buys +Somebody's Soap, or treats her to Somebody's particular Starch or Patent +Medicine! Ye jest watch and see!" The idea was startling, and seized +upon the mercantile mind. The principal merchant of the town, and +purveyor to the mining settlements beyond, appeared the next morning at +the office of the "Clarion." "Ye wouldn't mind puttin' this 'ad' in +a column alongside o' the Dimmidge one, would ye?" The young editor +glanced at it, and then, with a serpent-like sagacity, veiled, however, +by the suavity of the dove, pointed out that the original advertiser +might think it called his bona fides into question and withdraw his +advertisement. "But if we secured you by an offer of double the amount +per column?" urged the merchant. "That," responded the locum tenens, +"was for the actual editor and proprietor in San Francisco to determine. +He would telegraph." He did so. The response was, "Put it in." Whereupon +in the next issue, side by side with Mr. Dimmidge's protracted warning, +appeared a column with the announcement, in large letters, "WE HAVEN'T +LOST ANY WIFE, but WE are prepared to furnish the following goods at +a lower rate than any other advertiser in the county," followed by the +usual price list of the merchant's wares. There was an unprecedented +demand for that issue. The reputation of the "Clarion," both as a shrewd +advertising medium and a comic paper, was established at once. For a few +days the editor waited with some apprehension for a remonstrance from +the absent Dimmidge, but none came. Whether Mr. Dimmidge recognized that +this new advertisement gave extra publicity to his own, or that he was +already on the track of the fugitive, the editor did not know. The +few curious citizens who had, early in the excitement, penetrated +the settlement of the English miners twenty miles away in search of +information, found that Mr. Dimmidge had gone away, and that Mrs. +Dimmidge had NEVER resided there with him! + +Six weeks passed. The limit of Mr. Dimmidge's advertisement had been +reached, and, as it was not renewed, it had passed out of the pages +of the "Clarion," and with it the merchant's advertisement in the next +column. The excitement had subsided, although its influence was still +felt in the circulation of the paper and its advertising popularity. The +temporary editor was also nearing the limit of his incumbency, but had +so far participated in the good fortune of the "Clarion" as to receive +an offer from one of the San Francisco dailies. + +It was a warm night, and he was alone in his sanctum. The rest of the +building was dark and deserted, and his solitary light, flashing out +through the open window, fell upon the nearer pines and was lost in the +dark, indefinable slope below. He had reached the sanctum by the +rear, and a door which he also left open to enjoy the freshness of +the aromatic air. Nor did it in the least mar his privacy. Rather the +solitude of the great woods without seemed to enter through that +door and encompassed him with its protecting loneliness. There was +occasionally a faint "peep" in the scant eaves, or a "pat-pat," ending +in a frightened scurry across the roof, or the slow flap of a heavy +wing in the darkness below. These gentle disturbances did not, however, +interrupt his work on "The True Functions of the County Newspaper," the +editorial on which he was engaged. + +Presently a more distinct rustling against the straggling blackberry +bushes beside the door attracted his attention. It was followed by a +light tapping against the side of the house. The editor started and +turned quickly towards the open door. Two outside steps led to the +ground. Standing upon the lower one was a woman. The upper part of her +figure, illuminated by the light from the door, was thrown into greater +relief by the dark background of the pines. Her face was unknown to +him, but it was a pleasant one, marked by a certain good-humored +determination. + +"May I come in?" she said confidently. + +"Certainly," said the editor. "I am working here alone because it is +so quiet." He thought he would precipitate some explanation from her by +excusing himself. + +"That's the reason why I came," she said, with a quiet smile. + +She came up the next step and entered the room. She was plainly but +neatly dressed, and now that her figure was revealed he saw that she was +wearing a linsey-woolsey riding-skirt, and carried a serviceable rawhide +whip in her cotton-gauntleted hand. She took the chair he offered her +and sat down sideways on it, her whip hand now also holding up her +skirt, and permitting a hem of clean white petticoat and a smart, +well-shaped boot to be seen. + +"I don't remember to have had the pleasure of seeing you in Calaveras +before," said the editor tentatively. + +"No. I never was here before," she said composedly, "but you've heard +enough of me, I reckon. I'm Mrs. Dimmidge." She threw one hand over +the back of the chair, and with the other tapped her riding-whip on the +floor. + +The editor started. Mrs. Dimmidge! Then she was not a myth. An absurd +similarity between her attitude with the whip and her husband's entrance +with his gun six weeks before forced itself upon him and made her an +invincible presence. + +"Then you have returned to your husband?" he said hesitatingly. + +"Not much!" she returned, with a slight curl of her lip. + +"But you read his advertisement?" + +"I saw that column of fool nonsense he put in your paper--ef that's +what you mean," she said with decision, "but I didn't come here to see +HIM--but YOU." + +The editor looked at her with a forced smile, but a vague misgiving. He +was alone at night in a deserted part of the settlement, with a plump, +self-possessed woman who had a contralto voice, a horsewhip, and--he +could not help feeling--an evident grievance. + +"To see me?" he repeated, with a faint attempt at gallantry. "You are +paying me a great compliment, but really"-- + +"When I tell you I've come three thousand miles from Kansas straight +here without stopping, ye kin reckon it's so," she replied firmly. + +"Three thousand miles!" echoed the editor wonderingly. + +"Yes. Three thousand miles from my own folks' home in Kansas, where six +years ago I married Mr. Dimmidge,--a British furriner as could scarcely +make himself understood in any Christian language! Well, he got round +me and dad, allowin' he was a reg'lar out-and-out profeshnal miner,--had +lived in mines ever since he was a boy; and so, not knowin' what kind o' +mines, and dad just bilin' over with the gold fever, we were married and +kem across the plains to Californy. He was a good enough man to look at, +but it warn't three months before I discovered that he allowed a wife +was no better nor a nigger slave, and he the master. That made me open +my eyes; but then, as he didn't drink, and didn't gamble, and didn't +swear, and was a good provider and laid by money, why I shifted along +with him as best I could. We drifted down the first year to Sonora, at +Red Dog, where there wasn't another woman. Well, I did the nigger slave +business,--never stirring out o' the settlement, never seein' a town +or a crowd o' decent people,--and he did the lord and master! We played +that game for two years, and I got tired. But when at last he allowed +he'd go up to Elktown Hill, where there was a passel o' his countrymen +at work, with never a sign o' any other folks, and leave me alone at Red +Dog until he fixed up a place for me at Elktown Hill,--I kicked! I gave +him fair warning! I did as other nigger slaves did,--I ran away!" + +A recollection of the wretched woodcut which Mr. Dimmidge had selected +to personify his wife flashed upon the editor with a new meaning. +Yet perhaps she had not seen it, and had only read a copy of the +advertisement. What could she want? The "Calaveras Clarion," although a +"Palladium" and a "Sentinel upon the Heights of Freedom" in reference to +wagon roads, was not a redresser of domestic wrongs,--except through its +advertising columns! Her next words intensified that suggestion. + +"I've come here to put an advertisement in your paper." + +The editor heaved a sigh of relief, as once before. "Certainly," he said +briskly. "But that's another department of the paper, and the printers +have gone home. Come to-morrow morning early." + +"To-morrow morning I shall be miles away," she said decisively, +"and what I want done has got to be done NOW! I don't want to see no +printers; I don't want ANYBODY to know I've been here but you. That's +why I kem here at night, and rode all the way from Sawyer's Station, +and wouldn't take the stage-coach. And when we've settled about the +advertisement, I'm going to mount my horse, out thar in the bushes, and +scoot outer the settlement." + +"Very good," said the editor resignedly. "Of course I can deliver your +instructions to the foreman. And now--let me see--I suppose you wish to +intimate in a personal notice to your husband that you've returned." + +"Nothin' o' the kind!" said Mrs. Dimmidge coolly. "I want to placard him +as he did me. I've got it all written out here. Sabe?" + +She took from her pocket a folded paper, and spreading it out on the +editor's desk, with a certain pride of authorship read as follows:-- + +"Whereas my husband, Micah J. Dimmidge, having given out that I have +left his bed and board,--the same being a bunk in a log cabin and pork +and molasses three times a day,--and having advertised that he'd pay +no debts of MY contractin',--which, as thar ain't any, might be easier +collected than debts of his own contractin',--this is to certify that +unless he returns from Elktown Hill to his only home in Sonora in one +week from date, payin' the cost of this advertisement, I'll know the +reason why.--Eliza Jane Dimmidge." + +"Thar," she added, drawing a long breath, "put that in a column of the +'Clarion,' same size as the last, and let it work, and that's all I want +of you." + +"A column?" repeated the editor. "Do you know the cost is very +expensive, and I COULD put it in a single paragraph?" + +"I reckon I kin pay the same as Mr. Dimmidge did for HIS," said the lady +complacently. "I didn't see your paper myself, but the paper as copied +it--one of them big New York dailies--said that it took up a whole +column." + +The editor breathed more freely; she had not seen the infamous woodcut +which her husband had selected. At the same moment he was struck with a +sense of retribution, justice, and compensation. + +"Would you," he asked hesitatingly,--"would you like it illustrated--by +a cut?" + +"With which?" + +"Wait a moment; I'll show you." + +He went into the dark composing-room, lit a candle, and rummaging in a +drawer sacred to weather-beaten, old-fashioned electrotyped advertising +symbols of various trades, finally selected one and brought it to Mrs. +Dimmidge. It represented a bare and exceedingly stalwart arm wielding a +large hammer. + +"Your husband being a miner,--a quartz miner,--would that do?" he asked. +(It had been previously used to advertise a blacksmith, a gold-beater, +and a stone-mason.) + +The lady examined it critically. + +"It does look a little like Micah's arm," she said meditatively. +"Well--you kin put it in." + +The editor was so well pleased with his success that he must needs make +another suggestion. "I suppose," he said ingenuously, "that you don't +want to answer the 'Personal'?" + +"'Personal'?" she repeated quickly, "what's that? I ain't seen no +'Personal.'" The editor saw his blunder. She, of course, had never seen +Mr. Dimmidge's artful "Personal;" THAT the big dailies naturally had not +noticed nor copied. But it was too late to withdraw now. He brought +out a file of the "Clarion," and snipping out the paragraph with his +scissors, laid it before the lady. + +She stared at it with wrinkled brows and a darkening face. + +"And THIS was in the same paper?--put in by Mr. Dimmidge?" she asked +breathlessly. + +The editor, somewhat alarmed, stammered "Yes." But the next moment he +was reassured. The wrinkles disappeared, a dozen dimples broke out where +they had been, and the determined, matter-of-fact Mrs. Dimmidge burst +into a fit of rosy merriment. Again and again she laughed, shaking +the building, startling the sedate, melancholy woods beyond, until the +editor himself laughed in sheer vacant sympathy. + +"Lordy!" she said at last, gasping, and wiping the laughter from her wet +eyes. "I never thought of THAT." + +"No," explained the editor smilingly; "of course you didn't. Don't you +see, the papers that copied the big advertisement never saw that little +paragraph, or if they did, they never connected the two together." + +"Oh, it ain't that," said Mrs. Dimmidge, trying to regain her composure +and holding her sides. "It's that blessed DEAR old dunderhead of a +Dimmidge I'm thinking of. That gets me. I see it all now. Only, sakes +alive! I never thought THAT of him. Oh, it's just too much!" and she +again relapsed behind her handkerchief. + +"Then I suppose you don't want to reply to it," said the editor. + +Her laughter instantly ceased. "Don't I?" she said, wiping her face into +its previous complacent determination. "Well, young man, I reckon that's +just what I WANT to do! Now, wait a moment; let's see what he said," +she went on, taking up and reperusing the "Personal" paragraph. "Well, +then," she went on, after a moment's silent composition with moving +lips, "you just put these lines in." + +The editor took up his pencil. + +"To Mr. J. D. Dimmidge.--Hope you're still on R. B.'s tracks. Keep +there!--E. J. D." + +The editor wrote down the line, and then, remembering Mr. Dimmidge's +voluntary explanation of HIS "Personal," waited with some confidence for +a like frankness from Mrs. Dimmidge. But he was mistaken. + +"You think that he--R. B.--or Mr. Dimmidge--will understand this?" he at +last asked tentatively. "Is it enough?" + +"Quite enough," said Mrs. Dimmidge emphatically. She took a roll of +greenbacks from her pocket, selected a hundred-dollar bill and then a +five, and laid them before the editor. "Young man," she said, with a +certain demure gravity, "you've done me a heap o' good. I never spent +money with more satisfaction than this. I never thought much o' the +'power o' the Press,' as you call it, afore. But this has been a right +comfortable visit, and I'm glad I ketched you alone. But you understand +one thing: this yer visit, and WHO I am, is betwixt you and me only." + +"Of course I must say that the advertisement was AUTHORIZED," returned +the editor. "I'm only the temporary editor. The proprietor is away." + +"So much the better," said the lady complacently. "You just say you +found it on your desk with the money; but don't you give me away." + +"I can promise you that the secret of your personal visit is safe with +me," said the young man, with a bow, as Mrs. Dimmidge rose. "Let me see +you to your horse," he added. "It's quite dark in the woods." + +"I can see well enough alone, and it's just as well you shouldn't know +HOW I kem or HOW I went away. Enough for you to know that I'll be miles +away before that paper comes out. So stay where you are." + +She pressed his hand frankly and firmly, gathered up her riding-skirt, +slipped backwards to the door, and the next moment rustled away into the +darkness. + +Early the next morning the editor handed Mrs. Dimmidge's advertisement, +and the woodcut he had selected, to his foreman. He was purposely brief +in his directions, so as to avoid inquiry, and retired to his sanctum. +In the space of a few moments the foreman entered with a slight +embarrassment of manner. + +"You'll excuse my speaking to you, sir," he said, with a singular +mixture of humility and cunning. "It's no business of mine, I know; but +I thought I ought to tell you that this yer kind o' thing won't pay any +more,--it's about played out!" + +"I don't think I understand you," said the editor loftily, but with +an inward misgiving. "You don't mean to say that a regular, actual +advertisement"-- + +"Of course, I know all that," said the foreman, with a peculiar smile; +"and I'm ready to back you up in it, and so's the boy; but it won't +pay." + +"It HAS paid a hundred and five dollars," said the editor, taking the +notes from his pocket; "so I'd advise you to simply attend to your duty +and set it up." + +A look of surprise, followed, however, by a kind of pitying smile, +passed over the foreman's face. "Of course, sir, THAT'S all right, and +you know your own business; but if you think that the new advertisement +will pay this time as the other one did, and whoop up another column +from an advertiser, I'm afraid you'll slip up. It's a little 'off color' +now,--not 'up to date,'--if it ain't a regular 'back number,' as you'll +see." + +"Meantime I'll dispense with your advice," said the editor curtly, "and +I think you had better let our subscribers and advertisers do the same, +or the 'Clarion' might also be obliged to dispense with your SERVICES." + +"I ain't no blab," said the foreman, in an aggrieved manner, "and I +don't intend to give the show away even if it don't PAY. But I thought +I'd tell you, because I know the folks round here better than you do." + +He was right. No sooner had the advertisement appeared than the editor +found that everybody believed it to be a sheer invention of his own to +"once more boom" the "Clarion." If they had doubted MR. Dimmidge, they +utterly rejected MRS. Dimmidge as an advertiser! It was a stale joke +that nobody would follow up; and on the heels of this came a letter from +the editor-in-chief. + + +MY DEAR BOY,--You meant well, I know, but the second Dimmidge "ad" was +a mistake. Still, it was a big bluff of yours to show the money, and I +send you back your hundred dollars, hoping you won't "do it again." +Of course you'll have to keep the advertisement in the paper for two +issues, just as if it were a real thing, and it's lucky that there's +just now no pressure in our columns. You might have told a better story +than that hogwash about your finding the "ad" and a hundred dollars +lying loose on your desk one morning. It was rather thin, and I don't +wonder the foreman kicked. + + +The young editor was in despair. At first he thought of writing to Mrs. +Dimmidge at the Elktown Post-Office, asking her to relieve him of his +vow of secrecy; but his pride forbade. There was a humorous concern, not +without a touch of pity, in the faces of his contributors as he passed; +a few affected to believe in the new advertisement, and asked him vague, +perfunctory questions about it. His position was trying, and he was not +sorry when the term of his engagement expired the next week, and he left +Calaveras to take his new position on the San Francisco paper. + +He was standing in the saloon of the Sacramento boat when he felt a +sudden heavy pressure on his shoulder, and looking round sharply, beheld +not only the black-bearded face of Mr. Dimmidge, lit up by a smile, but +beside it the beaming, buxom face of Mrs. Dimmidge, overflowing with +good-humor. Still a little sore from his past experience, he was about +to address them abruptly, when he was utterly vanquished by the hearty +pressure of their hands and the unmistakable look of gratitude in their +eyes. + +"I was just saying to 'Lizy Jane," began Mr. Dimmidge breathlessly, +"if I could only meet that young man o' the 'Clarion' what brought us +together again"-- + +"You'd be willin' to pay four times the amount we both paid him," +interpolated the laughing Mrs. Dimmidge. + +"But I didn't bring you together," burst out the dazed young man, "and +I'd like to know, in the name of Heaven, what brought you together now?" + +"Don't you see, lad," said the imperturbable Mr. Dimmidge, "'Lizy Jane +and myself had qua'lled, and we just unpacked our fool nonsense in your +paper and let the hull world know it! And we both felt kinder skeert and +shamed like, and it looked such small hogwash, and of so little account, +for all the talk it made, that we kinder felt lonely as two separated +fools that really ought to share their foolishness together." + +"And that ain't all," said Mrs. Dimmidge, with a sly glance at her +spouse, "for I found out from that 'Personal' you showed me that this +particular old fool was actooally jealous!--JEALOUS!" + +"And then?" said the editor impatiently. + +"And then I KNEW he loved me all the time." + + + + +THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + + +Even to the eye of the most inexperienced traveler there was no doubt +that Buena Vista was a "played-out" mining camp. There, seamed and +scarred by hydraulic engines, was the old hillside, over whose denuded +surface the grass had begun to spring again in fitful patches; there +were the abandoned heaps of tailings already blackened by sun and rain, +and worn into mounds like ruins of masonry; there were the waterless +ditches, like giant graves, and the pools of slumgullion, now dried into +shining, glazed cement. There were two or three wooden "stores," from +which the windows and doors had been taken and conveyed to the newer +settlement of Wynyard's Gulch. Four or five buildings that still were +inhabited--the blacksmith's shop, the post-office, a pioneer's +cabin, and the old hotel and stage-office--only accented the general +desolation. The latter building had a remoteness of prosperity far +beyond the others, having been a wayside Spanish-American posada, with +adobe walls of two feet in thickness, that shamed the later shells of +half-inch plank, which were slowly warping and cracking like dried pods +in the oven-like heat. + +The proprietor of this building, Colonel Swinger, had been looked +upon by the community as a person quite as remote, old-fashioned, and +inconsistent with present progress as the house itself. He was an old +Virginian, who had emigrated from his decaying plantation on the James +River only to find the slaves, which he had brought with him, freed men +when they touched Californian soil; to be driven by Northern progress +and "smartness" out of the larger cities into the mountains, to fix +himself at last, with the hopeless fatuity of his race, upon an already +impoverished settlement; to sink his scant capital in hopeless shafts +and ledges, and finally to take over the decaying hostelry of Buena +Vista, with its desultory custom and few, lingering, impecunious guests. +Here, too, his old Virginian ideas of hospitality were against his +financial success; he could not dun nor turn from his door those +unfortunate prospectors whom the ebbing fortunes of Buena Vista had left +stranded by his side. + +Colonel Swinger was sitting in a wicker-work rocking-chair on the +veranda of his hotel--sipping a mint julep which he held in his hand, +while he gazed into the dusty distance. Nothing could have convinced him +that he was not performing a serious part of his duty as hotel-keeper +in this attitude, even though there were no travelers expected, and the +road at this hour of the day was deserted. On a bench at his side Larry +Hawkins stretched his lazy length,--one foot dropped on the veranda, +and one arm occasionally groping under the bench for his own tumbler +of refreshment. Apart from this community of occupation, there was +apparently no interchange of sentiment between the pair. The silence +had continued for some moments, when the colonel put down his glass and +gazed earnestly into the distance. + +"Seein' anything?" remarked the man on the bench, who had sleepily +regarded him. + +"No," said the colonel, "that is--it's only Dick Ruggles crossin' the +road." + +"Thought you looked a little startled, ez if you'd seen that ar +wanderin' stranger." + +"When I see that wandering stranger, sah," said the colonel decisively, +"I won't be sittin' long in this yer chyar. I'll let him know in about +ten seconds that I don't harbor any vagrants prowlin' about like poor +whites or free niggers on my propahty, sah!" + +"All the same, I kinder wish ye did see him, for you'd be settled in +YOUR mind and I'd be easier in MINE, ef you found out what he was doin' +round yer, or ye had to admit that it wasn't no LIVIN' man." + +"What do you mean?" said the colonel, testily facing around in his +chair. + +His companion also altered his attitude by dropping his other foot +to the floor, sitting up, and leaning lazily forward with his hands +clasped. + +"Look yer, colonel. When you took this place, I felt I didn't have no +call to tell ye all I know about it, nor to pizen yer mind by any darned +fool yarns I mout hev heard. Ye know it was one o' them old Spanish +haciendas?" + +"I know," said the colonel loftily, "that it was held by a grant from +Charles the Fifth of Spain, just as my propahty on the James River was +given to my people by King James of England, sah!" + +"That ez as may be," returned his companion, in lazy indifference; +"though I reckon that Charles the Fifth of Spain and King James of +England ain't got much to do with what I'm goin' to tell ye. Ye see, I +was here long afore YOUR time, or any of the boys that hev now cleared +out; and at that time the hacienda belonged to a man named Juan +Sobriente. He was that kind o' fool that he took no stock in mining. +When the boys were whoopin' up the place and finding the color +everywhere, and there was a hundred men working down there in the gulch, +he was either ridin' round lookin' up the wild horses he owned, or +sittin' with two or three lazy peons and Injins that was fed and looked +arter by the priests. Gosh! now I think of it, it was mighty like YOU +when you first kem here with your niggers. That's curious, too, ain't +it?" + +He had stopped, gazing with an odd, superstitious wonderment at the +colonel, as if overcome by this not very remarkable coincidence. +The colonel, overlooking or totally oblivious to its somewhat +uncomplimentary significance, simply said, "Go on. What about him?" + +"Well, ez I was sayin', he warn't in it nohow, but kept on his reg'lar +way when the boom was the biggest. Some of the boys allowed it was +mighty oncivil for him to stand off like that, and others--when he +refused a big pile for his hacienda and the garden, that ran right into +the gold-bearing ledge--war for lynching him and driving him outer the +settlement. But as he had a pretty darter or niece livin' with him, +and, except for his partickler cussedness towards mining, was kinder +peaceable and perlite, they thought better of it. Things went along like +this, until one day the boys noticed--particklerly the boys that had +slipped up on their luck--that old man Sobriente was gettin' rich,--had +stocked a ranch over on the Divide, and had given some gold candlesticks +to the mission church. That would have been only human nature and +business, ef he'd had any during them flush times; but he hadn't. This +kinder puzzled them. They tackled the peons,--his niggers,--but it was +all 'No sabe.' They tackled another man,--a kind of half-breed Kanaka, +who, except the priest, was the only man who came to see him, and was +supposed to be mighty sweet on the darter or niece,--but they didn't +even get the color outer HIM. Then the first thing we knowed was that +old Sobriente was found dead in the well!" + +"In the well, sah!" said the colonel, starting up. "The well on my +propahty?" + +"No," said his companion. "The old well that was afterwards shut up. +Yours was dug by the last tenant, Jack Raintree, who allowed that he +didn't want to 'take any Sobriente in his reg'lar whiskey and water.' +Well, the half-breed Kanaka cleared out after the old man's death, and +so did that darter or niece; and the church, to whom old Sobriente had +left this house, let it to Raintree for next to nothin'." + +"I don't see what all that has got to do with that wandering tramp," +said the colonel, who was by no means pleased with this history of his +property. + +"I'll tell ye. A few days after Raintree took it over, he was lookin' +round the garden, which old Sobriente had always kept shut up agin +strangers, and he finds a lot of dried-up 'slumgullion'* scattered all +about the borders and beds, just as if the old man had been using it for +fertilizing. Well, Raintree ain't no fool; he allowed the old man wasn't +one, either; and he knew that slumgullion wasn't worth no more than mud +for any good it would do the garden. So he put this yer together with +Sobriente's good luck, and allowed to himself that the old coyote had +been secretly gold-washin' all the while he seemed to be standin' off +agin it! But where was the mine? Whar did he get the gold? That's what +got Raintree. He hunted all over the garden, prospected every part of +it,--ye kin see the holes yet,--but he never even got the color!" + + * That is, a viscid cement-like refuse of gold-washing. + +He paused, and then, as the colonel made an impatient gesture, he went +on. + +"Well, one night just afore you took the place, and when Raintree was +gettin' just sick of it, he happened to be walkin' in the garden. He was +puzzlin' his brain agin to know how old Sobriente made his pile, when +all of a suddenst he saw suthin' a-movin' in the brush beside the house. +He calls out, thinkin' it was one of the boys, but got no answer. Then +he goes to the bushes, and a tall figger, all in black, starts out afore +him. He couldn't see any face, for its head was covered with a hood, but +he saw that it held suthin' like a big cross clasped agin its breast. +This made him think it was one them priests, until he looks agin and +sees that it wasn't no cross it was carryin,' but a PICKAXE! He makes +a jump towards it, but it vanished! He traipsed over the hull +garden,--went though ev'ry bush,--but it was clean gone. Then the hull +thing flashed upon him with a cold shiver. The old man bein' found dead +in the well! the goin' away of the half-breed and the girl! the findin' +o' that slumgullion! The old man HAD made a strike in that garden, the +half-breed had discovered his secret and murdered him, throwin' him down +the well! It war no LIVIN' man that he had seen, but the ghost of old +Sobriente!" + +The colonel emptied the remaining contents of his glass at a single +gulp, and sat up. "It's my opinion, sah, that Raintree had that night +more than his usual allowance of corn-juice on board; and it's only +a wonder, sah, that he didn't see a few pink alligators and sky-blue +snakes at the same time. But what's this got to do with that wanderin' +tramp?" + +"They're all the same thing, colonel, and in my opinion that there tramp +ain't no more alive than that figger was." + +"But YOU were the one that saw this tramp with your own eyes," retorted +the colonel quickly, "and you never before allowed it was a spirit!" + +"Exactly! I saw it whar a minit afore nothin' had been standin', and a +minit after nothin' stood," said Larry Hawkins, with a certain serious +emphasis; "but I warn't goin' to say it to ANYBODY, and I warn't goin' +to give you and the hacienda away. And ez nobody knew Raintree's story, +I jest shut up my head. But you kin bet your life that the man I saw +warn't no livin' man!" + +"We'll see, sah!" said the colonel, rising from his chair with his +fingers in the armholes of his nankeen waistcoat, "ef he ever intrudes +on my property again. But look yar! don't ye go sayin' anything of this +to Polly,--you know what women are!" + +A faint color came into Larry's face; an animation quite different to +the lazy deliberation of his previous monologue shone in his eyes, as +he said, with a certain rough respect he had not shown before to his +companion, "That's why I'm tellin' ye, so that ef SHE happened to see +anything and got skeert, ye'd know how to reason her out of it." + +"'Sh!" said the colonel, with a warning gesture. + +A young girl had just appeared in the doorway, and now stood leaning +against the central pillar that supported it, with one hand above her +head, in a lazy attitude strongly suggestive of the colonel's Southern +indolence, yet with a grace entirely her own. Indeed, it overcame the +negligence of her creased and faded yellow cotton frock and unbuttoned +collar, and suggested--at least to the eyes of ONE man--the curving and +clinging of the jasmine vine against the outer column of the veranda. +Larry Hawkins rose awkwardly to his feet. + +"Now what are you two men mumblin' and confidin' to each other? You look +for all the world like two old women gossips," she said, with languid +impertinence. + +It was easy to see that a privileged and recognized autocrat spoke. +No one had ever questioned Polly Swinger's right to interrupting, +interfering, and saucy criticisms. Secure in the hopeless or chivalrous +admiration of the men around her, she had repaid it with a frankness +that scorned any coquetry; with an indifference to the ordinary feminine +effect or provocation in dress or bearing that was as natural as it was +invincible. No one had ever known Polly to "fix up" for anybody, yet +no one ever doubted the effect, if she had. No one had ever rebuked her +charming petulance, or wished to. + +Larry gave a weak, vague laugh. Colonel Swinger as ineffectively assumed +a mock parental severity. "When you see two gentlemen, miss, discussin' +politics together, it ain't behavin' like a lady to interrupt. Better +run away and tidy yourself before the stage comes." + +The young lady replied to the last innuendo by taking two spirals of +soft hair, like "corn silk," from her oval cheek, wetting them with +her lips, and tucking them behind her ears. Her father's ungentlemanly +suggestion being thus disposed of, she returned to her first charge. + +"It ain't no politics; you ain't been swearing enough for THAT! Come, +now! It's the mysterious stranger ye've been talking about!" + +Both men stared at her with unaffected concern. + +"What do YOU know about any mysterious stranger?" demanded her father. + +"Do you suppose you men kin keep a secret," scoffed Polly. "Why, Dick +Ruggles told me how skeert ye all were over an entire stranger, and he +advised me not to wander down the road after dark. I asked him if he +thought I was a pickaninny to be frightened by bogies, and that if +he hadn't a better excuse for wantin' 'to see me home' from the Injin +spring, he might slide." + +Larry laughed again, albeit a little bitterly, for it seemed to him that +the excuse was fully justified; but the colonel said promptly, "Dick's +a fool, and you might have told him there were worse things to be met on +the road than bogies. Run away now, and see that the niggers are on hand +when the stage comes." + +Two hours later the stage came with a clatter of hoofs and a cloud of +red dust, which precipitated itself and a dozen thirsty travelers +upon the veranda before the hotel bar-room; it brought also the usual +"express" newspapers and much talk to Colonel Swinger, who always +received his guests in a lofty personal fashion at the door, as he might +have done in his old Virginian home; but it brought likewise--marvelous +to relate--an ACTUAL GUEST, who had two trunks and asked for a room! He +was evidently a stranger to the ways of Buena Vista, and particularly +to those of Colonel Swinger, and at first seemed inclined to resent the +social attitude of his host, and his frank and free curiosity. When he, +however, found that Colonel Swinger was even better satisfied to give +an account of HIS OWN affairs, his family, pedigree, and his present +residence, he began to betray some interest. The colonel told him +all the news, and would no doubt have even expatiated on his ghostly +visitant, had he not prudently concluded that his guest might decline to +remain in a haunted inn. The stranger had spoken of staying a week; he +had some private mining speculations to watch at Wynyard's Gulch,--the +next settlement, but he did not care to appear openly at the "Gulch +Hotel." He was a man of thirty, with soft, pleasing features and a +singular litheness of movement, which, combined with a nut-brown, gypsy +complexion, at first suggested a foreigner. But his dialect, to the +colonel's ears, was distinctly that of New England, and to this was +added a puritanical and sanctimonious drawl. "He looked," said the +colonel in after years, "like a blank light mulatter, but talked like a +blank Yankee parson." For all that, he was acceptable to his host, who +may have felt that his reminiscences of his plantation on the James +River were palling on Buena Vista ears, and was glad of his new auditor. +It was an advertisement, too, of the hotel, and a promise of its future +fortunes. "Gentlemen having propahty interests at the Gulch, sah, prefer +to stay at Buena Vista with another man of propahty, than to trust to +those new-fangled papah-collared, gingerbread booths for traders that +they call 'hotels' there," he had remarked to some of "the boys." In his +preoccupation with the new guest, he also became a little neglectful +of his old chum and dependent, Larry Hawkins. Nor was this the only +circumstance that filled the head of that shiftless loyal retainer +of the colonel with bitterness and foreboding. Polly Swinger--the +scornfully indifferent, the contemptuously inaccessible, the coldly +capricious and petulant--was inclined to be polite to the stranger! + +The fact was that Polly, after the fashion of her sex, took it into +her pretty head, against all consistency and logic, suddenly to make +an exception to her general attitude towards mankind in favor of one +individual. The reason-seeking masculine reader will rashly conclude +that this individual was the CAUSE as well as the object; but I am +satisfied that every fair reader of these pages will instinctively know +better. Miss Polly had simply selected the new guest, Mr. Starbuck, to +show OTHERS, particularly Larry Hawkins, what she COULD do if she were +inclined to be civil. For two days she "fixed up" her distracting hair +at him so that its silken floss encircled her head like a nimbus; she +tucked her oval chin into a white fichu instead of a buttonless collar; +she appeared at dinner in a newly starched yellow frock! She talked +to him with "company manners;" said she would "admire to go to San +Francisco," and asked if he knew her old friends the Fauquier girls +from "Faginia." The colonel was somewhat disturbed; he was glad that his +daughter had become less negligent of her personal appearance; he could +not but see, with the others, how it enhanced her graces; but he was, +with the others, not entirely satisfied with her reasons. And he could +not help observing--what was more or less patent to ALL--that Starbuck +was far from being equally responsive to her attentions, and at times +was indifferent and almost uncivil. Nobody seemed to be satisfied with +Polly's transformation but herself. + +But eventually she was obliged to assert herself. The third evening +after Starbuck's arrival she was going over to the cabin of Aunt Chloe, +who not only did the washing for Buena Vista, but assisted Polly in +dressmaking. It was not far, and the night was moonlit. As she crossed +the garden she saw Starbuck moving in the manzanita bushes beyond; a +mischievous light came into her eyes; she had not EXPECTED to meet him, +but she had seen him go out, and there were always POSSIBILITIES. To her +surprise, however, he merely lifted his hat as she passed, and +turned abruptly in another direction. This was more than the little +heart-breaker of Buena Vista was accustomed to! + +"Oh, Mr. Starbuck!" she called, in her laziest voice. + +He turned almost impatiently. + +"Since you're so civil and pressing, I thought I'd tell you I was just +runnin' over to Aunt Chloe's," she said dryly. + +"I should think it was hardly the proper thing for a young lady to do +at this time of night," he said superciliously. "But you know best,--you +know the people here." + +Polly's cheeks and eyes flamed. "Yes, I reckon I do," she said crisply; +"it's only a STRANGER here would think of being rude. Good-night, Mr. +Starbuck!" + +She tripped away after this Parthian shot, yet feeling, even in her +triumph, that the conceited fool seemed actually relieved at her +departure! And for the first time she now thought that she had seen +something in his face that she did not like! But her lazy independence +reasserted itself soon, and half an hour later, when she had left Aunt +Chloe's cabin, she had regained her self-esteem. Yet, to avoid meeting +him again, she took a longer route home, across the dried ditch and over +the bluff, scarred by hydraulics, and so fell, presently, upon the old +garden at the point where it adjoined the abandoned diggings. She was +quite sure she had escaped a meeting with Starbuck, and was gliding +along under the shadow of the pear-trees, when she suddenly stopped. An +indescribable terror overcame her as she stared at a spot in the garden, +perfectly illuminated by the moonlight not fifty yards from where she +stood. For she saw on its surface a human head--a man's head!--seemingly +on the level of the ground, staring in her direction. A hysterical laugh +sprang from her lips, and she caught at the branches above her or +she would have fallen! Yet in that moment the head had vanished! The +moonlight revealed the empty garden,--the ground she had gazed at,--but +nothing more! + +She had never been superstitious. As a child she had heard the negroes +talk of "the hants,"--that is, "the HAUNTS" or spirits,--but had +believed it a part of their ignorance, and unworthy a white child,--the +daughter of their master! She had laughed with Dick Ruggles over the +illusions of Larry, and had shared her father's contemptuous disbelief +of the wandering visitant being anything but a living man; yet she would +have screamed for assistance now, only for the greater fear of making +her weakness known to Mr. Starbuck, and being dependent upon him for +help. And with it came the sudden conviction that HE had seen this awful +vision, too. This would account for his impatience of her presence and +his rudeness. She felt faint and giddy. Yet after the first shock had +passed, her old independence and pride came to her relief. She would go +to the spot and examine it. If it were some trick or illusion, she would +show her superiority and have the laugh on Starbuck. She set her white +teeth, clenched her little hands, and started out into the moonlight. +But alas! for women's weakness. The next moment she uttered a scream and +almost fell into the arms of Mr. Starbuck, who had stepped out of the +shadows beside her. + +"So you see you HAVE been frightened," he said, with a strange, forced +laugh; "but I warned you about going out alone!" + +Even in her fright she could not help seeing that he, too, seemed pale +and agitated, at which she recovered her tongue and her self-possession. + +"Anybody would be frightened by being dogged about under the trees," she +said pertly. + +"But you called out before you saw me," he said bluntly, "as if +something had frightened you. That was WHY I came towards you." + +She knew it was the truth; but as she would not confess to her vision, +she fibbed outrageously. + +"Frightened," she said, with pale but lofty indignation. "What was there +to frighten me? I'm not a baby, to think I see a bogie in the dark!" +This was said in the faint hope that HE had seen something too. If it +had been Larry or her father who had met her, she would have confessed +everything. + +"You had better go in," he said curtly. "I will see you safe inside the +house." + +She demurred at this, but as she could not persist in her first bold +intention of examining the locality of the vision without admitting its +existence, she permitted him to walk with her to the house, and then at +once fled to her own room. Larry and her father noticed their entrance +together and their agitated manner, and were uneasy. Yet the colonel's +paternal pride and Larry's lover's respect kept the two men from +communicating their thoughts to each other. + +"The confounded pup has been tryin' to be familiar, and Polly's set him +down," thought Larry, with glowing satisfaction. + +"He's been trying some of his sanctimonious Yankee abolition talk on +Polly, and she shocked him!" thought the colonel exultingly. + +But poor Polly had other things to think of in the silence of her room. +Another woman would have unburdened herself to a confidante; but +Polly was too loyal to her father to shatter his beliefs, and too +high-spirited to take another and a lesser person into her confidence. +She was certain that Aunt Chloe would be full of sympathetic belief and +speculations, but she would not trust a nigger with what she couldn't +tell her own father. For Polly really and truly believed that she had +seen a ghost, no doubt the ghost of the murdered Sobriente, according +to Larry's story. WHY he should appear with only his head above ground +puzzled her, although it suggested the Catholic idea of purgatory, and +he was a Catholic! Perhaps he would have risen entirely but for that +stupid Starbuck's presence; perhaps he had a message for HER alone. The +idea pleased Polly, albeit it was a "fearful joy" and attended with some +cold shivering. Naturally, as a gentleman, he would appear to HER--the +daughter of a gentleman--the successor to his house--rather than to +a Yankee stranger. What was she to do? For once her calm nerves were +strangely thrilled; she could not think of undressing and going to +bed, and two o'clock surprised her, still meditating, and occasionally +peeping from her window upon the moonlit but vacant garden. If she saw +him again, would she dare to go down alone? Suddenly she started to +her feet with a beating heart! There was the unmistakable sound of a +stealthy footstep in the passage, coming towards her room. Was it he? In +spite of her high resolves she felt that if the door opened she should +scream! She held her breath--the footsteps came nearer--were before her +door--and PASSED! + +Then it was that the blood rushed back to her cheek with a flush of +indignation. Her room was at the end of the passage; there was nothing +beyond but a private staircase, long disused, except by herself, as a +short cut through the old patio to the garden. No one else knew of +it, and no one else had the right of access to it! This insolent human +intrusion--as she was satisfied it was now--overcame her fear, and +she glided to the door. Opening it softly, she could hear the stealthy +footsteps descending. She darted back, threw a shawl over her head and +shoulders, and taking the small Derringer pistol which it had always +been part of her ostentatious independence to place at her bed-head, +she as stealthily followed the intruder. But the footsteps had died +away before she reached the patio, and she saw only the small deserted, +grass-grown courtyard, half hidden in shadows, in whose centre stood the +fateful and long sealed-up well! A shudder came over her at again being +brought into contact with the cause of her frightful vision, but as her +eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she saw something more real and +appalling! The well was no longer sealed! Fragments of bricks and boards +lay around it! One end of a rope, coiled around it like a huge snake, +descended its foul depths; and as she gazed with staring eyes, the +head and shoulders of a man emerged slowly from it! But it was NOT the +ghostly apparition of last evening, and her terror changed to scorn and +indignation as she recognized the face of Starbuck! + +Their eyes met; an oath broke from his lips. He made a movement to +spring from the well, but as the girl started back, the pistol held +in her hand was discharged aimlessly in the air, and the report echoed +throughout the courtyard. With a curse Starbuck drew back, instantly +disappeared in the well, and Polly fell fainting on the steps. When she +came to, her father and Larry were at her side. They had been alarmed +at the report, and had rushed quickly to the patio, but not in time to +prevent the escape of Starbuck and his accomplice. By the time she had +recovered her consciousness, they had learned the full extent of that +extraordinary revelation which she had so innocently precipitated. +Sobriente's well had really concealed a rich gold ledge,--actually +tunneled and galleried by him secretly in the past,--and its only other +outlet was an opening in the garden hidden by a stone which turned on a +swivel. Its existence had been unknown to Sobriente's successor, but +was known to the Kanaka who had worked with Sobriente, who fled with +his daughter after the murder, but who no doubt was afraid to return +and work the mine. He had imparted the secret to Starbuck, another +half-breed, son of a Yankee missionary and Hawaiian wife, who had +evidently conceived this plan of seeking Buena Vista with an accomplice, +and secretly removing such gold as was still accessible. The accomplice, +afterwards identified by Larry as the wandering tramp, failed to +discover the secret entrance FROM the garden, and Starbuck was +consequently obliged to attempt it from the hotel--for which purpose +he had introduced himself as a boarder--by opening the disused well +secretly at night. These facts were obtained from papers found in the +otherwise valueless trunks, weighted with stones for ballast, which +Starbuck had brought to the hotel to take away his stolen treasure in, +but which he was obliged to leave in his hurried flight. The attempt +would have doubtless succeeded but for Polly's courageous and timely +interference! + +And now that they had told her ALL, they only wanted to know what had +first excited HER suspicions, and driven her to seek the well as the +object of Starbuck's machinations? THEY had noticed her manner when she +entered the house that night, and Starbuck's evident annoyance. Had she +taxed him with her suspicions, and so discovered a clue? + +It was a terrible temptation to Polly to pose as a more perfect heroine, +and one may not blame her if she did not rise entirely superior to it. +Her previous belief, that the head of the accomplice at the opening of +the garden was that of a GHOST, she now felt was certainly in the way, +as was also her conduct to Starbuck, whom she believed to be equally +frightened, and whom she never once suspected! So she said, with a +certain lofty simplicity, that there were SOME THINGS which she really +did not care to talk about, and Larry and her father left her that night +with the firm conviction that the rascal Starbuck had tried to tempt her +to fly with him and his riches, and had been crushingly foiled. Polly +never denied this, and once, in later days, when admiringly taxed with +it by Larry, she admitted with dove-like simplicity that she MAY have +been too foolishly polite to her father's guest for the sake of her +father's hotel. + +However, all this was of small account to the thrilling news of a new +discovery and working of the "old gold ledge" at Buena Vista! As the +three kept their secret from the world, the discovery was accepted in +the neighborhood as the result of careful examination and prospecting on +the part of Colonel Swinger and his partner Larry Hawkins. And when +the latter gentleman afterwards boldly proposed to Polly Swinger, she +mischievously declared that she accepted him only that the secret might +not go "out of the family." + + + + +LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + + +It was at best merely a rocky trail winding along a shelf of the eastern +slope of the Santa Cruz range, yet the only road between the sea and the +inland valley. The hoof-prints of a whole century of zigzagging mules +were impressed on the soil, regularly soaked by winter rains and dried +by summer suns during that period; the occasional ruts of heavy, +rude, wooden wheels--long obsolete--were still preserved and visible. +Weather-worn boulders and ledges, lying in the unclouded glare of an +August sky, radiated a quivering heat that was intolerable, even while +above them the masts of gigantic pines rocked their tops in the cold +southwestern trades from the unseen ocean beyond. A red, burning dust +lay everywhere, as if the heat were slowly and visibly precipitating +itself. + +The creaking of wheels and axles, the muffled plunge of hoofs, and the +cough of a horse in the dust thus stirred presently broke the profound +woodland silence. Then a dirty white canvas-covered emigrant wagon +slowly arose with the dust along the ascent. It was travel-stained and +worn, and with its rawboned horses seemed to have reached the last +stage of its journey and fitness. The only occupants, a man and a girl, +appeared to be equally jaded and exhausted, with the added querulousness +of discontent in their sallow and badly nourished faces. Their voices, +too, were not unlike the creaking they had been pitched to overcome, and +there was an absence of reserve and consciousness in their speech, which +told pathetically of an equal absence of society. + +"It's no user talkin'! I tell ye, ye hain't got no more sense than a +coyote! I'm sick and tired of it, doggoned if I ain't! Ye ain't no more +use nor a hossfly,--and jest ez hinderin'! It was along o' you that we +lost the stock at Laramie, and ef ye'd bin at all decent and takin', +we'd hev had kempany that helped, instead of laggin' on yere alone!" + +"What did ye bring me for?" retorted the girl shrilly. "I might hev +stayed with Aunt Marty. I wasn't hankerin' to come." + +"Bring ye for?" repeated her father contemptuously; "I reckoned ye might +he o' some account here, whar wimmin folks is skeerce, in the way o' +helpin',--and mebbe gettin' yer married to some likely feller. Mighty +much chance o' that, with yer yaller face and skin and bones." + +"Ye can't blame me for takin' arter you, dad," she said, with a shrill +laugh, but no other resentment of his brutality. + +"Ye want somebody to take arter you--with a club," he retorted angrily. +"Ye hear! Wot's that ye're doin' now?" + +She had risen and walked to the tail of the wagon. "Goin' to get out and +walk. I'm tired o' bein' jawed at." + +She jumped into the road. The act was neither indignant nor vengeful; +the frequency of such scenes had blunted their sting. She was probably +"tired" of the quarrel, and ended it rudely. Her father, however, let +fly a Parthian arrow. + +"Ye needn't think I'm goin' to wait for ye, ez I hev! Ye've got to keep +tetch with the team, or get left. And a good riddance of bad rubbidge." + +In reply the girl dived into the underwood beside the trail, picked a +wild berry or two, stripped a wand of young hazel she had broken off, +and switching it at her side, skipped along on the outskirts of the +wood and ambled after the wagon. Seen in the full, merciless glare of a +Californian sky, she justified her father's description; thin and bony, +her lank frame outstripped the body of her ragged calico dress, which +was only kept on her shoulders by straps,--possibly her father's +cast-off braces. A boy's soft felt hat covered her head, and shadowed +her only notable feature, a pair of large dark eyes, looking larger for +the hollow temples which narrowed the frame in which they were set. + +So long as the wagon crawled up the ascent the girl knew she could +easily keep up with it, or even distance the tired horses. She made one +or two incursions into the wood, returning like an animal from quest of +food, with something in her mouth, which she was tentatively chewing, +and once only with some inedible mandrono berries, plucked solely for +their brilliant coloring. It was very hot and singularly close; the +higher current of air had subsided, and, looking up, a singular haze +seemed to have taken its place between the treetops. Suddenly she heard +a strange, rumbling sound; an odd giddiness overtook her, and she was +obliged to clutch at a sapling to support herself; she laughed vacantly, +though a little frightened, and looked vaguely towards the summit of the +road; but the wagon had already disappeared. A strange feeling of +nausea then overcame her; she spat out the leaves she had been chewing, +disgustedly. But the sensation as quickly passed, and she once more +sought the trail and began slowly to follow the tracks of the wagon. The +air blew freshly, the treetops began again to rock over her head, and +the incident was forgotten. + +Presently she paused; she must have missed the trail, for the wagon +tracks had ended abruptly before a large boulder that lay across the +mountain trail. She dipped into the woods again; here there were other +wagon tracks that confused her. It was like her dogged, stupid father +to miss the trail; she felt a gleam of malicious satisfaction at his +discomfiture. Sooner or later, he would have to retrace his steps and +virtually come back for her! She took up a position where two rough +wheel ruts and tracks intersected each other, one of which must be +the missing trail. She noticed, too, the broader hoof-prints of cattle +without the following wheel ruts, and instead of traces, the long smooth +trails made by the dragging of logs, and knew by these tokens that she +must be near the highway or some woodman's hut or ranch. She began to be +thirsty, and was glad, presently, when her quick, rustic ear caught +the tinkling of water. Yet it was not so easy to discover, and she was +getting footsore and tired again before she found it, some distance +away, in a gully coming from a fissure in a dislocated piece of outcrop. +It was beautifully clear, cold, and sparkling, with a slightly sweetish +taste, yet unlike the brackish "alkali" of the plains. It refreshed and +soothed her greatly, so much that, reclining against a tree, but where +she would be quite visible from the trail, her eyes closed dreamily, and +presently she slept. + +When she awoke, the shafts of sunlight were striking almost level into +her eyes. She must have slept two hours. Her father had not returned; +she knew the passage of the wagon would have awakened her. She began to +feel strange, but not yet alarmed; it was only the uncertainty that made +her uneasy. Had her father really gone on by some other trail? Or had he +really hurried on and left her, as he said he would? The thought +brought an odd excitement to her rather than any fear. A sudden sense of +freedom, as if some galling chain had dropped from her, sent a singular +thrill through her frame. Yet she felt confused with her independence, +not knowing what to do with it, and momentarily dazzled with the +possible gift. + +At this moment she heard voices, and the figures of two men appeared on +the trail. + +They were talking earnestly, and walking as if familiar with the spot, +yet gazing around them as if at some novelty of the aspect. + +"And look there," said one; "there has been some serious disturbance of +that outcrop," pointing in the direction of the spring; "the lower +part has distinctly subsided." He spoke with a certain authority, and +dominance of position, and was evidently the superior, as he was the +elder of the two, although both were roughly dressed. + +"Yes, it does kinder look as if it had lost its holt, like the ledge +yonder." + +"And you see I am right; the movement was from east to west," continued +the elder man. + +The girl could not comprehend what they said, and even thought them +a little silly. But she advanced towards them; at which they stopped +short, staring at her. With feminine instinct she addressed the more +important one:-- + +"Ye ain't passed no wagon nor team goin' on, hev ye?" + +"What sort of wagon?" said the man. + +"Em'grant wagon, two yaller hosses. Old man--my dad--drivin'." She added +the latter kinship as a protecting influence against strangers, in spite +of her previous independence. + +The men glanced at each other. + +"How long ago?" + +The girl suddenly remembered that she had slept two hours. + +"Sens noon," she said hesitatingly. + +"Since the earthquake?" + +"Wot's that?" + +The man came impatiently towards her. "How did you come here?" + +"Got outer the wagon to walk. I reckon dad missed the trail, and hez got +off somewhere where I can't find him." + +"What trail was he on,--where was he going?" + +"Sank Hozay,* I reckon. He was goin' up the grade--side o' the hill; he +must hev turned off where there's a big rock hangin' over." + + * San Jose. + +"Did you SEE him turn off?" + +"No." + +The second man, who was in hearing distance, had turned away, and was +ostentatiously examining the sky and the treetops; the man who had +spoken to her joined him, and they said something in a low voice. They +turned again and came slowly towards her. She, from some obscure sense +of imitation, stared at the treetops and the sky as the second man had +done. But the first man now laid his hand kindly on her shoulder and +said, "Sit down." + +Then they told her there had been an earthquake so strong that it had +thrown down a part of the hillside, including the wagon trail. That a +wagon team and driver, such as she had described, had been carried down +with it, crushed to fragments, and buried under a hundred feet of rock +in the gulch below. A party had gone down to examine, but it would be +weeks perhaps before they found it, and she must be prepared for the +worst. She looked at them vaguely and with tearless eyes. + +"Then ye reckon dad's dead?" + +"We fear it." + +"Then wot's a-goin' to become o' me?" she said simply. + +They glanced again at each other. "Have you no friends in California?" +said the elder man. + +"Nary one." + +"What was your father going to do?" + +"Dunno. I reckon HE didn't either." + +"You may stay here for the present," said the elder man meditatively. +"Can you milk?" + +The girl nodded. "And I suppose you know something about looking after +stock?" he continued. + +The girl remembered that her father thought she didn't, but this was no +time for criticism, and she again nodded. + +"Come with me," said the older man, rising. "I suppose," he added, +glancing at her ragged frock, "everything you have is in the wagon." + +She nodded, adding with the same cold naivete, "It ain't much!" + +They walked on, the girl following; at times straying furtively on +either side, as if meditating an escape in the woods,--which indeed +had once or twice been vaguely in her thoughts,--but chiefly to avoid +further questioning and not to hear what the men said to each other. For +they were evidently speaking of her, and she could not help hearing +the younger repeat her words, "Wot's agoin' to become o' me?" with +considerable amusement, and the addition: "She'll take care of herself, +you bet! I call that remark o' hers the richest thing out." + +"And I call the state of things that provoked it--monstrous!" said the +elder man grimly. "You don't know the lives of these people." + +Presently they came to an open clearing in the forest, yet so incomplete +that many of the felled trees, partly lopped of their boughs, still +lay where they had fallen. There was a cabin or dwelling of unplaned, +unpainted boards; very simple in structure, yet made in a workmanlike +fashion, quite unlike the usual log cabin she had seen. This made her +think that the elder man was a "towny," and not a frontiersman like the +other. + +As they approached the cabin the elder man stopped, and turning to her, +said:-- + +"Do you know Indians?" + +The girl started, and then recovering herself with a quick laugh: +"G'lang!--there ain't any Injins here!" + +"Not the kind YOU mean; these are very peaceful. There's a squaw here +whom you will"--he stopped, hesitated as he looked critically at the +girl, and then corrected himself--"who will help you." + +He pushed open the cabin door and showed an interior, equally simple but +well joined and fitted,--a marvel of neatness and finish to the frontier +girl's eye. There were shelves and cupboards and other conveniences, yet +with no ostentation of refinement to frighten her rustic sensibilities. + +Then he pushed open another door leading into a shed and called "Waya." +A stout, undersized Indian woman, fitted with a coarse cotton gown, but +cleaner and more presentable than the girl's one frock, appeared in the +doorway. "This is Waya, who attends to the cooking and cleaning," he +said; "and by the way, what is your name?" + +"Libby Jones." + +He took a small memorandum book and a "stub" of pencil from his pocket. +"Elizabeth Jones," he said, writing it down. The girl interposed a long +red hand. + +"No," she interrupted sharply, "not Elizabeth, but Libby, short for +Lib'rty." + +"Liberty?" + +"Yes." + +"Liberty Jones, then. Well, Waya, this is Miss Jones, who will look +after the cows and calves--and the dairy." Then glancing at her torn +dress, he added: "You'll find some clean things in there, until I can +send up something from San Jose. Waya will show you." + +Without further speech he turned away with the other man. When they were +some distance from the cabin, the younger remarked:-- + +"More like a boy than a girl, ain't she?" + +"So much the better for her work," returned the elder grimly. + +"I reckon! I was only thinkin' she didn't han'some much either as a boy +or girl, eh, doctor?" he pursued. + +"Well! as THAT won't make much difference to the cows, calves, or the +dairy, it needn't trouble US," returned the doctor dryly. But here a +sudden outburst of laughter from the cabin made them both turn in that +direction. They were in time to see Liberty Jones dancing out of the +cabin door in a large cotton pinafore, evidently belonging to the +squaw, who was following her with half-laughing, half-frightened +expostulations. The two men stopped and gazed at the spectacle. + +"Don't seem to be takin' the old man's death very pow'fully," said the +younger, with a laugh. + +"Quite as much as he deserved, I daresay," said the doctor curtly. "If +the accident had happened to HER, he would have whined and whimpered to +us for the sake of getting something, but have been as much relieved, +you may be certain. SHE'S too young and too natural to be a hypocrite +yet." + +Suddenly the laughter ceased and Liberty Jones's voice arose, shrill +but masterful: "Thar, that'll do! Quit now! You jest get back to your +scrubbin'--d'ye hear? I'm boss o' this shanty, you bet!" + +The doctor turned with a grim smile to his companion. "That's the only +thing that bothered me, and I've been waiting for. She's settled it. +She'll do. Come." + +They turned away briskly through the wood. At the end of half an hour's +walk they found the team that had brought them there in waiting, and +drove towards San Jose. It was nearly ten miles before they passed +another habitation or trace of clearing. And by this time night had +fallen upon the cabin they had left, and upon the newly made orphan and +her Indian companion, alone and contented in that trackless solitude. + +***** + +Liberty Jones had been a year at the cabin. In that time she had learned +that her employer's name was Doctor Ruysdael, that he had a lucrative +practice in San Jose, but had also "taken up" a league or two of wild +forest land in the Santa Cruz range, which he preserved and held after +a fashion of his own, which gave him the reputation of being a "crank" +among the very few neighbors his vast possessions permitted, and the +equally few friends his singular tastes allowed him. It was believed +that a man owning such an enormous quantity of timber land, who should +refuse to set up a sawmill and absolutely forbid the felling of trees; +who should decline to connect it with the highway to Santa Cruz, and +close it against improvement and speculation, had given sufficient +evidence of his insanity; but when to this was added the rumor that he +himself was not only devoid of the human instinct of hunting the wild +animals with which his domain abounded, but that he held it so sacred to +their use as to forbid the firing of a gun within his limits, and that +these restrictions were further preserved and "policed" by the scattered +remnants of a band of aborigines,--known as "digger Injins,"--it was +seriously hinted that his eccentricity had acquired a political and +moral significance, and demanded legislative interference. But the +doctor was a rich man, a necessity to his patients, a good marksman, +and, it was rumored, did not include his fellow men among the animals he +had a distaste for killing. + +Of all this, however, Liberty knew little and cared less. The solitude +appealed to her sense of freedom; she did not "hanker" after a society +she had never known. At the end of the first week, when the doctor +communicated to her briefly, by letter, the convincing proofs of the +death of her father and his entombment beneath the sunken cliff, she +accepted the fact without comment or apparent emotion. Two months +later, when her only surviving relative, "Aunt Marty," of Missouri, +acknowledged the news--communicated by Doctor Ruysdael--with Scriptural +quotations and the cheerful hope that it "would be a lesson to her" +and she would "profit in her new place," she left her aunt's letter +unanswered. + +She looked after the cows and calves with an interest that was almost +possessory, patronized and played with the squaw,--yet made her feel +her inferiority,--and moved among the peaceful aborigines with +the domination of a white woman and a superior. She tolerated the +half-monthly visits of "Jim Hoskins," the young companion of the doctor, +who she learned was the doctor's factor and overseer of the property, +who lived seven miles away on an agricultural clearing, and whose +control of her actions was evidently limited by the doctor,--for the +doctor's sake alone. Nor was Mr. Hoskins inclined to exceed those +limits. He looked upon her as something abnormal,--a "crank" as +remarkable in her way as her patron was in his, neuter of sex and vague +of race, and he simply restricted his supervision to the bringing +and taking of messages. She remained sole queen of the domain. A rare +straggler from the main road, penetrating this seclusion, might have +scarcely distinguished her from Waya, in her coarse cotton gown and +slouched hat, except for the free stride which contrasted with her +companion's waddle. Once, in following an estrayed calf, she had +crossed the highway and been saluted by a passing teamster in the digger +dialect; yet the mistake left no sting in her memory. And, like the +digger, she shrank from that civilization which had only proved a hard +taskmaster. + +The sole touch of human interest she had in her surroundings was in the +rare visits of the doctor and his brief but sincere commendation of +her rude and rustic work. It is possible that the strange, middle-aged, +gray-haired, intellectual man, whose very language was at times +mysterious and unintelligible to her, and whose suggestion of power awed +her, might have touched some untried filial chord in her being. Although +she felt that, save for absolute freedom, she was little more to him +than she had been to her father, yet he had never told her she had +"no sense," that she was "a hindrance," and he had even praised her +performance of her duties. Eagerly as she looked for his coming, in +his actual presence she felt a singular uneasiness of which she was not +entirely ashamed, and if she was relieved at his departure, it none +the less left her to a delightful memory of him, a warm sense of his +approval, and a fierce ambition to be worthy of it, for which she would +have sacrificed herself or the other miserable retainers about her, as a +matter of course. She had driven Waya and the other squaws far along +the sparse tableland pasture in search of missing stock; she herself +had lain out all night on the rocks beside an ailing heifer. Yet, while +satisfied to earn his praise for the performance of her duty, for some +feminine reason she thought more frequently of a casual remark he had +made on his last visit: "You are stronger and more healthy in this +air," he had said, looking critically into her face. "We have got that +abominable alkali out of your system, and wholesome food will do the +rest." She was not sure she had quite understood him, but she remembered +that she had felt her face grow hot when he spoke,--perhaps because she +had not understood him. + +His next visit was a day or two delayed, and in her anxiety she had +ventured as far as the highway to earnestly watch for his coming. From +her hiding-place in the underwood she could see the team and Jim Hoskins +already waiting for him. Presently she saw him drive up to the trail +in a carryall with a party of ladies and gentlemen. He alighted, bade +"Good-by" to the party, and the team turned to retrace its course. But +in that single moment she had been struck and bewildered by what +seemed to her the dazzlingly beautiful apparel of the women, and their +prettiness. She felt a sudden consciousness of her own coarse, shapeless +calico gown, her straggling hair, and her felt hat, and a revulsion +of feeling seized her. She crept like a wounded animal out of the +underwood, and then ran swiftly and almost fiercely back towards the +cabin. She ran so fast that for a time she almost kept pace with the +doctor and Hoskins in the wagon on the distant trail. Then she dived +into the underwood again, and making a short cut through the +forest, came at the end of two hours within hailing distance of the +cabin,--footsore and exhausted, in spite of the strange excitement that +had driven her back. Here she thought she heard voices--his voice +among the rest--calling her, but the same singular revulsion of feeling +hurried her vaguely on again, even while she experienced a foolish +savage delight in not answering the summons. In this erratic wandering +she came upon the spring she had found on her first entrance in the +forest a year ago, and drank feverishly a second time at its trickling +source. She could see that since her first visit it had worn a great +hollow below the tree roots and now formed a shining, placid pool. As +she stooped to look at it, she suddenly observed that it reflected her +whole figure as in a cruel mirror,--her slouched hat and loosened +hair, her coarse and shapeless gown, her hollow cheeks and dry yellow +skin,--in all their hopeless, uncompromising details. She uttered a +quick, angry, half-reproachful cry, and turned again to fly. But she had +not gone far before she came upon the hurrying figures and anxious faces +of the doctor and Hoskins. She stopped, trembling and irresolute. + +"Ah," said the doctor, in a tone of frank relief. "Here you are! I was +getting worried about you. Waya said you had been gone since morning!" +He stopped and looked at her attentively. "Is anything the matter?" + +His evident concern sent a warm glow over her chilly frame, and yet the +strange sensation remained. "No--no!" she stammered. + +Doctor Ruysdael turned to Hoskins. "Go back and tell Waya I've found +her." + +Libby felt that the doctor only wanted to get rid of his companion, and +became awed again. + +"Has anybody been bothering you?" + +"No." + +"Have the diggers frightened you?" + +"No"--with a gesture of contempt. + +"Have you and Waya quarreled?" + +"Nary"--with a faint, tremulous smile. + +He still stared at her, and then dropped his blue eyes musingly. "Are +you lonely here? Would you rather go to San Jose?" + +Like a flash the figures of the two smartly dressed women started up +before her again, with every detail of their fresh and wholesome finery +as cruelly distinct as had been her own shapeless ugliness in the mirror +of the spring. "No! NO!" she broke out vehemently and passionately. +"Never!" + +He smiled gently. "Look here! I'll send you up some books. You +read--don't you?" She nodded quickly. "Some magazines and papers. Odd I +never thought of it before," he added half musingly. "Come along to the +cabin. And," he stopped again and said decisively, "the next time you +want anything, don't wait for me to come, but write." + +A few days after he left she received a package of books,--an odd +collection of novels, magazines, and illustrated journals of the period. +She received them eagerly as an evidence of his concern for her, but it +is to be feared that her youthful nature found little satisfaction in +the gratification of fancy. Many of the people she read of were strange +to her; many of the incidents related seemed to her mere lies; some +tales which treated of people in her own sphere she found profoundly +uninteresting. In one of the cheaper magazines she chanced upon a +fashion plate; she glanced eagerly through all the others for a like +revelation until she got a dozen together, when she promptly relegated +the remaining literature to a corner and oblivion. The text accompanying +the plates was in a jargon not always clear, but her instinct supplied +the rest. She dispatched by Hoskins a note to Doctor Ruysdael: "Please +send me some brite kalikers and things for sewing. You told me to ask." +A few days later brought the response in a good-sized parcel. + +Yet this did not keep her from her care of the stock nor her rambles in +the forest; she was quick to utilize her rediscovery of the spring for +watering the cattle; it was not so far afield as the half-dried creek in +the canyon, and was a quiet sylvan spot. She ate her frugal midday meal +there and drank of its waters, and, secure in her seclusion, bathed +there and made her rude toilet when the cows were driven home. But she +did not again look into its mirrored surface when it was tranquil! + +And so a month passed. But when Doctor Ruysdael was again due at the +cabin, a letter was brought by Hoskins, with the news that he was called +away on professional business down the coast, and could not come until +two weeks later. In the disappointment that overcame her, she did not at +first notice that Hoskins was gazing at her with a singular expression, +which was really one of undisguised admiration. Never having seen this +before in the eyes of any man who looked at her, she referred it to some +vague "larking" or jocularity, for which she was in no mood. + +"Say, Libby! you're gettin' to be a right smart-lookin' gal. Seems to +agree with ye up here," said Hoskins with an awkward laugh. "Darned ef +ye ain't lookin' awful purty!" + +"G'long!" said Liberty Jones, more than ever convinced of his badinage. + +"Fact," said Hoskins energetically. "Why, Doc would tell ye so, too. See +ef he don't!" + +At this Liberty Jones felt her face grow hot. "You jess get!" she said, +turning away in as much embarrassment as anger. Yet he hovered near +her with awkward attentions that pleased while it still angered her. +He offered to go with her to look up the cows; she flatly declined, yet +with a strange satisfaction in his evident embarrassment. This may have +lent some animation to her face, for he drew a long breath and said:-- + +"Don't go pertendin' ye don't know yer purty. Say, let me and you walk +a bit and have a talk together." But Libby had another idea in her mind +and curtly dismissed him. Then she ran swiftly to the spring, for the +words "The Doc will tell ye so, too" were ringing in her ears. The +doctor who came with the two beautifully dressed women! HE--would tell +her she was pretty! She had not dared to look at herself in that crystal +mirror since that dreadful day two months ago. She would now. + +It was a pretty place in the cool shade of the giant trees, and the +hoof-marks of cattle drinking from the run beneath the pool had not +disturbed the margin of that tranquil sylvan basin. For a moment she +stood tremulous and uncertain, and then going up to the shining mirror, +dropped on her knees before it with her thin red hands clasped on her +lap. Unconsciously she had taken the attitude of prayer; perhaps there +was something like it in her mind. + +And then the light glanced full on the figure that she saw there! + +It fell on a full oval face and throat guileless of fleck or stain, +smooth as a child's and glowing with health; on large dark eyes, no +longer sunk in their orbits, but filled with an eager, happy light; on +bared arms now shapely in contour and cushioned with firm flesh; on a +dazzling smile, the like of which had never been on the face of Liberty +Jones before! + +She rose to her feet, and yet lingered as if loath to part from this +delightful vision. Then a fear overcame her that it was some trick of +the water, and she sped swiftly back to the house to consult the little +mirror which hung in her sleeping-room, but which she had never glanced +at since the momentous day of the spring. She took it shyly into the +sunshine, and found that it corroborated the reflection of the spring. +That night she worked until late at the calico Doctor Ruysdael had sent +her, and went to bed happy. The next day brought her Hoskins again with +a feeble excuse of inquiring if she had a letter for the doctor, and +she was surprised to find that he was reinforced by a stranger from +Hoskins's farm, who was equally awkward and vaguely admiring. But the +appearance of the TWO men produced a singular phase in her impressions +and experience. She was no longer indignant at Hoskins, but she found +relief in accepting the compliments of the stranger in preference, +and felt a delight in Hoskins's discomfiture. Waya, promoted to +the burlesque of a chaperone, grinned with infinite delight and +understanding. + +When at last the day came for the doctor's arrival, he was duly met by +Hoskins, and as duly informed by that impressible subordinate of the +great change in Liberty's appearance. But the doctor was far from being +equally impressed with his factor's story, and indeed showed much more +interest in the appearance of the stock which they met along the road. +Once the doctor got out of the wagon to inspect a cow, and particularly +the coat of a rough draught horse that had been turned out and put under +Liberty's care. "His skin is like velvet," said the doctor. "The girl +evidently understands stock, and knows how to keep them in condition." + +"I reckon she's beginning to understand herself, too," said Hoskins. +"Golly! wait till ye see HER." + +The doctor DID see her, but with what feelings he did not as frankly +express. She was not at the cabin when they arrived, but presently +appeared from the direction of the spring where, for reasons of her +own, she had evidently made her toilet. Doctor Ruysdael was astounded; +Hoskins's praise was not exaggerated; and there was an added charm +that Hoskins was not prepared for. She had put on a gown of her own +making,--the secret toil of many a long night,--amateurishly fashioned +from some cheap yellow calico the doctor had sent her, yet fitting her +wonderfully, and showing every curve of her graceful figure. Unaccented +by a corset,--an article she had never known,--even the lines of the +stiff, unyielding calico had a fashion that was nymph-like and suited +her unfettered limbs. Doctor Ruysdael was profoundly moved. Though a +philosopher, he was practical. He found himself suddenly confronted not +only by a beautiful girl, but a problem! It was impossible to keep +the existence of this woodland nymph from the knowledge of his +distant neighbors; it was equally impossible for him to assume the +responsibility of keeping a goddess like this in her present position. +He had noticed her previous improvement, but had never dreamed that pure +and wholesome living could in two months work such a miracle. And he +was to a certain degree responsible, HE had created her,--a beautiful +Frankenstein, whose lustrous, appealing eyes were even now menacing his +security and position. + +Perhaps she saw trouble and perplexity in the face where she had +expected admiration and pleasure, for a slight chill went over her as +he quickly praised the appearance of the stock and spoke of her own +improvement. But when they were alone, he turned to her abruptly. + +"You said you had no wish to go to San Jose?" + +"No." Yet she was conscious that her greatest objection had been +removed, and she colored faintly. + +"Listen to me," he said dryly. "You deserve a better position than +this,--a better home and surroundings than you have here. You are older, +too,--a woman almost,--and you must look ahead." + +A look of mingled fright, reproach, and appeal came into her eloquent +face. "Yer wantin' to send me away?" she stammered. + +"No," he said frankly. "It is you who are GROWING away. This is no +longer the place for you." + +"But I want to stay. I don't wanter go. I am--I WAS happy here." + +"But I'm thinking of giving up this place. It takes up too much of my +time. You must be provided"-- + +"YOU are going away?" she said passionately. + +"Yes." + +"Take me with you. I'll go anywhere!--to San Jose---wherever you go. +Don't turn me off as dad did, for I'll foller you as I never followed +dad. I'll go with you--or I'll die!" + +There was neither fear nor shame in her words; it was the outspoken +instinct of the animal he had been rearing; he was convinced and +appalled by it. + +"I am returning to San Jose at once," he said gravely. "You shall go +with me--FOR THE PRESENT! Get yourself ready!" + +He took her to San Jose, and temporarily to the house of a patient,--a +widow lady,--while he tried, alone, to grapple with the problem that now +confronted him. But that problem became more complicated at the end of +the third day, by Liberty Jones falling suddenly and alarmingly ill. +The symptoms were so grave that the doctor, in his anxiety, called in +a brother physician in consultation. When the examination was over, the +two men withdrew and stared at each other. + +"Of course there is no doubt that the symptoms all point to slow +arsenical poisoning," said the consulting doctor. + +"Yes," said Ruysdael quickly, "yet it is utterly inexplicable, both as +to motive and opportunity." + +"Humph!" said the other grimly, "young ladies take arsenic in minute +doses to improve the complexion and promote tissue, forgetting that the +effects are cumulative when they stop suddenly. Your young friend has +'sworn off' too quickly." + +"But it is impossible," said Doctor Ruysdael impatiently. "She is a mere +child--a country girl--ignorant of such habits." + +"Humph! the peasants in the Tyrol try it on themselves after noticing +the effect on the coats of cattle." + +Doctor Ruysdael started. A recollection of the sleek draught horse +flashed upon him. He rose and hastily re-entered the patient's room. In +a few moments he returned. "Do you think I could remove her at once to +the mountains?" he said gravely. + +"Yes, with care and a return to graduated doses of the same poison; you +know it's the only remedy just now," answered the other. + +By noon the next day the doctor and his patient had returned to the +cabin, but Ruysdael himself carried the helpless Liberty Jones to the +spring and deposited her gently beside it. "You may drink now," he said +gravely. + +The girl did so eagerly, apparently imbibing new strength from the +sparkling water. The doctor meanwhile coolly filled a phial from the +same source, and made a hasty test of the contents by the aid of some +other phials from his case. The result seemed to satisfy him. Then he +said gravely: + +"And THIS is the spring you had discovered?" + +The girl nodded. + +"And you and the cattle have daily used it?" + +She nodded again wonderingly. Then she caught his hand appealingly. + +"You won't send me away?" + +He smiled oddly as he glanced from the waters of the hill to the +brimming eyes. "No." + +"No-r," tremulously, "go away--yourself?" + +The doctor looked this time only into her eyes. There was a tremendous +idea in his own, which seemed in some way to have solved that dreadful +problem. + +"No! We will stay here TOGETHER." + +***** + +Six months later there was a paragraph in the San Francisco press: "The +wonderful Arsenical Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountain, known as 'Liberty +Spring,' discovered by Doctor Ruysdael, has proved such a remarkable +success that we understand the temporary huts for patients are to be +shortly replaced by a magnificent Spa Hotel worthy of the spot, and the +eligible villa sites it has brought into the market. It will be a source +of pleasure to all to know that the beautiful nymph--a worthy successor +to the far-famed 'Elise' of the German 'Brunnen'--who has administered +the waters to so many grateful patients will still be in attendance, +although it is rumored that she is shortly to become the wife of the +distinguished discoverer." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other +Stories, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + +THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + +AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + +DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + +WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT "JULES'" + +THE BOOM IN THE "CALAVERAS CLARION" + +THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + +LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + + + + +MR. JACK HAMLIN'S MEDIATION + + +At nightfall it began to rain. The wind arose too, and also began +to buffet a small, struggling, nondescript figure, creeping along +the trail over the rocky upland meadow towards Rylands's rancho. +At times its head was hidden in what appeared to be wings thrown +upward from its shoulders; at times its broad-brimmed hat was +cocked jauntily on one side, and again the brim was fixed over the +face like a visor. At one moment a drifting misshapen mass of +drapery, at the next its vague garments, beaten back hard against +the figure, revealed outlines far too delicate for that rude +enwrapping. For it was Mrs. Rylands herself, in her husband's hat +and her "hired man's" old blue army overcoat, returning from the +post-office two miles away. The wind continued its aggression +until she reached the front door of her newly plastered farmhouse, +and then a heavier blast shook the pines above the low-pitched, +shingled roof, and sent a shower of arrowy drops after her like a +Parthian parting, as she entered. She threw aside the overcoat and +hat, and somewhat inconsistently entered the sitting-room, to walk +to the window and look back upon the path she had just traversed. +The wind and the rain swept down a slope, half meadow, half +clearing,--a mile away,--to a fringe of sycamores. A mile further +lay the stage road, where, three hours later, her husband would +alight on his return from Sacramento. It would be a long wet walk +for Joshua Rylands, as their only horse had been borrowed by a +neighbor. + +In that fading light Mrs. Rylands's oval cheek was shining still +from the raindrops, but there was something in the expression of +her worried face that might have as readily suggested tears. She +was strikingly handsome, yet quite as incongruous an ornament to +her surroundings as she had been to her outer wrappings a moment +ago. Even the clothes she now stood in hinted an inadaptibility to +the weather--the house--the position she occupied in it. A figured +silk dress, spoiled rather than overworn, was still of a quality +inconsistent with her evident habits, and the lace-edged petticoat +that peeped beneath it was draggled with mud and unaccustomed +usage. Her glossy black hair, which had been tossed into curls in +some foreign fashion, was now wind-blown into a burlesque of it. +This incongruity was still further accented by the appearance of +the room she had entered. It was coldly and severely furnished, +making the chill of the yet damp white plaster unpleasantly +obvious. A black harmonium organ stood in one corner, set out with +black and white hymn-books; a trestle-like table contained a large +Bible; half a dozen black, horsehair-cushioned chairs stood, +geometrically distant, against the walls, from which hung four +engravings of "Paradise Lost" in black mourning frames; some dried +ferns and autumn leaves stood in a vase on the mantelpiece, as if +the chill of the room had prematurely blighted them. The coldly +glittering grate below was also decorated with withered sprays, as +if an attempt had been made to burn them, but was frustrated +through damp. Suddenly recalled to a sense of her wet boots and +the new carpet, she hurriedly turned away, crossed the hall into +the dining-room, and thence passed into the kitchen. The "hired +girl," a large-boned Missourian, a daughter of a neighboring +woodman, was peeling potatoes at the table. Mrs. Rylands drew a +chair before the kitchen stove, and put her wet feet on the hob. + +"I'll bet a cooky, Mess Rylands, you've done forgot the vanillar," +said the girl, with a certain domestic and confidential familiarity. + +Mrs. Rylands started guiltily. She made a miserable feint of +looking in her lap and on the table. "I'm afraid I did, Jane, if I +didn't bring it in HERE." + +"That you didn't," returned Jane. "And I reckon ye forgot that 'ar +pepper-sauce for yer husband." + +Mrs. Rylands looked up with piteous contrition. "I really don't +know what's the matter with me. I certainly went into the shop, +and had it on my list,--and--really"-- + +Jane evidently knew her mistress, and smiled with superior +toleration. "It's kinder bewilderin' goin' in them big shops, and +lookin' round them stuffed shelves." The shop at the cross roads +and post-office was 14 x 14, but Jane was nurtured on the plains. +"Anyhow," she added good-humoredly, "the expressman is sure to look +in as he goes by, and you've time to give him the order." + +"But is he SURE to come?" asked Mrs. Rylands anxiously. "Mr. +Rylands will be so put out without his pepper-sauce." + +"He's sure to come ef he knows you're here. Ye kin always +kalkilate on that." + +"Why?" said Mrs. Rylands abstractedly. + +"Why? 'cause he just can't keep his eyes off ye! That's why he +comes every day,--'tain't jest for trade!" + +This was quite true, not only of the expressman, but of the butcher +and baker, and the "candlestick-maker," had there been so advanced +a vocation at the cross roads. All were equally and curiously +attracted by her picturesque novelty. Mrs. Rylands knew this +herself, but without vanity or coquettishness. Possibly that was +why the other woman told her. She only slightly deepened the lines +of discontent in her cheek and said abstractedly, "Well, when he +comes, YOU ask him." + +She dried her shoes, put on a pair of slippers that had a faded +splendor about them, and went up to her bedroom. Here she +hesitated for some time between the sewing-machine and her +knitting-needles, but finally settled upon the latter, and a pair +of socks for her husband which she had begun a year ago. But she +presently despaired of finishing them before he returned, three +hours hence, and so applied herself to the sewing-machine. For a +little while its singing hum was heard between the blasts that +shook the house, but the thread presently snapped, and the machine +was put aside somewhat impatiently, with a discontented drawing of +the lines around her handsome mouth. Then she began to "tidy" the +room, putting a great many things away and bringing out a great +many more, a process that was necessarily slow, owing to her +falling into attitudes of minute inspection of certain articles of +dress, with intervals of trying them on, and observing their effect +in her mirror. This kind of interruption also occurred while she +was putting away some books that were lying about on chairs and +tables, stopping midway to open their pages, becoming interested, +and quite finishing one chapter, with the book held close against +the window to catch the fading light of day. The feminine reader +will gather from this that Mrs. Rylands, though charming, was not +facile in domestic duties. She had just glanced at the clock, and +lit the candle to again set herself to work, and thus bridge over +the two hours more of waiting, when there came a tap at the door. +She opened it to Jane. + +"There's an entire stranger downstairs, ez hez got a lame hoss and +wants to borry a fresh one." + +"We have none, you know," said Mrs. Rylands, a little impatiently. + +"Thet's what I told him. Then he wanted to know ef he could lie by +here till he could get one or fix up his own hoss." + +"As you like; you know if you can manage it," said Mrs. Rylands, a +little uneasily. "When Mr. Rylands comes you can arrange it +between you. Where is he now?" + +"In the kitchen." + +"The kitchen!" echoed Mrs. Rylands. + +"Yes, ma'am, I showed him into the parlor, but he kinder shivered +his shoulders, and reckoned ez how he'd go inter the kitchen. Ye +see, ma'am, he was all wet, and his shiny big boots was sloppy. +But he ain't one o' the stuck-up kind, and he's willin' to make +hisself cowf'ble before the kitchen stove." + +"Well, then, he don't want ME," said Mrs. Rylands, with a relieved +voice. + +"Yes'm," said Jane, apparently equally relieved. "Only, I thought +I'd just tell you." + +A few minutes later, in crossing the upper hall, Mrs. Rylands heard +Jane's voice from the kitchen raised in rustic laughter. Had she +been satirically inclined, she might have understood Jane's +willingness to relieve her mistress of the duty of entertaining the +stranger; had she been philosophical, she might have considered the +girl's dreary, monotonous life at the rancho, and made allowance +for her joy at this rare interruption of it. But I fear that Mrs. +Rylands was neither satirical nor philosophical, and presently, +when Jane reentered, with color in her alkaline face, and light in +her huckleberry eyes, and said she was going over to the cattle- +sheds in the "far pasture," to see if the hired man didn't know of +some horse that could be got for the stranger, Mrs. Rylands felt a +little bitterness in the thought that the girl would have scarcely +volunteered to go all that distance in the rain for HER. Yet, in a +few moments she forgot all about it, and even the presence of her +guest in the house, and in one of her fitful abstracted employments +passed through the dining-room into the kitchen, and had opened the +door with an "Oh, Jane!" before she remembered her absence. + +The kitchen, lit by a single candle, could be only partly seen by +her as she stood with her hand on the lock, although she herself +was plainly visible. There was a pause, and then a quiet, self- +possessed, yet amused, voice answered:-- + +"My name isn't Jane, and if you're the lady of the house, I reckon +yours wasn't ALWAYS Rylands." + +At the sound of the voice Mrs. Rylands threw the door wide open, +and as her eyes fell upon the speaker--her unknown guest--she +recoiled with a little cry, and a white, startled face. Yet the +stranger was young and handsome, dressed with a scrupulousness and +elegance which even the stress of travel had not deranged, and he +was looking at her with a smile of recognition, mingled with that +careless audacity and self-possession which seemed to be the +characteristic of his face. + +"Jack Hamlin!" she gasped. + +"That's me, all the time," he responded easily, "and YOU'RE Nell +Montgomery!" + +"How did you know I was here? Who told you?" she said impetuously. + +"Nobody! never was so surprised in my life! When you opened that +door just now you might have knocked me down with a feather." Yet +he spoke lazily, with an amused face, and looked at her without +changing his position. + +"But you MUST have known SOMETHING! It was no mere accident," she +went on vehemently, glancing around the room. + +"That's where you slip up, Nell," said Hamlin imperturbably. "It +WAS an accident and a bad one. My horse lamed himself coming down +the grade. I sighted the nearest shanty, where I thought I might +get another horse. It happened to be this." For the first time he +changed his attitude, and leaned back contemplatively in his chair. + +She came towards him quickly. "You didn't use to lie, Jack," she +said hesitatingly. + +"Couldn't afford it in my business,--and can't now," said Jack +cheerfully. "But," he added curiously, as if recognizing something +in his companion's agitation, and lifting his brown lashes to her, +the window, and the ceiling, "what's all this about? What's your +little game here?" + +"I'm married," she said, with nervous intensity,--"married, and +this is my husband's house!" + +"Not married straight out!--regularly fixed?" + +"Yes," she said hurriedly. + +"One of the boys? Don't remember any Rylands. SPELTER used to be +very sweet on you,--but Spelter mightn't have been his real name?" + +"None of our lot! No one you ever knew; a--a straight out, square +man," she said quickly. + +"I say, Nell, look here! You ought to have shown up your cards +without even a call. You ought to have told him that you danced at +the Casino." + +"I did." + +"Before he asked you to marry him?" + +"Before." + +Jack got up from his chair, put his hands in his pockets, and +looked at her curiously. This Nell Montgomery, this music-hall +"dance and song girl," this girl of whom so much had been SAID and +so little PROVED! Well, this was becoming interesting. + +"You don't understand," she said, with nervous feverishness; "you +remember after that row I had with Jim, that night the manager gave +us a supper,--when he treated me like a dog?" + +"He did that," interrupted Jack. + +"I felt fit for anything," she said, with a half-hysterical laugh, +that seemed voiced, however, to check some slumbering memory. "I'd +have cut my throat or his, it didn't matter which"-- + +"It mattered something to us, Nell," put in Jack again, with polite +parenthesis; "don't leave US out in the cold." + +"I started from 'Frisco that night on the boat ready to fling +myself into anything--or the river!" she went on hurriedly. "There +was a man in the cabin who noticed me, and began to hang around. I +thought he knew who I was,--had seen me on the posters; and as I +didn't feel like foolin', I told him so. But he wasn't that kind. +He said he saw I was in trouble and wanted me to tell him all." + +Mr. Hamlin regarded her cheerfully. "And you told him," he said, +"how you had once run away from your childhood's happy home to go +on the stage! How you always regretted it, and would have gone +back but that the doors were shut forever against you! How you +longed to leave, but the wicked men and women around you always"-- + +"I didn't!" she burst out, with sudden passion; "you know I didn't. +I told him everything: who I was, what I had done, what I expected +to do again. I pointed out the men--who were sitting there, +whispering and grinning at us, as if they were in the front row of +the theatre--and said I knew them all, and they knew me. I never +spared myself a thing. I said what people said of me, and didn't +even care to say it wasn't true!" + +"Oh, come!" protested Jack, in perfunctory politeness. + +"He said he liked me for telling the truth, and not being ashamed +to do it! He said the sin was in the false shame and the hypocrisy; +for that's the sort of man he is, you see, and that's like him +always! He asked if I would marry him--out of hand--and do my best +to be his lawful wife. He said he wanted me to think it over and +sleep on it, and to-morrow he would come and see me for an answer. +I slipped off the boat at 'Frisco, and went alone to a hotel where I +wasn't known. In the morning I didn't know whether he'd keep his +word or I'd keep mine. But he came! He said he'd marry me that +very day, and take me to his farm in Santa Clara. I agreed. I +thought it would take me out of everybody's knowledge, and they'd +think me dead! We were married that day, before a regular +clergyman. I was married under my own name,"--she stopped and +looked at Jack, with a hysterical laugh,--"but he made me write +underneath it, 'known as Nell Montgomery;' for he said HE wasn't +ashamed of it, nor should I be." + +"Does he wear long hair and stick straws in it?" said Hamlin +gravely. "Does he 'hear voices' and have 'visions'?" + +"He's a shrewd, sensible, hard-working man,--no more mad than you +are, nor as mad as I was the day I married him. He's lived up to +everything he's said." She stopped, hesitated in her quick, +nervous speech; her lip quivered slightly, but she recalled +herself, and looking imploringly, yet hopelessly, at Jack, gasped, +"And that's what's the matter!" + +Jack fixed his eyes keenly upon her. "And you?" he said curtly. + +"I?" she repeated wonderingly. + +"Yes, what have YOU done?" he said, with sudden sharpness. + +The wonder was so apparent in her eyes that his keen glance +softened. "Why," she said bewilderingly, "I have been his dog, his +slave,--as far as he would let me. I have done everything; I have +not been out of the house until he almost drove me out. I have +never wanted to go anywhere or see any one; but he has always +insisted upon it. I would have been willing to slave here, day and +night, and have been happy. But he said I must not seem to be +ashamed of my past, when he is not. I would have worn common +homespun clothes and calico frocks, and been glad of it, but he +insists upon my wearing my best things, even my theatre things; and +as he can't afford to buy more, I wear these things I had. I know +they look beastly here, and that I'm a laughing-stock, and when I +go out I wear almost anything to try and hide them; but," her lip +quivered dangerously again, "he wants me to do it, and it pleases +him." + +Jack looked down. After a pause he lifted his lashes towards her +draggled skirt, and said in an easier, conversational tone, "Yes! +I thought I knew that dress. I gave it to you for that walking +scene in 'High Life,' didn't I?" + +"No," she said quickly, "it was the blue one with silver trimming,-- +don't you remember? I tried to turn it the first year I was +married, but it never looked the same." + +"It was sweetly pretty," said Jack encouragingly, "and with that +blue hat lined with silver, it was just fetching! Somehow I don't +quite remember this one," and he looked at it critically. + +"I had it at the races in '58, and that supper Judge Boompointer +gave us at 'Frisco where Colonel Fish upset the table trying to get +at Jim. Do you know," she said, with a little laugh, "it's got the +stains of the champagne on it yet; it never would come off. See!" +and she held the candle with great animation to the breadth of silk +before her. + +"And there's more of it on the sleeve," said Jack; "isn't there?" + +Mrs. Rylands looked reproachfully at Jack. + +"That isn't champagne; don't you know what it is?" + +"No!" + +"It's blood," she said gravely; "when that Mexican cut poor Ned so +bad,--don't you remember? I held his head upon my arm while you +bandaged him." She heaved a little sigh, and then added, with a +faint laugh, "That's the worst thing about the clothes of a girl in +the profession, they get spoiled or stained before they wear out." + +This large truth did not seem to impress Mr. Hamlin. "Why did you +leave Santa Clara?" he said abruptly, in his previous critical +tone. + +"Because of the folks there. They were standoffish and ugly. You +see, Josh"-- + +"Who?" + +"Josh Rylands!--HIM! He told everybody who I was, even those who +had never seen me in the bills,--how good I was to marry him, how +he had faith in me and wasn't ashamed,--until they didn't believe +we were married at all. So they looked another way when they met +us, and didn't call. And all the while I was glad they didn't, but +he wouldn't believe it, and allowed I was pining on account of it." + +"And were you?" + +"I swear to God, Jack, I'd have been content, and more, to have +been just there with him, seein' nobody, letting every one believe +I was dead and gone, but he said it was wrong, and weak! Maybe it +was," she added, with a shy, interrogating look at Jack, of which, +however, he took no notice. "Then when he found they wouldn't +call, what do you think he did?" + +"Beat you, perhaps," suggested Jack cheerfully. + +"He never did a thing to me that wasn't straight out, square, and +kind," she said, half indignantly, half hopelessly. "He thought if +HIS kind of people wouldn't see me, I might like to see my own +sort. So without saying anything to me, he brought down, of all +things! Tinkie Clifford, she that used to dance in the cheap +variety shows at 'Frisco, and her particular friend, Captain Sykes. +It would have just killed you, Jack," she said, with a sudden +hysteric burst of laughter, "to have seen Josh, in his square, +straight-out way, trying to be civil and help things along. But," +she went on, as suddenly relapsing into her former attitude of +worried appeal, "I couldn't stand it, and when she got to talking +free and easy before Josh, and Captain Sykes to guzzling champagne, +she and me had a row. She allowed I was putting on airs, and I +made her walk, in spite of Josh." + +"And Josh seemed to like it," said Hamlin carelessly. "Has he seen +her since?" + +"No; I reckon he's cured of asking that kind of company for me. +And then we came here. But I persuaded him not to begin by going +round telling people who I was,--as he did the last time,--but to +leave it to folks to find out if they wanted to, and he gave in. +Then he let me fix up this house and furnish it my own way, and I +did!" + +"Do you mean to say that YOU fixed up that family vault of a +sitting-room?" said Jack, in horror. + +"Yes, I didn't want any fancy furniture or looking-glasses, and +such like, to attract folks, nor anything to look like the old +times. I don't think any of the boys would care to come here. And +I got rid of a lot of sporting travelers, 'wild-cat' managers, and +that kind of tramp in this way. But"-- She hesitated, and her +face fell again. + +"But what?" said Jack. + +"I don't think that Josh likes it either. He brought home the +other day 'My Johnny is a Shoemakiyure,' and wanted me to try it on +the organ. But it reminded me how we used to get just sick of +singing it on and off the boards, and I couldn't touch it. He +wanted me to go to the circus that was touring over at the cross +roads, but it was the old Flanigin's circus, you know, the one +Gussie Riggs used to ride in, with its old clown and its old +ringmaster and the old 'wheezes,' and I chucked it." + +"Look here," said Jack, rising and surveying Mrs. Rylands +critically. "If you go on at this gait, I'll tell you what that +man of yours will do. He'll bolt with some of your old friends!" + +She turned a quick, scared face upon him for an instant. But only +for an instant. Her hysteric little laugh returned, at once, +followed by her weary, worried look. "No, Jack, you don't know +him! If it was only that! He cares only for me in his own way,-- +and," she stammered as she went on, "I've no luck in making him +happy." + +She stopped. The wind shook the house and fired a volley of rain +against the windows. She took advantage of it to draw a torn lace- +edged handkerchief from her pocket behind, and keeping the tail of +her eyes in a frightened fashion on Jack, applied the handkerchief +furtively, first to her nose, and then to her eyes. + +"Don't do that," said Jack fastidiously, "it's wet enough outside." +Nevertheless, he stood up and gazed at her. + +"Well," he began. + +She timidly drew nearer to him, and took a seat on the kitchen +table, looking up wistfully into his eyes. + +"Well," resumed Jack argumentatively, "if he won't 'chuck' you, why +don't you 'chuck' HIM?" + +She turned quite white, and suddenly dropped her eyes. "Yes," she +said, almost inaudibly, "lots of girls would do that." + +"I don't mean go back to your old life," continued Jack. "I reckon +you've had enough of that. But get into some business, you know, +like other women. A bonnet shop, or a candy shop for children, +see? I'll help start you. I've got a couple of hundred, if not in +my own pocket in somebody's else, just burning to be used! And +then you can look about you; and perhaps some square business man +will turn up and you can marry him. You know you can't live this +way, nohow. It's killing you; it ain't fair on you, nor on Rylands +either." + +"No," she said quickly, "it ain't fair on HIM. I know it, I know +it isn't, I know it isn't," she repeated, "only"-- She stopped. + +"Only what?" said Jack impatiently. + +She did not speak. After a pause she picked up the rolling-pin +from the table and began absently rolling it down her lap to her +knee, as if pressing out the stained silk skirt. "Only," she +stammered, slowly rolling the pin handles in her open palms, "I--I +can't leave Josh." + +"Why can't you?" said Jack quickly. + +"Because--because--I," she went on, with a quivering lip, working +the rolling-pin heavily down her knee as if she were crushing her +answer out of it,--"because--I--love him!" + +There was a pause, a dash of rain against the window, and another +dash from her eyes upon her hands, the rolling-pin, and the skirts +she had gathered up hastily, as she cried, "O Jack! Jack! I never +loved anybody like him! I never knew what love was! I never knew +a man like him before! There never WAS one before!" + +To this large, comprehensive, and passionate statement Mr. Jack +Hamlin made no reply. An audacity so supreme had conquered his. +He walked to the window, looked out upon the dark, rain-filmed pane +that, however, reflected no equal change in his own dark eyes, and +then returned and walked round the kitchen table. When he was at +her back, without looking at her, he reached out his hand, took her +passive one that lay on the table in his, grasped it heartily for a +single moment, laid it gently down, and returned around the table, +where he again confronted her cheerfully face to face. + +"You'll make the riffle yet," he said quietly. "Just now I don't +see what I could do, or where I could chip in your little game; but +if I DO, or you do, count me in and let me know. You know where to +write,--my old address at Sacramento." He walked to the corner, +took up his still wet serape, threw it over his shoulders, and +picked up his broad-brimmed riding-hat. + +"You're not going, Jack?" she said hesitatingly, as she rubbed her +wet eyes into a consciousness of his movements. "You'll wait to +see HIM? He'll be here in an hour." + +"I've been here too long already," said Jack. "And the less you +say about my calling, even accidentally, the better. Nobody will +believe it,--YOU didn't yourself. In fact, unless you see how I +can help you, the sooner you consider us all dead and buried, the +sooner your luck will change. Tell your girl I've found my own +horse so much better that I have pushed on with him, and give her +that." + +He threw a gold coin on the table. + +"But your horse is still lame," she said wonderingly. "What will +you do in this storm?" + +"Get into the cover of the next wood and camp out. I've done it +before." + +"But, Jack!" + +He suddenly made a slight gesture of warning. His quick ear had +caught the approach of footsteps along the wet gravel outside. A +mischievous light slid into his dark eyes as he coolly moved +backward to the door and, holding it open, said, in a remarkably +clear and distinct voice:-- + +"Yes, as you say, society is becoming very mixed and frivolous +everywhere, and you'd scarcely know San Francisco now. So +delighted, however, to have made your acquaintance, and regret my +business prevents my waiting to see your good husband. So odd that +I should have known your Aunt Jemima! But, as you say, the world +is very small, after all. I shall tell the deacon how well you are +looking,--in spite of the kitchen smoke in your eyes. Good-by! A +thousand thanks for your hospitality." + +And Jack, bowing profoundly to the ground, backed out upon Jane, +the hired man, and the expressman, treading, I grieve to say, with +some deliberation upon the toes of the two latter, in order, +possibly, that in their momentary pain and discomposure they might +not scan too closely the face of this ingenious gentleman, as he +melted into the night and the storm. + +Jane entered, with a slight toss of her head. + +"Here's your expressman,--ef you're wantin' him NOW." + +Mrs. Rylands was too preoccupied to notice her handmaiden's +significant emphasis, as she indicated a fresh-looking, bashful +young fellow, whose confusion was evidently heightened by the +unexpected egress of Mr. Hamlin, and the point-blank presence of +the handsome Mrs. Rylands. + +"Oh, certainly," said Mrs. Rylands quickly. "So kind of him to +oblige us. Give him the order, Jane, please." + +She turned to escape from the kitchen and these new intruders, when +her eye fell upon the coin left by Mr. Hamlin. "The gentleman +wished you to take that for your trouble, Jane," she said hastily, +pointing to it, and passed out. + +Jane cast a withering look after her retreating skirts, and picking +the coin from the table, turned to the hired man. "Run to the +stable after that dandified young feller, Dick, and hand that back +to him. Ye kin say that Jane Mackinnon don't run arrants fur +money, nor play gooseberry to other folks fur fun." + + +PART II + + +Mr. Joshua Rylands had, according to the vocabulary of his class, +"found grace" at the age of sixteen, while still in the spiritual +state of "original sin" and the political one of Missouri. He had +not indeed found it by persistent youthful seeking or spiritual +insight, but somewhat violently and turbulently at a camp-meeting. +A village boy, naturally gentle and impressible, with an original +character,--limited, however, in education and experience,--he had, +after his first rustic debauch with some vulgar companions, fallen +upon the camp-meeting in reckless audacity; and instead of being +handed over to the district constable, was taken in and placed upon +"the anxious bench," "rastled with," and exhorted by a strong +revivalist preacher, "convicted of sin," and--converted! It is +doubtful if the shame of a public arrest and legal punishment would +have impressed his youthful spirit as much as did this spiritual +examination and trial, in which he himself became accuser. +Howbeit, its effect, though punitive, was also exemplary. He at +once cast off his evil companions; remaining faithful to his +conversion, in spite of their later "backslidings." When, after +the Western fashion, the time came for him to forsake his father's +farm and seek a new "quarter section" on some more remote frontier, +he carried into that secluded, lonely, half-monkish celibacy of +pioneer life--which has been the foundation of so much strong +Western character--more than the usual religious feeling. At once +industrious and adventurous, he lived by "the Word," as he called +it, and Nature as he knew it,--tempted by none of the vices or +sentiments of civilization. When he finally joined the Californian +emigration, it was not as a gold-seeker, but as a discoverer of new +agricultural fields; if the hardship was as great and the rewards +fewer, he nevertheless knew that he retained his safer isolation +and independence of spirit. Vice and civilization were to him +synonymous terms; it was the natural condition of the worldly and +unregenerate. Such was the man who chanced to meet "Nell +Montgomery, the Pearl of the Variety Stage," on the Sacramento +boat, in one of his forced visits to civilization. Without knowing +her in her profession, her frank exposition of herself did not +startle him; he recognized it, accepted it, and strove to convert +it. And as long as this daughter of Folly forsook her evil ways +for him, it was a triumph in which there was no shame, and might be +proclaimed from the housetop. When his neighbors thought +differently, and avoided them, he saw no inconsistency in bringing +his wife's old friends to divert her: she might in time convert +THEM. He had no more fear of her returning to their ways than he +had of himself "backsliding." Narrow as was his creed, he had none +of the harshness nor pessimism of the bigot. With the keenest +self-scrutiny, his credulity regarding others was touching. + +The storm was still raging when he alighted that evening from the +up coach at the trail nearest his house. Although incumbered with +a heavy carpet-bag, he started resignedly on his two-mile tramp +without begrudging the neighborly act of his wife which had +deprived him of his horse. It was "like her" to do these things in +her good-humored abstraction, an abstraction, however, that +sometimes worried him, from the fear that it indicated some +unhappiness with her present lot. He was longing to rejoin her +after his absence of three days, the longest time they had been +separated since their marriage, and he hurried on with a certain +lover-like excitement, quite new to his usually calm and temperate +blood. + +Struggling with the storm and darkness, but always with the happy +consciousness of drawing nearer to her in that struggle, he labored +on, finding his perilous way over the indistinguishable trail by +certain landmarks in the distance, visible only to his pioneer eye. +That heavier shadow to the right was not the hillside, but the +SLOPE to the distant hill; that low, regular line immediately +before him was not a fence or wall, but the line of distant +gigantic woods, a mile from his home. Yet as he began to descend +the slope towards the wood, he stopped and rubbed his eyes. There +was distinctly a light in it. His first idea was that he had lost +the trail and was nearing the woodman Mackinnon's cabin. But a +more careful scrutiny revealed to him that it was really the wood, +and the light was a camp-fire. It was a rough night for camping +out, but they were probably some belated prospectors. + +When he had reached the fringe of woodland, he could see quite +plainly that the fire was built beside one of the large pines, and +that the little encampment, which looked quite comfortable and +secluded from the storm-beaten trail, was occupied apparently by a +single figure. By the good glow of the leaping fire, that figure +standing erect before it, elegantly shaped, in the graceful folds +of a serape, looked singularly romantic and picturesque, and +reminded Joshua Rylands--whose ideas of art were purely reminiscent +of boyish reading--of some picture in a novel. The heavy black +columns of the pines, glancing out of the concave shadow, also +seemed a fitting background to what might have been a scene in a +play. So strongly was he impressed by it that but for his anxiety +to reach his home, still a mile distant, and the fact that he was +already late, he would have penetrated the wood and the seclusion +of the stranger with an offer of hospitality for the night. The +man, however, was evidently capable of taking care of himself, and +the outline of a tethered horse was faintly visible under another +tree. It might be a surveyor or engineer,--the only men of a +better class who were itinerant. + +But another and even greater surprise greeted him as he toiled up +the rocky slope towards his farmhouse. The windows of the sitting- +room, which were usually blank and black by night, were glittering +with unfamiliar light. Like most farmers, he seldom used the room +except for formal company, his wife usually avoiding it, and even +he himself now preferred the dining-room or the kitchen. His first +suggestion that his wife had visitors gave him a sense of pleasure +on her account, mingled, however, with a slight uneasiness of his +own which he could not account for. More than that, as he +approached nearer he could hear the swell of the organ above the +roar of the swaying pines, and the cadences were not of a +devotional character. He hesitated for a moment, as he had +hesitated at the fire in the woods; yet it was surely his own +house! He hurried to the door, opened it; not only the light of +the sitting-room streamed into the hall, but the ruddier glow of an +actual fire in the disused grate! The familiar dark furniture had +been rearranged to catch some of the glow and relieve its +sombreness. And his wife, rising from the music-stool, was the +room's only occupant! + +Mrs. Rylands gazed anxiously and timidly at her husband's +astonished face, as he threw off his waterproof and laid down his +carpet-bag. Her own face was a little flurried with excitement, +and his, half hidden in his tawny beard, and, possibly owing to his +self-introspective nature, never spontaneously sympathetic, still +expressed only wonder! Mrs. Rylands was a little frightened. It +is sometimes dangerous to meddle with a man's habits, even when he +has grown weary of them. + +"I thought," she began hesitatingly, "that it would be more +cheerful for you in here, this stormy evening. I thought you might +like to put your wet things to dry in the kitchen, and we could sit +here together, after supper, alone." + +I am afraid that Mrs. Rylands did not offer all her thoughts. Ever +since Mr. Hamlin's departure she had been uneasy and excited, +sometimes falling into fits of dejection, and again lighting up +into hysterical levity; at other times carefully examining her +wardrobe, and then with a sudden impulse rushing downstairs again +to give orders for her husband's supper, and to make the +extraordinary changes in the sitting-room already noted. Only a +few moments before he arrived, she had covertly brought down a +piece of music, and put aside the hymn-books, and taken, with a +little laugh, a pack of cards from her pocket, which she placed +behind the already dismantled vase on the chimney. + +"I reckoned you had company, Ellen," he said gravely, kissing her. + +"No," she said quickly. "That is," she stopped with a sudden surge +of color in her face that startled her, "there was--a man--here, in +the kitchen--who had a lame horse, and who wanted to get a fresh +one. But he went away an hour ago. And he wasn't in this room--at +least, after it was fixed up. So I've had no company." + +She felt herself again blushing at having blushed, and a little +terrified. There was no reason for it. But for Jack's warning, +she would have been quite ready to tell her husband all. She had +never blushed before him over her past life; why she should now +blush over seeing Jack, of all people! made her utter a little +hysterical laugh. I am afraid that this experienced little woman +took it for granted that her husband knew that if Jack or any man +had been there as a clandestine lover, she would not have blushed +at all. Yet with all her experience, she did not know that she had +blushed simply because it was to Jack that she had confessed that +she loved the man before her. Her husband noted the blush as part +of her general excitement. He permitted her to drag him into the +room and seat him before the hearth, where she sank down on one +knee to pull off his heavy rubber boots. But he waved her aside at +this, pulled them off with his own hands, and let her take them to +the kitchen and bring back his slippers. By this time a smile had +lighted up his hard face. The room was certainly more comfortable +and cheerful. Still he was a little worried; was there not in +these changes a falling away from the grace of self-abnegation +which she had so sedulously practiced? + +When supper was served by Jane, in the dull dining-room, Mr. +Rylands, had he not been more engaged in these late domestic +changes, might have noticed that the Missouri girl waited upon him +with a certain commiserating air that was remarkable by its +contrast with the frigid ceremonious politeness with which she +attended her mistress. It had not escaped Mrs. Rylands, however, +who ever since Jack's abrupt departure had noticed this change in +the girl's demeanor to herself, and with a woman's intuitive +insight of another woman, had fathomed it. The comfortable tete-a- +tete with Jack, which Jane had looked forward to, Mrs. Rylands had +anticipated herself, and then sent him off! When Joshua thanked +his wife for remembering the pepper-sauce, and Mrs. Rylands +pathetically admitted her forgetfulness, the head-toss which Jane +gave as she left the room was too marked to be overlooked by him. +Mrs. Rylands gave a hysterical little laugh. "I am afraid Jane +doesn't like my sending away the expressman just after I had also +dismissed the stranger whom she had taken a fancy to, and left her +without company," she said unwisely. + +Mr. Rylands did not laugh. "I reckon," he returned slowly, "that +Jane must feel kinder lonely; she bears all the burden of our bein' +outer the world, without any of our glory in the cause of it." + +Nevertheless, when supper was over, and the pair were seated in the +sitting-room before the fire, this episode was forgotten. Mrs. +Rylands produced her husband's pipe and tobacco-pouch. He looked +around the formal walls and hesitated. He had been in the habit of +smoking in the kitchen. + +"Why not here?" said Mrs. Rylands, with a sudden little note of +decision. "Why should we keep this room only for company that +don't come? I call it silly." + +This struck Mr. Rylands as logical. Besides, undoubtedly the fire +had mellowed the room. After a puff or two he looked at his wife +musingly. "Couldn't you make yourself one of them cigarettys, as +they call 'em? Here's the tobacco, and I'll get you the paper." + +"I COULD," she said tentatively. Then suddenly, "What made you +think of it? You never saw ME smoke!" + +"No," said Rylands, "but that lady, your old friend, Miss Clifford, +does, and I thought you might be hankering after it." + +"How do you know Tinkie Clifford smokes?" said Mrs. Rylands quickly. + +"She lit a cigaretty that day she called." + +"I hate it," said Mrs. Rylands shortly. + +Mr. Rylands nodded approval, and puffed meditatively. + +"Josh, have you seen that girl since?" + +"No," said Joshua. + +"Nor any other girl like her?" + +"No," said Joshua wonderingly. "You see I only got to know her on +your account, Ellen, that she might see you." + +"Well, don't you do it any more! None of 'em! Promise me!" She +leaned forward eagerly in her chair. + +"But Ellen,"--her husband began gravely. + +"I know what you're going to say, but they can't do me any good, +and you can't do them any good as you did ME, so there!" + +Mr. Rylands was silent, and smiled meditatively. + +"Josh!" + +"Yes." + +"When you met me that night on the Sacramento boat, and looked at +me, did you--did I," she hesitated,--"did you look at me because I +had been crying?" + +"I thought you were troubled in spirit, and looked so." + +"I suppose I looked worried, of course; I had no time to change or +even fix my hair; I had on that green dress, and it NEVER was +becoming. And you only spoke to me on account of my awful looks?" + +"I saw only your wrestling soul, Ellen, and I thought you needed +comfort and help." + +She was silent for a moment, and then, leaning forward, picked up +the poker and began to thrust it absently between the bars. + +"And if it had been some other girl crying and looking awful, you'd +have spoken to her all the same?" + +This was a new idea to Mr. Rylands, but with most men logic is +supreme. "I suppose I would," he said slowly. + +"And married her?" She rattled the bars of the grate with the +poker as if to drown the inevitable reply. + +Mr. Rylands loved the woman before him, but it pleased him to think +that he loved truth better. "If it had been necessary to her +salvation, yes," he said. + +"Not Tinkie?" she said suddenly. + +"SHE never would have been in your contrite condition." + +"Much you know! Girls like that can cry as well as laugh, just as +they want to. Well! I suppose I DID look horrid." Nevertheless, +she seemed to gain some gratification from her husband's reply, and +changed the subject as if fearful of losing that satisfaction by +further questioning. + +"I tried some of those songs you brought, but I don't think they go +well with the harmonium," she said, pointing to some music on its +rack, "except one. Just listen." She rose, and with the same +nervous quickness she had shown before, went to the instrument and +began to sing and play. There was a hopeless incongruity between +the character of the instrument and the spirit of the song. Mrs. +Rylands's voice was rather forced and crudely trained, but Joshua +Rylands, sitting there comfortably slippered by the fire and +conscious of the sheeted rain against the window, felt it good. +Presently he arose, and lounging heavily over to the fair +performer, leaned down and imprinted a kiss on the labyrinthine +fringes of her hair. At which Mrs. Rylands caught blindly at his +hand nearest her, and without lifting her other hand from the keys, +or her eyes from the music, said tentatively:-- + +"You know there's a chorus just here! Why can't you try it with +me?" + +Mr. Rylands hesitated a moment, then, with a preliminary cough, +lifted a voice as crude as hers, but powerful through much camp- +meeting exercise, and roared a chorus which was remarkable chiefly +for requiring that archness and playfulness in execution which he +lacked. As the whole house seemed to dilate with the sound, and +the wind outside to withhold its fury, Mr. Rylands felt that +physical delight which children feel in personal outcry, and was +grateful to his wife for the opportunity. Laying his hand +affectionately on her shoulder, he noticed for the first time that +she was in a kind of evening-dress, and that her delicate white +shoulder shone through the black lace that enveloped it. + +For an instant Mr. Rylands was shocked at this unwonted exposure. +He had never seen his wife in evening-dress before. It was true +they were alone, and in their own sitting-room, but the room was +still invested with that formality and publicity which seemed to +accent this indiscretion. The simple-minded frontier man's mind +went back to Jane, to the hired man, to the expressman, the +stranger, all of whom might have noticed it also. + +"You have a new dress," he said slowly, "have you worn it all day?" + +"No," she said, with a timid smile. "I only put it on just before +you came. It's the one I used to wear in the ballroom scene in +'Gay Times in 'Frisco.' You don't know it, I know. I thought I +would wear it tonight, and then," she suddenly grasped his hand, +"you'll let me put all these things away forever! Won't you, Josh? +I've seen such nice pretty calico at the store to-day, and I can +make up one or two home dresses, like Jane's, only better fitting, +of course. In fact, I asked them to send the roll up here to- +morrow for you to see." + +Mr. Rylands felt relieved. Perhaps his views had changed about the +moral effect of her retaining these symbols of her past, for he +consented to the calico dresses, not, however, without an inward +suspicion that she would not look so well in them, and that the one +she had on was more becoming. + +Meantime she tried another piece of music. It was equally +incongruous and slightly Bacchantic. + +"There used to be a mighty pretty dance went to that," she said, +nodding her head in time with the music, and assisting the heavily +spasmodic attempts of the instrument with the pleasant levity of +her voice. "I used to do it." + +"Ye might try it now, Ellen," suggested her husband, with a half- +frightened, half-amused tolerance. + +"YOU play, then," said Mrs. Rylands quickly, offering her seat to +him. + +Mr. Rylands sat down to the harmonium, as Mrs. Rylands briskly +moved the table and chairs against the wall. Mr. Rylands played +slowly and strenuously, as from a conscientious regard of the +instrument. Mrs. Rylands stood in the centre of the floor, making +a rather pretty, animated picture, as she again stimulated the +heavy harmonium swell not only with her voice but her hands and +feet. Presently she began to skip. + +I should warn the reader here that this was before the "shawl" or +"skirt" dancing was in vogue, and I am afraid that pretty Mrs. +Rylands's performances would now be voted slow. Her silk skirt and +frilled petticoat were lifted just over her small ankles and tiny +bronze-kid shoes. In the course of a pirouette or two, there was a +slight further revelation of blue silk stockings and some delicate +embroidery, but really nothing more than may be seen in the sweep +of a modern waltz. Suddenly the music ceased. Mr. Rylands had +left the harmonium and walked over to the hearth. Mrs. Rylands +stopped, and came towards him with a flushed, anxious face. + +"It don't seem to go right, does it?" she said, with her nervous +laugh. "I suppose I'm getting too old now, and I don't quite +remember it." + +"Better forget it altogether," he replied gravely. He stopped at +seeing a singular change in her face, and added awkwardly, "When I +told you I didn't want you to be ashamed of your past, nor to try +to forget what you were, I didn't mean such things as that!" + +"What did you mean?" she said timidly. + +The truth was that Mr. Rylands did not know. He had known this +sort of thing only in the abstract. He had never had the least +acquaintance with the class to which his wife had belonged, nor +known anything of their methods. It was a revelation to him now, +in the woman he loved, and who was his wife. He was not shocked so +much as he was frightened. + +"You shall have the dress to-morrow, Ellen," he said gently, "and +you can put away these gewgaws. You don't need to look like Tinkie +Clifford." + +He did not see the look of triumph that lit up her eye, but added, +"Go on and play." + +She sat down obediently to the instrument. He watched her for a +few moments from the toe of her kid slipper on the pedals to the +swell of her shoulders above the keyboard, with a strange, +abstracted face. Presently she stopped and came over to him. + +"And when I've got these nice calico frocks, and you can't tell me +from Jane, and I'm a good housekeeper, and settle down to be a +farmer's wife, maybe I'll have a secret to tell you." + +"A secret?" he repeated gravely. "Why not now?" + +Her face was quite aglow with excitement and a certain timid +mischief as she laughed: "Not while you are so solemn. It can +wait." + +He looked at his watch. "I must give some orders to Jim about the +stock before he turns in," he said. + +"He's gone to the stables already," said Mrs. Rylands. + +"No matter; I can go there and find him." + +"Shall I bring your boots?" she said quickly. + +"I'll put them on when I pass through the kitchen. I won't be long +away. Now go to bed. You are looking tired," he said gently, as +he gazed at the drawn lines about her eyes and mouth. Her former +pretty color struck him also as having changed of late, and as +being irregular and inharmonious. + +As Mrs. Rylands obediently ascended the stairs she heaved a faint +sigh, her only recognition of her husband's criticism. He turned +and passed quickly into the kitchen. He wanted to be alone to +collect his thoughts. But he was surprised to find Jane still +there, sitting bolt upright in a chair in the corner. Apparently +she had been expecting him, for as he entered she stood up, and +wiped her cheek and mouth with one hand, as if to compress her lips +the more tightly. + +"I reckoned," she began, "that unless you war for forgettin' +everythin' in these yer goings on, ye'd be passin' through here to +tend to your stock. I've got a word to say to ye, Mr. Rylands. +When I first kem over here to help, I got word from the folks +around that your wife afore you married her was just one o' them +bally dancers. Well, that was YOUR lookout, not mine! Jane +Mackinnon ain't the kind to take everybody's sayin' as gospil, but +she kalkilates to treat folks ez she finds 'em. When she finds 'em +lyin' and deceivin'; when she finds em purtendin' one thing and +doin' another; when she finds 'em makin' fools tumble to 'em; +playing soots on their own husbands, and turnin' an honest house +into a music-hall and a fandango shop, she kicks! You hear me! +Jane Mackinnon kicks!" + +"What do you mean?" said Mr. Rylands sternly. + +"I mean," said Miss Mackinnon, striking her hips with the back of +her hands smartly, and accenting each word that dropped like a +bullet from her mouth with an additional blow,--"I--mean--that-- +your--wife--had--one--of--her--old--hangers-on--from--'Frisco-- +here--in--this--very--kitchen--all--the--arternoon; there! I mean +that whiles she was waitin' here for you, she was canoodlin' and +cryin' over old times with him! I saw her myself through the +winder. That's what I mean, Mr. Joshua Rylands." + +"It's false! She had some poor stranger here with a lame horse. +She told me so herself." + +Jane Mackinnon laughed shrilly. + +"Did she tell you that the poor stranger was young and pretty- +faced, with black moustarches? that his store clothes must have +cost a fortin, saying nothing of his gold-lined, broadcloth +sarrapper? Did she say that his horse was so lame that when I went +to get another he wouldn't WAIT for it? Did she tell you WHO he +was?" + +"No, she did not know," said Rylands sternly, but with a whitening +face. + +"Well, I'll tell you! The gambler, the shooter!--the man whose +name is black enough to stain any woman he knows. Jim recognized +him like a shot; he sez, the moment he clapped eyes on him at the +door, 'Dod blasted, if it ain't Jack Hamlin!'" + +Little as Mr. Rylands knew of the world, he had heard that name. +But it was not THAT he was thinking of. He was thinking of the +camp-fire in the wood, the handsome figure before it, the tethered +horse. He was thinking of the lighted sitting-room, the fire, his +wife's bare shoulders, her slippers, stockings, and the dance. He +saw it all,--a lightning-flash to his dull imagination. The room +seemed to expand and then grow smaller, the figure of Jane to sway +backwards and forwards before him. He murmured the name of God +with lips that were voiceless, caught at the kitchen table to +steady himself, held it till he felt his arms grow rigid, and then +recovered himself,--white, cold, and sane. + +"Speak a word of this to HER," he said deliberately, "enter her +room while I'm gone, even leave the kitchen before I come back, and +I'll throw you into the road. Tell that hired man, if he dares to +breathe it to a soul I'll strangle him." + +The unlooked-for rage of this quiet, God-fearing man, and dupe, as +she believed, was terrible, but convincing. She shrank back into +the corner as he coolly drew on his boots and waterproof, and +without another word left the house. + +He knew what he was going to do as well as if it had been ordained +for him. He knew he would find the young man in the wood; for +whatever were the truth of the other stories, he and the visitor +were identical; he had seen him with his own eyes. He would +confront him face to face and know all; and until then, he could +not see his wife again. He walked on rapidly, but without +feverishness or mental confusion. He saw his duty plainly,--if +Ellen had "backslidden," he must give her another trial. These +were his articles of faith. He should not put her away; but she +should nevermore be wife to him. It was HE who had tempted her, it +was true; perhaps God would forgive her for that reason, but HE +could never love her again. + +The fury of the storm had somewhat abated as he reached the wood. +The fire was still there, but no longer a leaping flame. A dull +glow in the darkness of the forest aisles was all that indicated +its position. Rylands at once plunged in that direction; he was +near enough to see the red embers when he heard a sharp click, and +a voice called:-- + +"Hold up!" + +Mr. Hamlin was a light sleeper. The crackle of underbrush had been +enough to disturb him. The voice was his; the click was the +cocking of his revolver. + +Rylands was no coward, but halted diplomatically. + +"Now, then," said Mr. Hamlin's voice, "a little more this way, IN +THE LIGHT, if you please!" + +Rylands moved as directed, and saw Mr. Hamlin lying before the +fire, resting easily on one hand, with his revolver in the other. + +"Thank you!" said Jack. "Excuse my precautions, but it is night, +and this is, for the present, my bedroom." + +"My name is Rylands; you called at my house this afternoon and saw +my wife," said Rylands slowly. + +"I did," said Hamlin. "It was mighty kind of you to return my call +so soon, but I didn't expect it." + +"I reckon not. But I know who you are, and that you are an old +associate of hers, in the days of her sin and unregeneration. I +want you to answer me, before God and man, what was your purpose in +coming there to-day?" + +"Look here! I don't think it's necessary to drag in strangers to +hear my answer," said Jack, lying down again, "but I came to borrow +a horse." + +"Is that the truth?" + +Jack got upon his feet very solemnly, put on his hat, drew down his +waistcoat, and approached Mr. Rylands with his hands in his pockets. + +"Mr. Rylands," he said, with great suavity of manner, "this is the +second time today that I have had the honor of having my word +doubted by your family. Your wife was good enough to question my +assertion that I didn't know that she was living here, but that was +a woman's vanity. You have no such excuse. There is my horse +yonder, lame, as you may see. I didn't lame him for the sake of +seeing your wife nor you." + +There was that in Mr. Hamlin's audacity and perfect self-possession +which, even while it irritated, never suggested deceit. He was too +reckless of consequence to lie. Mr. Rylands was staggered and half +convinced. Nevertheless, he hesitated. + +"Dare you tell me everything that happened between my wife and you?" + +"Dare you listen?" said Mr. Hamlin quietly. + +Mr. Rylands turned a little white. After a moment he said:-- + +"Yes." + +"Good!" said Mr. Hamlin. "I like your grit, though I don't mind +telling you it's the ONLY thing I like about you. Sit down. Well, +I haven't seen Nell Montgomery for three years until I met her as +your wife, at your house. She was surprised as I was, and +frightened as I wasn't. She spent the whole interview in telling +me the history of her marriage and her life with you, and nothing +more. I cannot say that it was remarkably entertaining, or that +she was as amusing as your wife as she was as Nell Montgomery, the +variety actress. When she had finished, I came away." + +Mr. Rylands, who had seated himself, made a movement as if to rise. +But Mr. Hamlin laid his hand on his knee. + +"I asked you if you dared to listen. I have something myself to +say of that interview. I found your wife wearing the old dresses +that other men had given her, and she said she wore them because +she thought it pleased you. I found that you, who are questioning +my calling upon her, had already got the worst of her old chums to +visit her without asking her consent; I found that instead of being +the first one to lie for her and hide her, you were the first one +to tell anybody her history, just because you thought it was to the +glory of God generally, and of Joshua Rylands in particular." + +"A man's motives are his own," stammered Rylands. + +"Sorry you didn't see it when you questioned mine just now," said +Jack coolly. + +"Then she complained to you?" said Rylands hesitatingly. + +"I didn't say that," said Jack shortly. + +"But you found her unhappy?" + +"Damnably." + +"And you advised her"--said Rylands tentatively. + +"I advised her to chuck you and try to get a better husband." He +paused, and then added, with a disgusted laugh, "but she didn't +tumble to it, for a d----d silly reason." + +"What reason?" said Rylands hurriedly. + +"Said she LOVED you," returned Jack, kicking a brand back into the +fire. Mr. Rylands's white cheeks flamed out suddenly like the +brand. Seeing which, Jack turned upon him deliberately. + +"Mr. Joshua Rylands, I've seen many fools in my time. I've seen +men holding four aces backed down because they thought they KNEW +the other man had a royal flush! I've seen a man sell his claim +for a wild-cat share, with the gold lying a foot below him in the +ground he walked on. I've seen a dead shot shoot wild because he +THOUGHT he saw something in the other man's eye. I've seen a heap +of God-forsaken fools, but I never saw one before who claimed God +as a pal. You've got a wife a d----d sight truer to you for what +you call her 'sin,' than you've ever been to her, with all your +d----d salvation! And as you couldn't make her otherwise, though +you've tried to hard enough, it seems to me that for square +downright chuckle-headedness, you can take the cake! Good-night! +Now, run away and play! You're making me tired." + +"One moment," said Mr. Rylands awkwardly and hurriedly. "I may +have wronged you; I was mistaken. Won't you come back with me and +accept my--our--hospitality?" + +"Not much," said Jack. "I left your house because I thought it +better for you and her that no one should know of my being there." + +"But you were already recognized," said Mr. Rylands. "It was Jane +who lied about you, and your return with me will confute her +slanders." + +"Who?" asked Jack. + +"Jane, our hired girl." + +Mr. Hamlin uttered an indescribable laugh. + +"That's just as well! You simply tell Jane you SAW me; that I was +greatly shocked at what she said, but that I forgive her. I don't +think she'll say any more." + + +Strange to add, Mr. Hamlin's surmise was correct. Mr. Rylands +found Jane still in the kitchen alone, terrified, remorseful, yet +ever after silent on the subject. Stranger still, the hired man +became equally uncommunicative. Mrs. Rylands, attributing her +husband's absence only to care of the stock, had gone to bed in a +feverish condition, and Mr. Rylands did not deem it prudent to tell +her of his interview. The next day she sent for the doctor, and it +was deemed necessary for her to keep her bed for a few days. Her +husband was singularly attentive and considerate during that time, +and it was probable that Mrs. Rylands seized that opportunity to +tell him the secret she spoke of the night before. Whatever it +was,--for it was not generally known for a few months later,--it +seemed to draw them closer together, imparted a protecting dignity +to Joshua Rylands, which took the place of his former selfish +austerity, gave them a future to talk of confidentially, hopefully, +and sometimes foolishly, which took the place of their more foolish +past, and when the roll of calico came from the cross roads, it +contained also a quantity of fine linen, laces, small caps, and +other trifles, somewhat in contrast to the more homely materials +ordered. + +And when three months were past, the sitting-room was often lit up +and made cheerful, particularly on that supreme occasion when, with +a great deal of enthusiasm, all the women of the countryside +flocked to see Mrs. Rylands and her first baby. And a more +considerate and devoted couple than the father and mother they had +never known. + + + +THE MAN AT THE SEMAPHORE + + +In the early days of the Californian immigration, on the extremest +point of the sandy peninsula, where the bay of San Francisco +debouches into the Pacific, there stood a semaphore telegraph. +Tossing its black arms against the sky,--with its back to the +Golden Gate and that vast expanse of sea whose nearest shore was +Japan,--it signified to another semaphore further inland the "rigs" +of incoming vessels, by certain uncouth signs, which were again +passed on to Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, where they reappeared +on a third semaphore, and read to the initiated "schooner," "brig" +"ship," or "steamer." But all homesick San Francisco had learned +the last sign, and on certain days of the month every eye was +turned to welcome those gaunt arms widely extended at right angles, +which meant "sidewheel steamer" (the only steamer which carried the +mails) and "letters from home." In the joyful reception accorded +to that herald of glad tidings, very few thought of the lonely +watcher on the sand dunes who dispatched them, or even knew of that +desolate Station. + +For desolate it was beyond description. The Presidio, with its +voiceless, dismounted cannon and empty embrasures hidden in a +hollow, and the Mission Dolores, with its crumbling walls and +belfry tower lost in another, made the ultima thule of all San +Francisco wandering. The Cliff house and Fort Point did not then +exist; from Black Point the curving line of shore of "Yerba Buena"-- +or San Francisco--showed only a stretch of glittering wind-swept +sand dunes, interspersed with straggling gullies of half-buried +black "scrub oak." The long six months' summer sun fiercely beat +upon it from the cloudless sky above; the long six months' trade +winds fiercely beat upon it from the west; the monotonous roll-call +of the long Pacific surges regularly beat upon it from the sea. +Almost impossible to face by day through sliding sands and +buffeting winds, at night it was impracticable through the dense +sea-fog that stole softly through the Golden Gate at sunset. +Thence, until morning, sea and shore were a trackless waste, +bounded only by the warning thunders of the unseen sea. The +station itself, a rudely built cabin, with two windows,--one +furnished with a telescope,--looked like a heap of driftwood, or a +stranded wreck left by the retiring sea; the semaphore--the only +object for leagues--lifted above the undulating dunes, took upon +itself various shapes, more or less gloomy, according to the hour +or weather,--a blasted tree, the masts and clinging spars of a +beached ship, a dismantled gallows; or, with the background of a +golden sunset across the Gate, and its arms extended at right +angles, to a more hopeful fancy it might have seemed the missionary +Cross, which the enthusiast Portala lifted on that heathen shore a +hundred years before. + +Not that Dick Jarman--the solitary station keeper--ever indulged +this fancy. An escaped convict from one of her Britannic Majesty's +penal colonies, a "stowaway" in the hold of an Australian ship, he +had landed penniless in San Francisco, fearful of contact with his +more honest countrymen already there, and liable to detection at +any moment. Luckily for him, the English immigration consisted +mainly of gold-seekers en route to Sacramento and the southern +mines. He was prudent enough to resist the temptation to follow +them, and accepted the post of semaphore keeper,--the first work +offered him,--which the meanest immigrant, filled with dreams of +gold, would have scorned. His employers asked him no questions, +and demanded no references; his post could be scarcely deemed one +of trust,--there was no property for him to abscond with but the +telescope; he was removed from temptation and evil company in his +lonely waste; his duties were as mechanical as the instrument he +worked, and interruption of them would be instantly known at San +Francisco. For this he would receive his board and lodging and +seventy-five dollars a month,--a sum to be ridiculed in those +"flush days," but which seemed to the broken-spirited and half- +famished stowaway a princely independence. + +And then there was rest and security! He was free from that +torturing anxiety and fear of detection which had haunted him night +and day for three months. The ceaseless vigilance and watchful +dread he had known since his escape, he could lay aside now. The +rude cabin on the sand dune was to him as the long-sought cave to +some hunted animal. It seemed impossible that any one would seek +him there. He was spared alike the contact of his enemies or the +shame of recognizing even a friendly face, until by each he would +be forgotten. From his coign of vantage on that desolate waste, +and with the aid of his telescope, no stranger could approach +within two or three miles of his cabin without undergoing his +scrutiny. And at the worst, if he was pursued here, before him was +the trackless shore and the boundless sea! + +And at times there was a certain satisfaction in watching, unseen +and in perfect security, the decks of passing ships. With the aid +of his glass he could mingle again with the world from which he was +debarred, and gloomily wonder who among those passengers knew their +solitary watcher, or had heard of his deeds; it might have made him +gloomier had he known that in those eager faces turned towards the +golden haven there was little thought of anything but themselves. +He tried to read in faces on board the few outgoing ships the +record of their success with a strange envy. They were returning +home! HOME! For sometimes--but seldom--he thought of his own home +and his past. It was a miserable past of forgery and embezzlement +that had culminated a career of youthful dissipation and self- +indulgence, and shut him out, forever, from the staid old English +cathedral town where he was born. He knew that his relations +believed and wished him dead. He thought of this past with little +pleasure, but with little remorse. Like most of his stamp, he +believed it was ill-luck, chance, somebody else's fault, but never +his own responsible action. He would not repent; he would be wiser +only. And he would not be retaken--alive! + +Two or three months passed in this monotonous duty, in which he +partly recovered his strength and his nerves. He lost his furtive, +restless, watchful look; the bracing sea air and the burning sun +put into his face the healthy tan and the uplifted frankness of a +sailor. His eyes grew keener from long scanning of the horizon; he +knew where to look for sails, from the creeping coastwise schooner +to the far-rounding merchantman from Cape Horn. He knew the faint +line of haze that indicated the steamer long before her masts and +funnels became visible. He saw no soul except the solitary boatman +of the little "plunger," who landed his weekly provisions at a +small cove hard by. The boatman thought his secretiveness and +reticence only the surliness of his nation, and cared little for a +man who never asked for the news, and to whom he brought no +letters. The long nights which wrapped the cabin in sea-fog, and +at first seemed to heighten the exile's sense of security, by +degrees, however, became monotonous, and incited an odd restlessness, +which he was wont to oppose by whiskey,--allowed as a part of his +stores,--which, while it dulled his sensibilities, he, however, +never permitted to interfere with his mechanical duties. + +He had been there five months, and the hills on the opposite shore +between Tamalpais were already beginning to show their russet +yellow sides. One bright morning he was watching the little fleet +of Italian fishing-boats hovering in the bay. This was always a +picturesque spectacle, perhaps the only one that relieved the +general monotony of his outlook. The quaint lateen sails of dull +red, or yellow, showing against the sparkling waters, and the red +caps or handkerchiefs of the fishermen, might have attracted even a +more abstracted man. Suddenly one of the larger boats tacked, and +made directly for the little cove where his weekly plunger used to +land. In an instant he was alert and suspicious. But a close +examination of the boat through his glass satisfied him that it +contained, in addition to the crew, only two or three women, +apparently the family of the fishermen. As it ran up on the beach +and the entire party disembarked he could see it was merely a +careless, peaceable invasion, and he thought no more about it. The +strangers wandered about the sands, gesticulating and laughing; +they brought a pot ashore, built a fire, and cooked a homely meal. +He could see that from time to time the semaphore--evidently a +novelty to them--had attracted their attention; and having occasion +to signal the arrival of a bark, the working of the uncouth arms of +the instrument drew the children in half-frightened curiosity +towards it, although the others held aloof, as if fearful of +trespassing upon some work of the government, no doubt secretly +guarded by the police. A few mornings later he was surprised to +see upon the beach, near the same locality, a small heap of lumber +which had evidently been landed in the early morning fog. The next +day an old tent appeared on the spot, and the men, evidently +fishermen, began the erection of a rude cabin beside it. Jarman +had been long enough there to know that it was government land, and +that these manifestly humble "squatters" upon it would not be +interfered with for some time to come. He began to be uneasy +again; it was true they were fully half a mile from him, and they +were foreigners; but might not their reckless invasion of the law +attract others, in this lawless country, to do the same? It ought +to be stopped. For once Richard Jarman sided with legal authority. + +But when the cabin was completed, it was evident from what he saw +of its rude structure that it was only a temporary shelter for the +fisherman's family and the stores, and refitting of the fishing- +boat, more convenient to them than the San Francisco wharves. The +beach was utilized for the mending of nets and sails, and thus +became half picturesque. In spite of the keen northwestern trades, +the cloudless, sunshiny mornings tempted these southerners back to +their native al fresco existence; they not only basked in the sun, +but many of their household duties, and even the mysteries of their +toilet, were performed in the open air. They did not seem to care +to penetrate into the desolate region behind them; their half- +amphibious habit kept them near the water's edge, and Richard +Jarman, after taking his limited walks for the first few mornings +in another direction, found it no longer necessary to avoid the +locality, and even forgot their propinquity. + +But one morning, as the fog was clearing away and the sparkle of +the distant sea was beginning to show from his window, he rose from +his belated breakfast to fetch water from the "breaker" outside, +which had to be replenished weekly from Sancelito, as there was no +spring in his vicinity. As he opened the door, he was inexpressibly +startled by the figure of a young woman standing in front of it, +who, however, half fearfully, half laughingly withdrew before him. +But his own manifest disturbance apparently gave her courage. + +"I jess was looking at that thing," she said bashfully, pointing to +the semaphore. + +He was still more astonished, for, looking at her dark eyes and +olive complexion, he had expected her to speak Italian or broken +English. And, possibly because for a long time he had seen and +known little of women, he was quite struck with her good looks. He +hesitated, stammered, and then said:-- + +"Won't you come in?" + +She drew back still farther and made a rapid gesture of negation +with her head, her hand, and even her whole lithe figure. Then she +said, with a decided American intonation:-- + +"No, sir." + +"Why not?" said Jarman mechanically. + +The girl sidled up against the cabin, keeping her eyes fixed on +Jarman with a certain youthful shrewdness. + +"Oh, you know!" she said. + +"I really do not. Tell me why." + +She drew herself up against the wall a little proudly, though still +youthfully, with her hands behind her. + +"I ain't that kind of girl," she said simply. + +The blood rushed to Jarman's checks. Dissipated and abandoned as +his life had been, small respecter of women as he was, he was +shocked and shamed. Knowing too, as he did, how absorbed he was in +other things, he was indignant, because not guilty. + +"Do as you please, then," he said shortly, and reentered the cabin. +But the next moment he saw his error in betraying an irritation +that was open to misconstruction. He came out again, scarcely +looking at the girl, who was lounging away. + +"Do you want me to explain to you how the thing works?" he said +indifferently. "I can't show you unless a ship comes in." + +The girl's eyes brightened softly as she turned to him. + +"Do tell me," she said, with an anticipatory smile and flash of +white teeth. "Won't you?" + +She certainly was very pretty and simple, in spite of her late +speech. Jarman briefly explained to her the movements of the +semaphore arms and their different significance. She listened with +her capped head a little on one side like an attentive bird, and +her arms unconsciously imitating the signs. Certainly, for all +that she SPOKE like an American, her gesticulation was Italian. + +"And then," she said triumphantly when he paused, "when the sailors +see that sign up they know they are coming in the harbor." + +Jarman smiled, as he had not smiled since he had been there. He +corrected this mistake of her eager haste to show her intelligence, +and, taking the telescope, pointed out the other semaphore,--a thin +black outline on a distant inland hill. He then explained how HIS +signs were repeated by that instrument to San Francisco. + +"My! Why, I always allowed that was only the cross stuck up in the +Lone Mountain Cemetery," she said. + +"You are a Catholic?" + +"I reckon." + +"And you are an Italian?" + +"Father is, but mother was a 'Merikan, same as me. Mother's dead." + +"And your father is the fisherman yonder?" + +"Yes,--but," with a look of pride, "he's got the biggest boat of +any." + +"And only you and your family are ashore here?" + +"Yes, and sometimes Mark." She laughed an odd little laugh. + +"Mark? Who's he?" he asked quickly. + +He had not noticed the sudden coquettish pose and half-affected +bashfulness of the girl; he was thinking only of the possibility of +detection by strangers. + +"Oh, he is Marco Franti, but I call him 'Mark.' It's the same +name, you know, and it makes him mad," said the girl, with the same +suggestion of archness and coquetry. + +But all this was lost on Jarman. + +"Oh, another Italian," he said, relieved. She turned away a little +awkwardly when he added, "But you haven't told me YOUR name, you +know." + +"Cara." + +"Cara,--that's 'dear' in Italian, isn't it?" he said, with a +reminiscence of the opera and a half smile. + +"Yes," she said a little scornfully, "but it means Carlotta,-- +Charlotte, you know. Some girls call me Charley," she said +hurriedly. + +"I see--Cara--or Carlotta Franti." + +To his surprise she burst into a peal of laughter. + +"I reckon not YET. Franti is Mark's name, not mine. Mine is +Murano,--Carlotta Murano. Good-by." She moved away, then stopped +suddenly and said, "I'm comin' again some time when the thing is +working," and with a nod of her head, ran away. He looked after +her; could see the outlines of her youthful figure in her slim +cotton gown,--limp and clinging in the damp sea air, and the sudden +revelation of her bare ankles thrust stockingless into canvas +shoes. + +He went back into his cabin, when presently his attention was +engrossed by an incoming vessel. He made the signals, half +expecting, almost hoping, that the girl would return to watch him. +But her figure was already lost in the sand dunes. Yet he fancied +he still heard the echoes of her voice and his own in this cabin +which had so long been dumb and voiceless, and he now started at +every sound. For the first time he became aware of the dreadful +disorder and untidiness of its uninvaded privacy. He could +scarcely believe he had been living with his stove, his bed, and +cooking utensils all in one corner of the barnlike room, and he +began to put them "to rights" in a rough, hard formality, strongly +suggestive of his convict experience. He rolled up his blankets +into a hard cylinder at the head of his cot. He scraped out his +kettles and saucepans, and even "washed down" the floor, afterwards +sprinkling clean dry sand, hot with the noonday sunshine, on its +half-dried boards. In arranging these domestic details he had to +change the position of a little mirror; and glancing at it for the +first time in many days, he was dissatisfied with his straggling +beard,--grown during his voyage from Australia,--and although he +had retained it as a disguise, he at once shaved it off, leaving +only a mustache, and revealing a face from which a healthier life +and out-of-door existence had removed the last traces of vice and +dissipation. But he did not know it. + +All the next day he thought of his fair visitor, and found himself +often repeating her odd remark that she was "not that kind of +girl," with a smile that was alternately significant or vacant. +Evidently she could take care of herself, he thought, although her +very good looks no doubt had exposed her to the rude attentions of +fishermen or the common drift of San Francisco wharves. Perhaps +this was why her father brought her here. When the day passed and +she came not, he began vaguely to wonder if he had been rude to +her. Perhaps he had taken her simple remark too seriously; perhaps +she had expected he would only laugh, and had found him dull and +stupid. Perhaps he had thrown away an opportunity. An opportunity +for what? To renew his old life and habits? No, no! The horrors +of his recent imprisonment and escape were still too fresh in his +memory; he was not safe yet. Then he wondered if he had not grown +spiritless and pigeon-livered in his solitude and loneliness. The +next day he searched for her with his glass, and saw her playing +with one of the children on the beach,--a very picture of child or +nymphlike innocence. Perhaps it was because she was not "that kind +of girl" that she had attracted him. He laughed bitterly. Yes; +that was very funny; he, an escaped convict, drawn towards honest, +simple innocence! Yet he knew--he was positive--he had not thought +of any ill when he spoke to her. He took a singular, a ridiculous +pride in and credit to himself for that. He repeated it incessantly +to himself. Then what made her angry? Himself! The devil! Did he +carry, then, the record of his past life forever in his face--in his +speech--in his manners? The thought made him sullen. The next day +he would not look towards the shore; it was wonderful what +excitement and satisfaction he got out of that strange act of +self-denial; it made the day seem full that had been so vacant +before; yet he could not tell why or wherefore. He felt injured, +but he rather liked it. Yet in the night he was struck with the +idea that she might have gone back to San Francisco, and he lay +awake longing for the morning light to satisfy him. Yet when the +fog cleared, and from a nearer point, behind a sand dune, he +discovered, by the aid of his glass, that she was seated on the +sun-warmed sands combing out her long hair like a mermaid, he +immediately returned to the cabin, and that morning looked no more +that way. In the afternoon, there being no sails in sight, he +turned aside from the bay and walked westward towards the ocean, +halting only at the league-long line of foam which marked the +breaking Pacific surges. Here he was surprised to see a little +child, half-naked, following barefooted the creeping line of spume, +or running after the detached and quivering scraps of foam that +chased each other over the wet sand, and only a little further on, +to come upon Cara herself, sitting with her elbows on her knees and +her round chin in her hands, apparently gazing over the waste of +waters before her. A sudden and inexplicable shyness overtook him. +He hesitated, and stepped half-hidden in a gully between the sand +dunes. + +As yet he had not been observed; the young girl called to the child +and, suddenly rising, threw off her red cap and shawl and quietly +began to disrobe herself. A couple of coarse towels were at her +feet. Jarman instantly comprehended that she was going to bathe +with the child. She undoubtedly knew as well as he did that she +was safe in that solitude; that no one could intrude upon her +privacy from the bay shore, nor from the desolate inland trail to +the sea, without her knowledge. Of his own contiguity she had +evidently taken no thought, believing him safely housed in his +cabin beside the semaphore. She lifted her hands, and with a +sudden movement shook out her long hair and let it fall down her +back at the same moment that her unloosened blouse began to slip +from her shoulders. Richard Jarman turned quickly and walked +noiselessly and rapidly away, until the little hillock had shut out +the beach. + +His retreat was as sudden, unreasoning, and unpremeditated as his +intrusion. It was not like himself, he knew, and yet it was as +perfectly instinctive and natural as if he had intruded upon a +sister. In the South Seas he had seen native girls diving beside +the vessels for coins, but they had provoked no such instinct as +that which possessed him now. More than that, he swept a quick, +wrathful glance along the horizon on either side, and then, +mounting a remote hillock which still hid him from the beach, he +sat there and kept watch and ward. From time to time the strong +sea-breeze brought him the sound of infantine screams and shouts of +girlish laughter from the unseen shore; he only looked the more +keenly and suspiciously for any wandering trespasser, and did not +turn his head. He lay there nearly half an hour, and when the +sounds had ceased, rose and made his way slowly back to the cabin. +He had not gone many yards before he heard the twitter of voices +and smothered laughter behind him. He turned; it was Cara and the +child,--a girl of six or seven. Cara's face was rosy,--possibly +from her bath, and possibly from some shame-faced consciousness. +He slackened his pace, and as they ranged beside him said, "Good- +morning!" + +"Lord!" said Cara, stifling another laugh, "we didn't know you were +around; we thought you were always 'tending your telegraph, didn't +we, Lucy?" (to the child, who was convulsed with mirth and +sheepishness). "Why, we've been taking a wash in the sea." She +tried to gather up her long hair, which had been left to stray over +her shoulders and dry in the sunlight, and even made a slight +pretense of trying to conceal the wet towels they were carrying. + +Jarman did not laugh. "If you had told me," he said gravely, "I +could have kept watch for you with my glass while you were there. +I could see further than you." + +"Tould you see US?" asked the little girl, with hopeful vivacity. + +"No!" said Jarman, with masterly evasion. "There are little +sandhills between this and the beach." + +"Then how tould other people see us?" persisted the child. + +Jarman could see that the older girl was evidently embarrassed, and +changed the subject. "I sometimes go out," he said, "when I can +see there are no vessels in sight, and I take ray glass with me. I +can always get back in time to make signals. I thought, in fact," +he said, glancing at Cara's brightening face, "that I might get as +far as your house on the shore some day." To his surprise, her +embarrassment suddenly seemed to increase, although she had looked +relieved before, and she did not reply. After a moment she said +abruptly:-- + +"Did you ever see the sea-lions?" + +"No," said Jarman. + +"Not the big ones on Seal Rock, beyond the cliffs?" continued the +girl, in real astonishment. + +"No," repeated Jarman. "I never walked in that direction." He +vaguely remembered that they were a curiosity which sometimes +attracted parties thither, and for that reason he had avoided the +spot. + +"Why, I have sailed all around the rock in father's boat," +continued Cara, with importance. "That's the best way to see 'em, +and folks from Frisco sometimes takes a sail out there just on +purpose,--it's too sandy to walk or drive there. But it's only a +step from here. Look here!" she said suddenly, and frankly opening +her fine eyes upon him. "I'm going to take Lucy there to-morrow, +and I'll show you." Jarman felt his cheeks flush quickly with a +pleasure that embarrassed him. "It won't take long," added Cara, +mistaking his momentary hesitation, "and you can leave your +telegraph alone. Nobody will be there, so no one will see you and +nobody know it." + +He would have gone then, anyway, he knew, yet in his absurd self- +consciousness he was glad that her last suggestion had relieved him +of a sense of reckless compliance. He assented eagerly, when with +a wave of her hand, a flash of her white teeth, and the same +abruptness she had shown at their last parting, she caught Lucy by +the arm and darted away in a romping race to her dwelling. Jarman +started after her. He had not wanted to go to her father's house +particularly, but why was SHE evidently as averse to it? With the +subtle pleasure that this admission gave him there was a faint +stirring of suspicion. + +It was gone when he found her and Lucy the next morning, radiant +with the sunshine, before his door. The restraint of their +previous meetings had been removed in some mysterious way, and they +chatted gayly as they walked towards the cliffs. She asked him +frankly many questions about himself, why he had come there, and if +he "wasn't lonely;" she answered frankly--I fear much more frankly +than he answered her--the many questions he asked her about herself +and her friends. When they reached the cliffs they descended to +the beach, which they found deserted. Before them--it seemed +scarce a pistol shot from the shore arose a high, broad rock, +beaten at its base by the long Pacific surf, on which a number of +shapeless animals were uncouthly disporting. This was Seal Rock, +the goal of their journey. + +Yet after a few moments they no longer looked at it, but seated on +the sand, with Lucy gathering shells at the water's edge, they +continued their talk. Presently the talk became eager confidences, +and then,--there were long and dangerous lapses of silence, when +both were fain to make perfunctory talk with Lucy on the beach. +After one of those silences Jarman said:-- + +"Do you know I rather thought yesterday you didn't want me to come +to your father's house. Why was that?" + +"Because Marco was there," said the girl frankly. + +"What had HE to do with it?" said Jarman abruptly. + +"He wants to marry me." + +"And do you want to marry HIM?" said Jarman quickly. + +"No," said the girl passionately. + +"Why don't you get rid of him, then?" + +"I can't, he's hiding here,--he's father's friend." + +"Hiding? What's he been doing?" + +"Stealing. Stealing gold-dust from miners. I never cared for him +anyway. And I hate a thief!" + +She looked up quickly. Jarman had risen to his feet, his face +turned to sea. + +"What are you looking at?" she said wonderingly. + +"A ship," said Jarman, in a strange, hoarse voice. "I must hurry +back and signal. I'm afraid I haven't even time to walk with you,-- +I must run for it. Good-by!" + +He turned without offering his hand and ran hurriedly in the +direction of the semaphore. + +Cara, discomfited, turned her black eyes to the sea. But it seemed +empty as before, no sail, no ship on the horizon line, only a +little schooner slowly beating out of the Gate. Ah, well! It no +doubt was there,--that sail,--though she could not see it; how keen +and far-seeing his handsome, honest eyes were! She heaved a little +sigh, and, calling Lucy to her side, began to make her way homeward. +But she kept her eyes on the semaphore; it seemed to her the next +thing to seeing him,--this man she was beginning to love. She waited +for the gaunt arms to move with the signal of the vessel he had +seen. But, strange to say, it was motionless. He must have been +mistaken. + +All this, however, was driven from her mind in the excitement that +she found on her return thrilling her own family. They had been +warned that a police boat with detectives on board had been +dispatched from San Francisco to the cove. Luckily, they had +managed to convey the fugitive Franti on board a coastwise +schooner,--Cara started as she remembered the one she had seen +beating out of the Gate,--and he was now safe from pursuit. Cara +felt relieved; at the same time she felt a strange joy at her +heart, which sent the conscious blood to her cheek. She was not +thinking of the escaped Marco, but of Jarman. Later, when the +police boat arrived,--whether the detectives had been forewarned of +Marco's escape or not,--they contented themselves with a formal +search of the little fishing-hut and departed. But their boat +remained lying off the shore. + +That night Cara tossed sleeplessly on her bed; she was sorry she +had ever spoken of Marco to Jarman. It was unnecessary now; +perhaps he disbelieved her and thought she loved Marco; perhaps +that was the reason of his strange and abrupt leave-taking that +afternoon. She longed for the next day, she could tell him +everything now. + +Towards morning she slept fitfully, but was awakened by the sound +of voices on the sands outside the hut. Its flimsy structure, +already warped by the fierce day-long sun, allowed her through +chinks and crevices not only to recognize the voices of the +detectives, but to hear distinctly what they said. Suddenly the +name of Jarman struck upon her ear. She sat upright in bed, +breathless. + +"Are you sure it's the same man?" asked a second voice. + +"Perfectly," answered the first. "He was tracked to 'Frisco, but +disappeared the day he landed. We knew from our agents that he +never left the bay. And when we found that somebody answering his +description got the post of telegraph operator out here, we knew +that we had spotted our man and the L250 sterling offered for his +capture." + +"But that was five months ago. Why didn't you take him then?" + +"Couldn't! For we couldn't hold him without the extradition papers +from Australia. We sent for 'em; they're due to-day or to-morrow +on the mail steamer." + +"But he might have got away at any time?" + +"He couldn't without our knowing it. Don't you see? Every time +the signals went up, we in San Francisco knew he was at his post. +We had him safe, out here on these sandhills, as if he'd been under +lock and key in 'Frisco. He was his own keeper, and reported to +us." + +"But since you're here and expect the papers to-morrow, why don't +you 'cop' him now?" + +"Because there isn't a judge in San Francisco that would hold him a +moment unless he had those extradition papers before him. He'd be +discharged, and escape." + +"Then what are you going to do?" + +"As soon as the steamer is signaled in 'Frisco, we'll board her in +the bay, get the papers, and drop down upon him." + +"I see; and as HE'S the signal man, the darned fool"-- + +"Will give the signal himself." + +The laugh that followed was so cruel that the young girl shuddered. +But the next moment she slipped from the bed, erect, pale, and +determined. + +The voices seemed gradually to retreat. She dressed herself +hurriedly, and passed noiselessly through the room of her still +sleeping parent, and passed out. A gray fog was lifting slowly +over the sands and sea, and the police boat was gone. She no +longer hesitated, but ran quickly in the direction of Jarman's +cabin. As she ran, her mind seemed to be swept clear of all +illusion and fancy; she saw plainly everything that had happened; +she knew the mystery of Jarman's presence here,--the secret of his +life,--the dreadful cruelty of her remark to him,--the man that she +knew now she loved. The sun was painting the black arms of the +semaphore as she toiled over the last stretch of sand and knocked +loudly at the door. There was no reply. She knocked again; the +cabin was silent. Had he already fled?--and without seeing her and +knowing all! She tried the handle of the door; it yielded; she +stepped boldly into the room, with his name upon her lips. He was +lying fully dressed upon his couch. She ran eagerly to his side +and stopped. It needed only a single glance at his congested face, +his lips parted with his heavy breath, to see that the man was +hopelessly, helplessly drunk! + +Yet even then, without knowing that it was her thoughtless speech +which had driven him to seek this foolish oblivion of remorse and +sorrow, she saw only his HELPLESSNESS. She tried in vain to rouse +him; he only muttered a few incoherent words and sank back again. +She looked despairingly around. Something must be done; the +steamer might be visible at any moment. Ah, yes,--the telescope! +She seized it and swept the horizon. There was a faint streak of +haze against the line of sea and sky, abreast the Golden Gate. He +had once told her what it meant. It WAS the steamer! A sudden +thought leaped into her clear and active brain. If the police boat +should chance to see that haze too, and saw no warning signal from +the semaphore, they would suspect something. That signal must be +made, BUT NOT THE RIGHT ONE! She remembered quickly how he had +explained to her the difference between the signals for a coasting +steamer and the one that brought the mails. At that distance the +police boat could not detect whether the semaphore's arms were +extended to perfect right angles for the mail steamer, or if the +left arm slightly deflected for a coasting steamer. She ran out to +the windlass and seized the crank. For a moment it defied her +strength; she redoubled her efforts: it began to creak and groan, +the great arms were slowly uplifted, and the signal made. + +But the familiar sounds of the moving machinery had pierced through +Jarman's sluggish consciousness as no other sound in heaven or +earth could have done, and awakened him to the one dominant sense +he had left,--the habit of duty. She heard him roll from the bed +with an oath, stumble to the door, and saw him dash forward with an +affrighted face, and plunge his head into a bucket of water. He +emerged from it pale and dripping, but with the full light of +reason and consciousness in his eyes. He started when he saw her; +even then she would have fled, but he caught her firmly by the +wrist. + +Then with a hurried, trembling voice she told him all and +everything. He listened in silence, and only at the end raised her +hand gravely to his lips. + +"And now," she added tremulously, "you must fly--quick--at once; or +it will be too late!" + +But Richard Jarman walked slowly to the door of his cabin, still +holding her hand, and said quietly, pointing to his only chair:-- + +"Sit down; we must talk first." + +What they said was never known, but a few moments later they left +the cabin, Jarman carrying in a small bag all his possessions, and +Cara leaning on his arm. An hour later the priest of the Mission +Dolores was called upon to unite in matrimony a frank, honest- +looking sailor and an Italian gypsy-looking girl. There were many +hasty unions in those days, and the Holy Church was only too glad +to be able to give them its legal indorsement. But the good Padre +was a little sorry for the honest sailor, and gave the girl some +serious advice. + +The San Francisco papers the next morning threw some dubious light +upon the matter in a paragraph headed, "Another Police Fiasco." + +"We understand that the indefatigable police of San Francisco, +after ascertaining that Marco Franti, the noted gold-dust thief, +was hiding on the shore near the Presidio, proceeded there with +great solemnity, and arrived, as usual, a few hours after their man +had escaped. But the climax of incapacity was reached when, as it +is alleged, the sweetheart of the absconding Franti, and daughter +of a brother fisherman, eloped still later, and joined her lover +under the very noses of the police. The attempt of the detectives +to excuse themselves at headquarters by reporting that they were +also on the track of an alleged escaped Sydney Duck was received +with the derision and skepticism it deserved, as it seemed that +these worthies mistook the mail steamer, which they should have +boarded to get certain extradition papers, for a coasting steamer." + + . . . . . . + +It was not until four years later that Murano was delighted to +recognize in the husband of his long-lost daughter a very rich +cattle-owner in Southern California, called Jarman; but he never +knew that he had been an escaped convict from Sydney, who had +lately received a full pardon through the instrumentality of divers +distinguished people in Australia. + + + +AN ESMERALDA OF ROCKY CANYON + + +It is to be feared that the hero of this chronicle began life as an +impostor. He was offered to the credulous and sympathetic family +of a San Francisco citizen as a lamb, who, unless bought as a +playmate for the children, would inevitably pass into the butcher's +hands. A combination of refined sensibility and urban ignorance of +nature prevented them from discerning certain glaring facts that +betrayed his caprid origin. So a ribbon was duly tied round his +neck, and in pleasing emulation of the legendary "Mary," he was +taken to school by the confiding children. Here, alas the fraud +was discovered, and history was reversed by his being turned out by +the teacher, because he was NOT "a lamb at school." Nevertheless, +the kind-hearted mother of the family persisted in retaining him, +on the plea that he might yet become "useful." To her husband's +feeble suggestion of "gloves," she returned a scornful negative, +and spoke of the weakly infant of a neighbor, who might later +receive nourishment from this providential animal. But even this +hope was destroyed by the eventual discovery of his sex. Nothing +remained now but to accept him as an ordinary kid, and to find +amusement in his accomplishments,--eating, climbing, and butting. +It must be confessed that these were of a superior quality; a +capacity to eat everything from a cambric handkerchief to an +election poster, an agility which brought him even to the roofs of +houses, and a power of overturning by a single push the chubbiest +child who opposed him, made him a fearful joy to the nursery. This +last quality was incautiously developed in him by a negro boy- +servant, who, later, was hurriedly propelled down a flight of +stairs by his too proficient scholar. Having once tasted victory, +"Billy" needed no further incitement to his performances. The +small wagon which he sometimes consented to draw for the benefit of +the children never hindered his attempts to butt the passer-by. On +the contrary, on well-known scientific principles he added the +impact of the bodies of the children projected over his head in his +charge, and the infelicitous pedestrian found himself not only +knocked off his legs by Billy, but bombarded by the whole nursery. + +Delightful as was this recreation to juvenile limbs, it was felt to +be dangerous to the adult public. Indignant protestations were +made, and as Billy could not be kept in the house, he may be said +to have at last butted himself out of that sympathetic family and +into a hard and unfeeling world. One morning he broke his tether +in the small back yard. For several days thereafter he displayed +himself in guilty freedom on the tops of adjacent walls and +outhouses. The San Francisco suburb where his credulous protectors +lived was still in a volcanic state of disruption, caused by the +grading of new streets through rocks and sandhills. In consequence +the roofs of some houses were on the level of the doorsteps of +others, and were especially adapted to Billy's performances. One +afternoon, to the admiring and perplexed eyes of the nursery, he +was discovered standing on the apex of a neighbor's new Elizabethan +chimney, on a space scarcely larger than the crown of a hat, calmly +surveying the world beneath him. High infantile voices appealed to +him in vain; baby arms were outstretched to him in hopeless +invitation; he remained exalted and obdurate, like Milton's hero, +probably by his own merit "raised to that bad eminence." Indeed, +there was already something Satanic in his budding horns and +pointed mask as the smoke curled softly around him. Then he +appropriately vanished, and San Francisco knew him no more. At the +same time, however, one Owen M'Ginnis, a neighboring sandhill +squatter, also disappeared, leaving San Francisco for the southern +mines, and he was said to have taken Billy with him,--for no +conceivable reason except for companionship. Howbeit, it was the +turning-point of Billy's career; such restraint as kindness, +civilization, or even policemen had exercised upon his nature was +gone. He retained, I fear, a certain wicked intelligence, picked +up in San Francisco with the newspapers and theatrical and election +posters he had consumed. He reappeared at Rocky Canyon among the +miners as an exceedingly agile chamois, with the low cunning of a +satyr. That was all that civilization had done for him! + +If Mr. M'Ginnis had fondly conceived that he would make Billy +"useful," as well as companionable, he was singularly mistaken. +Horses and mules were scarce in Rocky Canyon, and he attempted to +utilize Billy by making him draw a small cart, laden with +auriferous earth, from his claim to the river. Billy, rapidly +gaining strength, was quite equal to the task, but alas! not his +inborn propensity. An incautious gesture from the first passing +miner Billy chose to construe into the usual challenge. Lowering +his head, from which his budding horns had been already pruned by +his master, he instantly went for his challenger, cart and all. +Again the scientific law already pointed out prevailed. With the +shock of the onset the entire contents of the cart arose and poured +over the astonished miner, burying him from sight. In any other +but a Californian mining-camp such a propensity in a draught animal +would have been condemned, on account of the damage and suffering +it entailed, but in Rocky Canyon it proved unprofitable to the +owner from the very amusement and interest it excited. Miners lay +in wait for Billy with a "greenhorn," or new-comer, whom they would +put up to challenge the animal by some indiscreet gesture. In this +way hardly a cartload of "pay-gravel" ever arrived safely at its +destination, and the unfortunate M'Ginnis was compelled to withdraw +Billy as a beast of burden. It was whispered that so great had his +propensity become, under repeated provocation, that M'Ginnis +himself was no longer safe. Going ahead of his cart one day to +remove a fallen bough from the trail, Billy construed the act of +stooping into a playful challenge from his master,--with the +inevitable result. + +The next day M'Ginnis appeared with a wheelbarrow, but without +Billy. From that day he was relegated to the rocky crags above the +camp, from whence he was only lured occasionally by the mischievous +miners, who wished to exhibit his peculiar performances. For +although Billy had ample food and sustenance among the crags, he +had still a civilized longing for posters; and whenever a circus, a +concert, or a political meeting was "billed" in the settlement, he +was on hand while the paste was yet fresh and succulent. In this +way it was averred that he once removed a gigantic theatre bill +setting forth the charms of the "Sacramento Pet," and being caught +in the act by the advance agent, was pursued through the main +street, carrying the damp bill on his horns, eventually affixing +it, after his own peculiar fashion, on the back of Judge +Boompointer, who was standing in front of his own court-house. + +In connection with the visits of this young lady another story +concerning Billy survives in the legends of Rocky Canyon. Colonel +Starbottle was at that time passing through the settlement on +election business, and it was part of his chivalrous admiration for +the sex to pay a visit to the pretty actress. The single waiting- +room of the little hotel gave upon the veranda, which was also +level with the street. After a brief yet gallant interview, in +which he oratorically expressed the gratitude of the settlement +with old-fashioned Southern courtesy, Colonel Starbottle lifted the +chubby little hand of the "Pet" to his lips, and, with a low bow, +backed out upon the veranda. But the Pet was astounded by his +instant reappearance, and by his apparently casting himself +passionately and hurriedly at her feet! It is needless to say that +he was followed closely by Billy, who from the street had casually +noticed him, and construed his novel exit into an ungentlemanly +challenge. + +Billy's visits, however, became less frequent, and as Rocky Canyon +underwent the changes incidental to mining settlements, he was +presently forgotten in the invasion of a few Southwestern families, +and the adoption of amusements less practical and turbulent than he +had afforded. It was alleged that he was still seen in the more +secluded fastnesses of the mountains, having reverted to a wild +state, and it was suggested by one or two of the more adventurous +that he might yet become edible, and a fair object of chase. A +traveler through the Upper Pass of the canyon related how he had +seen a savage-looking, hairy animal like a small elk perched upon +inaccessible rocks, but always out of gunshot. But these and other +legends were set at naught and overthrown by an unexpected incident. + +The Pioneer Coach was toiling up the long grade towards Skinners +Pass when Yuba Bill suddenly pulled up, with his feet on the brake. + +"Jimminy!" he ejaculated, drawing a deep breath. + +The startled passenger beside him on the box followed the direction +of his eyes. Through an opening in the wayside pines he could see, +a few hundred yards away, a cuplike hollow in the hillside of the +vividest green. In the centre a young girl of fifteen or sixteen +was dancing and keeping step to the castanet "click" of a pair of +"bones," such as negro minstrels use, held in her hands above her +head. But, more singular still, a few paces before her a large +goat, with its neck roughly wreathed with flowers and vines, was +taking ungainly bounds and leaps in imitation of its companion. +The wild background of the Sierras, the pastoral hollow, the +incongruousness of the figures, and the vivid color of the girl's +red flannel petticoat showing beneath her calico skirt, that had +been pinned around her waist, made a striking picture, which by +this time had attracted all eyes. Perhaps the dancing of the girl +suggested a negro "break-down" rather than any known sylvan +measure; but all this, and even the clatter of the bones, was made +gracious by the distance. + +"Esmeralda! by the living Harry!" shouted the excited passenger on +the box. + +Yuba Bill took his feet off the brake, and turned a look of deep +scorn upon his companion as he gathered the reins again. + +"It's that blanked goat, outer Rocky Canyon beyond, and Polly +Harkness! How did she ever come to take up with HIM?" + +Nevertheless, as soon as the coach reached Rocky Canyon, the story +was quickly told by the passengers, corroborated by Yuba Bill, and +highly colored by the observer on the box-seat. Harkness was known +to be a new-comer who lived with his wife and only daughter on the +other side of Skinners Pass. He was a "logger" and charcoal- +burner, who had eaten his way into the serried ranks of pines below +the pass, and established in these efforts an almost insurmountable +cordon of fallen trees, stripped bark, and charcoal pits around the +clearing where his rude log hut stood,--which kept his seclusion +unbroken. He was said to be a half-savage mountaineer from Georgia, +in whose rude fastnesses he had distilled unlawful whiskey, and that +his tastes and habits unfitted him for civilization. His wife +chewed and smoked; he was believed to make a fiery brew of his own +from acorns and pine nuts; he seldom came to Rocky Canyon except for +provisions; his logs were slipped down a "shoot" or slide to the +river, where they voyaged once a month to a distant mill, but HE did +not accompany them. The daughter, seldom seen at Rocky Canyon, was +a half-grown girl, brown as autumn fern, wild-eyed, disheveled, in a +homespun skirt, sunbonnet, and boy's brogans. Such were the plain +facts which skeptical Rocky Canyon opposed to the passengers' +legends. Nevertheless, some of the younger miners found it not out +of their way to go over Skinners Pass on the journey to the river, +but with what success was not told. It was said, however, that a +celebrated New York artist, making a tour of California, was on the +coach one day going through the pass, and preserved the memory of +what he saw there in a well-known picture entitled "Dancing Nymph +and Satyr," said by competent critics to be "replete with the study +of Greek life." This did not affect Rocky Canyon, where the study +of mythology was presumably displaced by an experience of more +wonderful flesh-and-blood people, but later it was remembered with +some significance. + +Among the improvements already noted, a zinc and wooden chapel had +been erected in the main street, where a certain popular revivalist +preacher of a peculiar Southwestern sect regularly held exhortatory +services. His rude emotional power over his ignorant fellow- +sectarians was well known, while curiosity drew others. His effect +upon the females of his flock was hysterical and sensational. +Women prematurely aged by frontier drudgery and child-bearing, +girls who had known only the rigors and pains of a half-equipped, +ill-nourished youth in their battling with the hard realities of +nature around them, all found a strange fascination in the +extravagant glories and privileges of the unseen world he pictured +to them, which they might have found in the fairy tales and nursery +legends of civilized children, had they known them. Personally he +was not attractive; his thin pointed face, and bushy hair rising on +either side of his square forehead in two rounded knots, and his +long, straggling, wiry beard dropping from a strong neck and +shoulders, were indeed of a common Southwestern type; yet in him +they suggested something more. This was voiced by a miner who +attended his first service, and as the Reverend Mr. Withholder rose +in the pulpit, the former was heard to audibly ejaculate, "Dod +blasted!--if it ain't Billy!" But when on the following Sunday, to +everybody's astonishment, Polly Harkness, in a new white muslin +frock and broad-brimmed Leghorn hat, appeared before the church +door with the real Billy, and exchanged conversation with the +preacher, the likeness was appalling. + +I grieve to say that the goat was at once christened by Rocky +Canyon as "The Reverend Billy," and the minister himself was +Billy's "brother." More than that, when an attempt was made by +outsiders, during the service, to inveigle the tethered goat into +his old butting performances, and he took not the least notice of +their insults and challenges, the epithet "blanked hypocrite" was +added to his title. + +Had he really reformed? Had his pastoral life with his nymph-like +mistress completely cured him of his pugnacious propensity, or had +he simply found it was inconsistent with his dancing, and seriously +interfered with his "fancy steps"? Had he found tracts and hymn- +books were as edible as theatre posters? These were questions that +Rocky canyon discussed lightly, although there was always the more +serious mystery of the relations of the Reverend Mr. Withholder, +Polly Harkness, and the goat towards each other. The appearance of +Polly at church was no doubt due to the minister's active canvass +of the districts. But had he ever heard of Polly's dancing with +the goat? And where in this plain, angular, badly dressed Polly +was hidden that beautiful vision of the dancing nymph which had +enthralled so many? And when had Billy ever given any suggestion +of his Terpsichorean abilities--before or since? Were there any +"points" of the kind to be discerned in him now? None! Was it not +more probable that the Reverend Mr. Withholder had himself been +dancing with Polly, and been mistaken for the goat? Passengers who +could have been so deceived with regard to Polly's beauty might +have as easily mistaken the minister for Billy. About this time +another incident occurred which increased the mystery. + +The only male in the settlement who apparently dissented from the +popular opinion regarding Polly was a new-comer, Jack Filgee. +While discrediting her performance with the goat,--which he had +never seen,--he was evidently greatly prepossessed with the girl +herself. Unfortunately, he was equally addicted to drinking, and +as he was exceedingly shy and timid when sober, and quite +unpresentable at other times, his wooing, if it could be so called, +progressed but slowly. Yet when he found that Polly went to +church, he listened so far to the exhortations of the Reverend Mr. +Withholder as to promise to come to "Bible class" immediately after +the Sunday service. It was a hot afternoon, and Jack, who had kept +sober for two days, incautiously fortified himself for the ordeal +by taking a drink before arriving. He was nervously early, and +immediately took a seat in the empty church near the open door. +The quiet of the building, the drowsy buzzing of flies, and perhaps +the soporific effect of the liquor caused his eyes to close and his +head to fall forward on his breast repeatedly. He was recovering +himself for the fourth time when he suddenly received a violent +cuff on the ear, and was knocked backward off the bench on which he +was sitting. That was all he knew. + +He picked himself up with a certain dignity, partly new to him, and +partly the result of his condition, and staggered, somewhat bruised +and disheveled, to the nearest saloon. Here a few frequenters who +had seen him pass, who knew his errand and the devotion to Polly +which had induced it, exhibited a natural concern. + +"How's things down at the gospel shop?" said one. "Look as ef +you'd been wrastlin' with the Sperit, Jack!" + +"Old man must hev exhorted pow'ful," said another, glancing at his +disordered Sunday attire. + +"Ain't be'n hevin' a row with Polly? I'm told she slings an awful +left." + +Jack, instead of replying, poured out a dram of whiskey, drank it, +and putting down his glass, leaned heavily against the counter as +he surveyed his questioners with a sorrow chastened by reproachful +dignity. + +"I'm a stranger here, gentlemen," he said slowly "ye've known me +only a little; but ez ye've seen me both blind drunk and sober, I +reckon ye've caught on to my gin'ral gait! Now I wanter put it to +you, ez fair-minded men, ef you ever saw me strike a parson?" + +"No," said a chorus of sympathetic voices. The barkeeper, however, +with a swift recollection of Polly and the Reverend Withholder, and +some possible contingent jealousy in Jack, added prudently, "Not +yet." + +The chorus instantly added reflectively, "Well, no not yet." + +"Did ye ever," continued Jack solemnly, "know me to cuss, sass, +bully-rag, or say anything agin parsons, or the church?" + +"No," said the crowd, overthrowing prudence in curiosity, "ye never +did,--we swear it! And now, what's up?" + +"I ain't what you call 'a member in good standin','" he went on, +artistically protracting his climax. "I ain't be'n convicted o' +sin; I ain't 'a meek an' lowly follower;' I ain't be'n exactly what +I orter be'n; I hevn't lived anywhere up to my lights; but is thet +a reason why a parson should strike me?" + +"Why? What? When did he? Who did?" asked the eager crowd, with +one voice. + +Jack then painfully related how he had been invited by the Reverend +Mr. Withholder to attend the Bible class. How he had arrived +early, and found the church empty. How he had taken a seat near +the door to be handy when the parson came. How he just felt +"kinder kam and good," listenin' to the flies buzzing, and must +have fallen asleep,--only he pulled himself up every time,--though, +after all, it warn't no crime to fall asleep in an empty church! +How "all of a suddent" the parson came in, "give him a clip side o' +the head," and knocked him off the bench, and left him there! + +"But what did he SAY?" queried the crowd. + +"Nuthin'. Afore I could get up, he got away." + +"Are you sure it was him?" they asked. "You know you SAY you was +asleep." + +"Am I sure?" repeated Jack scornfully. "Don't I know thet face and +beard? Didn't I feel it hangin' over me?" + +"What are you going to do about it?" continued the crowd eagerly. + +"Wait till he comes out--and you'll see," said Jack, with dignity. + +This was enough for the crowd; they gathered excitedly at the door, +where Jack was already standing, looking towards the church. The +moments dragged slowly; it might be a long meeting. Suddenly the +church door opened and a figure appeared, looking up and down the +street. Jack colored--he recognized Polly--and stepped out into +the road. The crowd delicately, but somewhat disappointedly, drew +back in the saloon. They did not care to interfere in THAT sort of +thing. + +Polly saw him, and came hurriedly towards him. She was holding +something in her hand. + +"I picked this up on the church floor," she said shyly, "so I +reckoned you HAD be'n there,--though the parson said you hadn't,-- +and I just excused myself and ran out to give it ye. It's yourn, +ain't it?" She held up a gold specimen pin, which he had put on in +honor of the occasion. "I had a harder time, though, to git this +yer,--it's yourn too,--for Billy was laying down in the yard, back +o' the church, and just comf'bly swallerin' it." + +"Who?" said Jack quickly. + +"Billy,--my goat." + +Jack drew a long breath, and glanced back at the saloon. "Ye ain't +goin' back to class now, are ye?" he said hurriedly. "Ef you ain't, +I'll--I'll see ye home." + +"I don't mind," said Polly demurely, "if it ain't takin' ye outer +y'ur way." + +Jack offered his arm, and hurrying past the saloon, the happy pair +were soon on the road to Skinners Pass. + + +Jack did not, I regret to say, confess his blunder, but left the +Reverend Mr. Withholder to remain under suspicion of having +committed an unprovoked assault and battery. It was characteristic +of Rocky Canyon, however, that this suspicion, far from injuring +his clerical reputation, incited a respect that had been hitherto +denied him. A man who could hit out straight from the shoulder +had, in the language of the critics, "suthin' in him." Oddly +enough, the crowd that had at first sympathized with Jack now began +to admit provocations. His subsequent silence, a disposition when +questioned on the subject to smile inanely, and, later, when +insidiously asked if he had ever seen Polly dancing with the goat, +his bursting into uproarious laughter completely turned the current +of opinion against him. The public mind, however, soon became +engrossed by a more interesting incident. + +The Reverend Mr. Withholder had organized a series of Biblical +tableaux at Skinnerstown for the benefit of his church. +Illustrations were to be given of "Rebecca at the Well," "The +Finding of Moses," "Joseph and his Brethren;" but Rocky Canyon was +more particularly excited by the announcement that Polly Harkness +would personate "Jephthah's Daughter." On the evening of the +performance, however, it was found that this tableau had been +withdrawn and another substituted, for reasons not given. Rocky +Canyon, naturally indignant at this omission to represent native +talent, indulged in a hundred wild surmises. But it was generally +believed that Jack Filgee's revengeful animosity to the Reverend +Mr. Withholder was at the bottom of it. Jack, as usual, smiled +inanely, but nothing was to be got from him. It was not until a +few days later, when another incident crowned the climax of these +mysteries, that a full disclosure came from his lips. + +One morning a flaming poster was displayed at Rocky Canyon, with a +charming picture of the "Sacramento Pet" in the briefest of skirts, +disporting with a tambourine before a goat garlanded with flowers, +who bore, however, an undoubted likeness to Billy. The text in +enormous letters, and bristling with points of admiration, stated +that the "Pet" would appear as "Esmeralda," assisted by a performing +goat, especially trained by the gifted actress. The goat would +dance, play cards, and perform those tricks of magic familiar to the +readers of Victor Hugo's beautiful story of the "Hunchback of Notre +Dame," and finally knock down and overthrow the designing seducer, +Captain Phoebus. The marvelous spectacle would be produced under +the patronage of the Hon. Colonel Starbottle and the Mayor of +Skinnerstown. + +As all Rocky Canyon gathered open-mouthed around the poster, Jack +demurely joined the group. Every eye was turned upon him. + +"It don't look as if yer Polly was in THIS show, any more than she +was in the tablows," said one, trying to conceal his curiosity +under a slight sneer. "She don't seem to be doin' any dancin'!" + +"She never DID any dancin'," said Jack, with a smile. + +"Never DID! Then what was all these yarns about her dancin' up at +the pass?" + +"It was the Sacramento Pet who did all the dancin'; Polly only LENT +the goat. Ye see, the Pet kinder took a shine to Billy arter he +bowled Starbottle over thet day at the hotel, and she thought she +might teach him tricks. So she DID, doing all her teachin' and +stage-rehearsin' up there at the pass, so's to be outer sight, and +keep this thing dark. She bribed Polly to lend her the goat and +keep her secret, and Polly never let on a word to anybody but me." + +"Then it was the Pet that Yuba Bill saw dancin' from the coach?" + +"Yes." + +"And that yer artist from New York painted as an 'Imp and Satire'?" + +"Yes." + +"Then that's how Polly didn't show up in them tablows at +Skinnerstown? It was Withholder who kinder smelt a rat, eh? and +found out it was only a theayter gal all along that did the +dancin'?" + +"Well, you see," said Jack, with affected hesitation, "thet's +another yarn. I don't know mebbe ez I oughter tell it. Et ain't +got anything to do with this advertisement o' the Pet, and might be +rough on old man Withholder! Ye mustn't ask me, boys." + +But there was that in his eye, and above all in this lazy +procrastination of the true humorist when he is approaching his +climax, which rendered the crowd clamorous and unappeasable. They +WOULD have the story! + +Seeing which, Jack leaned back against a rock with great gravity, +put his hands in his pockets, looked discontentedly at the ground, +and began: "You see, boys, old Parson Withholder had heard all +these yarns about Polly and thet trick-goat, and he kinder reckoned +that she might do for some one of his tablows. So he axed her if +she'd mind standin' with the goat and a tambourine for Jephthah's +Daughter, at about the time when old Jeph comes home, sailin' in +and vowin' he'll kill the first thing he sees,--jest as it is in +the Bible story. Well, Polly didn't like to say it wasn't HER that +performed with the goat, but the Pet, for thet would give the Pet +dead away; so Polly agrees to come thar with the goat and rehearse +the tablow. Well, Polly's thar, a little shy; and Billy,--you bet +HE'S all there, and ready for the fun; but the darned fool who +plays Jephthah ain't worth shucks, and when HE comes in he does +nothin' but grin at Polly and seem skeert at the goat. This makes +old Withholder jest wild, and at last he goes on the platform +hisself to show them how the thing oughter be done. So he comes +bustlin' and prancin' in, and ketches sight o' Polly dancin' in +with the goat to welcome him; and then he clasps his hands--so--and +drops on his knees, and hangs down his head--so--and sez, 'Me +chyld! me vow! Oh, heavens!' But jest then Billy--who's gettin' +rather tired o' all this foolishness--kinder slues round on his +hind legs, and ketches sight o' the parson!" Jack paused a moment, +and thrusting his hands still deeper in his pockets, said lazily, +"I don't know if you fellers have noticed how much old Withholder +looks like Billy?" + +There was a rapid and impatient chorus of "Yes! yes!" and "Go on!" + +"Well," continued Jack, "when Billy sees Withholder kneelin' thar +with his head down, he gives a kind o' joyous leap and claps his +hoofs together, ez much ez to say, 'I'm on in this scene,' drops +his own head, and jest lights out for the parson!" + +"And butts him clean through the side scenes into the street," +interrupted a delighted auditor. + +But Jack's face never changed. "Ye think so?" he said gravely. +"But thet's jest whar ye slip up; and thet's jest whar Billy +slipped up!" he added slowly. "Mebbe ye've noticed, too, thet the +parson's built kinder solid about the head and shoulders. It +mought hev be'n thet, or thet Billy didn't get a fair start, but +thet goat went down on his fore legs like a shot, and the parson +gave one heave, and jest scooted him off the platform! Then the +parson reckoned thet this yer 'tablow' had better be left out, as +thar didn't seem to be any other man who could play Jephthah, and +it wasn't dignified for HIM to take the part. But the parson +allowed thet it might be a great moral lesson to Billy!" + +And it WAS, for from that moment Billy never attempted to butt +again. He performed with great docility later on in the Pet's +engagement at Skinnerstown; he played a distinguished role +throughout the provinces; he had had the advantages of Art from +"the Pet," and of Simplicity from Polly, but only Rocky Canyon knew +that his real education had come with his first rehearsal with the +Reverend Mr. Withholder. + + + +DICK SPINDLER'S FAMILY CHRISTMAS + + +There was surprise and sometimes disappointment in Rough and Ready, +when it was known that Dick Spindler intended to give a "family" +Christmas party at his own house. That he should take an early +opportunity to celebrate his good fortune and show hospitality was +only expected from the man who had just made a handsome "strike" on +his claim; but that it should assume so conservative, old- +fashioned, and respectable a form was quite unlooked-for by Rough +and Ready, and was thought by some a trifle pretentious. There +were not half-a-dozen families in Rough and Ready; nobody ever knew +before that Spindler had any relations, and this "ringing in" of +strangers to the settlement seemed to indicate at least a lack of +public spirit. "He might," urged one of his critics, "hev given +the boys,--that had worked alongside o' him in the ditches by day, +and slung lies with him around the camp-fire by night,--he might +hev given them a square 'blow out,' and kep' the leavin's for his +old Spindler crew, just as other families do. Why, when old man +Scudder had his house-raisin' last year, his family lived for a +week on what was left over, arter the boys had waltzed through the +house that night,--and the Scudders warn't strangers, either." It +was also evident that there was an uneasy feeling that Spindler's +action indicated an unhallowed leaning towards the minority of +respectability and exclusiveness, and a desertion--without the +excuse of matrimony--of the convivial and independent bachelor +majority of Rough and Ready. + +"Ef he was stuck after some gal and was kinder looking ahead, I'd +hev understood it," argued another critic. + +"Don't ye be too sure he ain't," said Uncle Jim Starbuck gloomily. +"Ye'll find that some blamed woman is at the bottom of this yer +'family' gathering. That and trouble ez almost all they're made +for!" + +There happened to be some truth in this dark prophecy, but none of +the kind that the misogynist supposed. In fact, Spindler had +called a few evenings before at the house of the Rev. Mr. Saltover, +and Mrs. Saltover, having one of her "Saleratus headaches," had +turned him over to her widow sister, Mrs. Huldy Price, who +obediently bestowed upon him that practical and critical attention +which she divided with the stocking she was darning. She was a +woman of thirty-five, of singular nerve and practical wisdom, who +had once smuggled her wounded husband home from a border affray, +calmly made coffee for his deceived pursuers while he lay hidden in +the loft, walked four miles for that medical assistance which +arrived too late to save him, buried him secretly in his own +"quarter section," with only one other witness and mourner, and so +saved her position and property in that wild community, who +believed he had fled. There was very little of this experience to +be traced in her round, fresh-colored brunette cheek, her calm +black eyes, set in a prickly hedge of stiff lashes, her plump +figure, or her frank, courageous laugh. The latter appeared as a +smile when she welcomed Mr. Spindler. "She hadn't seen him for a +coon's age," but "reckoned he was busy fixin' up his new house." + +"Well, yes," said Spindler, with a slight hesitation, "ye see, I'm +reckonin' to hev a kinder Christmas gatherin' of my"--he was about +to say "folks," but dismissed it for "relations," and finally +settled upon "relatives" as being more correct in a preacher's +house. + +Mrs. Price thought it a very good idea. Christmas was the natural +season for the family to gather to "see who's here and who's there, +who's gettin' on and who isn't, and who's dead and buried. It was +lucky for them who were so placed that they could do so and be +joyful." Her invincible philosophy probably carried her past any +dangerous recollections of the lonely grave in Kansas, and holding +up the stocking to the light, she glanced cheerfully along its +level to Mr. Spindler's embarrassed face by the fire. + +"Well, I can't say much ez to that," responded Spindler, still +awkwardly, "for you see I don't know much about it anyway." + +"How long since you've seen 'em?" asked Mrs. Price, apparently +addressing herself to the stocking. + +Spindler gave a weak laugh. "Well, you see, ef it comes to that, +I've never seen 'em!" + +Mrs. Price put the stocking in her lap and opened her direct eyes +on Spindler. "Never seen 'em?" she repeated. "Then, they're not +near relations?" + +"There are three cousins," said Spindler, checking them off on his +fingers, "a half-uncle, a kind of brother-in-law,--that is, the +brother of my sister-in-law's second husband,--and a niece. That's +six." + +"But if you've not seen them, I suppose they've corresponded with +you?" said Mrs. Price. + +"They've nearly all of 'em written to me for money, seeing my name +in the paper ez hevin' made a strike," returned Spindler simply; +"and hevin' sent it, I jest know their addresses." + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Price, returning to the stocking. + +Something in the tone of her ejaculation increased Spindler's +embarrassment, but it also made him desperate. "You see, Mrs. +Price," he blurted out, "I oughter tell ye that I reckon they are +the folks that 'hevn't got on,' don't you see, and so it seemed +only the square thing for me, ez had 'got on,' to give them a sort +o' Christmas festival. Suthin', don't ye know, like what your +brother-in-law was sayin' last Sunday in the pulpit about this yer +peace and goodwill 'twixt man and man." + +Mrs. Price looked again at the man before her. His sallow, +perplexed face exhibited some doubt, yet a certain determination, +regarding the prospect the quotation had opened to him. "A very +good idea, Mr. Spindler, and one that does you great credit," she +said gravely. + +"I'm mighty glad to hear you say so, Mrs. Price," he said, with an +accent of great relief, "for I reckoned to ask you a great favor! +You see," he fell into his former hesitation, "that is--the fact +is--that this sort o' thing is rather suddent to me,--a little +outer my line, don't you see, and I was goin' to ask ye ef you'd +mind takin' the hull thing in hand and runnin it for me." + +"Running it for you," said Mrs. Price, with a quick eye-shot from +under the edge of her lashes. "Man alive! What are you thinking +of?" + +"Bossin' the whole job for me," hurried on Spindler, with nervous +desperation. "Gettin' together all the things and makin' ready for +'em,--orderin' in everythin' that's wanted, and fixin' up the +rooms,--I kin step out while you're doin' it,--and then helpin' me +receivin' 'em, and sittin' at the head o' the table, you know,-- +like ez ef you was the mistress." + +"But," said Mrs. Price, with her frank laugh, "that's the duty of +one of your relations,--your niece, for instance,--or cousin, if +one of them is a woman." + +"But," persisted Spindler, "you see, they're strangers to me; I +don't know 'em, and I do you. You'd make it easy for 'em,--and for +me,--don't you see? Kinder introduce 'em,--don't you know? A +woman of your gin'ral experience would smooth down all them little +difficulties," continued Spindler, with a vague recollection of the +Kansas story, "and put everybody on velvet. Don't say 'No,' Mrs. +Price! I'm just kalkilatin' on you." + +Sincerity and persistency in a man goes a great way with even the +best of women. Mrs. Price, who had at first received Spindler's +request as an amusing originality, now began to incline secretly +towards it. And, of course, began to suggest objections. + +"I'm afraid it won't do," she said thoughtfully, awakening to the +fact that it would do and could be done. "You see, I've promised +to spend Christmas at Sacramento with my nieces from Baltimore. +And then there's Mrs. Saltover and my sister to consult." + +But here Spindler's simple face showed such signs of distress that +the widow declared she would "think it over,"--a process which the +sanguine Spindler seemed to consider so nearly akin to talking it +over that Mrs. Price began to believe it herself, as he hopefully +departed. + +She "thought it over" sufficiently to go to Sacramento and excuse +herself to her nieces. But here she permitted herself to "talk it +over," to the infinite delight of those Baltimore girls, who +thought this extravaganza of Spindler's "so Californian and +eccentric!" So that it was not strange that presently the news +came back to Rough and Ready, and his old associates learned for +the first time that he had never seen his relatives, and that they +would be doubly strangers. This did not increase his popularity; +neither, I grieve to say, did the intelligence that his relatives +were probably poor, and that the Reverend Mr. Saltover had approved +of his course, and had likened it to the rich man's feast, to which +the halt and blind were invited. Indeed, the allusion was supposed +to add hypocrisy and a bid for popularity to Spindler's defection, +for it was argued that he might have feasted "Wall-eyed Joe" or +"Tangle-foot Billy,"--who had once been "chawed" by a bear while +prospecting,--if he had been sincere. Howbeit, Spindler's faith +was oblivious to these criticisms, in his joy at Mr. Saltover's +adhesion to his plans and the loan of Mrs. Price as a hostess. In +fact, he proposed to her that the invitation should also convey +that information in the expression, "by the kind permission of the +Rev. Mr. Saltover," as a guarantee of good faith, but the widow +would have none of it. The invitations were duly written and +dispatched. + +"Suppose," suggested Spindler, with a sudden lugubrious +apprehension,--"suppose they shouldn't come?" + +"Have no fear of that," said Mrs. Price, with a frank laugh. + +"Or ef they was dead," continued Spindler. + +"They couldn't all be dead," said the widow cheerfully. + +"I've written to another cousin by marriage," said Spindler +dubiously, "in case of accident; I didn't think of him before, +because he was rich." + +"And have you ever seen him either, Mr. Spindler?" asked the widow, +with a slight mischievousness. + +"Lordy! No!" he responded, with unaffected concern. + +Only one mistake was made by Mrs. Price in her arrangements for the +party. She had noticed what the simple-minded Spindler could never +have conceived,--the feeling towards him held by his old associates, +and had tactfully suggested that a general invitation should be +extended to them in the evening. + +"You can have refreshments, you know, too, after the dinner, and +games and music." + +"But," said the unsophisticated host, "won't the boys think I'm +playing it rather low down on them, so to speak, givin' 'em a kind +o' second table, as ef it was the tailings after a strike?" + +"Nonsense," said Mrs. Price, with decision. "It's quite +fashionable in San Francisco, and just the thing to do." + +To this decision Spindler, in his blind faith in the widow's +management, weakly yielded. An announcement in the "Weekly Banner" +that, "On Christmas evening Richard Spindler, Esq., proposed to +entertain his friends and fellow citizens at an 'at home,' in his +own residence," not only widened the breach between him and the +"boys," but awakened an active resentment that only waited for an +outlet. It was understood that they were all coming; but that they +should have "some fun out of it" which might not coincide with +Spindler's nor his relatives' sense of humor seemed a foregone +conclusion. + +Unfortunately, too, subsequent events lent themselves to this irony +of the situation. + +He was so obviously sincere in his intent, and, above all, seemed +to place such a pathetic reliance on her judgment, that she +hesitated to let him know the shock his revelation had given her. +And what might his other relations prove to be? Good Lord! Yet, +oddly enough, she was so prepossessed by him, and so fascinated by +his very Quixotism, that it was perhaps for these complex reasons +that she said a little stiffly:-- + +"One of these cousins, I see, is a lady, and then there is your +niece. Do you know anything about them, Mr. Spindler?" + +His face grew serious. "No more than I know of the others," he +said apologetically. After a moment's hesitation he went on: "Now +you speak of it, it seems to me I've heard that my niece was +di-vorced. But," he added, brightening up, "I've heard that she +was popular." + +Mrs. Price gave a short laugh, and was silent for a few minutes. +Then this sublime little woman looked up at him. What he might +have seen in her eyes was more than he expected, or, I fear, +deserved. "Cheer up, Mr. Spindler," she said manfully. "I'll see +you through this thing, don't you mind! But don't you say anything +about--about--this Vigilance Committee business to anybody. Nor +about your niece--it was your niece, wasn't it?--being divorced. +Charley (the late Mr. Price) had a queer sort of sister, who--but +that's neither here nor there! And your niece mayn't come, you +know; or if she does, you ain't bound to bring her out to the +general company." + +At parting, Spindler, in sheer gratefulness, pressed her hand, and +lingered so long over it that a little color sprang into the +widow's brown cheek. Perhaps a fresh courage sprang into her +heart, too, for she went to Sacramento the next day, previously +enjoining Spindler on no account to show any answers he might +receive. At Sacramento her nieces flew to her with confidences. + +"We so wanted to see you, Aunt Huldy, for we've heard something so +delightful about your funny Christmas Party!" Mrs. Price's heart +sank, but her eyes snapped. "Only think of it! One of Mr. +Spindler's long-lost relatives--a Mr. Wragg--lives in this hotel, +and papa knows him. He's a sort of half-uncle, I believe, and he's +just furious that Spindler should have invited him. He showed papa +the letter; said it was the greatest piece of insolence in the +world; that Spindler was an ostentatious fool, who had made a +little money and wanted to use him to get into society; and the fun +of the whole thing was that this half-uncle and whole brute is +himself a parvenu,--a vulgar, ostentatious creature, who was only +a"-- + +"Never mind what he was, Kate," interrupted Mrs. Price hastily. "I +call his conduct a shame." + +"So do we," said both girls eagerly. After a pause Kate clasped +her knees with her locked fingers, and rocking backwards and +forwards, said, "Milly and I have got an idea, and don't you say +'No' to it. We've had it ever since that brute talked in that way. +Now, through him, we know more about this Mr. Spindler's family +connections than you do; and we know all the trouble you and he'll +have in getting up this party. You understand? Now, we first want +to know what Spindler's like. Is he a savage, bearded creature, +like the miners we saw on the boat?" + +Mrs. Price said that, on the contrary, he was very gentle, soft- +spoken, and rather good-looking. + +"Young or old?" + +"Young,--in fact, a mere boy, as you may judge from his actions," +returned Mrs. Price, with a suggestive matronly air. + +Kate here put up a long-handled eyeglass to her fine gray eyes, +fitted it ostentatiously over her aquiline nose, and then said, in +a voice of simulated horror, "Aunt Huldy,--this revelation is +shocking!" + +Mrs. Price laughed her usual frank laugh, albeit her brown cheek +took upon it a faint tint of Indian red. "If that's the wonderful +idea you girls have got, I don't see how it's going to help +matters," she said dryly. + +"No, that's not it? We really have an idea. Now look here." + +Mrs. Price "looked here." This process seemed to the superficial +observer to be merely submitting her waist and shoulders to the +arms of her nieces, and her ears to their confidential and coaxing +voices. + +Twice she said "it couldn't be thought of," and "it was +impossible;" once addressed Kate as "You limb!" and finally said +that she "wouldn't promise, but might write!" + + . . . . . . + +It was two days before Christmas. There was nothing in the air, +sky, or landscape of that Sierran slope to suggest the season to +the Eastern stranger. A soft rain had been dropping for a week on +laurel, pine, and buckeye, and the blades of springing grasses and +shyly opening flowers. Sedate and silent hillsides that had grown +dumb and parched towards the end of the dry season became gently +articulate again; there were murmurs in hushed and forgotten +canyons, the leap and laugh of water among the dry bones of dusty +creeks, and the full song of the larger forks and rivers. +Southwest winds brought the warm odor of the pine sap swelling in +the forest, or the faint, far-off spice of wild mustard springing +in the lower valleys. But, as if by some irony of Nature, this +gentle invasion of spring in the wild wood brought only disturbance +and discomfort to the haunts and works of man. The ditches were +overflowed, the fords of the Fork impassable, the sluicing adrift, +and the trails and wagon roads to Rough and Ready knee-deep in mud. +The stage-coach from Sacramento, entering the settlement by the +mountain highway, its wheels and panels clogged and crusted with an +unctuous pigment like mud and blood, passed out of it through the +overflowed and dangerous ford, and emerged in spotless purity, +leaving its stains behind with Rough and Ready. A week of enforced +idleness on the river "Bar" had driven the miners to the more +comfortable recreation of the saloon bar, its mirrors, its florid +paintings, its armchairs, and its stove. The steam of their wet +boots and the smoke of their pipes hung over the latter like the +sacrificial incense from an altar. But the attitude of the men was +more critical and censorious than contented, and showed little of +the gentleness of the weather or season. + +"Did you hear if the stage brought down any more relations of +Spindler's?" + +The barkeeper, to whom this question was addressed, shifted his +lounging position against the bar and said, "I reckon not, ez far +ez I know." + +"And that old bloat of a second cousin--that crimson beak--what kem +down yesterday,--he ain't bin hangin' round here today for his +reg'lar pizon?" + +"No," said the barkeeper thoughtfully, "I reckon Spindler's got him +locked up, and is settin' on him to keep him sober till after +Christmas, and prevent you boys gettin' at him." + +"He'll have the jimjams before that," returned the first speaker; +"and how about that dead beat of a half-nephew who borrowed twenty +dollars of Yuba Bill on the way down, and then wanted to get off at +Shootersvilie, but Bill wouldn't let him, and scooted him down to +Spindler's and collected the money from Spindler himself afore he'd +give him up?" + +"He's up thar with the rest of the menagerie," said the barkeeper, +"but I reckon that Mrs. Price hez bin feedin' him up. And ye know +the old woman--that fifty-fifth cousin by marriage--whom Joe +Chandler swears he remembers ez an old cook for a Chinese +restaurant in Stockton,--darn my skin ef that Mrs. Price hasn't +rigged her out in some fancy duds of her own, and made her look +quite decent." + +A deep groan here broke from Uncle Jim Starbuck. + +"Didn't I tell ye?" he said, turning appealingly to the others. +"It's that darned widow that's at the bottom of it all! She first +put Spindler up to givin' the party, and now, darn my skin, ef she +ain't goin to fix up these ragamuffins and drill 'em so we can't +get any fun outer 'em after all! And it's bein' a woman that's +bossin' the job, and not Spindler, we've got to draw things mighty +fine and not cut up too rough, or some of the boys will kick." + +"You bet," said a surly but decided voice in the crowd. + +"And," said another voice, "Mrs. Price didn't live in 'Bleeding +Kansas' for nothing." + +"Wot's the programme you've settled on, Uncle Jim?" said the +barkeeper lightly, to check what seemed to promise a dangerous +discussion. + +"Well," said Starbuck, "we kalkilate to gather early Christmas +night in Hooper's Hollow and rig ourselves up Injun fashion, and +then start for Spindler's with pitch-pine torches, and have a +'torchlight dance' around the house; them who does the dancin' and +yellin' outside takin' their turn at goin' in and hevin' refreshment. +Jake Cooledge, of Boston, sez if anybody objects to it, we've only +got to say we're 'Mummers of the Olden Times,' sabe? Then, later, +we'll have 'Them Sabbath Evening Bells' performed on prospectin' +pans by the band. Then, at the finish, Jake Cooledge is goin' to +give one of his surkastic speeches,--kinder welcomin' Spindler's +family to the Free Openin' o' Spindler's Almshouse and Reformatory." +He paused, possibly for that approbation which, however, did not +seem to come spontaneously. "It ain't much," he added apologetically, +"for we're hampered by women; but we'll add to the programme ez we +see how things pan out. Ye see, from what we can hear, all of +Spindler's relations ain't on hand yet! We've got to wait, like in +elckshun times, for 'returns from the back counties.' Hello! What's +that?" + +It was the swish and splutter of hoofs on the road before the door. +The Sacramento coach! In an instant every man was expectant, and +Starbuck darted outside on the platform. Then there was the usual +greeting and bustle, the hurried ingress of thirsty passengers into +the saloon, and a pause. Uncle Jim returned, excitedly and +pantingly. "Look yer, boys! Ef this ain't the richest thing out! +They say there's two more relations o' Spindler's on the coach, +come down as express freight, consigned,--d'ye hear?--consigned to +Spindler!" + +"Stiffs, in coffins?" suggested an eager voice. + +"I didn't get to hear more. But here they are." + +There was the sudden irruption of a laughing, curious crowd into +the bar-room, led by Yuba Bill, the driver. Then the crowd parted, +and out of their midst stepped two children, a boy and a girl, the +oldest apparently of not more than six years, holding each other's +hands. They were coarsely yet cleanly dressed, and with a certain +uniform precision that suggested formal charity. But more +remarkable than all, around the neck of each was a little steel +chain, from which depended the regular check and label of the +powerful Express Company, Wells; Fargo & Co., and the words: "To +Richard Spindler." "Fragile." "With great care." "Collect on +delivery." Occasionally their little hands went up automatically +and touched their labels, as if to show them. They surveyed the +crowd, the floor, the gilded bar, and Yuba Bill without fear and +without wonder. There was a pathetic suggestion that they were +accustomed to this observation. + +"Now, Bobby," said Yuba Bill, leaning back against the bar, with an +air half-paternal, half-managerial, "tell these gents how you came +here." + +"By Wellth, Fargoth Expreth," lisped Bobby. + +"Whar from?" + +"Wed Hill, Owegon." + +"Red Hill, Oregon? Why, it's a thousand miles from here," said a +bystander. + +"I reckon," said Yuba Bill coolly, "they kem by stage to Portland, +by steamer to 'Frisco, steamer again to Stockton, and then by stage +over the whole line. Allers by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, from +agent to agent, and from messenger to messenger. Fact! They ain't +bin tetched or handled by any one but the Kempany's agents; they +ain't had a line or direction except them checks around their necks! +And they've wanted for nothin' else. Why, I've carried heaps o' +treasure before, gentlemen, and once a hundred thousand dollars in +greenbacks, but I never carried anythin' that was watched and +guarded as them kids! Why, the division inspector at Stockton +wanted to go with 'em over the line; but Jim Bracy, the messenger, +said he'd call it a reflection on himself and resign, ef they +didn't give 'em to him with the other packages! Ye had a pretty +good time, Bobby, didn't ye? Plenty to eat and drink, eh?" + +The two children laughed a little weak laugh, turned each other +bashfully around, and then looked up shyly at Yuba Bill and said, +"Yeth." + +"Do you know where you are goin'?" asked Starbuck, in a constrained +voice. + +It was the little girl who answered quickly and eagerly:-- + +"Yes, to Krissmass and Sandy Claus." + +"To what?" asked Starbuck. + +Here the boy interposed with a superior air:-- + +"Thee meanth Couthin Dick. He'th got Krithmath." + +"Where's your mother?" + +"Dead." + +"And your father?" + +"In orthpittal." + +There was a laugh somewhere on the outskirts of the crowd. Every +one faced angrily in that direction, but the laugher had disappeared. +Yuba Bill, however, sent his voice after him. "Yes, in hospital! +Funny, ain't it?--amoosin' place! Try it. Step over here, and in +five minutes, by the living Hoky, I'll qualify you for admission, +and not charge you a cent!" He stopped, gave a sweeping glance of +dissatisfaction around him, and then, leaning back against the bar, +beckoned to some one near the door, and said in a disgusted tone, +"You tell these galoots how it happened, Bracy. They make me sick!" + +Thus appealed to, Bracy, the express messenger, stepped forward in +Yuba Bill's place. + +"It's nothing particular, gentlemen," he said, with a laugh, "only +it seems that some man called Spindler, who lives about here, sent +an invitation to the father of these children to bring his family +to a Christmas party. It wasn't a bad sort of thing for Spindler +to do, considering that they were his poor relations, though they +didn't know him from Adam,--was it?" He paused; several of the +bystanders cleared their throats, but said nothing. "At least," +resumed Bracy, "that's what the boys up at Red Hill, Oregon, +thought, when they heard of it. Well, as the father was in +hospital with a broken leg, and the mother only a few weeks dead, +the boys thought it mighty rough on these poor kids if they were +done out of their fun because they had no one to bring them. The +boys couldn't afford to go themselves, but they got a little money +together, and then got the idea of sendin' 'em by express. Our +agent at Red Hill tumbled to the idea at once; but he wouldn't take +any money in advance, and said he would send 'em 'C. O. D.' like +any other package. And he did, and here they are! That's all! +And now, gentlemen, as I've got to deliver them personally to this +Spindler, and get his receipt and take off their checks, I reckon +we must toddle. Come, Bill, help take 'em up!" + +"Hold on!" said a dozen voices. A dozen hands were thrust into a +dozen pockets; I grieve to say some were regretfully withdrawn +empty, for it was a hard season in Rough and Ready. But the +expressman stepped before them, with warning, uplifted hand. + +"Not a cent, boys,--not a cent! Wells, Fargo's Express Company +don't undertake to carry bullion with those kids, at least on the +same contract!" He laughed, and then looking around him, said +confidentially in a lower voice, which, however, was quite audible +to the children, "There's as much as three bags of silver in +quarter and half dollars in my treasure box in the coach that has +been poured, yes, just showered upon them, ever since they started, +and have been passed over from agent to agent and messenger to +messenger,--enough to pay their passage from here to China! It's +time to say quits now. But bet your life, they are not going to +that Christmas party poor!" + +He caught up the boy, as Yuba Bill lifted the little girl to his +shoulder, and both passed out. Then one by one the loungers in the +bar-room silently and awkwardly followed, and when the barkeeper +turned back from putting away his decanters and glasses, to his +astonishment the room was empty. + + . . . . . . + +Spindler's house, or "Spindler's Splurge," as Rough and Ready chose +to call it, stood above the settlement, on a deforested hillside, +which, however, revenged itself by producing not enough vegetation +to cover even the few stumps that were ineradicable. A large +wooden structure in the pseudo-classic style affected by Westerners, +with an incongruous cupola, it was oddly enough relieved by a still +more incongruous veranda extending around its four sides, upheld by +wooden Doric columns, which were already picturesquely covered with +flowering vines and sun-loving roses. Mr. Spindler had trusted the +furnishing of its interior to the same contractor who had +upholstered the gilded bar-room of the Eureka Saloon, and who had +apparently bestowed the same design and material, impartially, on +each. There were gilded mirrors all over the house and chilly +marble-topped tables, gilt plaster Cupids in the corners, and +stuccoed lions "in the way" everywhere. The tactful hands of Mrs. +Price had screened some of these with seasonable laurels, fir +boughs, and berries, and had imparted a slight Christmas flavor to +the house. But the greater part of her time had been employed in +trying to subdue the eccentricities of Spindler's amazing relations; +in tranquilizing Mrs. "Aunt" Martha Spindler,--the elderly cook +before alluded to,--who was inclined to regard the gilded splendors +of the house as indicative of dangerous immorality; in restraining +"Cousin" Morley Hewlett from considering the dining-room buffet as a +bar for "intermittent refreshment;" and in keeping the weak-minded +nephew, Phinney Spindler, from shooting at bottles from the veranda, +wearing his uncle's clothes, or running up an account in his uncle's +name for various articles at the general stores. Yet the +unlooked-for arrival of the two children had been the one great +compensation and diversion for her. She wrote at once to her nieces +a brief account of her miraculous deliverance. "I think these poor +children dropped from the skies here to make our Christmas party +possible, to say nothing of the sympathy they have created in Rough +and Ready for Spindler. He is going to keep them as long as he can, +and is writing to the father. Think of the poor little tots +traveling a thousand miles to 'Krissmass,' as they call it!--though +they were so well cared for by the messengers that their little +bodies were positively stuffed like quails. So, you see, dear, we +will be able to get along without airing your famous idea. I'm +sorry, for I know you're just dying to see it all." + +Whatever Kate's "idea" might have been, there certainly seemed now +no need of any extraneous aid to Mrs. Price's management. +Christmas came at last, and the dinner passed off without serious +disaster. But the ordeal of the reception of Rough and Ready was +still to come. For Mrs. Price well knew that although "the boys" +were more subdued, and, indeed, inclined to sympathize with their +host's uncouth endeavor, there was still much in the aspect of +Spindler's relations to excite their sense of the ludicrous. + +But here Fortune again favored the house of Spindler with a +dramatic surprise, even greater than the advent of the children had +been. In the change that had come over Rough and Ready, "the boys" +had decided, out of deference to the women and children, to omit +the first part of their programme, and had approached and entered +the house as soberly and quietly as ordinary guests. But before +they had shaken hands with the host and hostess, and seen the +relations, the clatter of wheels was heard before the open door, +and its lights flashed upon a carriage and pair,--an actual private +carriage,--the like of which had not been seen since the governor +of the State had come down to open the new ditch! Then there was a +pause, the flash of the carriage lamps upon white silk, the light +tread of a satin foot on the veranda and in the hall, and the +entrance of a vision of loveliness! Middle-aged men and old +dwellers of cities remembered their youth; younger men bethought +themselves of Cinderella and the Prince! There was a thrill and a +hush as this last guest--a beautiful girl, radiant with youth and +adornment--put a dainty glass to her sparkling eye and advanced +familiarly, with outstretched hand, to Dick Spindler. Mrs. Price +gave a single gasp, and drew back speechless. + +"Uncle Dick," said a laughing contralto voice, which, indeed, +somewhat recalled Mrs. Price's own, in its courageous frankness, "I +am so delighted to come, even if a little late, and so sorry that +Mr. M'Kenna could not come on account of business." + +Everybody listened eagerly, but none more eagerly and surprisingly +than the host himself. M'Kenna! The rich cousin who had never +answered the invitation! And Uncle Dick! This, then, was his +divorced niece! Yet even in his astonishment he remembered that of +course no one but himself and Mrs. Price knew it,--and that lady +had glanced discreetly away. + +"Yes," continued the half-niece brightly. "I came from Sacramento +with some friends to Shootersville, and from thence I drove here; +and though I must return to-night, I could not forego the pleasure +of coming, if it was only for an hour or two, to answer the +invitation of the uncle I have not seen for years." She paused, +and, raising her glasses, turned a politely questioning eye towards +Mrs. Price. "One of our relations?" she said smilingly to Spindler. + +"No," said Spindler, with some embarrassment, "a--a friend!" + +The half-niece extended her hand. Mrs. Price took it. + +But the fair stranger,--what she did and said were the only things +remembered in Rough and Ready on that festive occasion; no one +thought of the other relations; no one recalled them nor their +eccentricities; Spindler himself was forgotten. People only +recollected how Spindler's lovely niece lavished her smiles and +courtesies on every one, and brought to her feet particularly the +misogynist Starbuck and the sarcastic Cooledge, oblivious of his +previous speech; how she sat at the piano and sang like an angel, +hushing the most hilarious and excited into sentimental and even +maudlin silence; how, graceful as a nymph, she led with "Uncle +Dick" a Virginia reel until the whole assembly joined, eager for a +passing touch of her dainty hand in its changes; how, when two +hours had passed,--all too swiftly for the guests,--they stood with +bared heads and glistening eyes on the veranda to see the fairy +coach whirl the fairy princess away! How--but this incident was +never known to Rough and Ready. + +It happened in the sacred dressing-room, where Mrs. Price was +cloaking with her own hands the departing half-niece of Mr. +Spindler. Taking that opportunity to seize the lovely relative by +the shoulders and shake her violently, she said: "Oh, yes, and it's +all very well for you, Kate, you limb! For you're going away, and +will never see Rough and Ready and poor Spindler again. But what +am I to do, miss? How am I to face it out? For you know I've got +to tell him at least that you're no half-niece of his!" + +"Have you?" said the young lady. + +"Have I?" repeated the widow impatiently. "Have I? Of course I +have! What are you thinking of?" + +"I was thinking, aunty," said the girl audaciously, "that from what +I've seen and heard to-night, if I'm not his half-niece now, it's +only a question of time! So you'd better wait. Good-night, dear." + +And, really,--it turned out that she was right! + + + +WHEN THE WATERS WERE UP AT "JULES'" + + +When the waters were up at "Jules'" there was little else up on +that monotonous level. For the few inhabitants who calmly and +methodically moved to higher ground, camping out in tents until the +flood had subsided, left no distracting wreckage behind them. A +dozen half-submerged log cabins dotted the tranquil surface of the +waters, without ripple or disturbance, looking in the moonlight +more like the ruins of centuries than of a few days. There was no +current to sap their slight foundations or sweep them away; nothing +stirred that silent lake but the occasional shot-like indentations +of a passing raindrop, or, still more rarely, a raft, made of a +single log, propelled by some citizen on a tour of inspection of +his cabin roof-tree, where some of his goods were still stored. +There was no sense of terror in this bland obliteration of the +little settlement; the ruins of a single burnt-up cabin would have +been more impressive than this stupid and even grotesquely placid +effect of the rival destroying element. People took it naturally; +the water went as it had come,--slowly, impassively, noiselessly; a +few days of fervid Californian sunshine dried the cabins, and in a +week or two the red dust lay again as thickly before their doors as +the winter mud had lain. The waters of Rattlesnake Creek dropped +below its banks, the stage-coach from Marysville no longer made a +detour of the settlement. There was even a singular compensation +to this amicable invasion; the inhabitants sometimes found gold in +those breaches in the banks made by the overflow. To wait for the +"old Rattlesnake sluicing" was a vernal hope of the trusting miner. + +The history of "Jules'," however, was once destined to offer a +singular interruption of this peaceful and methodical process. The +winter of 1859-60 was an exceptional one. But little rain had +fallen in the valleys, although the snow lay deep in the high +Sierras. Passes were choked, ravines filled, and glaciers found on +their slopes. And when the tardy rains came with the withheld +southwesterly "trades," the regular phenomenon recurred; Jules' +Flat silently, noiselessly, and peacefully went under water; the +inhabitants moved to the higher ground, perhaps a little more +expeditiously from an impatience born of the delay. The stagecoach +from Marysville made its usual detour and stopped before the +temporary hotel, express offices, and general store of "Jules'," +under canvas, bark, and the limp leaves of a spreading alder. It +deposited a single passenger,--Miles Hemmingway, of San Francisco, +but originally of Boston,--the young secretary of a mining company, +dispatched to report upon the alleged auriferous value of "Jules'." +Of this he had been by no means impressed as he looked down upon +the submerged cabins from the box-seat of the coach and listened to +the driver's lazy recital of the flood, and of the singularly +patient acceptance of it by the inhabitants. + +It was the old story of the southwestern miner's indolence and +incompetency,--utterly distasteful to his northern habits of +thought and education. Here was their old fatuous endurance of +Nature's wild caprices, without that struggle against them which +brought others strength and success; here was the old philosophy +which accepted the prairie fire and cyclone, and survived them +without advancement, yet without repining. Perhaps in different +places and surroundings a submission so stoic might have impressed +him; in gentlemen who tucked their dirty trousers in their muddy +boots and lived only for the gold they dug, it did not seem to him +heroic. Nor was he mollified as he stood beside the rude +refreshment bar--a few planks laid on trestles--and drank his +coffee beneath the dripping canvas roof, with an odd recollection +of his boyhood and an inclement Sunday-school picnic. Yet these +men had been living in this shiftless fashion for three weeks! It +exasperated him still more to think that he might have to wait +there a few days longer for the water to subside sufficiently for +him to make his examination and report. As he took a proffered +seat on a candle-box, which tilted under him, and another survey of +the feeble makeshifts around him, his irascibility found vent. + +"Why, in the name of God, didn't you, after you had been flooded +out ONCE, build your cabins PERMANENTLY on higher ground?" + +Although the tone of his voice was more disturbing than his +question, it pleased one of the loungers to affect to take it +literally. + +"Well, ez you've put it that way,--'in the name of God!'"--returned +the man lazily, "it mout hev struck us that ez HE was bossin' the +job, so to speak, and handlin' things round here generally, we +might leave it to Him. It wasn't OUR flood to monkey with." + +"And as He didn't coven-ant, so to speak, to look arter this higher +ground 'speshally, and make an Ararat of it for us, ez far ez we +could see, we didn't see any reason for SETTLIN' yer," put in a +second speaker, with equal laziness. + +The secretary saw his mistake instantly, and had experience enough +of Western humor not to prolong the disadvantage of his unfortunate +adjuration. He colored slightly and said, with a smile, "You know +what I mean; you could have protected yourselves better. A levee +on the bank would have kept you clear of the highest watermark." + +"Hey you ever heard WHAT the highest watermark was?" said the first +speaker, turning to another of the loungers without looking at the +secretary. + +"Never heard it,--didn't know there was a limit before," responded +the man. + +The first speaker turned back to the secretary. "Did you ever know +what happened at 'Bulger's,' on the North Fork? They had one o' +them levees." + +"No. What happened?" asked the secretary impatiently. + +"They was fixed suthin' like us," returned the first speaker. +"THEY allowed they'd build a levee above THEIR highest watermark, +and did. It worked like a charm at first; but the water hed to go +somewhere, and it kinder collected at the first bend. Then it +sorter raised itself on its elbows one day, and looked over the +levee down upon whar some of the boys was washin' quite comf'ble. +Then it paid no sorter attention to the limit o' that high +watermark, but went six inches better! Not slow and quiet like ez +it useter to, ez it does HERE, kinder fillin' up from below, but +went over with a rush and a current, hevin' of course the whole +height of the levee to fall on t'other side where the boys were +sluicing." He paused, and amidst a profound silence added, "They +say that 'Bulger's' was scattered promiscuous-like all along the +fort for five miles. I only know that one of his mules and a +section of sluicing was picked up at Red Flat, eight miles away!" + +Mr. Hemmingway felt that there WAS an answer to this, but, being +wise, also felt that it would be unavailing. He smiled politely +and said nothing, at which the first speaker turned to him:-- + +"Thar ain't anything to see to-day, but to-morrow, ez things go, +the water oughter be droppin'. Mebbe you'd like to wash up now and +clean yourself," he added, with a glance at Hemmingway's small +portmanteau. "Ez we thought you'd likely be crowded here, we've +rigged up a corner for you at Stanton's shanty with the women." + +The young man's cheek flushed slightly at some possible irony in +this, and he protested with considerable stress that he was quite +ready "to rough it" where he was. + +"I reckon it's already fixed," returned the man decisively, "so +you'd better come and I'll show you the way." + +"One moment," said Hemmingway, with a smile; "my credentials are +addressed to the manager of the Boone Ditch Company at 'Jules'.' +Perhaps I ought to see him first." + +"All right; he's Stanton." + +"And"--hesitated the secretary, "YOU, who appear to understand the +locality so well,--I trust I may have the pleasure"-- + +"Oh, I'm Jules." + +The secretary was a little startled and amused. So "Jules" was a +person, and not a place! + +"Then you're a pioneer?" asked Hemmingway, a little less +dictatorially, as they passed out under the dripping trees. + +"I struck this creek in the fall of '49, comin' over Livermore's +Pass with Stanton," returned Jules, with great brevity of speech +and deliberate tardiness of delivery. "Sent for my wife and two +children the next year; wife died same winter, change bein' too +sudden for her, and contractin' chills and fever at Sweetwater. +When I kem here first thar wasn't six inches o' water in the creek; +out there was a heap of it over there where you see them yallowish- +green patches and strips o' brush and grass; all that war water +then, and all that growth hez sprung up since." + +Hemmingway looked around him. The "higher ground" where they stood +was in reality only a mound-like elevation above the dead level of +the flat, and the few trees were merely recent young willows and +alders. The area of actual depression was much greater than he had +imagined, and its resemblance to the bed of some prehistoric inland +sea struck him forcibly. A previous larger inundation than Jules' +brief experience had ever known had been by no means improbable. +His cheek reddened at his previous hasty indictment of the +settlers' ignorance and shiftlessness, and the thought that he had +probably committed his employers to his own rash confidence and +superiority of judgment. However, there was no evidence that this +diluvial record was not of the remote past. He smiled again with +greater security as he thought of the geological changes that had +since tempered these cataclysms, and the amelioration brought by +settlement and cultivation. Nevertheless, he would make a thorough +examination to-morrow. + +Stanton's cabin was the furthest of these temporary habitations, +and was partly on the declivity which began to slope to the river's +bank. It was, like the others, a rough shanty of unplaned boards, +but, unlike the others, it had a base of logs laid lengthwise on +the ground and parallel with each other, on which the flooring and +structure were securely fastened. This gave it the appearance of a +box slid on runners, or a Noah's Ark whose bulk had been reduced. +Jules explained that the logs, laid in that manner, kept the shanty +warmer and free from damp. In reply to Hemmingway's suggestion +that it was a great waste of material, Jules simply replied that +the logs were the "flotsam and jetsam" of the creek from the +overflowed mills below. + +Hemmingway again smiled. It was again the old story of Western +waste and prodigality. Accompanied by Jules, however, he climbed +up the huge, slippery logs which made a platform before the door, +and entered. + +The single room was unequally divided; the larger part containing +three beds, by day rolled in a single pile in one corner to make +room for a table and chairs. A few dresses hanging from nails on +the wall showed that it was the women's room. The smaller +compartment was again subdivided by a hanging blanket, behind which +was a rude bunk or berth against the wall, a table made of a +packing-box, containing a tin basin and a can of water. This was +his apartment. + +"The women-folks are down the creek, bakin', to-day," said Jules +explanatorily; "but I reckon that one of 'em will be up here in a +jiffy to make supper, so you just take it easy till they come. +I've got to meander over to the claim afore I turn in, but you just +lie by to-night and take a rest." + +He turned away, leaving Hemmingway standing in the doorway still +distraught and hesitating. Nor did the young man recognize the +delicacy of Jules' leave-taking until he had unstrapped his +portmanteau and found himself alone, free to make his toilet, +unembarrassed by company. But even then he would have preferred +the rough companionship of the miners in the common dormitory of +the general store to this intrusion upon the half-civilization of +the women, their pitiable little comforts and secret makeshifts. +His disgust of his own indecision which brought him there naturally +recoiled in the direction of his host and hostesses, and after a +hurried ablution, a change of linen, and an attempt to remove the +stains of travel from his clothes, he strode out impatiently into +the open air again. + +It was singularly mild even for the season. The southwest trades +blew softly, and whispered to him of San Francisco and the distant +Pacific, with its long, steady swell. He turned again to the +overflowed Flat beneath him, and the sluggish yellow water that +scarcely broke a ripple against the walls of the half-submerged +cabins. And this was the water for whose going down they were +waiting with an immobility as tranquil as the waters themselves! +What marvelous incompetency,--or what infinite patience! He knew, +of course, their expected compensation in this "ground sluicing" at +Nature's own hand; the long rifts in the banks of the creek which +so often showed "the color" in the sparkling scales of river gold +disclosed by the action of the water; the heaps of reddish mud left +after its subsidence around the walls of the cabins,--a deposit +that often contained a treasure a dozen times more valuable than +the cabin itself! And then he heard behind him a laugh, a short +and panting breath, and turning, beheld a young woman running +towards him. + +In his first astounded sight of her, in her limp nankeen sunbonnet, +thrown back from her head by the impetus of her flight, he saw only +too much hair, two much white teeth, too much eye-flash, and, above +all,--as it appeared to him,--too much confidence in the power of +these qualities. Even as she ran, it seemed to him that she was +pulling down ostentatiously the rolled-up sleeves of her pink +calico gown over her shapely arms. I am inclined to think that the +young gentleman's temper was at fault, and his conclusion hasty; a +calmer observer would have detected nothing of this in her frankly +cheerful voice. Nevertheless, her evident pleasure in the meeting +seemed to him only obtrusive coquetry. + +"Lordy! I reckoned to git here afore you'd get through fixin' up, +and in time to do a little prinkin' myself, and here you're out +already." She laughed, glancing at his clean shirt and damp hair. +"But all the same, we kin have a talk, and you kin tell me all the +news afore the other wimmen get up here. It's a coon's age since I +was at Sacramento and saw anybody or anything." She stopped and, +instinctively detecting some vague reticence in the man before her, +said, still laughing, "You're Mr. Hemmingway, ain't you?" + +Hemmingway took off his hat quickly, with a slight start at his +forgetfulness. "I beg your pardon; yes, certainly." + +"Aunty Stanton thought it was 'Hummingbird,'" said the girl, with a +laugh, "but I reckoned not. I'm Jinney Jules, you know; folks call +me 'J. J.' It wouldn't do for a Hummingbird and a Jay Jay to be in +the same camp, would it? It would be just TOO funny!" + +Hemmingway did not find the humor of this so singularly exhaustive, +but he was already beginning to be ashamed of his attitude towards +her. "I'm very sorry to be giving you all this trouble by my +intrusion, for I was quite willing to stay at the store yonder. +Indeed," he added, with a burst of frankness quite as sincere as +her own, "if you think your father will not be offended, I would +gladly go there now." + +If he still believed in her coquetry and vanity, he would have been +undeceived and crushed by the equal and sincere frankness with +which she met this ungallant speech. + +"No! I reckon he wouldn't care, if you'd be as comf'ble and fit +for to-morrow. But ye WOULDN'T," she said reflectively. "The boys +thar sit up late over euchre, and swear a heap, and Simpson, who'd +sleep alongside of ye, snores pow'ful, I've heard. Aunty Stanton +kin do her level at that, too, and they say"--with a laugh--"that I +kin, too, but you're away off in that corner, and it won't reach +you. So, takin' it all, by the large, you'd better stay whar ye +are. We wimmen, that is, the most of us, will be off and away down +to Rattlesnake Bar shoppin' afore sun up, so ye'll sleep ez long ez +ye want to, and find yer breakfast ready when ye wake. So I'll +jest set to and get ye some supper, and ye kin tell me all the +doin's in Sacramento and 'Frisco while I'm workin'." + +In spite of her unconscious rebuff to his own vanity, Hemmingway +felt a sense of relief and less constraint in his relations to this +decidedly provincial hostess. + +"Can I help you in any way?" he asked eagerly. + +"Well, ye MIGHT bring me an armful o' wood from the pile under the +alders, ef ye ain't afraid o' dirtyin' your coat," she said +tentatively. + +Mr. Hemmingway was not afraid; he declared himself delighted. He +brought a generous armful of small cut willow boughs, and deposited +them before a small stove, which seemed a temporary substitute for +the usual large adobe chimney that generally occupied the entire +gable of a miner's cabin. An elbow and short length of stovepipe +carried the smoke through the cabin side. But he also noticed that +his fair companion had used the interval to put on a pair of white +cuffs and a collar. However, she brushed the green moss from his +sleeve with some toweling, and although this operation brought her +so near to him that her breath--as soft and warm as the southwest +trades--stirred his hair, it was evident that this contiguity was +only frontier familiarity, as far removed from conscious coquetry +as it was, perhaps, from educated delicacy. + +"The boys gin'rally kem to take up enough wood for me to begin +with," she said, "but I reckon they didn't know I was comin' up so +soon." + +Hemmingway's distrust returned a little at this obvious suggestion +that he was only a substitute for their general gallantry, but he +smiled and said somewhat bluntly, "I don't suppose you lack for +admirers here." + +The girl, however, took him literally. "Lordy, no! Me and Mamie +Robinson are the only girls for fifteen miles along the creek. +ADMIRIN'! I call it jest PESTERIN' sometimes! I reckon I'll hev +to keep a dog!" + +Hemmingway shivered. Yes, she was not only conscious, but spoilt +already. He pictured to himself the uncouth gallantries of the +settlement, the provincial badinage, the feeble rivalries of the +young men whom he had seen at the general store. Undoubtedly this +was what she was expecting in HIM! + +"Well," she said, turning from the fire she had kindled, "while I'm +settin' the table, tell me what's a-doin' in Sacramento! I reckon +you've got heaps of lady friends thar,--I'm told there's lots of +fashions just from the States." + +"I'm afraid I don't know enough of them to interest you," he said +dryly. + +"Go on and talk," she replied. "Why, when Tom Flynn kem back from +Sacramento, and he warn't thar more nor a week, he jest slung yarns +about his doin's thar to last the hull rainy season." + +Half amused and half annoyed, Hemmingway seated himself on the +little platform beside the open door, and began a conscientious +description of the progress of Sacramento, its new buildings, +hotels, and theatres, as it had struck him on his last visit. For +a while he was somewhat entertained by the girl's vivacity and +eager questioning, but presently it began to pall. He continued, +however, with a grim sense of duty, and partly as a reason for +watching her in her household duties. Certainly she was graceful! +Her tall, lithe, but beautifully moulded figure, even in its +characteristic southwestern indolence, fell into poses as +picturesque as they were unconscious. She lifted the big molasses- +can from its shelf on the rafters with the attitude of a Greek +water-bearer. She upheaved the heavy flour-sack to the same secure +shelf with the upraised palms of an Egyptian caryatid. Suddenly +she interrupted Hemmingway's perfunctory talk with a hearty laugh. +He started, looked up from his seat on the platform, and saw that +she was standing over him and regarding him with a kind of +mischievous pity. + +"Look here," she said, "I reckon that'll do! You kin pull up +short! I kin see what's the matter with you; you're jest plumb +tired, tuckered out, and want to turn in! So jest you sit that +quiet until I get supper ready and never mind me." In vain +Hemmingway protested, with a rising color. The girl only shook her +head. "Don't tell me! You ain't keering to talk, and you're only +playin' Sacramento statistics on me," she retorted, with unfeigned +cheerfulness. "Anyhow, here's the wimmen comin', and supper is +ready." + +There was a sound of weary, resigned ejaculations and pantings, and +three gaunt women in lustreless alpaca gowns appeared before the +cabin. They seemed prematurely aged and worn with labor, anxiety, +and ill nourishment. Doubtless somewhere in these ruins a flower +like Jay Jules had once flourished; doubtless somewhere in that +graceful nymph herself the germ of this dreary maturity was hidden. +Hemmingway welcomed them with a seriousness equal to their own. +The supper was partaken with the kind of joyless formality which in +the southwest is supposed to indicate deep respect, even the +cheerful Jay falling under the influence, and it was with a feeling +of relief that at last the young man retired to his fenced-off +corner for solitude and repose. He gathered, however, that before +"sun up" the next morning the elder women were going to Rattlesnake +Bar for the weekly shopping, leaving Jay as before to prepare his +breakfast and then join them later. It was already a change in his +sentiments to find himself looking forward to that tete-a-tete with +the young girl, as a chance of redeeming his character in her eyes. +He was beginning to feel he had been stupid, unready, and withal +prejudiced. He undressed himself in his seclusion, broken only by +the monotonous voices in the adjoining apartment. From time to +time he heard fragments and scraps of their conversation, always in +reference to affairs of the household and settlement, but never of +himself,--not even the suggestion of a prudent lowering of their +voices,--and fell asleep. He woke up twice in the night with a +sensation of cold so marked and distinct from his experience of the +early evening, that he was fain to pile his clothes over his +blankets to keep warm. He fell asleep again, coming once more to +consciousness with a sense of a slight jar, but relapsing again +into slumber for he knew not how long. Then he was fully awakened +by a voice calling him, and, opening his eyes, beheld the blanket +partition put aside, and the face of Jay thrust forward. To his +surprise it wore a look of excited astonishment dominated by +irrepressible laughter. + +"Get up quick as you kin," she said gaspingly; "this is about the +killingest thing that ever happened!" + +She disappeared, but he could still hear her laughing, and to his +utter astonishment with her disappearance the floor seemed to +change its level. A giddy feeling seized him; he put his feet to +the floor; it was unmistakably wet and oozing. He hurriedly +clothed himself, still accompanied by the strange feeling of +oscillation and giddiness, and passed though the opening into the +next room. Again his step produced the same effect upon the floor, +and he actually stumbled against her shaking figure, as she wiped +the tears of uncontrollable mirth from her eyes with her apron. +The contact seemed to upset her remaining gravity. She dropped +into a chair, and, pointing to the open door, gasped, "Look thar! +Lordy! How's that for high?" threw her apron over her head, and +gave way to an uproarious fit of laughter. + +Hemmingway turned to the open door. A lake was before him on the +level of the cabin. He stepped forward on the platform; the water +was right and left, all around him. The platform dipped slightly +to his step. The cabin was afloat,--afloat upon its base of logs +like a raft, the whole structure upheld by the floor on which the +logs were securely fastened. The high ground had disappeared--the +river--its banks the green area beyond. They, and THEY alone, were +afloat upon an inland sea. + +He turned an astounded and serious face upon her mirth. "When did +it happen?" he demanded. She checked her laugh, more from a sense +of polite deference to his mood than any fear, and said quietly, +"That gets me. Everything was all right two hours ago when the +wimmen left. It was too early to get your breakfast and rouse ye +out, and I felt asleep, I reckon, until I felt a kind o' slump and +a jar." Hemmingway remembered his own half-conscious sensation. +"Then I got up and saw we was adrift. I didn't waken ye, for I +thought it was only a sort of wave that would pass. It wasn't +until I saw we were movin' and the hull rising ground gettin' away, +that I thought o' callin' ye." + +He thought of the vanished general store, of her father, the +workers on the bank, the helpless women on their way to the Bar, +and turned almost savagely on her. + +"But the others,--where are they?" he said indignantly. "Do you +call that a laughing matter?" + +She stopped at the sound of his voice as at a blow. Her face +hardened into immobility, yet when she replied it was with the +deliberate indolence of her father. "The wimmen are up on the +hills by this time. The boys hev bin drowned out many times afore +this and got clear off, on sluice boxes and timber, without +squealing. Tom Flynn went down ten miles to Sayer's once on two +bar'ls, and I never heard that HE was cryin' when they picked him +up." + +A flush came to Hemmingway's cheek, but with it a gleam of +intelligence. Of course the inundation was known to them FIRST, +and there was the wreckage to support them. They had clearly saved +themselves. If they had abandoned the cabin, it was because they +knew its security, perhaps had even seen it safely adrift. + +"Has this ever happened to the cabin before?" he asked, as he +thought of its peculiar base. + +"No." + +He looked at the water again. There was a decided current. The +overflow was evidently no part of the original inundation. He put +his hand in the water. It was icy cold. Yes, he understood it +now. It was the sudden melting of snow in the Sierras which had +brought this volume down the canyon. But was there more still to +come? + +"Have you anything like a long pole or stick in the cabin?" + +"Nary," said the girl, opening her big eyes and shaking her head +with a simulation of despair, which was, however, flatly contradicted +by her laughing mouth. + +"Nor any cord or twine?" he continued. + +She handed him a ball of coarse twine. + +"May I take a couple of these hooks?" he asked, pointing to some +rough iron hooks in the rafters, on which bacon and jerked beef +were hanging. + +She nodded. He dislodged the hooks, greased them with the bacon +rind, and affixed them to the twine. + +"Fishin'?" she asked demurely. + +"Exactly," he replied gravely. + +He threw the line in the water. It slackened at about six feet, +straightened, and became taut at an angle, and then dragged. After +one or two sharp jerks he pulled it up. A few leaves and grasses +were caught in the hooks. He examined them attentively. + +"We're not in the creek," he said, "nor in the old overflow. +There's no mud or gravel on the hooks, and these grasses don't grow +near water." + +"Now, that's mighty cute of you," she said admiringly, as she knelt +beside him on the platform. "Let's see what you've caught. Look +yer!" she added, suddenly lifting a limp stalk, "that's 'old man,' +and thar ain't a scrap of it grows nearer than Springer's Rise,-- +four miles from home." + +"Are you sure?" he asked quickly. + +"Sure as pop! I used to go huntin' it for smellidge." + +"For what?" he said, with a bewildered smile. + +"For this,"--she thrust the leaves to his nose and then to her own +pink nostrils; "for--for"--she hesitated, and then with a +mischievous simulation of correctness added, "for the perfume." + +He looked at her admiringly. For all her five feet ten inches, +what a mere child she was, after all! What a fool he was to have +taken a resentful attitude towards her! How charming and graceful +she looked, kneeling there beside him! + +"Tell me," he said suddenly, in a gentler voice, "what were you +laughing at just now?" + +Her brown eyes wavered for a moment, and then brimmed with +merriment. She threw herself sideways, in a leaning posture, +supporting herself on one arm, while with her other hand she slowly +drew out her apron string, as she said, in a demure voice:-- + +"Well, I reckoned it was jest too killin' to think of you, who +didn't want to talk to me, and would hev given your hull pile to +hev skipped out o' this, jest stuck here alongside o' me, whether +you would or no, for Lord knows how long!" + +"But that was last night," he said, in a tone of raillery. "I was +tired, and you said so yourself, you know. But I'm ready to talk +now. What shall I tell you?" + +"Anything," said the girl, with a laugh. + +"What I am thinking of?" he said, with frankly admiring eyes. + +"Yes." + +"Everything?" + +"Yes, everything." She stopped, and leaning forward, suddenly +caught the brim of his soft felt hat, and drawing it down smartly +over his audacious eyes, said, "Everything BUT THAT." + +It was with some difficulty and some greater embarrassment that he +succeeded in getting his eyes free again. When he did so, she had +risen and entered the cabin. Disconcerted as he was, he was +relieved to see that her expression of amusement was unchanged. +Was her act a piece of rustic coquetry, or had she resented his +advances? Nor did her next words settle the question. + +"Ye kin do yer nice talk and philanderin' after we've settled whar +we are, what we're goin', and what's goin' to happen. Jest now it +'pears to me that ez these yere logs are the only thing betwixt us +and 'kingdom come,' ye'd better be hustlin' round with a few spikes +to clinch 'em to the floor." + +She handed him a hammer and a few spikes. He obediently set to +work, with little confidence, however, in the security of the +fastening. There was neither rope nor chain for lashing the logs +together; a stronger current and a collision with some submerged +stump or wreckage would loosen them and wreck the cabin. But he +said nothing. It was the girl who broke the silence. + +"What's your front name?" + +"Miles." + +"MILES,--that's a funny name. I reckon that's why you war so FAR +OFF and DISTANT at first." + +Mr. Hemmingway thought this very witty, and said so. "But," he +added, "when I was a little nearer a moment ago, you stopped me." + +"But you was moving faster than the shanty was. I reckon you don't +take that gait with your lady friends at Sacramento! However, you +kin talk now." + +"But you forget I don't know 'where we are,' nor 'what's going to +happen.'" + +"But I do," she said quietly. "In a couple of hours we'll be +picked up, so you'll be free again." + +Something in the confidence of her manner made him go to the door +again and look out. There was scarcely any current now, and the +cabin seemed motionless. Even the wind, which might have acted +upon it, was wanting. They were apparently in the same position as +before, but his sounding-line showed that the water was slightly +falling. He came back and imparted the fact with a certain +confidence born of her previous praise of his knowledge. To his +surprise she only laughed and said lazily, "We'll be all right, and +you'll be free, in about two hours." + +"I see no sign of it," he said, looking through the door again. + +"That's because you're looking in the water and the sky and the mud +for it," she said, with a laugh. "I reckon you've been trained to +watch them things a heap better than to study the folks about +here." + +"I daresay you're right," said Hemmingway cheerfully, "but I don't +clearly see what the folks about here have to do with our situation +just now." + +"You'll see," she said, with a smile of mischievous mystery. "All +the same," she added, with a sudden and dangerous softness in her +eyes, "I ain't sayin' that YOU ain't kinder right neither." + +An hour ago he would have laughed at the thought that a mere look +and sentence like this from the girl could have made his heart +beat. "Then I may go on and talk?" + +She smiled, but her eyes said, "Yes," plainly. + +He turned to take a chair near her. Suddenly the cabin trembled, +there was a sound of scraping, a bump, and then the whole structure +tilted to one side and they were both thrown violently towards the +corner, with a swift inrush of water. Hemmingway quickly caught +the girl by the waist; she clung to him instinctively, yet still +laughing, as with a desperate effort he succeeded in dragging her +to the upper side of the slanting cabin, and momentarily restoring +its equilibrium. They remained for an instant breathless. But in +that instant he had drawn her face to his and kissed her. + +She disengaged herself gently with neither excitement nor emotion, +and pointing to the open door said, "Look there!" + +Two of the logs which formed the foundation of their floor were +quietly floating in the water before the cabin! The submerged +obstacle or snag which had torn them from their fastening was still +holding the cabin fast. Hemmingway saw the danger. He ran along +the narrow ledge to the point of contact and unhesitatingly leaped +into the icy cold water. It reached his armpits before his feet +struck the obstacle,--evidently a stump with a projecting branch. +Bracing himself against it, he shoved off the cabin. But when he +struck out to follow it, he found that the log nearest him was +loose and his grasp might tear it away. At the same moment, +however, a pink calico arm fluttered above his head, and a strong +grasp seized his coat collar. The cabin half revolved as the girl +dragged him into the open door. + +"You bantam!" she said, with a laugh, "why didn't you let ME do +that? I'm taller than you! But," she added, looking at his +dripping clothes and dragging out a blanket from the corner, "I +couldn't dry myself as quick as you kin!" To her surprise, +however, Hemmingway tossed the blanket aside, and pointing to the +floor, which was already filmed with water, ran to the still warm +stove, detached it from its pipe, and threw it overboard. The sack +of flour, bacon, molasses, and sugar, and all the heavier articles +followed it into the stream. Relieved of their weight the cabin +base rose an inch or two higher. Then he sat down and said, +"There! that may keep us afloat for that 'couple of hours' you +speak of. So I suppose I may talk now!" + +"Ye haven't no time," she said, in a graver voice. "It won't be as +long as a couple of hours now. Look over thar!" + +He looked where she pointed across the gray expanse of water. At +first he could see nothing. Presently he saw a mere dot on its +face which at times changed to a single black line. + +"It's a log, like these," he said. + +"It's no log. It's an Injun dug-out*--comin' for me." + + +* A canoe made from a hollowed log. + + +"Your father?" he said joyfully. + +She smiled pityingly. "It's Tom Flynn. Father's got suthin' else +to look arter. Tom Flynn hasn't." + +"And who's Tom Flynn?" he asked, with an odd sensation. + +"The man I'm engaged to," she said gravely, with a slight color. + +The rose that blossomed on her cheek faded in his. There was a +moment of silence. Then he said frankly, "I owe you some apology. +Forgive my folly and impertinence a moment ago. How could I have +known this?" + +"You took no more than you deserved, or that Tom would have +objected to," she said, with a little laugh. "You've been mighty +kind and handy." + +She held out her hand; their fingers closed together in a frank +pressure. Then his mind went back to his work, which he had +forgotten,--to his first impressions of the camp and of her. They +both stood silent, watching the canoe, now quite visible, and the +man that was paddling it, with an intensity that both felt was +insincere. + +"I'm afraid," he said, with a forced laugh, "that I was a little +too hasty in disposing of your goods and possessions. We could +have kept afloat a little longer." + +"It's all the same," she said, with a slight laugh; "it's jest as +well we didn't look too comf'ble--to HIM." + +He did not reply; he did not dare to look at her. Yes! It was the +same coquette he had seen last night. His first impressions were +correct. + +The canoe came on rapidly now, propelled by a powerful arm. In a +few moments it was alongside, and its owner leaped on the platform. +It was the gentleman with his trousers tucked in his boots, the +second voice in the gloomy discussion in the general store last +evening. He nodded simply to the girl, and shook Hemmingway's hand +warmly. + +Then he made a hurried apology for his delay: it was so difficult +to find "the lay" of the drifted cabin. He had struck out first +for the most dangerous spot,--the "old clearing," on the right +bank, with its stumps and new growths,--and it seemed he was right. +And all the rest were safe, and "nobody was hurt." + +"All the same, Tom," she said, when they were seated and paddling +off again, "you don't know HOW NEAR YOU CAME TO LOSING ME." Then +she raised her beautiful eyes and looked significantly, not at HIM, +but at Hemmingway. + +When the water was down at "Jules'" the next day, they found +certain curious changes and some gold, and the secretary was able +to make a favorable report. But he made none whatever of his +impressions "when the water was up at 'Jules','" though he often +wondered if they were strictly trustworthy. + + + +THE BOOM IN THE "CALAVERAS CLARION" + + +The editorial sanctum of the "Calaveras Clarion" opened upon the +"composing-room" of that paper on the one side, and gave apparently +upon the rest of Calaveras County upon the other. For, situated on +the very outskirts of the settlement and the summit of a very steep +hill, the pines sloped away from the editorial windows to the long +valley of the South Fork and--infinity. The little wooden building +had invaded Nature without subduing it. It was filled night and +day with the murmur of pines and their fragrance. Squirrels +scampered over its roof when it was not preoccupied by woodpeckers, +and a printer's devil had once seen a nest-building blue jay enter +the composing window, flutter before one of the slanting type-cases +with an air of deliberate selection, and then fly off with a vowel +in its bill. + +Amidst these sylvan surroundings the temporary editor of the +"Clarion" sat at his sanctum, reading the proofs of an editorial. +As he was occupying that position during a six weeks' absence of +the bona fide editor and proprietor, he was consequently reading +the proof with some anxiety and responsibility. It had been +suggested to him by certain citizens that the "Clarion" needed a +firmer and more aggressive policy towards the Bill before the +Legislature for the wagon road to the South Fork. Several Assembly +men had been "got at" by the rival settlement of Liberty Hill, and +a scathing exposure and denunciation of such methods was necessary. +The interests of their own township were also to be "whooped up." +All this had been vigorously explained to him, and he had grasped +the spirit, if not always the facts, of his informants. It is to +be feared, therefore, that he was perusing his article more with +reference to its vigor than his own convictions. And yet he was +not so greatly absorbed as to be unmindful of the murmur of the +pines without, his half-savage environment, and the lazy talk of +his sole companions,--the foreman and printer in the adjoining +room. + +"Bet your life! I've always said that a man INSIDE a newspaper +office could hold his own agin any outsider that wanted to play +rough or tried to raid the office! Thar's the press, and thar's +the printin' ink and roller! Folks talk a heap o' the power o' the +Press!--I tell ye, ye don't half know it. Why, when old Kernel +Fish was editin' the 'Sierra Banner,' one o' them bullies that he'd +lampooned in the 'Banner' fought his way past the Kernel in the +office, into the composin'-room, to wreck everythin' and 'pye' all +the types. Spoffrel--ye don't remember Spoffrel?--little red- +haired man?--was foreman. Spoffrel fended him off with the roller +and got one good dab inter his eyes that blinded him, and then +Spoffrel sorter skirmished him over to the press,--a plain lever +just like ours,--whar the locked-up form of the inside was still +a-lyin'! Then, quick as lightnin', Spoffrel tilts him over agin it, +and HE throws out his hand and ketches hold o' the form to steady +himself, when Spoffrel just runs the form and the hand under the +press and down with the lever! And that held the feller fast as +grim death! And when at last he begs off, and Spoff lets him +loose, the hull o' that 'ere lampooning article he objected to was +printed right onto the skin o' his hand! Fact, and it wouldn't +come off, either." + +"Gosh, but I'd like to hev seen it," said the printer. "There +ain't any chance, I reckon, o' such a sight here. The boss don't +take no risks lampoonin', and he" (the editor knew he was being +indicated by some unseen gesture of the unseen workman) "ain't that +style." + +"Ye never kin tell," said the foreman didactically, "what might +happen! I've known editors to get into a fight jest for a little +innercent bedevilin' o' the opposite party. Sometimes for a +misprint. Old man Pritchard of the 'Argus' oncet had a hole blown +through his arm because his proofreader had called Colonel +Starbottle's speech an 'ignominious' defense, when the old man hed +written 'ingenuous' defense." + +The editor paused in his proof-reading. He had just come upon the +sentence: "We cannot congratulate Liberty Hill--in its superior +elevation--upon the ignominious silence of the representative of +all Calaveras when this infamous Bill was introduced." He referred +to his copy. Yes! He had certainly written "ignominious,"--that +was what his informants had suggested. But was he sure they were +right? He had a vague recollection, also, that the representative +alluded to--Senator Bradley--had fought two duels, and was a "good" +though somewhat impulsive shot! He might alter the word to +"ingenuous" or "ingenious," either would be finely sarcastic, but +then--there was his foreman, who would detect it! He would wait +until he had finished the entire article. In that occupation he +became oblivious of the next room, of a silence, a whispered +conversation, which ended with a rapping at the door and the +appearance of the foreman in the doorway. + +"There's a man in the office who wants to see the editor," he said. + +"Show him in," replied the editor briefly. He was, however, +conscious that there was a singular significance in his foreman's +manner, and an eager apparition of the other printer over the +foreman's shoulder. + +"He's carryin' a shot-gun, and is a man twice as big as you be," +said the foreman gravely. + +The editor quickly recalled his own brief and as yet blameless +record in the "Clarion." "Perhaps," he said tentatively, with a +gentle smile, "he's looking for Captain Brush" (the absent editor). + +"I told him all that," said the foreman grimly, "and he said he +wanted to see the man in charge." + +In proportion as the editor's heart sank his outward crest arose. +"Show him in," he said loftily. + +"We KIN keep him out," suggested the foreman, lingering a moment; +"me and him," indicating the expectant printer behind him, "is +enough for that." + +"Show him up," repeated the editor firmly. + +The foreman withdrew; the editor seated himself and again took up +his proof. The doubtful word "ignominious" seemed to stand out of +the paragraph before him; it certainly WAS a strong expression! He +was about to run his pencil through it when he heard the heavy step +of his visitor approaching. A sudden instinct of belligerency took +possession of him, and he wrathfully threw the pencil down. + +The burly form of the stranger blocked the doorway. He was dressed +like a miner, but his build and general physiognomy were quite +distinct from the local variety. His upper lip and chin were +clean-shaven, still showing the blue-black roots of the beard which +covered the rest of his face and depended in a thick fleece under +his throat. He carried a small bundle tied up in a silk +handkerchief in one hand, and a "shot-gun" in the other, perilously +at half-cock. Entering the sanctum, he put down his bundle and +quietly closed the door behind him. He then drew an empty chair +towards him and dropped heavily into it with his gun on his knees. +The editor's heart dropped almost as heavily, although he quite +composedly held out his hand. + +"Shall I relieve you of your gun?" + +"Thank ye, lad--noa. It's moor coomfortable wi' me, and it's main +dangersome to handle on the half-cock. That's why I didn't leave +'im on the horse outside!" + +At the sound of his voice and occasional accent a flash of +intelligence relieved the editor's mind. He remembered that twenty +miles away, in the illimitable vista from his windows, lay a +settlement of English north-country miners, who, while faithfully +adopting the methods, customs, and even slang of the Californians, +retained many of their native peculiarities. The gun he carried on +his knee, however, was evidently part of the Californian imitation. + +"Can I do anything for you?" said the editor blandly. + +"Ay! I've coom here to bill ma woife." + +"I--don't think I understand," hesitated the editor, with a smile. + +"I've coom here to get ye to put into your paaper a warnin', a +notiss, that onless she returns to my house in four weeks, I'll +have nowt to do wi' her again." + +"Oh!" said the editor, now perfectly reassured, "you want an +advertisement? That's the business of the foreman; I'll call him." +He was rising from his seat when the stranger laid a heavy hand on +his shoulder and gently forced him down again. + +"Noa, lad! I don't want noa foreman nor understrappers to take +this job. I want to talk it over wi' you. Sabe? My woife she bin +up and awaa these six months. We had a bit of difference, that +ain't here nor there, but she skedaddled outer my house. I want to +give her fair warning, and let her know I ain't payin' any debts o' +hers arter this notiss, and I ain't takin' her back arter four +weeks from date." + +"I see," said the editor glibly. "What's your wife's name?" + +"Eliza Jane Dimmidge." + +"Good," continued the editor, scribbling on the paper before him; +"something like this will do: 'Whereas my wife, Eliza Jane +Dimmidge, having left my bed and board without just cause or +provocation, this is to give notice that I shall not be responsible +for any debts of her contracting on or after this date.'" + +"Ye must be a lawyer," said Mr. Dimmidge admiringly. + +It was an old enough form of advertisement, and the remark showed +incontestably that Mr. Dimmidge was not a native; but the editor +smiled patronizingly and went on: "'And I further give notice that +if she does not return within the period of four weeks from this +date, I shall take such proceedings for relief as the law affords.'" + +"Coom, lad, I didn't say THAT." + +"But you said you wouldn't take her back." + +"Ay." + +"And you can't prevent her without legal proceedings. She's your +wife. But you needn't take proceedings, you know. It's only a +warning." + +Mr. Dimmidge nodded approvingly. "That's so." + +"You'll want it published for four weeks, until date?" asked the +editor. + +"Mebbe longer, lad." + +The editor wrote "till forbid" in the margin of the paper and +smiled. + +"How big will it be?" said Mr. Dimmidge. + +The editor took up a copy of the "Clarion" and indicated about an +inch of space. Mr. Dimmidge's face fell. + +"I want it bigger,--in large letters, like a play-card," he said. +"That's no good for a warning." + +"You can have half a column or a whole column if you like," said +the editor airily. + +"I'll take a whole one," said Mr. Dimmidge simply. + +The editor laughed. "Why! it would cost you a hundred dollars." + +"I'll take it," repeated Mr. Dimmidge. + +"But," said the editor gravely, "the same notice in a small space +will serve your purpose and be quite legal." + +"Never you mind that, lad! It's the looks of the thing I'm arter, +and not the expense. I'll take that column." + +The editor called in the foreman and showed him the copy. "Can you +display that so as to fill a column?" + +The foreman grasped the situation promptly. It would be big +business for the paper. "Yes," he said meditatively, "that bold- +faced election type will do it." + +Mr. Dimmidge's face brightened. The expression "bold-faced" +pleased him. "That's it! I told you. I want to bill her in a +portion of the paper." + +"I might put in a cut," said the foreman suggestively; "something +like this." He took a venerable woodcut from the case. I grieve +to say it was one which, until the middle of the present century, +was common enough in the newspaper offices in the Southwest. It +showed the running figure of a negro woman carrying her personal +property in a knotted handkerchief slung from a stick over her +shoulder, and was supposed to represent "a fugitive slave." + +Mr. Dimmidge's eyes brightened. "I'll take that, too. It's a +little dark-complected for Mrs. P., but it will do. Now roon away, +lad," he said to the foreman, as he quietly pushed him into the +outer office again and closed the door. Then, facing the surprised +editor, he said, "Theer's another notiss I want ye to put in your +paper; but that's atween US. Not a word to THEM," he indicated the +banished foreman with a jerk of his thumb. "Sabe? I want you to +put this in another part o' your paper, quite innocent-like, ye +know." He drew from his pocket a gray wallet, and taking out a +slip of paper read from it gravely, "'If this should meet the eye +of R. B., look out for M. J. D. He is on your track. When this +you see write a line to E. J. D., Elktown Post Office.' I want +this to go in as 'Personal and Private'--sabe?--like them notisses +in the big 'Frisco papers." + +"I see," said the editor, laying it aside. "It shall go in the +same issue in another column." + +Apparently Mr. Dimmidge expected something more than this reply, +for after a moment's hesitation he said with an odd smile: + +"Ye ain't seein' the meanin' o' that, lad?" + +"No," said the editor lightly; "but I suppose R. B. does, and it +isn't intended that any one else should." + +"Mebbe it is, and mebbe it isn't," said Mr. Dimmidge, with a self- +satisfied air. "I don't mind saying atween us that R. B. is the +man as I've suspicioned as havin' something to do with my wife +goin' away; and ye see, if he writes to E. J. D.--that's my wife's +initials--at Elktown, I'LL get that letter and so make sure." + +"But suppose your wife goes there first, or sends?" + +"Then I'll ketch her or her messenger. Ye see?" + +The editor did not see fit to oppose any argument to this phenomenal +simplicity, and Mr. Dimmidge, after settling his bill with the +foreman, and enjoining the editor to the strictest secrecy regarding +the origin of the "personal notice," took up his gun and departed, +leaving the treasury of the "Clarion" unprecedentedly enriched, and +the editor to his proofs. + +The paper duly appeared the next morning with the column +advertisement, the personal notice, and the weighty editorial on +the wagon road. There was a singular demand for the paper, the +edition was speedily exhausted, and the editor was proportionately +flattered, although he was surprised to receive neither praise nor +criticism from his subscribers. Before evening, however, he +learned to his astonishment that the excitement was caused by the +column advertisement. Nobody knew Mr. Dimmidge, nor his domestic +infelicities, and the editor and foreman, being equally in the +dark, took refuge in a mysterious and impressive evasion of all +inquiry. Never since the last San Francisco Vigilance Committee +had the office been so besieged. The editor, foreman, and even the +apprentice, were buttonholed and "treated" at the bar, but to no +effect. All that could be learned was that it was a bona fide +advertisement, for which one hundred dollars had been received! +There were great discussions and conflicting theories as to whether +the value of the wife, or the husband's anxiety to get rid of her, +justified the enormous expense and ostentatious display. She was +supposed to be an exceedingly beautiful woman by some, by others a +perfect Sycorax; in one breath Mr. Dimmidge was a weak, uxorious +spouse, wasting his substance on a creature who did not care for +him, and in another a maddened, distracted, henpecked man, content +to purchase peace and rest at any price. Certainly, never was +advertisement more effective in its publicity, or cheaper in +proportion to the circulation it commanded. It was copied +throughout the whole Pacific slope; mighty San Francisco papers +described its size and setting under the attractive headline, "How +they Advertise a Wife in the Mountains!" It reappeared in the +Eastern journals, under the title of "Whimsicalities of the Western +Press." It was believed to have crossed to England as a specimen +of "Transatlantic Savagery." The real editor of the "Clarion" +awoke one morning, in San Francisco, to find his paper famous. Its +advertising columns were eagerly sought for; he at once advanced +the rates. People bought successive issues to gaze upon this +monumental record of extravagance. A singular idea, which, +however, brought further fortune to the paper, was advanced by an +astute critic at the Eureka Saloon. "My opinion, gentlemen, is +that the whole blamed thing is a bluff! There ain't no Mr. +Dimmidge; there ain't no Mrs. Dimmidge; there ain't no desertion! +The whole rotten thing is an ADVERTISEMENT o' suthin'! Ye'll find +afore ye get through with it that that there wife won't come back +until that blamed husband buys Somebody's Soap, or treats her to +Somebody's particular Starch or Patent Medicine! Ye jest watch and +see!" The idea was startling, and seized upon the mercantile mind. +The principal merchant of the town, and purveyor to the mining +settlements beyond, appeared the next morning at the office of the +"Clarion." "Ye wouldn't mind puttin' this 'ad' in a column +alongside o' the Dimmidge one, would ye?" The young editor glanced +at it, and then, with a serpent-like sagacity, veiled, however, by +the suavity of the dove, pointed out that the original advertiser +might think it called his bona fides into question and withdraw his +advertisement. "But if we secured you by an offer of double the +amount per column?" urged the merchant. "That," responded the +locum tenens, "was for the actual editor and proprietor in San +Francisco to determine. He would telegraph." He did so. The +response was, "Put it in." Whereupon in the next issue, side by +side with Mr. Dimmidge's protracted warning, appeared a column with +the announcement, in large letters, "WE HAVEN'T LOST ANY WIFE, but +WE are prepared to furnish the following goods at a lower rate than +any other advertiser in the county," followed by the usual price +list of the merchant's wares. There was an unprecedented demand +for that issue. The reputation of the "Clarion," both as a shrewd +advertising medium and a comic paper, was established at once. For +a few days the editor waited with some apprehension for a +remonstrance from the absent Dimmidge, but none came. Whether Mr. +Dimmidge recognized that this new advertisement gave extra +publicity to his own, or that he was already on the track of the +fugitive, the editor did not know. The few curious citizens who +had, early in the excitement, penetrated the settlement of the +English miners twenty miles away in search of information, found +that Mr. Dimmidge had gone away, and that Mrs. Dimmidge had NEVER +resided there with him! + +Six weeks passed. The limit of Mr. Dimmidge's advertisement had +been reached, and, as it was not renewed, it had passed out of the +pages of the "Clarion," and with it the merchant's advertisement in +the next column. The excitement had subsided, although its +influence was still felt in the circulation of the paper and its +advertising popularity. The temporary editor was also nearing the +limit of his incumbency, but had so far participated in the good +fortune of the "Clarion" as to receive an offer from one of the San +Francisco dailies. + +It was a warm night, and he was alone in his sanctum. The rest of +the building was dark and deserted, and his solitary light, +flashing out through the open window, fell upon the nearer pines +and was lost in the dark, indefinable slope below. He had reached +the sanctum by the rear, and a door which he also left open to +enjoy the freshness of the aromatic air. Nor did it in the least +mar his privacy. Rather the solitude of the great woods without +seemed to enter through that door and encompassed him with its +protecting loneliness. There was occasionally a faint "peep" in +the scant eaves, or a "pat-pat," ending in a frightened scurry +across the roof, or the slow flap of a heavy wing in the darkness +below. These gentle disturbances did not, however, interrupt his +work on "The True Functions of the County Newspaper," the editorial +on which he was engaged. + +Presently a more distinct rustling against the straggling blackberry +bushes beside the door attracted his attention. It was followed by +a light tapping against the side of the house. The editor started +and turned quickly towards the open door. Two outside steps led to +the ground. Standing upon the lower one was a woman. The upper +part of her figure, illuminated by the light from the door, was +thrown into greater relief by the dark background of the pines. Her +face was unknown to him, but it was a pleasant one, marked by a +certain good-humored determination. + +"May I come in?" she said confidently. + +"Certainly," said the editor. "I am working here alone because it +is so quiet." He thought he would precipitate some explanation +from her by excusing himself. + +"That's the reason why I came," she said, with a quiet smile. + +She came up the next step and entered the room. She was plainly +but neatly dressed, and now that her figure was revealed he saw +that she was wearing a linsey-woolsey riding-skirt, and carried a +serviceable rawhide whip in her cotton-gauntleted hand. She took +the chair he offered her and sat down sideways on it, her whip hand +now also holding up her skirt, and permitting a hem of clean white +petticoat and a smart, well-shaped boot to be seen. + +"I don't remember to have had the pleasure of seeing you in +Calaveras before," said the editor tentatively. + +"No. I never was here before," she said composedly, "but you've +heard enough of me, I reckon. I'm Mrs. Dimmidge." She threw one +hand over the back of the chair, and with the other tapped her +riding-whip on the floor. + +The editor started. Mrs. Dimmidge! Then she was not a myth. An +absurd similarity between her attitude with the whip and her +husband's entrance with his gun six weeks before forced itself upon +him and made her an invincible presence. + +"Then you have returned to your husband?" he said hesitatingly. + +"Not much!" she returned, with a slight curl of her lip. + +"But you read his advertisement?" + +"I saw that column of fool nonsense he put in your paper--ef that's +what you mean," she said with decision, "but I didn't come here to +see HIM--but YOU." + +The editor looked at her with a forced smile, but a vague misgiving. +He was alone at night in a deserted part of the settlement, with a +plump, self-possessed woman who had a contralto voice, a horsewhip, +and--he could not help feeling--an evident grievance. + +"To see me?" he repeated, with a faint attempt at gallantry. "You +are paying me a great compliment, but really"-- + +"When I tell you I've come three thousand miles from Kansas straight +here without stopping, ye kin reckon it's so," she replied firmly. + +"Three thousand miles!" echoed the editor wonderingly. + +"Yes. Three thousand miles from my own folks' home in Kansas, +where six years ago I married Mr. Dimmidge,--a British furriner as +could scarcely make himself understood in any Christian language! +Well, he got round me and dad, allowin' he was a reg'lar out-and- +out profeshnal miner,--had lived in mines ever since he was a boy; +and so, not knowin' what kind o' mines, and dad just bilin' over +with the gold fever, we were married and kem across the plains to +Californy. He was a good enough man to look at, but it warn't +three months before I discovered that he allowed a wife was no +better nor a nigger slave, and he the master. That made me open my +eyes; but then, as he didn't drink, and didn't gamble, and didn't +swear, and was a good provider and laid by money, why I shifted +along with him as best I could. We drifted down the first year to +Sonora, at Red Dog, where there wasn't another woman. Well, I did +the nigger slave business,--never stirring out o' the settlement, +never seein' a town or a crowd o' decent people,--and he did the +lord and master! We played that game for two years, and I got +tired. But when at last he allowed he'd go up to Elktown Hill, +where there was a passel o' his countrymen at work, with never a +sign o' any other folks, and leave me alone at Red Dog until he +fixed up a place for me at Elktown Hill,--I kicked! I gave him +fair warning! I did as other nigger slaves did,--I ran away!" + +A recollection of the wretched woodcut which Mr. Dimmidge had +selected to personify his wife flashed upon the editor with a new +meaning. Yet perhaps she had not seen it, and had only read a copy +of the advertisement. What could she want? The "Calaveras +Clarion," although a "Palladium" and a "Sentinel upon the Heights +of Freedom" in reference to wagon roads, was not a redresser of +domestic wrongs,--except through its advertising columns! Her next +words intensified that suggestion. + +"I've come here to put an advertisement in your paper." + +The editor heaved a sigh of relief, as once before. "Certainly," +he said briskly. "But that's another department of the paper, and +the printers have gone home. Come to-morrow morning early." + +"To-morrow morning I shall be miles away," she said decisively, +"and what I want done has got to be done NOW! I don't want to see +no printers; I don't want ANYBODY to know I've been here but you. +That's why I kem here at night, and rode all the way from Sawyer's +Station, and wouldn't take the stage-coach. And when we've settled +about the advertisement, I'm going to mount my horse, out thar in +the bushes, and scoot outer the settlement." + +"Very good," said the editor resignedly. "Of course I can deliver +your instructions to the foreman. And now--let me see--I suppose +you wish to intimate in a personal notice to your husband that +you've returned." + +"Nothin' o' the kind!" said Mrs. Dimmidge coolly. "I want to +placard him as he did me. I've got it all written out here. +Sabe?" + +She took from her pocket a folded paper, and spreading it out on +the editor's desk, with a certain pride of authorship read as +follows:-- + +"Whereas my husband, Micah J. Dimmidge, having given out that I +have left his bed and board,--the same being a bunk in a log cabin +and pork and molasses three times a day,--and having advertised +that he'd pay no debts of MY contractin',--which, as thar ain't +any, might be easier collected than debts of his own contractin',-- +this is to certify that unless he returns from Elktown Hill to his +only home in Sonora in one week from date, payin' the cost of this +advertisement, I'll know the reason why.--Eliza Jane Dimmidge." + +"Thar," she added, drawing a long breath, "put that in a column of +the 'Clarion,' same size as the last, and let it work, and that's +all I want of you." + +"A column?" repeated the editor. "Do you know the cost is very +expensive, and I COULD put it in a single paragraph?" + +"I reckon I kin pay the same as Mr. Dimmidge did for HIS," said the +lady complacently. "I didn't see your paper myself, but the paper +as copied it--one of them big New York dailies--said that it took +up a whole column." + +The editor breathed more freely; she had not seen the infamous +woodcut which her husband had selected. At the same moment he was +struck with a sense of retribution, justice, and compensation. + +"Would you," he asked hesitatingly,--"would you like it illustrated-- +by a cut?" + +"With which?" + +"Wait a moment; I'll show you." + +He went into the dark composing-room, lit a candle, and rummaging +in a drawer sacred to weather-beaten, old-fashioned electrotyped +advertising symbols of various trades, finally selected one and +brought it to Mrs. Dimmidge. It represented a bare and exceedingly +stalwart arm wielding a large hammer. + +"Your husband being a miner,--a quartz miner,--would that do?" he +asked. (It had been previously used to advertise a blacksmith, a +gold-beater, and a stone-mason.) + +The lady examined it critically. + +"It does look a little like Micah's arm," she said meditatively. +"Well--you kin put it in." + +The editor was so well pleased with his success that he must needs +make another suggestion. "I suppose," he said ingenuously, "that +you don't want to answer the 'Personal'?" + +"'Personal'?" she repeated quickly, "what's that? I ain't seen no +'Personal.'" The editor saw his blunder. She, of course, had +never seen Mr. Dimmidge's artful "Personal;" THAT the big dailies +naturally had not noticed nor copied. But it was too late to +withdraw now. He brought out a file of the "Clarion," and snipping +out the paragraph with his scissors, laid it before the lady. + +She stared at it with wrinkled brows and a darkening face. + +"And THIS was in the same paper?--put in by Mr. Dimmidge?" she +asked breathlessly. + +The editor, somewhat alarmed, stammered "Yes." But the next moment +he was reassured. The wrinkles disappeared, a dozen dimples broke +out where they had been, and the determined, matter-of-fact Mrs. +Dimmidge burst into a fit of rosy merriment. Again and again she +laughed, shaking the building, startling the sedate, melancholy +woods beyond, until the editor himself laughed in sheer vacant +sympathy. + +"Lordy!" she said at last, gasping, and wiping the laughter from +her wet eyes. "I never thought of THAT." + +"No," explained the editor smilingly; "of course you didn't. Don't +you see, the papers that copied the big advertisement never saw +that little paragraph, or if they did, they never connected the two +together." + +"Oh, it ain't that," said Mrs. Dimmidge, trying to regain her +composure and holding her sides. "It's that blessed DEAR old +dunderhead of a Dimmidge I'm thinking of. That gets me. I see it +all now. Only, sakes alive! I never thought THAT of him. Oh, +it's just too much!" and she again relapsed behind her handkerchief. + +"Then I suppose you don't want to reply to it," said the editor. + +Her laughter instantly ceased. "Don't I?" she said, wiping her +face into its previous complacent determination. "Well, young man, +I reckon that's just what I WANT to do! Now, wait a moment; let's +see what he said," she went on, taking up and reperusing the +"Personal" paragraph. "Well, then," she went on, after a moment's +silent composition with moving lips, "you just put these lines in." + +The editor took up his pencil. + +"To Mr. J. D. Dimmidge.--Hope you're still on R. B.'s tracks. Keep +there!--E. J. D." + +The editor wrote down the line, and then, remembering Mr. Dimmidge's +voluntary explanation of HIS "Personal," waited with some confidence +for a like frankness from Mrs. Dimmidge. But he was mistaken. + +"You think that he--R. B.--or Mr. Dimmidge--will understand this?" +he at last asked tentatively. "Is it enough?" + +"Quite enough," said Mrs. Dimmidge emphatically. She took a roll +of greenbacks from her pocket, selected a hundred-dollar bill and +then a five, and laid them before the editor. "Young man," she +said, with a certain demure gravity, "you've done me a heap o' +good. I never spent money with more satisfaction than this. I +never thought much o' the 'power o' the Press,' as you call it, +afore. But this has been a right comfortable visit, and I'm glad I +ketched you alone. But you understand one thing: this yer visit, +and WHO I am, is betwixt you and me only." + +"Of course I must say that the advertisement was AUTHORIZED," +returned the editor. "I'm only the temporary editor. The +proprietor is away." + +"So much the better," said the lady complacently. "You just say +you found it on your desk with the money; but don't you give me +away." + +"I can promise you that the secret of your personal visit is safe +with me," said the young man, with a bow, as Mrs. Dimmidge rose. +"Let me see you to your horse," he added. "It's quite dark in the +woods." + +"I can see well enough alone, and it's just as well you shouldn't +know HOW I kem or HOW I went away. Enough for you to know that +I'll be miles away before that paper comes out. So stay where you +are." + +She pressed his hand frankly and firmly, gathered up her riding- +skirt, slipped backwards to the door, and the next moment rustled +away into the darkness. + +Early the next morning the editor handed Mrs. Dimmidge's +advertisement, and the woodcut he had selected, to his foreman. He +was purposely brief in his directions, so as to avoid inquiry, and +retired to his sanctum. In the space of a few moments the foreman +entered with a slight embarrassment of manner. + +"You'll excuse my speaking to you, sir," he said, with a singular +mixture of humility and cunning. "It's no business of mine, I +know; but I thought I ought to tell you that this yer kind o' thing +won't pay any more,--it's about played out!" + +"I don't think I understand you," said the editor loftily, but with +an inward misgiving. "You don't mean to say that a regular, actual +advertisement"-- + +"Of course, I know all that," said the foreman, with a peculiar +smile; "and I'm ready to back you up in it, and so's the boy; but +it won't pay." + +"It HAS paid a hundred and five dollars," said the editor, taking +the notes from his pocket; "so I'd advise you to simply attend to +your duty and set it up." + +A look of surprise, followed, however, by a kind of pitying smile, +passed over the foreman's face. "Of course, sir, THAT'S all right, +and you know your own business; but if you think that the new +advertisement will pay this time as the other one did, and whoop up +another column from an advertiser, I'm afraid you'll slip up. It's +a little 'off color' now,--not 'up to date,'--if it ain't a regular +'back number,' as you'll see." + +"Meantime I'll dispense with your advice," said the editor curtly, +"and I think you had better let our subscribers and advertisers do +the same, or the 'Clarion' might also be obliged to dispense with +your SERVICES." + +"I ain't no blab," said the foreman, in an aggrieved manner, "and I +don't intend to give the show away even if it don't PAY. But I +thought I'd tell you, because I know the folks round here better +than you do." + +He was right. No sooner had the advertisement appeared than the +editor found that everybody believed it to be a sheer invention of +his own to "once more boom" the "Clarion." If they had doubted +MR. Dimmidge, they utterly rejected MRS. Dimmidge as an advertiser! +It was a stale joke that nobody would follow up; and on the heels of +this came a letter from the editor-in-chief. + + +MY DEAR BOY,--You meant well, I know, but the second Dimmidge "ad" +was a mistake. Still, it was a big bluff of yours to show the +money, and I send you back your hundred dollars, hoping you won't +"do it again." Of course you'll have to keep the advertisement in +the paper for two issues, just as if it were a real thing, and it's +lucky that there's just now no pressure in our columns. You might +have told a better story than that hogwash about your finding the +"ad" and a hundred dollars lying loose on your desk one morning. +It was rather thin, and I don't wonder the foreman kicked. + + +The young editor was in despair. At first he thought of writing to +Mrs. Dimmidge at the Elktown Post-Office, asking her to relieve him +of his vow of secrecy; but his pride forbade. There was a humorous +concern, not without a touch of pity, in the faces of his +contributors as he passed; a few affected to believe in the new +advertisement, and asked him vague, perfunctory questions about it. +His position was trying, and he was not sorry when the term of his +engagement expired the next week, and he left Calaveras to take his +new position on the San Francisco paper. + +He was standing in the saloon of the Sacramento boat when he felt a +sudden heavy pressure on his shoulder, and looking round sharply, +beheld not only the black-bearded face of Mr. Dimmidge, lit up by a +smile, but beside it the beaming, buxom face of Mrs. Dimmidge, +overflowing with good-humor. Still a little sore from his past +experience, he was about to address them abruptly, when he was +utterly vanquished by the hearty pressure of their hands and the +unmistakable look of gratitude in their eyes. + +"I was just saying to 'Lizy Jane," began Mr. Dimmidge breathlessly, +"if I could only meet that young man o' the 'Clarion' what brought +us together again"-- + +"You'd be willin' to pay four times the amount we both paid him," +interpolated the laughing Mrs. Dimmidge. + +"But I didn't bring you together," burst out the dazed young man, +"and I'd like to know, in the name of Heaven, what brought you +together now?" + +"Don't you see, lad," said the imperturbable Mr. Dimmidge, "'Lizy +Jane and myself had qua'lled, and we just unpacked our fool +nonsense in your paper and let the hull world know it! And we both +felt kinder skeert and shamed like, and it looked such small +hogwash, and of so little account, for all the talk it made, that +we kinder felt lonely as two separated fools that really ought to +share their foolishness together." + +"And that ain't all," said Mrs. Dimmidge, with a sly glance at her +spouse, "for I found out from that 'Personal' you showed me that +this particular old fool was actooally jealous!--JEALOUS!" + +"And then?" said the editor impatiently. + +"And then I KNEW he loved me all the time." + + + +THE SECRET OF SOBRIENTE'S WELL + + +Even to the eye of the most inexperienced traveler there was no +doubt that Buena Vista was a "played-out" mining camp. There, +seamed and scarred by hydraulic engines, was the old hillside, over +whose denuded surface the grass had begun to spring again in fitful +patches; there were the abandoned heaps of tailings already +blackened by sun and rain, and worn into mounds like ruins of +masonry; there were the waterless ditches, like giant graves, and +the pools of slumgullion, now dried into shining, glazed cement. +There were two or three wooden "stores," from which the windows and +doors had been taken and conveyed to the newer settlement of +Wynyard's Gulch. Four or five buildings that still were inhabited-- +the blacksmith's shop, the post-office, a pioneer's cabin, and the +old hotel and stage-office--only accented the general desolation. +The latter building had a remoteness of prosperity far beyond the +others, having been a wayside Spanish-American posada, with adobe +walls of two feet in thickness, that shamed the later shells of +half-inch plank, which were slowly warping and cracking like dried +pods in the oven-like heat. + +The proprietor of this building, Colonel Swinger, had been looked +upon by the community as a person quite as remote, old-fashioned, +and inconsistent with present progress as the house itself. He was +an old Virginian, who had emigrated from his decaying plantation on +the James River only to find the slaves, which he had brought with +him, freed men when they touched Californian soil; to be driven by +Northern progress and "smartness" out of the larger cities into the +mountains, to fix himself at last, with the hopeless fatuity of his +race, upon an already impoverished settlement; to sink his scant +capital in hopeless shafts and ledges, and finally to take over the +decaying hostelry of Buena Vista, with its desultory custom and +few, lingering, impecunious guests. Here, too, his old Virginian +ideas of hospitality were against his financial success; he could +not dun nor turn from his door those unfortunate prospectors whom +the ebbing fortunes of Buena Vista had left stranded by his side. + +Colonel Swinger was sitting in a wicker-work rocking-chair on the +veranda of his hotel--sipping a mint julep which he held in his +hand, while he gazed into the dusty distance. Nothing could have +convinced him that he was not performing a serious part of his duty +as hotel-keeper in this attitude, even though there were no +travelers expected, and the road at this hour of the day was +deserted. On a bench at his side Larry Hawkins stretched his lazy +length,--one foot dropped on the veranda, and one arm occasionally +groping under the bench for his own tumbler of refreshment. Apart +from this community of occupation, there was apparently no +interchange of sentiment between the pair. The silence had +continued for some moments, when the colonel put down his glass and +gazed earnestly into the distance. + +"Seein' anything?" remarked the man on the bench, who had sleepily +regarded him. + +"No," said the colonel, "that is--it's only Dick Ruggles crossin' +the road." + +"Thought you looked a little startled, ez if you'd seen that ar +wanderin' stranger." + +"When I see that wandering stranger, sah," said the colonel +decisively, "I won't be sittin' long in this yer chyar. I'll let +him know in about ten seconds that I don't harbor any vagrants +prowlin' about like poor whites or free niggers on my propahty, +sah!" + +"All the same, I kinder wish ye did see him, for you'd be settled +in YOUR mind and I'd be easier in MINE, ef you found out what he +was doin' round yer, or ye had to admit that it wasn't no LIVIN' +man." + +"What do you mean?" said the colonel, testily facing around in his +chair. + +His companion also altered his attitude by dropping his other foot +to the floor, sitting up, and leaning lazily forward with his hands +clasped. + +"Look yer, colonel. When you took this place, I felt I didn't have +no call to tell ye all I know about it, nor to pizen yer mind by +any darned fool yarns I mout hev heard. Ye know it was one o' them +old Spanish haciendas?" + +"I know," said the colonel loftily, "that it was held by a grant +from Charles the Fifth of Spain, just as my propahty on the James +River was given to my people by King James of England, sah!" + +"That ez as may be," returned his companion, in lazy indifference; +"though I reckon that Charles the Fifth of Spain and King James of +England ain't got much to do with what I'm goin' to tell ye. Ye +see, I was here long afore YOUR time, or any of the boys that hev +now cleared out; and at that time the hacienda belonged to a man +named Juan Sobriente. He was that kind o' fool that he took no +stock in mining. When the boys were whoopin' up the place and +finding the color everywhere, and there was a hundred men working +down there in the gulch, he was either ridin' round lookin' up the +wild horses he owned, or sittin' with two or three lazy peons and +Injins that was fed and looked arter by the priests. Gosh! now I +think of it, it was mighty like YOU when you first kem here with +your niggers. That's curious, too, ain't it?" + +He had stopped, gazing with an odd, superstitious wonderment at the +colonel, as if overcome by this not very remarkable coincidence. +The colonel, overlooking or totally oblivious to its somewhat +uncomplimentary significance, simply said, "Go on. What about +him?" + +"Well, ez I was sayin', he warn't in it nohow, but kept on his +reg'lar way when the boom was the biggest. Some of the boys +allowed it was mighty oncivil for him to stand off like that, and +others--when he refused a big pile for his hacienda and the garden, +that ran right into the gold-bearing ledge--war for lynching him +and driving him outer the settlement. But as he had a pretty +darter or niece livin' with him, and, except for his partickler +cussedness towards mining, was kinder peaceable and perlite, they +thought better of it. Things went along like this, until one day +the boys noticed--particklerly the boys that had slipped up on +their luck--that old man Sobriente was gettin' rich,--had stocked a +ranch over on the Divide, and had given some gold candlesticks to +the mission church. That would have been only human nature and +business, ef he'd had any during them flush times; but he hadn't. +This kinder puzzled them. They tackled the peons,--his niggers,-- +but it was all 'No sabe.' They tackled another man,--a kind of +half-breed Kanaka, who, except the priest, was the only man who +came to see him, and was supposed to be mighty sweet on the darter +or niece,--but they didn't even get the color outer HIM. Then the +first thing we knowed was that old Sobriente was found dead in the +well!" + +"In the well, sah!" said the colonel, starting up. "The well on my +propahty?" + +"No," said his companion. "The old well that was afterwards shut +up. Yours was dug by the last tenant, Jack Raintree, who allowed +that he didn't want to 'take any Sobriente in his reg'lar whiskey +and water.' Well, the half-breed Kanaka cleared out after the old +man's death, and so did that darter or niece; and the church, to +whom old Sobriente had left this house, let it to Raintree for next +to nothin'." + +"I don't see what all that has got to do with that wandering +tramp," said the colonel, who was by no means pleased with this +history of his property. + +"I'll tell ye. A few days after Raintree took it over, he was +lookin' round the garden, which old Sobriente had always kept shut +up agin strangers, and he finds a lot of dried-up 'slumgullion'* +scattered all about the borders and beds, just as if the old man +had been using it for fertilizing. Well, Raintree ain't no fool; +he allowed the old man wasn't one, either; and he knew that +slumgullion wasn't worth no more than mud for any good it would do +the garden. So he put this yer together with Sobriente's good +luck, and allowed to himself that the old coyote had been secretly +gold-washin' all the while he seemed to be standin' off agin it! +But where was the mine? Whar did he get the gold? That's what got +Raintree. He hunted all over the garden, prospected every part of +it,--ye kin see the holes yet,--but he never even got the color!" + + +* That is, a viscid cement-like refuse of gold-washing. + + +He paused, and then, as the colonel made an impatient gesture, he +went on. + +"Well, one night just afore you took the place, and when Raintree +was gettin' just sick of it, he happened to be walkin' in the +garden. He was puzzlin' his brain agin to know how old Sobriente +made his pile, when all of a suddenst he saw suthin' a-movin' in +the brush beside the house. He calls out, thinkin' it was one of +the boys, but got no answer. Then he goes to the bushes, and a +tall figger, all in black, starts out afore him. He couldn't see +any face, for its head was covered with a hood, but he saw that it +held suthin' like a big cross clasped agin its breast. This made +him think it was one them priests, until he looks agin and sees +that it wasn't no cross it was carryin,' but a PICKAXE! He makes a +jump towards it, but it vanished! He traipsed over the hull +garden,--went though ev'ry bush,--but it was clean gone. Then the +hull thing flashed upon him with a cold shiver. The old man bein' +found dead in the well! the goin' away of the half-breed and the +girl! the findin' o' that slumgullion! The old man HAD made a +strike in that garden, the half-breed had discovered his secret and +murdered him, throwin' him down the well! It war no LIVIN' man +that he had seen, but the ghost of old Sobriente!" + +The colonel emptied the remaining contents of his glass at a single +gulp, and sat up. "It's my opinion, sah, that Raintree had that +night more than his usual allowance of corn-juice on board; and +it's only a wonder, sah, that he didn't see a few pink alligators +and sky-blue snakes at the same time. But what's this got to do +with that wanderin' tramp?" + +"They're all the same thing, colonel, and in my opinion that there +tramp ain't no more alive than that figger was." + +"But YOU were the one that saw this tramp with your own eyes," +retorted the colonel quickly, "and you never before allowed it was +a spirit!" + +"Exactly! I saw it whar a minit afore nothin' had been standin', +and a minit after nothin' stood," said Larry Hawkins, with a +certain serious emphasis; "but I warn't goin' to say it to ANYBODY, +and I warn't goin' to give you and the hacienda away. And ez +nobody knew Raintree's story, I jest shut up my head. But you kin +bet your life that the man I saw warn't no livin' man!" + +"We'll see, sah!" said the colonel, rising from his chair with his +fingers in the armholes of his nankeen waistcoat, "ef he ever +intrudes on my property again. But look yar! don't ye go sayin' +anything of this to Polly,--you know what women are!" + +A faint color came into Larry's face; an animation quite different +to the lazy deliberation of his previous monologue shone in his +eyes, as he said, with a certain rough respect he had not shown +before to his companion, "That's why I'm tellin' ye, so that ef SHE +happened to see anything and got skeert, ye'd know how to reason +her out of it." + +"'Sh!" said the colonel, with a warning gesture. + +A young girl had just appeared in the doorway, and now stood +leaning against the central pillar that supported it, with one hand +above her head, in a lazy attitude strongly suggestive of the +colonel's Southern indolence, yet with a grace entirely her own. +Indeed, it overcame the negligence of her creased and faded yellow +cotton frock and unbuttoned collar, and suggested--at least to the +eyes of ONE man--the curving and clinging of the jasmine vine +against the outer column of the veranda. Larry Hawkins rose +awkwardly to his feet. + +"Now what are you two men mumblin' and confidin' to each other? +You look for all the world like two old women gossips," she said, +with languid impertinence. + +It was easy to see that a privileged and recognized autocrat spoke. +No one had ever questioned Polly Swinger's right to interrupting, +interfering, and saucy criticisms. Secure in the hopeless or +chivalrous admiration of the men around her, she had repaid it with +a frankness that scorned any coquetry; with an indifference to the +ordinary feminine effect or provocation in dress or bearing that +was as natural as it was invincible. No one had ever known Polly +to "fix up" for anybody, yet no one ever doubted the effect, if she +had. No one had ever rebuked her charming petulance, or wished to. + +Larry gave a weak, vague laugh. Colonel Swinger as ineffectively +assumed a mock parental severity. "When you see two gentlemen, +miss, discussin' politics together, it ain't behavin' like a lady +to interrupt. Better run away and tidy yourself before the stage +comes." + +The young lady replied to the last innuendo by taking two spirals +of soft hair, like "corn silk," from her oval cheek, wetting them +with her lips, and tucking them behind her ears. Her father's +ungentlemanly suggestion being thus disposed of, she returned to +her first charge. + +"It ain't no politics; you ain't been swearing enough for THAT! +Come, now! It's the mysterious stranger ye've been talking about!" + +Both men stared at her with unaffected concern. + +"What do YOU know about any mysterious stranger?" demanded her +father. + +"Do you suppose you men kin keep a secret," scoffed Polly. "Why, +Dick Ruggles told me how skeert ye all were over an entire +stranger, and he advised me not to wander down the road after dark. +I asked him if he thought I was a pickaninny to be frightened by +bogies, and that if he hadn't a better excuse for wantin' 'to see +me home' from the Injin spring, he might slide." + +Larry laughed again, albeit a little bitterly, for it seemed to him +that the excuse was fully justified; but the colonel said promptly, +"Dick's a fool, and you might have told him there were worse things +to be met on the road than bogies. Run away now, and see that the +niggers are on hand when the stage comes." + +Two hours later the stage came with a clatter of hoofs and a cloud +of red dust, which precipitated itself and a dozen thirsty +travelers upon the veranda before the hotel bar-room; it brought +also the usual "express" newspapers and much talk to Colonel +Swinger, who always received his guests in a lofty personal fashion +at the door, as he might have done in his old Virginian home; but +it brought likewise--marvelous to relate--an ACTUAL GUEST, who had +two trunks and asked for a room! He was evidently a stranger to +the ways of Buena Vista, and particularly to those of Colonel +Swinger, and at first seemed inclined to resent the social attitude +of his host, and his frank and free curiosity. When he, however, +found that Colonel Swinger was even better satisfied to give an +account of HIS OWN affairs, his family, pedigree, and his present +residence, he began to betray some interest. The colonel told him +all the news, and would no doubt have even expatiated on his +ghostly visitant, had he not prudently concluded that his guest +might decline to remain in a haunted inn. The stranger had spoken +of staying a week; he had some private mining speculations to watch +at Wynyard's Gulch,--the next settlement, but he did not care to +appear openly at the "Gulch Hotel." He was a man of thirty, with +soft, pleasing features and a singular litheness of movement, +which, combined with a nut-brown, gypsy complexion, at first +suggested a foreigner. But his dialect, to the colonel's ears, was +distinctly that of New England, and to this was added a puritanical +and sanctimonious drawl. "He looked," said the colonel in after +years, "like a blank light mulatter, but talked like a blank Yankee +parson." For all that, he was acceptable to his host, who may have +felt that his reminiscences of his plantation on the James River +were palling on Buena Vista ears, and was glad of his new auditor. +It was an advertisement, too, of the hotel, and a promise of its +future fortunes. "Gentlemen having propahty interests at the +Gulch, sah, prefer to stay at Buena Vista with another man of +propahty, than to trust to those new-fangled papah-collared, +gingerbread booths for traders that they call 'hotels' there," he +had remarked to some of "the boys." In his preoccupation with the +new guest, he also became a little neglectful of his old chum and +dependent, Larry Hawkins. Nor was this the only circumstance that +filled the head of that shiftless loyal retainer of the colonel +with bitterness and foreboding. Polly Swinger--the scornfully +indifferent, the contemptuously inaccessible, the coldly capricious +and petulant--was inclined to be polite to the stranger! + +The fact was that Polly, after the fashion of her sex, took it into +her pretty head, against all consistency and logic, suddenly to +make an exception to her general attitude towards mankind in favor +of one individual. The reason-seeking masculine reader will rashly +conclude that this individual was the CAUSE as well as the object; +but I am satisfied that every fair reader of these pages will +instinctively know better. Miss Polly had simply selected the new +guest, Mr. Starbuck, to show OTHERS, particularly Larry Hawkins, +what she COULD do if she were inclined to be civil. For two days +she "fixed up" her distracting hair at him so that its silken floss +encircled her head like a nimbus; she tucked her oval chin into a +white fichu instead of a buttonless collar; she appeared at dinner +in a newly starched yellow frock! She talked to him with "company +manners;" said she would "admire to go to San Francisco," and asked +if he knew her old friends the Fauquier girls from "Faginia." The +colonel was somewhat disturbed; he was glad that his daughter had +become less negligent of her personal appearance; he could not but +see, with the others, how it enhanced her graces; but he was, with +the others, not entirely satisfied with her reasons. And he could +not help observing--what was more or less patent to ALL--that +Starbuck was far from being equally responsive to her attentions, +and at times was indifferent and almost uncivil. Nobody seemed to +be satisfied with Polly's transformation but herself. + +But eventually she was obliged to assert herself. The third +evening after Starbuck's arrival she was going over to the cabin of +Aunt Chloe, who not only did the washing for Buena Vista, but +assisted Polly in dressmaking. It was not far, and the night was +moonlit. As she crossed the garden she saw Starbuck moving in the +manzanita bushes beyond; a mischievous light came into her eyes; +she had not EXPECTED to meet him, but she had seen him go out, and +there were always POSSIBILITIES. To her surprise, however, he +merely lifted his hat as she passed, and turned abruptly in another +direction. This was more than the little heart-breaker of Buena +Vista was accustomed to! + +"Oh, Mr. Starbuck!" she called, in her laziest voice. + +He turned almost impatiently. + +"Since you're so civil and pressing, I thought I'd tell you I was +just runnin' over to Aunt Chloe's," she said dryly. + +"I should think it was hardly the proper thing for a young lady to +do at this time of night," he said superciliously. "But you know +best,--you know the people here." + +Polly's cheeks and eyes flamed. "Yes, I reckon I do," she said +crisply; "it's only a STRANGER here would think of being rude. +Good-night, Mr. Starbuck!" + +She tripped away after this Parthian shot, yet feeling, even in her +triumph, that the conceited fool seemed actually relieved at her +departure! And for the first time she now thought that she had +seen something in his face that she did not like! But her lazy +independence reasserted itself soon, and half an hour later, when +she had left Aunt Chloe's cabin, she had regained her self-esteem. +Yet, to avoid meeting him again, she took a longer route home, +across the dried ditch and over the bluff, scarred by hydraulics, +and so fell, presently, upon the old garden at the point where it +adjoined the abandoned diggings. She was quite sure she had +escaped a meeting with Starbuck, and was gliding along under the +shadow of the pear-trees, when she suddenly stopped. An +indescribable terror overcame her as she stared at a spot in the +garden, perfectly illuminated by the moonlight not fifty yards from +where she stood. For she saw on its surface a human head--a man's +head!--seemingly on the level of the ground, staring in her +direction. A hysterical laugh sprang from her lips, and she caught +at the branches above her or she would have fallen! Yet in that +moment the head had vanished! The moonlight revealed the empty +garden,--the ground she had gazed at,--but nothing more! + +She had never been superstitious. As a child she had heard the +negroes talk of "the hants,"--that is, "the HAUNTS" or spirits,-- +but had believed it a part of their ignorance, and unworthy a white +child,--the daughter of their master! She had laughed with Dick +Ruggles over the illusions of Larry, and had shared her father's +contemptuous disbelief of the wandering visitant being anything but +a living man; yet she would have screamed for assistance now, only +for the greater fear of making her weakness known to Mr. Starbuck, +and being dependent upon him for help. And with it came the sudden +conviction that HE had seen this awful vision, too. This would +account for his impatience of her presence and his rudeness. She +felt faint and giddy. Yet after the first shock had passed, her +old independence and pride came to her relief. She would go to the +spot and examine it. If it were some trick or illusion, she would +show her superiority and have the laugh on Starbuck. She set her +white teeth, clenched her little hands, and started out into the +moonlight. But alas! for women's weakness. The next moment she +uttered a scream and almost fell into the arms of Mr. Starbuck, who +had stepped out of the shadows beside her. + +"So you see you HAVE been frightened," he said, with a strange, +forced laugh; "but I warned you about going out alone!" + +Even in her fright she could not help seeing that he, too, seemed +pale and agitated, at which she recovered her tongue and her self- +possession. + +"Anybody would be frightened by being dogged about under the trees," +she said pertly. + +"But you called out before you saw me," he said bluntly, "as if +something had frightened you. That was WHY I came towards you." + +She knew it was the truth; but as she would not confess to her +vision, she fibbed outrageously. + +"Frightened," she said, with pale but lofty indignation. "What was +there to frighten me? I'm not a baby, to think I see a bogie in +the dark!" This was said in the faint hope that HE had seen +something too. If it had been Larry or her father who had met her, +she would have confessed everything. + +"You had better go in," he said curtly. "I will see you safe +inside the house." + +She demurred at this, but as she could not persist in her first +bold intention of examining the locality of the vision without +admitting its existence, she permitted him to walk with her to the +house, and then at once fled to her own room. Larry and her father +noticed their entrance together and their agitated manner, and were +uneasy. Yet the colonel's paternal pride and Larry's lover's +respect kept the two men from communicating their thoughts to each +other. + +"The confounded pup has been tryin' to be familiar, and Polly's set +him down," thought Larry, with glowing satisfaction. + +"He's been trying some of his sanctimonious Yankee abolition talk +on Polly, and she shocked him!" thought the colonel exultingly. + +But poor Polly had other things to think of in the silence of her +room. Another woman would have unburdened herself to a confidante; +but Polly was too loyal to her father to shatter his beliefs, and +too high-spirited to take another and a lesser person into her +confidence. She was certain that Aunt Chloe would be full of +sympathetic belief and speculations, but she would not trust a +nigger with what she couldn't tell her own father. For Polly +really and truly believed that she had seen a ghost, no doubt the +ghost of the murdered Sobriente, according to Larry's story. WHY +he should appear with only his head above ground puzzled her, +although it suggested the Catholic idea of purgatory, and he was a +Catholic! Perhaps he would have risen entirely but for that stupid +Starbuck's presence; perhaps he had a message for HER alone. The +idea pleased Polly, albeit it was a "fearful joy" and attended with +some cold shivering. Naturally, as a gentleman, he would appear to +HER--the daughter of a gentleman--the successor to his house-- +rather than to a Yankee stranger. What was she to do? For once +her calm nerves were strangely thrilled; she could not think of +undressing and going to bed, and two o'clock surprised her, still +meditating, and occasionally peeping from her window upon the +moonlit but vacant garden. If she saw him again, would she dare to +go down alone? Suddenly she started to her feet with a beating +heart! There was the unmistakable sound of a stealthy footstep in +the passage, coming towards her room. Was it he? In spite of her +high resolves she felt that if the door opened she should scream! +She held her breath--the footsteps came nearer--were before her +door--and PASSED! + +Then it was that the blood rushed back to her cheek with a flush of +indignation. Her room was at the end of the passage; there was +nothing beyond but a private staircase, long disused, except by +herself, as a short cut through the old patio to the garden. No +one else knew of it, and no one else had the right of access to it! +This insolent human intrusion--as she was satisfied it was now-- +overcame her fear, and she glided to the door. Opening it softly, +she could hear the stealthy footsteps descending. She darted back, +threw a shawl over her head and shoulders, and taking the small +Derringer pistol which it had always been part of her ostentatious +independence to place at her bed-head, she as stealthily followed +the intruder. But the footsteps had died away before she reached +the patio, and she saw only the small deserted, grass-grown +courtyard, half hidden in shadows, in whose centre stood the +fateful and long sealed-up well! A shudder came over her at again +being brought into contact with the cause of her frightful vision, +but as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she saw +something more real and appalling! The well was no longer sealed! +Fragments of bricks and boards lay around it! One end of a rope, +coiled around it like a huge snake, descended its foul depths; and +as she gazed with staring eyes, the head and shoulders of a man +emerged slowly from it! But it was NOT the ghostly apparition of +last evening, and her terror changed to scorn and indignation as +she recognized the face of Starbuck! + +Their eyes met; an oath broke from his lips. He made a movement to +spring from the well, but as the girl started back, the pistol held +in her hand was discharged aimlessly in the air, and the report +echoed throughout the courtyard. With a curse Starbuck drew back, +instantly disappeared in the well, and Polly fell fainting on the +steps. When she came to, her father and Larry were at her side. +They had been alarmed at the report, and had rushed quickly to the +patio, but not in time to prevent the escape of Starbuck and his +accomplice. By the time she had recovered her consciousness, they +had learned the full extent of that extraordinary revelation which +she had so innocently precipitated. Sobriente's well had really +concealed a rich gold ledge,--actually tunneled and galleried by +him secretly in the past,--and its only other outlet was an opening +in the garden hidden by a stone which turned on a swivel. Its +existence had been unknown to Sobriente's successor, but was known +to the Kanaka who had worked with Sobriente, who fled with his +daughter after the murder, but who no doubt was afraid to return +and work the mine. He had imparted the secret to Starbuck, another +half-breed, son of a Yankee missionary and Hawaiian wife, who had +evidently conceived this plan of seeking Buena Vista with an +accomplice, and secretly removing such gold as was still +accessible. The accomplice, afterwards identified by Larry as the +wandering tramp, failed to discover the secret entrance FROM the +garden, and Starbuck was consequently obliged to attempt it from +the hotel--for which purpose he had introduced himself as a +boarder--by opening the disused well secretly at night. These +facts were obtained from papers found in the otherwise valueless +trunks, weighted with stones for ballast, which Starbuck had +brought to the hotel to take away his stolen treasure in, but which +he was obliged to leave in his hurried flight. The attempt would +have doubtless succeeded but for Polly's courageous and timely +interference! + +And now that they had told her ALL, they only wanted to know what +had first excited HER suspicions, and driven her to seek the well +as the object of Starbuck's machinations? THEY had noticed her +manner when she entered the house that night, and Starbuck's +evident annoyance. Had she taxed him with her suspicions, and so +discovered a clue? + +It was a terrible temptation to Polly to pose as a more perfect +heroine, and one may not blame her if she did not rise entirely +superior to it. Her previous belief, that the head of the +accomplice at the opening of the garden was that of a GHOST, she +now felt was certainly in the way, as was also her conduct to +Starbuck, whom she believed to be equally frightened, and whom she +never once suspected! So she said, with a certain lofty +simplicity, that there were SOME THINGS which she really did not +care to talk about, and Larry and her father left her that night +with the firm conviction that the rascal Starbuck had tried to +tempt her to fly with him and his riches, and had been crushingly +foiled. Polly never denied this, and once, in later days, when +admiringly taxed with it by Larry, she admitted with dove-like +simplicity that she MAY have been too foolishly polite to her +father's guest for the sake of her father's hotel. + +However, all this was of small account to the thrilling news of a +new discovery and working of the "old gold ledge" at Buena Vista! +As the three kept their secret from the world, the discovery was +accepted in the neighborhood as the result of careful examination +and prospecting on the part of Colonel Swinger and his partner +Larry Hawkins. And when the latter gentleman afterwards boldly +proposed to Polly Swinger, she mischievously declared that she +accepted him only that the secret might not go "out of the family." + + + +LIBERTY JONES'S DISCOVERY + + +It was at best merely a rocky trail winding along a shelf of the +eastern slope of the Santa Cruz range, yet the only road between +the sea and the inland valley. The hoof-prints of a whole century +of zigzagging mules were impressed on the soil, regularly soaked by +winter rains and dried by summer suns during that period; the +occasional ruts of heavy, rude, wooden wheels--long obsolete--were +still preserved and visible. Weather-worn boulders and ledges, +lying in the unclouded glare of an August sky, radiated a quivering +heat that was intolerable, even while above them the masts of +gigantic pines rocked their tops in the cold southwestern trades +from the unseen ocean beyond. A red, burning dust lay everywhere, +as if the heat were slowly and visibly precipitating itself. + +The creaking of wheels and axles, the muffled plunge of hoofs, and +the cough of a horse in the dust thus stirred presently broke the +profound woodland silence. Then a dirty white canvas-covered +emigrant wagon slowly arose with the dust along the ascent. It was +travel-stained and worn, and with its rawboned horses seemed to +have reached the last stage of its journey and fitness. The only +occupants, a man and a girl, appeared to be equally jaded and +exhausted, with the added querulousness of discontent in their +sallow and badly nourished faces. Their voices, too, were not +unlike the creaking they had been pitched to overcome, and there +was an absence of reserve and consciousness in their speech, which +told pathetically of an equal absence of society. + +"It's no user talkin'! I tell ye, ye hain't got no more sense than +a coyote! I'm sick and tired of it, doggoned if I ain't! Ye ain't +no more use nor a hossfly,--and jest ez hinderin'! It was along o' +you that we lost the stock at Laramie, and ef ye'd bin at all +decent and takin', we'd hev had kempany that helped, instead of +laggin' on yere alone!" + +"What did ye bring me for?" retorted the girl shrilly. "I might +hev stayed with Aunt Marty. I wasn't hankerin' to come." + +"Bring ye for?" repeated her father contemptuously; "I reckoned ye +might he o' some account here, whar wimmin folks is skeerce, in the +way o' helpin',--and mebbe gettin' yer married to some likely +feller. Mighty much chance o' that, with yer yaller face and skin +and bones." + +"Ye can't blame me for takin' arter you, dad," she said, with a +shrill laugh, but no other resentment of his brutality. + +"Ye want somebody to take arter you--with a club," he retorted +angrily. "Ye hear! Wot's that ye're doin' now?" + +She had risen and walked to the tail of the wagon. "Goin' to get +out and walk. I'm tired o' bein' jawed at." + +She jumped into the road. The act was neither indignant nor +vengeful; the frequency of such scenes had blunted their sting. +She was probably "tired" of the quarrel, and ended it rudely. Her +father, however, let fly a Parthian arrow. + +"Ye needn't think I'm goin' to wait for ye, ez I hev! Ye've got to +keep tetch with the team, or get left. And a good riddance of bad +rubbidge." + +In reply the girl dived into the underwood beside the trail, picked +a wild berry or two, stripped a wand of young hazel she had broken +off, and switching it at her side, skipped along on the outskirts +of the wood and ambled after the wagon. Seen in the full, +merciless glare of a Californian sky, she justified her father's +description; thin and bony, her lank frame outstripped the body of +her ragged calico dress, which was only kept on her shoulders by +straps,--possibly her father's cast-off braces. A boy's soft felt +hat covered her head, and shadowed her only notable feature, a pair +of large dark eyes, looking larger for the hollow temples which +narrowed the frame in which they were set. + +So long as the wagon crawled up the ascent the girl knew she could +easily keep up with it, or even distance the tired horses. She +made one or two incursions into the wood, returning like an animal +from quest of food, with something in her mouth, which she was +tentatively chewing, and once only with some inedible mandrono +berries, plucked solely for their brilliant coloring. It was very +hot and singularly close; the higher current of air had subsided, +and, looking up, a singular haze seemed to have taken its place +between the treetops. Suddenly she heard a strange, rumbling +sound; an odd giddiness overtook her, and she was obliged to clutch +at a sapling to support herself; she laughed vacantly, though a +little frightened, and looked vaguely towards the summit of the +road; but the wagon had already disappeared. A strange feeling of +nausea then overcame her; she spat out the leaves she had been +chewing, disgustedly. But the sensation as quickly passed, and she +once more sought the trail and began slowly to follow the tracks of +the wagon. The air blew freshly, the treetops began again to rock +over her head, and the incident was forgotten. + +Presently she paused; she must have missed the trail, for the wagon +tracks had ended abruptly before a large boulder that lay across +the mountain trail. She dipped into the woods again; here there +were other wagon tracks that confused her. It was like her dogged, +stupid father to miss the trail; she felt a gleam of malicious +satisfaction at his discomfiture. Sooner or later, he would have +to retrace his steps and virtually come back for her! She took up +a position where two rough wheel ruts and tracks intersected each +other, one of which must be the missing trail. She noticed, too, +the broader hoof-prints of cattle without the following wheel ruts, +and instead of traces, the long smooth trails made by the dragging +of logs, and knew by these tokens that she must be near the highway +or some woodman's hut or ranch. She began to be thirsty, and was +glad, presently, when her quick, rustic ear caught the tinkling of +water. Yet it was not so easy to discover, and she was getting +footsore and tired again before she found it, some distance away, +in a gully coming from a fissure in a dislocated piece of outcrop. +It was beautifully clear, cold, and sparkling, with a slightly +sweetish taste, yet unlike the brackish "alkali" of the plains. It +refreshed and soothed her greatly, so much that, reclining against +a tree, but where she would be quite visible from the trail, her +eyes closed dreamily, and presently she slept. + +When she awoke, the shafts of sunlight were striking almost level +into her eyes. She must have slept two hours. Her father had not +returned; she knew the passage of the wagon would have awakened +her. She began to feel strange, but not yet alarmed; it was only +the uncertainty that made her uneasy. Had her father really gone +on by some other trail? Or had he really hurried on and left her, +as he said he would? The thought brought an odd excitement to her +rather than any fear. A sudden sense of freedom, as if some +galling chain had dropped from her, sent a singular thrill through +her frame. Yet she felt confused with her independence, not +knowing what to do with it, and momentarily dazzled with the +possible gift. + +At this moment she heard voices, and the figures of two men +appeared on the trail. + +They were talking earnestly, and walking as if familiar with the +spot, yet gazing around them as if at some novelty of the aspect. + +"And look there," said one; "there has been some serious disturbance +of that outcrop," pointing in the direction of the spring; "the +lower part has distinctly subsided." He spoke with a certain +authority, and dominance of position, and was evidently the +superior, as he was the elder of the two, although both were roughly +dressed. + +"Yes, it does kinder look as if it had lost its holt, like the +ledge yonder." + +"And you see I am right; the movement was from east to west," +continued the elder man. + +The girl could not comprehend what they said, and even thought them +a little silly. But she advanced towards them; at which they +stopped short, staring at her. With feminine instinct she +addressed the more important one:-- + +"Ye ain't passed no wagon nor team goin' on, hev ye?" + +"What sort of wagon?" said the man. + +"Em'grant wagon, two yaller hosses. Old man--my dad--drivin'." +She added the latter kinship as a protecting influence against +strangers, in spite of her previous independence. + +The men glanced at each other. + +"How long ago?" + +The girl suddenly remembered that she had slept two hours. + +"Sens noon," she said hesitatingly. + +"Since the earthquake?" + +"Wot's that?" + +The man came impatiently towards her. "How did you come here?" + +"Got outer the wagon to walk. I reckon dad missed the trail, and +hez got off somewhere where I can't find him." + +"What trail was he on,--where was he going?" + +"Sank Hozay,* I reckon. He was goin' up the grade--side o' the +hill; he must hev turned off where there's a big rock hangin' +over." + + +* San Jose. + + +"Did you SEE him turn off?" + +"No." + +The second man, who was in hearing distance, had turned away, and +was ostentatiously examining the sky and the treetops; the man who +had spoken to her joined him, and they said something in a low +voice. They turned again and came slowly towards her. She, from +some obscure sense of imitation, stared at the treetops and the sky +as the second man had done. But the first man now laid his hand +kindly on her shoulder and said, "Sit down." + +Then they told her there had been an earthquake so strong that it +had thrown down a part of the hillside, including the wagon trail. +That a wagon team and driver, such as she had described, had been +carried down with it, crushed to fragments, and buried under a +hundred feet of rock in the gulch below. A party had gone down to +examine, but it would be weeks perhaps before they found it, and +she must be prepared for the worst. She looked at them vaguely and +with tearless eyes. + +"Then ye reckon dad's dead?" + +"We fear it." + +"Then wot's a-goin' to become o' me?" she said simply. + +They glanced again at each other. "Have you no friends in +California?" said the elder man. + +"Nary one." + +"What was your father going to do?" + +"Dunno. I reckon HE didn't either." + +"You may stay here for the present," said the elder man meditatively. +"Can you milk?" + +The girl nodded. "And I suppose you know something about looking +after stock?" he continued. + +The girl remembered that her father thought she didn't, but this +was no time for criticism, and she again nodded. + +"Come with me," said the older man, rising. "I suppose," he added, +glancing at her ragged frock, "everything you have is in the +wagon." + +She nodded, adding with the same cold naivete, "It ain't much!" + +They walked on, the girl following; at times straying furtively on +either side, as if meditating an escape in the woods,--which indeed +had once or twice been vaguely in her thoughts,--but chiefly to +avoid further questioning and not to hear what the men said to each +other. For they were evidently speaking of her, and she could not +help hearing the younger repeat her words, "Wot's agoin' to become +o' me?" with considerable amusement, and the addition: "She'll take +care of herself, you bet! I call that remark o' hers the richest +thing out." + +"And I call the state of things that provoked it--monstrous!" said +the elder man grimly. "You don't know the lives of these people." + +Presently they came to an open clearing in the forest, yet so +incomplete that many of the felled trees, partly lopped of their +boughs, still lay where they had fallen. There was a cabin or +dwelling of unplaned, unpainted boards; very simple in structure, +yet made in a workmanlike fashion, quite unlike the usual log cabin +she had seen. This made her think that the elder man was a +"towny," and not a frontiersman like the other. + +As they approached the cabin the elder man stopped, and turning to +her, said:-- + +"Do you know Indians?" + +The girl started, and then recovering herself with a quick laugh: +"G'lang!--there ain't any Injins here!" + +"Not the kind YOU mean; these are very peaceful. There's a squaw +here whom you will"--he stopped, hesitated as he looked critically +at the girl, and then corrected himself--"who will help you." + +He pushed open the cabin door and showed an interior, equally +simple but well joined and fitted,--a marvel of neatness and finish +to the frontier girl's eye. There were shelves and cupboards and +other conveniences, yet with no ostentation of refinement to +frighten her rustic sensibilities. + +Then he pushed open another door leading into a shed and called +"Waya." A stout, undersized Indian woman, fitted with a coarse +cotton gown, but cleaner and more presentable than the girl's one +frock, appeared in the doorway. "This is Waya, who attends to the +cooking and cleaning," he said; "and by the way, what is your +name?" + +"Libby Jones." + +He took a small memorandum book and a "stub" of pencil from his +pocket. "Elizabeth Jones," he said, writing it down. The girl +interposed a long red hand. + +"No," she interrupted sharply, "not Elizabeth, but Libby, short for +Lib'rty." + +"Liberty?" + +"Yes." + +"Liberty Jones, then. Well, Waya, this is Miss Jones, who will +look after the cows and calves--and the dairy." Then glancing at +her torn dress, he added: "You'll find some clean things in there, +until I can send up something from San Jose. Waya will show you." + +Without further speech he turned away with the other man. When +they were some distance from the cabin, the younger remarked:-- + +"More like a boy than a girl, ain't she?" + +"So much the better for her work," returned the elder grimly. + +"I reckon! I was only thinkin' she didn't han'some much either as +a boy or girl, eh, doctor?" he pursued. + +"Well! as THAT won't make much difference to the cows, calves, or +the dairy, it needn't trouble US," returned the doctor dryly. But +here a sudden outburst of laughter from the cabin made them both +turn in that direction. They were in time to see Liberty Jones +dancing out of the cabin door in a large cotton pinafore, evidently +belonging to the squaw, who was following her with half-laughing, +half-frightened expostulations. The two men stopped and gazed at +the spectacle. + +"Don't seem to be takin' the old man's death very pow'fully," said +the younger, with a laugh. + +"Quite as much as he deserved, I daresay," said the doctor curtly. +"If the accident had happened to HER, he would have whined and +whimpered to us for the sake of getting something, but have been as +much relieved, you may be certain. SHE'S too young and too natural +to be a hypocrite yet." + +Suddenly the laughter ceased and Liberty Jones's voice arose, +shrill but masterful: "Thar, that'll do! Quit now! You jest get +back to your scrubbin'--d'ye hear? I'm boss o' this shanty, you +bet!" + +The doctor turned with a grim smile to his companion. "That's the +only thing that bothered me, and I've been waiting for. She's +settled it. She'll do. Come." + +They turned away briskly through the wood. At the end of half an +hour's walk they found the team that had brought them there in +waiting, and drove towards San Jose. It was nearly ten miles +before they passed another habitation or trace of clearing. And by +this time night had fallen upon the cabin they had left, and upon +the newly made orphan and her Indian companion, alone and contented +in that trackless solitude. + + . . . . . . + +Liberty Jones had been a year at the cabin. In that time she had +learned that her employer's name was Doctor Ruysdael, that he had a +lucrative practice in San Jose, but had also "taken up" a league or +two of wild forest land in the Santa Cruz range, which he preserved +and held after a fashion of his own, which gave him the reputation +of being a "crank" among the very few neighbors his vast possessions +permitted, and the equally few friends his singular tastes allowed +him. It was believed that a man owning such an enormous quantity of +timber land, who should refuse to set up a sawmill and absolutely +forbid the felling of trees; who should decline to connect it with +the highway to Santa Cruz, and close it against improvement and +speculation, had given sufficient evidence of his insanity; but when +to this was added the rumor that he himself was not only devoid of +the human instinct of hunting the wild animals with which his domain +abounded, but that he held it so sacred to their use as to forbid +the firing of a gun within his limits, and that these restrictions +were further preserved and "policed" by the scattered remnants of a +band of aborigines,--known as "digger Injins,"--it was seriously +hinted that his eccentricity had acquired a political and moral +significance, and demanded legislative interference. But the doctor +was a rich man, a necessity to his patients, a good marksman, and, +it was rumored, did not include his fellow men among the animals he +had a distaste for killing. + +Of all this, however, Liberty knew little and cared less. The +solitude appealed to her sense of freedom; she did not "hanker" +after a society she had never known. At the end of the first week, +when the doctor communicated to her briefly, by letter, the +convincing proofs of the death of her father and his entombment +beneath the sunken cliff, she accepted the fact without comment or +apparent emotion. Two months later, when her only surviving +relative, "Aunt Marty," of Missouri, acknowledged the news-- +communicated by Doctor Ruysdael--with Scriptural quotations and the +cheerful hope that it "would be a lesson to her" and she would +"profit in her new place," she left her aunt's letter unanswered. + +She looked after the cows and calves with an interest that was +almost possessory, patronized and played with the squaw,--yet made +her feel her inferiority,--and moved among the peaceful aborigines +with the domination of a white woman and a superior. She tolerated +the half-monthly visits of "Jim Hoskins," the young companion of +the doctor, who she learned was the doctor's factor and overseer of +the property, who lived seven miles away on an agricultural +clearing, and whose control of her actions was evidently limited by +the doctor,--for the doctor's sake alone. Nor was Mr. Hoskins +inclined to exceed those limits. He looked upon her as something +abnormal,--a "crank" as remarkable in her way as her patron was in +his, neuter of sex and vague of race, and he simply restricted his +supervision to the bringing and taking of messages. She remained +sole queen of the domain. A rare straggler from the main road, +penetrating this seclusion, might have scarcely distinguished her +from Waya, in her coarse cotton gown and slouched hat, except for +the free stride which contrasted with her companion's waddle. +Once, in following an estrayed calf, she had crossed the highway +and been saluted by a passing teamster in the digger dialect; yet +the mistake left no sting in her memory. And, like the digger, she +shrank from that civilization which had only proved a hard +taskmaster. + +The sole touch of human interest she had in her surroundings was in +the rare visits of the doctor and his brief but sincere commendation +of her rude and rustic work. It is possible that the strange, +middle-aged, gray-haired, intellectual man, whose very language was +at times mysterious and unintelligible to her, and whose suggestion +of power awed her, might have touched some untried filial chord in +her being. Although she felt that, save for absolute freedom, she +was little more to him than she had been to her father, yet he had +never told her she had "no sense," that she was "a hindrance," and +he had even praised her performance of her duties. Eagerly as she +looked for his coming, in his actual presence she felt a singular +uneasiness of which she was not entirely ashamed, and if she was +relieved at his departure, it none the less left her to a delightful +memory of him, a warm sense of his approval, and a fierce ambition +to be worthy of it, for which she would have sacrificed herself or +the other miserable retainers about her, as a matter of course. She +had driven Waya and the other squaws far along the sparse tableland +pasture in search of missing stock; she herself had lain out all +night on the rocks beside an ailing heifer. Yet, while satisfied to +earn his praise for the performance of her duty, for some feminine +reason she thought more frequently of a casual remark he had made on +his last visit: "You are stronger and more healthy in this air," he +had said, looking critically into her face. "We have got that +abominable alkali out of your system, and wholesome food will do the +rest." She was not sure she had quite understood him, but she +remembered that she had felt her face grow hot when he spoke,-- +perhaps because she had not understood him. + +His next visit was a day or two delayed, and in her anxiety she had +ventured as far as the highway to earnestly watch for his coming. +From her hiding-place in the underwood she could see the team and +Jim Hoskins already waiting for him. Presently she saw him drive +up to the trail in a carryall with a party of ladies and gentlemen. +He alighted, bade "Good-by" to the party, and the team turned to +retrace its course. But in that single moment she had been struck +and bewildered by what seemed to her the dazzlingly beautiful +apparel of the women, and their prettiness. She felt a sudden +consciousness of her own coarse, shapeless calico gown, her +straggling hair, and her felt hat, and a revulsion of feeling +seized her. She crept like a wounded animal out of the underwood, +and then ran swiftly and almost fiercely back towards the cabin. +She ran so fast that for a time she almost kept pace with the +doctor and Hoskins in the wagon on the distant trail. Then she +dived into the underwood again, and making a short cut through the +forest, came at the end of two hours within hailing distance of the +cabin,--footsore and exhausted, in spite of the strange excitement +that had driven her back. Here she thought she heard voices--his +voice among the rest--calling her, but the same singular revulsion +of feeling hurried her vaguely on again, even while she experienced +a foolish savage delight in not answering the summons. In this +erratic wandering she came upon the spring she had found on her +first entrance in the forest a year ago, and drank feverishly a +second time at its trickling source. She could see that since her +first visit it had worn a great hollow below the tree roots and now +formed a shining, placid pool. As she stooped to look at it, she +suddenly observed that it reflected her whole figure as in a cruel +mirror,--her slouched hat and loosened hair, her coarse and +shapeless gown, her hollow cheeks and dry yellow skin,--in all +their hopeless, uncompromising details. She uttered a quick, +angry, half-reproachful cry, and turned again to fly. But she had +not gone far before she came upon the hurrying figures and anxious +faces of the doctor and Hoskins. She stopped, trembling and +irresolute. + +"Ah," said the doctor, in a tone of frank relief. "Here you are! +I was getting worried about you. Waya said you had been gone since +morning!" He stopped and looked at her attentively. "Is anything +the matter?" + +His evident concern sent a warm glow over her chilly frame, and yet +the strange sensation remained. "No--no!" she stammered. + +Doctor Ruysdael turned to Hoskins. "Go back and tell Waya I've +found her." + +Libby felt that the doctor only wanted to get rid of his companion, +and became awed again. + +"Has anybody been bothering you?" + +"No." + +"Have the diggers frightened you?" + +"No"--with a gesture of contempt. + +"Have you and Waya quarreled?" + +"Nary"--with a faint, tremulous smile. + +He still stared at her, and then dropped his blue eyes musingly. +"Are you lonely here? Would you rather go to San Jose?" + +Like a flash the figures of the two smartly dressed women started +up before her again, with every detail of their fresh and wholesome +finery as cruelly distinct as had been her own shapeless ugliness +in the mirror of the spring. "No! NO!" she broke out vehemently +and passionately. "Never!" + +He smiled gently. "Look here! I'll send you up some books. You +read--don't you?" She nodded quickly. "Some magazines and papers. +Odd I never thought of it before," he added half musingly. "Come +along to the cabin. And," he stopped again and said decisively, +"the next time you want anything, don't wait for me to come, but +write." + +A few days after he left she received a package of books,--an odd +collection of novels, magazines, and illustrated journals of the +period. She received them eagerly as an evidence of his concern +for her, but it is to be feared that her youthful nature found +little satisfaction in the gratification of fancy. Many of the +people she read of were strange to her; many of the incidents +related seemed to her mere lies; some tales which treated of people +in her own sphere she found profoundly uninteresting. In one of +the cheaper magazines she chanced upon a fashion plate; she glanced +eagerly through all the others for a like revelation until she got +a dozen together, when she promptly relegated the remaining +literature to a corner and oblivion. The text accompanying the +plates was in a jargon not always clear, but her instinct supplied +the rest. She dispatched by Hoskins a note to Doctor Ruysdael: +"Please send me some brite kalikers and things for sewing. You +told me to ask." A few days later brought the response in a good- +sized parcel. + +Yet this did not keep her from her care of the stock nor her +rambles in the forest; she was quick to utilize her rediscovery of +the spring for watering the cattle; it was not so far afield as the +half-dried creek in the canyon, and was a quiet sylvan spot. She +ate her frugal midday meal there and drank of its waters, and, +secure in her seclusion, bathed there and made her rude toilet when +the cows were driven home. But she did not again look into its +mirrored surface when it was tranquil! + +And so a month passed. But when Doctor Ruysdael was again due at +the cabin, a letter was brought by Hoskins, with the news that he +was called away on professional business down the coast, and could +not come until two weeks later. In the disappointment that +overcame her, she did not at first notice that Hoskins was gazing +at her with a singular expression, which was really one of +undisguised admiration. Never having seen this before in the eyes +of any man who looked at her, she referred it to some vague +"larking" or jocularity, for which she was in no mood. + +"Say, Libby! you're gettin' to be a right smart-lookin' gal. Seems +to agree with ye up here," said Hoskins with an awkward laugh. +"Darned ef ye ain't lookin' awful purty!" + +"G'long!" said Liberty Jones, more than ever convinced of his +badinage. + +"Fact," said Hoskins energetically. "Why, Doc would tell ye so, +too. See ef he don't!" + +At this Liberty Jones felt her face grow hot. "You jess get!" she +said, turning away in as much embarrassment as anger. Yet he +hovered near her with awkward attentions that pleased while it +still angered her. He offered to go with her to look up the cows; +she flatly declined, yet with a strange satisfaction in his evident +embarrassment. This may have lent some animation to her face, for +he drew a long breath and said:-- + +"Don't go pertendin' ye don't know yer purty. Say, let me and you +walk a bit and have a talk together." But Libby had another idea +in her mind and curtly dismissed him. Then she ran swiftly to the +spring, for the words "The Doc will tell ye so, too" were ringing +in her ears. The doctor who came with the two beautifully dressed +women! HE--would tell her she was pretty! She had not dared to +look at herself in that crystal mirror since that dreadful day two +months ago. She would now. + +It was a pretty place in the cool shade of the giant trees, and the +hoof-marks of cattle drinking from the run beneath the pool had not +disturbed the margin of that tranquil sylvan basin. For a moment +she stood tremulous and uncertain, and then going up to the shining +mirror, dropped on her knees before it with her thin red hands +clasped on her lap. Unconsciously she had taken the attitude of +prayer; perhaps there was something like it in her mind. + +And then the light glanced full on the figure that she saw there! + +It fell on a full oval face and throat guileless of fleck or stain, +smooth as a child's and glowing with health; on large dark eyes, no +longer sunk in their orbits, but filled with an eager, happy light; +on bared arms now shapely in contour and cushioned with firm flesh; +on a dazzling smile, the like of which had never been on the face +of Liberty Jones before! + +She rose to her feet, and yet lingered as if loath to part from +this delightful vision. Then a fear overcame her that it was some +trick of the water, and she sped swiftly back to the house to +consult the little mirror which hung in her sleeping-room, but +which she had never glanced at since the momentous day of the +spring. She took it shyly into the sunshine, and found that it +corroborated the reflection of the spring. That night she worked +until late at the calico Doctor Ruysdael had sent her, and went to +bed happy. The next day brought her Hoskins again with a feeble +excuse of inquiring if she had a letter for the doctor, and she was +surprised to find that he was reinforced by a stranger from +Hoskins's farm, who was equally awkward and vaguely admiring. But +the appearance of the TWO men produced a singular phase in her +impressions and experience. She was no longer indignant at +Hoskins, but she found relief in accepting the compliments of the +stranger in preference, and felt a delight in Hoskins's discomfiture. +Waya, promoted to the burlesque of a chaperone, grinned with +infinite delight and understanding. + +When at last the day came for the doctor's arrival, he was duly met +by Hoskins, and as duly informed by that impressible subordinate of +the great change in Liberty's appearance. But the doctor was far +from being equally impressed with his factor's story, and indeed +showed much more interest in the appearance of the stock which they +met along the road. Once the doctor got out of the wagon to +inspect a cow, and particularly the coat of a rough draught horse +that had been turned out and put under Liberty's care. "His skin +is like velvet," said the doctor. "The girl evidently understands +stock, and knows how to keep them in condition." + +"I reckon she's beginning to understand herself, too," said +Hoskins. "Golly! wait till ye see HER." + +The doctor DID see her, but with what feelings he did not as +frankly express. She was not at the cabin when they arrived, but +presently appeared from the direction of the spring where, for +reasons of her own, she had evidently made her toilet. Doctor +Ruysdael was astounded; Hoskins's praise was not exaggerated; and +there was an added charm that Hoskins was not prepared for. She +had put on a gown of her own making,--the secret toil of many a +long night,--amateurishly fashioned from some cheap yellow calico +the doctor had sent her, yet fitting her wonderfully, and showing +every curve of her graceful figure. Unaccented by a corset,--an +article she had never known,--even the lines of the stiff, +unyielding calico had a fashion that was nymph-like and suited her +unfettered limbs. Doctor Ruysdael was profoundly moved. Though a +philosopher, he was practical. He found himself suddenly +confronted not only by a beautiful girl, but a problem! It was +impossible to keep the existence of this woodland nymph from the +knowledge of his distant neighbors; it was equally impossible for +him to assume the responsibility of keeping a goddess like this in +her present position. He had noticed her previous improvement, but +had never dreamed that pure and wholesome living could in two +months work such a miracle. And he was to a certain degree +responsible, HE had created her,--a beautiful Frankenstein, whose +lustrous, appealing eyes were even now menacing his security and +position. + +Perhaps she saw trouble and perplexity in the face where she had +expected admiration and pleasure, for a slight chill went over her +as he quickly praised the appearance of the stock and spoke of her +own improvement. But when they were alone, he turned to her +abruptly. + +"You said you had no wish to go to San Jose?" + +"No." Yet she was conscious that her greatest objection had been +removed, and she colored faintly. + +"Listen to me," he said dryly. "You deserve a better position than +this,--a better home and surroundings than you have here. You are +older, too,--a woman almost,--and you must look ahead." + +A look of mingled fright, reproach, and appeal came into her +eloquent face. "Yer wantin' to send me away?" she stammered. + +"No," he said frankly. "It is you who are GROWING away. This is +no longer the place for you." + +"But I want to stay. I don't wanter go. I am--I WAS happy here." + +"But I'm thinking of giving up this place. It takes up too much of +my time. You must be provided"-- + +"YOU are going away?" she said passionately. + +"Yes." + +"Take me with you. I'll go anywhere!--to San Jose---wherever you +go. Don't turn me off as dad did, for I'll foller you as I never +followed dad. I'll go with you--or I'll die!" + +There was neither fear nor shame in her words; it was the outspoken +instinct of the animal he had been rearing; be was convinced and +appalled by it. + +"I am returning to San Jose at once," he said gravely. "You shall +go with me--FOR THE PRESENT! Get yourself ready!" + +He took her to San Jose, and temporarily to the house of a patient,-- +a widow lady,--while he tried, alone, to grapple with the problem +that now confronted him. But that problem became more complicated +at the end of the third day, by Liberty Jones falling suddenly and +alarmingly ill. The symptoms were so grave that the doctor, in his +anxiety, called in a brother physician in consultation. When the +examination was over, the two men withdrew and stared at each other. + +"Of course there is no doubt that the symptoms all point to slow +arsenical poisoning," said the consulting doctor. + +"Yes," said Ruysdael quickly, "yet it is utterly inexplicable, both +as to motive and opportunity." + +"Humph!" said the other grimly, "young ladies take arsenic in +minute doses to improve the complexion and promote tissue, +forgetting that the effects are cumulative when they stop suddenly. +Your young friend has 'sworn off' too quickly." + +"But it is impossible," said Doctor Ruysdael impatiently. "She is +a mere child--a country girl--ignorant of such habits." + +"Humph! the peasants in the Tyrol try it on themselves after +noticing the effect on the coats of cattle." + +Doctor Ruysdael started. A recollection of the sleek draught horse +flashed upon him. He rose and hastily re-entered the patient's +room. In a few moments he returned. "Do you think I could remove +her at once to the mountains?" he said gravely. + +"Yes, with care and a return to graduated doses of the same poison; +you know it's the only remedy just now," answered the other. + +By noon the next day the doctor and his patient had returned to the +cabin, but Ruysdael himself carried the helpless Liberty Jones to +the spring and deposited her gently beside it. "You may drink +now," he said gravely. + +The girl did so eagerly, apparently imbibing new strength from the +sparkling water. The doctor meanwhile coolly filled a phial from +the same source, and made a hasty test of the contents by the aid +of some other phials from his case. The result seemed to satisfy +him. Then he said gravely: + +"And THIS is the spring you had discovered?" + +The girl nodded. + +"And you and the cattle have daily used it?" + +She nodded again wonderingly. Then she caught his hand appealingly. + +"You won't send me away?" + +He smiled oddly as he glanced from the waters of the hill to the +brimming eyes. "No." + +"No-r," tremulously, "go away--yourself?" + +The doctor looked this time only into her eyes. There was a +tremendous idea in his own, which seemed in some way to have solved +that dreadful problem. + +"No! We will stay here TOGETHER." + + . . . . . . + +Six months later there was a paragraph in the San Francisco press: +"The wonderful Arsenical Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountain, known +as 'Liberty Spring,' discovered by Doctor Ruysdael, has proved such +a remarkable success that we understand the temporary huts for +patients are to be shortly replaced by a magnificent Spa Hotel +worthy of the spot, and the eligible villa sites it has brought +into the market. It will be a source of pleasure to all to know +that the beautiful nymph--a worthy successor to the far-famed +'Elise' of the German 'Brunnen'--who has administered the waters to +so many grateful patients will still be in attendance, although it +is rumored that she is shortly to become the wife of the +distinguished discoverer." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation, by Harte + diff --git a/old/jhmln10.zip b/old/jhmln10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..82d0e4f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jhmln10.zip |