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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/2794-h.zip b/2794-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd0f2f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/2794-h.zip diff --git a/2794-h/2794-h.htm b/2794-h/2794-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f967db6 --- /dev/null +++ b/2794-h/2794-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2157 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Found at Blazing Star, by Bret Harte + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Found At Blazing Star, 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: Found At Blazing Star + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 27, 2006 [EBook #2794] +Last Updated: December 17, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUND AT BLAZING STAR *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + FOUND AT BLAZING STAR + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + The rain had only ceased with the gray streaks of morning at Blazing Star, + and the settlement awoke to a moral sense of cleanliness, and the finding + of forgotten knives, tin cups, and smaller camp utensils, where the heavy + showers had washed away the debris and dust heaps before the cabin doors. + Indeed, it was recorded in Blazing Star that a fortunate early riser had + once picked up on the highway a solid chunk of gold quartz which the rain + had freed from its incumbering soil, and washed into immediate and + glittering popularity. Possibly this may have been the reason why early + risers in that locality, during the rainy season, adopted a thoughtful + habit of body, and seldom lifted their eyes to the rifted or india-ink + washed skies above them. + </p> + <p> + "Cass" Beard had risen early that morning, but not with a view to + discovery. A leak in his cabin roof,—quite consistent with his + careless, improvident habits,—had roused him at 4 A. M., with a + flooded "bunk" and wet blankets. The chips from his wood pile refused to + kindle a fire to dry his bed-clothes, and he had recourse to a more + provident neighbor's to supply the deficiency. This was nearly opposite. + Mr. Cassius crossed the highway, and stopped suddenly. Something glittered + in the nearest red pool before him. Gold, surely! But, wonderful to + relate, not an irregular, shapeless fragment of crude ore, fresh from + Nature's crucible, but a bit of jeweler's handicraft in the form of a + plain gold ring. Looking at it more attentively, he saw that it bore the + inscription, "May to Cass." + </p> + <p> + Like most of his fellow gold-seekers, Cass was superstitious. "Cass!" His + own name! He tried the ring. It fitted his little finger closely. It was + evidently a woman's ring. He looked up and down the highway. No one was + yet stirring. Little pools of water in the red road were beginning to + glitter and grow rosy from the far-flushing east, but there was no trace + of the owner of the shining waif. He knew that there was no woman in camp, + and among his few comrades in the settlement he remembered to have seen + none wearing an ornament like that. Again, the coincidence of the + inscription to his rather peculiar nickname would have been a perennial + source of playful comment in a camp that made no allowance for sentimental + memories. He slipped the glittering little hoop into his pocket, and + thoughtfully returned to his cabin. + </p> + <p> + Two hours later, when the long, straggling procession, which every morning + wended its way to Blazing Star Gulch,—the seat of mining operations + in the settlement,—began to move, Cass saw fit to interrogate his + fellows. "Ye didn't none on ye happen to drop anything round yer last + night?" he asked, cautiously. + </p> + <p> + "I dropped a pocketbook containing government bonds and some other + securities, with between fifty and sixty thousand dollars," responded + Peter Drummond, carelessly; "but no matter, if any man will return a few + autograph letters from foreign potentates that happened to be in it,—of + no value to anybody but the owner,—he can keep the money. Thar's + nothin' mean about me," he concluded, languidly. + </p> + <p> + This statement, bearing every evidence of the grossest mendacity, was + lightly passed over, and the men walked on with the deepest gravity. + </p> + <p> + "But hev you?" Cass presently asked of another. + </p> + <p> + "I lost my pile to Jack Hamlin at draw-poker, over at Wingdam last night," + returned the other, pensively, "but I don't calkilate to find it lying + round loose." + </p> + <p> + Forced at last by this kind of irony into more detailed explanation, Cass + confided to them his discovery, and produced his treasure. The result was + a dozen vague surmises,—only one of which seemed to be popular, and + to suit the dyspeptic despondency of the party,—a despondency born + of hastily masticated fried pork and flapjacks. The ring was believed to + have been dropped by some passing "road agent" laden with guilty spoil. + </p> + <p> + "Ef I was you," said Drummond, gloomily, "I wouldn't flourish that yer + ring around much afore folks. I've seen better men nor you strung up a + tree by Vigilantes for having even less than that in their possession." + </p> + <p> + "And I wouldn't say much about bein' up so d——d early this + morning," added an even more pessimistic comrade; "it might look bad + before a jury." + </p> + <p> + With this the men sadly dispersed, leaving the innocent Cass with the ring + in his hand, and a general impression on his mind that he was already an + object of suspicion to his comrades,—an impression, it is hardly + necessary to say, they fully intended should be left to rankle in his + guileless bosom. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding Cass's first hopeful superstition the ring did not seem to + bring him nor the camp any luck. Daily the "clean up" brought the same + scant rewards to their labors, and deepened the sardonic gravity of + Blazing Star. But, if Cass found no material result from his treasure, it + stimulated his lazy imagination, and, albeit a dangerous and seductive + stimulant, at least lifted him out of the monotonous grooves of his + half-careless, half-slovenly, but always self-contented camp life. Heeding + the wise caution of his comrades, he took the habit of wearing the ring + only at night. Wrapped in his blanket, he stealthily slipped the golden + circlet over his little finger, and, as he averred, "slept all the better + for it." Whether it ever evoked any warmer dream or vision during those + calm, cold, virgin-like spring nights, when even the moon and the greater + planets retreated into the icy blue, steel-like firmament, I cannot say. + Enough that this superstition began to be colored a little by fancy, and + his fatalism somewhat mitigated by hope. Dreams of this kind did not tend + to promote his efficiency in the communistic labors of the camp, and + brought him a self-isolation that, however gratifying at first, soon + debarred him the benefits of that hard practical wisdom which underlaid + the grumbling of his fellow workers. + </p> + <p> + "I'm dog-goned," said one commentator, "ef I don't believe that Cass is + looney over that yer ring he found. Wears it on a string under his shirt." + </p> + <p> + Meantime, the seasons did not wait the discovery of the secret. The red + pools in Blazing Star highway were soon dried up in the fervent June sun + and riotous night wind of those altitudes. The ephemeral grasses that had + quickly supplanted these pools and the chocolate-colored mud, were as + quickly parched and withered. The footprints of spring became vague and + indefinite, and were finally lost in the impalpable dust of the summer + highway. + </p> + <p> + In one of his long, aimless excursions, Cass had penetrated a thick + undergrowth of buckeye and hazel, and found himself quite unexpectedly + upon the high road to Red Chief's Crossing. Cass knew by the lurid cloud + of dust that hid the distance, that the up coach had passed. He had + already reached that stage of superstition when the most trivial + occurrence seemed to point in some way to an elucidation of the mystery of + his treasure. His eyes had mechanically fallen to the ground again, as if + he half expected to find in some other waif a hint or corroboration of his + imaginings. Thus abstracted, the figure of a young girl on horseback, in + the road directly before the bushes he emerged from, appeared to have + sprung directly from the ground. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, come here, please do; quick!" + </p> + <p> + Cass stared, and then moved hesitatingly toward her. + </p> + <p> + "I heard some one coming through the bushes, and I waited," she went on. + "Come quick. It's something too awful for anything." + </p> + <p> + In spite of this appalling introduction, Cass could not but notice that + the voice, although hurried and excited, was by no means agitated or + frightened; that the eyes which looked into his sparkled with a certain + kind of pleased curiosity. + </p> + <p> + "It was just here," she went on vivaciously, "just here that I went into + the bush and cut a switch for my mare,—and,"—leading him along + at a brisk trot by her side,—"just here, look, see! this is what I + found." + </p> + <p> + It was scarcely thirty feet from the road. The only object that met Cass's + eye was a man's stiff, tall hat, lying emptily and vacantly in the grass. + It was new, shiny, and of modish shape. But it was so incongruous, so + perkily smart, and yet so feeble and helpless lying there, so ghastly + ludicrous in its very appropriateness and incapacity to adjust itself to + the surrounding landscape, that it affected him with something more than a + sense of its grotesqueness, and he could only stare at it blankly. + </p> + <p> + "But you're not looking the right way," the girl went on sharply; "look + there!" + </p> + <p> + Cass followed the direction of her whip. At last, what might have seemed a + coat thrown carelessly on the ground met his eye, but presently he became + aware of a white, rigid, aimlessly-clinched hand protruding from the + flaccid sleeve; mingled with it in some absurd way and half hidden by the + grass, lay what might have been a pair of cast-off trousers but for two + rigid boots that pointed in opposite angles to the sky. It was a dead man. + So palpably dead that life seemed to have taken flight from his very + clothes. So impotent, feeble, and degraded by them that the naked subject + of a dissecting table would have been less insulting to humanity. The head + had fallen back, and was partly hidden in a gopher burrow, but the white, + upturned face and closed eyes had less of helpless death in them than + those wretched enwrappings. Indeed, one limp hand that lay across the + swollen abdomen lent itself to the grotesquely hideous suggestion of a + gentleman sleeping off the excesses of a hearty dinner. + </p> + <p> + "Ain't he horrid?" continued the girl; "but what killed him?" + </p> + <p> + Struggling between a certain fascination at the girl's cold-blooded + curiosity and horror of the murdered man, Cass hesitatingly lifted the + helpless head. A bluish hole above the right temple, and a few brown + paint-like spots on the forehead, shirt cellar, and matted hair proved the + only record. + </p> + <p> + "Turn him over again," said the girl, impatiently, as Cass was about to + relinquish his burden. "May be you'll find another wound." + </p> + <p> + But Cass was dimly remembering certain formalities that in older + civilizations attend the discovery of dead bodies, and postponed a present + inquest. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps you'd better ride on, Miss, afore you get summoned as a witness. + I'll give warning at Red Chief's Crossing, and send the coroner down + here." + </p> + <p> + "Let me go with you," she said, earnestly, "it would be such fun. I don't + mind being a witness. Or," she added, without heeding Cass's look of + astonishment, "I'll wait here till you come back." + </p> + <p> + "But you see, Miss, it wouldn't seem right—" began Cass. + </p> + <p> + "But I found him first," interrupted the girl, with a pout. + </p> + <p> + Staggered by this preemptive right, sacred to all miners, Cass stopped. + </p> + <p> + "Who is the coroner?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "Joe Hornsby." + </p> + <p> + "The tall, lame man, who was half eaten by a grizzly?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "Well, look now! I'll ride on and bring him back in half an hour. There!" + </p> + <p> + "But, Miss—!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, don't mind ME. I never saw anything of this kind before, and I want + to see it ALL." + </p> + <p> + "Do you know Hornsby?" asked Cass, unconsciously a trifle irritated. + </p> + <p> + "No, but I'll bring him." She wheeled her horse into the road. + </p> + <p> + In the presence of this living energy Cass quite forgot the helpless dead. + "Have you been long in these parts, Miss?" he asked. + </p> + <p> + "About two weeks," she answered, shortly. "Good-by, just now. Look around + for the pistol or anything else you can find, although I have been over + the whole ground twice already." + </p> + <p> + A little puff of dust as the horse sprang into the road, a muffled + shuffle, struggle, then the regular beat of hoofs, and she was gone. + </p> + <p> + After five minutes had passed, Cass regretted that he had not accompanied + her; waiting in such a spot was an irksome task. Not that there was + anything in the scene itself to awaken gloomy imaginings; the bright, + truthful Californian sunshine scoffed at any illusion of creeping shadows + or waving branches. Once, in the rising wind, the empty hat rolled over—but + only in a ludicrous, drunken way. A search for any further sign or token + had proved futile, and Cass grew impatient. He began to hate himself for + having stayed; he would have fled but for shame. Nor was his good humor + restored when at the close of a weary half hour two galloping figures + emerged from the dusty horizon—Hornsby and the young girl. + </p> + <p> + His vague annoyance increased as he fancied that both seemed to ignore + him, the coroner barely acknowledging his presence with a nod. Assisted by + the young girl, whose energy and enthusiasm evidently delighted him, + Hornsby raised the body for a more careful examination. The dead man's + pockets were carefully searched. A few coins, a silver pencil, knife, and + tobacco-box were all they found. It gave no clew to his identity. Suddenly + the young girl, who had, with unabashed curiosity, knelt beside the + exploring official hands of the Red Chief, uttered a cry of gratification. + </p> + <p> + "Here's something! It dropped from the bosom of his shirt on the ground. + Look!" + </p> + <p> + She was holding in the air, between her thumb and forefinger, a folded bit + of well-worn newspaper. Her eyes sparkled. + </p> + <p> + "Shall I open it?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "It's a little ring" she said; "looks like an engagement ring. Something + is written on it. Look! 'May to Cass.'" + </p> + <p> + Cass darted forward. "It's mine," he stammered, "mine! I dropped it. It's + nothing—nothing," he went on, after a pause, embarrassed and + blushing, as the girl and her companion both stared at him—"a mere + trifle. I'll take it." + </p> + <p> + But the coroner opposed his outstretched hand. "Not much," he said, + significantly. + </p> + <p> + "But it's MINE," continued Cass, indignation taking the place of shame at + his discovered secret. "I found it six months ago in the road. I—picked + it up." + </p> + <p> + "With your name already written on it! How handy!" said the coroner, + grimly. + </p> + <p> + "It's an old story" said Cass, blushing again under the half-mischievous, + half-searching eyes of the girl. "All Blazing Star knows I found it." + </p> + <p> + "Then ye'll have no difficulty in provin' it," said Hornsby, coolly. "Just + now, however, WE'VE found it, and we propose to keep it for the inquest." + </p> + <p> + Cass shrugged his shoulders. Further altercation would have only + heightened his ludicrous situation in the girl's eyes. He turned away, + leaving his treasure in the coroner's hands. + </p> + <p> + The inquest, a day or two later, was prompt and final. No clew to the dead + man's identity; no evidence sufficiently strong to prove murder or + suicide; no trace of any kind, inculpating any party, known or unknown, + were found. But much publicity and interest were given to the proceedings + by the presence of the principal witness, a handsome girl. "To the pluck, + persistency, and intellect of Miss Porter," said the "Red Chief Recorder," + "Tuolumne County owes the recovery of the body." + </p> + <p> + No one who was present at the inquest failed to be charmed with the + appearance and conduct of this beautiful young lady. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Porter has but lately arrived in this district, in which, it is + hoped, she will become an honored resident, and continue to set an example + to all lackadaisical and sentimental members of the so-called 'sterner + sex.'" After this universally recognized allusion to Cass Beard, the + "Recorder" returned to its record: "Some interest was excited by what + appeared to be a clew to the mystery in the discovery of a small gold + engagement ring on the body. Evidence was afterward offered to show it was + the property of a Mr. Cass Beard of Blazing Star, who appeared upon the + scene AFTER the discovery of the corpse by Miss Porter. He alleged he had + dropped it in lifting the unfortunate remains of the deceased. Much + amusement was created in court by the sentimental confusion of the + claimant, and a certain partisan spirit shown by his fellow-miners of + Blazing Star. It appearing, however, by the admission of this sighing + Strephon of the Foot hills, that he had himself FOUND this pledge of + affection lying in the highway six months previous, the coroner wisely + placed it in the safe-keeping of the county court until the appearance of + the rightful owner." + </p> + <p> + Thus on the 13th of September, 186-, the treasure found at Blazing Star + passed out of the hands of its finder. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Autumn brought an abrupt explanation of the mystery. Kanaka Joe had been + arrested for horse stealing, but had with noble candor confessed to the + finer offense of manslaughter. That swift and sure justice which overtook + the horse stealer in these altitudes was stayed a moment and hesitated, + for the victim was clearly the mysterious unknown. Curiosity got the + better of an extempore judge and jury. + </p> + <p> + "It was a fair fight," said the accused, not without some human vanity, + feeling that the camp hung upon his words, "and was settled by the man az + was peartest and liveliest with his weapon. We had a sort of + unpleasantness over at Lagrange the night afore, along of our both hevin' + a monotony of four aces. We had a clinch and a stamp around, and when we + was separated it was only a question of shootin' on sight. He left + Lagrange at sun up the next morning, and I struck across a bit o' buckeye + and underbrush and came upon him, accidental like, on the Red Chief Road. + I drawed when I sighted him, and called out. He slipped from his mare and + covered himself with her flanks, reaching for his holster, but she rared + and backed down on him across the road and into the grass, where I got in + another shot and fetched him." + </p> + <p> + "And you stole his mare?" suggested the Judge. + </p> + <p> + "I got away," said the gambler, simply. + </p> + <p> + Further questioning only elicited the fact that Joe did not know the name + or condition of his victim. He was a stranger in Lagrange. + </p> + <p> + It was a breezy afternoon, with some turbulency in the camp, and much + windy discussion over this unwonted delay of justice. The suggestion that + Joe should be first hanged for horse stealing and then tried for murder + was angrily discussed, but milder counsels were offered—that the + fact of the killing should be admitted only as proof of the theft. A large + party from Red Chief had come over to assist in judgment, among them the + coroner. + </p> + <p> + Cass Beard had avoided these proceedings, which only recalled an + unpleasant experience, and was wandering with pick, pan, and wallet far + from the camp. These accoutrements, as I have before intimated, justified + any form of aimless idleness under the equally aimless title of + "prospecting." He had at the end of three hours' relaxation reached the + highway to Red Chief, half hidden by blinding clouds of dust torn from the + crumbling red road at every gust which swept down the mountain side. The + spot had a familiar aspect to Cass, although some freshly-dug holes near + the wayside, with scattered earth beside them, showed the presence of a + recent prospector. He was struggling with his memory, when the dust was + suddenly dispersed and he found himself again at the scene of the murder. + He started: he had not put foot on the road since the inquest. There + lacked only the helpless dead man and the contrasting figure of the alert + young woman to restore the picture. The body was gone, it was true, but as + he turned he beheld Miss Porter, at a few paces distant, sitting on her + horse as energetic and observant as on the first morning they had met. A + superstitious thrill passed over him and awoke his old antagonism. + </p> + <p> + She nodded to him slightly. "I came here to refresh my memory," she said, + "as Mr. Hornsby thought I might be asked to give my evidence again at + Blazing Star." + </p> + <p> + Cass carelessly struck an aimless blow with his pick against the sod and + did not reply. + </p> + <p> + "And you?" she queried. + </p> + <p> + "I stumbled upon the place just now while prospecting, or I shouldn't be + here." + </p> + <p> + "Then it was YOU made these holes?" + </p> + <p> + "No," said Cass, with ill-concealed disgust. "Nobody but a stranger would + go foolin' round such a spot." + </p> + <p> + He stopped, as the rude significance of his speech struck him, and added + surlily, "I mean—no one would dig here." + </p> + <p> + The girl laughed and showed a set of very white teeth in her square jaw. + Cass averted his face. + </p> + <p> + "Do you mean to say that every miner doesn't know that it's lucky to dig + wherever human blood has been spilt?" + </p> + <p> + Cass felt a return of his superstition, but he did not look up. "I never + heard it before," he said, severely. + </p> + <p> + "And you call yourself a California miner?" + </p> + <p> + "I do." + </p> + <p> + It was impossible for Miss Porter to misunderstand his curt speech and + unsocial manner. She stared at him and colored slightly. Lifting her reins + lightly, she said: "You certainly do not seem like most of the miners I + have met." + </p> + <p> + "Nor you like any girl from the East I ever met," he responded. + </p> + <p> + "What do you mean?" she asked, checking her horse. + </p> + <p> + "What I say," he answered, doggedly. Reasonable as this reply was, it + immediately struck him that it was scarcely dignified or manly. But before + he could explain himself Miss Porter was gone. + </p> + <p> + He met her again that very evening. The trial had been summarily suspended + by the appearance of the Sheriff of Calaveras and his posse, who took Joe + from that self-constituted tribunal of Blazing Star and set his face + southward and toward authoritative although more cautious justice. But not + before the evidence of the previous inquest had been read, and the + incident of the ring again delivered to the public. + </p> + <p> + It is said the prisoner burst into an incredulous laugh and asked to see + this mysterious waif. It was handed to him. Standing in the very shadow of + the gallows tree—which might have been one of the pines that + sheltered the billiard room in which the Vigilance Committee held their + conclave—the prisoner gave way to a burst of merriment, so genuine + and honest that the judge and jury joined in automatic sympathy. When + silence was restored an explanation was asked by the Judge. But there was + no response from the prisoner except a subdued chuckle. + </p> + <p> + "Did this ring belong to you?" asked the Judge, severely, the jury and + spectators craning their ears forward with an expectant smile already on + their faces. But the prisoner's eyes only sparkled maliciously as he + looked around the court. + </p> + <p> + "Tell us, Joe," said a sympathetic and laughter-loving juror, under his + breath. "Let it out and we'll make it easy for you." + </p> + <p> + "Prisoner," said the Judge, with a return of official dignity, "remember + that your life is in peril. Do you refuse?" + </p> + <p> + Joe lazily laid his arm on the back of his chair with (to quote the words + of an animated observer) "the air of having a Christian hope and a + sequence flush in his hand," and said: "Well, as I reckon I'm not up yer + for stealin' a ring that another man lets on to have found, and as fur as + I kin see, hez nothin' to do with the case, I do!" And as it was here that + the Sheriff of Calaveras made a precipitate entry into the room, the + mystery remained unsolved. + </p> + <p> + The effect of this freshly-important ridicule on the sensitive mind of + Cass might have been foretold by Blazing Star had it ever taken that + sensitiveness into consideration. He had lost the good humor and easy + pliability which had tempted him to frankness, and he had gradually become + bitter and hard. He had at first affected amusement over his own vanished + day dream—hiding his virgin disappointment in his own breast; but + when he began to turn upon his feelings he turned upon his comrades also. + Cass was for a while unpopular. There is no ingratitude so revolting to + the human mind as that of the butt who refuses to be one any longer. The + man who rejects that immunity which laughter generally casts upon him and + demands to be seriously considered deserves no mercy. + </p> + <p> + It was under these hard conditions that Cass Beard, convicted of overt + sentimentalism, aggravated by inconsistency, stepped into the Red Chief + coach that evening. It was his habit usually to ride with the driver, but + the presence of Hornsby and Miss Porter on the box seat changed his + intention. Yet he had the satisfaction of seeing that neither had noticed + him, and as there was no other passenger inside, he stretched himself on + the cushion of the back seat and gave way to moody reflections. He quite + determined to leave Blazing Star, to settle himself seriously to the task + of money getting, and to return to his comrades, some day, a sarcastic, + cynical, successful man, and so overwhelm them with confusion. For poor + Cass had not yet reached that superiority of knowing that success would + depend upon his ability to forego his past. Indeed, part of his boyhood + had been cast among these men, and he was not old enough to have learned + that success was not to be gauged by their standard. The moon lit up the + dark interior of the coach with a faint poetic light. The lazy swinging of + the vehicle that was bearing him away—albeit only for a night and a + day—the solitude, the glimpses from the window of great distances + full of vague possibilities, made the abused ring potent as that of Gyges. + He dreamed with his eyes open. From an Alnaschar vision he suddenly awoke. + The coach had stopped. The voices of men, one in entreaty, one in + expostulation, came from the box. Cass mechanically put his hand to his + pistol pocket. + </p> + <p> + "Thank you, but I INSIST upon getting down." + </p> + <p> + It was Miss Porter's voice. This was followed by a rapid, half-restrained + interchange of words between Hornsby and the driver. Then the latter said, + gruffly,— + </p> + <p> + "If the lady wants to ride inside, let her." + </p> + <p> + Miss Porter fluttered to the ground. She was followed by Hornsby. "Just a + minit, Miss," he expostulated, half shamedly, half brusquely, "ye don't + onderstand me. I only—" + </p> + <p> + But Miss Porter had jumped into the coach. + </p> + <p> + Hornsby placed his hand on the handle of the door. Miss Porter grasped it + firmly from the inside. There was a slight struggle. + </p> + <p> + All of which was part of a dream to the boyish Cass. But he awoke from it—a + man! "Do you," he asked, in a voice he scarcely recognized himself,—"Do + you want this man inside?" + </p> + <p> + "No!" + </p> + <p> + Cass caught at Hornsby's wrist like a young tiger. But alas! what availed + instinctive chivalry against main strength? He only succeeded in forcing + the door open in spite of Miss Porter's superior strategy, and—I + fear I must add, muscle also—and threw himself passionately at + Hornsby's throat, where he hung on and calmly awaited dissolution. But he + had, in the onset, driven Hornsby out into the road and the moonlight. + </p> + <p> + "Here! Somebody take my lines." The voice was "Mountain Charley's," the + driver. The figure that jumped from the box and separated the struggling + men belonged to this singularly direct person. + </p> + <p> + "You're riding inside?" said Charley, interrogatively, to Cass. Before he + could reply Miss Porter's voice came from the window. + </p> + <p> + "He is!" + </p> + <p> + Charley promptly bundled Cass into the coach. + </p> + <p> + "And YOU?" to Hornsby, "onless you're kalkilatin' to take a little + 'pasear' you're booked OUTSIDE. Get up." + </p> + <p> + It is probable that Charley assisted Mr. Hornsby as promptly to his seat, + for the next moment the coach was rolling on. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Cass, by reason of his forced entry, had been deposited in Miss + Porter's lap, whence, freeing himself, he had attempted to climb over the + middle seat, but in the starting of the coach was again thrown heavily + against her hat and shoulder; all of which was inconsistent with the + attitude of dignified reserve he had intended to display. Miss Porter, + meanwhile, recovered her good humor. + </p> + <p> + "What a brute he was, ugh!" she said, retying the ribbons of her bonnet + under her square chin, and smoothing out her linen duster. + </p> + <p> + Cass tried to look as if he had forgotten the whole affair. "Who? Oh, yes + I see!" he responded, absently. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose I ought to thank you," she went on with a smile, "but you know, + really, I could have kept him out if you hadn't pulled his wrist from + outside. I'll show you. Look! Put your hand on the handle there! Now, I'll + hold the lock inside firmly. You see, you can't turn the catch!" + </p> + <p> + She indeed held the lock fast. It was a firm hand, yet soft—their + fingers had touched over the handle—and looked white in the + moonlight. He made no reply, but sank back again in his seat with a + singular sensation in the fingers that had touched hers. He was in the + shadow, and, without being seen, could abandon his reserve and glance at + her face. It struck him that he had never really seen her before. She was + not so tall as she had appeared to be. Her eyes were not large, but her + pupils were black, moist, velvety, and so convex as to seem embossed on + the white. She had an indistinctive nose, a rather colorless face—whiter + at the angles of the mouth and nose through the relief of tiny freckles + like grains of pepper. Her mouth was straight, dark, red, but moist as her + eyes. She had drawn herself into the corner of the back seat, her wrist + put through and hanging over the swinging strap, the easy lines of her + plump figure swaying from side to side with the motion of the coach. + Finally, forgetful of any presence in the dark corner opposite, she threw + her head a little farther back, slipped a trifle lower, and placing two + well-booted feet upon the middle seat, completed a charming and wholesome + picture. + </p> + <p> + Five minutes elapsed. She was looking straight at the moon. Cass Beard + felt his dignified reserve becoming very much like awkwardness. He ought + to be coldly polite. + </p> + <p> + "I hope you're not flustered, Miss, by the—by the—" he began. + </p> + <p> + "I?" She straightened herself up in the seat, cast a curious glance into + the dark corner, and then, letting herself down again, said: "Oh, dear, + no!" + </p> + <p> + Another five minutes elapsed. She had evidently forgotten him. She might, + at least, have been civil. He took refuge again in his reserve. But it was + now mixed with a certain pique. + </p> + <p> + Yet how much softer her face looked in the moonlight! Even her square jaw + had lost that hard, matter-of-fact, practical indication which was so + distasteful to him, and always had suggested a harsh criticism of his + weakness. How moist her eyes were—actually shining in the light! How + that light seemed to concentrate in the corner of the lashes, and then + slipped—a flash—away! Was she? Yes, she was crying. + </p> + <p> + Cass melted. He moved. Miss Porter put her head out of the window and drew + it back in a moment, dry-eyed. + </p> + <p> + "One meets all sorts of folks traveling," said Cass, with what he wished + to make appear a cheerful philosophy. + </p> + <p> + "I dare say. I don't know. I never before met any one who was rude to me. + I have traveled all over the country alone, and with all kinds of people + ever since I was so high. I have always gone my own way, without hindrance + or trouble. I always do. I don't see why I shouldn't. Perhaps other people + mayn't like it. I do. I like excitement. I like to see all that there is + to see. Because I'm a girl I don't see why I cannot go out without a + keeper, and why I cannot do what any man can do that isn't wrong, do you? + Perhaps you do—perhaps you don't. Perhaps you like a girl to be + always in the house dawdling or thumping a piano or reading novels. + Perhaps you think I'm bold because I don't like it, and won't lie and say + I do." + </p> + <p> + She spoke sharply and aggressively, and so evidently in answer to Cass's + unspoken indictment against her, that he was not surprised when she became + more direct. + </p> + <p> + "You know you were shocked when I went to fetch that Hornsby, the coroner, + after we found the dead body." + </p> + <p> + "Hornsby wasn't shocked," said Cass, a little viciously. + </p> + <p> + "What do you mean?" she said, abruptly. + </p> + <p> + "You were good friends enough until—" + </p> + <p> + "Until he insulted me just now, is that it?" + </p> + <p> + "Until he thought," stammered Cass, "that because you were—you know—not + so—so—so careful as other girls, he could be a little freer." + </p> + <p> + "And so, because I preferred to ride a mile with him to see something real + that had happened, and tried to be useful instead of looking in shop + windows in Main Street or promenading before the hotel—" + </p> + <p> + "And being ornamental," interrupted Cass. But this feeble and un-Cass-like + attempt at playful gallantry met with a sudden check. + </p> + <p> + Miss Porter drew herself together, and looked out of the window. "Do you + wish me to walk the rest of the way home?" + </p> + <p> + "No," said Cass, hurriedly, with a crimson face and a sense of gratuitous + rudeness. + </p> + <p> + "Then stop that kind of talk, right there!" + </p> + <p> + There was an awkward silence. "I wish I was a man," she said, half + bitterly, half earnestly. Cass Beard was not old and cynical enough to + observe that this devout aspiration is usually uttered by those who have + least reason to deplore their own femininity; and, but for the rebuff he + had just received, would have made the usual emphatic dissent of our sex, + when the wish is uttered by warm red lips and tender voices—a + dissent, it may be remarked, generally withheld, however, when the + masculine spinster dwells on the perfection of woman. I dare say Miss + Porter was sincere, for a moment later she continued, poutingly: + </p> + <p> + "And yet I used to go to fires in Sacramento when I was only ten years + old. I saw the theatre burnt down. Nobody found fault with me then." + </p> + <p> + Something made Cass ask if her father and mother objected to her boyish + tastes. The reply was characteristic if not satisfactory,— + </p> + <p> + "Object? I'd like to see them do it." + </p> + <p> + The direction of the road had changed. The fickle moon now abandoned Miss + Porter and sought out Cass on the front seat. It caressed the young + fellow's silky moustache and long eyelashes, and took some of the sunburn + from his cheek. + </p> + <p> + "What's the matter with your neck?" said the girl, suddenly. + </p> + <p> + Cass looked down, blushing to find that the collar of his smart "duck" + sailor shirt was torn open. But something more than his white, soft, + girlish skin was exposed; the shirt front was dyed quite red with blood + from a slight cut on the shoulder. He remembered to have felt a scratch + while struggling with Hornsby. + </p> + <p> + The girl's soft eyes sparkled. "Let ME," she said, vivaciously. "Do! I'm + good at wounds. Come over here. No—stay there. I'll come over to + you." + </p> + <p> + She did, bestriding the back of the middle seat and dropping at his side. + The magnetic fingers again touched his; he felt her warm breath on his + neck as she bent toward him. + </p> + <p> + "It's nothing," he said, hastily, more agitated by the treatment than the + wound. + </p> + <p> + "Give me your flask," she responded, without heeding. A stinging sensation + as she bathed the edges of the cut with the spirit brought him back to + common sense again. "There," she said, skillfully extemporizing a bandage + from her handkerchief and a compress from his cravat. "Now, button your + coat over your chest, so, and don't take cold." She insisted upon + buttoning it for him; greater even than the feminine delight in a man's + strength is the ministration to his weakness. Yet, when this was finished, + she drew a little away from him in some embarrassment—an + embarrassment she wondered at, as his skin was finer, his touch gentler, + his clothes cleaner, and—not to put too fine a point upon it—he + exhaled an atmosphere much sweeter than belonged to most of the men her + boyish habits had brought her in contact with—not excepting her own + father. Later she even exempted her mother from the possession of this + divine effluence. After a moment she asked, suddenly, "What are you going + to do with Hornsby?" + </p> + <p> + Cass had not thought of him. His short-lived rage was past with the + occasion that provoked it. Without any fear of his adversary he would have + been content and quite willing to meet him no more. He only said, "That + will depend upon him." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, you won't hear from him again," said she, confidently, "but you + really ought to get up a little more muscle. You've no more than a girl." + She stopped, a little confused. + </p> + <p> + "What shall I do with your handkerchief?" asked the uneasy Cass, anxious + to change the subject. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, keep it, if you want to, only don't show it to everybody as you did + that ring you found." Seeing signs of distress in his face, she added: "Of + course that was all nonsense. If you had cared so much for the ring you + couldn't have talked about it, or shown it. Could you?" + </p> + <p> + It relieved him to think that this might be true; he certainly had not + looked at it in that light before. + </p> + <p> + "But did you really find it?" she asked, with sudden gravity. "Really, + now?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "And there was no real May in the case?" + </p> + <p> + "Not that I know of," laughed Cass, secretly pleased. + </p> + <p> + But Miss Porter, after eying him critically for a moment jumped up and + climbed back again to her seat. "Perhaps you had better give me that + handkerchief back." + </p> + <p> + Cass began to unbutton his coat. + </p> + <p> + "No! no! Do you want to take your death of cold?" she screamed. And Cass, + to avoid this direful possibility, rebuttoned his coat again over the + handkerchief and a peculiarly pleasing sensation. + </p> + <p> + Very little now was said until the rattling, bounding descent of the coach + denoted the approach to Red Chief. The straggling main street disclosed + itself, light by light. In the flash of glittering windows and the sound + of eager voices Miss Porter descended, without waiting for Cass's + proffered assistance, and anticipated Mountain Charley's descent from the + box. A few undistinguishable words passed between them. + </p> + <p> + "You kin freeze to me, Miss," said Charley; and Miss Porter, turning her + frank laugh and frankly opened palm to Cass, half returned the pressure of + his hand and slipped away. + </p> + <p> + A few days after the stage coach incident, Mountain Charley drew up beside + Cass on the Blazing Star turnpike, and handed him a small packet. "I was + told to give ye that by Miss Porter. Hush—listen! It's that rather + old dog-goned ring o' yours that's bin in all the papers. She's bamboozled + that sap-headed county judge, Boompointer, into givin' it to her. Take my + advice and sling it away for some other feller to pick up and get looney + over. That's all!" + </p> + <p> + "Did she say anything?" asked Cass, anxiously, as he received his lost + treasure somewhat coldly. + </p> + <p> + "Well, yes! I reckon. She asked me to stand betwixt Hornsby and you. So + don't YOU tackle him, and I'll see HE don't tackle you," and with a + portentous wink Mountain Charley whipped up his horses and was gone. + </p> + <p> + Cass opened the packet. It contained nothing but the ring. Unmitigated by + any word of greeting, remembrance, or even raillery, it seemed almost an + insult. Had she intended to flaunt his folly in his face, or had she + believed he still mourned for it and deemed its recovery a sufficient + reward for his slight service? For an instant he felt tempted to follow + Charley's advice, and cast this symbol of folly and contempt in the dust + of the mountain road. And had she not made his humiliation complete by + begging Charley's interference between him and his enemy? He would go home + and send her back the handkerchief she had given him. But here the + unromantic reflection that although he had washed it that very afternoon + in the solitude of his own cabin, he could not possibly iron it, but must + send it "rough dried," stayed his indignant feet. + </p> + <p> + Two or three days, a week, a fortnight even, of this hopeless resentment + filled Cass's breast. Then the news of Kanaka Joe's acquittal in the State + Court momentarily revived the story of the ring, and revamped a few stale + jokes in the camp. But the interest soon flagged; the fortunes of the + little community of Blazing Star had been for some months failing; and + with early snows in the mountain and wasted capital in fruitless schemes + on the river, there was little room for the indulgence of that lazy and + original humor which belonged to their lost youth and prosperity. Blazing + Star truly, in the grim figure of their slang, was "played out." Not dug + out, worked out, or washed out, but dissipated in a year of speculation + and chance. + </p> + <p> + Against this tide of fortune Cass struggled manfully, and even evoked the + slow praise of his companions. Better still, he won a certain praise for + himself, in himself, in a consciousness of increased strength, health, + power, and self-reliance. He began to turn his quick imagination and + perception to some practical account, and made one or two discoveries + which quite startled his more experienced but more conservative + companions. Nevertheless, Cass's discoveries and labors were not of a kind + that produced immediate pecuniary realization, and Blazing Star, which + consumed so many pounds of pork and flour daily, did not unfortunately + produce the daily equivalent in gold. Blazing Star lost its credit. + Blazing Star was hungry, dirty, and ragged. Blazing Star was beginning to + set. + </p> + <p> + Participating in the general ill luck of the camp, Cass was not without + his own individual mischances. He had resolutely determined to forget Miss + Porter and all that tended to recall the unlucky ring, but, cruelly + enough, she was the only thing that refused to be forgotten—whose + undulating figure reclined opposite to him in the weird moonlight of his + ruined cabin, whose voice mingled with the song of the river by whose + banks he toiled, and whose eyes and touch thrilled him in his dreams. + Partly for this reason, and partly because his clothes were beginning to + be patched and torn, he avoided Red Chief and any place where he would be + likely to meet her. In spite of this precaution he had once seen her + driving in a pony carriage, but so smartly and fashionably dressed that he + drew back in the cover of a wayside willow that she might pass without + recognition. He looked down upon his red-splashed clothes and grimy, + soil-streaked hands, and for a moment half hated her. His comrades seldom + spoke of her—instinctively fearing some temptation that might beset + his Spartan resolutions, but he heard from time to time that she had been + seen at balls and parties, apparently enjoying those very frivolities of + her sex she affected to condemn. + </p> + <p> + It was a Sabbath morning in early spring that he was returning from an + ineffectual attempt to enlist a capitalist at the county town to redeem + the fortunes of Blazing Star. He was pondering over the narrowness of that + capitalist, who had evidently but illogically connected Cass's present + appearance with the future of that struggling camp, when he became so + foot-sore that he was obliged to accept a "lift" from a wayfaring + teamster. As the slowly lumbering vehicle passed the new church on the + outskirts of the town, the congregation were sallying forth. It was too + late to jump down and run away, and Cass dared not ask his new-found + friend to whip up his cattle. Conscious of his unshorn beard and ragged + garments, he kept his eyes fixed upon the road. A voice that thrilled him + called his name. It was Miss Porter, a resplendent vision of silk, laces, + and Easter flowers—yet actually running, with something of her old + dash and freedom, beside the wagon. As the astonished teamster drew up + before this elegant apparition, she panted:— + </p> + <p> + "Why did you make me run so far, and why didn't you look up?" + </p> + <p> + Cass, trying to hide the patches on his knees beneath a newspaper, + stammered that he had not seen her. + </p> + <p> + "And you did not hold down your head purposely?" + </p> + <p> + "No," said Cass. + </p> + <p> + "Why have you not been to Red Chief? Why didn't you answer my message + about the ring?" she asked, swiftly. + </p> + <p> + "You sent nothing but the ring," said Cass, coloring, as he glanced at the + teamster. + </p> + <p> + "Why, THAT was a message, you born idiot." + </p> + <p> + Cass stared. The teamster smiled. Miss Porter gazed anxiously at the + wagon. "I think I'd like a ride in there; it looks awfully good." She + glanced mischievously around at the lingering and curious congregation. + </p> + <p> + "May I?" + </p> + <p> + But Cass deprecated that proceeding strongly. It was dirty; he was not + sure it was even WHOLESOME; she would be SO uncomfortable; he, himself, + was only going a few rods farther, and in that time she might ruin her + dress— + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes," she said, a little bitterly, "certainly, my dress must be + looked after. And—what else?" + </p> + <p> + "People might think it strange, and believe I had invited you," continued + Cass, hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + "When I had only invited myself? Thank you. Good-by." + </p> + <p> + She waved her hand and stepped back from the wagon. Cass would have given + worlds to recall her, but he sat still, and the vehicle moved on in moody + silence. At the first cross road he jumped down. "Thank you," he said to + the teamster. "You're welcome," returned that gentleman, regarding him + curiously, "but the next time a gal like that asks to ride in this yer + wagon, I reckon I won't take the vote of any deadhead passenger. Adios, + young fellow. Don't stay out late; ye might be run off by some gal, and + what would your mother say?" Of course the young man could only look + unutterable things and walk away, but even in that dignified action he was + conscious that its effect was somewhat mitigated by a large patch from a + material originally used as a flour sack, which had repaired his trousers, + but still bore the ironical legend, "Best Superfine." + </p> + <p> + The summer brought warmth and promise and some blossom, if not absolute + fruition, to Blazing Star. The long days drew Nature into closer communion + with the men, and hopefulness followed the discontent of their winter + seclusion. It was easier, too, for Capital to be wooed and won into making + a picnic in these mountain solitudes than when high water stayed the fords + and drifting snow the Sierran trails. At the close of one of these + Arcadian days Cass was smoking before the door of his lonely cabin when he + was astounded by the onset of a dozen of his companions. Peter Drummond, + far in the van, was waving a newspaper like a victorious banner. "All's + right now, Cass, old man!" he panted as he stopped before Cass and shoved + back his eager followers. + </p> + <p> + "What's all right?" asked Cass, dubiously. + </p> + <p> + "YOU! You kin rake down the pile now. You're hunky! You're on velvet. + Listen!" + </p> + <p> + He opened the newspaper and read, with annoying deliberation, as follows:— + </p> + <p> + "LOST.—If the finder of a plain gold ring, bearing the engraved + inscription, 'May to Cass,' alleged to have been picked up on the high + road near Blazing Star on the 4th March, 186-, will apply to Bookham & + Sons, bankers, 1007 Y Street, Sacramento, he will be suitably rewarded + either for the recovery of the ring, or for such facts as may identify it, + or the locality where it was found." + </p> + <p> + Cass rose and frowned savagely on his comrades. "No! no!" cried a dozen + voices, assuringly. "It's all right! Honest Injun! True as gospel! No + joke, Cass!" + </p> + <p> + "Here's the paper, Sacramento 'Union' of yesterday. Look for yourself," + said Drummond, handing him the well-worn journal. "And you see," he added, + "how darned lucky you are. It ain't necessary for you to produce the ring, + so if that old biled owl of a Boompointer don't giv' it back to ye, it's + all the same." + </p> + <p> + "And they say nobody but the finder need apply," interrupted another. + "That shuts out Boompointer or Kanaka Joe, for the matter o' that." + </p> + <p> + "It's clar that it MEANS you, Cass, ez much ez if they'd given your name," + added a third. + </p> + <p> + For Miss Porter's sake and his own Cass had never told them of the + restoration of the ring, and it was evident that Mountain Charley had also + kept silent. Cass could not speak now without violating a secret, and he + was pleased that the ring itself no longer played an important part in the + mystery. But what was that mystery, and why was the ring secondary to + himself? Why was so much stress laid upon his finding it? + </p> + <p> + "You see," said Drummond, as if answering his unspoken thought, "that 'ar + gal—for it is a gal in course—hez read all about it in the + papers, and hez sort o' took a shine to ye. It don't make a bit o' + difference who in thunder Cass IS or WAZ, for I reckon she's kicked him + over by this time—" + </p> + <p> + "Sarved him right, too, for losing the girl's ring and then lying low and + keeping dark about it," interrupted a sympathizer. + </p> + <p> + "And she's just weakened over the romantic, high-toned way you stuck to + it," continued Drummond, forgetting the sarcasms he had previously hurled + at this romance. Indeed, the whole camp, by this time, had become + convinced that it had fostered and developed a chivalrous devotion which + was now on the point of pecuniary realization. It was generally accepted + that "she" was the daughter of this banker, and also felt that in the + circumstances the happy father could not do less than develop the + resources of Blazing Star at once. Even if there were no relationship, + what opportunity could be more fit for presenting to capital a locality + that even produced engagement rings, and, as Jim Fauquier put it, "the men + ez knew how to keep 'em." It was this sympathetic Virginian who took Cass + aside with the following generous suggestion: "If you find that you and + the old gal couldn't hitch hosses, owin' to your not likin' red hair or a + game leg" (it may be here recorded that Blazing Star had, for no reason + whatever, attributed these unprepossessing qualities to the mysterious + advertiser), "you might let ME in. You might say ez how I used to jest + worship that ring with you, and allers wanted to borrow it on Sundays. If + anything comes of it—why—WE'RE PARDNERS!" + </p> + <p> + A serious question was the outfitting of Cass for what now was felt to be + a diplomatic representation of the community. His garments, it hardly need + be said, were inappropriate to any wooing except that of the "maiden all + forlorn," which the advertiser clearly was not. "He might," suggested + Fauquier, "drop in jest as he is—kinder as if he'd got keerless of + the world, being lovesick." But Cass objected strongly, and was borne out + in his objection by his younger comrades. At last a pair of white duck + trousers, a red shirt, a flowing black silk scarf, and a Panama hat were + procured at Red Chief, on credit, after a judicious exhibition of the + advertisement. A heavy wedding ring, the property of Drummond (who was not + married), was also lent as a graceful suggestion, and at the last moment + Fauquier affixed to Cass's scarf an enormous specimen pin of gold and + quartz. "It sorter indicates the auriferous wealth o' this yer region, and + the old man (the senior member of Bookham & Sons) needn't know I won + it at draw poker in Frisco," said Fauquier. + </p> + <p> + "Ef you 'pass' on the gal, you kin hand it back to me and I'LL try it on." + Forty dollars for expenses was put into Cass's hands, and the entire + community accompanied him to the cross roads where he was to meet the + Sacramento coach, which eventually carried him away, followed by a + benediction of waving hats and exploding revolvers. + </p> + <p> + That Cass did not participate in the extravagant hopes of his comrades, + and that he rejected utterly their matrimonial speculations in his behalf, + need not be said. Outwardly, he kept his own counsel with good-humored + assent. But there was something fascinating in the situation, and while he + felt he had forever abandoned his romantic dream, he was not displeased to + know that it might have proved a reality. Nor was it distasteful to him to + think that Miss Porter would hear of it and regret her late inability to + appreciate his sentiment. If he really were the object of some opulent + maiden's passion, he would show Miss Porter how he could sacrifice the + most brilliant prospects for her sake. Alone, on the top of the coach, he + projected one of those satisfying conversations in which imaginative + people delight, but which unfortunately never come quite up to rehearsal. + "Dear Miss Porter," he would say, addressing the back of the driver, "if I + could remain faithful to a dream of my youth, however illusive and unreal, + can you believe that for the sake of lucre I could be false to the one + real passion that alone supplanted it." In the composition and delivery of + this eloquent statement an hour was happily forgotten: the only drawback + to its complete effect was that a misplace of epithets in rapid repetition + did not seem to make the slightest difference, and Cass found himself + saying "Dear Miss Porter, if I could be false to a dream of my youth, + etc., etc., can you believe I could be FAITHFUL to the one real passion, + etc., etc.," with equal and perfect satisfaction. As Miss Porter was + reputed to be well off, if the unknown were poor, that might be another + drawback. + </p> + <p> + The banking house of Bookham & Sons did not present an illusive nor + mysterious appearance. It was eminently practical and matter of fact; it + was obtrusively open and glassy; nobody would have thought of leaving a + secret there that would have been inevitably circulated over the counter. + Cass felt an uncomfortable sense of incongruity in himself, in his story, + in his treasure, to this temple of disenchanting realism. With the + awkwardness of an embarrassed man he was holding prominently in his hand + an envelope containing the ring and advertisement as a voucher for his + intrusion, when the nearest clerk took the envelope from his hand, opened + it, took out the ring, returned it, said briskly, "T'other shop, next + door, young man," and turned to another customer. + </p> + <p> + Cass stepped to the door, saw that "T'other shop" was a pawnbroker's, and + returned again with a flashing eye and heightened color. "It's an + advertisement I have come to answer," he began again. + </p> + <p> + The clerk cast a glance at Cass's scarf and pin. "Place taken yesterday—no + room for any more," he said, abruptly. + </p> + <p> + Cass grew quite white. But his old experience in Blazing Star repartee + stood him in good stead. "If it's YOUR place you mean," he said coolly, "I + reckon you might put a dozen men in the hole you're rattlin' round in—but + it's this advertisement I'm after. If Bookham isn't in, maybe you'll send + me one of the grown-up sons." The production of the advertisement and some + laughter from the bystanders had its effect. The pert young clerk retired, + and returned to lead the way to the bank parlor. Cass's heart sank again + as he was confronted by a dark, iron-gray man—in dress, features, + speech, and action—uncompromisingly opposed to Cass—his ring + and his romance. When the young man had told his story and produced his + treasure he paused. The banker scarcely glanced at it, but said, + impatiently,— + </p> + <p> + "Well, your papers?" + </p> + <p> + "My papers?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. Proof of your identity. You say your name is Cass Beard. Good! What + have you got to prove it? How can I tell who you are?" + </p> + <p> + To a sensitive man there is no form of suspicion that is as bewildering + and demoralizing at the moment as the question of his identity. Cass felt + the insult in the doubt of his word, and the palpable sense of his present + inability to prove it. The banker watched him keenly but not unkindly. + </p> + <p> + "Come," he said at length, "this is not my affair; if you can legally + satisfy the lady for whom I am only agent, well and good. I believe you + can; I only warn you that you must. And my present inquiry was to keep her + from losing her time with impostors, a class I don't think you belong to. + There's her card. Good day." + </p> + <p> + "Miss Mortimer." It was NOT the banker's daughter. The first illusion of + Blazing Star was rudely dispelled. But the care taken by the capitalist to + shield her from imposture indicated a person of wealth. Of her youth and + beauty Cass no longer thought. + </p> + <p> + The address given was not distant. With a beating heart he rung the bell + of a respectable-looking house, and was ushered into a private + drawing-room. Instinctively he felt that the room was only temporarily + inhabited; an air peculiar to the best lodgings, and when the door opened + upon a tall lady in deep mourning, he was still more convinced of an + incongruity between the occupant and her surroundings. With a smile that + vacillated between a habit of familiarity and ease, and a recent + restraint, she motioned him to a chair. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Mortimer" was still young, still handsome, still fashionably + dressed, and still attractive. From her first greeting to the end of the + interview Cass felt that she knew all about him. This relieved him from + the onus of proving his identity, but seemed to put him vaguely at a + disadvantage. It increased his sense of inexperience and youthfulness. + </p> + <p> + "I hope you will believe," she began, "that the few questions I have to + ask you are to satisfy my own heart, and for no other purpose." She smiled + sadly as she went on. "Had it been otherwise, I should have instituted a + legal inquiry, and left this interview to some one cooler, calmer, and + less interested than myself. But I think, I KNOW I can trust you. Perhaps + we women are weak and foolish to talk of an INSTINCT, and when you know my + story you may have reason to believe that but little dependence can be + placed on THAT; but I am not wrong in saying,—am I?" (with a sad + smile) "that YOU are not above that weakness?" She paused, closed her lips + tightly, and grasped her hands before her. "You say you found that ring in + the road some three months before—the—the—you know what + I mean—the body—was discovered?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "You thought it might have been dropped by some one in passing?" + </p> + <p> + "I thought so, yes—it belonged to no one in camp." + </p> + <p> + "Before your cabin or on the highway?" + </p> + <p> + "Before my cabin." + </p> + <p> + "You are SURE?" There was something so very sweet and sad in her smile + that it oddly made Cass color. + </p> + <p> + "But my cabin is near the road," he suggested. + </p> + <p> + "I see! And there was nothing else; no paper nor envelope?" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing." + </p> + <p> + "And you kept it because of the odd resemblance one of the names bore to + yours?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "For no other reason + </p> + <p> + "None." Yet Cass felt he was blushing. + </p> + <p> + "You'll forgive my repeating a question you have already answered, but I + am so anxious. There was some attempt to prove at the inquest that the + ring had been found on the body of—the unfortunate man. But you tell + me it was not so?" + </p> + <p> + "I can swear it." + </p> + <p> + "Good God—the traitor!" She took a hurried step forward, turned to + the window, and then came back to Cass with a voice broken with emotion. + "I have told you I could trust you. That ring was mine!" + </p> + <p> + She stopped, and then went on hurriedly. "Years ago I gave it to a man who + deceived and wronged me; a man whose life since then has been a shame and + disgrace to all who knew him. A man who, once, a gentleman, sank so low as + to become the associate of thieves and ruffians; sank so low, that when he + died, by violence—a traitor even to them—his own confederates + shrunk from him, and left him to fill a nameless grave. That man's body + you found!" + </p> + <p> + Cass started. "And his name was—?" + </p> + <p> + "Part of your surname. Cass—Henry Cass." + </p> + <p> + "You see why Providence seems to have brought that ring to you," she went + on. "But you ask me why, knowing this, I am so eager to know if the ring + was found by you in the road, or if it were found on his body. Listen! It + is part of my mortification that the story goes that this man once showed + this ring, boasted of it, staked, and lost it at a gambling table to one + of his vile comrades." + </p> + <p> + "Kanaka Joe," said Cass, overcome by a vivid recollection of Joe's + merriment at the trial. + </p> + <p> + "The same. Don't you see," she said, hurriedly, "if the ring had been + found on him I could believe that somewhere in his heart he still kept + respect for the woman he had wronged. I am a woman—a foolish woman, + I know—but you have crushed that hope forever." + </p> + <p> + "But why have you sent for me?" asked Cass, touched by her emotion. + </p> + <p> + "To know it for certain," she said, almost fiercely. "Can you not + understand that a woman like me must know a thing once and forever? But + you CAN help me. I did not send for you only to pour my wrongs in your + ears. You must take me with you to this place—to the spot where you + found the ring—to the spot where you found the body—to the + spot where—where HE lies. You must do it secretly, that none shall + know me." + </p> + <p> + Cass hesitated. He was thinking of his companions and the collapse of + their painted bubble. How could he keep the secret from them? + </p> + <p> + "If it is money you need, let not that stop you. I have no right to your + time without recompense. Do not misunderstand me. There has been a + thousand dollars awaiting my order at Bookham's when the ring should be + delivered. It shall be doubled if you help me in this last moment." + </p> + <p> + It was possible. He could convey her secretly there, invent some story of + a reward delayed for want of proofs, and afterward share that reward with + his friends. He answered promptly, "I will take you there." + </p> + <p> + She took his hands in both of hers, raised them to her lips, and smiled. + The shadow of grief and restraint seemed to have fallen from her face, and + a half-mischievous, half-coquettish gleam in her dark eyes touched the + susceptible Cass in so subtle a fashion that he regained the street in + some confusion. He wondered what Miss Porter would have thought. But was + he not returning to her, a fortunate man, with one thousand dollars in his + pocket! Why should he remember he was handicapped, by a pretty woman and a + pathetic episode? It did not make the proximity less pleasant as he helped + her into the coach that evening, nor did the recollection of another ride + with another woman obtrude itself upon those consolations which he felt it + his duty, from time to time, to offer. It was arranged that he should + leave her at the "Red Chief" Hotel, while he continued on to Blazing Star, + returning at noon to bring her with him when he could do it without + exposing her to recognition. The gray dawn came soon enough, and the coach + drew up at "Red Chief" while the lights in the bar-room and dining-room of + the hotel were still struggling with the far flushing east. Cass alighted, + placed Miss Mortimer in the hands of the landlady, and returned to the + vehicle. It was still musty, close, and frowzy, with half-awakened + passengers. There was a vacated seat on the top, which Cass climbed up to, + and abstractedly threw himself beside a figure muffled in shawls and rugs. + There was a slight movement among the multitudinous enwrappings, and then + the figure turned to him and said, dryly, "Good morning!" It was Miss + Porter! + </p> + <p> + "Have you been long here?" he stammered. + </p> + <p> + "All night." + </p> + <p> + He would have given worlds to leave her at that moment. He would have + jumped from the starting coach to save himself any explanation of the + embarrassment he was furiously conscious of showing, without, as he + believed, any adequate cause. And yet, like all inexperienced, sensitive + men, he dashed blindly into that explanation; worse, he even told his + secret at once, then and there, and then sat abashed and conscience + stricken, with an added sense of its utter futility. + </p> + <p> + "And this," summed up the young girl, with a slight shrug of her pretty + shoulders, "is YOUR MAY?" + </p> + <p> + Cass would have recommenced his story. + </p> + <p> + "No, don't, pray! It isn't interesting, nor original. Do YOU believe it?" + </p> + <p> + "I do," said Cass, indignantly. + </p> + <p> + "How lucky! Then let me go to sleep." + </p> + <p> + Cass, still furious, but uneasy, did not again address her. When the coach + stopped at Blazing Star she asked him, indifferently: "When does this + sentimental pilgrimage begin?" + </p> + <p> + "I return for her at one o'clock," replied Cass, stiffly. + </p> + <p> + He kept his word. He appeased his eager companions with a promise of + future fortune, and exhibited the present and tangible reward. By a + circuitous route known only to himself, he led Miss Mortimer to the road + before the cabin. There was a pink flush of excitement on her somewhat + faded cheek. + </p> + <p> + "And it was here?" she asked, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + "I found it here." + </p> + <p> + "And the body?" + </p> + <p> + "That was afterward. Over in that direction, beyond the clump of buckeyes, + on the Red Chief turnpike." + </p> + <p> + "And any one coming from the road we left just now and going to—to—that + place, would have to cross just here? Tell me," she said, with a strange + laugh, laying her cold nervous hand on his, "wouldn't they?" + </p> + <p> + "They would." + </p> + <p> + "Let us go to that place." + </p> + <p> + Cass stepped out briskly to avoid observation and gain the woods beyond + the highway. "You have crossed here before," she said. "There seems to be + a trail." + </p> + <p> + "I may have made it: it's a short cut to the buckeyes." + </p> + <p> + "You never found anything else on the trail?" + </p> + <p> + "You remember, I told you before, the ring was all I found." + </p> + <p> + "Ah, true!" she smiled sweetly; "it was THAT which made it seem so odd to + you. I forgot." + </p> + <p> + In half an hour they reached the buckeyes. During the walk she had taken + rapid recognizance of everything in her path. When they crossed the road + and Cass had pointed out the scene of the murder, she looked anxiously + around. "You are sure we are not seen?" + </p> + <p> + "Quite." + </p> + <p> + "You will not think me foolish if I ask you to wait here while I go in + there"—she pointed to the ominous thicket near them—"alone?" + </p> + <p> + She was quite white. + </p> + <p> + Cass's heart, which had grown somewhat cold since his interview with Miss + Porter, melted at once. + </p> + <p> + "Go; I will stay here." + </p> + <p> + He waited five minutes. She did not return. + </p> + <p> + What if the poor creature had determined upon suicide on the spot where + her faithless lover had fallen? He was reassured in another moment by the + rustle of skirts in the undergrowth. + </p> + <p> + "I was becoming quite alarmed," he said, aloud. + </p> + <p> + "You have reason to be," returned a hurried voice. He started. It was Miss + Porter, who stepped swiftly out of the cover. "Look," she said, "look at + that man down the road. He has been tracking you two ever since you left + the cabin. Do you know who he is?" + </p> + <p> + "No!" + </p> + <p> + "Then listen. It is three-fingered Dick, one of the escaped road agents. I + know him!" + </p> + <p> + "Let us go and warn her," said Cass, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + Miss Porter laid her hand upon his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "I don't think she'll thank you," she said, dryly. "Perhaps you'd better + see what she's doing, first." + </p> + <p> + Utterly bewildered, yet with a strong sense of the masterfulness of his + companion, he followed her. She crept like a cat through the thicket. + Suddenly she paused. "Look!" she whispered, viciously, "look at the tender + vigils of your heart-broken May!" + </p> + <p> + Cass saw the woman who had left him a moment before on her knees on the + grass, with long thin fingers digging like a ghoul in the earth. He had + scarce time to notice her eager face and eyes, cast now and then back + toward the spot where she had left him, before there was a crash in the + bushes, and a man,—the stranger of the road,—leaped to her + side. "Run," he said; "run for it now. You're watched!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh! that man, Beard!" she said, contemptuously. + </p> + <p> + "No, another in a wagon. Quick. Fool, you know the place now,—you + can come later; run!" And half-dragging, half-lifting her, he bore her + through the bushes. Scarcely had they closed behind the pair than Miss + Porter ran to the spot vacated by the woman. "Look!" she cried, + triumphantly, "look!" + </p> + <p> + Cass looked, and sank on his knees beside her. + </p> + <p> + "It WAS worth a thousand dollars, wasn't it?" she repeated, maliciously, + "wasn't it? But you ought to return it! REALLY you ought." + </p> + <p> + Cass could scarcely articulate. "But how did YOU know it?" he finally + gasped. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I suspected something; there was a woman, and you know you're SUCH a + fool!" + </p> + <p> + Cass rose, stiffly. + </p> + <p> + "Don't be a greater fool now, but go and bring my horse and wagon from the + hill, and don't say anything to the driver." + </p> + <p> + "Then you did not come alone?" + </p> + <p> + "No; it would have been bold and improper." + </p> + <p> + "Please!" + </p> + <p> + "And to think it WAS the ring, after all, that pointed to this," she said. + </p> + <p> + "The ring that YOU returned to me." + </p> + <p> + "What did you say?" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing." + </p> + <p> + "Don't, please, the wagon is coming." + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + In the next morning's edition of the "Red Chief Chronicle" appeared the + following startling intelligence:— + </p> + <p> + EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY FINDING OF THE STOLEN TREASURE OF WELLS, FARGO + & CO. OVER $800,000 RECOVERED + </p> + <p> + Our readers will remember the notorious robbery of Wells, Fargo & + Co.'s treasure from the Sacramento and Red Chief Pioneer Coach on the + night of September 1. Although most of the gang were arrested, it is known + that two escaped, who, it was presumed, cached the treasure, amounting to + nearly $500,000 in gold, drafts, and jewelry, as no trace of the property + was found. Yesterday our esteemed fellow citizen, Mr. Cass Beard, long and + favorably known in this county, succeeded in exhuming the treasure in a + copse of hazel near the Red Chief turnpike,—adjacent to the spot + where an unknown body was lately discovered. This body is now strongly + suspected to be that of one Henry Cass, a disreputable character, who has + since been ascertained to have been one of the road agents who escaped. + The matter is now under legal investigation. The successful result of the + search is due to a systematic plan evolved from the genius of Mr. Beard, + who has devoted over a year to this labor. It was first suggested to him + by the finding of a ring, now definitely identified as part of the + treasure which was supposed to have been dropped from Wells, Fargo & + Co's boxes by the robbers in their midnight flight through Blazing Star. + </p> + <p> + In the same journal appeared the no less important intelligence, which + explains, while it completes this veracious chronicle:— + </p> + <p> + "It is rumored that a marriage is shortly to take place between the hero + of the late treasure discovery and a young lady of Red Chief, whose + devoted aid and assistance to this important work is well known to this + community." + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Found At Blazing Star, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUND AT BLAZING STAR *** + +***** This file should be named 2794-h.htm or 2794-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/2794/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Found At Blazing Star + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 27, 2006 [EBook #2794] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUND AT BLAZING STAR *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +FOUND AT BLAZING STAR + + +By Bret Harte + + + +The rain had only ceased with the gray streaks of morning at Blazing +Star, and the settlement awoke to a moral sense of cleanliness, and the +finding of forgotten knives, tin cups, and smaller camp utensils, where +the heavy showers had washed away the debris and dust heaps before the +cabin doors. Indeed, it was recorded in Blazing Star that a fortunate +early riser had once picked up on the highway a solid chunk of gold +quartz which the rain had freed from its incumbering soil, and washed +into immediate and glittering popularity. Possibly this may have been +the reason why early risers in that locality, during the rainy season, +adopted a thoughtful habit of body, and seldom lifted their eyes to the +rifted or india-ink washed skies above them. + +"Cass" Beard had risen early that morning, but not with a view to +discovery. A leak in his cabin roof,--quite consistent with his +careless, improvident habits,--had roused him at 4 A. M., with a flooded +"bunk" and wet blankets. The chips from his wood pile refused to kindle +a fire to dry his bed-clothes, and he had recourse to a more provident +neighbor's to supply the deficiency. This was nearly opposite. Mr. +Cassius crossed the highway, and stopped suddenly. Something glittered +in the nearest red pool before him. Gold, surely! But, wonderful to +relate, not an irregular, shapeless fragment of crude ore, fresh from +Nature's crucible, but a bit of jeweler's handicraft in the form of a +plain gold ring. Looking at it more attentively, he saw that it bore the +inscription, "May to Cass." + +Like most of his fellow gold-seekers, Cass was superstitious. "Cass!" +His own name! He tried the ring. It fitted his little finger closely. It +was evidently a woman's ring. He looked up and down the highway. No one +was yet stirring. Little pools of water in the red road were beginning +to glitter and grow rosy from the far-flushing east, but there was no +trace of the owner of the shining waif. He knew that there was no woman +in camp, and among his few comrades in the settlement he remembered to +have seen none wearing an ornament like that. Again, the coincidence +of the inscription to his rather peculiar nickname would have been a +perennial source of playful comment in a camp that made no allowance +for sentimental memories. He slipped the glittering little hoop into his +pocket, and thoughtfully returned to his cabin. + +Two hours later, when the long, straggling procession, which every +morning wended its way to Blazing Star Gulch,--the seat of mining +operations in the settlement,--began to move, Cass saw fit to +interrogate his fellows. "Ye didn't none on ye happen to drop anything +round yer last night?" he asked, cautiously. + +"I dropped a pocketbook containing government bonds and some other +securities, with between fifty and sixty thousand dollars," responded +Peter Drummond, carelessly; "but no matter, if any man will return a few +autograph letters from foreign potentates that happened to be in it,--of +no value to anybody but the owner,--he can keep the money. Thar's +nothin' mean about me," he concluded, languidly. + +This statement, bearing every evidence of the grossest mendacity, was +lightly passed over, and the men walked on with the deepest gravity. + +"But hev you?" Cass presently asked of another. + +"I lost my pile to Jack Hamlin at draw-poker, over at Wingdam last +night," returned the other, pensively, "but I don't calkilate to find it +lying round loose." + +Forced at last by this kind of irony into more detailed explanation, +Cass confided to them his discovery, and produced his treasure. The +result was a dozen vague surmises,--only one of which seemed to +be popular, and to suit the dyspeptic despondency of the party,--a +despondency born of hastily masticated fried pork and flapjacks. The +ring was believed to have been dropped by some passing "road agent" +laden with guilty spoil. + +"Ef I was you," said Drummond, gloomily, "I wouldn't flourish that yer +ring around much afore folks. I've seen better men nor you strung up a +tree by Vigilantes for having even less than that in their possession." + +"And I wouldn't say much about bein' up so d----d early this morning," +added an even more pessimistic comrade; "it might look bad before a +jury." + +With this the men sadly dispersed, leaving the innocent Cass with the +ring in his hand, and a general impression on his mind that he was +already an object of suspicion to his comrades,--an impression, it is +hardly necessary to say, they fully intended should be left to rankle in +his guileless bosom. + +Notwithstanding Cass's first hopeful superstition the ring did not seem +to bring him nor the camp any luck. Daily the "clean up" brought the +same scant rewards to their labors, and deepened the sardonic gravity of +Blazing Star. But, if Cass found no material result from his treasure, +it stimulated his lazy imagination, and, albeit a dangerous and +seductive stimulant, at least lifted him out of the monotonous grooves +of his half-careless, half-slovenly, but always self-contented camp +life. Heeding the wise caution of his comrades, he took the habit of +wearing the ring only at night. Wrapped in his blanket, he stealthily +slipped the golden circlet over his little finger, and, as he averred, +"slept all the better for it." Whether it ever evoked any warmer dream +or vision during those calm, cold, virgin-like spring nights, when even +the moon and the greater planets retreated into the icy blue, steel-like +firmament, I cannot say. Enough that this superstition began to be +colored a little by fancy, and his fatalism somewhat mitigated by +hope. Dreams of this kind did not tend to promote his efficiency in the +communistic labors of the camp, and brought him a self-isolation that, +however gratifying at first, soon debarred him the benefits of that hard +practical wisdom which underlaid the grumbling of his fellow workers. + +"I'm dog-goned," said one commentator, "ef I don't believe that Cass +is looney over that yer ring he found. Wears it on a string under his +shirt." + +Meantime, the seasons did not wait the discovery of the secret. The red +pools in Blazing Star highway were soon dried up in the fervent June sun +and riotous night wind of those altitudes. The ephemeral grasses that +had quickly supplanted these pools and the chocolate-colored mud, were +as quickly parched and withered. The footprints of spring became vague +and indefinite, and were finally lost in the impalpable dust of the +summer highway. + +In one of his long, aimless excursions, Cass had penetrated a thick +undergrowth of buckeye and hazel, and found himself quite unexpectedly +upon the high road to Red Chief's Crossing. Cass knew by the lurid cloud +of dust that hid the distance, that the up coach had passed. He had +already reached that stage of superstition when the most trivial +occurrence seemed to point in some way to an elucidation of the mystery +of his treasure. His eyes had mechanically fallen to the ground +again, as if he half expected to find in some other waif a hint or +corroboration of his imaginings. Thus abstracted, the figure of a young +girl on horseback, in the road directly before the bushes he emerged +from, appeared to have sprung directly from the ground. + +"Oh, come here, please do; quick!" + +Cass stared, and then moved hesitatingly toward her. + +"I heard some one coming through the bushes, and I waited," she went on. +"Come quick. It's something too awful for anything." + +In spite of this appalling introduction, Cass could not but notice that +the voice, although hurried and excited, was by no means agitated or +frightened; that the eyes which looked into his sparkled with a certain +kind of pleased curiosity. + +"It was just here," she went on vivaciously, "just here that I went into +the bush and cut a switch for my mare,--and,"--leading him along at a +brisk trot by her side,--"just here, look, see! this is what I found." + +It was scarcely thirty feet from the road. The only object that met +Cass's eye was a man's stiff, tall hat, lying emptily and vacantly +in the grass. It was new, shiny, and of modish shape. But it was so +incongruous, so perkily smart, and yet so feeble and helpless lying +there, so ghastly ludicrous in its very appropriateness and incapacity +to adjust itself to the surrounding landscape, that it affected him +with something more than a sense of its grotesqueness, and he could only +stare at it blankly. + +"But you're not looking the right way," the girl went on sharply; "look +there!" + +Cass followed the direction of her whip. At last, what might have seemed +a coat thrown carelessly on the ground met his eye, but presently he +became aware of a white, rigid, aimlessly-clinched hand protruding from +the flaccid sleeve; mingled with it in some absurd way and half hidden +by the grass, lay what might have been a pair of cast-off trousers but +for two rigid boots that pointed in opposite angles to the sky. It was +a dead man. So palpably dead that life seemed to have taken flight from +his very clothes. So impotent, feeble, and degraded by them that the +naked subject of a dissecting table would have been less insulting to +humanity. The head had fallen back, and was partly hidden in a gopher +burrow, but the white, upturned face and closed eyes had less of +helpless death in them than those wretched enwrappings. Indeed, one limp +hand that lay across the swollen abdomen lent itself to the grotesquely +hideous suggestion of a gentleman sleeping off the excesses of a hearty +dinner. + +"Ain't he horrid?" continued the girl; "but what killed him?" + +Struggling between a certain fascination at the girl's cold-blooded +curiosity and horror of the murdered man, Cass hesitatingly lifted the +helpless head. A bluish hole above the right temple, and a few brown +paint-like spots on the forehead, shirt cellar, and matted hair proved +the only record. + +"Turn him over again," said the girl, impatiently, as Cass was about to +relinquish his burden. "May be you'll find another wound." + +But Cass was dimly remembering certain formalities that in older +civilizations attend the discovery of dead bodies, and postponed a +present inquest. + +"Perhaps you'd better ride on, Miss, afore you get summoned as a +witness. I'll give warning at Red Chief's Crossing, and send the coroner +down here." + +"Let me go with you," she said, earnestly, "it would be such fun. I +don't mind being a witness. Or," she added, without heeding Cass's look +of astonishment, "I'll wait here till you come back." + +"But you see, Miss, it wouldn't seem right--" began Cass. + +"But I found him first," interrupted the girl, with a pout. + +Staggered by this preemptive right, sacred to all miners, Cass stopped. + +"Who is the coroner?" she asked. + +"Joe Hornsby." + +"The tall, lame man, who was half eaten by a grizzly?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, look now! I'll ride on and bring him back in half an hour. +There!" + +"But, Miss--!" + +"Oh, don't mind ME. I never saw anything of this kind before, and I want +to see it ALL." + +"Do you know Hornsby?" asked Cass, unconsciously a trifle irritated. + +"No, but I'll bring him." She wheeled her horse into the road. + +In the presence of this living energy Cass quite forgot the helpless +dead. "Have you been long in these parts, Miss?" he asked. + +"About two weeks," she answered, shortly. "Good-by, just now. Look +around for the pistol or anything else you can find, although I have +been over the whole ground twice already." + +A little puff of dust as the horse sprang into the road, a muffled +shuffle, struggle, then the regular beat of hoofs, and she was gone. + +After five minutes had passed, Cass regretted that he had not +accompanied her; waiting in such a spot was an irksome task. Not that +there was anything in the scene itself to awaken gloomy imaginings; +the bright, truthful Californian sunshine scoffed at any illusion of +creeping shadows or waving branches. Once, in the rising wind, the empty +hat rolled over--but only in a ludicrous, drunken way. A search for any +further sign or token had proved futile, and Cass grew impatient. He +began to hate himself for having stayed; he would have fled but for +shame. Nor was his good humor restored when at the close of a weary half +hour two galloping figures emerged from the dusty horizon--Hornsby and +the young girl. + +His vague annoyance increased as he fancied that both seemed to ignore +him, the coroner barely acknowledging his presence with a nod. Assisted +by the young girl, whose energy and enthusiasm evidently delighted him, +Hornsby raised the body for a more careful examination. The dead man's +pockets were carefully searched. A few coins, a silver pencil, knife, +and tobacco-box were all they found. It gave no clew to his identity. +Suddenly the young girl, who had, with unabashed curiosity, knelt +beside the exploring official hands of the Red Chief, uttered a cry of +gratification. + +"Here's something! It dropped from the bosom of his shirt on the ground. +Look!" + +She was holding in the air, between her thumb and forefinger, a folded +bit of well-worn newspaper. Her eyes sparkled. + +"Shall I open it?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"It's a little ring" she said; "looks like an engagement ring. Something +is written on it. Look! 'May to Cass.'" + +Cass darted forward. "It's mine," he stammered, "mine! I dropped it. +It's nothing--nothing," he went on, after a pause, embarrassed and +blushing, as the girl and her companion both stared at him--"a mere +trifle. I'll take it." + +But the coroner opposed his outstretched hand. "Not much," he said, +significantly. + +"But it's MINE," continued Cass, indignation taking the place of shame +at his discovered secret. "I found it six months ago in the road. +I--picked it up." + +"With your name already written on it! How handy!" said the coroner, +grimly. + +"It's an old story" said Cass, blushing again under the +half-mischievous, half-searching eyes of the girl. "All Blazing Star +knows I found it." + +"Then ye'll have no difficulty in provin' it," said Hornsby, coolly. +"Just now, however, WE'VE found it, and we propose to keep it for the +inquest." + +Cass shrugged his shoulders. Further altercation would have only +heightened his ludicrous situation in the girl's eyes. He turned away, +leaving his treasure in the coroner's hands. + +The inquest, a day or two later, was prompt and final. No clew to the +dead man's identity; no evidence sufficiently strong to prove murder or +suicide; no trace of any kind, inculpating any party, known or +unknown, were found. But much publicity and interest were given to the +proceedings by the presence of the principal witness, a handsome girl. +"To the pluck, persistency, and intellect of Miss Porter," said the "Red +Chief Recorder," "Tuolumne County owes the recovery of the body." + +No one who was present at the inquest failed to be charmed with the +appearance and conduct of this beautiful young lady. + +"Miss Porter has but lately arrived in this district, in which, it +is hoped, she will become an honored resident, and continue to set an +example to all lackadaisical and sentimental members of the so-called +'sterner sex.'" After this universally recognized allusion to Cass +Beard, the "Recorder" returned to its record: "Some interest was excited +by what appeared to be a clew to the mystery in the discovery of a small +gold engagement ring on the body. Evidence was afterward offered to show +it was the property of a Mr. Cass Beard of Blazing Star, who appeared +upon the scene AFTER the discovery of the corpse by Miss Porter. He +alleged he had dropped it in lifting the unfortunate remains of the +deceased. Much amusement was created in court by the sentimental +confusion of the claimant, and a certain partisan spirit shown by his +fellow-miners of Blazing Star. It appearing, however, by the admission +of this sighing Strephon of the Foot hills, that he had himself FOUND +this pledge of affection lying in the highway six months previous, the +coroner wisely placed it in the safe-keeping of the county court until +the appearance of the rightful owner." + +Thus on the 13th of September, 186-, the treasure found at Blazing Star +passed out of the hands of its finder. + +***** + +Autumn brought an abrupt explanation of the mystery. Kanaka Joe had been +arrested for horse stealing, but had with noble candor confessed to +the finer offense of manslaughter. That swift and sure justice which +overtook the horse stealer in these altitudes was stayed a moment and +hesitated, for the victim was clearly the mysterious unknown. Curiosity +got the better of an extempore judge and jury. + +"It was a fair fight," said the accused, not without some human vanity, +feeling that the camp hung upon his words, "and was settled by the +man az was peartest and liveliest with his weapon. We had a sort of +unpleasantness over at Lagrange the night afore, along of our both +hevin' a monotony of four aces. We had a clinch and a stamp around, and +when we was separated it was only a question of shootin' on sight. He +left Lagrange at sun up the next morning, and I struck across a bit o' +buckeye and underbrush and came upon him, accidental like, on the Red +Chief Road. I drawed when I sighted him, and called out. He slipped from +his mare and covered himself with her flanks, reaching for his holster, +but she rared and backed down on him across the road and into the grass, +where I got in another shot and fetched him." + +"And you stole his mare?" suggested the Judge. + +"I got away," said the gambler, simply. + +Further questioning only elicited the fact that Joe did not know the +name or condition of his victim. He was a stranger in Lagrange. + +It was a breezy afternoon, with some turbulency in the camp, and much +windy discussion over this unwonted delay of justice. The suggestion +that Joe should be first hanged for horse stealing and then tried for +murder was angrily discussed, but milder counsels were offered--that +the fact of the killing should be admitted only as proof of the theft. +A large party from Red Chief had come over to assist in judgment, among +them the coroner. + +Cass Beard had avoided these proceedings, which only recalled an +unpleasant experience, and was wandering with pick, pan, and wallet +far from the camp. These accoutrements, as I have before intimated, +justified any form of aimless idleness under the equally aimless title +of "prospecting." He had at the end of three hours' relaxation reached +the highway to Red Chief, half hidden by blinding clouds of dust torn +from the crumbling red road at every gust which swept down the mountain +side. The spot had a familiar aspect to Cass, although some freshly-dug +holes near the wayside, with scattered earth beside them, showed the +presence of a recent prospector. He was struggling with his memory, when +the dust was suddenly dispersed and he found himself again at the scene +of the murder. He started: he had not put foot on the road since the +inquest. There lacked only the helpless dead man and the contrasting +figure of the alert young woman to restore the picture. The body was +gone, it was true, but as he turned he beheld Miss Porter, at a few +paces distant, sitting on her horse as energetic and observant as on the +first morning they had met. A superstitious thrill passed over him and +awoke his old antagonism. + +She nodded to him slightly. "I came here to refresh my memory," she +said, "as Mr. Hornsby thought I might be asked to give my evidence again +at Blazing Star." + +Cass carelessly struck an aimless blow with his pick against the sod and +did not reply. + +"And you?" she queried. + +"I stumbled upon the place just now while prospecting, or I shouldn't be +here." + +"Then it was YOU made these holes?" + +"No," said Cass, with ill-concealed disgust. "Nobody but a stranger +would go foolin' round such a spot." + +He stopped, as the rude significance of his speech struck him, and added +surlily, "I mean--no one would dig here." + +The girl laughed and showed a set of very white teeth in her square jaw. +Cass averted his face. + +"Do you mean to say that every miner doesn't know that it's lucky to dig +wherever human blood has been spilt?" + +Cass felt a return of his superstition, but he did not look up. "I never +heard it before," he said, severely. + +"And you call yourself a California miner?" + +"I do." + +It was impossible for Miss Porter to misunderstand his curt speech and +unsocial manner. She stared at him and colored slightly. Lifting her +reins lightly, she said: "You certainly do not seem like most of the +miners I have met." + +"Nor you like any girl from the East I ever met," he responded. + +"What do you mean?" she asked, checking her horse. + +"What I say," he answered, doggedly. Reasonable as this reply was, it +immediately struck him that it was scarcely dignified or manly. But +before he could explain himself Miss Porter was gone. + +He met her again that very evening. The trial had been summarily +suspended by the appearance of the Sheriff of Calaveras and his posse, +who took Joe from that self-constituted tribunal of Blazing Star and +set his face southward and toward authoritative although more cautious +justice. But not before the evidence of the previous inquest had been +read, and the incident of the ring again delivered to the public. + +It is said the prisoner burst into an incredulous laugh and asked to see +this mysterious waif. It was handed to him. Standing in the very +shadow of the gallows tree--which might have been one of the pines that +sheltered the billiard room in which the Vigilance Committee held their +conclave--the prisoner gave way to a burst of merriment, so genuine +and honest that the judge and jury joined in automatic sympathy. When +silence was restored an explanation was asked by the Judge. But there +was no response from the prisoner except a subdued chuckle. + +"Did this ring belong to you?" asked the Judge, severely, the jury and +spectators craning their ears forward with an expectant smile already +on their faces. But the prisoner's eyes only sparkled maliciously as he +looked around the court. + +"Tell us, Joe," said a sympathetic and laughter-loving juror, under his +breath. "Let it out and we'll make it easy for you." + +"Prisoner," said the Judge, with a return of official dignity, "remember +that your life is in peril. Do you refuse?" + +Joe lazily laid his arm on the back of his chair with (to quote the +words of an animated observer) "the air of having a Christian hope and a +sequence flush in his hand," and said: "Well, as I reckon I'm not up yer +for stealin' a ring that another man lets on to have found, and as fur +as I kin see, hez nothin' to do with the case, I do!" And as it was here +that the Sheriff of Calaveras made a precipitate entry into the room, +the mystery remained unsolved. + +The effect of this freshly-important ridicule on the sensitive mind of +Cass might have been foretold by Blazing Star had it ever taken that +sensitiveness into consideration. He had lost the good humor and easy +pliability which had tempted him to frankness, and he had gradually +become bitter and hard. He had at first affected amusement over his own +vanished day dream--hiding his virgin disappointment in his own breast; +but when he began to turn upon his feelings he turned upon his comrades +also. Cass was for a while unpopular. There is no ingratitude so +revolting to the human mind as that of the butt who refuses to be one +any longer. The man who rejects that immunity which laughter generally +casts upon him and demands to be seriously considered deserves no mercy. + +It was under these hard conditions that Cass Beard, convicted of overt +sentimentalism, aggravated by inconsistency, stepped into the Red Chief +coach that evening. It was his habit usually to ride with the driver, +but the presence of Hornsby and Miss Porter on the box seat changed +his intention. Yet he had the satisfaction of seeing that neither had +noticed him, and as there was no other passenger inside, he stretched +himself on the cushion of the back seat and gave way to moody +reflections. He quite determined to leave Blazing Star, to settle +himself seriously to the task of money getting, and to return to +his comrades, some day, a sarcastic, cynical, successful man, and so +overwhelm them with confusion. For poor Cass had not yet reached that +superiority of knowing that success would depend upon his ability to +forego his past. Indeed, part of his boyhood had been cast among these +men, and he was not old enough to have learned that success was not to +be gauged by their standard. The moon lit up the dark interior of the +coach with a faint poetic light. The lazy swinging of the vehicle that +was bearing him away--albeit only for a night and a day--the solitude, +the glimpses from the window of great distances full of vague +possibilities, made the abused ring potent as that of Gyges. He dreamed +with his eyes open. From an Alnaschar vision he suddenly awoke. +The coach had stopped. The voices of men, one in entreaty, one in +expostulation, came from the box. Cass mechanically put his hand to his +pistol pocket. + +"Thank you, but I INSIST upon getting down." + +It was Miss Porter's voice. This was followed by a rapid, +half-restrained interchange of words between Hornsby and the driver. +Then the latter said, gruffly,-- + +"If the lady wants to ride inside, let her." + +Miss Porter fluttered to the ground. She was followed by Hornsby. "Just +a minit, Miss," he expostulated, half shamedly, half brusquely, "ye +don't onderstand me. I only--" + +But Miss Porter had jumped into the coach. + +Hornsby placed his hand on the handle of the door. Miss Porter grasped +it firmly from the inside. There was a slight struggle. + +All of which was part of a dream to the boyish Cass. But he awoke +from it--a man! "Do you," he asked, in a voice he scarcely recognized +himself,--"Do you want this man inside?" + +"No!" + +Cass caught at Hornsby's wrist like a young tiger. But alas! what +availed instinctive chivalry against main strength? He only succeeded +in forcing the door open in spite of Miss Porter's superior strategy, +and--I fear I must add, muscle also--and threw himself passionately at +Hornsby's throat, where he hung on and calmly awaited dissolution. +But he had, in the onset, driven Hornsby out into the road and the +moonlight. + +"Here! Somebody take my lines." The voice was "Mountain Charley's," the +driver. The figure that jumped from the box and separated the struggling +men belonged to this singularly direct person. + +"You're riding inside?" said Charley, interrogatively, to Cass. Before +he could reply Miss Porter's voice came from the window. + +"He is!" + +Charley promptly bundled Cass into the coach. + +"And YOU?" to Hornsby, "onless you're kalkilatin' to take a little +'pasear' you're booked OUTSIDE. Get up." + +It is probable that Charley assisted Mr. Hornsby as promptly to his +seat, for the next moment the coach was rolling on. + +Meanwhile Cass, by reason of his forced entry, had been deposited in +Miss Porter's lap, whence, freeing himself, he had attempted to climb +over the middle seat, but in the starting of the coach was again thrown +heavily against her hat and shoulder; all of which was inconsistent +with the attitude of dignified reserve he had intended to display. Miss +Porter, meanwhile, recovered her good humor. + +"What a brute he was, ugh!" she said, retying the ribbons of her bonnet +under her square chin, and smoothing out her linen duster. + +Cass tried to look as if he had forgotten the whole affair. "Who? Oh, +yes I see!" he responded, absently. + +"I suppose I ought to thank you," she went on with a smile, "but you +know, really, I could have kept him out if you hadn't pulled his wrist +from outside. I'll show you. Look! Put your hand on the handle there! +Now, I'll hold the lock inside firmly. You see, you can't turn the +catch!" + +She indeed held the lock fast. It was a firm hand, yet soft--their +fingers had touched over the handle--and looked white in the moonlight. +He made no reply, but sank back again in his seat with a singular +sensation in the fingers that had touched hers. He was in the shadow, +and, without being seen, could abandon his reserve and glance at her +face. It struck him that he had never really seen her before. She was +not so tall as she had appeared to be. Her eyes were not large, but her +pupils were black, moist, velvety, and so convex as to seem embossed +on the white. She had an indistinctive nose, a rather colorless +face--whiter at the angles of the mouth and nose through the relief of +tiny freckles like grains of pepper. Her mouth was straight, dark, red, +but moist as her eyes. She had drawn herself into the corner of the back +seat, her wrist put through and hanging over the swinging strap, the +easy lines of her plump figure swaying from side to side with the motion +of the coach. Finally, forgetful of any presence in the dark corner +opposite, she threw her head a little farther back, slipped a trifle +lower, and placing two well-booted feet upon the middle seat, completed +a charming and wholesome picture. + +Five minutes elapsed. She was looking straight at the moon. Cass Beard +felt his dignified reserve becoming very much like awkwardness. He ought +to be coldly polite. + +"I hope you're not flustered, Miss, by the--by the--" he began. + +"I?" She straightened herself up in the seat, cast a curious glance into +the dark corner, and then, letting herself down again, said: "Oh, dear, +no!" + +Another five minutes elapsed. She had evidently forgotten him. She +might, at least, have been civil. He took refuge again in his reserve. +But it was now mixed with a certain pique. + +Yet how much softer her face looked in the moonlight! Even her square +jaw had lost that hard, matter-of-fact, practical indication which was +so distasteful to him, and always had suggested a harsh criticism of his +weakness. How moist her eyes were--actually shining in the light! How +that light seemed to concentrate in the corner of the lashes, and then +slipped--a flash--away! Was she? Yes, she was crying. + +Cass melted. He moved. Miss Porter put her head out of the window and +drew it back in a moment, dry-eyed. + +"One meets all sorts of folks traveling," said Cass, with what he wished +to make appear a cheerful philosophy. + +"I dare say. I don't know. I never before met any one who was rude to +me. I have traveled all over the country alone, and with all kinds of +people ever since I was so high. I have always gone my own way, without +hindrance or trouble. I always do. I don't see why I shouldn't. Perhaps +other people mayn't like it. I do. I like excitement. I like to see all +that there is to see. Because I'm a girl I don't see why I cannot go +out without a keeper, and why I cannot do what any man can do that isn't +wrong, do you? Perhaps you do--perhaps you don't. Perhaps you like a +girl to be always in the house dawdling or thumping a piano or reading +novels. Perhaps you think I'm bold because I don't like it, and won't +lie and say I do." + +She spoke sharply and aggressively, and so evidently in answer to Cass's +unspoken indictment against her, that he was not surprised when she +became more direct. + +"You know you were shocked when I went to fetch that Hornsby, the +coroner, after we found the dead body." + +"Hornsby wasn't shocked," said Cass, a little viciously. + +"What do you mean?" she said, abruptly. + +"You were good friends enough until--" + +"Until he insulted me just now, is that it?" + +"Until he thought," stammered Cass, "that because you were--you +know--not so--so--so careful as other girls, he could be a little +freer." + +"And so, because I preferred to ride a mile with him to see something +real that had happened, and tried to be useful instead of looking in +shop windows in Main Street or promenading before the hotel--" + +"And being ornamental," interrupted Cass. But this feeble and +un-Cass-like attempt at playful gallantry met with a sudden check. + +Miss Porter drew herself together, and looked out of the window. "Do you +wish me to walk the rest of the way home?" + +"No," said Cass, hurriedly, with a crimson face and a sense of +gratuitous rudeness. + +"Then stop that kind of talk, right there!" + +There was an awkward silence. "I wish I was a man," she said, half +bitterly, half earnestly. Cass Beard was not old and cynical enough to +observe that this devout aspiration is usually uttered by those who have +least reason to deplore their own femininity; and, but for the rebuff +he had just received, would have made the usual emphatic dissent of +our sex, when the wish is uttered by warm red lips and tender voices--a +dissent, it may be remarked, generally withheld, however, when the +masculine spinster dwells on the perfection of woman. I dare say Miss +Porter was sincere, for a moment later she continued, poutingly: + +"And yet I used to go to fires in Sacramento when I was only ten years +old. I saw the theatre burnt down. Nobody found fault with me then." + +Something made Cass ask if her father and mother objected to her boyish +tastes. The reply was characteristic if not satisfactory,-- + +"Object? I'd like to see them do it." + +The direction of the road had changed. The fickle moon now abandoned +Miss Porter and sought out Cass on the front seat. It caressed the +young fellow's silky moustache and long eyelashes, and took some of the +sunburn from his cheek. + +"What's the matter with your neck?" said the girl, suddenly. + +Cass looked down, blushing to find that the collar of his smart "duck" +sailor shirt was torn open. But something more than his white, soft, +girlish skin was exposed; the shirt front was dyed quite red with blood +from a slight cut on the shoulder. He remembered to have felt a scratch +while struggling with Hornsby. + +The girl's soft eyes sparkled. "Let ME," she said, vivaciously. "Do! I'm +good at wounds. Come over here. No--stay there. I'll come over to you." + +She did, bestriding the back of the middle seat and dropping at his +side. The magnetic fingers again touched his; he felt her warm breath on +his neck as she bent toward him. + +"It's nothing," he said, hastily, more agitated by the treatment than +the wound. + +"Give me your flask," she responded, without heeding. A stinging +sensation as she bathed the edges of the cut with the spirit brought him +back to common sense again. "There," she said, skillfully extemporizing +a bandage from her handkerchief and a compress from his cravat. "Now, +button your coat over your chest, so, and don't take cold." She insisted +upon buttoning it for him; greater even than the feminine delight in a +man's strength is the ministration to his weakness. Yet, when this was +finished, she drew a little away from him in some embarrassment--an +embarrassment she wondered at, as his skin was finer, his touch gentler, +his clothes cleaner, and--not to put too fine a point upon it--he +exhaled an atmosphere much sweeter than belonged to most of the men her +boyish habits had brought her in contact with--not excepting her own +father. Later she even exempted her mother from the possession of this +divine effluence. After a moment she asked, suddenly, "What are you +going to do with Hornsby?" + +Cass had not thought of him. His short-lived rage was past with the +occasion that provoked it. Without any fear of his adversary he would +have been content and quite willing to meet him no more. He only said, +"That will depend upon him." + +"Oh, you won't hear from him again," said she, confidently, "but you +really ought to get up a little more muscle. You've no more than a +girl." She stopped, a little confused. + +"What shall I do with your handkerchief?" asked the uneasy Cass, anxious +to change the subject. + +"Oh, keep it, if you want to, only don't show it to everybody as you did +that ring you found." Seeing signs of distress in his face, she added: +"Of course that was all nonsense. If you had cared so much for the ring +you couldn't have talked about it, or shown it. Could you?" + +It relieved him to think that this might be true; he certainly had not +looked at it in that light before. + +"But did you really find it?" she asked, with sudden gravity. "Really, +now?" + +"Yes." + +"And there was no real May in the case?" + +"Not that I know of," laughed Cass, secretly pleased. + +But Miss Porter, after eying him critically for a moment jumped up and +climbed back again to her seat. "Perhaps you had better give me that +handkerchief back." + +Cass began to unbutton his coat. + +"No! no! Do you want to take your death of cold?" she screamed. And +Cass, to avoid this direful possibility, rebuttoned his coat again over +the handkerchief and a peculiarly pleasing sensation. + +Very little now was said until the rattling, bounding descent of the +coach denoted the approach to Red Chief. The straggling main street +disclosed itself, light by light. In the flash of glittering windows +and the sound of eager voices Miss Porter descended, without waiting for +Cass's proffered assistance, and anticipated Mountain Charley's descent +from the box. A few undistinguishable words passed between them. + +"You kin freeze to me, Miss," said Charley; and Miss Porter, turning her +frank laugh and frankly opened palm to Cass, half returned the pressure +of his hand and slipped away. + +A few days after the stage coach incident, Mountain Charley drew up +beside Cass on the Blazing Star turnpike, and handed him a small packet. +"I was told to give ye that by Miss Porter. Hush--listen! It's that +rather old dog-goned ring o' yours that's bin in all the papers. She's +bamboozled that sap-headed county judge, Boompointer, into givin' it to +her. Take my advice and sling it away for some other feller to pick up +and get looney over. That's all!" + +"Did she say anything?" asked Cass, anxiously, as he received his lost +treasure somewhat coldly. + +"Well, yes! I reckon. She asked me to stand betwixt Hornsby and you. +So don't YOU tackle him, and I'll see HE don't tackle you," and with a +portentous wink Mountain Charley whipped up his horses and was gone. + +Cass opened the packet. It contained nothing but the ring. Unmitigated +by any word of greeting, remembrance, or even raillery, it seemed almost +an insult. Had she intended to flaunt his folly in his face, or had she +believed he still mourned for it and deemed its recovery a sufficient +reward for his slight service? For an instant he felt tempted to follow +Charley's advice, and cast this symbol of folly and contempt in the dust +of the mountain road. And had she not made his humiliation complete by +begging Charley's interference between him and his enemy? He would go +home and send her back the handkerchief she had given him. But here the +unromantic reflection that although he had washed it that very afternoon +in the solitude of his own cabin, he could not possibly iron it, but +must send it "rough dried," stayed his indignant feet. + +Two or three days, a week, a fortnight even, of this hopeless resentment +filled Cass's breast. Then the news of Kanaka Joe's acquittal in the +State Court momentarily revived the story of the ring, and revamped a +few stale jokes in the camp. But the interest soon flagged; the fortunes +of the little community of Blazing Star had been for some months +failing; and with early snows in the mountain and wasted capital in +fruitless schemes on the river, there was little room for the indulgence +of that lazy and original humor which belonged to their lost youth and +prosperity. Blazing Star truly, in the grim figure of their slang, was +"played out." Not dug out, worked out, or washed out, but dissipated in +a year of speculation and chance. + +Against this tide of fortune Cass struggled manfully, and even evoked +the slow praise of his companions. Better still, he won a certain praise +for himself, in himself, in a consciousness of increased strength, +health, power, and self-reliance. He began to turn his quick imagination +and perception to some practical account, and made one or two +discoveries which quite startled his more experienced but more +conservative companions. Nevertheless, Cass's discoveries and labors +were not of a kind that produced immediate pecuniary realization, and +Blazing Star, which consumed so many pounds of pork and flour daily, +did not unfortunately produce the daily equivalent in gold. Blazing Star +lost its credit. Blazing Star was hungry, dirty, and ragged. Blazing +Star was beginning to set. + +Participating in the general ill luck of the camp, Cass was not without +his own individual mischances. He had resolutely determined to forget +Miss Porter and all that tended to recall the unlucky ring, but, cruelly +enough, she was the only thing that refused to be forgotten--whose +undulating figure reclined opposite to him in the weird moonlight of his +ruined cabin, whose voice mingled with the song of the river by whose +banks he toiled, and whose eyes and touch thrilled him in his dreams. +Partly for this reason, and partly because his clothes were beginning to +be patched and torn, he avoided Red Chief and any place where he would +be likely to meet her. In spite of this precaution he had once seen her +driving in a pony carriage, but so smartly and fashionably dressed +that he drew back in the cover of a wayside willow that she might pass +without recognition. He looked down upon his red-splashed clothes +and grimy, soil-streaked hands, and for a moment half hated her. His +comrades seldom spoke of her--instinctively fearing some temptation that +might beset his Spartan resolutions, but he heard from time to time that +she had been seen at balls and parties, apparently enjoying those very +frivolities of her sex she affected to condemn. + +It was a Sabbath morning in early spring that he was returning from an +ineffectual attempt to enlist a capitalist at the county town to redeem +the fortunes of Blazing Star. He was pondering over the narrowness of +that capitalist, who had evidently but illogically connected Cass's +present appearance with the future of that struggling camp, when he +became so foot-sore that he was obliged to accept a "lift" from a +wayfaring teamster. As the slowly lumbering vehicle passed the new +church on the outskirts of the town, the congregation were sallying +forth. It was too late to jump down and run away, and Cass dared not +ask his new-found friend to whip up his cattle. Conscious of his unshorn +beard and ragged garments, he kept his eyes fixed upon the road. A voice +that thrilled him called his name. It was Miss Porter, a resplendent +vision of silk, laces, and Easter flowers--yet actually running, +with something of her old dash and freedom, beside the wagon. As +the astonished teamster drew up before this elegant apparition, she +panted:-- + +"Why did you make me run so far, and why didn't you look up?" + +Cass, trying to hide the patches on his knees beneath a newspaper, +stammered that he had not seen her. + +"And you did not hold down your head purposely?" + +"No," said Cass. + +"Why have you not been to Red Chief? Why didn't you answer my message +about the ring?" she asked, swiftly. + +"You sent nothing but the ring," said Cass, coloring, as he glanced at +the teamster. + +"Why, THAT was a message, you born idiot." + +Cass stared. The teamster smiled. Miss Porter gazed anxiously at the +wagon. "I think I'd like a ride in there; it looks awfully good." She +glanced mischievously around at the lingering and curious congregation. + +"May I?" + +But Cass deprecated that proceeding strongly. It was dirty; he was not +sure it was even WHOLESOME; she would be SO uncomfortable; he, himself, +was only going a few rods farther, and in that time she might ruin her +dress-- + +"Oh, yes," she said, a little bitterly, "certainly, my dress must be +looked after. And--what else?" + +"People might think it strange, and believe I had invited you," +continued Cass, hesitatingly. + +"When I had only invited myself? Thank you. Good-by." + +She waved her hand and stepped back from the wagon. Cass would have +given worlds to recall her, but he sat still, and the vehicle moved on +in moody silence. At the first cross road he jumped down. "Thank you," +he said to the teamster. "You're welcome," returned that gentleman, +regarding him curiously, "but the next time a gal like that asks to +ride in this yer wagon, I reckon I won't take the vote of any deadhead +passenger. Adios, young fellow. Don't stay out late; ye might be run off +by some gal, and what would your mother say?" Of course the young man +could only look unutterable things and walk away, but even in that +dignified action he was conscious that its effect was somewhat mitigated +by a large patch from a material originally used as a flour sack, which +had repaired his trousers, but still bore the ironical legend, "Best +Superfine." + +The summer brought warmth and promise and some blossom, if not absolute +fruition, to Blazing Star. The long days drew Nature into closer +communion with the men, and hopefulness followed the discontent of their +winter seclusion. It was easier, too, for Capital to be wooed and won +into making a picnic in these mountain solitudes than when high water +stayed the fords and drifting snow the Sierran trails. At the close +of one of these Arcadian days Cass was smoking before the door of +his lonely cabin when he was astounded by the onset of a dozen of his +companions. Peter Drummond, far in the van, was waving a newspaper like +a victorious banner. "All's right now, Cass, old man!" he panted as he +stopped before Cass and shoved back his eager followers. + +"What's all right?" asked Cass, dubiously. + +"YOU! You kin rake down the pile now. You're hunky! You're on velvet. +Listen!" + +He opened the newspaper and read, with annoying deliberation, as +follows:-- + +"LOST.--If the finder of a plain gold ring, bearing the engraved +inscription, 'May to Cass,' alleged to have been picked up on the high +road near Blazing Star on the 4th March, 186-, will apply to Bookham & +Sons, bankers, 1007 Y Street, Sacramento, he will be suitably rewarded +either for the recovery of the ring, or for such facts as may identify +it, or the locality where it was found." + +Cass rose and frowned savagely on his comrades. "No! no!" cried a dozen +voices, assuringly. "It's all right! Honest Injun! True as gospel! No +joke, Cass!" + +"Here's the paper, Sacramento 'Union' of yesterday. Look for yourself," +said Drummond, handing him the well-worn journal. "And you see," he +added, "how darned lucky you are. It ain't necessary for you to produce +the ring, so if that old biled owl of a Boompointer don't giv' it back +to ye, it's all the same." + +"And they say nobody but the finder need apply," interrupted another. +"That shuts out Boompointer or Kanaka Joe, for the matter o' that." + +"It's clar that it MEANS you, Cass, ez much ez if they'd given your +name," added a third. + +For Miss Porter's sake and his own Cass had never told them of the +restoration of the ring, and it was evident that Mountain Charley had +also kept silent. Cass could not speak now without violating a secret, +and he was pleased that the ring itself no longer played an important +part in the mystery. But what was that mystery, and why was the ring +secondary to himself? Why was so much stress laid upon his finding it? + +"You see," said Drummond, as if answering his unspoken thought, "that +'ar gal--for it is a gal in course--hez read all about it in the papers, +and hez sort o' took a shine to ye. It don't make a bit o' difference +who in thunder Cass IS or WAZ, for I reckon she's kicked him over by +this time--" + +"Sarved him right, too, for losing the girl's ring and then lying low +and keeping dark about it," interrupted a sympathizer. + +"And she's just weakened over the romantic, high-toned way you stuck +to it," continued Drummond, forgetting the sarcasms he had previously +hurled at this romance. Indeed, the whole camp, by this time, had become +convinced that it had fostered and developed a chivalrous devotion which +was now on the point of pecuniary realization. It was generally accepted +that "she" was the daughter of this banker, and also felt that in +the circumstances the happy father could not do less than develop the +resources of Blazing Star at once. Even if there were no relationship, +what opportunity could be more fit for presenting to capital a locality +that even produced engagement rings, and, as Jim Fauquier put it, "the +men ez knew how to keep 'em." It was this sympathetic Virginian who took +Cass aside with the following generous suggestion: "If you find that you +and the old gal couldn't hitch hosses, owin' to your not likin' red hair +or a game leg" (it may be here recorded that Blazing Star had, for +no reason whatever, attributed these unprepossessing qualities to the +mysterious advertiser), "you might let ME in. You might say ez how I +used to jest worship that ring with you, and allers wanted to borrow it +on Sundays. If anything comes of it--why--WE'RE PARDNERS!" + +A serious question was the outfitting of Cass for what now was felt to +be a diplomatic representation of the community. His garments, it +hardly need be said, were inappropriate to any wooing except that of the +"maiden all forlorn," which the advertiser clearly was not. "He might," +suggested Fauquier, "drop in jest as he is--kinder as if he'd got +keerless of the world, being lovesick." But Cass objected strongly, and +was borne out in his objection by his younger comrades. At last a pair +of white duck trousers, a red shirt, a flowing black silk scarf, and +a Panama hat were procured at Red Chief, on credit, after a judicious +exhibition of the advertisement. A heavy wedding ring, the property of +Drummond (who was not married), was also lent as a graceful suggestion, +and at the last moment Fauquier affixed to Cass's scarf an enormous +specimen pin of gold and quartz. "It sorter indicates the auriferous +wealth o' this yer region, and the old man (the senior member of Bookham +& Sons) needn't know I won it at draw poker in Frisco," said Fauquier. + +"Ef you 'pass' on the gal, you kin hand it back to me and I'LL try +it on." Forty dollars for expenses was put into Cass's hands, and the +entire community accompanied him to the cross roads where he was to meet +the Sacramento coach, which eventually carried him away, followed by a +benediction of waving hats and exploding revolvers. + +That Cass did not participate in the extravagant hopes of his comrades, +and that he rejected utterly their matrimonial speculations in his +behalf, need not be said. Outwardly, he kept his own counsel with +good-humored assent. But there was something fascinating in the +situation, and while he felt he had forever abandoned his romantic +dream, he was not displeased to know that it might have proved a +reality. Nor was it distasteful to him to think that Miss Porter would +hear of it and regret her late inability to appreciate his sentiment. +If he really were the object of some opulent maiden's passion, he would +show Miss Porter how he could sacrifice the most brilliant prospects +for her sake. Alone, on the top of the coach, he projected one of those +satisfying conversations in which imaginative people delight, but which +unfortunately never come quite up to rehearsal. "Dear Miss Porter," +he would say, addressing the back of the driver, "if I could remain +faithful to a dream of my youth, however illusive and unreal, can you +believe that for the sake of lucre I could be false to the one real +passion that alone supplanted it." In the composition and delivery of +this eloquent statement an hour was happily forgotten: the only +drawback to its complete effect was that a misplace of epithets in rapid +repetition did not seem to make the slightest difference, and Cass found +himself saying "Dear Miss Porter, if I could be false to a dream of my +youth, etc., etc., can you believe I could be FAITHFUL to the one real +passion, etc., etc.," with equal and perfect satisfaction. As Miss +Porter was reputed to be well off, if the unknown were poor, that might +be another drawback. + +The banking house of Bookham & Sons did not present an illusive nor +mysterious appearance. It was eminently practical and matter of fact; it +was obtrusively open and glassy; nobody would have thought of leaving +a secret there that would have been inevitably circulated over the +counter. Cass felt an uncomfortable sense of incongruity in himself, +in his story, in his treasure, to this temple of disenchanting realism. +With the awkwardness of an embarrassed man he was holding prominently in +his hand an envelope containing the ring and advertisement as a voucher +for his intrusion, when the nearest clerk took the envelope from his +hand, opened it, took out the ring, returned it, said briskly, "T'other +shop, next door, young man," and turned to another customer. + +Cass stepped to the door, saw that "T'other shop" was a pawnbroker's, +and returned again with a flashing eye and heightened color. "It's an +advertisement I have come to answer," he began again. + +The clerk cast a glance at Cass's scarf and pin. "Place taken +yesterday--no room for any more," he said, abruptly. + +Cass grew quite white. But his old experience in Blazing Star repartee +stood him in good stead. "If it's YOUR place you mean," he said coolly, +"I reckon you might put a dozen men in the hole you're rattlin' round +in--but it's this advertisement I'm after. If Bookham isn't in, +maybe you'll send me one of the grown-up sons." The production of the +advertisement and some laughter from the bystanders had its effect. +The pert young clerk retired, and returned to lead the way to the +bank parlor. Cass's heart sank again as he was confronted by a dark, +iron-gray man--in dress, features, speech, and action--uncompromisingly +opposed to Cass--his ring and his romance. When the young man had told +his story and produced his treasure he paused. The banker scarcely +glanced at it, but said, impatiently,-- + +"Well, your papers?" + +"My papers?" + +"Yes. Proof of your identity. You say your name is Cass Beard. Good! +What have you got to prove it? How can I tell who you are?" + +To a sensitive man there is no form of suspicion that is as bewildering +and demoralizing at the moment as the question of his identity. Cass +felt the insult in the doubt of his word, and the palpable sense of his +present inability to prove it. The banker watched him keenly but not +unkindly. + +"Come," he said at length, "this is not my affair; if you can legally +satisfy the lady for whom I am only agent, well and good. I believe you +can; I only warn you that you must. And my present inquiry was to keep +her from losing her time with impostors, a class I don't think you +belong to. There's her card. Good day." + +"Miss Mortimer." It was NOT the banker's daughter. The first illusion of +Blazing Star was rudely dispelled. But the care taken by the capitalist +to shield her from imposture indicated a person of wealth. Of her youth +and beauty Cass no longer thought. + +The address given was not distant. With a beating heart he rung the +bell of a respectable-looking house, and was ushered into a private +drawing-room. Instinctively he felt that the room was only temporarily +inhabited; an air peculiar to the best lodgings, and when the door +opened upon a tall lady in deep mourning, he was still more convinced of +an incongruity between the occupant and her surroundings. With a smile +that vacillated between a habit of familiarity and ease, and a recent +restraint, she motioned him to a chair. + +"Miss Mortimer" was still young, still handsome, still fashionably +dressed, and still attractive. From her first greeting to the end of the +interview Cass felt that she knew all about him. This relieved him from +the onus of proving his identity, but seemed to put him vaguely at a +disadvantage. It increased his sense of inexperience and youthfulness. + +"I hope you will believe," she began, "that the few questions I have +to ask you are to satisfy my own heart, and for no other purpose." +She smiled sadly as she went on. "Had it been otherwise, I should have +instituted a legal inquiry, and left this interview to some one cooler, +calmer, and less interested than myself. But I think, I KNOW I can trust +you. Perhaps we women are weak and foolish to talk of an INSTINCT, and +when you know my story you may have reason to believe that but little +dependence can be placed on THAT; but I am not wrong in saying,--am I?" +(with a sad smile) "that YOU are not above that weakness?" She paused, +closed her lips tightly, and grasped her hands before her. "You say you +found that ring in the road some three months before--the--the--you know +what I mean--the body--was discovered?" + +"Yes." + +"You thought it might have been dropped by some one in passing?" + +"I thought so, yes--it belonged to no one in camp." + +"Before your cabin or on the highway?" + +"Before my cabin." + +"You are SURE?" There was something so very sweet and sad in her smile +that it oddly made Cass color. + +"But my cabin is near the road," he suggested. + +"I see! And there was nothing else; no paper nor envelope?" + +"Nothing." + +"And you kept it because of the odd resemblance one of the names bore to +yours?" + +"Yes." + +"For no other reason + +"None." Yet Cass felt he was blushing. + +"You'll forgive my repeating a question you have already answered, but +I am so anxious. There was some attempt to prove at the inquest that the +ring had been found on the body of--the unfortunate man. But you tell me +it was not so?" + +"I can swear it." + +"Good God--the traitor!" She took a hurried step forward, turned to the +window, and then came back to Cass with a voice broken with emotion. "I +have told you I could trust you. That ring was mine!" + +She stopped, and then went on hurriedly. "Years ago I gave it to a man +who deceived and wronged me; a man whose life since then has been a +shame and disgrace to all who knew him. A man who, once, a gentleman, +sank so low as to become the associate of thieves and ruffians; sank +so low, that when he died, by violence--a traitor even to them--his own +confederates shrunk from him, and left him to fill a nameless grave. +That man's body you found!" + +Cass started. "And his name was--?" + +"Part of your surname. Cass--Henry Cass." + +"You see why Providence seems to have brought that ring to you," she +went on. "But you ask me why, knowing this, I am so eager to know if +the ring was found by you in the road, or if it were found on his body. +Listen! It is part of my mortification that the story goes that this man +once showed this ring, boasted of it, staked, and lost it at a gambling +table to one of his vile comrades." + +"Kanaka Joe," said Cass, overcome by a vivid recollection of Joe's +merriment at the trial. + +"The same. Don't you see," she said, hurriedly, "if the ring had been +found on him I could believe that somewhere in his heart he still kept +respect for the woman he had wronged. I am a woman--a foolish woman, I +know--but you have crushed that hope forever." + +"But why have you sent for me?" asked Cass, touched by her emotion. + +"To know it for certain," she said, almost fiercely. "Can you not +understand that a woman like me must know a thing once and forever? But +you CAN help me. I did not send for you only to pour my wrongs in your +ears. You must take me with you to this place--to the spot where you +found the ring--to the spot where you found the body--to the spot +where--where HE lies. You must do it secretly, that none shall know me." + +Cass hesitated. He was thinking of his companions and the collapse of +their painted bubble. How could he keep the secret from them? + +"If it is money you need, let not that stop you. I have no right to +your time without recompense. Do not misunderstand me. There has been a +thousand dollars awaiting my order at Bookham's when the ring should be +delivered. It shall be doubled if you help me in this last moment." + +It was possible. He could convey her secretly there, invent some story +of a reward delayed for want of proofs, and afterward share that reward +with his friends. He answered promptly, "I will take you there." + +She took his hands in both of hers, raised them to her lips, and smiled. +The shadow of grief and restraint seemed to have fallen from her face, +and a half-mischievous, half-coquettish gleam in her dark eyes touched +the susceptible Cass in so subtle a fashion that he regained the street +in some confusion. He wondered what Miss Porter would have thought. But +was he not returning to her, a fortunate man, with one thousand dollars +in his pocket! Why should he remember he was handicapped, by a pretty +woman and a pathetic episode? It did not make the proximity less +pleasant as he helped her into the coach that evening, nor did the +recollection of another ride with another woman obtrude itself upon +those consolations which he felt it his duty, from time to time, to +offer. It was arranged that he should leave her at the "Red Chief" +Hotel, while he continued on to Blazing Star, returning at noon to bring +her with him when he could do it without exposing her to recognition. +The gray dawn came soon enough, and the coach drew up at "Red Chief" +while the lights in the bar-room and dining-room of the hotel were +still struggling with the far flushing east. Cass alighted, placed Miss +Mortimer in the hands of the landlady, and returned to the vehicle. It +was still musty, close, and frowzy, with half-awakened passengers. +There was a vacated seat on the top, which Cass climbed up to, and +abstractedly threw himself beside a figure muffled in shawls and rugs. +There was a slight movement among the multitudinous enwrappings, and +then the figure turned to him and said, dryly, "Good morning!" It was +Miss Porter! + +"Have you been long here?" he stammered. + +"All night." + +He would have given worlds to leave her at that moment. He would have +jumped from the starting coach to save himself any explanation of the +embarrassment he was furiously conscious of showing, without, as he +believed, any adequate cause. And yet, like all inexperienced, sensitive +men, he dashed blindly into that explanation; worse, he even told his +secret at once, then and there, and then sat abashed and conscience +stricken, with an added sense of its utter futility. + +"And this," summed up the young girl, with a slight shrug of her pretty +shoulders, "is YOUR MAY?" + +Cass would have recommenced his story. + +"No, don't, pray! It isn't interesting, nor original. Do YOU believe +it?" + +"I do," said Cass, indignantly. + +"How lucky! Then let me go to sleep." + +Cass, still furious, but uneasy, did not again address her. When the +coach stopped at Blazing Star she asked him, indifferently: "When does +this sentimental pilgrimage begin?" + +"I return for her at one o'clock," replied Cass, stiffly. + +He kept his word. He appeased his eager companions with a promise of +future fortune, and exhibited the present and tangible reward. By a +circuitous route known only to himself, he led Miss Mortimer to the road +before the cabin. There was a pink flush of excitement on her somewhat +faded cheek. + +"And it was here?" she asked, eagerly. + +"I found it here." + +"And the body?" + +"That was afterward. Over in that direction, beyond the clump of +buckeyes, on the Red Chief turnpike." + +"And any one coming from the road we left just now and going +to--to--that place, would have to cross just here? Tell me," she said, +with a strange laugh, laying her cold nervous hand on his, "wouldn't +they?" + +"They would." + +"Let us go to that place." + +Cass stepped out briskly to avoid observation and gain the woods beyond +the highway. "You have crossed here before," she said. "There seems to +be a trail." + +"I may have made it: it's a short cut to the buckeyes." + +"You never found anything else on the trail?" + +"You remember, I told you before, the ring was all I found." + +"Ah, true!" she smiled sweetly; "it was THAT which made it seem so odd +to you. I forgot." + +In half an hour they reached the buckeyes. During the walk she had taken +rapid recognizance of everything in her path. When they crossed the road +and Cass had pointed out the scene of the murder, she looked anxiously +around. "You are sure we are not seen?" + +"Quite." + +"You will not think me foolish if I ask you to wait here while I go in +there"--she pointed to the ominous thicket near them--"alone?" + +She was quite white. + +Cass's heart, which had grown somewhat cold since his interview with +Miss Porter, melted at once. + +"Go; I will stay here." + +He waited five minutes. She did not return. + +What if the poor creature had determined upon suicide on the spot where +her faithless lover had fallen? He was reassured in another moment by +the rustle of skirts in the undergrowth. + +"I was becoming quite alarmed," he said, aloud. + +"You have reason to be," returned a hurried voice. He started. It was +Miss Porter, who stepped swiftly out of the cover. "Look," she said, +"look at that man down the road. He has been tracking you two ever since +you left the cabin. Do you know who he is?" + +"No!" + +"Then listen. It is three-fingered Dick, one of the escaped road agents. +I know him!" + +"Let us go and warn her," said Cass, eagerly. + +Miss Porter laid her hand upon his shoulder. + +"I don't think she'll thank you," she said, dryly. "Perhaps you'd better +see what she's doing, first." + +Utterly bewildered, yet with a strong sense of the masterfulness of his +companion, he followed her. She crept like a cat through the thicket. +Suddenly she paused. "Look!" she whispered, viciously, "look at the +tender vigils of your heart-broken May!" + +Cass saw the woman who had left him a moment before on her knees on the +grass, with long thin fingers digging like a ghoul in the earth. He had +scarce time to notice her eager face and eyes, cast now and then back +toward the spot where she had left him, before there was a crash in +the bushes, and a man,--the stranger of the road,--leaped to her side. +"Run," he said; "run for it now. You're watched!" + +"Oh! that man, Beard!" she said, contemptuously. + +"No, another in a wagon. Quick. Fool, you know the place now,--you +can come later; run!" And half-dragging, half-lifting her, he bore her +through the bushes. Scarcely had they closed behind the pair than +Miss Porter ran to the spot vacated by the woman. "Look!" she cried, +triumphantly, "look!" + +Cass looked, and sank on his knees beside her. + +"It WAS worth a thousand dollars, wasn't it?" she repeated, maliciously, +"wasn't it? But you ought to return it! REALLY you ought." + +Cass could scarcely articulate. "But how did YOU know it?" he finally +gasped. + +"Oh, I suspected something; there was a woman, and you know you're SUCH +a fool!" + +Cass rose, stiffly. + +"Don't be a greater fool now, but go and bring my horse and wagon from +the hill, and don't say anything to the driver." + +"Then you did not come alone?" + +"No; it would have been bold and improper." + +"Please!" + +"And to think it WAS the ring, after all, that pointed to this," she +said. + +"The ring that YOU returned to me." + +"What did you say?" + +"Nothing." + +"Don't, please, the wagon is coming." + +***** + +In the next morning's edition of the "Red Chief Chronicle" appeared the +following startling intelligence:-- + + +EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY + +FINDING OF THE STOLEN TREASURE OF WELLS, FARGO & CO. + +OVER $800,000 RECOVERED + +Our readers will remember the notorious robbery of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s +treasure from the Sacramento and Red Chief Pioneer Coach on the night of +September 1. Although most of the gang were arrested, it is known that +two escaped, who, it was presumed, cached the treasure, amounting +to nearly $500,000 in gold, drafts, and jewelry, as no trace of the +property was found. Yesterday our esteemed fellow citizen, Mr. Cass +Beard, long and favorably known in this county, succeeded in exhuming +the treasure in a copse of hazel near the Red Chief turnpike,--adjacent +to the spot where an unknown body was lately discovered. This body is +now strongly suspected to be that of one Henry Cass, a disreputable +character, who has since been ascertained to have been one of the road +agents who escaped. The matter is now under legal investigation. The +successful result of the search is due to a systematic plan evolved from +the genius of Mr. Beard, who has devoted over a year to this labor. +It was first suggested to him by the finding of a ring, now definitely +identified as part of the treasure which was supposed to have been +dropped from Wells, Fargo & Co's boxes by the robbers in their midnight +flight through Blazing Star. + + +In the same journal appeared the no less important intelligence, which +explains, while it completes this veracious chronicle:-- + +"It is rumored that a marriage is shortly to take place between the +hero of the late treasure discovery and a young lady of Red Chief, whose +devoted aid and assistance to this important work is well known to this +community." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Found At Blazing Star, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUND AT BLAZING STAR *** + +***** This file should be named 2794.txt or 2794.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/2794/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + + + + +FOUND AT BLAZING STAR + +by Bret Harte + + + + +The rain had only ceased with the gray streaks of morning at +Blazing Star, and the settlement awoke to a moral sense of +cleanliness, and the finding of forgotten knives, tin cups, and +smaller camp utensils, where the heavy showers had washed away the +debris and dust heaps before the cabin doors. Indeed, it was +recorded in Blazing Star that a fortunate early riser had once +picked up on the highway a solid chunk of gold quartz which the +rain had freed from its incumbering soil, and washed into immediate +and glittering popularity. Possibly this may have been the reason +why early risers in that locality, during the rainy season, adopted +a thoughtful habit of body, and seldom lifted their eyes to the +rifted or india-ink washed skies above them. + +"Cass" Beard had risen early that morning, but not with a view to +discovery. A leak in his cabin roof,--quite consistent with his +careless, improvident habits,--had roused him at 4 A. M., with a +flooded "bunk" and wet blankets. The chips from his wood pile +refused to kindle a fire to dry his bed-clothes, and he had +recourse to a more provident neighbor's to supply the deficiency. +This was nearly opposite. Mr. Cassius crossed the highway, and +stopped suddenly. Something glittered in the nearest red pool +before him. Gold, surely! But, wonderful to relate, not an +irregular, shapeless fragment of crude ore, fresh from Nature's +crucible, but a bit of jeweler's handicraft in the form of a plain +gold ring. Looking at it more attentively, he saw that it bore the +inscription, "May to Cass." + +Like most of his fellow gold-seekers, Cass was superstitious. +"Cass!" His own name! He tried the ring. It fitted his little +finger closely. It was evidently a woman's ring. He looked up and +down the highway. No one was yet stirring. Little pools of water +in the red road were beginning to glitter and grow rosy from the +far-flushing east, but there was no trace of the owner of the +shining waif. He knew that there was no woman in camp, and among +his few comrades in the settlement he remembered to have seen none +wearing an ornament like that. Again, the coincidence of the +inscription to his rather peculiar nickname would have been a +perennial source of playful comment in a camp that made no +allowance for sentimental memories. He slipped the glittering +little hoop into his pocket, and thoughtfully returned to his +cabin. + +Two hours later, when the long, straggling procession, which every +morning wended its way to Blazing Star Gulch,--the seat of mining +operations in the settlement,--began to move, Cass saw fit to +interrogate his fellows. "Ye didn't none on ye happen to drop +anything round yer last night?" he asked, cautiously. + +"I dropped a pocketbook containing government bonds and some other +securities, with between fifty and sixty thousand dollars," +responded Peter Drummond, carelessly; "but no matter, if any man +will return a few autograph letters from foreign potentates that +happened to be in it,--of no value to anybody but the owner,--he +can keep the money. Thar's nothin' mean about me," he concluded, +languidly. + +This statement, bearing every evidence of the grossest mendacity, +was lightly passed over, and the men walked on with the deepest +gravity. + +"But hev you?" Cass presently asked of another. + +"I lost my pile to Jack Hamlin at draw-poker, over at Wingdam last +night," returned the other, pensively, "but I don't calkilate to +find it lying round loose." + +Forced at last by this kind of irony into more detailed explanation, +Cass confided to them his discovery, and produced his treasure. The +result was a dozen vague surmises,--only one of which seemed to be +popular, and to suit the dyspeptic despondency of the party,--a +despondency born of hastily masticated fried pork and flapjacks. +The ring was believed to have been dropped by some passing "road +agent" laden with guilty spoil. + +"Ef I was you," said Drummond, gloomily, "I wouldn't flourish that +yer ring around much afore folks. I've seen better men nor you +strung up a tree by Vigilantes for having even less than that in +their possession." + +"And I wouldn't say much about bein' up so d----d early this +morning," added an even more pessimistic comrade; "it might look +bad before a jury." + +With this the men sadly dispersed, leaving the innocent Cass with +the ring in his hand, and a general impression on his mind that he +was already an object of suspicion to his comrades,--an impression, +it is hardly necessary to say, they fully intended should be left +to rankle in his guileless bosom. + +Notwithstanding Cass's first hopeful superstition the ring did not +seem to bring him nor the camp any luck. Daily the "clean up" +brought the same scant rewards to their labors, and deepened the +sardonic gravity of Blazing Star. But, if Cass found no material +result from his treasure, it stimulated his lazy imagination, and, +albeit a dangerous and seductive stimulant, at least lifted him out +of the monotonous grooves of his half-careless, half-slovenly, but +always self-contented camp life. Heeding the wise caution of his +comrades, he took the habit of wearing the ring only at night. +Wrapped in his blanket, he stealthily slipped the golden circlet +over his little finger, and, as he averred, "slept all the better +for it." Whether it ever evoked any warmer dream or vision during +those calm, cold, virgin-like spring nights, when even the moon and +the greater planets retreated into the icy blue, steel-like +firmament, I cannot say. Enough that this superstition began to be +colored a little by fancy, and his fatalism somewhat mitigated by +hope. Dreams of this kind did not tend to promote his efficiency +in the communistic labors of the camp, and brought him a self- +isolation that, however gratifying at first, soon debarred him the +benefits of that hard practical wisdom which underlaid the +grumbling of his fellow workers. + +"I'm dog-goned," said one commentator, "ef I don't believe that +Cass is looney over that yer ring he found. Wears it on a string +under his shirt." + +Meantime, the seasons did not wait the discovery of the secret. +The red pools in Blazing Star highway were soon dried up in the +fervent June sun and riotous night wind of those altitudes. The +ephemeral grasses that had quickly supplanted these pools and the +chocolate-colored mud, were as quickly parched and withered. The +footprints of spring became vague and indefinite, and were finally +lost in the impalpable dust of the summer highway. + +In one of his long, aimless excursions, Cass had penetrated a thick +undergrowth of buckeye and hazel, and found himself quite +unexpectedly upon the high road to Red Chief's Crossing. Cass knew +by the lurid cloud of dust that hid the distance, that the up coach +had passed. He had already reached that stage of superstition when +the most trivial occurrence seemed to point in some way to an +elucidation of the mystery of his treasure. His eyes had +mechanically fallen to the ground again, as if he half expected to +find in some other waif a hint or corroboration of his imaginings. +Thus abstracted, the figure of a young girl on horseback, in the +road directly before the bushes he emerged from, appeared to have +sprung directly from the ground. + +"Oh, come here, please do; quick!" + +Cass stared, and then moved hesitatingly toward her. + +"I heard some one coming through the bushes, and I waited," she +went on. "Come quick. It's something too awful for anything." + +In spite of this appalling introduction, Cass could not but notice +that the voice, although hurried and excited, was by no means +agitated or frightened; that the eyes which looked into his +sparkled with a certain kind of pleased curiosity. + +"It was just here," she went on vivaciously, "just here that I went +into the bush and cut a switch for my mare,--and,"--leading him +along at a brisk trot by her side,--"just here, look, see! this is +what I found." + +It was scarcely thirty feet from the road. The only object that +met Cass's eye was a man's stiff, tall hat, lying emptily and +vacantly in the grass. It was new, shiny, and of modish shape. +But it was so incongruous, so perkily smart, and yet so feeble +and helpless lying there, so ghastly ludicrous in its very +appropriateness and incapacity to adjust itself to the surrounding +landscape, that it affected him with something more than a sense of +its grotesqueness, and he could only stare at it blankly. + +"But you're not looking the right way," the girl went on sharply; +"look there!" + +Cass followed the direction of her whip. At last, what might have +seemed a coat thrown carelessly on the ground met his eye, but +presently he became aware of a white, rigid, aimlessly-clinched +hand protruding from the flaccid sleeve; mingled with it in some +absurd way and half hidden by the grass, lay what might have been a +pair of cast-off trousers but for two rigid boots that pointed in +opposite angles to the sky. It was a dead man. So palpably dead +that life seemed to have taken flight from his very clothes. So +impotent, feeble, and degraded by them that the naked subject of a +dissecting table would have been less insulting to humanity. The +head had fallen back, and was partly hidden in a gopher burrow, but +the white, upturned face and closed eyes had less of helpless death +in them than those wretched enwrappings. Indeed, one limp hand +that lay across the swollen abdomen lent itself to the grotesquely +hideous suggestion of a gentleman sleeping off the excesses of a +hearty dinner. + +"Ain't he horrid?" continued the girl; "but what killed him?" + +Struggling between a certain fascination at the girl's cold-blooded +curiosity and horror of the murdered man, Cass hesitatingly lifted +the helpless head. A bluish hole above the right temple, and a few +brown paint-like spots on the forehead, shirt cellar, and matted +hair proved the only record. + +"Turn him over again," said the girl, impatiently, as Cass was +about to relinquish his burden. "May be you'll find another +wound." + +But Cass was dimly remembering certain formalities that in older +civilizations attend the discovery of dead bodies, and postponed a +present inquest. + +"Perhaps you'd better ride on, Miss, afore you get summoned as a +witness. I'll give warning at Red Chief's Crossing, and send the +coroner down here." + +"Let me go with you," she said, earnestly, "it would be such fun. +I don't mind being a witness. Or," she added, without heeding +Cass's look of astonishment, "I'll wait here till you come back." + +"But you see, Miss, it wouldn't seem right--" began Cass. + +"But I found him first," interrupted the girl, with a pout. + +Staggered by this preemptive right, sacred to all miners, Cass +stopped. + +"Who is the coroner?" she asked. + +"Joe Hornsby." + +"The tall, lame man, who was half eaten by a grizzly?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, look now! I'll ride on and bring him back in half an hour. +There!" + +"But, Miss--!" + +"Oh, don't mind ME. I never saw anything of this kind before, and +I want to see it ALL." + +"Do you know Hornsby?" asked Cass, unconsciously a trifle irritated. + +"No, but I'll bring him." She wheeled her horse into the road. + +In the presence of this living energy Cass quite forgot the +helpless dead. "Have you been long in these parts, Miss?" he +asked. + +"About two weeks," she answered, shortly. "Good-by, just now. +Look around for the pistol or anything else you can find, although +I have been over the whole ground twice already." + +A little puff of dust as the horse sprang into the road, a muffled +shuffle, struggle, then the regular beat of hoofs, and she was +gone. + +After five minutes had passed, Cass regretted that he had not +accompanied her; waiting in such a spot was an irksome task. Not +that there was anything in the scene itself to awaken gloomy +imaginings; the bright, truthful Californian sunshine scoffed at +any illusion of creeping shadows or waving branches. Once, in the +rising wind, the empty hat rolled over--but only in a ludicrous, +drunken way. A search for any further sign or token had proved +futile, and Cass grew impatient. He began to hate himself for +having stayed; he would have fled but for shame. Nor was his good +humor restored when at the close of a weary half hour two galloping +figures emerged from the dusty horizon--Hornsby and the young girl. + +His vague annoyance increased as he fancied that both seemed to +ignore him, the coroner barely acknowledging his presence with a +nod. Assisted by the young girl, whose energy and enthusiasm +evidently delighted him, Hornsby raised the body for a more careful +examination. The dead man's pockets were carefully searched. A +few coins, a silver pencil, knife, and tobacco-box were all they +found. It gave no clew to his identity. Suddenly the young girl, +who had, with unabashed curiosity, knelt beside the exploring +official hands of the Red Chief, uttered a cry of gratification. + +"Here's something! It dropped from the bosom of his shirt on the +ground. Look!" + +She was holding in the air, between her thumb and forefinger, a +folded bit of well-worn newspaper. Her eyes sparkled. + +"Shall I open it?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"It's a little ring" she said; "looks like an engagement ring. +Something is written on it. Look! 'May to Cass.'" + +Cass darted forward. "It's mine," he stammered, "mine! I dropped +it. It's nothing--nothing," he went on, after a pause, embarrassed +and blushing, as the girl and her companion both stared at him--"a +mere trifle. I'll take it." + +But the coroner opposed his outstretched hand. "Not much," he +said, significantly. + +"But it's MINE," continued Cass, indignation taking the place of +shame at his discovered secret. "I found it six months ago in the +road. I--picked it up." + +"With your name already written on it! How handy!" said the +coroner, grimly. + +"It's an old story" said Cass, blushing again under the half- +mischievous, half-searching eyes of the girl. "All Blazing Star +knows I found it." + +"Then ye'll have no difficulty in provin' it," said Hornsby, +coolly. "Just now, however, WE'VE found it, and we propose to keep +it for the inquest." + +Cass shrugged his shoulders. Further altercation would have only +heightened his ludicrous situation in the girl's eyes. He turned +away, leaving his treasure in the coroner's hands. + +The inquest, a day or two later, was prompt and final. No clew to +the dead man's identity; no evidence sufficiently strong to prove +murder or suicide; no trace of any kind, inculpating any party, +known or unknown, were found. But much publicity and interest were +given to the proceedings by the presence of the principal witness, +a handsome girl. "To the pluck, persistency, and intellect of Miss +Porter," said the "Red Chief Recorder," "Tuolumne County owes the +recovery of the body." + +No one who was present at the inquest failed to be charmed with the +appearance and conduct of this beautiful young lady. + +"Miss Porter has but lately arrived in this district, in which, it +is hoped, she will become an honored resident, and continue to set +an example to all lackadaisical and sentimental members of the so- +called 'sterner sex.'" After this universally recognized allusion +to Cass Beard, the "Recorder" returned to its record: "Some +interest was excited by what appeared to be a clew to the mystery +in the discovery of a small gold engagement ring on the body. +Evidence was afterward offered to show it was the property of a Mr. +Cass Beard of Blazing Star, who appeared upon the scene AFTER the +discovery of the corpse by Miss Porter. He alleged he had dropped +it in lifting the unfortunate remains of the deceased. Much +amusement was created in court by the sentimental confusion of the +claimant, and a certain partisan spirit shown by his fellow-miners +of Blazing Star. It appearing, however, by the admission of this +sighing Strephon of the Foot hills, that he had himself FOUND this +pledge of affection lying in the highway six months previous, the +coroner wisely placed it in the safe-keeping of the county court +until the appearance of the rightful owner." + +Thus on the 13th of September, 186-, the treasure found at Blazing +Star passed out of the hands of its finder. + + . . . . . . + +Autumn brought an abrupt explanation of the mystery. Kanaka Joe +had been arrested for horse stealing, but had with noble candor +confessed to the finer offense of manslaughter. That swift and +sure justice which overtook the horse stealer in these altitudes +was stayed a moment and hesitated, for the victim was clearly the +mysterious unknown. Curiosity got the better of an extempore judge +and jury. + +"It was a fair fight," said the accused, not without some human +vanity, feeling that the camp hung upon his words, "and was settled +by the man az was peartest and liveliest with his weapon. We had a +sort of unpleasantness over at Lagrange the night afore, along of +our both hevin' a monotony of four aces. We had a clinch and a +stamp around, and when we was separated it was only a question of +shootin' on sight. He left Lagrange at sun up the next morning, +and I struck across a bit o' buckeye and underbrush and came upon +him, accidental like, on the Red Chief Road. I drawed when I +sighted him, and called out. He slipped from his mare and covered +himself with her flanks, reaching for his holster, but she rared +and backed down on him across the road and into the grass, where I +got in another shot and fetched him." + +"And you stole his mare?" suggested the Judge. + +"I got away," said the gambler, simply. + +Further questioning only elicited the fact that Joe did not know +the name or condition of his victim. He was a stranger in Lagrange. + +It was a breezy afternoon, with some turbulency in the camp, and +much windy discussion over this unwonted delay of justice. The +suggestion that Joe should be first hanged for horse stealing and +then tried for murder was angrily discussed, but milder counsels +were offered--that the fact of the killing should be admitted only +as proof of the theft. A large party from Red Chief had come over +to assist in judgment, among them the coroner. + +Cass Beard had avoided these proceedings, which only recalled an +unpleasant experience, and was wandering with pick, pan, and wallet +far from the camp. These accoutrements, as I have before intimated, +justified any form of aimless idleness under the equally aimless +title of "prospecting." He had at the end of three hours' +relaxation reached the highway to Red Chief, half hidden by blinding +clouds of dust torn from the crumbling red road at every gust which +swept down the mountain side. The spot had a familiar aspect to +Cass, although some freshly-dug holes near the wayside, with +scattered earth beside them, showed the presence of a recent +prospector. He was struggling with his memory, when the dust was +suddenly dispersed and he found himself again at the scene of the +murder. He started: he had not put foot on the road since the +inquest. There lacked only the helpless dead man and the +contrasting figure of the alert young woman to restore the picture. +The body was gone, it was true, but as he turned he beheld Miss +Porter, at a few paces distant, sitting on her horse as energetic +and observant as on the first morning they had met. A superstitious +thrill passed over him and awoke his old antagonism. + +She nodded to him slightly. "I came here to refresh my memory," +she said, "as Mr. Hornsby thought I might be asked to give my +evidence again at Blazing Star." + +Cass carelessly struck an aimless blow with his pick against the +sod and did not reply. + +"And you?" she queried. + +"I stumbled upon the place just now while prospecting, or I +shouldn't be here." + +"Then it was YOU made these holes?" + +"No," said Cass, with ill-concealed disgust. "Nobody but a +stranger would go foolin' round such a spot." + +He stopped, as the rude significance of his speech struck him, and +added surlily, "I mean--no one would dig here." + +The girl laughed and showed a set of very white teeth in her square +jaw. Cass averted his face. + +"Do you mean to say that every miner doesn't know that it's lucky +to dig wherever human blood has been spilt?" + +Cass felt a return of his superstition, but he did not look up. "I +never heard it before," he said, severely. + +"And you call yourself a California miner?" + +"I do." + +It was impossible for Miss Porter to misunderstand his curt speech +and unsocial manner. She stared at him and colored slightly. +Lifting her reins lightly, she said: "You certainly do not seem +like most of the miners I have met." + +"Nor you like any girl from the East I ever met," he responded. + +"What do you mean?" she asked, checking her horse. + +"What I say," he answered, doggedly. Reasonable as this reply was, +it immediately struck him that it was scarcely dignified or manly. +But before he could explain himself Miss Porter was gone. + +He met her again that very evening. The trial had been summarily +suspended by the appearance of the Sheriff of Calaveras and his +posse, who took Joe from that self-constituted tribunal of Blazing +Star and set his face southward and toward authoritative although +more cautious justice. But not before the evidence of the previous +inquest had been read, and the incident of the ring again delivered +to the public. + +It is said the prisoner burst into an incredulous laugh and asked +to see this mysterious waif. It was handed to him. Standing in +the very shadow of the gallows tree--which might have been one of +the pines that sheltered the billiard room in which the Vigilance +Committee held their conclave--the prisoner gave way to a burst of +merriment, so genuine and honest that the judge and jury joined in +automatic sympathy. When silence was restored an explanation was +asked by the Judge. But there was no response from the prisoner +except a subdued chuckle. + +"Did this ring belong to you?" asked the Judge, severely, the jury +and spectators craning their ears forward with an expectant smile +already on their faces. But the prisoner's eyes only sparkled +maliciously as he looked around the court. + +"Tell us, Joe," said a sympathetic and laughter-loving juror, under +his breath. "Let it out and we'll make it easy for you." + +"Prisoner," said the Judge, with a return of official dignity, +"remember that your life is in peril. Do you refuse?" + +Joe lazily laid his arm on the back of his chair with (to quote the +words of an animated observer) "the air of having a Christian hope +and a sequence flush in his hand," and said: "Well, as I reckon I'm +not up yer for stealin' a ring that another man lets on to have +found, and as fur as I kin see, hez nothin' to do with the case, I +do!" And as it was here that the Sheriff of Calaveras made a +precipitate entry into the room, the mystery remained unsolved. + +The effect of this freshly-important ridicule on the sensitive mind +of Cass might have been foretold by Blazing Star had it ever taken +that sensitiveness into consideration. He had lost the good humor +and easy pliability which had tempted him to frankness, and he had +gradually become bitter and hard. He had at first affected +amusement over his own vanished day dream--hiding his virgin +disappointment in his own breast; but when he began to turn upon +his feelings he turned upon his comrades also. Cass was for a +while unpopular. There is no ingratitude so revolting to the human +mind as that of the butt who refuses to be one any longer. The man +who rejects that immunity which laughter generally casts upon him +and demands to be seriously considered deserves no mercy. + +It was under these hard conditions that Cass Beard, convicted of +overt sentimentalism, aggravated by inconsistency, stepped into the +Red Chief coach that evening. It was his habit usually to ride +with the driver, but the presence of Hornsby and Miss Porter on the +box seat changed his intention. Yet he had the satisfaction of +seeing that neither had noticed him, and as there was no other +passenger inside, he stretched himself on the cushion of the back +seat and gave way to moody reflections. He quite determined to +leave Blazing Star, to settle himself seriously to the task of +money getting, and to return to his comrades, some day, a +sarcastic, cynical, successful man, and so overwhelm them with +confusion. For poor Cass had not yet reached that superiority of +knowing that success would depend upon his ability to forego his +past. Indeed, part of his boyhood had been cast among these men, +and he was not old enough to have learned that success was not to +be gauged by their standard. The moon lit up the dark interior of +the coach with a faint poetic light. The lazy swinging of the +vehicle that was bearing him away--albeit only for a night and a +day--the solitude, the glimpses from the window of great distances +full of vague possibilities, made the abused ring potent as that of +Gyges. He dreamed with his eyes open. From an Alnaschar vision he +suddenly awoke. The coach had stopped. The voices of men, one in +entreaty, one in expostulation, came from the box. Cass mechanically +put his hand to his pistol pocket. + +"Thank you, but I INSIST upon getting down." + +It was Miss Porter's voice. This was followed by a rapid, half- +restrained interchange of words between Hornsby and the driver. +Then the latter said, gruffly,-- + +"If the lady wants to ride inside, let her." + +Miss Porter fluttered to the ground. She was followed by Hornsby. +"Just a minit, Miss," he expostulated, half shamedly, half +brusquely, "ye don't onderstand me. I only--" + +But Miss Porter had jumped into the coach. + +Hornsby placed his hand on the handle of the door. Miss Porter +grasped it firmly from the inside. There was a slight struggle. + +All of which was part of a dream to the boyish Cass. But he awoke +from it--a man! "Do you," he asked, in a voice he scarcely +recognized himself,--"Do you want this man inside?" + +"No!" + +Cass caught at Hornsby's wrist like a young tiger. But alas! what +availed instinctive chivalry against main strength? He only +succeeded in forcing the door open in spite of Miss Porter's +superior strategy, and--I fear I must add, muscle also--and threw +himself passionately at Hornsby's throat, where he hung on and +calmly awaited dissolution. But he had, in the onset, driven +Hornsby out into the road and the moonlight. + +"Here! Somebody take my lines." The voice was "Mountain +Charley's," the driver. The figure that jumped from the box and +separated the struggling men belonged to this singularly direct +person. + +"You're riding inside?" said Charley, interrogatively, to Cass. +Before he could reply Miss Porter's voice came from the window. + +"He is!" + +Charley promptly bundled Cass into the coach. + +"And YOU?" to Hornsby, "onless you're kalkilatin' to take a little +'pasear' you're booked OUTSIDE. Get up." + +It is probable that Charley assisted Mr. Hornsby as promptly to his +seat, for the next moment the coach was rolling on. + +Meanwhile Cass, by reason of his forced entry, had been deposited +in Miss Porter's lap, whence, freeing himself, he had attempted to +climb over the middle seat, but in the starting of the coach was +again thrown heavily against her hat and shoulder; all of which was +inconsistent with the attitude of dignified reserve he had intended +to display. Miss Porter, meanwhile, recovered her good humor. + +"What a brute he was, ugh!" she said, retying the ribbons of her +bonnet under her square chin, and smoothing out her linen duster. + +Cass tried to look as if he had forgotten the whole affair. "Who? +Oh, yes I see!" he responded, absently. + +"I suppose I ought to thank you," she went on with a smile, "but +you know, really, I could have kept him out if you hadn't pulled +his wrist from outside. I'll show you. Look! Put your hand on +the handle there! Now, I'll hold the lock inside firmly. You see, +you can't turn the catch!" + +She indeed held the lock fast. It was a firm hand, yet soft--their +fingers had touched over the handle--and looked white in the +moonlight. He made no reply, but sank back again in his seat with +a singular sensation in the fingers that had touched hers. He was +in the shadow, and, without being seen, could abandon his reserve +and glance at her face. It struck him that he had never really +seen her before. She was not so tall as she had appeared to be. +Her eyes were not large, but her pupils were black, moist, velvety, +and so convex as to seem embossed on the white. She had an +indistinctive nose, a rather colorless face--whiter at the angles +of the mouth and nose through the relief of tiny freckles like +grains of pepper. Her mouth was straight, dark, red, but moist as +her eyes. She had drawn herself into the corner of the back seat, +her wrist put through and hanging over the swinging strap, the easy +lines of her plump figure swaying from side to side with the motion +of the coach. Finally, forgetful of any presence in the dark +corner opposite, she threw her head a little farther back, slipped +a trifle lower, and placing two well-booted feet upon the middle +seat, completed a charming and wholesome picture. + +Five minutes elapsed. She was looking straight at the moon. Cass +Beard felt his dignified reserve becoming very much like +awkwardness. He ought to be coldly polite. + +"I hope you're not flustered, Miss, by the--by the--" he began. + +"I?" She straightened herself up in the seat, cast a curious +glance into the dark corner, and then, letting herself down again, +said: "Oh, dear, no!" + +Another five minutes elapsed. She had evidently forgotten him. +She might, at least, have been civil. He took refuge again in his +reserve. But it was now mixed with a certain pique. + +Yet how much softer her face looked in the moonlight! Even her +square jaw had lost that hard, matter-of-fact, practical indication +which was so distasteful to him, and always had suggested a harsh +criticism of his weakness. How moist her eyes were--actually +shining in the light! How that light seemed to concentrate in the +corner of the lashes, and then slipped--a flash--away! Was she? +Yes, she was crying. + +Cass melted. He moved. Miss Porter put her head out of the window +and drew it back in a moment, dry-eyed. + +"One meets all sorts of folks traveling," said Cass, with what he +wished to make appear a cheerful philosophy. + +"I dare say. I don't know. I never before met any one who was +rude to me. I have traveled all over the country alone, and with +all kinds of people ever since I was so high. I have always gone +my own way, without hindrance or trouble. I always do. I don't +see why I shouldn't. Perhaps other people mayn't like it. I do. +I like excitement. I like to see all that there is to see. +Because I'm a girl I don't see why I cannot go out without a +keeper, and why I cannot do what any man can do that isn't wrong, +do you? Perhaps you do--perhaps you don't. Perhaps you like a +girl to be always in the house dawdling or thumping a piano or +reading novels. Perhaps you think I'm bold because I don't like +it, and won't lie and say I do." + +She spoke sharply and aggressively, and so evidently in answer to +Cass's unspoken indictment against her, that he was not surprised +when she became more direct. + +"You know you were shocked when I went to fetch that Hornsby, the +coroner, after we found the dead body." + +"Hornsby wasn't shocked," said Cass, a little viciously. + +"What do you mean?" she said, abruptly. + +"You were good friends enough until--" + +"Until he insulted me just now, is that it?" + +"Until he thought," stammered Cass, "that because you were--you +know--not so--so--so careful as other girls, he could be a little +freer." + +"And so, because I preferred to ride a mile with him to see +something real that had happened, and tried to be useful instead of +looking in shop windows in Main Street or promenading before the +hotel--" + +"And being ornamental," interrupted Cass. But this feeble and un- +Cass-like attempt at playful gallantry met with a sudden check. + +Miss Porter drew herself together, and looked out of the window. +"Do you wish me to walk the rest of the way home?" + +"No," said Cass, hurriedly, with a crimson face and a sense of +gratuitous rudeness. + +"Then stop that kind of talk, right there!" + +There was an awkward silence. "I wish I was a man," she said, half +bitterly, half earnestly. Cass Beard was not old and cynical +enough to observe that this devout aspiration is usually uttered by +those who have least reason to deplore their own femininity; and, +but for the rebuff he had just received, would have made the usual +emphatic dissent of our sex, when the wish is uttered by warm red +lips and tender voices--a dissent, it may be remarked, generally +withheld, however, when the masculine spinster dwells on the +perfection of woman. I dare say Miss Porter was sincere, for a +moment later she continued, poutingly: + +"And yet I used to go to fires in Sacramento when I was only ten +years old. I saw the theatre burnt down. Nobody found fault with +me then." + +Something made Cass ask if her father and mother objected to her +boyish tastes. The reply was characteristic if not satisfactory,-- + +"Object? I'd like to see them do it." + +The direction of the road had changed. The fickle moon now +abandoned Miss Porter and sought out Cass on the front seat. It +caressed the young fellow's silky moustache and long eyelashes, and +took some of the sunburn from his cheek. + +"What's the matter with your neck?" said the girl, suddenly. + +Cass looked down, blushing to find that the collar of his smart +"duck" sailor shirt was torn open. But something more than his +white, soft, girlish skin was exposed; the shirt front was dyed +quite red with blood from a slight cut on the shoulder. He +remembered to have felt a scratch while struggling with Hornsby. + +The girl's soft eyes sparkled. "Let ME," she said, vivaciously. +"Do! I'm good at wounds. Come over here. No--stay there. I'll +come over to you." + +She did, bestriding the back of the middle seat and dropping at his +side. The magnetic fingers again touched his; he felt her warm +breath on his neck as she bent toward him. + +"It's nothing," he said, hastily, more agitated by the treatment +than the wound. + +"Give me your flask," she responded, without heeding. A stinging +sensation as she bathed the edges of the cut with the spirit +brought him back to common sense again. "There," she said, +skillfully extemporizing a bandage from her handkerchief and a +compress from his cravat. "Now, button your coat over your chest, +so, and don't take cold." She insisted upon buttoning it for him; +greater even than the feminine delight in a man's strength is the +ministration to his weakness. Yet, when this was finished, she +drew a little away from him in some embarrassment--an embarrassment +she wondered at, as his skin was finer, his touch gentler, his +clothes cleaner, and--not to put too fine a point upon it--he +exhaled an atmosphere much sweeter than belonged to most of the men +her boyish habits had brought her in contact with--not excepting +her own father. Later she even exempted her mother from the +possession of this divine effluence. After a moment she asked, +suddenly, "What are you going to do with Hornsby?" + +Cass had not thought of him. His short-lived rage was past with +the occasion that provoked it. Without any fear of his adversary +he would have been content and quite willing to meet him no more. +He only said, "That will depend upon him." + +"Oh, you won't hear from him again," said she, confidently, "but +you really ought to get up a little more muscle. You've no more +than a girl." She stopped, a little confused. + +"What shall I do with your handkerchief?" asked the uneasy Cass, +anxious to change the subject. + +"Oh, keep it, if you want to, only don't show it to everybody as +you did that ring you found." Seeing signs of distress in his +face, she added: "Of course that was all nonsense. If you had +cared so much for the ring you couldn't have talked about it, or +shown it. Could you?" + +It relieved him to think that this might be true; he certainly had +not looked at it in that light before. + +"But did you really find it?" she asked, with sudden gravity. +"Really, now?" + +"Yes." + +"And there was no real May in the case?" + +"Not that I know of," laughed Cass, secretly pleased. + +But Miss Porter, after eying him critically for a moment jumped up +and climbed back again to her seat. "Perhaps you had better give +me that handkerchief back." + +Cass began to unbutton his coat. + +"No! no! Do you want to take your death of cold?" she screamed. +And Cass, to avoid this direful possibility, rebuttoned his coat +again over the handkerchief and a peculiarly pleasing sensation. + +Very little now was said until the rattling, bounding descent of +the coach denoted the approach to Red Chief. The straggling main +street disclosed itself, light by light. In the flash of +glittering windows and the sound of eager voices Miss Porter +descended, without waiting for Cass's proffered assistance, and +anticipated Mountain Charley's descent from the box. A few +undistinguishable words passed between them. + +"You kin freeze to me, Miss," said Charley; and Miss Porter, +turning her frank laugh and frankly opened palm to Cass, half +returned the pressure of his hand and slipped away. + +A few days after the stage coach incident, Mountain Charley drew up +beside Cass on the Blazing Star turnpike, and handed him a small +packet. "I was told to give ye that by Miss Porter. Hush--listen! +It's that rather old dog-goned ring o' yours that's bin in all the +papers. She's bamboozled that sap-headed county judge, Boompointer, +into givin' it to her. Take my advice and sling it away for some +other feller to pick up and get looney over. That's all!" + +"Did she say anything?" asked Cass, anxiously, as he received his +lost treasure somewhat coldly. + +"Well, yes! I reckon. She asked me to stand betwixt Hornsby and +you. So don't YOU tackle him, and I'll see HE don't tackle you," +and with a portentous wink Mountain Charley whipped up his horses +and was gone. + +Cass opened the packet. It contained nothing but the ring. +Unmitigated by any word of greeting, remembrance, or even raillery, +it seemed almost an insult. Had she intended to flaunt his folly +in his face, or had she believed he still mourned for it and deemed +its recovery a sufficient reward for his slight service? For an +instant he felt tempted to follow Charley's advice, and cast this +symbol of folly and contempt in the dust of the mountain road. And +had she not made his humiliation complete by begging Charley's +interference between him and his enemy? He would go home and send +her back the handkerchief she had given him. But here the +unromantic reflection that although he had washed it that very +afternoon in the solitude of his own cabin, he could not possibly +iron it, but must send it "rough dried," stayed his indignant feet. + +Two or three days, a week, a fortnight even, of this hopeless +resentment filled Cass's breast. Then the news of Kanaka Joe's +acquittal in the State Court momentarily revived the story of the +ring, and revamped a few stale jokes in the camp. But the interest +soon flagged; the fortunes of the little community of Blazing Star +had been for some months failing; and with early snows in the +mountain and wasted capital in fruitless schemes on the river, +there was little room for the indulgence of that lazy and original +humor which belonged to their lost youth and prosperity. Blazing +Star truly, in the grim figure of their slang, was "played out." +Not dug out, worked out, or washed out, but dissipated in a year of +speculation and chance. + +Against this tide of fortune Cass struggled manfully, and even +evoked the slow praise of his companions. Better still, he won a +certain praise for himself, in himself, in a consciousness of +increased strength, health, power, and self-reliance. He began to +turn his quick imagination and perception to some practical +account, and made one or two discoveries which quite startled his +more experienced but more conservative companions. Nevertheless, +Cass's discoveries and labors were not of a kind that produced +immediate pecuniary realization, and Blazing Star, which consumed +so many pounds of pork and flour daily, did not unfortunately +produce the daily equivalent in gold. Blazing Star lost its +credit. Blazing Star was hungry, dirty, and ragged. Blazing Star +was beginning to set. + +Participating in the general ill luck of the camp, Cass was not +without his own individual mischances. He had resolutely +determined to forget Miss Porter and all that tended to recall the +unlucky ring, but, cruelly enough, she was the only thing that +refused to be forgotten--whose undulating figure reclined opposite +to him in the weird moonlight of his ruined cabin, whose voice +mingled with the song of the river by whose banks he toiled, and +whose eyes and touch thrilled him in his dreams. Partly for this +reason, and partly because his clothes were beginning to be patched +and torn, he avoided Red Chief and any place where he would be +likely to meet her. In spite of this precaution he had once seen +her driving in a pony carriage, but so smartly and fashionably +dressed that he drew back in the cover of a wayside willow that she +might pass without recognition. He looked down upon his red- +splashed clothes and grimy, soil-streaked hands, and for a moment +half hated her. His comrades seldom spoke of her--instinctively +fearing some temptation that might beset his Spartan resolutions, +but he heard from time to time that she had been seen at balls and +parties, apparently enjoying those very frivolities of her sex she +affected to condemn. + +It was a Sabbath morning in early spring that he was returning from +an ineffectual attempt to enlist a capitalist at the county town to +redeem the fortunes of Blazing Star. He was pondering over the +narrowness of that capitalist, who had evidently but illogically +connected Cass's present appearance with the future of that +struggling camp, when he became so foot-sore that he was obliged to +accept a "lift" from a wayfaring teamster. As the slowly lumbering +vehicle passed the new church on the outskirts of the town, the +congregation were sallying forth. It was too late to jump down and +run away, and Cass dared not ask his new-found friend to whip up +his cattle. Conscious of his unshorn beard and ragged garments, he +kept his eyes fixed upon the road. A voice that thrilled him +called his name. It was Miss Porter, a resplendent vision of silk, +laces, and Easter flowers--yet actually running, with something of +her old dash and freedom, beside the wagon. As the astonished +teamster drew up before this elegant apparition, she panted:-- + +"Why did you make me run so far, and why didn't you look up?" + +Cass, trying to hide the patches on his knees beneath a newspaper, +stammered that he had not seen her. + +"And you did not hold down your head purposely?" + +"No," said Cass. + +"Why have you not been to Red Chief? Why didn't you answer my +message about the ring?" she asked, swiftly. + +"You sent nothing but the ring," said Cass, coloring, as he glanced +at the teamster. + +"Why, THAT was a message, you born idiot." + +Cass stared. The teamster smiled. Miss Porter gazed anxiously at +the wagon. "I think I'd like a ride in there; it looks awfully +good." She glanced mischievously around at the lingering and +curious congregation. + +"May I?" + +But Cass deprecated that proceeding strongly. It was dirty; he was +not sure it was even WHOLESOME; she would be SO uncomfortable; he, +himself, was only going a few rods farther, and in that time she +might ruin her dress-- + +"Oh, yes," she said, a little bitterly, "certainly, my dress must +be looked after. And--what else?" + +"People might think it strange, and believe I had invited you," +continued Cass, hesitatingly. + +"When I had only invited myself? Thank you. Good-by." + +She waved her hand and stepped back from the wagon. Cass would +have given worlds to recall her, but he sat still, and the vehicle +moved on in moody silence. At the first cross road he jumped down. +"Thank you," he said to the teamster. "You're welcome," returned +that gentleman, regarding him curiously, "but the next time a gal +like that asks to ride in this yer wagon, I reckon I won't take the +vote of any deadhead passenger. Adios, young fellow. Don't stay +out late; ye might be run off by some gal, and what would your +mother say?" Of course the young man could only look unutterable +things and walk away, but even in that dignified action he was +conscious that its effect was somewhat mitigated by a large patch +from a material originally used as a flour sack, which had repaired +his trousers, but still bore the ironical legend, "Best Superfine." + +The summer brought warmth and promise and some blossom, if not +absolute fruition, to Blazing Star. The long days drew Nature into +closer communion with the men, and hopefulness followed the +discontent of their winter seclusion. It was easier, too, for +Capital to be wooed and won into making a picnic in these mountain +solitudes than when high water stayed the fords and drifting snow +the Sierran trails. At the close of one of these Arcadian days +Cass was smoking before the door of his lonely cabin when he was +astounded by the onset of a dozen of his companions. Peter +Drummond, far in the van, was waving a newspaper like a victorious +banner. "All's right now, Cass, old man!" he panted as he stopped +before Cass and shoved back his eager followers. + +"What's all right?" asked Cass, dubiously. + +"YOU! You kin rake down the pile now. You're hunky! You're on +velvet. Listen!" + +He opened the newspaper and read, with annoying deliberation, as +follows:-- + +"LOST.--If the finder of a plain gold ring, bearing the engraved +inscription, 'May to Cass,' alleged to have been picked up on the +high road near Blazing Star on the 4th March, 186-, will apply to +Bookham & Sons, bankers, 1007 Y Street, Sacramento, he will be +suitably rewarded either for the recovery of the ring, or for such +facts as may identify it, or the locality where it was found." + +Cass rose and frowned savagely on his comrades. "No! no!" cried a +dozen voices, assuringly. "It's all right! Honest Injun! True as +gospel! No joke, Cass!" + +"Here's the paper, Sacramento 'Union' of yesterday. Look for +yourself," said Drummond, handing him the well-worn journal. "And +you see," he added, "how darned lucky you are. It ain't necessary +for you to produce the ring, so if that old biled owl of a +Boompointer don't giv' it back to ye, it's all the same." + +"And they say nobody but the finder need apply," interrupted +another. "That shuts out Boompointer or Kanaka Joe, for the matter +o' that." + +"It's clar that it MEANS you, Cass, ez much ez if they'd given your +name," added a third. + +For Miss Porter's sake and his own Cass had never told them of the +restoration of the ring, and it was evident that Mountain Charley +had also kept silent. Cass could not speak now without violating a +secret, and he was pleased that the ring itself no longer played an +important part in the mystery. But what was that mystery, and why +was the ring secondary to himself? Why was so much stress laid +upon his finding it? + +"You see," said Drummond, as if answering his unspoken thought, +"that 'ar gal--for it is a gal in course--hez read all about it in +the papers, and hez sort o' took a shine to ye. It don't make a +bit o' difference who in thunder Cass IS or WAZ, for I reckon she's +kicked him over by this time--" + +"Sarved him right, too, for losing the girl's ring and then lying +low and keeping dark about it," interrupted a sympathizer. + +"And she's just weakened over the romantic, high-toned way you +stuck to it," continued Drummond, forgetting the sarcasms he had +previously hurled at this romance. Indeed, the whole camp, by this +time, had become convinced that it had fostered and developed a +chivalrous devotion which was now on the point of pecuniary +realization. It was generally accepted that "she" was the daughter +of this banker, and also felt that in the circumstances the happy +father could not do less than develop the resources of Blazing Star +at once. Even if there were no relationship, what opportunity +could be more fit for presenting to capital a locality that even +produced engagement rings, and, as Jim Fauquier put it, "the men ez +knew how to keep 'em." It was this sympathetic Virginian who took +Cass aside with the following generous suggestion: "If you find +that you and the old gal couldn't hitch hosses, owin' to your not +likin' red hair or a game leg" (it may be here recorded that +Blazing Star had, for no reason whatever, attributed these +unprepossessing qualities to the mysterious advertiser), "you might +let ME in. You might say ez how I used to jest worship that ring +with you, and allers wanted to borrow it on Sundays. If anything +comes of it--why--WE'RE PARDNERS!" + +A serious question was the outfitting of Cass for what now was felt +to be a diplomatic representation of the community. His garments, +it hardly need be said, were inappropriate to any wooing except +that of the "maiden all forlorn," which the advertiser clearly was +not. "He might," suggested Fauquier, "drop in jest as he is-- +kinder as if he'd got keerless of the world, being lovesick." But +Cass objected strongly, and was borne out in his objection by his +younger comrades. At last a pair of white duck trousers, a red +shirt, a flowing black silk scarf, and a Panama hat were procured +at Red Chief, on credit, after a judicious exhibition of the +advertisement. A heavy wedding ring, the property of Drummond (who +was not married), was also lent as a graceful suggestion, and at +the last moment Fauquier affixed to Cass's scarf an enormous +specimen pin of gold and quartz. "It sorter indicates the +auriferous wealth o' this yer region, and the old man (the senior +member of Bookham & Sons) needn't know I won it at draw poker in +Frisco," said Fauquier. + +"Ef you 'pass' on the gal, you kin hand it back to me and I'LL try +it on." Forty dollars for expenses was put into Cass's hands, and +the entire community accompanied him to the cross roads where he +was to meet the Sacramento coach, which eventually carried him +away, followed by a benediction of waving hats and exploding +revolvers. + +That Cass did not participate in the extravagant hopes of his +comrades, and that he rejected utterly their matrimonial +speculations in his behalf, need not be said. Outwardly, he kept +his own counsel with good-humored assent. But there was something +fascinating in the situation, and while he felt he had forever +abandoned his romantic dream, he was not displeased to know that it +might have proved a reality. Nor was it distasteful to him to +think that Miss Porter would hear of it and regret her late +inability to appreciate his sentiment. If he really were the +object of some opulent maiden's passion, he would show Miss Porter +how he could sacrifice the most brilliant prospects for her sake. +Alone, on the top of the coach, he projected one of those +satisfying conversations in which imaginative people delight, but +which unfortunately never come quite up to rehearsal. "Dear Miss +Porter," he would say, addressing the back of the driver, "if I +could remain faithful to a dream of my youth, however illusive and +unreal, can you believe that for the sake of lucre I could be false +to the one real passion that alone supplanted it." In the +composition and delivery of this eloquent statement an hour was +happily forgotten: the only drawback to its complete effect was +that a misplace of epithets in rapid repetition did not seem to +make the slightest difference, and Cass found himself saying "Dear +Miss Porter, if I could be false to a dream of my youth, etc., +etc., can you believe I could be FAITHFUL to the one real passion, +etc., etc.," with equal and perfect satisfaction. As Miss Porter +was reputed to be well off, if the unknown were poor, that might be +another drawback. + +The banking house of Bookham & Sons did not present an illusive nor +mysterious appearance. It was eminently practical and matter of +fact; it was obtrusively open and glassy; nobody would have thought +of leaving a secret there that would have been inevitably +circulated over the counter. Cass felt an uncomfortable sense of +incongruity in himself, in his story, in his treasure, to this +temple of disenchanting realism. With the awkwardness of an +embarrassed man he was holding prominently in his hand an envelope +containing the ring and advertisement as a voucher for his +intrusion, when the nearest clerk took the envelope from his hand, +opened it, took out the ring, returned it, said briskly, "T'other +shop, next door, young man," and turned to another customer. + +Cass stepped to the door, saw that "T'other shop" was a +pawnbroker's, and returned again with a flashing eye and heightened +color. "It's an advertisement I have come to answer," he began +again. + +The clerk cast a glance at Cass's scarf and pin. "Place taken +yesterday--no room for any more," he said, abruptly. + +Cass grew quite white. But his old experience in Blazing Star +repartee stood him in good stead. "If it's YOUR place you mean," +he said coolly, "I reckon you might put a dozen men in the hole +you're rattlin' round in--but it's this advertisement I'm after. +If Bookham isn't in, maybe you'll send me one of the grown-up +sons." The production of the advertisement and some laughter from +the bystanders had its effect. The pert young clerk retired, and +returned to lead the way to the bank parlor. Cass's heart sank +again as he was confronted by a dark, iron-gray man--in dress, +features, speech, and action--uncompromisingly opposed to Cass--his +ring and his romance. When the young man had told his story and +produced his treasure he paused. The banker scarcely glanced at +it, but said, impatiently,-- + +"Well, your papers?" + +"My papers?" + +"Yes. Proof of your identity. You say your name is Cass Beard. +Good! What have you got to prove it? How can I tell who you are?" + +To a sensitive man there is no form of suspicion that is as +bewildering and demoralizing at the moment as the question of his +identity. Cass felt the insult in the doubt of his word, and the +palpable sense of his present inability to prove it. The banker +watched him keenly but not unkindly. + +"Come," he said at length, "this is not my affair; if you can +legally satisfy the lady for whom I am only agent, well and good. +I believe you can; I only warn you that you must. And my present +inquiry was to keep her from losing her time with impostors, a +class I don't think you belong to. There's her card. Good day." + +"Miss Mortimer." It was NOT the banker's daughter. The first +illusion of Blazing Star was rudely dispelled. But the care taken +by the capitalist to shield her from imposture indicated a person +of wealth. Of her youth and beauty Cass no longer thought. + +The address given was not distant. With a beating heart he rung +the bell of a respectable-looking house, and was ushered into a +private drawing-room. Instinctively he felt that the room was only +temporarily inhabited; an air peculiar to the best lodgings, and +when the door opened upon a tall lady in deep mourning, he was +still more convinced of an incongruity between the occupant and her +surroundings. With a smile that vacillated between a habit of +familiarity and ease, and a recent restraint, she motioned him to a +chair. + +"Miss Mortimer" was still young, still handsome, still fashionably +dressed, and still attractive. From her first greeting to the end +of the interview Cass felt that she knew all about him. This +relieved him from the onus of proving his identity, but seemed to +put him vaguely at a disadvantage. It increased his sense of +inexperience and youthfulness. + +"I hope you will believe," she began, "that the few questions I +have to ask you are to satisfy my own heart, and for no other +purpose." She smiled sadly as she went on. "Had it been +otherwise, I should have instituted a legal inquiry, and left this +interview to some one cooler, calmer, and less interested than +myself. But I think, I KNOW I can trust you. Perhaps we women are +weak and foolish to talk of an INSTINCT, and when you know my story +you may have reason to believe that but little dependence can be +placed on THAT; but I am not wrong in saying,--am I?" (with a sad +smile) "that YOU are not above that weakness?" She paused, closed +her lips tightly, and grasped her hands before her. "You say you +found that ring in the road some three months before--the--the--you +know what I mean--the body--was discovered?" + +"Yes." + +"You thought it might have been dropped by some one in passing?" + +"I thought so, yes--it belonged to no one in camp." + +"Before your cabin or on the highway?" + +"Before my cabin." + +"You are SURE?" There was something so very sweet and sad in her +smile that it oddly made Cass color. + +"But my cabin is near the road," he suggested. + +"I see! And there was nothing else; no paper nor envelope?" + +"Nothing." + +"And you kept it because of the odd resemblance one of the names +bore to yours?" + +"Yes." + +"For no other reason + +"None." Yet Cass felt he was blushing. + +"You'll forgive my repeating a question you have already answered, +but I am so anxious. There was some attempt to prove at the +inquest that the ring had been found on the body of--the +unfortunate man. But you tell me it was not so?" + +"I can swear it." + +"Good God--the traitor!" She took a hurried step forward, turned +to the window, and then came back to Cass with a voice broken with +emotion. "I have told you I could trust you. That ring was mine!" + +She stopped, and then went on hurriedly. "Years ago I gave it to a +man who deceived and wronged me; a man whose life since then has +been a shame and disgrace to all who knew him. A man who, once, a +gentleman, sank so low as to become the associate of thieves and +ruffians; sank so low, that when he died, by violence--a traitor +even to them--his own confederates shrunk from him, and left him to +fill a nameless grave. That man's body you found!" + +Cass started. "And his name was--?" + +"Part of your surname. Cass--Henry Cass." + +"You see why Providence seems to have brought that ring to you," +she went on. "But you ask me why, knowing this, I am so eager to +know if the ring was found by you in the road, or if it were found +on his body. Listen! It is part of my mortification that the +story goes that this man once showed this ring, boasted of it, +staked, and lost it at a gambling table to one of his vile +comrades." + +"Kanaka Joe," said Cass, overcome by a vivid recollection of Joe's +merriment at the trial. + +"The same. Don't you see," she said, hurriedly, "if the ring had +been found on him I could believe that somewhere in his heart he +still kept respect for the woman he had wronged. I am a woman--a +foolish woman, I know--but you have crushed that hope forever." + +"But why have you sent for me?" asked Cass, touched by her emotion. + +"To know it for certain," she said, almost fiercely. "Can you not +understand that a woman like me must know a thing once and forever? +But you CAN help me. I did not send for you only to pour my wrongs +in your ears. You must take me with you to this place--to the spot +where you found the ring--to the spot where you found the body--to +the spot where--where HE lies. You must do it secretly, that none +shall know me." + +Cass hesitated. He was thinking of his companions and the collapse +of their painted bubble. How could he keep the secret from them? + +"If it is money you need, let not that stop you. I have no right +to your time without recompense. Do not misunderstand me. There +has been a thousand dollars awaiting my order at Bookham's when the +ring should be delivered. It shall be doubled if you help me in +this last moment." + +It was possible. He could convey her secretly there, invent some +story of a reward delayed for want of proofs, and afterward share +that reward with his friends. He answered promptly, "I will take +you there." + +She took his hands in both of hers, raised them to her lips, and +smiled. The shadow of grief and restraint seemed to have fallen +from her face, and a half-mischievous, half-coquettish gleam in her +dark eyes touched the susceptible Cass in so subtle a fashion that +he regained the street in some confusion. He wondered what Miss +Porter would have thought. But was he not returning to her, a +fortunate man, with one thousand dollars in his pocket! Why should +he remember he was handicapped, by a pretty woman and a pathetic +episode? It did not make the proximity less pleasant as he helped +her into the coach that evening, nor did the recollection of +another ride with another woman obtrude itself upon those +consolations which he felt it his duty, from time to time, to +offer. It was arranged that he should leave her at the "Red Chief" +Hotel, while he continued on to Blazing Star, returning at noon to +bring her with him when he could do it without exposing her to +recognition. The gray dawn came soon enough, and the coach drew up +at "Red Chief" while the lights in the bar-room and dining-room of +the hotel were still struggling with the far flushing east. Cass +alighted, placed Miss Mortimer in the hands of the landlady, and +returned to the vehicle. It was still musty, close, and frowzy, +with half-awakened passengers. There was a vacated seat on the +top, which Cass climbed up to, and abstractedly threw himself +beside a figure muffled in shawls and rugs. There was a slight +movement among the multitudinous enwrappings, and then the figure +turned to him and said, dryly, "Good morning!" It was Miss Porter! + +"Have you been long here?" he stammered. + +"All night." + +He would have given worlds to leave her at that moment. He would +have jumped from the starting coach to save himself any explanation +of the embarrassment he was furiously conscious of showing, +without, as he believed, any adequate cause. And yet, like all +inexperienced, sensitive men, he dashed blindly into that +explanation; worse, he even told his secret at once, then and +there, and then sat abashed and conscience stricken, with an added +sense of its utter futility. + +"And this," summed up the young girl, with a slight shrug of her +pretty shoulders, "is YOUR MAY?" + +Cass would have recommenced his story. + +"No, don't, pray! It isn't interesting, nor original. Do YOU +believe it?" + +"I do," said Cass, indignantly. + +"How lucky! Then let me go to sleep." + +Cass, still furious, but uneasy, did not again address her. When +the coach stopped at Blazing Star she asked him, indifferently: +"When does this sentimental pilgrimage begin?" + +"I return for her at one o'clock," replied Cass, stiffly. + +He kept his word. He appeased his eager companions with a promise +of future fortune, and exhibited the present and tangible reward. +By a circuitous route known only to himself, he led Miss Mortimer +to the road before the cabin. There was a pink flush of excitement +on her somewhat faded cheek. + +"And it was here?" she asked, eagerly. + +"I found it here." + +"And the body?" + +"That was afterward. Over in that direction, beyond the clump of +buckeyes, on the Red Chief turnpike." + +"And any one coming from the road we left just now and going to-- +to--that place, would have to cross just here? Tell me," she said, +with a strange laugh, laying her cold nervous hand on his, +"wouldn't they?" + +"They would." + +"Let us go to that place." + +Cass stepped out briskly to avoid observation and gain the woods +beyond the highway. "You have crossed here before," she said. +"There seems to be a trail." + +"I may have made it: it's a short cut to the buckeyes." + +"You never found anything else on the trail?" + +"You remember, I told you before, the ring was all I found." + +"Ah, true!" she smiled sweetly; "it was THAT which made it seem so +odd to you. I forgot." + +In half an hour they reached the buckeyes. During the walk she had +taken rapid recognizance of everything in her path. When they +crossed the road and Cass had pointed out the scene of the murder, +she looked anxiously around. "You are sure we are not seen?" + +"Quite." + +"You will not think me foolish if I ask you to wait here while I go +in there"--she pointed to the ominous thicket near them--"alone?" + +She was quite white. + +Cass's heart, which had grown somewhat cold since his interview +with Miss Porter, melted at once. + +"Go; I will stay here." + +He waited five minutes. She did not return. + +What if the poor creature had determined upon suicide on the spot +where her faithless lover had fallen? He was reassured in another +moment by the rustle of skirts in the undergrowth. + +"I was becoming quite alarmed," he said, aloud. + +"You have reason to be," returned a hurried voice. He started. It +was Miss Porter, who stepped swiftly out of the cover. "Look," she +said, "look at that man down the road. He has been tracking you +two ever since you left the cabin. Do you know who he is?" + +"No!" + +"Then listen. It is three-fingered Dick, one of the escaped road +agents. I know him!" + +"Let us go and warn her," said Cass, eagerly. + +Miss Porter laid her hand upon his shoulder. + +"I don't think she'll thank you," she said, dryly. "Perhaps you'd +better see what she's doing, first." + +Utterly bewildered, yet with a strong sense of the masterfulness of +his companion, he followed her. She crept like a cat through the +thicket. Suddenly she paused. "Look!" she whispered, viciously, +"look at the tender vigils of your heart-broken May!" + +Cass saw the woman who had left him a moment before on her knees on +the grass, with long thin fingers digging like a ghoul in the +earth. He had scarce time to notice her eager face and eyes, cast +now and then back toward the spot where she had left him, before +there was a crash in the bushes, and a man,--the stranger of the +road,--leaped to her side. "Run," he said; "run for it now. +You're watched!" + +"Oh! that man, Beard!" she said, contemptuously. + +"No, another in a wagon. Quick. Fool, you know the place now,-- +you can come later; run!" And half-dragging, half-lifting her, he +bore her through the bushes. Scarcely had they closed behind the +pair than Miss Porter ran to the spot vacated by the woman. +"Look!" she cried, triumphantly, "look!" + +Cass looked, and sank on his knees beside her. + +"It WAS worth a thousand dollars, wasn't it?" she repeated, +maliciously, "wasn't it? But you ought to return it! REALLY you +ought." + +Cass could scarcely articulate. "But how did YOU know it?" he +finally gasped. + +"Oh, I suspected something; there was a woman, and you know you're +SUCH a fool!" + +Cass rose, stiffly. + +"Don't be a greater fool now, but go and bring my horse and wagon +from the hill, and don't say anything to the driver." + +"Then you did not come alone?" + +"No; it would have been bold and improper." + +"Please!" + +"And to think it WAS the ring, after all, that pointed to this," +she said. + +"The ring that YOU returned to me." + +"What did you say?" + +"Nothing." + +"Don't, please, the wagon is coming." + + . . . . . . + +In the next morning's edition of the "Red Chief Chronicle" appeared +the following startling intelligence:-- + + +EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY + +FINDING OF THE STOLEN TREASURE OF WELLS, FARGO & CO. OVER $800,000 +RECOVERED + +Our readers will remember the notorious robbery of Wells, Fargo & +Co.'s treasure from the Sacramento and Red Chief Pioneer Coach on +the night of September 1. Although most of the gang were arrested, +it is known that two escaped, who, it was presumed, cached the +treasure, amounting to nearly $500,000 in gold, drafts, and +jewelry, as no trace of the property was found. Yesterday our +esteemed fellow citizen, Mr. Cass Beard, long and favorably known +in this county, succeeded in exhuming the treasure in a copse of +hazel near the Red Chief turnpike,--adjacent to the spot where an +unknown body was lately discovered. This body is now strongly +suspected to be that of one Henry Cass, a disreputable character, +who has since been ascertained to have been one of the road agents +who escaped. The matter is now under legal investigation. The +successful result of the search is due to a systematic plan evolved +from the genius of Mr. Beard, who has devoted over a year to this +labor. It was first suggested to him by the finding of a ring, now +definitely identified as part of the treasure which was supposed to +have been dropped from Wells, Fargo & Co's boxes by the robbers in +their midnight flight through Blazing Star. + + +In the same journal appeared the no less important intelligence, +which explains, while it completes this veracious chronicle:-- + +"It is rumored that a marriage is shortly to take place between the +hero of the late treasure discovery and a young lady of Red Chief, +whose devoted aid and assistance to this important work is well +known to this community." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext Found At Blazing Star, by Bret Harte + diff --git a/old/fabst10.zip b/old/fabst10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed2bded --- /dev/null +++ b/old/fabst10.zip |